 Horrocks was offered the command of X Corps , an armoured corps , in the planned Alamein battle . He refused it , believing that Major @-@ General Herbert Lumsden , a cavalry officer , would be more suited to the role . Instead he retained command of XIII Corps , and was given the task of making a feint to the south to deceive Axis forces , while the main thrust was made by XXX Corps and X Corps to the north . Montgomery told Horrocks that he was not to incur tank losses , so XIII Corps ' offensive operations were limited to small @-@ scale raids . In the aftermath of the landmark British victory that followed , Horrocks ' corps was assigned to the reserve , and was reduced in size while the rest of the Eighth Army pursued the retreating Axis forces . At one point the only formation under his command was a salvage unit clearing the wreckage of the battlefield , which he visited daily . In December , he took over command of X Corps , the lead corps in the advance of the Eighth Army , after Lumsden 's dismissal for poor performance during the pursuit . Horrocks was appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order on 31 December 1942 . 
