The 19th Infantry Brigade then advanced on Tobruk. The attack on this fortified town proceeded along similar lines to that on Bardia, with the 16th Infantry effecting a break-in of the position, but this time the 19th Infantry Brigade was to carry out the exploitation phase. Robertson's contribution to the plan was to increase its tempo, so that the attack would be carried through without pause, the exploitation being carried out before the initial break-in was complete. Robertson accepted the surrender of the fortress commander, Generale di Corpo d'Armata Pitassi Mannella, and later Admiral Massimiliano Vietina, the Italian naval commander. Comments by "a sunburnt red-headed Australian brigadier" made headlines in Britain, where senior officers rarely spoke to the media, but did not endear Robertson to his critics, who felt that his ego was out of control. Following the entry of the 19th Infantry Brigade to Benghazi on 7 February, Robertson declared "give me two stout ships and a bearing on Rome and we'll dine in the hall of the caesars".