The decisive battle against the Third Reich

Several flares slowly rose into the sky, and the "dance" finally began.

"Hidden!" Bazel turned around and shouted.

But in fact, there was no way to hide at this time. The desert was flat and there were no fortifications. The soldiers did not dig foxholes to clear mines. What was worse was that there were landmines everywhere. The soldiers did not dare to move at all. Most of them All he could do was bury his head in the sand.

A few recruits seemed to have thought of something that could provide them with concealment...tanks.

So they got up and ran towards the tank.

"Come back!" Qin Chuan shouted.

But it's already too late...

The howl of the artillery shells soon began, from far to near, and then there was a roar, like an earthquake, exploding into pieces in the nearby desert.

When Qin Chuan saw a tank, it was instantly submerged in a pile of shells, and was blown up to the point where not even a single wreckage was left... In fact, it was not that the tank was blown apart. Even if the tank exploded internally, it would not matter. As for disappearing right in front of you, the cannonballs blasted a big crater in the desert and made it "disappear" entirely.

What really disappeared were the new recruits, not even a bit of scum was left.

These recruits may be smart and their reactions are quick, but they are still not smart enough... In the desert, the most important equipment on land is the tank, but it is also for this reason that the tank becomes the enemy's first choice target.

In addition, the tank's huge body makes it very conspicuous, so the tank is by no means a place to hide.

Artillery shells exploded in pieces around the German soldiers, and there were heat waves everywhere. Sand and soil continued to fall from the sky like rain, and from time to time, a whole piece of something would fall... ...This thing looks the same as sand, but Qin Chuan knows that the sand in the desert is not sticky, so it is impossible for it to fall down in one piece after being blown up to the sky. Therefore, they were actually the remains of the soldiers who were killed in the bombing, but the outer layer of sand made it difficult to identify them in the moonlight.

The German artillery counterattacked as soon as possible, but the artillery of the 21st Armored Division was too weak...an armored division only had an artillery regiment of more than fifty pieces, compared with the hundreds of artillery pieces the British army had at every turn. It's just a small thing that makes a big difference.

Later, Qin Chuan learned that the British army mobilized five hundred artillery pieces in this battle.

The reason why the British army waited until this moment to open fire was that, in addition to allowing the German army to go deeper into the minefields to cause greater damage as Barzel said, the other reason was to urgently mobilize more than a hundred American-made "Pastor" self-propelled howitzers. Come.

Five hundred guns versus fifty guns. There is no doubt that the British army had an absolute advantage in this artillery battle. So much so that the German artillery regiment was covered by British artillery fire after just a few rounds... The fire from the artillery fire at night was very obvious. , the British army immediately discovered the location of the German artillery positions and implemented suppression.

The British army was very successful at this point, and German artillery was basically unable to play a role in subsequent battles.

Fortunately, the British artillery could not determine the exact position of the German army in the dark night... After the artillery passed, the world was filled with smoke and dust, and even if the illumination bombs were raised into the sky, nothing could be seen clearly.

Another embarrassment to the British army was that they were bombing their own minefields. If they continued bombing indiscriminately, they would be afraid that the enemy would clear out all the mines instead of killing a few.

So after a few minutes the gunfire stopped.

Of course, this is only a temporary stop. When the British find the target, they will fire another round of artillery shells.

As soon as the gunfire fell, the screams and wails of the German soldiers immediately began, followed by calls for medical soldiers.

"Captain, what should we do?" someone asked Bazel in the darkness.

"Continue to clear mines!" Bazel replied: "Only in this way can tanks rush up and break through the defense line!"

Bazel's cry silenced everyone, and under such circumstances, he continued to clear mines?

But sometimes the battlefield is so cruel. It is never a place to "retreat when faced with difficulties." Sometimes you must move forward even if you know you will die.

Someone asked dissatisfiedly: "Why don't we let the artillery bomb it with artillery shells?"

"Don't be stupid!" another soldier replied: "The enemy's artillery is much stronger than ours, and it will be finished as soon as the artillery fires!"

Yacop, who was lying next to Qin Chuan, spat out the sand in his mouth, and then whispered to Qin Chuan: "But actually this is not much better... We are still at least one kilometer away from the enemy's defense line. At this speed, we It would take at least three hours to get through the minefield, and by then..."

Yacop said nothing, but Qin Chuan understood what he meant.

If they continued to clear mines despite the British artillery fire, in three hours... the second infantry company would probably all be dead, including Qin Chuan of course.

Qin Chuan didn't know what to say. He wanted to do something to change the situation, but he found helplessly that he couldn't change anything at all.

There was a "boom", perhaps because of panic, or perhaps because the smoke raised by the shells obscured the moonlight. Not long after, a soldier detonated a landmine.

The explosion of the mine may not be a big deal, but the fire it exploded would give the British artillery observers a good indication, so not long after, another bombardment of shells hit them.

As soon as the cannonball was released, Qin Chuan heard Bazel's cold command: "Keep moving forward!"

"Captain!" a soldier objected: "We will all die here!"

"Someone has to die, right?" Bazelle replied coldly: "If everyone thinks like you, what's the difference between us and the Italians?"

The soldiers couldn't help but fell silent after hearing this. They had to admit that what Bazel said made sense, because that's what war is like.

"Wait!" Qin Chuan suddenly had a flash of idea, and then said to Bazel: "Captain, the enemy uses the bright light when the mine explodes as the target for bombing!"

"So what?" Bazel said, "Isn't it because of this that we won't clear mines?"

"No, Captain!" Qin Chuan said, "Why can't we let the British clear mines for us?"

"What do you mean?" Bazel asked.

"We can use rifles to detonate landmines in the distance!" Qin Chuan said.

Bazel couldn't help but be stunned when he heard this, and then immediately agreed with Qin Chuan's suggestion.

"What a great idea, Sergeant!" said Buzzell. "That way they'll rain down a barrage of shells, and the shells will explode the mines!"

"Yes!" Qin Chuan replied: "I'm not sure if this will work, but we can try it, right?"

"Why not?" Bazel said, "It's no loss to us anyway!"