withdrawal and confusion caused by redeployments between the three corps meant they were slow in pursuit, failing to cut off Rommel at Fuka and Mersa Matruh. The Desert Air Force failed to make a maximum effort to bomb a disorganised and retreating opponent, which on 5 November was within range and confined to the coast road. Supply shortages and a belief that the Luftwaffe were about to get strong reinforcements, led the DAF to be cautious, reduce the number of offensive sorties on 5 November and protect the Eighth Army. Battle of El Agheila The Axis made a fighting withdrawal to El Agheila but the Axis troops were exhausted and had received few replacements, while Montgomery had planned to transport material over great distances, to provide the Eighth Army with of supplies per day. Huge quantities of engineer stores had been collected to repair the coast road; the railway line from El Alamein to Fort Capuzzo, despite having been blown up in over 200 places, was quickly repaired. In the month after Eighth Army reached Capuzzo, the railway carried of supplies. Benghazi handled a day by the end of December, rather than the expected . Montgomery paused for three weeks to concentrate his forces and prepare an assault on El Agheila to deny the Axis the possibility of a counter-attack . On 11 December, Montgomery launched the 51st (Highland) Division along the line of the coast road with the 7th Armoured Division on the inland flank. On 12 December the 2nd New Zealand Division started a deeper flanking manoeuvre to cut the Axis line of retreat on the coast road in the rear of the Mersa Brega position. The Highland Division made a slow and costly advance and 7th Armoured Division met stiff resistance from the Combat Group "Ariete" (the remains of the 132nd Armoured Division "Ariete"). The had lost roughly 75,000 men, 1,000 guns and 500 tanks since the Second Battle of Alamein and withdrew. By 15 December, the New Zealanders had reached the coast road but the firm terrain allowed Rommel to break his forces into smaller units and withdraw cross-country through the gaps between the New Zealand positions. Rommel conducted a text-book retreat, destroying all equipment and infrastructure left behind and peppering the land behind him with mines and booby traps. The Eighth Army reached Sirte on 25 December but west of the port, were forced to