to contact nearby units by radio and realising the degree to which his men were exposed, he raced off under fire in a Bren carrier to locate the British armour. Coming across an armoured brigade four miles away, he implored its commander to bring his unit forward but was refused meaningful support until the intervention of Major General Herbert Lumsden, commander of the British 1st Armoured Division. By the time the tanks had arrived, the men of the 22nd Battalion had been largely killed or captured. The headquarters element of the 23rd Battalion were also prisoners of war. By nightfall, the 4th Brigade had been overrun. Kippenberger asked for and received permission to withdraw his brigade from the ridge. Although awarded a Bar to his DSO for his dash for help from the British, Kippenberger was bitter about the poor planning of the operation and admitted his own errors of judgement. On the opening day of the Second Battle of El Alamein, Kippenberger led his brigade, which had spent much of the previous weeks in defensive lines, in an attack on Miteirya Ridge during which it achieved all of its objectives. In contrast to three months earlier at Ruweisat Ridge, he took care to establish his headquarters as far forward as possible prior to the commencement of the battle to minimise communication difficulties with the units of the brigade. Despite this, he still lost contact with the leading 23rd Battalion which quickly overwhelmed its opposition. In fact, the battalion had advanced so quickly that it arrived at its final objective so far ahead of schedule that it believed it had only reached its first objective and so advanced even further. The battalion's commander blamed his unit's eagerness for a rapid advance on Kippenberger's inspirational pre-battle speech which particularly enthused his men. Tunisia and home leave As the Afrika Korps retreated into Libya and Tunisia, the 2nd Division, as part of X Corps, was in pursuit. A series of engagements with the enemy followed, occupying Kippenberger and his men. After the battle at Takrouna, the 5th Brigade was withdrawn from the frontlines, having lost 38% of its strength. He remained a highly regarded officer, deputising as commander of the 2nd Division in Freyberg's occasional absence from the field in higher commands. By July 1943, it was decided to send a group of 6,000 long serving veterans of the NZEF to New