cicada

Chapter 1378 Devil's Garden

The second half of the name [Devil's Garden] refers to the sea on the north coast of Africa, which is blue, deep and beautiful.

The word "devil" in the first half represents the ubiquitous mines and death. In the minds of the Allied soldiers in the Alamein area, this place is like Satan's lair, full of deadly dangers.

This multi-layer minefield across the Alamein Line, about 64 kilometers long and 5 to 8 kilometers deep, will make anyone who attempts to attack the German defense zone shed their last drop of blood.

Rommel, the designer of the minefield, once said: Every mine here is worth a soldier.

This is not an empty statement. According to information obtained by Allied intelligence personnel, there are a total of 50 mines buried in the Devil's Garden.

Among them, there are 30 anti-tank mines and about 20 anti-infantry mines. The entire minefield is divided into three layers.

In the outermost minefield, there are a large number of anti-personnel mines loosely distributed, which will force Allied engineers to clear mines at the risk of being blown up.

The middle-level minefield is a mixture of high-density anti-tank mines and anti-infantry mines, which slow down the breakthrough speed of armored forces and accompanying infantry.

As for the inner defense zone, the German army deployed 88mm anti-aircraft guns, Pak38 anti-tank guns and MG42 machine gun positions, forming a "death funnel".

Faced with this multi-layered minefield, the reconnaissance personnel of Operation Parallel Lines could bypass it, but the large Allied forces carrying out large-scale combat missions could not.

It would be tantamount to suicide for tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of people to cross the desert with a lack of supplies to attack the Germans who were armed to the teeth.

Real war is not a game where you can just click the mouse. Various factors must be taken into consideration.

The staff of the German Africa Corps declared in the newspaper that it would take the Allies at least 48 hours to break through the Devil's Garden and suffer 8000 to 10000 casualties.

The British commander Montgomery attached great importance to this matter. As soon as he took office, he asked intelligence personnel to find a way to obtain the minefield distribution map and find out the hidden advance passage reserved by the German army.

These passages are usually located between outposts and the rear to facilitate the safe passage of friendly troops, and their specific locations are top secret.

Because their appearance was similar to that of the native people of North Africa, the Republic of China agents took on this most dangerous mission.
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German defense zone, an oasis somewhere in the Sahara.

Gui Youguang, dressed in local clothes, was walking in the desert with a camel. The crisp sound of camel bells lingered in the air. Wu Chunyang and the little spy following behind him were also dressed in the same way.

Similar teams are common in the Sahara. For thousands of years, herders have been driving their livestock to live in pursuit of water and grass in this way.

At the entrance to the oasis, the camel caravan encountered a German checkpoint and a dozen German soldiers. An MG42 machine gun slowly turned its muzzle and aimed at Gui Youguang.

The commander of the outpost looked at the uninvited natives, frowned slightly, took a step forward, and shouted at them.

"Stand back! No entry allowed."

Gui Youguang pretended not to understand. He placed his right hand on his left chest, bowed deeply, and said hello in French.

"May peace be upon you, sir. We are nomads in the desert, and we come here to replenish our fresh water."

Someone in the German army who could understand French quickly leaned over to the commander's ear and translated, but the commander didn't listen at all and pointed his gun directly at Gui Youguang.

"I said, back off!"

Gui Youguang had no choice but to take a step back to show that he meant no harm, and at the same time slowly reached out his hand to the bag on the camel's back.

As he was taking out something, he explained with a smile: "Gentlemen, don't be nervous. I have some gifts for you."

Seeing this, the German soldiers immediately raised their weapons, their fingers on the triggers, ready to shoot at any time.

Gui Youguang took out the gift from his backpack very slowly, placed it in his palm and handed it to the German commander.

A dazzling golden light flashed, and the German commander swallowed his saliva, staring at a few soybean-sized grains of gold for a long time.

Ever since the German government confiscated precious metals and banned their circulation in the market, the price of gold in Germany has continued to soar, to the point that it has become a luxury for ordinary people to own a ring.

After a long while, the commander looked around and the surrounding German soldiers all looked up at the sky, pretending that they saw nothing.

A second later, the upright commander snatched the gold and put it in his pocket, while still issuing a warning.

"Okay, the benevolent empire allows you to enter the oasis to get water, but you must undergo inspection. If my men find any dangerous items, the consequences will be serious."

"As you wish, sir."

Gui Youguang stepped aside and allowed the German army to search. Wu Chunyang and others also raised their hands, each holding a few Vichy francs in their hands.

After receiving these [wild] banknotes, the German soldiers smiled and moved away the roadblocks. Gui Youguang bowed and stepped into the oasis.

Intelligence provided by the British showed that this was one of the supply points from the Devil's Garden outpost to the German rear, and they might be able to obtain key intelligence from here.

Passing through the sparse date palm grove, Gui Youguang saw a lake of medium size, surrounded by a large number of military tents.

By the lake, a group of German wounded soldiers were lying leisurely on the beach basking in the sun. These people did not care when they saw the "natives" coming. Apparently, this was not the first time this had happened.

Wu Chunyang, who was at the end of the team, glanced at the oasis and his eyes stopped on a few trucks. He winked at Gui Youguang covertly.

Gui Youguang looked calm. He shook the reins in his hand and the camel obediently changed direction and walked towards the truck.

When they arrived at the lake near the truck, the young agents released the camels and let them drink water and move around freely.

The running camels attracted the attention of some German soldiers. Some ran to feed the camels grass, and some tried to climb onto the camel's hump to take pictures. The scene gradually became chaotic.

Wu Chunyang took the opportunity to walk to the side of the truck. He bent down to adjust the hem of his robe, then quickly stood up and walked back to the team.

The chaotic scene did not end until the military police showed up. The spies left on their own initiative without waiting for the Germans to drive them away. The camel caravan walked towards the depths of the desert step by step, braving the yellow sand all over the sky.

After walking a long way, Wu Chunyang released his right hand and showed Gui Youguang his harvest, a handful of reddish-brown sand and gravel. "I found this in the gap between the truck tires. It's not ordinary sand, it should be mountain debris."

Wu Chunyang picked up a grain of sand and squeezed it, then made a judgment based on the hardness.

Gui Youguang nodded, and the topographic map of the Alamein area emerged in his mind. From the "Devil's Garden" outpost to the rear of the German army, there seemed to be only one place with sand and gravel of this color.

"Miriam Ridge!"

Wu Chunyang and Gui Youguang said this at the same time, and then they both looked towards the southeast.

Miria Ridge is located in the south of the El Alamein Line, far away from the Mediterranean Sea. The Allied staff had not paid attention to this place before, but they did not expect that the German army would set up a hidden advance passage in this place.

In order to obtain more clues, the camel caravan immediately turned around and moved towards Miria Ridge, bypassing the German stronghold.

That night, the agents arrived at Miria Ridge, and the ground changed from desert to a desert terrain mixed with sand and soil.

The reason why Rommel was confident that he could use the "Devil's Garden" to stop the Allied forces was that the geographical conditions near El Alamein were convenient for laying mines, and there was no need to worry about quicksand and storms affecting the effectiveness of the mines.

In the dark night, Wu Chunyang and Gui Youguang climbed up a mountain, silently waiting for dawn.

It was impossible for the Germans to pass through the minefield at night, that would be seeking death. If they wanted to find a passage, they could only act during the day.

At 5 o'clock in the morning, Wu Chunyang, who was lying on the ground with his eyes closed, heard German shouting in the distance.

"To the right, away from those signs."

"Ok."

It was already dawn, and the sun was rising from the horizon, illuminating the Miria Ridge.

During this period, a small number of night planes had just returned and day planes had not yet taken off, which was a gap in Allied aerial reconnaissance.

If the Germans wanted to transport supplies and troops to the front line or the rear, dawn would indeed be a good time.

Wu Chunyang carefully stuck his head out. At the foot of the mountain more than a hundred meters away, three Opel trucks were moving and stopping. A German soldier was standing in front of the car holding a small flag.

As the German soldiers raised the flag to the right, the first truck turned sharply to the right, and the remaining two trucks passed by one after another.

When the front of the lead truck was pointed east again, the soldier holding the flag jumped onto the running board and the truck roared out.

“This is a trap.”

Gui Youguang had unknowingly laid down beside Wu Chunyang. He used a telescope to search carefully at the turn of the truck and expressed his guess.

"The Germans' hidden passage must have many sharp turns. If you don't know the route, it's easy to crash and die."

"But at the same time, the Germans also have to bear corresponding risks, even if they have a map of the minefield distribution, so the passage must be specially marked."

"found it!"

Gui Youguang's voice became louder and his hand pointed at something.

Wu Chunyang looked in the direction of his finger and found a row of inconspicuous piles of stones on each side of the turn of the truck. The positions were not symmetrical and it was difficult to find them without careful observation.

These piles of stones outline a road about five meters wide, which is only wide enough for a single vehicle to pass through.

Use a pile of stones as a marker?

Wu Chunyang frowned. Aren’t the Germans afraid that the Allies will discover them and break through the Alamein Line through the passage? What are they thinking?

He thought for a moment and decided to continue monitoring to see if Gui Youguang's guess was correct.

Not long after, several more groups of trucks drove past the foot of the mountain, and their routes completely overlapped with the distribution of the rock piles.

But Wu Chunyang still did not act rashly, because if the channel was marked incorrectly, the number of people who died would not be just one or two, but thousands.

Thinking of the scene of countless soldiers falling in minefields and under machine guns, a light bulb went off in his head and he guessed why the Germans were not afraid of the Allies discovering the hidden passage.

——Width of the battlefield.

As far as North Africa is concerned, the Allied weapon that posed the greatest threat to the German army was the tank. So what was the tank's greatest advantage?

Yes, mobility!

But everything has its pros and cons. Once a tank loses its mobility, it will become extremely vulnerable, no different from a sitting duck.

If Allied tanks actually used this narrow passage to pass through the minefield, they would be met with a rain of 88mm shells.

Of course, the Allies could also abandon the passage, but then they would have to face the ubiquitous minefields.

This was a typical open conspiracy. Rommel laid the flaws out in the open. No matter whether the Allies attacked or not, and from where they attacked, they would suffer extremely heavy casualties.

If this is the case, why did Montgomery make such a fuss about looking for a passage? Was he making a show to win people's hearts, or did he fail to see Rommel's intention?

not good!

The British were not looking for a passage, they were looking for a scapegoat. These John Bulls were trying to shirk responsibility.

Wu Chunyang was immediately shocked and broke out in a cold sweat. The Foreign Intelligence Bureau and the Military Control Commission could not bear the blame, so he had to notify the deputy commander as soon as possible.

After thinking everything through, he suddenly felt a little bored and turned around to greet Gui Youguang.

"Let's go, send a telegram to the vice-captain, and then go destroy the German communication station, warehouse and artillery positions. We are not needed here."