Creagh's division was to travel via Mechili, Msus and Antelat (the bottom of the semicircle), while the Australian 6th Division chased the retreating Italian Tenth Army along the coast road round the Jebel Akhdar mountains to the north (the curve of the semicircle). The poor terrain was hard going for the tanks, and Creagh took the bold decision to send a flying column – christened "Combe Force" – south-west across the virtually unmapped Libyan Desert. Combe Force, under its namesake Lieutenant Colonel John Combe of the 11th Hussars, consisted of the 11th Hussars, a squadron of the King's Dragoon Guards, the 2nd Battalion Rifle Brigade, an RAF armoured car squadron, anti-tank guns from 3rd Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery and C Battery, 4th Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery. The force totalled about 2,000 men. On 5 February, Combe Force succeeded in cutting off the Italians at Sidi Saleh and Beda Fomm. The small force held the Italians long enough to be joined by the armour of 4 Brigade on 6 February. The bulk of the Tenth Army surrendered the next day as a result of this successful blockade of their path.