arrived at Benghazi, with thirty-seven M13/40s and another thirty-six M13/40s for the XXI Tank Battalion "L", which was waiting at Benghazi to convert to the new vehicle, having lost its L3/35 tankettes in the fall of Tobruk. Neither battalion had time to acclimatise or train but were sent to reinforce the Bignami Group ( Colonel Riccardo Bignami) near Solluch. Prelude Maletti Group The Maletti Group ( General Pietro Maletti) was formed at Derna the same day as the main motorised unit of the 10th Army and the first Italian combined arms unit in North Africa. The group comprised the LX Tank Battalion "L", the remaining M11/39 company from the II Tank Battalion "M", seven Libyan motorised infantry battalions, motorised artillery and supply units. After the invasion of Egypt in September 1940, the 10th Army began to prepare an advance to Mersa Matruh for 16 December but was forestalled by Operation Compass. Only the IX Tank Battalion "L", the II Tank Battalion "M" with M11/39s, with the Maletti Group at Nibeiwa camp and the LXIII and XX Tank Battalion "L"s were still in Egypt. The camp at Nibeiwa was a rectangle about , with a bank and an anti-tank ditch. A minefield had been laid but at the north-west corner, there was a gap for delivery lorries and a British night reconnaissance found the entrance. The British attacked the rear of the camp from the north-west at on 9 December, with infantry and Matilda infantry tanks leading and Bren carriers on the flanks, all firing on the move. About twenty of the Maletti Group M11/39s outside the camp, were destroyed in the first rush. By the camp had been overrun and and Libyan prisoners captured, along with a large quantity of supplies and water, for a British loss of After the battle an Australian war correspondent, Alan Moorehead, visited Nibeiwa and saw tanks inside the camp facing in all directions and light tank wrecks at the west wall where the Maletti Group had made its last stand. In his history of the 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment, Maurizio Parri wrote that a company of II Tank Battalion "M" M11/39s had tried to counter-attack the British Matildas but the crews misunderstood flag signals which caused delays and the attack failed. Maletti was wounded while rallying his men, then retreated to his tent with a machine-gun where he was killed. Babini Group In early