page_title: Babini Group
section_title: Derna–Mechili
hierarchical_section_title: Babini Group / Operations / Derna–Mechili
caption_attribution_description: English: Gulf of Bomba beteen Derna and Tobruk. العربية: خليج البمبة بين بين درنة، وطبرق.
context_page_description: The Babini Group was an ad hoc armoured unit. The group was formed by the Italian Royal Army in Italian North Africa at the start of the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. The group was formed in Libya, to be part of an armoured division assembled from tanks in the colony and from units sent from Italy. The new division was incomplete when the British began Operation Compass in December but the Babini Group fought in defence of the area between Mechili and Derna in late January.
  On 23 January, the group managed to inflict tank losses during a counter-attack on the 11th Hussars and force a delay in the Australian advance on Derna. The group then formed a rearguard for the 10th Army as it retreated from Derna and Mechili round the Jebel Akhdar towards the port of Benghazi. The Babini Group was destroyed south of the port at the Battle of Beda Fomm, when the Litoranea Balbo was cut by Combeforce. The Italians failed to concentrate their remaining tanks at the head of the column before Combeforce was reinforced and were defeated in detail, with possibly only nine tanks escaping to the south.
context_section_description: The area east of the Jebel Akhdar mountains around Derna, was garrisoned by XX Corps (Lieutenant-General Annibale Bergonzoli) with the 60th Infantry Division "Sabratha" and the Babini Group, which had already lost some of its tanks in Tobruk. The III Medium Battalion and the V Medium Battalion had an establishment of 55 M13/40 tanks each, which should have amounted to at least 120 M13s in the group but 82 had recently been landed at Benghazi. The new tanks needed ten days to be made battle-worthy and a three-day journey to reach Mechili but in the crisis, tanks were rushed forward, driving on their tracks due to a lack of tank transporters, which reduced the serviceability of the vehicles. A defensive position was established by the 60th Infantry Division Sabratha on a line from Derna along Wadi Derna, with the Babini Group concentrating at El Ghezze Scebib, south of Mechili and Giovanni Berta and Chaulan, to guard the flank and rear of the infantry.
  On 22 January, the British advanced towards Derna with the 19th Australian Brigade and sent another Australian brigade to reinforce the 4th Armoured Brigade, 7th Armoured Division, south of the Jebel Akhdar, for an advance on Mechili. Next day, the 10th Army commander, General Giuseppe Tellera ordered a counter-attack against the British as they approached Mechili, to avoid an envelopment of XX Corps from the south but communication within the Babini Group was slow, only the tanks of senior commanders having wireless sets. Next day, 10–15 M13/40s of the Babini Group attacked the 7th Hussars of the 4th Armoured Brigade, which was heading west to cut the Derna–Mechili track north of Mechili. The Italians fired on the move, hit several tanks and pursued as the British swiftly retired, calling for help from the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment (2nd RTR) as they did, which ignored the signals through complacency. By 11:00 a.m., the British had lost several light tanks and a cruiser tank, one cruiser had a jammed gun and the third was retiring at speed, after needing fifty rounds to knock out two M13s. Eventually the 2nd RTR was alerted, caught the Italian tanks while sky-lined on a ridge and knocked out seven tanks by 11:30 a.m., the British losing of the cruiser and six light tanks.
  Tellera intended to use the Babini Group to harass the British southern flank to cover a withdrawal from Mechili but Graziani ordered him to wait on events. By the evening, a report had arrived from Babini that the group was down from 50 to 60 tanks and that their performance had been disappointing, along with alarmist tales of 150 British tanks advancing round the southern flank. Graziani ordered Tellera to disengage the Babini Group by next morning. Some tanks had been held back at Benghazi and work had begun on a defensive position at Sirte, 440 mi (710 km) to the south. In the north, on 25 January, the 2/11th Australian Battalion engaged the 60th Infantry Division Sabratha and the 10th "Bersaglieri"of the Babini Group at Derna airfield, making slow progress against determined resistance. Italian bombers and fighters flew sorties against the 2/11th Australian Battalion, as it attacked the airfield and high ground at Siret el Chreiba. The 10th "Bersaglieri"swept the flat ground with field artillery and machine-guns, stopping the Australian advance 3,000 yd (2,743 m) short of the objective.
  On 26 January, Graziani ordered Tellera to continue the defence of Derna and to use the Babini Group to stop an advance westwards from Mechili–Derna. Tellera requested more tanks but this was refused, until the defences of Derna began to collapse the next day. During the day, the 2/4th Australian Battalion, in the Derna–Giovanni Berta area, attacked and cut the Derna–Mechili road, a company crossing Wadi Derna during the night. On the northern edge of the wadi, a bold counter-attack, with artillery support, was made across open ground by the 10th "Bersaglieri" of the Babini Group, which with reports in the morning that the group was attacking round the southern flank, deterred the Australians from continuing the advance o
caption: Gulf of Bomba
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