If the Germans knew what would happen to the Italians and what their capabilities actually were. It would be better to:
Ship over a few batteries of 88 mm guns and a panzer battle group (50 tanks, some artillery and a motorized infantry regiment before the British do Compass in December 1940. Send the air force to suppress Malta earlier than OTL January 1941. Perhaps this small force can help the Italians establish a blocking position on the Egyptian frontier and the entire Africa Corps doesn't have to be deployed later.
Put the Panzer division saved (and the extra supply trucks saved) into army group north, Leningrad should fall in 1941 (it was close anyway). Hope the butterflies of this down the road allow you to reach a compromise peace with the Soviet Union later.
It just seems nothing in Turkey or Spain is worth the lives and $ spent in OTL or any ATL anybody can come up with. The Germans had done everything on the cheap before and expected Barbarossa to be on the cheap too. So the best bet is to keep everything quiet until they can complete that task.
Ship over a few batteries of 88 mm guns and a panzer battle group (50 tanks, some artillery and a motorized infantry regiment before the British do Compass in December 1940. Send the air force to suppress Malta earlier than OTL January 1941. Perhaps this small force can help the Italians establish a blocking position on the Egyptian frontier and the entire Africa Corps doesn't have to be deployed later.
Put the Panzer division saved (and the extra supply trucks saved) into army group north, Leningrad should fall in 1941 (it was close anyway). Hope the butterflies of this down the road allow you to reach a compromise peace with the Soviet Union later.
It just seems nothing in Turkey or Spain is worth the lives and $ spent in OTL or any ATL anybody can come up with. The Germans had done everything on the cheap before and expected Barbarossa to be on the cheap too. So the best bet is to keep everything quiet until they can complete that task.