The decisive battle against the Third Reich

Everyone thought that if the US military continued to charge like this, it would soon tear open the German defense line and quickly occupy the entire Enna Heights, including General Patton.

But the situation was beyond everyone's expectation...

Before the U.S. troops had rushed far, they were met with a powerful blockade by the German army.

There was a burst of intensive gunfire, and bullets rained down on the charging American soldiers, mowing them down in pieces like harvesting rice; artillery shells hit the path of the American charging one after another, blowing up the American soldiers. went up into the sky; grenades were thrown at the feet of American soldiers one by one, leaving them covered with bruises...

Bullets flew everywhere, blood and soil splashed in the air. After a while, the charging infantry company all fell on the charging line on the reverse slope. After the sound of gunfire stopped, only the screams of the wounded soldiers and a few The frightened soldiers lay on the ground crying. They didn't even have the courage to get up and crawl back. All they could hear were crying and cursing.

"Bang bang!" Several gunshots made the stunned Major Jones shrink his head.

Major General Allen's voice came from the rifle: "What's going on? Have you occupied the high ground? Why don't the follow-up troops go up?"

"No, General!" Major Jones replied weakly: "They are all dead!"

"What?"

"They are all dead!" Major Jones shouted into the microphone hysterically: "I said they are all dead. German bullets and artillery shells are waiting for them there. None of them can come back alive!"

Major General Allen was stunned when he heard this. He didn't understand why the U.S. military would do such a thing when they occupied the commanding heights; he didn't understand that the Germans still had such combat effectiveness despite repeated bombings by the U.S. military; let alone Understand how a company of soldiers could be wiped out so quickly...

In fact, not to mention that Major General Allen didn't understand, Major Jones, who was watching all this on the front line, didn't understand either. What puzzled him most was how the German grenades were suddenly thrown at the feet of the charging US troops.

After thinking about it for a while, and then remembering the "tunnel fortifications" that Eisenhower had reminded the US military before, Major Jones seemed to understand the problem.

"General!" Major Jones picked up the phone and said, "I think what we encountered is what General Eisenhower called tunnel defense!"

"Have you seen their tunnel?" Major General Allen asked.

"No, no!"

"That's not what the tunnel fortifications look like!" Major General Allen replied: "At least that's not what we heard! The British said they can occupy surface positions, but what they need to worry more about is their sneak attacks at night!"

Major Jones was stunned for a moment, then replied: "What if they meant to be occupied by the British?"

"What do you mean by saying this?"

"I mean... the Germans did not use the full effect of tunnel defense on the Gabes defense line!" Major Jones said: "But we encountered it!"

Major General Allen wanted to say something else, but General Patton intervened from the side: "Let him come down and report the situation in detail!"

"Yes, General!" Major General Allen then ordered: "Major, hand over the command to Captain Walter. Come down and make a detailed report!"

"Yes, General!"

Twenty minutes later, Major Jones came off the battlefield with blood and dirt all over his body.

Patton handed the kettle to Jones, and then asked: "Major, tell me what you think!"

Jones took a swig of water and gasped, "I need a pen!"

The staff officer quickly handed over a pen and a notebook.

"This is the high ground!" Major Jones explained while drawing in his notebook: "As we have heard, the Germans use tunnel tactics, and their tunnels are everywhere on the high ground. I guess their tunnels are connected to the trenches. Together, they will hide in the tunnel to avoid the shells when we fire and bomb, and when we charge... they will come out of the tunnel and enter the trench to set up their guns, so our fire preparation will not be effective!"

Barton couldn't help but nodded after hearing this.

"What's worse is that our charging team will be attacked by grenades!" Jones continued: "They can't throw the grenades that far. I mean...their defense line is at least a hundred years away from us. meters, and they were at a low place, but I could clearly see grenades smoking at the feet of the soldiers!”

"What do you think is going on?" General Patton asked.

"Tunnels, General!" Major Jones replied: "Tunnels are everywhere, there may even be one under our feet, and there are also positions near the top of the mountain..."

As he spoke, Jones marked a few points on the sketch.

"That is, there is a tunnel only a few to ten meters away from us!" Major Jones said: "The Germans are hiding inside, but we did not find them because their tunnel entrance is facing their own defense line and is in the blind spot of our sight. So... when we charge down, do you know what will happen? We think that our enemy is in the defense line a hundred meters away, but in fact it is not just the defense line, we expose our backs to these tunnels. In front of the entrance, the Germans hid in the tunnels and threw grenades at us, and even fired at our backs with submachine guns or machine guns!”

General Patton couldn't help but nodded after hearing this: "Excellent analysis, Major! Therefore, the British's understanding of tunnel fortifications is only the tip of the iceberg!"

"Maybe they didn't tell us this on purpose, General!" Major Jones said without hesitation: "You know, the British want us to suffer casualties and defeats, so that they will appear stronger than us! They are a bunch of bastards!"

Patton refused to comment on this, because as a general, it was not suitable to say such things, although he also hated the British with gritted teeth in his heart.

"There is another possibility, Major!" After thinking about it, Patton replied: "That's what you said before, that the Germans intentionally let the British occupy it... The situation at the Gabes Defense Line is somewhat different. The British have already After entering Gafsa, they attacked the German tunnel defenses from the other side, so it is normal that they did not encounter us! "

Major Jones gritted his teeth and said nothing. Although he thought Patton was right, he still blamed the British for the casualties of his subordinates and comrades.

"So, how can we break through their defenses?" Major General Allen asked.

"I think..." General Patton said, "We can't!"

"What?"

"Because!" General Patton explained: "Even if we pay heavy casualties and break through their defense line, the next thing we have to face is their tunnel!"