Chapter 24 Shortcut

"I won!" Kuhn said, "Six nine rings, do you want to compete again?"

"How did you do it?" Qin Chuan asked.

Kuhn didn't say anything. He put a magazine on his rifle, then took out another bullet from the magazine bag, waved it in front of Qin Chuan, and pushed it into the chamber... Then Qin Chuan understood that K98K can actually hold six bullets instead of five bullets at a time, which is very important for a sniper, especially the British army has the "Enfield" rifle with a capacity of ten rounds.

Qin Chuan lost convincingly, but he was not frustrated because of losing the game. Instead, he gained more confidence... If K98K has a capacity of six rounds, it will not be so different from the "Enfield" with a capacity of ten rounds.

The meals for the past two days are usually bread and baked potatoes. Qin Chuan has become a little accustomed to eating them for so many days... It's just that he is always half hungry and half full because of insufficient supplies.

It was not until the evening of the next day that good news came: a supply convoy arrived in Agdabiya.

This was thanks to the Italian army occupying the port of Brega ten hours ago.

There is a characteristic of the North African battlefield: both the British army and the German and Italian armies need to transport supplies from outside the African battlefield... Africa is too poor, and the people simply cannot support the supply of a troop of more than 100,000 people. In addition, ammunition, equipment, fuel, etc. need to be transported from other places.

The British army transported supplies from another colony of India, through the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, and then through the Suez Canal under its control to the front line. Sometimes they would risk transporting from the British mainland through the Mediterranean because India could not provide all the equipment and combatants needed by the British army.

The German and Italian armies, of course, transported supplies from Italy across the Mediterranean to Libya.

This makes the occupation of coastal ports very important to both the enemy and us... For example, before occupying the port of Brega, the German and Italian armies had to transport supplies to the port of Surt or even Tripoli, which is farther away, and then travel hundreds of miles by car from Tripoli or Surt to the front line.

The key point is that these "hundreds of miles" are still "hundreds of miles" in the desert. The convoy will consume a lot of water and fuel during the transportation, and it will be bombed by British bombers at any time.

It is different if Brega Port is occupied: the supply fleet can unload directly at Brega Port, and the convoy only needs to transport for dozens of miles to reach Agdabia, which not only shortens a lot of distance, but also reduces transportation consumption and the risk of being bombed.

This makes dinner more honey and jam, and the bread is double the usual portion. Even when Qin Chuan and others are wolfing down, the soldiers in the kitchen are roasting sausages that are so fat that they are dripping with oil on the fire... Qin Chuan's resistance to sausages has disappeared, not for any reason, just for hunger.

So Qin Chuan thinks that those who can't eat or are picky about food for some reason are because they have never been hungry. If they have really tasted the taste of hunger and may even be starved to death... maybe they can't even refuse human flesh.

This is the sadness of human nature, but it is also a bloody reality.

"Those Italians finally played a role!" Big Bear said vaguely while chewing sausages: "They were able to occupy Port Brega..."

"Do you really think they defeated the British?" The baker responded: "After Agdabia was occupied by us, the British in Port Brega either retreated or were surrounded by us!"

"You mean..." Big Bear wiped the oil from his mouth: "You mean that Port Brega was abandoned by the British? But those Italians didn't say that..."

Before that, Big Bear had talked with the Italians in the transport convoy.

"Oh, okay!" Werner laughed: "Finally, some of us believe in the Italians!"

With a bang, the German soldiers laughed.

Only Kuhn slowly tore the bread in his hand and put it in his mouth piece by piece.

When everyone finished laughing, Kuhn said: "Rest tonight and get ready to go!"

"Go?" Hearing this, everyone was stunned and looked at Kuhn.

Only Qin Chuan understood what Kuhn meant... The Germans stopped in Agdabia because of insufficient supplies. Now a closer supply line has been opened and the supplies are sufficient, so it is time to continue chasing the British.

Qin Chuan even knew one thing: the British had retreated for two days. If the Germans wanted to catch up with the British, they had to take a shortcut...

Just look at the map and you will know that Cyrenaica is ahead, and its coastline makes an "S"-shaped turn in the Mediterranean.

As mentioned before, most troops in the African battlefield must march close to the coastline, not only because there is a unique highway "Coastal Avenue" on the coastline, but also because being close to the coastline means it is easier to get supplies.

This is the case with the German and Italian armies, and the British army is the same.

The British retreated along the "S-shaped" coastline. If the Germans fell behind for two days and still wanted to catch up with the British... Of course, they could not follow their asses and walk along the coastline. The Germans had to take a straight line, which is a shortcut.

But this is easy to say. Taking a straight line means going deep into the desert hinterland and away from the coastline where supplies can be obtained.

Qin Chuan felt a chill when he thought that the entire army was about to enter an uninhabited, barren desert... Compared to dying of thirst, he would rather die in battle or starve to death.

Sure enough, after a while, the broken-handed Bazel sent people to the company headquarters in platoons to collect equipment and supplies... These equipment and supplies included 30 new rounds of ammunition, about five days' worth of bread and a few baked potatoes, and a kettle.

Kettle... You know, every soldier has a kettle, but now there is an extra kettle.

Needless to say, what this is used for, it is to let the soldiers bring more water to prepare for going deep into the desert.

So the atmosphere immediately became depressing.

The soldiers have been in the desert for some time, and they all know what it is like to go deep into the desert. It is not a problem that can be solved by issuing an extra kettle. I am afraid that the water in a kettle will be finished in less than a day.

After a long time, Werner said: "I hope we have enough cars so that we can bring enough water and food!"

"We don't have many cars!" The baker said: "Besides, cars can't save us... It needs fuel and water, and it is easy to break down at high temperatures. What's more serious is that it may expose us to British planes!"

So the soldiers were silent, they all knew that the baker was right.

Only Kuhn remained calm and composed as he sat by the fire, slowly tearing the bread and stuffing small pieces into his mouth.