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ENFIDAVILLE
April 29 – Italian forces inflict considerable losses on the British 56th Division as soon as it reached the battlefield.
LIBYA
May 5 – The Italian Comando Supremo ( head of all Axis forces in Africa), orders Rommel to stop his advance in Egypt in order to concentrate all Italo-German forces on Operation Hercules. After heavy arguments between Italian and German command officials, Comando Supremo reluctantly postpones Operation Hercules.
May 26 - Trieste makes its way through British minefields and the Ariete destroy the III Indian Motor Brigade and hold the IV Armoured Brigade because the German 90th Light proved to weak to both attack and guard the Axis flank.
BATTLE OF GAZALA
Bersaglieri Motorcyclists in Egypt
26 May to 21 June – One of the high points of Rommel’s African military tactics in which Auchinleck and Ritchie could not take advantage of the situation and as a result, the British 8th army was beat back.
May 27 - Italian troops attack Bir Hacheim. Rommels Axis forces reach 10 miles behind the Gazala line. Italian engineers open a supply line in the west to Rommel’s forces.
May 28 - DAK runs out of fuel. The Ariete and Trieste divisions overrun British positions to assist the DAK. On the 28th and 29th of May, the Italian X Corps open up supply lines through the British minefields.
May 29 - Italian destroyer Emanuelle Pessagno is sunk off the coast of Libya by British submarine HMS Turbulent.
LIBYA
May 31 – Italian guns inflict heavy losses on the British near Sidra Ridge. The Ariete pound the II and XXII Armoured Brigade. Bastico reports “The Italian XX Corps fought well, the DAK, not so well. The 90th Light was in retreat.”
June 1 – Rommel’s Axis forces break through the Gazala line, destroying 100 British tanks and taking 3,000 British POW’s.
June 5 – 6 - British Commonwealth forces mount a major counteroffensive code named “Aberdeen”. The Italian X Corps holds them up in the North and the Trieste and 90th Light contain the French at Bir Hacheim. The Ariete joins the 15th and 21st Panzer to battle the 42nd and 7th Royal Tank Regiments, including the II, IV and XXII Armoured, IX and X Indian and the CCI Guards brigades. The Italo-German forces repulse the British at Sidra and Aslagh ridges. Approximately 6,000 commonwealth forces are killed or wounded, 150 tanks lost and 4,000 POW’s are taken between June 5 and 6.
June 7 - Italian forces rescue the German XV Brigade near Gazala.
MEDITERRANEAN
June 8 – Italian submarine smg. Alagi sinks the Italian destroyer Antonio Usodemare by tragic mistake.
LIBYA
June 9- Axis forces in Africa are low on ammunition and over 50% of their artillery and armor are destroyed. Italian forces strip the Littorio division to make the Ariete battle-ready.
June 11 – Bir Hacheim falls to an attack by the Trieste and the 12th Ariete pepper the XXII Armoured and CCI Guard brigades. After a decisive victory, the Ariete attack the IV Armoured Brigade with the 21st Panzer.
June – The British launch operation harpoon to supply Malta from Gibraltar under the command of Vice-Admiral A.T.B. Curteis in the flag ship Kenya. The British force consisted of 2 aircraft carriers, 3 cruisers, eight destroyers, 5 freighters,1 mine layer (Welshman) and 1 tanker.
June 14 – The Regia Marina sends the Italian 7th cruiser division (cruisers, submarines and torpedo bombers) under Admiral da Zara in the flagship Eugenio di Savoia from Palermo, Sicily to intercept. In the following battle the Regia Marina’s direct attack sank the British destroyer Bedouin and forced an altered and delaying route on the British, allowing the Axis air forces to reduce the convoy from 6 to 2 transports. Only 2 merchant ships, the Orari and Troilus, along with the Welshman, were able to make it to Malta.
June 15 – Italian cruiser Trento is sunk off Malta by British Submarine HMS Umbra.
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