Everyone thought that the American army would soon tear through the German defense line and quickly occupy the entire Onna Heights, including General Patton.

But the situation was unexpected by everyone......

The U.S. troops had not yet gone far before they were strongly resisted by the Germans.

There was a dense burst of gunfire, and bullets rained down on the charging American soldiers, sweeping them down in pieces like harvesting rice; Shells smashed on the road of the American charge, blasting the American soldiers into the sky; One by one, grenades were thrown at the feet of the American soldiers, leaving them bruised all over their bodies......

Bullets flew and blood and dirt flew in the air, and in a few moments the charging infantry company fell on the line of charge on the anti-slope plane, and when the gunfire stopped, all that was left was the screams of the wounded soldiers and the crying of a few frightened soldiers lying on the ground, and they did not even have the courage to get up and crawl back, all they could hear was the crying and cursing.

"Bang bang!" A few gunshots caused the stunned Major Jones to retract his head.

From the rifle was heard the shouts of Major General Allen: "What's the situation?" Have you taken the high ground? Why didn't the follow-up troops go up? ”

"No, General!" Major Jones replied weakly: "They are all dead!" ”

"What?"

"They're all dead!" Major Jones shouted into the microphone with some hysteria: "I said that they are all dead, German bullets and shells are waiting for them there, and none of them will come back alive!" ”

Major General Allen couldn't help but be stunned when he heard this, he didn't understand why the American army would have such a thing when it had occupied the commanding heights; I don't understand that the Germans still have such combat effectiveness under the repeated bombing of the American army; I don't even understand how the soldiers of a company can be wiped out so quickly......

In fact, don't say that Major General Allen doesn't understand, and Major Jones, who is on the front line and is watching all this with his own eyes, doesn't understand either, what he doesn't understand the most is how the Germans' grenades could suddenly be thrown at the feet of the charging American troops.

After thinking about it for a while, and remembering the "tunnel fortifications" that Eisenhower had previously reminded the American army, Major Jones seemed to understand the problem.

"General!" Major Jones picked up the phone and said, "I think we're running into what General Eisenhower called the defense of the tunnel!" ”

"Did you see their tunnels?" Major General Allen asked.

"No, no!"

"That's not how the tunnel works!" Major General Allen replied: "At least that's not what we heard!" The British said they could occupy surface positions, but what they had to worry about was their sneak attack at night! ”

Major Jones was stunned for a moment, then replied, "What if they intended to let the British occupy it?" ”

"What do you mean?"

"I mean...... The Germans did not play the full role of the defense of the pit on the Gabez line! Major Jones said, "But we ran into it!" ”

Major General Allen wanted to say something, but General Patton interjected next to him: "Let him come down and report the situation in detail!" ”

"Yes, General!" Major General Allen then ordered: "Major, hand over command to Captain Walter, and you come down and make a detailed report!" ”

"Yes, General!"

Twenty minutes later, Major Jones, covered in blood and mud, came down from the battlefield.

Barton handed the kettle to Jones, and asked, "Major, tell me what you think!" ”

Jones took a few sip of water, then gasped and said, "I need a pen!" ”

The staff officer quickly handed over a pen and a notebook.

"This is the Highlands!" Major Jones explained as he drew in his notebook: "As we have heard, the Germans used tunnel tactics, and the high ground was full of their tunnels. My guess is that their tunnels are connected to the trenches, so that when we fire and bombard, they hide in the tunnels to avoid the shells, and when we charge...... They came out of the tunnel and went into the trenches to place their guns. So our fire preparation will not be effective! ”

Barton nodded when he heard this.

"What's worse is that our charging team will also be attacked by grenades!" Jones continued: "There's no way they could throw a grenade that far, I mean...... Their line was at least a hundred meters away from us, and they were at a low point, but I could clearly see grenades smoking at the feet of the soldiers! ”

"What do you think is going on?" General Patton asked.

"Tunnel, General!" Major Jones replied, "Tunnels are everywhere, and we may even have them under our feet, and near the hilltop positions......"

As he spoke, Jones marked a few dots on the sketch.

"That is, there is a pit only a few meters or more than ten meters away from us!" Major Jones said: "There were Germans hiding inside, but we did not find them, because the mouth of their tunnel was in the dead end of our line of sight towards their own lines. So...... Do you know what happens when we charge down? We thought our enemy was in the line of defense a hundred meters away, but in fact it was not just the line of defense, we showed our backs in front of the mouth of these tunnels, and the Germans hid in the tunnels and threw grenades at us, and even fired at our backs with submachine guns or machine guns! ”

General Patton couldn't help but nod when he heard this: "Wonderful analysis, Major!" So, what the British know about the tunnel fortifications is only the tip of the iceberg! ”

"Maybe they deliberately didn't tell us this, General!" Major Jones said nonchalantly, "You know, the British want us to suffer casualties and defeats, so that they will appear stronger than us!" They're just a bunch of bastards! ”

Patton did not comment on this, because as a general was not fit to say such things, although he also hated the British to the point of gritting his teeth.

"There's another possibility, Major!" After thinking about it, Patton replied, "That's what you said before, that the Germans deliberately let the British occupy it...... The situation with the Gabes line was a little different, the British had already entered Gafsa, and they were attacking the German tunnel fortifications from the other side, so it was normal that they did not run into us! ”

Major Jones gritted his teeth and did not speak, although he felt that Patton was reasonable, but he still counted the casualties of his men and comrades on the British.

"So, how can we break through their defenses?" Major General Allen asked.

"I think ......," said General Patton, "we can't!" ”

"What?"

"Because!" General Patton explained, "Even if we break through their lines with heavy casualties, the next thing we will face is their tunnel!" ”