November 4th, 1942...The Nazis decide that if they cannot seize the oilfields of Baku, the Luftwaffe will bomb them, using the tactics developed to destroy Warsaw, Rotterdam, and Coventry. In theory, this will deny the oil to Stalin. The Luftwaffe transmits these orders by radio in Enigma codes, which the British promptly read.

The main ground action at Koli Point continues. Chesty Puller's 1st/7th Marines, riding boats, reach the Nalimbiu River, along with Brig. Gen. William Rupertus, who takes charge of all forces east of the Lunga River. The cruisers San Francisco and Helena give the Japanese a dose of heavy bombardment while the 164th Infantry (with Company B, 8th Marines attached), struggles through seven miles of soaked swamp and dried grassy plain. It takes them until nightfall.

The Marines get some small help in the form of the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion, which lands at Aola. Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner has the idea that the small Japanese positions can be wiped out by sending in small American detachments. The 2nd Raider Battalion, which has been awaiting the order to land at Ndeni, gets this assignment. Turner believes Aola can be turned into an airfield. However, Turner has not bothered to check with the resident expert, Martin Clemens, who is now running native scouts at Coastwatcher headquarters at Henderson Field.

Despite not having had a hot bath in nearly a year, Clemens is still hard at work. He tells Vandegrift and Turner that Aola's ground is unsuitable for an airfield. Turner ignores the advice. 1,700 Marine Raiders go ashore at Aola, followed by 500 Seabees, who try to turn a swamp into an airfield, with no success.

While Raiders and Seabees pursue this exercise in futility, the 8th Marine Regiment comes ashore at Lunga Point, giving Vandegrift more professional help. The fresh new Marines, many of them volunteers in the wake of Pearl Harbor, help replace the ragged, malarial defenders. Some of the incoming Leathernecks are stunned by the squalor.

Another Japanese officer, Kawaguchi, leaves the squalor, "feeling as if my intestines were cut out."

7th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders attack Tel el Aqqaqir itself, and take the ground by dawn, finding the whole ridge abandoned. The Afrika Korps has withdrawn, leaving behind some stragglers, wrecked artillery, some unexploded mines, and a lot of booby traps.

The Germans are indeed retreating, mostly because of the orders muddle. Hitler and Rommel are trying to prevent that withdrawal. 90th Light and the Afrika Korps defend the north. To the south lie the battered Italian mobile forces, down to about 100 worn-out M13/40 tanks.

Dawn finds the 8th Army advancing in the north, three armored divisions pushing forward. 1st Armoured Division now consists of 2nd Armoured Brigade and 7th Motor Brigade. 10th Armoured consists of 8th Armoured Brigade and 133rd Lorried Infantry Brigade, and John Harding's 7th Armoured consists of 22nd Armoured Brigade and 131st Lorried Infantry Brigade. All of them, including 4th Light Armoured Brigade (under 2 NZ Division command), struggle to get free and out into the desert through the Supercharge salient. All battle darkness, mist, and dust to squeeze through the corridor. 2nd Armoured Brigade wins the race at 8 a.m.

2 NZ Division and 4th Light Armoured also resume the offensive. Freyberg orders his men to stow away water and rations for eight days, 360 rounds for each field gun and petrol for 200 miles. Brigadier Gentry, commanding 6 NZ Brigade, tells his CO that this is the victory his men have awaited for three years. 6 Brigade's men will travel all night without sleep if necessary, to consolidate it.

In the skies, American and British planes blast the enemy. Nine B-24s whack Benghazi's harbor, claming three ships hit and an enemy plane shot down. B-25s and P-40s join British Wellingtons and Hurricanes in attacking German positions.

In the salient's southwest corner, 22nd Armoured Brigade drives forward and slams into the Ariete Division's 100 M13/40 tanks, and 20th Corps' artillery. Despite low Italian morale and poor equipment, this is still a powerful force, which stalls Roberts. British and Italian artillery battle each other at nearly point-blank range in Napoleonic fashion.

German Capt. Hans von Luck, leading a reconnaissance unit, tries to help the Ariete Division hold on. But his vehicles are no match for the British guns, either. He watches Italian tankers and anti-tank gunners fight with "death-defying" courage, their tanks exploding under fire.

At 10 a.m., 4th Light Armoured Brigade and the New Zealanders begin their advance, The Stuarts and Grants rumble forward down the Rahman Track as Freyberg watches. Freyberg orders his division to collect and stow rations and water for eight days, 360 rounds for each field gun and petrol for 200 miles.

12th Lancers' armored cars and Shermans and Grants of the Bays, 9th Lancers, and 10th Hussars charge across the Rahman Track at last, over the northern end of the Aqqaqir Ridge, and see the remaining 24 Afrika Korps tanks and anti-tank guns barring the advance. General der Panzertruppe Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma himself leads the German defense. Thoma is wearing full field uniform with all his ribbons, for the first time since arriving in Africa.

He tells Bayerlein, "The Fuhrer's order is a piece of unparalleled madness. I can't go along with this any longer. Go to the El Duba command post. It is the death warrant of the army. How can I explain it to my men? I shall remain here and conduct the defense of Tel el Mampsra in person. As Rastenberg orders."

Bayerlein hops into his scout car to head back to headquarters, reflecting that Von Thoma is probably throwing away his life.

The Germans fight fiercely. Their first shot wrecks General Briggs' command tank. He bails out and orders the armor back and the artillery up to deal with the Afrika Korps' anti-tank guns.

British artillery blasts the defenders. At 11 a.m., Von Thoma sends his aide, Lt. Hartdegen, back to Bayerlein. Hartdegen reports, "The general has sent me back with the radio transmitter. He says he does not need me any more. At Tel el Mampsra our tanks, anti-tank guns, and flak have been wiped out. I don't know what's happened to the general."

Bayerlein jumps into his scout car and drives east, dodging tank shells. He stops the car, and runs across the hot sands to the crest of the dunes. There he looks down at a sea of burned-out tanks and shattered guns. 200 yards ahead is a burning tank. Standing next to it, tall, haggard, in full uniform, is Ritter von Thoma, clutching a bag of canned food. Advancing British tanks are shimmering in the distance, huge black Shermans.

Von Thoma has been wounded 20 times in two world wars, and holds Bavaria's highest medal for World War I bravery, the Max Josef Order. He has fought with the Condor Legion and in Russia. Now he stands alone by his tank, being shelled by advancing British tanks.

The firing stops. Bayerlein watches Von Thoma. Von Thoma watches British tanks pull back. Then a Bren carrier followed by two Sherman tanks drives up to Von Thoma. Capt. Grant Singer of the 10th Hussars jumps out, brandishing a Thompson sub-machine gun. Singer calls to Von Thoma. The German general walks over to Singer's jeep and climbs in.

Bayerlein, stunned, runs back to his scout car and speeds back to Rommel's headquarters. Alongside, Bayerlein can see huge dust clouds. The clouds are the smoke of blazing Italian tanks of 20th Corps, being crumbled.

Around Von Thoma, British tanks advance cautiously, and see German infantrymen and gunners rising from pits and trenches, hands in the air.

Meanwhile, Rommel gets word that the Afrika Korps and Ariete Division are being destroyed. Things get grimmer when his radio intercept team picks up a message in clear from 10th Hussars to Montgomery: "We have captured a German general. His name is Ritter von Thoma. Signed: Grant Singer, Captain."

At that moment, Luftwaffe Field Marshal Albert Kesselring arrives at Panzerarmee Afrika's HQ. The meeting is cold. Rommel thinks Kesselring has been sent to supervise the battle or chastise Rommel. Actually, Kesselring just wants to see what's going on.

The Luftwaffe field marshal tells Rommel not to regard Hitler's order as binding in detail. Kesselring adds that the Desert Fox's stock is high with the Fuhrer. Rommel is now persuaded. At 3:30 p.m., he sends off another order to his troops, to tell Panzerarmee Afrika to withdraw.

Rommel turns to Bayerlein, and says, "Bayerlein, what we tried with all our might to prevent has now happened. Our front is smashed and the enemy is pouring through into our rear area. There can no longer be any question of obeying Hitler's order. We're withdrawing to the Fuka Position to save what still can be saved.

"Colonel Bayerlein, I'm putting you in command of the Afrika Korps. There's no one else to whom I can entrust it. And if it should happen later that the Fuhrer court-martials us for our disobedience, we'll both have to answer squarely for our decision today. Do your duty as best you can. All your orders to the troops carry my authority. You may say this to the senior commanders, in the event of your having any trouble with them."

Then Rommel climbs into his command vehicle, to give the other units the order to retreat.

A few minutes later, the commander of the Ariete Division, Brig. Gen. Francesco Arena, signals Rommel, "We are encircled, the Ariete tanks still in action." Then he signs off for good.

While the German generals plan, the battle rages on. 8th Armoured Brigade is ordered to drive south, circle round the battle, and try to cut off the Germans. It's a good idea, but the British advance runs into a squadron of counterattacking Stukas, which stop the British cold.

22nd Armoured's attack also finally gains ground at sunset. Following orders, the Italians retreat, leaving behind 29 wrecked tanks and 450 POWs. The rest of Ariete falls back.

That evening, Freyberg's men advance through wrecked German gunts, trucks, and other vehicles, into the open desert. Freyberg sees "columns of PWs with a solitary armoured car or truck as an escort, carrying a few wounded and a single guard armed with a Tommy gun. We passed an infantry (or artillery) position almost intact with guns in position and ammunition boxes empty..."

Just before midnight, some of Howard Kippenberger's 6 NZ Brigade run into some determined German paratroopers from the Ramcke Brigade. The Germans, in distinctive crash helmets, attack the New Zealanders, and the night sky is lit by mortar and machine gun fire. The Germans seize some vehicles with which to flee, and take eight POWs. They kill eight more Kiwis and wound 26, while leaving behind 17 dead Germans. Before fleeing, the Germans explode a 23rd Battalion ammunition truck, which Kippenberger uses as a beacon to rally his scattered brigade.

Freyberg decides he must concentrate his force amid a wasteland of old minefields and loose enemy troops, and waits for daylight.

That evening, Kesselring fires off a message to Hitler outlining the Afrika Korps' desperate plight. Kesselring succeeds where Rommel has failed. Hitler authorizes Rommel to retreat.

In Berlin, the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW)'s war diary reports, "The concentration of such an important (Allied) naval force in the western Mediterranean seems to indicate an imminent operation, perhaps another convoy to Malta."

The naval high command, studying the reports from Morocco, agrees that the Force H ships headed for Algiers are actually a convoy bound for Malta. But Grand Admiral Erich Raeder, head of the Navy, is not so sure. He is an embattled man, drawing criticism from Hitler for his surface ships' inactivity and string of defeats. He tells Hitler that the Allied convoy could also sail on past Malta and land troops behind Rommel at Tripoli or Benghazi. Or, perhaps, invade Sicily, Sardinia, or even French Northwest Africa.

Hitler sends a message to Kesselring, ordering him to concentrate his Luftwaffe assets (Ju 88 and He 111 anti-shipping squadrons) against the British. Kesselring's best weapons against Malta convoys are Italian SM. 79 and BR. 20 anti-shipping bombers.

The Fuhrer sends out other orders. German and Italian garrison troops are to erect barricades and shore defenses in Tripoli and Benghazi. U-boats and Italian submarines in the Mediterranean are to attack the British forces. Hitler knows that if the Allies land behind Rommel, Panzerarmee Afrika is finished. "Army's survival in Africa depends on destruction of British naval forces. I expect determined, victorious attack."

Unfortunately for Hitler, most of his Mediterranean U-Boats are at the opposite end of the ocean. However, nine U-Boats and 26 Italian submarines are patrolling sea lanes around Gibraltar, upon which more than 1,400 Allied ships of every type are converging.

Nonetheless, the nine U-boats there attack British Convoy SL125, which is heading north from Sierra Leone to England. This collection of merchant ships is mostly empty. Rear Adm. C.N. Reyne faces determined attacks that sink 13 British ships.

While the Germans attack SL125, the massive Allied convoys descend on Morocco and Gibraltar, loaded with troops and supplies.

Meanwhile, the assault engineer battalions Richtofen requested for Stalingrad arrive in the city.

Heavy snowfall and colder temperatures make takeoffs and landings difficult for Richtofen's weary aircrew, but they continue to attack railway lines and installations east of the Volga.

In Norway, Leif Larsen and his two escapers trudge on through ice and snow in the darkness. As they have left casualties in their trail, Larsen and his team must avoid human contact until they cross the Swedish border. Exhausted, they struggle on, heading east.

As dawn begins to break, Larsen observes a battered barbed wire fence. "We must be in Sweden," he says. "Let's slow down." A few minutes later, they see a few wooden huts. The men peer in, and see young men lying on iron beds, sleeping. Above them are packs and helmets of an unfamiliar style. "Swedish soldiers," says Larsen. "Let's go in."

They do, and Larsen tells them their agreed story that the Britons came off an MTB that went ashore on the Norwegian coast, and Larsen is simply and anti-German Norwegian.

The Swedes give the escapers tea, and big slices of bread and butter, along with shirts, pants, and socks.