Chapter 172 Mine Clearance

Several flares rose into the sky, and the "dance" finally began.

"Hide!" Bazel turned around and shouted.

But in fact, there was no way to hide at this time. The desert was flat and there were no fortifications. The soldiers did not dig foxholes to clear mines. What was worse was that there were mines everywhere. The soldiers did not dare to move at all. Most of them could only bury their heads in the sand.

Several recruits seemed to have thought of something that could provide them with concealment...tanks.

So they got up and ran in the direction of the tanks.

"Come back!" Qin Chuan shouted.

But it was too late...

The whistling sound of the shells soon sounded, from far to near, and then there was a bang, like an earthquake, exploding into a piece in the nearby desert.

Qin Chuan saw a tank was instantly submerged in a pile of shells, and was blown up to the point that not even a wreckage was left... In fact, it was not that the tank was blown up and disintegrated. Even if the tank exploded internally, it would not disappear in front of him. Instead, the shells blew a big hole in the desert and made it "disappear" completely.

What really disappeared were the recruits, and not even a trace of residue was left.

These recruits may be smart and their reactions are fast, but they are still not smart enough... In the desert, the most important equipment on land is the tank, but it is also for this reason that tanks become the enemy's first target.

In addition, the huge body of the tank makes it very conspicuous, so the tank is definitely not a place to hide.

Shells exploded in pieces around the German soldiers, and there were heat waves everywhere. Sand and soil kept falling from the sky like rain, and from time to time, a whole piece of something would fall... This thing looks like sand, but Qin Chuan knows that the sand in the desert is not sticky, and it is impossible for it to fall down like a whole piece after being blown up into the sky. So, those were actually the remains of soldiers who were killed in the explosion, but they were covered with a layer of sand and soil, making it difficult to distinguish them under the moonlight.

The German artillery retaliated at the first opportunity, but the artillery of the 21st Armored Division was too weak... An armored division only had an artillery regiment of more than 50 guns, which was nothing compared to the hundreds of artillery guns of the British army.

Later, Qin Chuan learned that the British army mobilized 500 artillery guns in this battle.

The reason why the British army waited until then to open fire was not only to allow the German army to go deeper into the minefield to cause greater casualties as Bazel said, but also to urgently mobilize more than 100 American-made "Priest" self-propelled howitzers.

Five hundred guns against fifty guns, there is no doubt that the British army had an absolute advantage in this artillery battle, so that the German artillery regiment was covered by British artillery fire after only a few shells... The fire from the night artillery was very obvious, and the British army immediately discovered the location of the German artillery position and suppressed it.

The British army was very successful in this regard, and the German artillery was basically unable to play a role in the subsequent battles.

Fortunately, the British artillery could not determine the exact position of the German army in the dark... After a blast, the world was full of smoke and dust, and even if the flares rose into the air, nothing could be seen clearly.

Another embarrassing thing for the British army was that they were bombing their own minefields. If they continued to bomb like this, they might not kill many enemies but clear all the mines.

So the artillery stopped after a few minutes.

Of course, this was only a temporary stop. When the British found the target, they would fire another blast.

As soon as the artillery sounded, the screams and wails of the German soldiers sounded immediately, followed by calls for medical soldiers.

"Captain, what should we do?" Someone asked Bazel in the dark.

"Keep clearing the mines!" Bazel replied: "Only in this way can the tanks rush up and break through the defense line!"

Bazel's shouting silenced everyone. In this case, continue to clear the mines?

But sometimes the battlefield is so cruel. It is never a place to "retreat in the face of difficulties". Sometimes you have to move forward even if you know you will die.

Someone asked dissatisfiedly: "Why don't we let the artillery blow over with shells?"

"Don't be silly!" Another soldier replied: "The enemy's artillery is much stronger than ours. Once the artillery fires, it will be finished!"

Yakop, who was lying next to Qin Chuan, spit out the sand in his mouth, and then whispered to Qin Chuan: "But in fact, this is not much better... We are at least one kilometer away from the enemy's defense line. At this speed, it will take us at least three hours to pass through the minefield, and then..."

Yakop didn't say anything, but Qin Chuan understood what he meant.

If they continue to clear mines under the British artillery fire, after three hours... I'm afraid all the second infantry company will die, and of course Qin Chuan is included.

Qin Chuan didn't know what to say. He wanted to do something to change the situation, but he helplessly found that he couldn't change anything at all.

With a loud bang, perhaps because of panic, or perhaps because the smoke and dust raised by the shells blocked the moonlight, a soldier soon detonated a mine.

The explosion of the mine may not be a big deal, but the fire from its explosion will give a good indication to the British artillery observers, so soon another wave of shells came crashing down.

As soon as the shells were heard, Qin Chuan heard Bazel's cold command: "Keep going!"

"Captain!" A soldier objected: "We will all die here!"

"Someone has to die, right?" Bazel replied coldly: "If everyone thinks like you, what's the difference between us and the Italians?"

The soldiers fell silent after hearing this. They had to admit that what Bazel said made sense, because that's how war works.

"Wait!" Qin Chuan suddenly had an idea, and then said to Bazel: "Captain, the enemy uses the light from the mine explosion as a bombing target!"

"So what?" Bazel said: "Does that mean we won't clear mines for this?"

"No, Captain!" Qin Chuan said: "Why can't we let the British clear mines for us?"

"What do you mean?" Bazel asked.

"We can use rifles to detonate mines in the distance!" Qin Chuan said.

Bazel was stunned after hearing this, and then immediately agreed with Qin Chuan's suggestion.

"Good idea, Sergeant!" Bazel said, "This way they will fire a barrage of shells, and the shells will detonate the mines!"

"Yes!" Qin Chuan replied, "I'm not sure if this will work, but we can try, right?"

"Why not?" Bazel said, "It won't hurt us anyway!"