Chapter 229 Hide

That night, the British launched an attack on the German defense line.

But the direction of the attack was not Aguila but the northernmost Corniche.

The British attacked the Corniche for a reason. As mentioned before, the Corniche is suitable for mechanized troops to attack and maneuver, and it is easier to get fuel and supplies... The shells unloaded by the British from Port Said can be transported in piles and thrown at the German positions in a short time.

Another advantage is that the British can go straight to the focus... Alexandria.

The British attack was very fierce, with hundreds of artillery fire bombing the German positions in turn, almost plowing the land in front of the German positions.

Then the British sent infantry up... Unlike in the past, the British sent infantry to clear obstacles in front this time, and then the British armored forces.

The South African 1st Division was in the lead... This kind of work was of course done by the colonial army.

The 7th Armored Division followed behind to launch the attack. This unit has always been the main force of the British Army and is also the most experienced unit among the armored divisions.

Therefore, many people suspected that the British army had discovered the German trap and turned to the coastal highway for breakthrough.

"They put in 200 tanks in the first batch!" Colonel Olbrich said: "This is almost half of the total number of British tanks, not to mention that the 7th Armored Division is the main force... So, did they really fall for it?"

"Perhaps this proves that they fell for it!" Rommel replied: "Otherwise, the British should not launch an attack at night... They have air superiority, so it is obvious that it is more advantageous for them to attack during the day!"

"But, General!" Colonel Slaine said: "Even if they are feinting in the direction of Alexander, such a force is enough to break through our defense line and attack Alexander!"

"Then it depends on who can hold on to the end!" Rommel said.

Rommel was very confident at this point, not only because the quality of the German army was higher than that of the British army, but also because if the British army launched a feint attack in the direction of Alexander, then the fight would not be firm enough.

What's more... Even if the British army reached Alexander, there would be a quagmire of street fighting waiting for them.

Rommel didn't care about the gains and losses of a city. He believed that if the main force of the British army could be defeated, even if Alexandria was lost, the British army would have to give it up in the end. Otherwise, the British armored division would be trapped in Alexandria and unable to move forward or backward.

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Aguila is a small town in Egypt. It is about 36 kilometers away from the northernmost end of the defense line. There is a rugged road connected to the coastal road. If the German mechanized troops advance along this road, they can reach Aguila in more than an hour.

So the fake map Qin Chuan gave to the British army was reasonable... The Italian armored division with weaker combat effectiveness was assigned to garrison in Aguila. Although they were not strong in combat effectiveness, they could hold off for a while, and then the reinforcements of the German armored division would arrive.

But once the battle started, it would be different.

First of all, the road would definitely be blocked by artillery fire and could not be used... The Aguila Road was very close to the German defense line, about three kilometers behind, which was also the basis for the German army to build a defense line. The German army's supplies, materials and reinforcements could be easily and quickly transported to every point of the defense line through the road.

But this also means that it will be the focus of the British blockade. The British artillery can bomb this road and paralyze it as long as it advances a few kilometers.

Secondly, the British can use the air advantage to encircle and intercept the German reinforcements... Air force is always the natural enemy of armored forces, especially in the open desert.

Thirdly, Montgomery estimated that the Italian armored division could not withstand the overwhelming attack of the British army, or it could be said that it could not withstand the reinforcement of the German armored division.

Therefore, Aguila will obviously be a good breakthrough for the British army.

At this time, Qin Chuan was lurking in the desert five kilometers away from Aguila... The 21st Armored Division secretly marched here two days ago under the cover of night and lurked.

Of course, the original position of the 21st Armored Division is still handled as if there is another armored division stationed there. It is easy to do this. You only need to camouflage and set up tents at the original station, and then leave a team of infantry to practice shooting at the shooting range.

Aguila should pretend that no troops have been here.

This is a bit difficult, because a division has more than 10,000 people, and there are cars, tanks and artillery, so it takes some effort to hide them.

Fortunately, this is within their own defense line, and there is an Aguila Road nearby. Most vehicles go on the road and will not interfere with the Germans' hiding.

So they use the old method, that is, digging a hidden trench... dig a trench with a depth similar to that of a car or tank, and then cover it with canvas after the tank drives in. Sometimes a layer of fine sand is added to the canvas, so that you can't find anything even if you look at it from a distance or aerial reconnaissance.

However, it is easier said than done, but there will be many unexpected difficulties:

In principle, the soldiers hiding in it cannot move around at all, even at night... This is because they are worried about being discovered by British spies.

So eating, drinking, defecating, urinating, sleeping, etc. must all be done in the narrow and crowded trench, and the trench will stink in a short while.

Someone thought of a way to dig a pit in the trench and bury the excrement after going to the toilet, but this method soon ran into problems...

Although the Aguila area is a "hard ground" suitable for tanks to march on, this "hard ground" is still relatively soft and semi-sand soil when excavated. Digging "convenient pits" one by one in the trench can easily cause collapse... ... Qin Chuan experienced such a thing once. He was suddenly "buried alive" while sleeping. Although he would be dug out by his comrades soon, the feeling of suddenly being unable to move or breathe was scary to think about.

Then someone came up with an idea, which was to collect the excrement in the corned beef can box and throw it out when it was almost done.

But this soon led to a ban... The reason was that the German soldiers' hiding spots were not far from each other. This throw could easily hit the adjacent trench. The jar of filth suddenly fell from the sky and spread everywhere. The splash immediately attracted complaints from his comrades. If it weren't for the military orders that prevented him from walking out of the trench, he would have just come out for a fight.

In the end, this problem was solved after a unified order from above: "Contain all excrement in your own helmet and sprinkle it near the hiding spot. Be careful not to make too big movements!"

This is indeed a good method, because everyone has a helmet, and they will not easily throw away the helmet as a useless thing...doing this means that he is likely to be killed by a small piece of equipment in the upcoming battle. The shrapnel was easily carried away.

The only problem is that once the helmet has been filled with excrement and then put on the head, the smell is definitely unpleasant and it feels weird.