The battle for the "Saucer" on 31 October 1942 at El Alamein

The Australian attackers started taking many casualties. The commander of the 2/32nd Battalion was wounded again and had to be relieved by Major Joshua. Vehicles trying to move forward were "shot up" by a German 88mm gun. The vehicles were mainly trying to bring ammunition to the front. Vehicles belonging to a company of the 2/32nd Battalion were among those hit.

The work of the engineers on the rail crossing met with success by 3:45am. Some fifty men had been working on the rail crossing. 2/32nd Battalion vehicles were now able to cross to the north. The enemy had responded by pressing along the rail line from the west side. They were concentrating fire on "the gap". Because of that, the 2/32nd Battalion was not able to connect to the 2/15th Battalion. The ground that the 2/32nd Battalion held came to be known as "the saucer", because that is what it looked like. The "saucer" had become the key point that was fought over by the two armies.

Two Australian battalions, the 2/24th and the 2/48th, were attacking to the east, trying to advance some 2,250 yards. They were moving towards their own bombardment. They left a trail of dead and wounded as they moved forward. They were energized by their spirit. The bombardment had started at about 1am. The Australians were to move forward behind the bombardment as it was adjusted to the east. The start line ended up being fired on by the enemy and their own bombardment. The 2/48th Battalion were early to arrive at the start. That meant that they to stay back from the bombardment. When the 2/24th Battalion arrived, they did not see the 2/48th Battalion, so they figured that they must have already started. There was confusion about the battalion locations. A 26th Brigade liaison officer helped sort things out. Battalions were now adopting the formation of two companies forward with two following. They would then allow the following companies to move forward through the other two companies. This is based on the account in Vol.III of the Australian Official History.