On the night of 23/24 November, about 300 men of the 15th Sikhs left Alexandria by trawler for Matruh and then to withdraw the garrison from Sollum but found that the 100-odd Egyptians from Sollum were already at Matruh, having sailed east on a coastguard ship Rasheed. The garrison at Sidi Barrani repulsed an attack late on 22 November and retreated before dawn, arriving at Matruh on 24 November; Buq Buq  100 mi  west of Matruh was also abandoned, although about 134 members of the Egyptian coastguard deserted to the Senussi with their equipment and 176 camels, after which a small force of Egyptian cavalry and infantry at Matruh were sent back to the delta in disgrace. As soon as Sollum was evacuated, ships arrived full of munitions for the Senussi. By 3 December, the Matruh garrison had increased to 1,400 men and by 10 November, the Western Frontier Force  had arrived with an artillery battery, two 4 in  guns of the Royal Marine Artillery Heavy Battery from Alexandria and two Royal Flying Corps  B.E.2c aircraft from A Flight of 14 Squadron RFC, which began operations on 5 December.. How many days after the Western Frontier Force arrived, did operations begin?