about south-east of Outpost Snipe. Aftermath Analysis The 2nd Rifle Brigade showed that with powerful anti-tank guns, dug in on well-chosen positions, British infantry could inflict disproportionate losses on tanks, knocking out German tanks at . Co-operation between the Rifle Brigade gunners and the tank gunners of the 24th Armoured Brigade on 27 October had been excellent but the imminence of Operation Supercharge and the fate of the tanks which reached Snipe on 27 October, left Briggs reluctant to risk more tanks. The attempt of the 1st Armoured Division to provide artillery support backfired, due to the chronic inability of the British commanders to agree where their units were (even after the location exercise with flares). Rommel had ordered a counter-attack by the reserve, to restore the original German positions on a front from El Wishka in the south to Point 29 in the north, which had been lost during Operation Lightfoot. Outpost Snipe was behind the German front line, across the route of the right flank of the counter-attack of 27 October; Rommel wrote later of the "murderous fire", which "struck into our ranks" and stopped the biggest Axis counter-attack against XXX Corps; an armoured attack on ground where the defender had been able to prepare, was unlikely to succeed. Casualties The 2nd Rifle Brigade suffered but a month later, a committee of investigation concluded that the battalion had managed to knock out 52 to 57 Axis vehicles, of which and tanks had been destroyed, along with five self-propelled guns. Axis human losses were unknown but believed to be more than the Rifle Brigade losses. In 2001, Barrie Pitt gave and self-propelled guns destroyed, plus an unknown number of armoured vehicles which had been recovered and in 2003 John Latimer recorded and tanks. In 1978, Matthew Cooper wrote that on 26 October, the fourth day of Operation Lightfoot, the tank strength of the had fallen from and on 27 October had been reduced to tanks. Victoria Cross Lieutenant-Colonel Victor Turner was awarded the Victoria Cross for his part in the battle. See also List of British military equipment of World War II List of German military equipment of World War II List of Italian Army equipment in World War II Notes Footnotes References Further reading External links A memoir, War Illustrated NY Times, 2 November 1942 Smith, Colin Extracts of Alamein Major Tom Bird obituary, Daily Telegraph 19 September