Chapter 173 Mine Clearance (Part 2)

This arduous task was handed over to Qin Chuan.

This made Qin Chuan dumbfounded, because anyone can use a rifle to detonate landmines... It has nothing to do with marksmanship, because you don't know where the mines are at all, that is, people can't see the target and can only hit it with bullets. luck.

But Qin Chuan still took over the task.

Qin Chuan found two assistants and asked them to stand in front of him, one on the left and the other on the right, and then put up an open poncho in front of him.

"Why are we doing this?" Werner asked doubtfully, holding up his poncho.

"Because I don't want the British artillery observers to see the fire coming from my gun!" Qin Chuan replied.

Werner couldn't help but said "Oh" and suddenly realized.

The bullet will penetrate the poncho, but it will only make a small hole in the poncho. The other parts of the poncho will block the sparks from the muzzle.

"How did you come up with this method?" Werner asked.

Bazel continued: "This is why I asked the sergeant to carry out this mission instead of you!"

Originally, Qin Chuan thought this was a very simple thing... all he had to do seemed to be to raise the gun and pull the trigger.

But when he raised his gun, Qin Chuan realized that things didn't seem to be what he thought, because if the mine explosion point was too close, even if the British were fooled... the shells would still reach the hiding place of the German soldiers.

After thinking about it, Qin Chuan took a kneeling position and shot, which allowed him to better feel the horizontal line of the ground... He first kept the rifle level with the ground, then lowered the gun slightly, and then clicked the button with a "bang" Pull the trigger.

Nothing happened, the mine didn't go off, but Werner, Ya, and Keller, who were holding up their ponchos, were startled and fell to the ground... This was a conditioned reflex. Soldiers couldn't help but scream when they heard the gunfire. Will do this action.

"You have to change this habit temporarily!" Qin Chuan said: "From now on, unless you hear the sound of cannons or explosions, lying on the ground is a waste of time!"

"Okay!" Werner got up from the ground with a somewhat disgraced look, and once again pulled off his poncho with Keller in front of Qin Chuan.

"Bang!" There was another gunshot, but still failed.

This time the two people pulling the poncho felt better. They did not lie down, but their legs still bent unconsciously.

"Bang!" Qin Chuan then fired a third bullet.

At this time, there was only a "boom" sound, and a landmine exploded at a distance of more than 800 meters.

The next second, the artillery shells came over, and they were mixed with illumination bombs, making a "boom" of bright light and fire.

Of course, these explosions are accompanied by the "expanding" sound when the mines detonate... Although the explosions are integrated into one and almost the same, there are still differences if you identify them carefully. The explosion of the artillery shell is like thunder, which is different from it. Compared to the explosion of a landmine, it is a bit like a firecracker.

When the gunfire stopped, Werner laughed and said: "Sergeant, we succeeded, the British used artillery shells to clear the way for us!"

Bazell said: "I don't think what we just achieved is just like this!"

"What?" Werner didn't understand.

"Listen!" said Bazel.

The soldiers fell silent, and then faintly heard a burst of screams and curses coming from the opposite side.

"What's going on?" Werner was confused.

"The British dropped the bomb on their own people!" Bazelle replied: "The shot fired by the sergeant just now must have detonated a mine close to the enemy's defense line, so..."

The soldiers couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Suddenly, the soldiers' pessimism disappeared.

This is a very strange feeling. In fact, Qin Chuan's shot did not have much real effect, because even if the British artillery bombarded it, mines still had to be cleared... There were still many mines that had not been cleared. Detonation, especially anti-tank mines, unless it is directly hit by a shell, it will not explode even if a person steps on it, and this is precisely the focus of demining.

However, just such a shot by Qin Chuan gave the German army the upper hand in some aspects, and made the soldiers have a different mentality facing this battle.

Then, the soldiers repeated their old tricks and used rifles to detonate mines in several other directions. Now the British army was much more careful. They fired flares to confirm that they were some distance away from the British defense line before launching artillery shells.

Qin Chuan and others were fishing in troubled waters at this moment... They took advantage of the British army to fire in other directions and threw grenades forward to clear mines. This was much faster than bayonets to clear mines.

As a result, the minefield that originally took several hours and a lot of casualties to pass through miraculously opened a passage in only half an hour and without much casualties.

Three red flares rose into the air, telling the follow-up troops, especially the tanks, that they could launch an attack.

At the same time, the battle on the front line of the Second Infantry Company began.

There is an advantage to fighting like this...The British artillery cannot work because it is dark night, the enemy and we are too close and may be intertwined for attack and defense. Long-range artillery is likely to cause accidental damage.

As a result, the British artillery could only drop large numbers of artillery shells on the German reinforcements line of defense. The British army attempted to use this wall of fire created by artillery shells to prevent the German army from advancing.

However, this doesn't actually do much.

To be precise, throwing out a wall of fire is indeed effective. Any troops or tanks that come up will be blown up into smoke.

The problem is that the German troops and tanks are not stupid enough to run into the wall of fire... they stand still when the British fire, and then move forward at full speed when the British stop firing.

It would be no problem if the British army had endless artillery shells. A wall of fire would always stand in front of them, and the German army would not be able to attack it at any time.

However, this is a desert after all.

Although the British army had much more supplies than the German army, they had to be transported from India, Australia and other colonies through the Suez Canal. No matter what, they could not withstand the British army's continuous wall of fire.

So the artillery fire stopped again after a few minutes.

As a result, German tanks and troops surged up like a flood in the smoke, and the "rumbling" sound of tracks soon resounded throughout the battlefield.

"God!" Major John, the commander stationed at Rooisat Ridge, shouted: "How did these Germans do it? We laid mines in front of the defense line for several days, but they actually succeeded in just over an hour. Passed!”

"Major!" the staff officer reported in panic: "The German tanks are launching a fierce attack on our first line of defense!"

"Order them to hold on!" Major John ordered.