Wavell Against the 150,000 Italians — Egypt, September 1940

General Archibald Wavell, British Commander-in-Chief Middle East from Cairo, administers an immense theatre stretching from the Sudan to Palestine. An officer noted for his composure and his learning, he commands a handful of divisions where Mussolini's Italy fields hundreds of thousands of men in Libya and East Africa.

His Western Desert Force, under General Richard O'Connor, numbers about 36,000 men, 275 tanks and 120 guns, deployed around Mersa Matruh. For weeks, convoys have been bringing him up to 1,000 men a day, along with matériel and vehicles to reinforce his limited numbers.

On 13 September 1940, Marshal Rodolfo Graziani launches the Italian 10th Army — some 150,000 men, 1,600 guns — across the frontier. In three days, the Italians advance some sixty miles and halt on 16 September at Sidi Barrani, where they dig in within a series of fortified camps to await supplies and reinforcements.

Wavell is massively outnumbered. The chiefs of staff reckon, however, that the Italians are short of fuel and food. On 11 September, Wavell gathers his subordinates to settle the course of action against an enemy vast in number but at the end of his logistics.