On the night of the 4th-5th, an Indian battalion advanced from Cameron Ridge and occupied the hill known to the British as Brig’s Peak. On the following morning the British laid down a heavy artillery barrage on Monte Sanchil, the next ridge in front of them, and one of 1th Brigade’s Indian battalions started up the slopes. This time, the Italians were waiting for them.

British accounts claimed that the Italians responded to their advance with an intense artillery barrage, but the Italian record is pretty clear that only a single battery of 77mm guns intervened. The Punjabis made their way up the slopes of Monte Sanchil where they faced a furious counter-attack from the Savoy Grenadiers’ Bersaglieri Battalion. Soon most of the Indian battalion’s officers were dead or wounded and communications broke down. The brigade staff could neither coordinate artillery fire nor order a retreat, and instead committed another Indian battalion to rescue the Punjabis. It could make no headway against the Bersaglieri; by early afternoon the remnants of the Punjabi battalion finally escaped the battlefield.