 On the northern edge of the wadi, a bold counter-attack with artillery support was made across open ground by the 10th of the Babini Group, which with reports in the morning that the group was attacking round the southern flank, deterred the Australians from continuing the advance on Derna, at the cost of forty killed and 

During 27 January, Australian attempts to attack were met by massed artillery-fire, against which the Australian artillery reply was rationed to ten rounds per-gun-per-day; the 2/4th Australian Battalion repulsed another counter-attack by an Italian infantry battalion.A column of Bren Carriers of the 6th Australian Cavalry Regiment was sent south to reconnoitre the area where the Italian tanks had been reported.The column was ambushed by a party from the Babini Group with concealed anti-tank guns and machine guns; four Australians were killed and three taken prisoner.