The attack to the north by Australians late on 28 October 1942

The Australian attackers on 28 October 1942 were quite weak units. The Australian historian describes the companies as being of platoon size. That meant that they were forced to attack on "narrow fronts". There were enemy positions on the left that were not attacked and which therefore became a problem. Those enemy positions began firing mortars at the battalion headquarters and the nearby company. They also found that they enemy had "strewn" the area with "anti-personnel mines". The situation was troubling enough that one company was tasked with "the two enemy posts which were mainly responsible". One patrol that had been sent out was hit by a mortar bomb that killed or wounded all of the ten men but the commander. That caused a second patrol to be "organized". The battalion commander ordered that another patrol be sent out to take the other enemy post. Corporal McKellar's patrol had ten men with him in his patrol. They crossed a minefield and attacked a machine gun crew that was "covering" the mortar crew. They captured the machine guns and their crews. The patrol "rushed" the mortar crew that was "some 30 yards away". The successful patrol returned back to their unit with the captured weapons and prisoners. Another patrol captured another enemy post. That seemed to quiet things down. Burrell's company came back and dug a position "close to the battalion headquarters".

There was more activity happening. The 2/15th Battlion attacked to the north. They started from Trig 29. While they were getting ready, they took heavy enemy artillery fire. The battalion commander was mortally wounded. His adjutant was also wounded. Major Strange took command and led the attack. The attack went well, although they were under machine-gun and mortar fire. They attacked posts that turned out to be "manned mainly by Italians". These were some nine hundred yards from the starting point. They killed 89 Italians and "took some 130 Italian and German prisoners. They found that there were no minefields, so that allowed the vehicles to move forward without a problem. The battalion then dug in where they were. They had lost six killed including a company commander and had 36 men wounded. Three men were found to be missing.

"At first light two enemy tractors approached towing anti-tank guns." The Australians captured the tractors, two guns and took 22 German prisoners. This is based on the account in Vol.III of the Australian Official History.