Chapter 139: Captive (Subscription Request)

What the German tankers saw were British tanks.

The importance of tanks is self-evident. In a desert, infantry often have to fight long and hard battles in an open space, completely exposed, or dig shelters in the soft sand under the scorching sun, or endure thirst in places where there is no water.

The situation of tanks is almost the opposite of that of infantry. It is a big guy of about 20 tons, which can carry a lot of supplies... Although the internal space is small, the supplies can be tied outside in boxes.

In battle, they roar and spray flames, as if they have endless bullets. Their armor can become a mobile shelter, and at the same time, they can easily cross the bushes. As long as the road is solid and the oil is sufficient, they can easily cross the vast wilderness.

Therefore, the most important target in the eyes of tankers is the enemy tank, which is also the equipment that poses the greatest threat to themselves.

So the German tanks interspersed back and forth among the British soldiers who were scattering, and destroyed one "Stuart" after another that was turning to escape on the spot.

Finally, some of the Stuart tanks used their flexibility or the driver's skilled driving skills to turn and successfully embarked on the road of escape.

Chasing the Stuart was very painful for the "Panzer III" because it faced a very embarrassing choice: either chase or shoot.

Chasing was actually meaningless because the speed of the "Stuart" tank was faster than the "Panzer III". The result of chasing was that the distance between them became larger and larger, and you couldn't shoot while chasing.

To shoot, you must stop and stay still for a few seconds before you can fire. At this time, the "Stuart" tank was running away at full speed. When the German tank stopped, the "Stuart" might have already driven into the wind and sand and escaped from sight.

This is different from the previous pursuit of the "Matilda" or "Valentine" infantry tanks... The "Panzer III" tank can catch up with the "Matilda" even if it implements a short stop shooting.

Therefore, the "No. 3" tank could only watch them disappear after destroying several "Stuarts" that fell behind the team.

In desperation, the "No. 3" could only shift its target and turn its gun muzzle to the British infantry...

This was lively again: the "No. 3" tank was not a British tank. It had a parallel machine gun and a directional machine gun. With the roar of a machine gun, the British deserters fell down in pieces like harvested crops.

In addition, there were anti-personnel grenades fired by the tank gun, and tracks... Qin Chuan only then knew why some people called tanks "killing equipment". Every part of it could be used as a weapon: tank guns, machine guns, tracks, and even a car could be knocked over by hitting it hard with full power.

So a brutal massacre unfolded in front of Qin Chuan, blood, screams, broken limbs... All things that are unimaginable in a peaceful society will become normal here.

The British soldiers soon realized that resistance was meaningless and they could not escape, so they raised their hands and surrendered.

The battle ended half an hour later.

The British 7th Armored Division was almost defeated in this battle. Only about 30 of the 200 tanks escaped, and the other 100 were either destroyed or captured by the Germans.

In addition, the Germans captured more than 2,000 British soldiers, 115 vehicles, 65 almost intact anti-tank guns, and 30 vehicles full of fuel supplies.

The total loss of the German army was only 15 tanks that were penetrated by armor-piercing shells and could not be used.

Unlike before, in this battle, the Germans captured the "Stuart", which was faster than the "No. 3", and it was a firepower monster with five machine guns to suppress infantry...

Although the "No. 3" tank has excellent performance and good safety, its main opponent is still the enemy's tanks. The "Stuart" tank has a strong performance to suppress infantry, which can just be a supplement to the "No. 3".

Colonel Olbrich was an expert in using tanks, so he certainly knew this. So when he learned that 33 "Stuarts" were captured, he was so happy that he couldn't close his mouth.

The only problem was that the German tank soldiers were very unfamiliar with American tanks and needed training to form combat effectiveness... But this was not a big problem, because the driving of tanks was actually the same, and more importantly, the coordination between the tank commander, gunner and other tank crew members, and the German army was fully prepared in this regard.

Another big gain was the more than 100 vehicles... The German armored division just needed vehicles to transport supplies, but the British army immediately sent them to the German army in this battle.

The headache was the British prisoners.

More than 2,000 people gathered together, and it was a black mass. Kill them all, it would be difficult to kill so many people. Let them go, they would pick up weapons in the blink of an eye and become enemies of the German army again.

Finally, there was no other way. General Strike could only order them to be temporarily loaded into cars and controlled... Use the newly captured cars. They were empty anyway. Each car could hold about 40 people, so more than 50 cars could hold all of them.

Moreover, they could basically rest assured about these prisoners, and they didn't even need to send soldiers to guard the cars. The reason was very simple. There was desert everywhere within a radius of dozens of miles. If the British prisoners left the convoy, they would almost be seeking their own death... This was another headache for the German army with these prisoners: the prisoners consumed a lot of drinking water and food, which were very precious in the desert.

Of course, the German army would not be lenient with the wounded British prisoners. When cleaning up the battlefield, they would shoot them one by one in the pile of dead bodies, or just throw them into any carriage and leave them to fate.

But to be honest, the former may be more merciful than the latter.

Because they were injured in the desert and did not receive the necessary treatment, the wounds would soon become infected and inflamed, and finally die in pain.

Later, Qin Chuan learned that the German army consciously chose the latter.

That is, several wounded soldiers were distributed among the British prisoners, and the British prisoners watched the wounded slowly die in pain, so as to hit the morale of the British prisoners and warn them not to escape easily.

This method was very effective. Those British prisoners did not need to be tied up and obeyed the German army's orders and sat in the back carriage without daring to move.

There were even many British soldiers who rescued and carried supplies under the orders of the German army... Some vehicles transporting supplies were damaged in the battle, and the supplies in the back carriage needed to be transferred to the vehicles. In addition, it is necessary to collect water bottles from British soldiers killed on the battlefield... Water is the most precious resource in the desert and no waste is allowed.