Plans at the collapse on 2 to 3 November 1942

Rommel made plans for a withdrawal to the west. Over night on 2-3 November 1942, he "proposed" to withdraw X Corps, the Ramcke parachute brigade, and XXI Corps "to a line El Taqa-Qaret el Abd-Deir el Harra-Qatani." Farther north, he would have the German armored divisions hold a line. By 3 November, he would have "mobile forces" pull back "halfway from Rahman to Daba". After that, the whole army would pull back to Fuka. They would drive the infantry in trucks to that position. The "mobile forces would form a rearguard". They found that there were not enough trucks to carry the infantry.
Overnight on 2-3 November and early on 3 November, As Rommel was preparing to withdraw, he got a message from Hitler telling him to stand his ground and not pull back. He replied and then sent a "staff officer" to speak with Hitler. The nasty truth is that if they followed Hitler's orders, they would be wiped out.
Montgomery responded to the situation by not trying to attack directly in the north, but changing to "an enveloping movement to the south". They would attack with infantry to "take the main defended localities". They would use the 7th Armoured Division to break through to the enemy's rear. Montgomery didn't know about Hitler's message. He expected Rommel to withdraw to Fuka. He was going to have the armor "drive northwards towards the coast road". The New Zealand Division would follow the 7th Armoured Division to the west. The infantry attack began at 5:45pm on 3 November. What is rather funny is the statement "the chronic inability of armored formations to read the map".
The moves on 4 November began at 1:30am. The 5th Indian Brigade avoided the enemy strength in the north and pushed to the Rahman track. At dawn, an infantry attack was successful. That was sufficient to cause the enemy front to collapse. This is based on the account in Vol.III of the Australian Official History.