Forewarned, the Italian garrison at Jalo had been warned and reinforced which easily repelled the attack on the night 15–16 September.

They then built up considerable supplies in Kufra and from there Hurman had the job of setting up a further dump en- route for Jalo.

During the previous night, part of our force had got around the back of the fort, but the Italian garrison put up quite a lot of resistance .

As I reckoned that the German aircraft would be out looking for us at first light, I ordered that a couple of broken-down vehicles should be towed out as a decoy beyond the wadi ahead.

All the other vehicles were carefully concealed in the sides of the wadi, with camouflage netting and scrub (even rubbing oil and then sand on any windscreens or shiny parts that might catch the sun and give away our position).