The decisive battle against the Third Reich

It was dark, humid, sultry, and had a strong smell... It was the smell of rot in the earth, the sweat of the soldiers digging tunnels, and the smell of smoking inside.

But no one cared about this at this time, because it was nothing compared to the violent explosions coming from outside the tunnel, the vibrations coming from the ground, and the falling sand above their heads.

Someone lit a kerosene lamp in the tunnel. When the light illuminated the tunnel, it made people feel better, but all the French soldiers were still pale with fear.

This kind of fear mainly comes from psychology... In fact, everyone knows that it is much safer in the tunnel than outside, but psychologically there is a strong desire to know what the danger is or where it comes from, and there is no way to do it in the tunnel. Knowing this, it seems that we can only stay inside and wait for death's choice, so we will have an inexplicable fear.

At this time, there was a "boom" and a violent explosion sounded nearby. Correspondingly, the entire tunnel shook like an earthquake, and then a section of the tunnel collapsed... It seemed that several people were buried inside.

Then chaos quickly broke out in the tunnel.

"The tunnel is about to collapse!" someone shouted in panic.

"Run out, I don't want to be buried here!"

"I want to go out!"

…

Qin Chuan pulled out his pistol and fired into the air without thinking. Then he blocked the entrance of the tunnel and pointed the pistol at the panicked French soldiers and said, "Try it!"

"Lieutenant, the tunnel is about to collapse!" Stefan said, "We can't stay here any longer!"

Qin Chuan put a gun against Stefan's head and said, "Go back, otherwise I guarantee you will stay here forever!"

The murderous intent in Qin Chuan's eyes made Stefan dare not doubt what Qin Chuan said, so he had to retreat with the soldiers.

After a few minutes, the sound of the explosion gradually disappeared, and Qin Chuan put away his pistol and walked out of the tunnel... The scenery outside had changed. Many trees were blown up, and the vegetation and stones were turned over, as if they had been plowed. , and there were many large craters caused by aerial bombs.

Qin Chuan was not surprised by this, but the French recruits were stunned when they came out.

"The lieutenant is right!" said Baudoin: "If we had run out just now, we would have disappeared by now!"

Later I learned that recruits from other platoons could not help but run out of the tunnels (tunnels are usually built in units of platoons). Needless to say what the result was.

"Lieutenant!" Venette asked with some lingering fear: "Are the wars you have experienced before...were they like this?"

"Believe me, soldier!" Qin Chuan replied: "This is not a war, it is just a routine bombing by the enemy! And..."

Qin Chuan raised his head towards the roads below the high ground that were bombed into a mess and said, "Their main goal is to blow up those roads!"

After saying that, Qin Chuan walked away with an indifferent expression, leaving only the French soldiers looking at each other on the ground.

The pale Stefan said: "God, we will die!"

"I remember you were talking about using rifles to teach the British a lesson!" Baudoin said sarcastically.

"Please!" Stefan spread his hands towards the bomb crater not far away: "We may not have a chance to shoot at the enemy!"

"Shut your mouth!" Baudoin replied: "What do you want to do otherwise? Go home? You know how the Germans deal with deserters!"

So the soldiers were silent, not to mention they had nowhere to escape.

"I think!" Baudu said after a moment: "If you want to survive, just do what the lieutenant said!"

The soldiers nodded in agreement.

Then several groups of artillerymen withdrew. After retreating to the rear of the high ground, they even set up artillery and built a temporary artillery position. Then they fired "bang" toward the front, obviously using artillery fire to cover those retreating. unit.

This made the soldiers of the French battalion nervous for a while, but this was obviously much better than the previous bombing.

"Lieutenant!" At this time, the signal soldier said to Qin Chuan: "Colonel's call!"

"Colonel!" Qin Chuan identified himself when he answered the phone.

"General Rommel is here!" Colonel Slain said: "He wants to see you. Meet me at the bottom of the mountain!"

"Yes, Colonel!" Qin Chuan replied.

Qin Chuan knew the reason for meeting at the foot of the mountain...the mountain road had been blown up and was temporarily inaccessible to traffic.

It took Qin Chuan more than half an hour to get to the foot of the mountain and get on Colonel Slaine's jeep, and then the jeep drove quickly to the west of Gafsa City.

Several command vehicles and armored vehicles were parked next to a well. German guards had set up checkpoints around the area. Colonel Slain and Qin Chuan handed them their IDs. The sentry checked them briefly and handed them back... One of them The sentry also greeted Colonel Slain: "Long time no see, Colonel!"

"Long time no see!" Colonel Slain asked, "Is the general here?"

"Yes!" the sentry replied: "But you'd better not disturb him now, because he has just fallen asleep!"

"Uh-huh!" Colonel Slain glanced at Qin Chuan and said, "It seems that the general has exhausted him all the way down!"

This is indeed the case. The past two months have been relatively easy for Qin Chuan and others, but what Rommel has to consider is how to bring back as many troops and equipment as possible.

Rommel was very successful. Under his command, the Afrika Korps marched concealed during the day and night... This was to avoid the bombing of Allied air power. From time to time, he also set up a few ambushes on the road, and defeated the Afrika Korps at a negligible cost. of three armored divisions brought to Tunisia.

At this time, the troops had almost retreated to the Gabes defense line, and Rommel could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Colonel Slain and Qin Chuan walked to a command vehicle under the guidance of the guards. General Strike was talking quietly with another general.

Seeing Colonel Slain and Qin Chuan, General Strike stood up happily and said, "Oh, look who's here! Colonel, Lieutenant...nice to see you!"

"General!" Colonel Slaine and Qin Chuan both saluted General Strike.

"Allow me to introduce you!" General Strike said to the general beside him: "These are my two subordinates, Colonel Slain and Lieutenant Frick, commander of the 1st Infantry Regiment!"

Then General Strike introduced the two Slains: "Major General Voigt, commander of the 90th Light Division!"

Major General Voigt's eyes couldn't help but light up when he heard Qinchuan's name: "Are you the 'legendary staff sergeant' they often call you?"

General Strike couldn't help but burst into laughter: "Lieutenant, the soldiers may not know the names of us generals, but they definitely know yours!"