It had been arranged that French engineers would prepare the bridges over the canals for demolition but this had not occurred and the British had no explosives to do it themselves.
Shortly after Hoskyns (commanding the 1st RB) was mortally wounded, Lieutenant Colonel Keller, commanding the 3rd RTR, decided that his few remaining tanks, under shellfire near the Bastion de l'Estran, could no longer play any useful part in the defence.