Chapter 152: Encirclement

But the British soldier ignored the gap between the stones under the tank tracks.

This gap was not conspicuous, and most people would not notice it, but Qin Chuan clearly saw the British mortar gunner loading in the gap through his six-fold scope, so he fell to the ground forever with one bullet.

"Bang!" Qin Chuan fired another bullet.

It was a British sniper, and Qin Chuan believed that he was aiming at him... Qin Chuan couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat when he found this.

This British sniper hid behind a dry tree trunk, and he was covered with a khaki camouflage net, so he blended into the tree trunk.

Qin Chuan had never noticed his existence until a bright light alerted him... It was the light reflected by the sunlight shining on the sniper scope, which meant that he had become the prey of the enemy sniper.

So Qin Chuan didn't think about it, and immediately raised the gun and adjusted the direction to the position of the light and pulled the trigger. He didn't even aim because he didn't have time to aim.

Qin Chuan did not see the target fall, because a shell exploded nearby, and the smoke and soil raised by the explosion blocked Qin Chuan's sight.

But Qin Chuan knew that he hit the target, otherwise he would be dead now... The duel between snipers is often determined by a thought, or half a finger's distance, and the loser will never have a chance to turn the tables.

The German army quickly gained the upper hand in the battle.

This was not only because the German army caught the British army off guard, but also because the German army occupied a favorable position... The German army was in a date palm forest, with tanks in front as shields and date palm trees for hiding, while the British army was on an open road, and their cars and tanks stood in front of the German army like targets.

If the British army had anything to hide, it would be the stones piled up on the roadside as a barrier.

But this is not a good shelter at all. It can indeed block bullets but not shells... The tank gun fired a shell with a "boom" sound and exploded on the stone guardrail. The guardrail immediately shattered like flour and then turned into thousands of small "shrapnel" flying towards the British army. The British soldiers hiding behind it were either killed by shells or killed by these "shrapnel".

In fact, if they were killed, they were lucky. Some people were not killed... After the war, Qin Chuan saw a British soldier covered in blood falling to the ground and groaning in pain. Looking carefully, he was densely covered with rubble and his face was also covered with rubble, but perhaps because he was far away from the guardrail, all these rubble were only on the surface and did not hurt the vital parts.

This can be said to be lucky, or it can be said to be unfortunate.

He is lucky because he can survive in this situation.

He was unfortunate because he had to suffer and torture and taste the pain and fear of death carefully and bit by bit before dying...

"Save me!" The British soldier said with difficulty, his eyes full of begging.

Qin Chuan shook his head weakly. Even if the medical soldiers were willing to treat him, they were afraid that they would be powerless to treat the British soldier's injuries.

The last glimmer of hope in the British soldier's eyes also quietly passed away. Then he reached out and grabbed Qin Chuan's trouser legs as he was about to leave, and said, "Kill me!"

Qin Chuan was stunned for a moment, then raised his gun and pointed it at the British soldier... After hesitating for a moment, he pulled the trigger with a "bang".

The British soldier tilted his head, and the hand holding Qin Chuan loosened and fell to the ground weakly.

Qin Chuan didn't know what to think about this matter.

If there is still mercy on the battlefield, this shot may be it!

In this battle, the German army lost a total of 51 tanks, of which 32 tanks were destroyed by British bombers and fighters, and the other 19 tanks were blown up when attacking the Corniche.

From this point of view, the British army's performance was actually good. It was able to cause considerable losses to the German army under such circumstances.

However, this was also because the British army had an advantage in air power.

The British casualties were heavy. On the Corniche, the road section that stretched for several kilometers was full of British tanks, armored vehicles, and car wreckages, which were hundreds of vehicles.

Despite this, the British 15th Armored Division was not completely wiped out in this battle. Almost half of their tanks and troops fled back to Matruh when they saw the situation was not good.

However, the German army got what they wanted, that is, the British 15th Armored Division and the New Zealand 2nd Division were surrounded in Matruh.

"Celebrate our victory!" In the Mammoth command vehicle, General Stryker raised his glass and said to the officers and Qin Chuan: "Africa will soon belong to us!"

Qin Chuan understood what General Stryker meant.

Although the results of the battle of Matrouh were not ideal compared with the previous results, the 21st Armored Division lost more than 50 tanks and destroyed more than 100 enemy tanks... This is far different from the previous loss ratio of 1:20.

However...

The victory of this battle is of strategic significance.

First of all, Matrouh has abundant fresh water resources and food. Occupying it means that the German army at least does not have to worry about water anymore, which is definitely a happy thing in the desert.

Secondly, the tanks of the British 15th Armored Division are the last batch of tanks that the German army is afraid of... At least the German army thinks so. In fact, not all of the British 15th Armored Division are in Matrouh. It has an armored regiment with 80 "Valentine" tanks to reinforce the Gabushali Line and then pursue the 21st Armored Division.

Of course, they failed to catch up, so they were transferred back to El Alamein by General Auchinleck.

So the British force in El Alamein was not weak to be honest. The British had nearly 300 "Stuarts" (including the remaining tanks of the 7th Armored Division), 80 "Valentines" and more than 30 "Matildas".

This number was still much larger than the number of German tanks.

But the Germans at that time did not know this... In terms of intelligence, the Germans and the British were completely disproportionate. The British could monitor and decipher almost all the German codes, including the telegrams of Rommel and Hitler, while the Germans could only eavesdrop on a few words or ask something from the prisoners.

But in fact, the intelligence obtained from interrogating the prisoners was very limited, because the situation of the British at that time could not be described as "chaotic"... Tanks were constantly transported from India and were immediately put into the battlefield as soon as they arrived.

So how many tanks were destroyed, how many tanks were put into use again, how many tanks were lost in the desert, or how many tanks broke down, etc., these are all a mess, and sometimes even the senior British officers don’t know, let alone the British soldiers.