After the fall of France, the war seemed to be near the end, at least in the minds of Axis leadership and especially of Benito Mussolini. The idea of an attack against Egypt from the Italian colony of Libya started to take shape in the Supreme Command, fuelled by Mussolini’s infinite ambitions. , governor of Libya and superior commander for the North African theatre, was well aware of the deficiencies in equipment and training that his forces experienced. He urged the supreme command to send machine guns, tanks, artilleries and, most importantly, trucks.