Aug I 41 Allied turn

Malta status now 0

All supply convoys are sunk by anti shipping assets; Malta will be unsupplied next turn.
Deciding it’s time that Cyprus was garrisoned, the Allies ship an MG II and the SA armoured car regiment (II) there. 8th Army now has 5 Inf XX in line, plus 3 x 3-8 Inf X, an armoured XX plus the equivalent of three more armoured X (mostly 6 mp Infantry Tanks) and a support group, 3 Art X, and air superiority (albeit with significantly inferior bombers).  And plenty of supply.
They can mount a 70 pt attack with net -1 AECD. So they hit 5Le and its 20 pt stack again.
In big air battles 7 Pt DS are added, with an Me110 and a JU87 killed and a CR42 aborted.
9 pts GS area added for a final ratio of 79:27 = 2.9:1 -1 HX.
Losses; 5Le cadred, 3-10 mot inf, 1-10 Hvy AA, and a 3-4-8 German Art eliminated. Italian losses are a 2-3-6 Art, a 1-8 Mot art, and a tk II. The British cadre 70th Inf XX and eliminate a 3-8 inf X.
This time 8th Army does advance, putting nearly the whole of DAK into a ZOC.

Aug I Axis turn

The Axis  transfer the Ju88s back from the front line to Malta and together with the forces already on Sicily obtain 5 hits on Malta status for one Ju88 aborted.
0.5 it and 0.5 German Inf repl pts are sunk.
A general withdrawal gets underway, with temporary airfields destroyed and DAK acting as rear guard. A hapless It inf XX is a speedbump ZOCing in 8th Army.

Aug II Allied turn

Malta status now 2

All Malta supply convoys are sunk.
8th Army kills the Inf XX speedbump and closes on DAK again. It Losses are 1 x 3-6 Inf XX and 1 x 2-3-8 Art III

Aug II Axis turn

3 hits on Malta, status now 5.
The Ger 2-8 Inf III arrives safely at Tobruch.
DAK retreats to Halfaya, leaving the Italian Inf XX behind.