German artillery fire also roared.

Artillery battles always have a late-mover advantage, because the first side to fire will expose their position to the enemy, and the enemy can calculate and allocate his firepower for a longer period of time and at the same time launch a fierce and relatively accurate return fire at the opponent.

So the British artillery fire quickly slowed down, but the German artillery did not dare to expose themselves too much, otherwise they would suffer another round of blows from the British artillery.

In their place were mortars of the British infantry...... These mortars were used to mine the tanks, as can be seen from the rows of shells that stretched forward from the positions.

The smoke from the shells pushed forward, and the tanks moved forward, closer and closer, closer and closer......

"Fire!" With an order, all kinds of weapons on the defensive line rang out at the same time.

Qin Chuan pulled the trigger and killed a tank commander on the turret.

It is the norm of this era for tank commanders to command operations outside the tank, not because the tank commander is brave, but because the tank has a poor perception of the outside world, so it has to do so in order to better coordinate with the infantry and maintain the formation of the tank.

Otherwise, once you hide in a tank, it will be difficult to get in touch with the infantry outside, even if the infantry is bombarded by enemy artillery fire or even the impact of enemy armored forces.

Qin Chuan's purpose was to let these people hide back in the tank.

Sure enough, after being shot several times in quick succession, the tank commanders retracted into their tanks and closed their hatches with great interest.

Mortar shells smashed over in rows, and Qin Chuan hurriedly retracted his head.

The mortar is different from other guns, its trajectory is more curved, so theoretically it will definitely blow directly into the enemy's trenches if you blow it forward layer by layer.

The British were well supplied and could afford to expend, which was also a kind of fire cover for their tank and infantry charges.

A mortar shell exploded in the trench, several German soldiers were hit, blood and dirt splattered everywhere, and since the shell exploded in the semi-enclosed space of the trench, the bodies were basically flying towards the sides of the trench.

A corpse fell heavily at Qin Chuan's feet, face up, and Qin Chuan recognized him as the recruit who vomited in the car, Yakop's subordinate.

Qin Chuan didn't go to check his injuries, because Qin Chuan knew that the soldiers who were blown up like this were basically hopeless, even if they were not hit by shrapnel, the relatively fragile internal organs in their bodies would be injured and shattered, and it would only be a waste of time to save them.

Sure enough, the recruit struggled a few times and then stopped moving.

Another shell exploded in the trench, Qin Chuan reflexively lowered his body, and a piece of shrapnel hit Qin Chuan's helmet and was bounced off, which caused a loud metal impact sound that made Qin Chuan's ears buzz.

Qin Chuan hurriedly touched his neck and then looked to see if there was blood on his hands, but there was nothing on it, and Qin Chuan's hanging heart was put down.

But in fact, it is false to say that it is put down, because the "rumble" of the enemy's tanks is already close at hand.

As soon as the artillery fire passed, Qin Chuan put his rifle on the trench again and poked his head out at the same time...... At this time, the enemy's tanks were only more than 300 meters away.

"Bang!" One shot, Qin Chuan shot a bullet.

QIN CHUAN CHOSE TO TARGET THE BRITISH MORTAR GROUP, SIMILAR TO THE GERMAN 50MM MORTAR, THE BRITISH SMALL-CALIBER MORTAR IS A 2-INCH MORTAR (2 INCH IS A 51MM CALIBER), ITS RANGE IS SLIGHTLY SHORTER THAN THE GERMAN 50MM MORTAR, ONLY 400 METERS, WHICH ALSO MAKES THE BRITISH ARMY OFTEN SUFFER IN CLOSE COMBAT......

But in fact, the real loss is not this, the British army did not organize the mortar group into a platoon like the German army, but used it as a mortar squad under the command of the company headquarters, which will cause a problem in actual combat: the mortar is too concentrated and easy to be suppressed by the enemy.

Just like now, as soon as Qin Chuan looked up, he saw two mortars emerging from the gap in the tank.

The correct firing posture of the mortar should be that both of them are lying on their stomachs, because the barrel of a 2-inch mortar is very short, and the firing action can be completed completely on the stomach.

But perhaps to make it easier to observe the position of the German lines, or to be able to transfer in time, the loader was half-kneeling and loaded.

Qin Chuan's bullet pierced his abdomen and hit another mortar in the head...... This mortar lost two mortars in the first place.

The next bullet knocked down the loader of another mortar, and because of the smoke of gunpowder, Qin Chuan didn't see what part the bullet hit, Qin Chuan only saw him fall to the ground and screamed.

One of the surviving mortars, realizing that he had been targeted by enemy snipers, hurriedly grabbed the mortar and rolled two rolls behind a jeep.

The British soldier reacted quickly, but he ignored that there was a gap under the chassis of the jeep, and a bullet fired by Qin Chuan passed through this gap and then pierced his head, and his body went weak and then stopped moving.

The "Matilda" tank is getting closer and closer, and the anti-tank guns hidden in the fortifications of the German army are like artillery battles, but as everyone imagines, these anti-tank guns cannot penetrate the armor of the "Matilda" tank, most of the shells are bounced away, and when they bounce off, they will grind a dazzling spark on the tank armor, and a few armor-piercing shells will be embedded in the tank armor, Qin Chuan can see the tail of the armor-piercing bullet that has been deformed and expanded due to violent impact in the scope.

"What should we do?" Looking at "Matilda" getting closer and closer, Alfredo couldn't help but get anxious: "We can't deal with them!" ”

"Anti-tank grenades!" Werner shouted.

"No!" Seeing that the time was almost up, Bazel ordered, "We should retreat!" ”

This order came as a surprise to all the German soldiers, for their commanders had always ordered them to fight valiantly.

"Retreat, do you hear me?" Bazel repeated: "Leave some mines for the enemy!" ”

"Yes, sir!" The soldiers answered, and then quickly planted some mines in front of and behind the trench and ran along the communication trench to the second line of defense.

The traffic trench is zigzag...... If it is a straight one, then the enemy only needs to set up a machine gun at the intersection of the trench to shoot from beginning to end, and the zigzag trench can ensure the safety of the fighters who have entered the trench, because their backs will be blocked by the zigzag turn.

However, this did not really help, because the communication trench was only a small ditch that was faintly visible above the previous bombardment of warplanes and artillery, which filled the heads and ears of the retreating soldiers with the whistling sound of bullets and shells.