Teleuissa is a village west of El Alamein, seven kilometres from El Alamein.

It was also a key point in El Alamein's first line of defense, where two Anglo-Indian divisions were stationed to defend it. Although these two divisions are Anglo-Indian troops, their soldiers are elite Sikhs, so their combat effectiveness is very good.

Of course, in addition to the good soldiers, the equipment of these two divisions is also considered the top in the British and Indian armies. Both divisions had an artillery regiment with 36 guns, which, together with other weapons and hard training, made them as effective as South African units.

The two divisions did not live up to expectations, and they built a large number of civil fortifications in Telresa, firmly holding the village of Telreisa in the same way as a large net of permanent fortifications previously built of cement and steel.

For the Italians, the capture of Ellessa became their first goal.

"Target azimuth 17, firing angle 39, fire!"

"Boom!"

A 150mm cannon shell flew through the chamber, and the propellant had enough thrust to climb rapidly, and as the thrust was gradually consumed, gravity gradually gained the upper hand, and the shell began to fall towards the ground, eventually landing next to an 18-pounder gun of the British army.

The loud explosion directly vaporized the soldiers next to the artillery, and the explosion caused the shells piled up on the side to explode. Although none of these shells were equipped with fuses, the shells were so powerful that they directly detonated the explosives inside the shells. So a series of explosions rang out in this artillery position.

Three of the four guns were lost in the outbreak, and only the 18-pounder gun in the lower right corner was lucky not to be hit.

And this is only a corner of the battlefield, with the superiority of numbers, power and range, the artillery units of the Fourth Army firmly control the advantage of the battlefield.

Of course, in addition to the strength and elite of your own artillery, there is also a lot of help from the sky. Airships and hot air balloons in the sky provide artillery with enemy bearings, and fighter jets and bombers attack the enemy from the air.

Bomber?

That's right, bombers, as bombers for ground attack, how could someone forget that back in the second year of fighter research, secret projects to study bombers began.

Over the course of a decade, Italian aircraft designers contributed to the development of the bomber. After four successive bombers were not recognized by the military, finally in 1912, the Z-7 prototype was finally developed to the satisfaction of the military. The reason for its satisfaction is its performance.

The aircraft is 11.9 meters long, with a wingspan of 23.9 meters, a height of 4.3 meters, and a wing area of 89.9 square meters. It is equipped with two 260-horsepower star engines, with a maximum flight speed of 135 km, a maximum combat range of 600 km, and an altitude of 6,000 meters. It can be loaded with one 500 kg aerial bomb, or two 250 kg bombs, and can be exchanged for five 100 kg bombs. The self-defense armament is three Maxim aviation machine guns (two in the front and one in the back).

Eventually, the Italian military named the aircraft the AC10 bomber, and asked the Siegel aircraft factory to produce 80 of these aircraft in half a year. And after the aircraft was delivered to the troops, it was praised by the army and navy air forces. Its long range and high payload make it versatile.

In addition, at the beginning of the war, the demand for bomber fighters ranked last among all kinds of aircraft. Because the bomb load is not as good as that of the airship, the time in the air is even more impossible to see, and the airship does not need a field, just a large enough flat land. The AC10 bomber was once forced to carry out reconnaissance missions, forcing an excellent bomber into a reconnaissance aircraft, and it is conceivable how much advantage the airship has in the absence of anti-aircraft fire.

However, with the advent of the Allied air defense weapons, the chances of airships performing combat missions have rapidly decreased, and the originally powerful and huge body has become the favorite target of air defense weapons.

As a result, the AC10 bomber has been valued again, and its small size and low cost are its advantages (compared to the airship whose cost is comparable to that of a destroyer).

After the bomber carried out several bombing missions with very low losses, the military picked up the bomber and asked the aircraft factory to deliver 300 planes within half a year and 800 planes within a year, so the aircraft was taken seriously.

And in order to ensure the success of the Egyptian campaign, two bomber groups with a total of 112 aircraft were sent to Prince Filiberto.

At this time, under the combined attack of ground and air, the artillery of the defenders of Telleesa lost very quickly. After two hours, only 27 guns remained, and the only sound of Italian artillery fire could be heard on the battlefield.

Later, the positions of Telleessa were subjected to more intense shelling, and the continuous and intensive attacks caused the defenders to suffer heavy losses. By the end of the shelling, a large number of fortifications were destroyed.

At this time, the British and Indian soldiers, who were hiding from the shelling, poured out of the anti-artillery holes under the orders of the officers, ready to meet the enemy's attack.

Suddenly the roar of the machine sounded, and dozens of planes appeared in the sky.

"Pay careful attention to air strikes, anti-aircraft fire preparation."

Amid the shouts of the officers, the machine guns on the positions, as well as the anti-aircraft guns, were aimed at the sky, waiting for the attack of enemy aircraft. They have already suffered several air strikes, and they have already figured out how to deal with the aircraft, although it is not very good, but it is better than being unprepared.

However, this time, the planes did not lower their altitude to attack, but kept circling in the air, and the roar disturbed the British and Indian officers and men.

"No, why is the plane so loud?"

At this time a British officer sensed that something was wrong, the noise of the plane was familiar to him, it had never been so loud.

"What's that?"

At this time, a sharp-eyed soldier looked at the big black shadow on the ground in the distance and shouted loudly.

"What is this?"

An officer looked at a huge machine with a telescope and fell into confusion. Actually, it's a tractor, but it's not like it at all. Let's say it's an armored car, but it's also different, because the difference is a bit big or the tracks used to advance.

"Fire, machine gun fire."

At this point, an officer commanded a machine-gun attack, and although he didn't know what it was, it must have been an enemy weapon.

"Dada~"

The bullets fired from the machine gun did not seem to have any effect on them, because the other party did not stop at all, and kept moving towards them.

"Why are there so many?"

As this strange machine gradually approached, the officers and soldiers on the position saw that there were a lot of them, and I am afraid that there were hundreds of them. And it's weird that there's a big bundle of wood behind these strange machines.

"There's someone behind this machine, and the Italians behind it,"

At this time, someone saw the enemy exposed behind this strange machine, and hurriedly reminded loudly.

"Fire, fire all of them, fire on the enemy."

The officer's order was carried out, and the machine guns and rifles on the positions continued to fire at the enemy.

However, most of the bullets hit these strange machines, and only a few lucky ones hit the Italian soldiers who didn't dodge.

Although the defenders kept firing, their morale gradually decreased in the face of the strange machines of the enemy who could not be moved. Even though these Sikhs are brave and good at fighting, they are more afraid of the unknown than the officers.

These strange machines kept approaching them, and obstacles such as mud pits, wooden stakes, barbed wire, and dirt slopes had no effect on them, and there was no obstruction at all.

The strange machines then kept getting closer, and when they were about 100 meters away from the position, they stopped. Then it opened fire, and the roar of machine guns and artillery at an extremely close range of 100 meters caused confusion among the British and Indian officers and men on the position.

This distance was too close, and the constant spray of fire from the enemy's strange machine directly made them unable to raise their heads at all. Machine guns, in particular, are even more one-in-one, and there is no room for survival at all.

At this time, a large number of Italian troops jumped out of the starting positions and attacked the suppressed defenders.

And being suppressed by this strange machine all the time made the defenders on the position feel more and more panicked and frightened. Some soldiers have already taken advantage of the officer's inattention and sneaked away from the traffic trench.

It's not that no one wants the explosives pack to be able to handle this strange machine, but the soldiers who follow behind the tank won't let it go. The submachine gun's dense ammunition can solve any position that the tank does not pay attention to.

And when the Italian reinforcements arrived, under the cover of tanks, the soldiers drove the enemy directly out of their positions.

The tank's debut was much more than that, and then the tank went on the offensive and, in one day's time, directly conquered the leading point of the Tellæsa.

The tank's first appearance was a perfect result, much to the delight of the campaign commander, Prince Filiberto. Although half of the tanks broke down during the battle and could not be used during the day, this still could not stop its sharp breakthrough attributes, which was too important for him now.

As for the news of the appearance of machine monsters that cannot be penetrated by bullets on the side of the British army, the enemy quickly penetrated with the defeated troops. And as the supreme commander of the campaign, Admiral Murray, knew it earlier than anyone else. To this end, he summoned several defeated officers and soldiers overnight, and obtained from them the combat situation of this monster machine.

At this time, he immediately reported the situation to London, and at the same time thought about how to use what he had in his hands to restrain this fighting machine that could crisscross the battlefield.

(End of chapter)