Operation Sonnenblume
Operation Sonnenblume (/Operation Sunflower) was the name given to the dispatch of German troops to North Africa in February 1941, during the Second World War. The Italian 10th Army had been destroyed by the British, Commonwealth, Empire and Allied Western Desert Force attacks during Operation Compass The first units of the new (DAK, Erwin Rommel) departed Naples for Africa and arrived on 11 February 1941. (In the English-speaking world, the term became a generic title for German forces in North Africa.) On 14 February, advanced units of the 5th Light "Afrika" Division (later renamed the 21st Panzer Division), 3 (Reconnaissance Battalion 3) and 39 (Anti-tank Detachment 39) arrived in Tripoli, Libya and were sent immediately to the front line east of Sirte.