7th Armoured Division (United Kingdom) of Major-General Richard O'Connor, was massively outnumbered. However, the Italian Army consisted largely of leg infantry; its artillery dated back to the First World War, it had no armoured cars and a few antitank weapons, which were effective only against light and cruiser tanks. As such, it proved to be no match for the British. The Western Desert Force captured 130,000 Italians as prisoners of war (POWs) between December 1940 and February 1941 in piecemeal battles. During the Italian retreat in January 1941, Major-General O'Connor ordered the Desert Rats to travel south of the Jebel Akhdar and cut off the
7th Division (Imperial Japanese Army) arrived to front lines, with 26th infantry regiment in particular noted for finally stopping a Soviet advance. Because the Hokkaido was left mostly undefended, the "7th division" has returned to Asahikawa, Hokkaido in August 1940, being subordinated directly to Imperial General Headquarters as part of the strategic reserve. Also in 1940, the 25th infantry regiment was transferred to "Sakhalin mixed brigade", which become 88th division in February 1945. As result, the "7th division" has become the triangular division. In 1942, despite its specialization in Arctic warfare, the 28th Infantry Regiment of the 7th Division, under the command of Kiyonao Ichiki