The decisive battle against the Third Reich

On the other side, Rommel sent a telegram to Hitler as planned:

"Dear Head of State! I am extremely excited to report to you that our soldiers accidentally dug up oil while digging a well! Yes, it is absolutely true. After confirmation by Professor Backhouse, it was indeed oil. Professor Backhouse said that we may have discovered an oil field accidentally, but he couldn’t guarantee that we have already organized personnel to drill wells!”

Rommel was very smart. He did not finish what he said. There were some words like "possible" and "not guaranteed" in the telegram.

In this way, if oil was not drilled in the end, Rommel could find an excuse to dodge.

Hitler was stunned when he saw this telegram. It took him a while to react.

"God, there is oil in North Africa!" Hitler waved the telegram and said to his staff: "Do you believe it? There is oil in North Africa... Rommel, he found oil in North Africa! Do you know what this means? If this is true , we don’t need to transport oil to North Africa. Instead, we can get oil from there, which is absolutely great news!”

While Hitler was immersed in this exciting news for everyone, another telegram from Rommel came:

"Dear Head of State, after getting this news, I can't help but be worried at the same time. You know... if the British also get this news, they will launch a flood of attacks on us, and we Our strength is simply not enough to stop the enemy’s attack. The biggest difficulty is the lack of naval fuel and air power!”

If it were in the past, Hitler would definitely use a lot of data to prove that Rommel's equipment and fuel were not much less than those of the British, and then talk about empty words that he could defeat the Allies with spirit and will.

But this time...

Hitler didn't think much. He immediately called Rommel back: "You will get everything you need, my general, to guard the Tunisian Strait and the Gabes Line of Defense. They are the gateway to Algeria! Also, don't let the British know about the oil." "

Rommel looked at Hitler's reply with satisfaction. This was the only telegram he had received in several months that did not disappoint him.

Hitler acted quickly, and the next day he withdrew the 24th Air Wing, which was fighting on the Eastern Front, from the line of fire and transferred it to North Africa. A large amount of fuel was immediately transported to North Africa... Although this would damage the strength of the Eastern Front, it was nothing compared to the oil fields in North Africa.

Hitler failed in one thing: he didn't want the British to know about it, but the British actually knew about it when Hitler received the telegram.

Montgomery and Eisenhower looked at each other in confusion as they read the telegram.

"Do you think this is true? Monty!" Eisenhower said doubtfully: "They found oil seedlings in Algeria? Could it be another trap?"

"No, I believe this is true!" Montgomery said: "If it is false, what is their purpose?"

Montgomery was right. The result of deceiving the British did not seem to be of any benefit to the German army. What's more, this is the telegram sent by Rommel to Hitler obtained by "super secret".

"We need to locate it!" Eisenhower said. "It should be near the coastline!"

Montgomery replied, "No, he's not near the shoreline!"

"how do you know?"

"Because they dug wells!" Montgomery handed over the telegram: "There is abundant water near the coastline, so there is no need to dig wells!"

"You mean..."

Montgomery nodded: "Just like when we discovered oil in Saudi Arabia, it's their turn to have good luck this time!"

However, the specific location of the oil seedlings was not exposed, which made the British army spend a lot of effort, using spies, reconnaissance aircraft, etc. In the end, it was the Algerian people who moved out of Dade who found a breakthrough and identified the Timrag Basin.

On this day, the explorers were busy around several drilling wells... Professor Backhouse drilled a total of five wells, numbered from 1 to 5.

These five wells were determined by Professor Backhouse based on the analyzed data, that is, they were set up in the locations most likely to contain oil. Of course, the wells where oil seedlings were discovered were also among them.

The derrick stands high on the ground, the drill pipes are connected one by one, and the drill bit "rumbling" hits the rock underground.

Qinchuan asked Professor Backhouse that their drilling wells can drill 3.53 meters per hour... This is quite different from modern drilling. Qinchuan once visited an oil field and it was reported that the speed of old-fashioned mechanical drilling in the area was as high as 4.65 meters per hour.

But that was modern times, and it was quite good to have such a high drilling speed in this period.

If you drill like this day and night, the drill bit may wear out and need to be replaced or the well deviation may occur... The so-called well deviation is because the drill pipe is too long, and the drill bit and drill pipe deviate from the original direction due to the vibration of work. At this time, it is necessary to correct the well deviation.

So a rough calculation shows that it will take at least more than a month to reach more than 2,000 meters, which is the oil layer.

At this moment, Qin Chuan couldn't help but think of the PDC drill bit... This thing set a record of 16.93 meters per hour in the Liaohe Oilfield, and even in the conglomerate and basalt sections with extremely poor drillability, it can reach a speed of more than 11 meters per hour. , and wear is very slight.

If this were used here, it might only take seven or eight days to complete more than two thousand meters.

But the current equipment was at this level, so Qin Chuan could only wait patiently.

At this time, a harsh air defense alarm suddenly sounded. The exploration members and Professor Backhouse, who was looking at the drawings, couldn't help but raise their heads, and then turned their questioning eyes to Qin Chuan.

"Enemy air attack!" Qin Chuan shouted: "Enter the air raid shelter, this is not a drill!"

Only then did the exploration members react. They dropped their work and ran to the air-raid shelter.

The air-raid shelter was of course dug by Qinchuan and others for the prospectors, and Qinchuan had conducted several air-raid drills before this, so the prospectors did not panic at all when entering the air-raid shelter.

"Remember what I taught you?" Qin Chuan said: "First: Unless I order, do not run out of the air-raid shelter under any circumstances. Second: Open your mouths wide and plug your ears. This will help protect you." eardrums! Third: Don’t lean on the side wall or lie on the ground!”

The British bombers had to go a long way into the defense line to reach the Timrag Basin, so Qinchuan had enough time to explain these things again.

"Yes, Captain!" Hans replied: "We remember, is it an enemy bombing?"

"I don't know yet!" Qin Chuan said, walking to the air-raid shelter and taking out his binoculars to look into the sky.