Ejele is a small city behind the border between Algeria and Libya, but beyond this small city is the Algerian oil field, which Belante has worked so hard to protect.

Now that both Britain and France have amassed a large number of troops in the area, the British side wants to conquer Egerle in one fell swoop and complete the control of the Algerian oil field area, while the French army wants to defend Egerle to the death and protect the lifeline to the Algerian oil fields.

In the northern, central and southern sections of the Belante line, Ejele belonged to the city at the southern end of the line.

And the southern front happened to be the area where the French army was most suppressed.

Here, the two positions in front of Egelle have been lost, and the newly transferred French Algerian 3rd Division has used the original third line of positions to build a huge U-shaped position around Egele.

As for the British army, after discovering that only the southern offensive was effective, it changed its strategy, from the initial plan of conquering the northern capital of the French army and reducing the large goal of the French army in Africa, to the small goal of occupying the French oil fields first and defeating the French defenders on the southern front.

On the basis of the original strength of the southern front, General Wavell of the British army sent the 131st Regiment and the 768th Regiment of the 24th Division of the British Army to the southern front to strengthen the British attack on Edjele.

Taking advantage of its superior artillery, the British on the Southern Front inflicted a high-density artillery strike on the French U-shaped defensive positions.

After destroying most of the French firepower support points in the direction of their attack, they sent the 131st and 768th regiments of the 24th Division to launch a deep advance into the city.

The advance of the British army was not slow, and after the baptism of British artillery fire, the French defense here was indeed greatly weakened.

In the eyes of the commanders of the 3rd French Division, such a situation, if it continued, would be quite dangerous.

As a result, the 3rd Division had to begin to assemble black defensive units in other areas in the direction of the British attack.

At the same time, in order to prevent the appearance of a large group of French officers and soldiers who were crowded into one building and wiped out by the British with a single shot, the French side also learned to be clever and began to disperse into many groups to defend in various houses, and not be limited to concentrating on the kind of fighting in buildings that looked solid.

These French combat groups, usually composed of a squad of white French soldiers, plus two or three squads of black Algerian soldiers, were trustworthy in combat.

And because the support units of the British 24th Division were temporarily transferred, the number of shells carried was not much, and there was half an hour of intensive artillery preparation in front, and it didn't take long for their shelling to stop—because the shells were almost gone.

At this point, Britain and France have entered a new stage of hand-to-hand combat.

The British 24th Division had a lot of experience in urban combat, and after many battles with the Italian army, the commanders and fighters of the British 24th Division had a lot of experience in how to effectively eliminate the enemy soldiers defending in street battles, which also caused considerable problems for the French troops in the city of Egelet.

Fortunately, the British army's street fighting experience was brushed from the Italians, and many places were still not suitable for use against the French army.

Of course, the British army also had a certain ability to attack in street fighting, and they were also divided into many battle groups.

The British infantry combat squads, which were assisted by engineers, often performed at a very consistent level in the battle for houses in urban battles. There were many times when the black French soldiers, who had little combat experience, did not understand what was going on, and suddenly found that the British combat team appeared behind them, or after a loud noise, the British army burst into the French house from the next house, through the sapper blast, and fired a burst of fire.

In general, the British battle groups scattered and attacked, completely like mercury pouring into the ground, gradually infiltrating and encroaching on the French Aegeret Line.

What the officers and men of the 3rd French Division did not expect the most was that the attacking force transferred by the British army was not only infantry, but a mixed unit with anti-tank guns and tanks.

In addition, the British anti-tank guns, which usually still had shields, were carried forward by the gun squad by hand, although the speed of movement was very slow, but the power of this direct-fire gun could give the French army a headache.

Sometimes, the French army had clearly taken advantage of the terrain and had an advantage in the urban battles to suppress the British attack, but before long British soldiers hid behind shields and pushed this kind of direct-fire artillery.

These guns are aimed and fired, and in general, a single shot can often destroy a house.

The French troops in the building did not have much to do with this artillery, because the British artillery was hiding behind the shields and could not be hit with guns.

Many French soldiers, even as soon as they saw this kind of direct-fire artillery, immediately fled from the buildings where the muzzles were pointed.

And what made the French army even more troubled was the British tank, this steel monster was quite amazing in terms of mobility and protection.

If it is said that for the British anti-tank guns, which are direct-fire artillery, the French officers and soldiers can sometimes kill the British artillery by changing the firing angle, so that it cannot play a role.

Then, against the tanks of the British army, Egelle's French army was basically helpless.

The French soldiers also knew that in order to destroy the British steel monster without tanks or anti-tank guns, they had to get very close and attack the engines behind it.

But the British infantry, which followed behind the tanks, almost did not give the French such a chance.

The British battle groups, on the other hand, were not careless in their advance, and they searched and cleared all the buildings there house by house along both sides of the tank route, and many of the French anti-tank groups that had been organized and hidden in the buildings on the street were wiped out in the houses far from the British tanks.

Fortunately, even with such an advantage of the British army, the 131st and 768th regiments still failed to complete their tasks.

The reason is simple, it is caused by the lack of troops.

Although the casualty exchange ratio between the two sides during the battle was acceptable, the number of the two British regiments was still slowly declining. Many areas that were supposed to be broken through, because the British follow-up team could not keep up, and in the end they could only watch the French army transfer new troops to block.

After all, Algeria is a place where France has worked hard for many years, and although the French army here does not have the advantage of weapons and combat quality, they can continuously replenish their own troops, and use the black soldiers recruited by Algeria to offset some of the casualties, which the French army still does well.