The Italian army had three armoured divisions in Europe but all were needed for the occupation of Albania and the forthcoming invasion of Greece, which began on 28 October 1940.

The Raggruppamento Maletti was formed in June 1940, as part of the 10th Army (General Mario Berti) and contained all of the M11/39 medium tanks in Libya.

The group was destroyed at the Nibeiwa camp on 9 December, during Operation Compass, a British raid against the 10th Army positions inside Egypt.

The rest of the command and tank units arriving in Libya were combined in the Babini Group which was destroyed at the Battle of Beda Fomm (6–7 February 1941), the defeat of the 10th Army, which led to the British occupation of Cyrenaica.

The XXIII Corps (Generale di Corpo d'Armata Annibale Bergonzoli) comprised the un-motorised 64th Infantry Division "Catanzaro" and 4th CC.NN.

[5] A northern column with the Italian non-motorised divisions was to advance along the coast on the Via Balbia, cross the frontier and attack through the Halfaya Pass, to occupy Sollum and capture Sidi Barrani.

[6] The flanking manoeuvre by the Raggruppamento Maletti misfired, because it lacked adequate maps and navigation equipment for desert travel and the group got lost as it moved to its jumping-off point at Sidi Omar.

Once at Sidi Barrani, the army would consolidate, extend the Via Balbia by building the Via della Vittoria to move supplies forward, destroy British counter-attacks and then advance to Mersa Matruh.

[5] The 10th Army advanced to Sollum then along the coast road two divisions forward, behind a screen of motorcyclists, tanks, motorised infantry and artillery.

Mines had been laid but at the north-west corner, there was a gap in the minefield for delivery lorries and a British night reconnaissance found the entrance.

On 8 January, Maletti alerted the nearby 2nd Libyan Division that unusual low-level flying by the RAF was probably intended to disguise the movement of armoured units.

The 11th Indian Infantry Brigade Group and the 7th RTR attacked from the north-west, with Bren carriers on the flanks, all firing on the move.

About twenty Italian medium tanks outside the camp were destroyed in the initial British attack, while warming their engines before breakfast.