there was little progress. At dusk, with the sun at their backs, Axis tanks from the 15th Panzer Division and the "Littorio" Division swung out from the Kidney feature (also known to the Germans and Italians as Hill 28), often wrongly called a ridge as it was actually a depression, to engage the 1st Armoured Division and the first big tank engagement of El Alamein began. Over 100 tanks were involved and half were destroyed by dark; neither position was altered. At around 10:00, Axis aircraft had destroyed a convoy of 25 British vehicles carrying petrol and ammunition, setting off a night-long blaze; Lumsden wanted to call off the attack but Montgomery overruled him. The thrust that night by the 10th Armoured Division from Miteirya Ridge failed. The lifting of mines on the Miteirya Ridge and beyond took far longer than planned and the leading unit, the 8th Armoured Brigade, was caught on their start line at 22:00—zero hour—by an air attack and were scattered. By the time they had reorganised they were well behind schedule and out of touch with the creeping artillery barrage. By daylight the brigade caught in the open, suffering considerable fire from well sited tanks and anti-tank guns. The 24th Armoured Brigade had pushed forward and reported at dawn they were on the Pierson Line, although it turned out that, in the dust and confusion, they had mistaken their position and were well short. The attack in the XIII Corps sector to the south fared no better. The 131st Infantry Brigade cleared a path through the mines but when the 22nd Armoured Brigade passed through, they came under heavy fire and were repulsed, with 31 tanks disabled. British air activity that night focused on Rommel's northern armoured group, where of bombs were dropped. To prevent a recurrence of 8th Armoured Brigade's experience from the air, attacks on Axis landing fields were also stepped up. D + 2: 25 October The first attack had ended by Sunday. The British had advanced through the minefields in the west to make a wide and deep inroad. They were on top of Miteirya Ridge in the south-east. Axis forces were firmly entrenched in most of their original battle positions and the attack had been contained. Montgomery decided that the planned advance southward from Miteirya Ridge by the New Zealanders would be too costly and instead decided that XXX Corps—while