 Colonel England 's 2 / 3rd Infantry Battalion was supported by the guns of the 104th Regiment Royal Horse Artillery and a troop of the 7th Royal Tank Regiment . The tanks were late in arriving , and England postponed his attack to 1030 . The battalion came under artillery fire , mostly from a battery north of Bardia that was then engaged and silenced by the 104th Regiment Royal Horse Artillery . The advance resumed , only to come under machine gun and artillery fire from Wadi el Gerfan . An eight @-@ man section under Lance Corporal F. W. Squires was sent to reconnoitre the wadi but attacked a battery position instead and returned with 500 prisoners . The wadi was found to contain large numbers of Italian soldiers from technical units who , untrained for combat , surrendered in large numbers . One company captured over 2 @,@ 000 prisoners , including 60 officers . 
