to fight in the open, reducing the Axis stock of petrol, attacking and occupying enemy supply routes, and causing the disintegration of the enemy army. The intensity and the destruction in Supercharge were greater than anything witnessed so far during this battle. The objective of this operation was Tel el Aqqaqir, the base of the Axis defence roughly north-west of the Kidney feature and situated on the Rahman lateral track. The initial thrust of Supercharge was to be carried out by the 2nd New Zealand Division. Lieutenant-General Bernard Freyberg had tried to free them of this task, as they had lost 1,405 men in just three days, at El Ruweisat Ridge in July. Along with the 5th New Zealand Infantry Brigade and 28th (Maori) Infantry Battalion, the division was to have had placed under its command the 151st (Durham) Brigade from the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division, the 152nd (Seaforth and Camerons) Brigade from the 51st (Highland) Division and the 133rd Royal Sussex Lorried Infantry Brigade and the 9th Armoured Brigade under command. As in Operation Lightfoot, it was planned that two infantry brigades (the 151st on the right and 152nd on the left) each this time supported by a regiment of tanks—the 8th and 50th Royal Tank Regiments—would advance and clear a path through the mines. Once they reached their objectives, distant, 9th Armoured Brigade would pass through supported by a heavy artillery barrage and break open a gap in the Axis defences on and around the Rahman track, some further forward, which the 1st Armoured Division, following behind, would pass through into the open to take on Rommel's armoured reserves. Rommel had ordered 21st Panzer Division from the front line on 31 October to form a mobile counterattacking force. The division had left behind a panzergrenadier regiment which would bolster the "Trieste" Division which had been ordered forward to replace it. Rommel had also interspersed formations from the Trieste and 15th Panzer Divisions to "corset" his weaker forces in the front line. On 1 November the two German armoured divisions had 102 effective tanks to face Supercharge and the Littorio and Trieste Divisions had 65 tanks between them. Supercharge started with a seven-hour aerial bombardment focused on Tel el Aqqaqir and Sidi Abd el Rahman, followed by a four and a half-hour barrage of 360 guns firing 15,000 shells. The two assault brigades started their attack at 01:05 on