Rommel: When Hitler sent Rommel to Libya to command the Africa Korps, his purpose was to help the Italians contain and "hold the line" defensively, but Hitler underestimated Rommel's ability and his resourcefulness. Outwitting his British opponents at every turn he pushed them back to the Egyptian border, but in the process he stretched his long and tenuous supply lines, which went all the way back across the Mediterranean Sea to the Italian mainland. With the Mediterranean Sea controlled by the British Navy it was a forgone conclusion that Rommel's forces would wither for lack of supplies and be defeated at the battle of El Alamein.