the italians remained suspicious of french intentions after legentilhomme was replaced by germaine, of a british invasion through djibouti. despite orders from rome to be cautious, aosta wanted to occupy djibouti to forestall its use by the allies, with a simultaneous advance on berbera to counter british interference. aosta submitted the plan to mussolini on 18 june and in august received permission for the invasion. while waiting, aosta and his deputy, general [[guglielmo nasi]], completed an appreciation of the likely opposition and the campaign objectives and on 14 july predicted that the main battle would be fought in the karrim and jerrato passes; if the defenders stood their ground, the italian troops would be able to envelop their flanks. the italian invasion force included five colonial brigades, three [[blackshirt]] battalions and five "bande", half a company of [[m11/39]] medium tanks and a squadron of [[l3/35]] tankettes, several armoured cars, 21 howitzer batteries, pack artillery and air support.