Libya. Erwin Rommel welcomes the Italians Bastico and Barbasetti (who wish to follow Il Duce’s orders regarding the invasion of Malta) with a harangue about striking while the iron is hot (the Eighth Army is in rout) and also hints at a possible meeting in the Persian Gulf with the Italian-German forces arriving from the Caucasus. He bids them farewell by concluding: “From now on, I invite you to breakfast in Cairo.” This is likely the mistake that will decide the outcome of the North African campaign: the Folgore paratroopers will find themselves marching among the sand dunes of El Alamein, and the Alpine Corps will be sent to the plains of the Don Bend.
