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→Battle of Derna
Following the fall of Tobruk, O'Connor continued the advance towards Derna with the Australian 6th Division while sending 7th Armoured Division south of the Jebel Akhdar mountains towards Mechili. On 24 January the 4th Armoured Brigade engaged part of the BCS on the Derna-Mechili track. While the British tankers managed to destroy nine Italian tanks in the confrontation, they unexpectedly lost one cruiser and six other tanks. The following day, the Australian 2nd/11th Battalion clashed with the 60th Sabratha Infantry Division and Bersaglieri from the BCS defending Derna airfield and a nearby height. Regia Aeronautica bombers and fighters flew sorties against the Australian battalion as it attacked the determined Italian defences.<ref>https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1301&dat=19410201&id=FudjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BZUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7277,3450456&hl=en (Fight for Airfield, The Sydney Morning Herald, 1 February 1941) </ref>
Following the fall of Tobruk, O'Connor continued the advance towards Derna with the Australian 6th Division while sending 7th Armoured Division south of the Jebel Akhdar mountains towards Mechili. On 24 January the 4th Armoured Brigade engaged part of the BCS on the Derna-Mechili track. While the British tankers managed to destroy nine Italian tanks in the confrontation, they unexpectedly lost one cruiser and six other tanks. The following day, the Australian 2nd/11th Battalion clashed with the 60th Sabratha Infantry Division and Bersaglieri from the BCS defending Derna airfield and a nearby height. Regia Aeronautica bombers and fighters flew sorties against the Australian battalion as it attacked the determined Italian defences.<ref>https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1301&dat=19410201&id=FudjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BZUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7277,3450456&hl=en (Fight for Airfield, The Sydney Morning Herald, 1 February 1941) </ref>
On 27 January, the Australian 2nd/4th Battalion managed to survive a strong regimental-size counterattack from the Sabratha Division near Wadi Derna, when reinforcements from the Northumberland Fusiliers arrived in time to help the Australians.<ref> "At one point the 2/4th Battalion was pinned down and almost overrun by a force of about 1000 enemy infantry. It was only the timely arrival of the Northumberland Fusiliers that checked the Italian attack." (The Western Desert Campaign, 1940-41, Glenn Wahlert, Big Sky Publishing, 2009)</ref>
==Battle of Beda Fomm==
==Battle of Beda Fomm==