"Full speed ahead!"

"Speed up!"

……

Although the car was already racing down the road at maximum speed, the urging orders were still passed down from the front one after another.

Qin Chuan could understand Colonel Slain's anxiety...... The bombing just now cost the Germans 30 vehicles, more than 300 soldiers, and a large amount of ammunition, which made the first march, which was already underarmed, even more overstretched.

But now there was no way back for the 1st Battalion, and they could only advance all the way, reaching Tobruk and launching an offensive in the shortest possible time.

This allowed the German convoy to avoid a second bombardment by British air power on the way, and in fact, the 1st Corps could not afford to lose another bombardment, otherwise the 1st Corps would not be able to launch an offensive on Tobruk.

There were always two reconnaissance planes in the air following the convoy, and Qin Chuan borrowed a telescope from Kuhn to look into the air and recognized that it was a British "mosquito" reconnaissance plane.

So Qin Chuan knew that it was impossible to get rid of its entanglement...... This thing is a rare wooden structure aircraft of this era, because it is a wooden structure, the fuselage is light and consumes less fuel, which allows it to fly in the air for 12 hours continuously.

Therefore, the Germans simply could not wait for the moment when it ran out of fuel and returned to the base.

Looking at the map, Qin Chuan couldn't help but worry, because at the current speed, the Germans would need another twenty minutes to reach Tobruk, and in this time, the British army had enough time to bomb the convoy.

But soon Qin Chuan found out that he was wrong, because soon the car stopped with a brake, and then he heard someone shouting: "Get out of the car and get ready for battle!" ”

"What's going on?" Qin Chuan asked.

"We're here!" Bazel jumped out of another car and replied: "Ahead is the line of defense of the British!" ”

Qin Chuan couldn't help but sigh...... Tobruk on the map refers to the city, and the British are obviously not stupid enough to put all their forces in the city.

In fact, by the time Qin Chuan and the others were assembled, the battle ahead had already begun...... It is clear from this how anxious Colonel Slain is, but he should be in a hurry, because time is everything now.

Qin Chuan didn't know much about the battle situation, because the battle of Tobruk he faced was no longer the battle of Tobruk in history...... In the Battle of Tobruk in history, the main force stationed in it was the 9th Australian Division, which escaped from Rommel's encirclement, and the auxiliary force was the 1st African Division of the British Army. (Note: When the Eighth Army was formed, it was renamed the 11th African Division)

As mentioned earlier, the Australian troops, as a colonial army, were not as high as the British soldiers and had the same privileges, so they were more effective than the British army.

This left Rommel besieging Tobruk for eight months without taking it...... This is also one of the reasons for the defeat of the German army in the First El Alamein War, Rommel led his troops into Egypt to attack El Alamein without taking Tobruk, so the German army needed to transport water and supplies from Benghazi and even further ports across the desert to the front line every day, and this supply method finally made it impossible for the German army to continue the battle.

However, the Tobruk offensive battle in front of us is different.

First of all, at this time, the 9th Australian Division had not yet broken away from Rommel's encirclement, and they were still fighting with Rommel's main force in the area of Mechichi, so of course it was impossible to garrison Tobruk.

Secondly, the Germans suddenly appeared in Tobruk, so the British did not have much preparation.

But Qin Chuan's judgment was actually only half right.

The former was right, the main British forces were fighting with the main German forces in Mechile, and there were only two engineer regiments and an infantry battalion urgently transferred to support Tobruk.

As for the British army, there was not much preparation......

Most of the British defenses and fortifications at Tobruk were inherited from Italian troops...... Tobruk was the easternmost port of Libya near Egypt, and was an important port on the border, where the great and heroic Italian army built a large number of pillboxes and barbed wire fences before handing them over to the British unscathed.

As soon as the British captured Tobruk, they used it as a counteroffensive base, because British supplies and supplies could be continuously delivered here and then to the British on the front line. In order to ensure the safety of Tobruk Harbor, the British army asked two engineering regiments to repair and renovate the fortifications left by the Italians here.

Qin Chuan soon discovered this, because in the ensuing attack, the Germans kicked the iron plate......

It was the 2nd and 3rd Infantry Battalions that launched an attack on the British line, which was due to the serious attrition of the 1st Infantry Battalion, where Qin Chuan was located.

As usual, the Germans advanced towards the British line in several parts, covering each other...... The British line looked no different from the others, with a few trenches and barbed wire in front of the trenches, but as we all know, the trenches and barbed wire made in the desert did not help, and the German soldiers only needed a mortar to blow it up.

However, the British defense line was not as simple as it seemed.

When the German soldiers charged more than 500 meters in front of the defensive line, the British machine guns rang out, and the bullets flew towards the German soldiers in pieces, pressing the charging German soldiers to the ground and unable to move.

Qin Chuan noticed that these machine gun bullets were not fired from the trenches at all, but from the shooting holes of some unreadable facilities.

Qin Chuan quickly realized the seriousness of the problem...... Shooting holes can be constructed in the desert geological formations, which are mostly well-hidden bunkers, for the simple reason that the soft sand here is not enough to support a safe shooting hole, and they will collapse before the enemy can attack.

Sure enough, when the German soldiers poured mortar shells near these firing holes, they burst through the outer layer of sand camouflage, and soon revealed the concrete bunker inside.

Everyone was stunned......

The 1st Infantry Corps didn't have heavy weapons, they didn't even have anti-tank guns, but they had to face the British bunkers here!

To make matters worse, the British bunkers were still open and enemy machine guns could fire at any attacking troops.

"Are there any other gaps in the British line?" Werner asked.

Qin Chuan smiled bitterly and shook his head...... If the British could have built a bunker here, they would have left no gaps elsewhere.