Chapter 340 Rommel

Dark, damp, hot, and with a strong odor... It was the smell of decay in the soil, the sweat of the soldiers digging the tunnel, and the smell of smoking in the tunnel.

But no one cared about these things at this time, because they were nothing compared to the violent explosions outside the tunnel, the vibrations from the ground, and the sand falling from the top of the head.

Someone lit a kerosene lamp in the tunnel, and when the light illuminated the tunnel, people felt better, but the French soldiers were still pale with fear.

This fear is mainly psychological... In fact, everyone knows that it is much safer in the tunnel than outside, but psychologically there will be a strong desire to know what the danger is or where it comes from. You can't know these in the tunnel, it seems that you can only stay in it and wait for the choice of the god of death, so there will be an inexplicable fear.

At this time, there was a loud explosion nearby, and the whole tunnel shook like an earthquake, and then a section of the tunnel collapsed... It seemed that several people were buried in it.

Then the tunnel quickly became chaotic.

"The tunnel is going to collapse!" Someone shouted in panic.

"Run out, I don't want to be buried here!"

"I want to get out!"

...

Qin Chuan pulled out his pistol without thinking and fired a shot into the air, then blocked the tunnel entrance and pointed the pistol at the panicked French soldiers and said, "You try!"

"Lieutenant, the tunnel is going to collapse!" Stefan said, "We can't stay here anymore!"

Qin Chuan pointed the gun at Stefan's head and said, "Go back, otherwise I guarantee that you will stay here forever!"

The murderous intent in Qin Chuan's eyes made Stefan dare not doubt what Qin Chuan said, so he had to retreat with the soldiers.

A few minutes later, the explosion gradually disappeared, and Qin Chuan put away his pistol and walked out of the tunnel... The scenery outside had changed. Many trees were blown off, and the vegetation and stones were turned over, as if they had been plowed. There were also many large holes caused by aerial bombs.

Qin Chuan was not surprised by this, but the French recruits were stunned when they came out.

"The lieutenant is right!" Baudouin said, "If we had run out just now, I'm afraid we would have disappeared by now!"

Later, I learned that some recruits from other platoons did run out of the tunnel (tunnels are generally built in platoons), and there is no need to say what the result was.

"Lieutenant!" Vineet asked with some lingering fear: "The wars you have experienced before...are they like this now?"

"Believe me, soldier!" Qin Chuan replied: "This is not a war, it's just a routine bombing by the enemy! And..."

Qin Chuan raised his head towards the road that was bombed to pieces below the high ground and said: "Their main goal is to blow up those roads!"

Qin Chuan walked away with an indifferent expression, leaving the French soldiers staring at each other in the original place.

Stefane said with a pale face: "God, we will die!"

"I remember you were just talking about using rifles to teach the British a lesson!" Baudouin said sarcastically.

"Please!" Stefan spread his hands towards the bomb crater not far away: "We may not have the chance to shoot at the enemy at all!"

"Shut up!" Baudouin replied: "Otherwise, what do you want to do? Go home? You know how the Germans deal with deserters!"

So the soldiers were silent, not to mention that they had nowhere to escape.

"I think!" Baudou said after a pause: "If you want to live, do what the lieutenant said!"

The soldiers nodded in agreement.

Then several artillery teams retreated. After retreating to the rear of the high ground, they even set up artillery and built a temporary artillery position. Then they fired "boom boom" at the front, obviously using artillery fire to cover the retreating unit.

This made the soldiers of the French battalion nervous for a while, but it was obviously much better than the previous bombing.

"Lieutenant!" At this time, the signalman said to Qin Chuan: "The colonel called!"

"Colonel!" Qin Chuan stated his identity when he answered the phone.

"General Rommel is here!" Colonel Slaine said: "He wants to see you, meet me at the foot of the mountain!"

"Yes, Colonel!" Qin Chuan replied.

Qin Chuan knew the reason for meeting at the foot of the mountain...the mountain road was blown up and temporarily inaccessible.

It took Qin Chuan more than half an hour to get to the foot of the mountain and get on Colonel Slaine's jeep, and then the jeep drove to the west of Gafsa.

There were several command vehicles and armored vehicles parked next to a well. The German guards had set up checkpoints around it. Colonel Slaine and Qin Chuan handed them their IDs, and the sentry checked them briefly and handed them back... One of the sentries even greeted Colonel Slaine: "Long time no see, Colonel!"

"Long time no see!" Colonel Slaine asked: "Is the general here?"

"Yes!" The sentry replied: "But you'd better not disturb him now, because he just went to bed!"

"Hmm!" Colonel Slaine glanced at Qin Chuan and said: "It seems that the general has exhausted him all the way down!"

This is indeed the case. The past two months have been relatively easy for Qin Chuan and others, but what Rommel has to consider is how to bring back as many troops and equipment as possible.

Rommel did it very successfully. Under his command, the African Corps hid during the day and marched at night... This was to avoid the bombing of the Allied air force. From time to time, they set up a few ambushes on the road. At only a negligible cost, they brought the three armored divisions of the African Corps to Tunisia.

At this time, the troops had almost retreated to the Gabes defense line, and Rommel could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Colonel Slaine and Qin Chuan walked to a command vehicle under the guidance of the guards. General Stryk was whispering something with another general.

Seeing Colonel Slaine and Qin Chuan, General Stryk stood up happily and said: "Oh, look who's here! Colonel, Lieutenant... Nice to meet you!"

"General!" Colonel Slaine and Qin Chuan both saluted General Stryk.

"Let me introduce them!" General Strike said to the general beside him: "These are my two subordinates, Colonel Slain, the commander of the 1st Infantry Regiment, and Lieutenant Frick!"

Then General Strike introduced Slain and the other two: "Major General Voigt, the commander of the 90th Light Division!"

Major General Voigt's eyes lit up when he heard Qin Chuan's name: "Are you the 'legendary sergeant' they often talk about?"

General Strike laughed: "Lieutenant, the soldiers may not know the names of us generals, but they must know your name!"