The attack on the border areas near Halfaya Pass had some implications. For the infantry attack to succeed, the infantry tanks would be required, as there was insufficient artillery available. The problem was that the rush to attack precluded time for infantry and tanks to train together.
A battle with German tanks was a certainty, and the logical thing to do would be to pull the Matildas into that battle, as they had the same gun as the cruiser tanks but had superior armour to anything on the battlefield. That meant that the commanders needed to establish good coordination between the 7th Armoured Division and the 4th Indian Division. For that to be assured, General Beresford-Peirse would have needed to be positioned forward, close to the battle. But he was further back, due to limitations to the British communications equipment. This is based on the account in Vol.II of the Official History.
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