This was accepted and 30 craft were constructed.20 were sent out to the Med. and the remaining 10 formed the first training
flotilla in the UK. The craft were built in four sections with each section being transported on the deck of a cargo vessel.
At Port Said/Port Tewfick the sections were assembled. Modifications to the design were requested and 72 of the Mk2s were constructed.
32 of them were transported to the Med. and assembled as the Mk1s.
More or less at the same time HMS Saunders
the Combined Operations Base for the area was established at Kabret on the Bitter Lakes - Suez. Also the
Inshore Squadron was formed whose function was to protect and keep the Army supplied as it moved up and down the coastal
strip according to changes in the fortunes of war. Again I have not the time to provide details of the make up of the
Squadron etc. other than to say that as the craft of the WDLF became operational they became part of it.
On the 13th September,1940 the Italian Army advanced into Egypt but stopped at Sidi Birani.
On the 9th December,
after Wavell had built up his hardware and troop numbers, he attacked. It was only to be a "recce" in strength in order to
keep the Italians quiet as he had many other problems in his area of responsibility. However, the attack was so successful
that he pushed the Italians right round the coastal strip and finally routed them at Beda Fomm not far from the border
between the two Libyan provinces of Cyrenaica and Tripolitania.
Hitler could not let the Italian Army be thrown out of North Africa so he sent Rommel with two Panzer divisions
to Tripoli on the 14th February.
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