As the commander of the reconnaissance company of the 24th Armoured Brigade of the British 10th Armoured Division, Captain Richardson was given a heart-pounding task at the regimental headquarters to reconnoiter the enemy forces in Tella Khakil. Now everyone knows where the Germans are entrenched, and if this task is not careful, there will be no return, and he does not know how many times he has cursed his boss in his heart, and he has no room for resistance to this, so he can only grit his teeth and express his attitude to carry out the order, while leading the troops in his hands and setting off with a small number of armored vehicles and tanks. The path he chose was straightforward, exactly like Guderian's description of his men, that is, from between two mountains. Of course, this open area is more than 5 kilometers, not to mention a small reconnaissance company, even if the entire 10th Armored Division is put on a posture to advance, it will not look crowded.

Richardson's tanks and armoured vehicles were initially driven forward with trepidation, because the commander had explained in advance that there would be not only minefields on the route, but also the possibility of being ambushed by the Germans. So the rapid reconnaissance company did not live up to its name at all, but slowly moved over, only a little faster than a snail, and Captain Richardson was always afraid that there would be a surprise ambush waiting for him in front, and the order to "retreat" was always hidden in his throat, and it was only about a twentieth of a second before it was spoken. But after a long time, there was no movement, but the reconnaissance armored vehicle at the front happily sent a message through the radio: "Report to the chief, an enemy machine-gun bunker was found, which seems to be empty. ”

"Be careful, don't be a thunderbolt."

The reconnaissance armored vehicle "Tutu Tutu" shot a shuttle, but as a result, only a burst of dust was raised, and nothing else reacted.

Richardson could see clearly in the binoculars, the enemy bunker was still unresponsive after the fire test, several armored vehicles and tanks cautiously pressed in, and the infantry were hiding behind the waist, they were very afraid, not only afraid of the unknown enemy suddenly attacking, but also afraid of the mines buried in the ground, but nothing happened, they easily took control of the bunker. Then the sappers rushed up to investigate, but found nothing special except for a few hastily laid mines that could be easily found.

The reconnaissance company was a little bolder, and in the process of continuing to advance, the search area was constantly expanded, and several anti-tank positions were found one after another, some were sandbag fortifications, and some were semi-permanent fortifications built on the basis of the original landform, the size of the fortifications was directly related to the anti-tank guns originally used, and the weapons in it were varied, and there were many kinds of weapons, including the most common German PAK37mm battle defense guns, There were Russian-made 76.2mm anti-tank guns captured by the Germans from the Eastern Front and transferred to Africa, and even allowed them to find a few intact 88mm anti-aircraft guns in several of the most hidden positions, with straight muzzles, obviously preparing for anti-tank missions, and ammunition boxes were scattered and piled on the ground, not at all.

All the positions have only one thing in common - they are all empty!

Richardson rejoiced that if the enemy had just relied on these positions to resist, his reconnaissance troops alone would not have been able to take it at all, and now that the results had been achieved so easily, there was only one plausible explanation - the enemy had not only slipped away but also walked in a hurry, otherwise they would have blown it up on the spot even if they had not taken the artillery with them. He personally inspected several positions and found nothing unusual, and he decided not to waste any time on them, but only ordered all the vehicles to speed forward, and some of the loot was collected in time.

With the psychological foreshadowing in the front, the next reconnaissance began to become bold, not only the overall speed accelerated, the formation of the entire reconnaissance company was gradually opened, nothing happened after a long time, only one encounter with a mine and an explosion in the middle made people break out in a cold sweat, and the rest of the process seemed to be easier than an armed walk. While he was confused, the receiver reported with a smile: "Sir, after receiving the previous report, they found the enemy's logistics and baggage warehouses, which were full of materials that had not had time to be transported, and even the destruction measures had not had time to be implemented. ”

"Really?" He started to get excited, "Let's go and see, how big is it?" ”

"Many, many, at least enough for a teacher."

When he arrived at the designated place, the soldiers in front of him really did not lie to him, and there was a munitions warehouse hidden under a cleverly disguised dirt slope, which was full of logistics supplies, and Richardson found materials including tropical military uniforms, steel helmets, grain, edible salt, butter, etc., and even found a pile of vegetables and canned ham, and his guards had sharp eyes, and actually found two cigarettes from the corner of a shelf.

"Hey...... It's still Italian. Richardson was happy when he saw what he was holding in his hand, and beckoned his men to gather over, "Come on, come on, each person will have 1 pack first." ”

Cigarettes are an important military ration in the army, whether it is the relaxation between battles or the adjustment during the march, cigarettes play an important role, under normal circumstances, soldiers are reluctant to give up, and the discovery of cigarettes shows that the status and importance of this warehouse is not low.

The smoke hurriedly rose in the reservoir area, and Richardson took a few puffs greedily to relax the tension that had been tense along the way, and then he sincerely felt that the taste of the cigarette was really good, the taste was mellow and the aftertaste was endless, and he scolded hatefully: "What the hell, the Italians shouldn't have come to North Africa to fight, how good it is to make cigarettes at home!" It's a much softer taste than the American camel cigarettes we've been rationed, and I dare say it must have been a high-ranking officer. ”

Several other people were also giggling and happy. But no, the Italians were not beaten, but also looked down upon by the Germans, and were even pulled by the Germans as a backing when they fled, I really don't know what it took for them to get along with the Germans.

After the addiction was over, everyone became excited, the vanguard was usually very risky, and the reconnaissance unit was always accompanied by danger, but this operation seemed to be no problem, and the oil and water were extremely rich, and everyone started to do it. Richardson did not hinder the soldiers from finding "trophies" for themselves in the warehouse, which the reconnaissance unit deserved, otherwise he would not have expected any soldiers to die next time. With this warehouse alone and the munitions on the road, he couldn't run away with the proper credit, and he seemed to see the golden rank of major beckoning to him. Before he could take a step, the herald came to report again: "Sir, our men have found the enemy headquarters, it is empty, and the enemy has all fled!" ”

"Check it out."

The armored car rushed towards the headquarters where Guderian had stayed, only to see that it was covered with debris, and even a shallow layer of yellow sand was covered with a shallow layer of yellow sand, and the ground was littered with telegrams, documents, and disorganized footprints, and a blood-red and iron-black Third Reich swastika flag hung on one wall, which did not even have time to take it down and pack it away, which looked ridiculous. Richardson didn't pay attention to so much, he only excitedly found a chair to sit down, and experienced the feeling of strategizing, as if at this moment he was possessed by a staff officer in the headquarters. He wondered: when will he be qualified to sit in such a command for a meeting, even if it is in the chair next to him!

While he was self-absorbed, another subordinate reported the discovery of the arms warehouse, and after the two discoveries just now, Richardson was now immune to the results of the battle, and he was no longer so excited as he was at the beginning, and he waved his hand nonchalantly: "You guys take an inventory first, I'll look at it later, and now I'm going to think about sending telegrams." ”

The results of the inventory of the munitions depots were not as impressive as the munitions depots, including thousands of mines, ammunition boxes commonly used by the Italians, most of which were grenades and rifle bullets, and some mortar shells and anti-tank shells.

"To the regiment commander, no, send a report directly to the brigade command." Richardson sat in the chair of the command headquarters, proudly cocking Erlang's legs, determined to let the regiment commander who had just given him the task cool off, he didn't want to see his stinky face again.

The operator did not feel sorry for this, but asked, "Sir, how do you write the message?" ”

"Our reconnaissance company occupies Tul-Akakir and has captured a large amount of equipment, ammunition, and supplies, and the enemy has all fled!"

"Yes!"

Everyone was smiling, only the sergeant of the last search squad came in with a sad face: "Sir, we found the enemy's fuel store, but unfortunately we couldn't find the fuel after looking at it for a long time, all we could find were empty barrels!" ”

"Of course it won't be left to us." Richard sneered, patted his shoulder and comforted the frustrated subordinate, "That's the Germans' reliance on escape, if they can be left behind, they will simply wait for us to come and accept the surrender." ”

"Sir, we have taken control of the entire center of the town, and there are only a few natives in the area, and they say that the enemy withdrew yesterday morning, and that we should continue to expand the search in other directions?"

"Search?" Richardson hesitated for a moment and then said, "Forget it, the commander ordered us to conduct fire reconnaissance on Tel Akakir, we have completed all the tasks, the most important thing now is to send the news back, and then take care of the warehouse and supplies and wait for the back to receive them, otherwise what if the natives steal them all after we leave?" ”

As he spoke, he winked at his subordinates, and everyone immediately understood, and the command headquarters laughed and laughed, the weather is really good today.