Combeforce or Combe Force was an ad hoc flying column of the British Army during the Second World War, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel John Combe. It comprised parts of the 7th Armoured Division (Major-General Sir Michael O'Moore Creagh) of the Western Desert Force. The rapid British advance during Operation Compass (9 December 1940 – 9 February 1941) forced the Italian 10th Army (10ª Armata) to evacuate Cyrenaica, the eastern province of Libya. In late January, the British learned that the Italians were retreating from Benghazi, along the coast road (the Litoranea Balbo recently renamed the Via Balbia after the death of Italo Balbo, the Governor General of Libya). The 7th Armoured Division was dispatched to intercept the remnants of the 10th Army by moving through the desert, south of the