<P> These actions by the Australians and British had alerted Montgomery that Rommel had committed his reserve in the form of 90th Light Division to the front and that its presence in the coastal sector suggested that Rommel was expecting the next major Eighth Army offensive in this sector . Montgomery determined therefore that it would take place further south on a 4,000 yd (2.3 mi; 3.7 km) front south of Point 29 . The attack was to take place on the night of 31 October / 1 November, as soon as he had completed the reorganisation of his front line to create the reserves needed for the offensive (although in the event it was postponed by 24 hours). To keep Rommel's attention on the coastal sector, Montgomery ordered the renewal of the 9th Australian Division operation on the night of 30 / 31 October . </P> <P> The night of 30 October saw a continuation of previous Australian plans, their third attempt to reach the paved road . Although not all the objectives were achieved, by the end of the night they were astride the road and the railway, making the position of the Axis troops in the salient precarious . Rommel brought up a battlegroup from 21 . Panzer - Division and on 31 October, launched four successive attacks against "Thompson's Post". The fighting was intense and often hand - to - hand, but no ground was gained by the Axis forces . One of the Australians killed was Sergeant William Kibby (2 / 48th Infantry Battalion) who, for his heroic actions from the 23rd until his death on the 31st--including a lone attack on a machine - gun position at his own initiative--was awarded the Victoria Cross . </P> <P> Again, on Sunday, 1 November Rommel tried to dislodge the Australians, but the brutal, desperate fighting resulted in nothing but lost men and equipment . He did however regain contact with Panzergrenadier - Regiment 125 in the nose of the salient, and the supporting 10 ° battaglione Bersaglieri--that fought well according to German and Allied sources; the Bersaglieri had resisted several Australian attacks even though they were (in the words of military historian Niall Barr) "surrounded on all sides, short of ammunition, food and water, (and) unable to evacuate their many wounded". </P> <P> By now, it had become obvious to Rommel that the battle was lost . His fuel state continued to be critical: on 1 November, two more supply ships--the Tripolino and the Ostia--had been torpedoed and sunk from the air north - west of Tobruk . The shortage forced him to rely increasingly on fuel flown in from Crete on the orders of Albert Kesselring, Luftwaffe Oberbefehlshaber Süd (OB Süd, Supreme Commander South), despite the restrictions imposed by heavy bombing of the airfields in Crete and the Desert Air Force's efforts to intercept the transport aircraft . </P>

Why was the second battle of el alamein fought