Italian auxiliary cruiser Ramb II significant presence of Royal Navy in the Red Sea. With the start of Operation Compass in North Africa and the defeat of the Italian troops at Sidi Barrani on 9-12 December 1940, it became clear that it would be impossible for Italian troops in Libya to reach Italian East Africa to break its isolation. The fuel supplies were dwindling and were projected to be exhausted by June 1941. In anticipation of the inevitable fall of the colony, a plan was developed to send as many ships as possible to Japan or occupied France and to destroy all other ships that
Italian Studies in Southern Africa Italian Studies in Southern Africa Italian Studies in Southern Africa/Studi d’Italianistica nell’Africa Australe is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Association of Professional Italianists in South Africa/Associazione di Professori d’Italiano in Sudafrica. It is published in Italian and English and covers the field of Italian studies. The journal is abstracted and indexed in the MLA International Bibliography, Bibliografia Generale della Lingua e della Letteratura Italiana, and "Italinemo". It is listed as a journal qualifying authors for research support by the South African Department of Higher Education and Training and the Australian Research Council. The editor-in-chief is Anna Meda