"Ali Baba Morshead and his 20,000 thieves"

At Tobruk, the enemy had called the 9th Australian Division the "Rats of Tobruk". They had accepted that name for themselves, at that point in time. Now, the enemy had called them "Ali Baba Morshead and his 20,000 Thieves". They also accepted that name.

Alan Brooke had selected the right man to command the Eighth Army in Bernard Montgomery. He had successfully held the El Alamein area against the German and Italian attack at Alam el Halfa. Montgomery knew how to inspire confidence in his men and was successful. He had a good, solid administration of the Eighth Army now, not the hit-or-miss, always changing plans, that they had seen under Auchinleck. Montgomery had a plan and was preparing to execute the plan.

September and October 1942 was a time for reinforcing the Eighth Army. As they pointed out, some 41,000 men arrived as reinforcements for the Eighth Army. This was from 1 August to 23 October, the big date. They received some "one thousand tanks, 360 carriers, and 8,700 others vehicles. New divisions had arrived with their artillery. They were the 8th Armoured Division and 44th and 51st Infantry Divisions. They also had more artillery in the form of "two medium and six field regiments". By 23 October or so, they had "832 25pdrs, 32-4.5in guns, 20-5.5in, 24-105mm; also 735 6pdr and 521 2pdr anti-tank guns."

The Eighth Army was well-equipped with tanks. They had as many as 1,029 tanks ready for action. They had some 200 tanks ready as replacements, "with a thousand in the workshops". At the same time, the Germans were hurting. They only had 218 tanks ready for action with another 21 in workshops. The Italians had some 278 tanks available for use at the start of the battle.

during early September, 318 American Sherman tanks "arrived at Suez". General Alexander planned to use these to equip three armored brigades. The Shermans were superior to everything the Germans had except for the Pzkw IV Specials, of which they only had about thirty. The British were now equipped with enough vehicles to enable the army to chase the enemy forces across the desert. They never been that well provided for with transport, but now they had it. This is based on the account in Vol.III of the Australian Official History.