had been found. In 1942, Ramcke's unit, later known as Ramcke Parachute Brigade, was sent to North Africa to join Rommel's Afrikakorps. The brigade supported the offensive towards the Suez Canal, but when the offensive got bogged down they entered the line at El Alamein. During the withdrawal of the Afrikakorps, the Brigade was surrounded and written off as lost by the high command since it had no organic transport. Rather than surrender, Ramcke led his troops out of the British trap and headed west, losing about 450 men in the process. They soon captured a British supply column that provided not only trucks, but also food, tobacco and other luxuries. About 600 of the paras later rejoined the Afrikakorps in late November 1942. Ramcke was sent back to Germany, where he was awarded the Oak Leaves to the Knights Cross personally by Adolf Hitler. In 1943 Ramcke, now a generalleutnant, took command of 2nd Parachute Division and transferred to Italy. When Italy signed the armistice with the Allies on 8 September 1943, the division took part in Operation Achse to seize the country. Ramcke led his division in an assault on Italian Army units near Rome, and captured the city two days later. He was badly injured when an Italian aircraft ran his car off the road, and was medically evacuated to Germany. Also in 1943, Ramcke completed a memoir entitled From Cabin Boy to Paratroop General. The book was published by Franz Eher Nachfolger, the Nazi Party's press, and Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels ordered all German mayors to purchase a copy. A total of 400,000 copies of the book were sold, which considerably enriched Ramcke as well as Hitler, who owned a large share of the publisher. Ramcke returned to service in mid-February 1944. At this time the 2nd Parachute Division was deployed to the Eastern Front where it was retreating. Ramcke soon fell ill, and returned to Germany on 17 March. He rejoined the division, which was now stationed near Cologne, on 5 or 6 May. Following the Allied D-Day landings on 6 June, 2nd Parachute Division was sent to the Brittany region of France, and took up defensive positions at Brest. Following Operation Cobra, the allied breakout from Normandy, Major-General Troy H. Middleton's U.S. VIII Corps hooked right from Normandy and attacked the Brittany region. The German forces in the region fell back on Brest,