The decisive battle against the Third Reich

"The airport warehouse was attacked by the enemy and the fuel supplies were bombed!"

"The bus station warehouse was attacked and fuel supplies were bombed!"

"Highland 312 is lost!"

"Highland 219 is lost!"

"Enemy armored forces detected near Tozeur!"

…

One piece of intelligence after another was handed to Montgomery and Eisenhower. As the staff marked the content of the intelligence on the map in time, beads of sweat on Montgomery's forehead seeped down his cheeks.

"We fell into the German trap!" Eisenhower said: "They made the entire Tunisia into a trap and surrounded our two armored divisions plus an airborne division and an airborne regiment in Tunisia. !”

"How much fuel do they have left?" Montgomery asked.

"The 15th Armored Division has less than one day of fuel left, and the 7th Armored Division can barely use it for three days!"

The 15th Armored Division is a unit stationed in Gafsa. They have no reserves because they are in the supply city of Gafsa. Once the fuel is bombed, they are immediately stretched. On the contrary, the 7th Armored Division, which is fighting on the front line, is okay. Hold on for a while.

But Montgomery knew that this actually made no difference. The 7th Armored Division had entered deep into Tunisia, and driving those tanks back would consume almost all the fuel.

"The airport is still in our hands!" Montgomery turned his attention to Eisenhower.

"Yes!" Eisenhower replied: "But we cannot have hope for the airport. First of all, last night's sneak attack not only blew up the supply warehouse, the gasoline also caused a fire, and most of the facilities in the airport were burned down. In addition, …”

Eisenhower pointed to a point on the map and continued: "The loss of Hill 312 and several highlands around Gafsa will allow the enemy to block the airport with artillery fire!"

Seeing that Montgomery did not respond, Eisenhower said anxiously: "We should find a way to get the troops out now. They are our elite troops. We cannot let them be annihilated by the Germans..."

"Of course I know this!" Montgomery said, "otherwise, what do you think I'm thinking about now?"

"Is there anything else we need to consider?" Eisenhower said: "Highland 312, it blocks our retreat and can also block the airport!"

"So it is the German First Infantry Regiment stationed at Hill 312!" Montgomery said: "The Germans must be prepared, but we still don't know what their preparations are!"

Montgomery's worries were justified, because he could not imagine that the Germans wanted to trap the Allies with only a few high ground... As Eisenhower said, those who entered Tunisia were all elites, and two armored divisions would not Having said that, they are elites who have fought many battles on the African battlefield. Although they failed time and time again, they also gave these two forces a wealth of combat experience. The newly formed 1st Airborne Division of the British Army has even been involved in battles since Germany invaded France. Of course, the Dunkirk evacuation was also one of them.

Therefore, although the sneak attacks on the airport and bus station warehouses caused heavy losses to the British army, more importantly, the British army's strategy had failed at this point... Without enough fuel and ammunition, they wanted to complete the previously planned mission. The next strategic goal is to divide and encircle the German army and then break through the Tunisian Strait. It is almost impossible. The mechanized troops of the British and American troops are all fuel- and ammunition-consuming tigers.

But Montgomery did not believe that the German highlands could surround the Allies... The Allies could launch a pincer attack on the highlands by cooperating internally and externally, just as the British army had captured these highlands.

However, having been deceived again and again before, he told Montgomery that the Germans would not be that simple... Could this be another trap of the Germans? What kind of tricks are the Germans playing? !

Obviously, Montgomery has a psychological shadow.

What he didn't expect was that the Germans relied on these highlands, those tunnel fortifications that he didn't pay attention to at all.

No matter how hard he thought about it, Montgomery could only try to launch a joint attack on Hill 312, which was the German Army's Hill Zero.

It is said to be a joint attack because Montgomery gave this task to the 15th Armored Division and the 1st Airborne Division for joint operations, and the front was coordinated by the Australian 6th Infantry Division... The three units are all British troops with strong combat effectiveness and rich experience. the main force.

At this time, Qin Chuan had just returned to Highland Zero.

The soldiers of the French battalion proudly raised their guns and waved to the German soldiers who cheered and saluted them. The task they completed was enough to make the German soldiers change their attitude of despising them... Respecting the strong is an unchanging law on the battlefield.

"You did it!" Colonel Slack came forward and shook Qin Chuan's hand enthusiastically: "It's hard to imagine that you really did it!"

"Colonel!" Qin Chuan said, "I have to confess something to you. The reason why they can do it is because they want to prove you wrong!"

"What?" Colonel Slaine didn't understand what he meant.

"You never believed they could complete this mission!"

"Oh, yes!" Colonel Slain nodded and replied, "I was wrong!"

Then Colonel Slain turned to the French soldiers and said loudly: "I was wrong, brave soldiers, you did a good job! Now, I will continue to think that you will never be able to defeat the enemy and hold this position..."

The French soldiers burst into laughter.

Colonel Slain yelled, "Can you prove me wrong again?"

"Yeah!" The French soldiers responded with cheers.

"Woo...", several shells exploded near the position.

Anyone with a discerning eye could tell that this was a test firing, which meant that the British were going to carry out artillery bombardment.

Colonel Slaine joked: "Hide yourself, I dare say the British artillery fire will be very fierce this time!"

"Why?"

"Because they are surrounded and know that they can't take the shells back!"

The soldiers laughed.

"Go back to the tunnel!" Slaine ordered: "This time, give them a good show!"

The soldiers responded and went back to their own tunnels along the communication trenches. In an instant, there were only craters, weeds and corpses on the huge high ground.

Qin Chuan followed the crowd into the tunnel and saw Yulia squatting in the corner without saying a word, so he said: "Hey, Major, I'm glad you're still in the tunnel!"

Seeing that Yulia didn't respond, Qin Chuan turned around and looked, and then seemed to understand something: "I think you've been out, right?"

Yulia nodded weakly.

"No need to do this!" Qin Chuan said, "You will get used to it!"