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GREECE
March 28 – Italian ships attack British convoys in Greece. See also Battle of Cape Matapan. Italian torpedo boat Antonio Chinotto sinks after hitting a mine near Sicily.
March 29 – See Battle of Cape Matapan.
March 31 – British cruiser HMS Bonaventure is sunk off Crete by Italian submarine smg. Ambra.
ERITREA
April 1 – Italian civil authorities in Asmara surrender to the British. In total, the British forces were able to take 40,000 prisoners of war and destroy 6 Italian divisions in 3 months. Italian destroyer Leone runs aground off Eritrea and is scuttled by its crew to prevent it from being captured by the British.
April – Operation Hercules is developed by Italian and German commanders. Malta was a strategic point for British convoys which supplied Commonwealth forces in Africa. The invasion of Malta would take form in the landing of three Italian parachute battalions and one German parachute division and bombarded by both Italian and German aircraft. After the capture of Malta, Rommel would drive the Axis forces into Egypt.
LIBYA
March – April – Italian logistics, under Colonels Santamaria and Montemurro, comprised the major work of pursuing the British forces. Rommel moves to the front with his Headquarters on April 3. Italian military leaders in Africa counsel Rommel of the need to beef up the 5th Light, “Ariete”, “Trento”, “Trieste” and 15th Light Panzer Divisions to full strength before conducting any offensive movements. The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (Armed Forces High Command) also believed that Rommel may try to advance too far.
As feared, Rommel underestimated the need of supplies in this Desert War. Italian logistics had a severe time trying to maintain supplies and Rommel left some units strung out 1,000 kilometers.
April 3 – Italian destroyers Daniel Manin and Nazario Sauro are sunk off Eritrea by British bombers. The destroyers Pantera, Tigre and Cesare Battisti are scuttled near Massaua.
April 4 - Italian torpedo boat Giovanni Acerbi is sunk near Massaua by British bombers.
YUGOSLAVIA
April 6 – 28 Italian Divisions and 320 Italian aircraft, in conjunction with German motorized divisions, invade Yugoslavia and Greece. Italians capture some Yugoslav warships.
MASSAUA
April 8 – The last Italian warship in East African waters, the torpedo boat Vincenzo Giordano Orsini, is scuttled by its crew prior to the British entering the harbor.
TUNISIA COAST
April 15 – A convoy of 3 Italian destroyers and 5 merchant ships were engaged by the British 14th Flotilla which included the Mohawk, Nubian, Jervis and Janus. In this battle, all 5 merchant ships were sunk as well as 2 of the Italian destroyers, the Luca Tarigo and Baleno. In an act of bravery, the Italian destroyer Luca Tarigo, attempted to take on the entire British 14th Flotilla alone. A British shell eventually hit the Tarigo’s bridge, blowing the leg off the captain, Commander Pietro de Cristofero. With his leg crudely bandaged, he continued to exchange fire with the British warships until he died of loss of blood. The crew continued to fight on without him and managed to place the Tarigo between the British ships and the convoy. An ensign of the Tarigo managed to launch 3 torpedoes, sinking the HMS Mohawk before getting her steering gear destroyed and having the deckhouses go up in flames. The Luca Tarigo finally settled to the bottom of the sea after being hit numerous times.
YUGOSLAVIA
April 17 – Yugoslavia surrenders to Axis forces.
MEDITERRANEAN
April 21 – British naval forces bomb Tripoli.
LIBYA
April 22 – Rommel finds it increasingly difficult to capture the British. He places the blame on Italian units, especially the ‘Ariete” Division. However, it was the German 5th Light Division who became overwhelmed by British Matildas on April 22 and refused to attack. It was the Trento division, according to German accounts, who “erased” the British success against Rommel’s position in late April.
Rommel, glorified by British propaganda as a military genius because of recent British military defeats, begins to deprive Italians of captured goods, fail to include Italians in information exchange for a joint strategy, and destroys the chain of command of Axis African forces by continually seeking Hitler’s intrusion to avoid Italian superiors.
German and Italian commands disobey Rommel’s order to advance to Mersa Matruh, citing it best to protect the flanks by taking Siwa and Jarabub to the south. German air force warns Rommel that they would be unable to support a further advance.
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Your site is really nice , althrough you do NOT mention anything about the participation of Italy in the Balkan Front and especially about the attack to Greece on 28th of October 1940 and later.
Thank you