Maletti Group Attacks BRITISH RETREAT 220KM

“Graziani began the invasion of Egypt on 13 September, intending to squeeze the enemy between both offensives. His five divisions with 200 tanks stormed the border, taking Sollum, while the British Western Desert Force, consisting of the 7th Armoured and 4th Indian Division (and Free French Marines, Goums and Senussi rebels), fell back. Just two days later, the Italians had penetrated sixty miles, overrunning Sidi Barrani. After four days on the march, Graziani halted the 10th Army eighty miles west of the British defenses dug in at Mersa Matruh.“ (Mussolini’s War, Frank Joseph, p. 62, Casemate Publishers, 2010) “Deploying an armored screen to their front, the British withdrew to Mersa Matruh about 220 kilometers east of the Libyan border on the coastal road.“ (A Military History of Africa, Timothy J. Stapleton, p. 216, ABC-CLIO, 2013) “The Treaty of 1936 made Egypt responsible for her own defence — in theory at any rate — although her army was to come under British