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On 31 March he launched fifty tanks backed up by the ''Brescia'' Infantry and ''Ariete'' Armoured Divisions and drove the Allies back in confusion. The British 7th Armoured and Australian 6th Infantry Divisions had been replaced by the inexperienced 2nd Armoured and 9th Infantry Divisions. The withdrawal cost the Australians heavily, with 1,000 men captured after the 8th Bersaglieri Regiment surrounded and captured Mechili.<ref>[http://www.testofbattle.com/files/RommelsFirstOffensive.pdf ROMMEL'S FIRST OFFENSIVE]</ref><ref>"The victory must have been especially sweet for the men of the Ariete Division, partly as recompense for past humiliations at British hands, and partly because it was an all-Italian triumph; Generalmajor Streich, Oberstleutnan Dr. Olbrich and Panzer Regiment 5 arrived too late to take part in the action and Gambier-Parry actually surrendered to Colonna Montemurro." Tobruk: The Great Siege, 1941–42, William F. Buckingham, , Random House, 2010</ref>

On 31 March he launched fifty tanks backed up by the ''Brescia'' Infantry and ''Ariete'' Armoured Divisions and drove the Allies back in confusion. The British 7th Armoured and Australian 6th Infantry Divisions had been replaced by the inexperienced 2nd Armoured and 9th Infantry Divisions. The withdrawal cost the Australians heavily, with 1,000 men captured after the 8th Bersaglieri Regiment surrounded and captured Mechili.<ref>[http://www.testofbattle.com/files/RommelsFirstOffensive.pdf ROMMEL'S FIRST OFFENSIVE]</ref><ref>"The victory must have been especially sweet for the men of the Ariete Division, partly as recompense for past humiliations at British hands, and partly because it was an all-Italian triumph; Generalmajor Streich, Oberstleutnan Dr. Olbrich and Panzer Regiment 5 arrived too late to take part in the action and Gambier-Parry actually surrendered to Colonna Montemurro." Tobruk: The Great Siege, 1941–42, William F. Buckingham, , Random House, 2010</ref>

   

   

At the start of Rommel's first desert offensive, he had at his disposal 130 panzers, over one-hundred German 88-mm Flak guns and 9,300 well-trained officers and other ranks from the ''Afrika Korps.''

At the start of Rommel's first desert offensive, he had at his disposal 130 panzers, over one-hundred German 88-mm Flak guns and 9,300 well-trained officers and other ranks from the ''Afrika Korps.''