at Gazala and the loss of Tobruk, Auchinleck offered his resignation on 22 June, which was declined. To slow the Axis advance into Egypt, the British command intended to form a defensive position at the Cyrenaica–Egypt frontier, along the Frontier Wire ("the wire"). XIII Corps (Lieutenant-General William Gott), was to fall back in a delaying action. Axis forces reached the wire on 23 June, shortly after the XIII Corps. There was no time to mount a defence and the Eighth Army lacked the armour to defend the open southern end of the position. Gott recommended falling back another to the Mersa Matruh position. British rearguards tried to destroy the fuel and ammunition dumped there and then Gott withdrew without engaging the . The British command ordered the Eighth Army to prepare to fight a decisive action at Mersa Matruh. Rommel requested freedom of manoeuvre from Mussolini to pursue the Eighth Army into Egypt, which was granted. Additional fuel, equipment and munitions were salvaged from remaining British stores at the frontier. Rommel pushed on unopposed through the night and the next day, meeting no resistance from British forces on the ground but increasing attack from the air. The Desert Air Force which was growing in strength and operating nearer to its bases, while the and were operating farther away from theirs. After the reverses at Gazala and Tobruk, the Eighth Army was disorganised and shaken but not demoralised. Auchinleck realised a change in command was necessary and on 25 June he relieved Ritchie, and assumed personal responsibility for the command of the Eighth Army. He issued directives to change the Eighth Army into a force that stressed mobility and made it clear that his highest priority was keeping the Eighth Army intact as a fighting force. The last defensive position before Alexandria was El Alamein. Auchinleck was preparing defences there but a mobile defensive battle was to be fought from Mersa Matruh to the El Alamein gap. It had become apparent to Auchinleck that non-mobile formations were helpless against mobile forces and he could ill afford to lose more formations. He shifted transport to enable the infantry formations with XIII Corps to be fully motorised and stressed that the Eighth Army forces fighting at Mersa Matruh must not allow themselves to be cut off. Prelude Mersa Matruh (: anchorage) was a small coastal port east of the wire, halfway between Cyrenica