The 1st Armored Division's first action against the Germans was not promising, when Combat Command 'B' (CCB) and other Allied forces were thrown back after an advance by German forces. On the night of 10–11 December 1942, during a withdrawal from Medjez el Bab, the focal point of the enemy attack, scores of combat vehicles of CCB—tanks, half-tracks, and tank destroyers — had bogged down in thick mud and had to be abandoned. The tanks were so badly mired that the advancing Germans themselves could not extricate them. It was a crippling loss. In its brief experience in action, CCB had lost 32 medium and 46 light tanks. The combat vehicles that remained were in poor condition after their long overland journey to the front lines.