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Six. General Wilson has the following forces

available for use in an engagement at Matruh.

7th Armoured Division reinforced by tank regiments recently arrived from home, 4th Indian Division which at present consists of two brigades of one British and two Indian battalions each, Matruh Garrison which consists two field artillery regiments, one medium battery, one heavy battery, five rifle battalions, one machine gun battalion. Egyptians have been withdrawn from Matruh. One battalion of I tanks in close support of Matruh position, 16th British Brigade Group, recently moved from Palestine, and New Zealand Brigade Group. Australian Brigade Group would also be available from its present position west of Alexandria, Further east Polish Brigade is holding a position west of Alexandria while second brigade of the Australian Division is moving into the area south west of Alexandria to cover the defence of that city. The concentration of these forces is considered by General Wilson to be sufficient to meet the threat opposed to him and to enable him to defeat it, provided he is assured of adequate air support.

Seven. Inundations have been carried out and anti tank obstacles created further to strengthen the defence of Alexandria,

Eight. I am to have early opportunity of seeing all these dispositions and defences on the ground.

Nine. If the enemy does not advance, harassing operations referred to above will continue. Future offensive operations on the above basis were also discussed. It is hoped that these can be launched on a serious scale in this sector in January but the posisibility of such operations being undertaken with a fair prospect of success depends upon the provision of certain items of equipment and particularly M.T. I shall bring back full details of these..

Ten. As stated in paragraph six above, General Wilson's ability to defeat the enemy in any attack that he may make in the near future is dependent upon adquate air support. Liaison between Army and Air Force is excellent and R.A.F. are giving support, for which no praise can be too high, within their existing limited resources. But both C.-in-C. and A.0.C.-in-C. are emphatic that present strength of Air Force in Middle East does not permit of that support being given to the army in battle which is essential for success. Reinforcements of the R.A.F. is the pressing need of the hour here and will, I am convinced, prove to be the decisive factor.

Eleven.

Present R.A.F. dispositions in Egyptian theatre are as follows.

(A) Western Desert. Three fighter squadrons (two Gladiators one Hurricane). Bombers. A sufficient force of Wellingtons and Bombays to enable three Wellingtons and three Bombays to attack Benghasi and Tobruk

each night. This is the greatest effort that can be sustained. One Lysander squadron for army co-operation under G.0.0. Western Desert. This squadron contains a proportion of Gladiators to protect Lysanders on reconnaissance. (B) Alexandria. One Blenheim fighter and one Hurricane squadron south west of Alexandria for fighter defence of

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