On 8 December, before the 10th Army was ready to resume its advance on Mersa Matruh, the Western Desert Force (WDF) began Operation Compass, a five-day raid against the fortified Italian camps outside Sidi Barrani.

The WDF pursued the remnants of the 10th Army along the coast to Sollum and across the border to Bardia, Tobruk, Derna, Mechili, Beda Fomm and El Agheila on the Gulf of Sirte.

Italian land and air forces in Libya greatly outnumbered the British in Egypt but suffered from poor morale and were handicapped by some inferior equipment.

[5] The Western Desert is about 240 mi (390 km) long, from Mersa Matruh in Egypt, west to Gazala on the Libyan coast, along the Via Balbia, the only paved road.

[7] The Sirocco (Gibleh or Ghibli), a hot desert wind, blows clouds of fine sand, reducing visibility to a few yards and coating eyes, lungs, machinery, food and equipment.

Motor vehicles and aircraft need special oil and air filters and the barren ground means that water and food as well as military stores, have to be transported from outside.

Pariani began a reorganisation of the army to fight wars of rapid decision, according to thinking that speed, mobility and new technology could revolutionise military operations.

[10] The reforms also promoted the tactics of frontal assault to the exclusion of other theories of war, dropping the emphasis on fast, mobile warfare backed by artillery.

[13]and demanding more equipment including 1,000 trucks, 100 water tankers, more medium tanks and anti-tank guns, which the Italian economy could not produce or the army transfer from elsewhere.

In Rome, Badoglio, the chief-of-staff, fobbed him off with promises, "When you have the seventy medium tanks you will dominate the situation", as Balbo prepared to invade Egypt on 15 July.

The Maletti Group comprised three battalions of Libyan infantry, additional artillery, much of the Italian armoured vehicle element in Libya and almost all of the M11/39 medium tanks.

[17] Operational commands of the Regia Aeronautica (Royal Italian Air Force) were called Zona Aerea Territoriale, Squadra or the Comando of an area.

[13] Berti could expect little support from the Royal Italian Navy (Regia Marina), because ten submarines had been lost since Italy declared war, the fleet was too important to risk and was short of fuel.

A southern column of the Libyan divisions and the Maletti Group was to advance along the Dayr al Hamra–Bir ar Rabiyah–Bir Enba track, to outflank the British on the escarpment.

[23] The embarrassment of the Maletti Group added to doubts about the lack of lorries, transport aircraft and British domination of the terrain, which led to another change of plan.

The covering force was to exaggerate its size and the 7th Support Group was to use its mobility to cover the desert flank, while along the coast road, the 3rd Coldstream Guards, a company of the 1st Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC) and a company of Free French Motor Marines, with supporting artillery and machine-gunners, would fall back in stages, demolishing the road as they retired.

O'Connor was to organise aggressive patrolling along the frontier and set out to dominate no-man's land by creating "jock columns", mobile combined-arms formations based on units of 7th Armoured Division.

Within a week, the 11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own) had seized Fort Capuzzo and at an ambush east of Bardia, captured the 10th Army Engineer-in-Chief, Brigadier-General Romolo Lastrucci.

On 13 August, the British raids were stopped to conserve the serviceability of vehicles; the 7th Support Group took over to observe the wire for 60 mi (97 km) from Sollum to Fort Maddalena, ready to fight delaying actions if the Italians invaded Egypt.

On 10 September, the armoured cars of the 11th Hussars spotted the Maletti Group and a thick mist shielded the British as they shadowed the slow Italian assembly.

When the dust cleared the Italian army could be seen drawn up, ready to advance against the British covering force of the 3rd Coldstream Guards, some field artillery, an extra infantry battalion and a machine-gun company.

[34] The Italian formation made an easy target for artillery and aircraft but the 1st Libyan Division soon occupied Sollum barracks and began to move down the escarpment to the port.

At Alam el Dab near Sidi Barrani, about fifty Italian tanks, motorised infantry and artillery tried an outflanking move, which forced the Coldstream Guards to retreat.

No bold mechanised strokes or flanking movements had been made by the armoured units, XXIII Corpo d'Armata had guarded the infantry instead and the 10th Army suffered fewer than 550 casualties during the advance.

[40] Wavell wrote, The greatest possible credit is due to Brigadier William Gott, MC, commanding the Support Group, and to Lieutenant-Colonel John Campbell, MC, commanding the Artillery, for the cool and efficient way in which this withdrawal was carried out, also to the troops for their endurance and tactical skill.Repair works began on the coast road, renamed Via della Vittoria from Bardia and construction of a water pipe begun, which were not expected to be ready before mid-December, after which the advance would be resumed as far as Matruh.

[45] In 1997, Giorgio Bocca wrote that the WDF suffered casualties of forty men killed, ten tanks, eleven armoured cars and four lorries destroyed.

Small British columns on land were set up to work with armoured car patrols, moving close to the Italian camps, gleaning information and dominating the vicinity.

[47] On 8 December the British began Operation Compass, a five-day raid against the fortified Italian camps set up in a defensive line outside Sidi Barrani.

The British pursued the remnants of the 10th Army to Sollum, Bardia, Tobruk, Derna, Mechili, Beda Fomm and El Agheila on the Gulf of Sirte.

The British lost 1,900 men killed and wounded, about ten per cent of their infantry, in capturing 133,298 Italian and Libyan prisoners, 420 tanks and over 845 guns and aircraft.