"The 5th SA Brigade had been caught by an overwhelming force in the open desert, quite unprepared and without inflicting any negligible damage on its opponents." The battle had resulted in a victory for the "Afrikakorps", but the 7th Armoured and 1st South African Divisions had not been annihilated and the loss of the 5th SA Brigade was not enough to set off the loss of almost 50% of the "Afrikakorps" tanks which went into battle. At 0100 on 24 November, Brink reported to XXX Corps that 5th SA Brigade had "ceased to exist as a fighting formation".