I would read the history again, starling.
Operation Lightfoot (2d El Alamein) did not go exactly as planned by Monty.
The first day 51st Highland barely advanced, 1st SA was stopped with heavy casualties, and the minefields were barely crossed. 1st Armoured only had one gap to go thru and traffic was clogged.
Second day 10th Armoured was fully exposed to AT gunners on Miteirya Ridge and much of the rest of Monty's tanks were stuck in traffic and minefields.
Third day 10th Armoured was being hammered so badly that Major General Gatehouse ordered his tanks back to Miteirya Ridge. The Italians made the 7th Armoured and 50th Div suffer for what little they gained. Monty decided to cancel attacks by the 2d NZ Div and 10th Armoured. Monty then decided to modify 'Lightfoot' with a new operation, 'Supercharge' and concentrated his attacks along the coast (shades of Rommel?) and eventually broke free. But even then, it was difficult. The 9th Armoured brigade was almost decimated in this new attack, losing 75 out of 94 tanks!
The point being that with overwhelming numbers of men and guns, ample fuel, superiority of the air and a willingness to sacrifice and be flexible, anybody can win. What made Monty such a force was getting the troops ready in the weeks before El Alamein.
Rommel didn't join the battle until the 3d day. All respects to Monty, if Rommel had the same forces and reserves as Monty I wonder what the outcome would have been.
and to support Parsifal, this is what I posted for 6 March
http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/ww2-general/day-war-europe-65-years-ago-6116-49.html
NORTH AFRICA: Feldmarschall Rommel, with a mixed German / Italian force, launched an expected attack on the Mareth Line near Medenine, Tunisia. There were 4 thrusts by Rommel toward Medenine, which were repulsed by the Britsh Eighth Army. It was concieved as the second phase of a counter-attack which began with the Battle of Kasserine Pass last month.
....The Desert Fox could not even surprise the Allies for they had broken his coded messages and seen his tanks on the move. Allied strengths had quadrupled in the last 10 days, and this gave Eighth Army a decisive strength on the battlefield. Rommel had no more than 160 tanks against his enemy's 400 and with 3 fighters wings operating from forward airfields, the Allies had air superiority. 35 Allied planes strafed and bombed installations in the Mareth Line as Rommel's sttack was defeated.
....When the attack began, Montgomery was waiting in well-sited defensive positions. The British had time to camuouflage a line of AA guns across Rommel's path. Cool British gunners held their fire until the panzers were within close range of the hidden guns, then loosed a holocaust of armour-piercing shells. The Germans were soon pinned down and subjected to a withering assault from tanks and the air. The British used only one squadron of tanks at Medenine, but their AA guns cost Rommel 52 of his panzers. Rommel renewed the attack in the afternoon and, once again, failed to make any headway against the thick defenses. By the end of the day Rommel had less than 100 tanks left.
The British had blunted the attack and in doing so may have found the tactic that could stop the panzers: massed artillery and AA fire combined with air raids.