26 October The 2nd Rifle Brigade advanced on the new bearing at and met little opposition apart from dust, which lay deep in the lanes through the minefields, for the first and then came upon barbed wire, which turned out to line a dummy minefield. Over the next , the battalion took twenty prisoners, scattered several parties of Axis infantry and moved for about beyond a ridge, to what was thought to be Snipe, after a smoke shell was fired to mark the position by the British artillery. It was a similar depression to Snipe with an abandoned German engineer store, about south-east of the objective. Turner ordered the battalion to dig in at and fired the rocket signal for the heavier weapons to be brought forward. The lorries and Chevrolet carrying the anti-tank guns, encountered long sandy ridges which slowed the journey but nineteen of the twenty-seven 6-pounders and the ammunition were unloaded and dug in by The guns in small dips had cover and were on soft sand, which could be excavated; the five guns of B Company were dug in to the south-east, facing from C Company had four guns which were to the south-west, covering the angles from and A Company had four guns facing north-west and north. Six guns of 239/76th Anti-Tank Battery faced north and north east. The C Company carrier platoon patrolled to the west and found about ready to surrender but before infantry arrived to collect them, the platoon ran into a
laager of about tanks (XII Armoured Battalion from the
133rd Armoured Division "Littorio") and
German tanks, (self-propelled anti-tank guns) and
infantry (). The British opened fire and set three lorries on fire but lost a carrier while withdrawing. Most of the prisoners ran away but from Pioneer Battalion 220 of the
164th Light Afrika Division Pioneer Battalion 33 of the
15th Panzer Division. Camp fires showed that another laager with tanks of the 15th Panzer Division was to the north. broke camp and formed two columns, one moving towards the laager to the north and one straight towards the south-west part of Outpost Snipe, where C and B companies were placing their anti-tank guns. The column was led by a Panzer IV Special, which was knocked out and set on fire by a C Company 6-pounder at range, as A Company hit a , the column turning aside. The British
Forward Observation Officer (FOO) went out to reconnoitre at and disappeared. Just before dawn, the lorries returned to the east with the prisoners. The depression and scrub were good cover and the infantry, some of whom had been in the desert since 1940, dug in deep.
27 October Morning When dawn broke the battalion found that it was in scrubby desert, deployed in a north-east to south-west oval, about long and wide. As movement was seen in the German laager, the gun-crews in the north-west face of Outpost Snipe prepared to receive an attack but the German tanks moved westwards, away from the front line, which exposed them broadside to the British guns. The gunners opened fire and for thirty minutes the north end of the outpost disappeared in smoke, flying sand and explosions as Axis artillery and tanks replied to the anti-tank fire, until the tanks were out of range. Part of had spent the night in a dip, reappeared to the south-west of Snipe and also moved with their sides exposed to the British 6-pounders. The gunners claimed six German, eight Italian tanks and two
self-propelled guns destroyed and two tanks damaged, for the loss of three anti-tank guns knocked out and one sunk into the sand. Axis return fire caused several casualties and daylight showed that some of the guns were too exposed and needed to be re-sited. The armoured brigades had been intended to join the parties at Snipe and Woodcock but the failure at Woodcock caused confusion and hesitation among the British tank units. The
47th Royal Tank Regiment (47th RTR) of the
24th Armoured Brigade, was under command of the 10th Armoured Division and drove over a ridge at saw a post surrounded by German tanks beyond, assumed it was a German laager and opened fire. Turner sent an officer back in a Bren Gun Carrier, who managed to get the most advanced tanks to stop after thirty minutes but the rest kept firing. As the British tanks moved forward, the Rifle Brigade gunners at the south end of Snipe saw about tanks with long-barrelled guns (
Panzer III or
Panzer IV Specials), heading behind a ridge away to ambush the British tanks. The German tanks were broadside on again and the British gunners immediately hit and set three more on fire; the 47th RTR machine-gunned the crews as they tried to escape. By the 47th RTR had arrived at Snipe, which attracted a storm of artillery-fire and the outpost disappeared again in smoke, fire, explosions and flying sand. German tanks fired smoke shells at the British tanks and then anti-tank and tank gunners aimed at the smoke, which was much easier to see than the camouflaged vehicles. Soon the 47th RTR was down to five Shermans and six Crusaders and at the tanks were ordered to retire with the
41st (Oldham) Royal Tank Regiment (41st RTR), which had lost another twelve tanks, ending a plan for the 24th Armoured Brigade to pivot to the south of Outpost Snipe into open ground. As the tanks moved, they were engaged from about to the north, by tanks and anti-tank guns; a British gunner was persuaded to open fire despite the range and knocked out a Panzer IV, for a loss of two 6-pounders. The battalion Medical Officer and the ambulances had been left behind at the start line on 26 October and had been unable to move forward in daylight; the loss of the FOO during the night, made it impossible to direct plunging fire on the Axis artillery and tanks hidden in dips around the post. Much of the British artillery-fire fell around the outpost instead, until the 2nd Rifle Brigade managed to stop the guns at . The outpost was also running short of ammunition and three carriers were loaded with the most badly wounded men, dashed for the ridge to the east and reached safety. The battalion ambulances and supply lorries were behind the ridge ready to move, along with a replacement FOO but nothing could make the return journey through the Axis artillery and machine-gun fire, which began as soon as a vehicle appeared above the crest. Around Italian infantry were seen assembling opposite the western face of the outpost and carriers from a scout platoon sallied from the post to disperse them, inflicting many casualties and destroying two vehicles towing captured 6-pounders. Two anti-tank guns were moved to the south-west perimeter from the north, despite the Bren Gun Carriers not having towing attachments and dust thrown up by the move being shelled by Axis artillery, which killed four men. Just as the guns were readied, thirteen Italian
M13/40 tanks from the XIII Battalion appeared over the ridge to the west and about twenty German tanks of used the attack as cover to advance from the hull-down ambush position to counter-attack the 24th Armoured Brigade, which had retired to similar positions behind the ridge to the east. The anti-tank guns along the western flank of Snipe opened fire and hit four Italian tanks at once, causing the rest to return to cover. The German tanks came into the open and exposed their sides to the Rifle Brigade gunners and then half of the German tanks turned towards the outpost to suppress the fire from the anti-tank guns, only to present their sides to the British tanks behind the ridge. The gunners at Snipe and the tank gunners ignored the vehicles heading towards them and concentrated on those which were broadside on. Eight German tanks were set on fire, several more began attempts to tow them away and the rest retreated.
Afternoon Conditions inside Snipe worsened in the midday heat as the number of casualties increased, with little more than shell-dressings and water to tend them. Just before noon, six Bren Gun Carriers were hit and caught fire; the heat and smoke drifting over the guns making the visibility even worse. Many of the gunners were among the casualties and guns were kept in action with improvised crews and by men moving from one to the other. Only thirteen guns were still operational to cover the perimeter and the guns along the south-west face became so short of ammunition that two men drove
Jeeps back and forth to share out the remainder. Three of the remaining carriers took out more wounded but one was knocked out during the journey and at Axis artillery and machine-gun fire increased. Eight Italian M13/40s, a self-propelled gun and infantry appeared over a ridge to the south-west, where only one 6-pounder was still in action. Turner and another officer joined the sergeant in command of the gun and waited until the tanks were within , then knocked out five tanks and the self-propelled gun before the Italians had closed the range to . With only two rounds left and the last three M13/40s pressing on, Lieutenant Toms left the gun to drive a jeep to the nearest knocked-out gun for ammunition and arrived back at the gun through machine-gun fire, which set the jeep petrol tank alight. Turner and an NCO rushed over to help unload the jeep, by when the tanks were away, firing machine-guns at the gun crew. Sergeant Calistan, the gun-layer, hit the three tanks and set them on fire, from which none of the crews escaped. After the attack there was a lull, apart from shelling which caused more casualties. Turner had been wounded unloading the jeep but visited the gun positions until the effects of his wounds became too serious; by most of the officers were casualties and the guns were commanded by wounded NCOs. Briggs ordered forward the 2nd Armoured Brigade artillery, the 11th RHA and they drove their
M7 Priests up the east side of the ridge to bombard Axis positions but managed only to hit Snipe again with
105 mm howitzer fire. Rommel could see the fighting around Snipe from his headquarters and assembled the 90th Light Division and the 21st Panzer Division, which had been moved to the northern area of the battlefield overnight, with parts of the 15th Panzer Division, the 164th Light
Afrika Division and a battlegroup of the
132nd Armoured Division "Ariete". About tanks and self-propelled guns in two waves, about west of Outpost Snipe were to attack the British tanks beyond the ridge to the east, after a five-minute bombardment and a
Junkers Ju 87 attack. As the formation of twenty , escorted by twenty
Fiat CR.42s and twenty
Bf 109s approached, it was intercepted by sixteen
Curtiss P-40s of the
64th Fighter Squadron and the
65th Fighter Squadron,
United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), which claimed six Axis fighters. The Axis formation was then attacked by of
33 Squadron and
213 Squadron RAF, which claimed two , four CR-42s and three Bf 109s for a loss of three Hurricanes. Part of the Axis tank force advanced against Australian positions near Point 29 to the north of Snipe; to the south about thirty German and ten Italian tanks advanced towards part of the 2nd Armoured Brigade. The force in the north was deluged by artillery-fire and then dispersed by bombing and the southern force passed by the 239th Battery, with seven of the tanks only away. The anti-tank gunners knocked out nine tanks, damaged several and a 6-pounder crew from A Company claimed four more, after which the tanks withdrew to low ground near Kidney Ridge. The second wave of tanks attacked and fifteen Panzer IIIs turned towards the north-west perimeter of Snipe, where only two guns were operational. A third gun was hauled round in time to join in but there were only thirty armour-piercing rounds left. The tanks advanced cautiously along routes with cover and machine-gunned the 6-pounders as they came into view, driving the crews into slit trenches. When three tanks were away, a sergeant crawled to one of the guns and operated it alone, hitting the leading tank twice, despite the machine-gun fire, then knocked out the next two, the third tank being hit by a shot which went through the second tank. The third tank drove into cover, about back, where the rest of the force rallied, less six tanks knocked out. The tanks machine-gunned the position, without exposing themselves to return fire from the anti-tank guns, for the rest of the day. About seventy Axis armoured vehicles littered the area and the 2nd Rifle Brigade had lost sixteen Bren Gun Carriers and ten 6-pounders, with another five damaged; at a signal was sent to the 7th Motor Brigade about the tanks; reinforcements were promised but no armoured counter-attack was made. The 2nd Rifle Brigade burnt their codes and soon after, the light began to fade; at the German tanks drove to the north-east where some were silhouetted and the British fired their last anti-tank ammunition, hitting one tank. Survivors from the posts around the perimeter began to move towards the command post, dragging wounded with them, under streams of bullets from Axis machine-guns being fired horizontally across the outpost.
28 October After checking the 6-pounders to make sure they were incapable of firing, the last unwounded troops prepared for the relief but no sign of a relief party or the battalion transport appeared and at the survivors of A and C companies withdrew with one 6-pounder, which was carried out on a damaged Chevrolet ; as both sides were out rescuing wounded and the party was not fired on. British artillery opened fire soon after the retirement began and bombarded accurately the area around Outpost Snipe for the first time, which led to German tanks moving from their laagers straight towards the outpost, at which, the battalion HQ with the remaining men retired for on foot and under fire. A relief force of the
5th Royal Sussex from the fresh
133rd Lorried Infantry Brigade (Brigadier
Alec Lee) had set out when the brigade began to take over from the 7th Motor Brigade and the British bombardment had been fired as the 5th Royal Sussex advanced. As the 2nd Rifle Brigade had retired they had passed unseen by the relieving battalion, which dug in before dawn about south-east of Outpost Snipe. ==Aftermath==