Editing First Battle of El Alamein (section)

===Rommel digs in===
[[File:Rommel with his aides.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, with his aides during the desert campaign, 1942.]]

At this point, Rommel decided his exhausted forces could make no further headway without resting and regrouping. He reported to the [[Oberkommando der Wehrmacht|German High Command]] that his three German divisions numbered just 1,200–1,500 men each and resupply was proving highly problematic because of enemy interference from the air. He expected to have to remain on the defensive for at least two weeks.<ref>{{harvnb|Playfair|Flynn|Molony|Gleave|2004|p=344}}.</ref>

Rommel was by this time suffering from the extended length of his supply lines. The Allied [[Desert Air Force]] (DAF) was concentrating fiercely on his fragile and elongated supply routes while British mobile columns moving west and striking from the south were causing havoc in the Axis rear echelons.<ref>{{harvnb|Clifford|1943|p=285}}.</ref> Rommel could afford these losses even less since shipments from Italy had been substantially reduced (in June, he received {{cvt|5000|ST|t}} of supplies compared with {{cvt|34000|ST|t}} in May and 400 vehicles (compared with 2,000 in May).<ref name="NZ79">{{Cite web |url=https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2Egyp-c9.html#n79 |title=Scoullar (1955), p. 79 |access-date=2 November 2007 |archive-date=16 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081016044919/http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2Egyp-c9.html#n79 |url-status=live }}</ref> Meanwhile, the Eighth Army was reorganising and rebuilding, benefiting from its short lines of communication. By 4 July, the [[9th Division (Australia)|Australian 9th Division]] had entered the line in the north, and on 9 July the [[5th Indian Infantry Brigade|Indian 5th Infantry Brigade]] also returned, taking over the Ruweisat position. At the same time, the fresh [[161st Indian Infantry Brigade|Indian 161st Infantry Brigade]] reinforced the depleted Indian 5th Infantry Division.<ref>{{harvnb|Mackenzie|1951|p=583}}.</ref>