 Mackay wrote in a diary note on 6 January that the " Germans cannot possibly keep out of Africa now . " In Germany , the Chancellor , Adolf Hitler , was unconcerned by the military implications of the loss of Libya but deeply troubled by the prospect of a political reverse that could lead to the fall of Mussolini . On 9 January 1941 , he revealed his intention to senior members of the Wehrmacht to send German troops to North Africa , in Unternehmen Sonnenblume ; henceforth , German troops played an important role in the fighting in North Africa . 
