Action by the 20th and 24th Brigades in the early part of the 2nd El Alamein

For the second phase, the Australian 20th Brigade had the 2/13th Battalion and the 40th RTR. The 2/13th Battalion needed to move forward on a wider front than some of the other battalions. While the main minefields had paths created, there were many smaller minefields over some 1,600 yards. The paths were not ready for the tanks, so the infantry had to attack without the expected tank support. The 2/13th Battalion was in contact with the 2/48th Battalion to the right. An attack in concert with the Gordon Highlanders did not succeed.

By 3am, infantry had been able to move forward, but the paths had not been cleared for the tanks. The infantry without their supporting tanks ran into crossfire from enemy posts. The infantry really needed to wait for tanks to be ready to move up. Given the situation, the 2/13th Battalion was ordered to dig in where they were positioned.

The tanks arrived somewhat after dawn, which was good, because they were needed. The infantry were able to show the tanks what to attack and the enemy positions were destroyed. While the 20th Brigade attack had proceeded, the 24th Brigade had made some diversions. "Just before midnight" there was a remote-control dummy display with some fifty dummies. The enemy opened fire on them, which was what was desired. The goal of the 24th Brigade "demonstrations" was to bring artillery "down on them".

Men from the 2/43rd Battalion were sent to raid "positions east of Kilo 110". They blew a hole in the enemy wire and reached their objective, where they destroyed an anti-tank gun. During the withdrawal, men were hit and had to be carried out.

Another raid was sent out from the 2/28th Battalion. They included both infantry and sappers. They were able to break through and reached their objective. They took losses and some were not able to get through the wire. The raid lost "three killed, 9 wounded, and 2 missing".

The 24th Brigade had drawn enemy artillery fire for some four hours, which was their goal. This is based on the account in Vol.III of the Australian Official History.