Chapter 156 Trap

There was no roar of the motor or the creak of the tracks, just the soft chirping of insects in the dark night. The snow-white moonlight shines on the date palm trees like fish scales from time to time... This is a characteristic of the desert. Perhaps because the temperature difference between day and night is too large, the leaves of the plants will be covered with dewdrops in the first half of the night.

There were a few soft sounds in the darkness, like a small animal running across the wheat field, but Qin Chuan knew that was not the case, because he heard a snapping sound of branches, which was the enemy slowly approaching.

Sure enough, after a while the sound became louder and louder, and a group of British soldiers with bayonets appeared in front of Qin Chuan and others. They were half-bent and moving forward slowly, step after step. , groping forward in the wheat fields beside the road, the bayonet gleaming coldly in the moonlight...

Qin Chuan guessed that they were the 2nd New Zealand Division. This could be seen from their firm steps and coordination with each other... This was an indescribable feeling. Troops with good quality and combat experience only needed to move forward. Standing is different, they look like an indivisible whole, and they will burst out with amazing power at any time.

This surprised Qin Chuan. He originally thought that the British army would let the tanks take the lead... But this is not surprising. Tanks do not have the ability to fight at night and tanks are still precious resources for the British army. Of course, the British army will choose to let the colonial army Be cannon fodder at the front, even if the colonial army is a New Zealander with the same language and race as them.

This can't help but make Qinchuan a little worried. If "lubing the snake out of the hole" only attracts the New Zealand 2nd Division instead of the British 15th Armored Division...does that mean the plan has failed?

But Qin Chuan's worries were actually unnecessary.

The feeling of being surrounded by enemies was uncomfortable. Lieutenant General Austin was under tremendous psychological pressure, so he just wanted to break out of the encirclement and join the main force as soon as possible.

In this case, Lieutenant General Austin was more worried that the "Matilda" tank was too slow and would be overtaken by the German 15th Armored Division coming from the other side.

So Lieutenant General Austin asked all the tanks to prepare for a rapid breakthrough. As soon as the 2nd New Zealand Division started fighting with the enemy at the front... the "Matilda" tanks quickly rushed forward along the road to assist. The New Zealand 2nd Division fought while breaking through the defense.

In Lieutenant General Austin's mind, he believed that the main force of the German 21st Armored Division must have moved to the direction of Alamein, so he could break through safely, boldly and quickly.

The 21st Armored Division in front of them was nothing more than fake tanks and a small group of German troops used to confuse people. Lieutenant General Austin was sure of victory in this battle. The reason why he did not let the tank go ahead was that he did not want to expose his strategic intentions prematurely... The German army would hear the roar of the tank engine from a long distance and prepare. On the other hand, because the terrain in this area is relatively complex, Lieutenant General Austin needs the infantry to go ahead to clear the way for the tanks.

Qin Chuan didn't dare to breathe, because the British soldiers passed by not far in front of him, and some were even only a few meters away from where he was ambush. Qin Chuan could even see the Thompson submachine gun held in the opponent's hand. It's clear... these should be the British scouts responsible for searching this date palm forest, but they haven't found the German lurking point yet.

From this we can also see how critical the situation was at that time. The German army could be exposed at any time and forced to fight. However, the commander did not realize this and of course he would not order a fight.

Werner, who was lying next to Qin Chuan, turned his head slightly and cast a hesitant look at Qin Chuan... Qin Chuan knew what he meant. According to his superiors, he could not shoot without an order, but if the British scouts discovered where are they? Don't you want to shoot either? !

But soon this problem will no longer be an issue.

Because the next second, there was an explosion and several screams in the wheat field... A New Zealand soldier stepped on a landmine.

This mine seemed to light the fuse of the battle.

One officer shouted: "Kill them all!"

The New Zealand soldiers shouted and charged towards the German defense line with bayonets drawn.

This is so similar to history.

In this battle in history, the New Zealand 2nd Division also took the lead in launching a breakout. They also rushed towards the German position with bayonets in hand without artillery preparation.

This was completely unexpected by the German army, because the British army had never been good at fighting night battles or hard battles, and there were always artillery preparations before charging to blow up the enemy's mines and fortifications, so the German army relaxed their vigilance at night Unexpectedly, the New Zealand 2nd Division would suddenly appear in front of them and break into their camp in the blink of an eye and engage in a chaotic hand-to-hand battle.

To make matters worse, the main attack direction of the New Zealand 2nd Division happened to be where the German headquarters was located. Even the senior staff of the German army raised their guns and faced the enemy directly.

This allowed the British army to successfully break through Matruh and escape back to the Alamein defense line. In the subsequent battle, these troops and tanks of the 13th Army also played a very important role in the Alamein defense line.

but now……

The sound of gunfire started soon, but it was not intense.

This is still a German trick. General Strike hopes that more British troops will jump into the trap set by the Germans, especially the British 15th Armored Division.

Therefore, there were only two companies of more than 300 people in the first German line of defense. They fired a few shots and resisted for a while before retreating along the communication trenches.

Lieutenant General Austin was indeed fooled. When he saw this situation, he firmly believed that the Germans in front of him did not have many troops, so he shouted into the walkie-talkie: "All forward!"

The rumbling sound of the motor soon sounded.

A mixed force consisting of more than 100 "Matilda" and "Valentine" tanks had long been concentrated on the east side of Matruh... The British tanks were very slow, and the only way to break through quickly was to shorten the wartime distance as much as possible.

Moreover, Lieutenant General Austin also let the "Valentine" tanks with a low failure rate and tanks in good condition drive in the front.

This was because they were worried that the tanks would break down during the breakout and block the way for the tanks behind. You must know that their main tanks were advancing along the coastal avenue to break out. Once a traffic jam occurred, the consequences would be disastrous.

A few flares hit the air, and the British soldiers and tanks all over the mountains appeared in front of the German soldiers.

Among them, the tanks were mainly driving on the coastal avenue, but there were still 30 tanks scattered to the right side of the road and advanced with the New Zealand soldiers.

From this point, it can also be seen that the British army was well prepared for this attack. They let the New Zealand soldiers explore in front, and then guided the tanks to advance from the roadside to participate in the battle.

But what the British army didn’t know was that this was not actually called fighting, they were jumping into a trap set by the German army!