The administrative plan for Crusader

The administrative plan for the Crusader operation included three "Forward Bases":

1. Sidi Barrani
2. Thalata, "just west of Misheifa railhead"
3. one "on the frontier near Jarabub for the Oasis Force"

The expectation was that they would need 32,000 tons of supplies for the first week of the offensive. After that, they had hoped to have relieved Tobruk and would be able to ship supplies into the port. That did not happen, so we can only imagine the disruptions that caused. An innovation was the transformation of Field Supply Depots into the Field Maintenance Centres. Four FMC's supported 30th Corps and two supported 13th Corps (the Official History switched from Roman numerals to the numbers at this point in Vol.III). This is based on the account in Vol.III of the Official History.