The decisive battle against the Third Reich

The unprepared British army did not expect this situation to occur at all, and the first attack was defeated in a confused manner.

Colonel Bader felt that he was not using any force. He punched hard but it was hit in the mud. He didn't say anything but didn't hit him and even made him smell bad.

"General!" Colonel Budd reported when he subsequently contacted Montgomery: "I think their tunnels are not independent, but are coordinated with each other to form a whole!"

"What do you mean?" Montgomery asked.

"I'm not very sure!" Colonel Bader replied: "But I have reason to believe that they have communication equipment in the tunnel. If one of the highlands is attacked, the other highlands will provide fire cover for it. We are attacking Dozens of people were injured and killed, but not even their shadows were touched!”

"But how can they communicate in the tunnel?"

"I don't know, General!"

After thinking about it, Montgomery ordered: "Try to cut off their communication lines, and also... try to attack several highlands at the same time so that they cannot cover each other, do you understand?"

"Yes, General!"

Then Colonel Bader did exactly that. He divided the troops into three parts... In fact, in order to ensure his firepower advantage, Colonel Bader did not divide the troops into three parts, but started from the 15th Armored Division. Two battalions were transferred, and these two battalions were used to attack Highland 217 and Highland 193 behind Highland 312 respectively.

It should be said that this style of play is correct. Even if the British army's attack on Highland 217 and Highland 193 is just a feint attack, the firepower of these two highlands will be suppressed, so the fire cover of Highland 312 will also become a series. of reduction.

This is indeed the case. This time, the British army successfully attacked Highland 312. Although they still had to face the problems of covering each other at the entrance of the tunnel and shooting black guns, at least they did not need to worry about firepower from other directions.

However, even so, they found that they still had no way to start.

"What should we do?" Major Eugene, who commanded the 2nd Infantry Battalion, asked Colonel Bader on the walkie-talkie: "We have found the entrance to their tunnel. This is a hole about six feet in diameter. Should we blow them down?"

These words quickly stopped Colonel Budd.

Blowing up the entrance of the cave obviously won't solve the problem, because they have done this before.

"Try to break in!" Colonel Bud said.

"But Colonel!" Major Eugene asked puzzledly: "How can we break in?"

"No matter what method you use!" Colonel Bud replied impatiently: "Grenade or something else, just blow them up for me!"

"Yes, Colonel!"

Major Eugene became embarrassed after hanging up the phone, but he still called a few capable subordinates and said: "Listen, we have to try to break in. I know it is dangerous, but this is war, isn't it? I I want you to prepare grenades, just like in street fighting training. Throw the anti-N grenade in and wait for it to explode. Then rush in and shoot it no matter what it is. Do you understand?"

"Understood, Major!"

"clear!"

…

In a few minutes, these brave soldiers were ready. They were armed with Thompson submachine guns... This submachine gun has a large ammunition capacity and a gun body that is much shorter than a rifle. It is obviously more suitable for use in narrow spaces in tunnels. Close combat.

In addition, each of them prepared ten egg-shaped grenades on their bodies and in their backpacks... They planned to use grenades to clear the way and then shoot with submachine guns.

As for other things, such as water bottles and the like, they are all left outside. They need to travel lightly so that they can move as quickly and flexibly as possible in the tunnel.

This offensive tactic can indeed have some effect, because when the grenade explodes in the tunnel, it will raise a cloud of smoke and dust, and the sniper in the sniper room who is responsible for blocking the entrance of the tunnel with fire through the steel pipe will be blocked from sight.

But Qin Chuan had already prepared for this when designing the tunnel. After hearing the sound of the grenade exploding, the sniper waited for a while before igniting a grenade and stuffing it into the steel pipe above... It was a slanted The steel pipe buried in the soil, the grenade slid all the way inside and soon it would slide to the front of the tunnel entrance.

At this time, the few prepared British soldiers rushed into the tunnel... Before they could take a few steps, they felt something fell nearby, and it was "chipping" and smoking.

"Grenade!" The British soldier only had time to shout, and the grenade exploded with a "boom". The British soldier at the forefront was killed on the spot. The second one was injured by shrapnel and screamed. The third one was injured by shrapnel. A soldier hurriedly dragged him out, but when he reached the entrance of the tunnel, a bullet flew out from inside and killed him. Only the injured second man was dragged back in time by his comrades.

"God!" Major Eugene said: "We don't know the internal structure of the tunnel at all. They can easily kill us, but we are beating around like blind men!"

The attack conditions in several other tunnels were similar. Some British troops also tried to throw smoke bombs and then rush in. But the Germans still solved the problem by just throwing a few grenades. Occasionally, a few British soldiers slipped through the trap and rushed into the tunnel, but they were quickly beaten into pieces by the German soldiers guarding inside.

"This is a trip, Colonel!" Major Eugene reported to Colonel Bader: "This is a pure waste of soldiers' lives. We can't succeed!"

Colonel Bader had no choice but to reply: "Blow up the tunnel entrance and mark it, and we will find a way!"

In fact, this is not the only thing that worries Colonel Budd.

The highlands on the Gabes defense line are layered one after another. Highland 312 is covered by two highlands on the side and behind, and the two highlands on the side and behind are covered by two other adjacent highlands...

As a result, the two units used to feint to attack Highland 217 and Highland 193 were bombed and strafed by covering units from other directions.

There were only two battalions in those two directions, and they were quickly defeated. Then Highland 217 and Highland 193 covered Highland 312.

Soon, the situation during the first attack occurred again. The British army left dozens of corpses and was beaten again.

"This tactic will not work, General!" Colonel Budd reported to Montgomery: "To capture one hill we must suppress the fire of two hills, and to suppress the fire of two hills we must suppress the fire of four others. ... Unless we can attack all the high ground along the entire defense line at the same time, it won’t be effective!”

Only then did Montgomery discover the problem. It turned out that the German trap was nothing else but the tunnel fortifications they had built.