That's really strange, although i've never used the tool, as far as i know you remove one bolt, and screw in the alignment tool, so that the disk holes stay lined up with the back plate. You then remove all of the other bolts and slide the wheel off, hence the holes must be larger than the diameter of the tool. When you replace the wheel, slide the wheel over the tool and fit the other bolts, and then remove the tool and fit the last bolt
Interestingly, according to the model change list, cars after October 1968 no longer had/needed the tool, and it supposedly wasn't supplied part of the tool kit, but why, what happened in October 68 that the tool was no longer required?