Berchtesgaden, the “eagle’s nest.” Hitler and Mussolini meet, accompanied by a large entourage of generals. Things take a turn for the better. Never before had German soldiers raised their flag over such a vast territory: from the Urals to the Atlantic, from the North Cape and the North Sea to Africa. But Hitler’s strategic thinking extends even further: a gigantic pincer movement whose branches, one through the Caucasus, the other through Egypt, would close in on the Persian Gulf, and then make contact with the Japanese via India. A staunch landsman, the Führer harbors an innate aversion to amphibious operations. He neglects the capture of Gibraltar and Malta. Instead, a strike force composed of the Friuli, Livorno, and Superga divisions, the San Marco naval regiment, and the paratroopers and sappers of the Folgore, is prepared for Malta. It is Operation Hercules. The island is subjected to daily bombing by 300 aircraft. Of the 200 Spitfires defending the island, only seven remain. But then Rommel convinces Hitler to postpone the landing on Malta, in order to take Tobruk. And so the Folgore paratroopers, created for the landing on Malta, will be destined to trudge through the Libyan sands.
