The enemy withdrawal on 4 to 5 November 1942

Prisoners taken by the Australians were from the Toscana Division that had just been brought in from Greece. Rommel had "sharp words" with Field Marshal Kesselring. He had arrived early on 4 November. Rommel blamed the air force for giving Hitler bad information about the situation. Up until Hitler's order, Rommel had "always had complete freedom of action". At the beginning, they had been able to stop the British armor. However, the British had "broken into XXI Corps. The British tanks "turned north" and hit the Ariete Division in their "open flank". By 2pm, the Africa Corps had been penetrated in multiple places. By 5:30pm, Rommel ordered a retreat to Fuka. Mussolini agreed to a retreat to Fuka, but asked that the units without vehicles be "extricated". Hitler sent a message that also approved the withdrawal to Fuka.
Rommel and his had a wild night drive to the west towards Mersa Matruh. They were under heavy air attack by the RAF. Most Italian units had been lost. As for German, there were mainly remnants. The Italian divisions Pavia, Brescia, and Folgore had forced to surrender. Five other Italian divisions managed to get some men to the west. Of the Germans, there were mainly remnants left to withdraw. The British were in such disarray that they were unable to take much of the German forces that were retreating. Montgomery did not have the expertise needed to conduct a successful move to capture retreating Germans. The British would keep changing orders. The British were not able to conduct a successful chase of the Germans. The lack of British "resolve" let the Germans escape. British tanks had arrived at Mersa Matruh by 8 November. This was the day that the Allied landings in French Africa had occurred. They celebrated in Britain, because there seemed to be good reason. This is based on the account in Vol.III of the Australian Official History.