Effectiveness of the Italian Auto-Saharan Companies?

[FramFramson]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-Saharan_Company

These were Italian units effective similar in composition and purpose to the much more famous LRDG/SAS/Popski bunch that the Brits fielded.

Just wondering if anyone knows more about how effective they were? Obviously the LRDG have come out with the higher praise, with even Rommel and the like complimenting their well-known exploits, but it seems the Auto-Saharans had a much larger number of active personnel (5000 fighting men at one point!) as well as a much larger amount of air support. Also, unlike most of the Italian land forces, it seems they had a reasonable number of quality, purpose-built vehicles.

Yet I can't seem to find any records of their impact on the theatre, successful operations, etc. The wiki article only seems to mention that they were hampered by a shortage of gasoline, which doesn't seem to tell the full story at all. Any of our Italian members know more? This seems fascinating as I didn't even know that the Axis had any sort of comparable operations at all!