World War II: Starting with the defeat of the Desert Fox

At Colonel Muller's signal, the command vehicle left the column and stopped next to the water tanker.

The orderly took the water bottle and was about to get off the vehicle when Colonel Muller stopped him.

"I can," Colonel Muller said.

This was Colonel Müller's habit; he believed that to get his men to risk their lives for him, they should be treated as equally as possible in ordinary times.

Otherwise, they would definitely think:

These officers usually ride roughshod over us, enjoying the best food and treatment, but in war they expect us to be on the front lines to die?!

No, screw it, I won't do it!

Now is a good time to make them feel like ordinary people, with the only difference being their position and responsibilities.

After getting off the train, Colonel Muller quietly joined the queue, holding an empty water bottle in his hand.

"Colonel!" the soldiers exclaimed.

"You go first."

"You also have to command the troops!"

……

"No, no." Colonel Muller nodded toward the troops stuck in a traffic jam ahead and joked, "The ones commanding the troops now are the traffic police."

The soldiers laughed.

A second lieutenant handed a full canteen to the colonel: "Use mine, Colonel. I can line up again."

"Thank you very much." Colonel Muller accepted the kindness, nodding to the lieutenant with an appreciative smile, as if trying to remember his face.

But Colonel Muller knew in his heart that this was just for show, and he would forget about the lieutenant as soon as he turned his back.

suddenly.

"Bang bang".

"Bang bang bang!"

……

A burst of gunfire, like popping beans, rang out from the sand dunes, and a dense barrage of bullets whistled through the air, making the water tanker clang loudly.

The German soldiers fell to the ground, and the lieutenant immediately tackled Colonel Müller and used his body as cover for him.

Someone turned on a searchlight, and the bright beam shot out like a sword towards the direction from which the bullets came. The infantry immediately organized fire suppression, and two tanks followed suit, adjusting their gun barrels to aim at the target.

After a few loud bangs, a cloud of dust rose from the hill.

The battlefield gradually quieted down.

The lieutenant, rifle raised and on guard, his eyes fixed on the hill, asked Colonel Muller beside him, "Are you alright?"

"No, it's alright," Colonel Muller replied. "Thank you very much, you're very brave!"

"Just a small force." The lieutenant, a veteran, made his judgment from the sound of gunfire.

"Although the gunfire was intense, as you know, British guns have a very high rate of fire."

"They can't be more than a platoon; they should be running away now."

Colonel Muller grunted in response, his gaze shifting to the water tanker, from which jets of water gushed forth like fountains from the bullet holes.

"But why are they doing this?" the colonel asked, puzzled.

"Their target appears to be the water tanker."

"So that we won't get any water?"

The lieutenant smiled slightly.

Sometimes the British do foolish things like this. They should have aimed at the soldiers on the other side who were taking gasoline from the tank's fuel tank. Even a small spark could ignite the gasoline and cause a chain explosion.

However, just as the colonel was puzzled and the lieutenant was relieved, a crisp sound came from under their feet.

"Gah...tap tap..."

It sounded like ice cracking, or like an earthquake, accompanied by a slight tremor.

"No, this can't be." The colonel quickly stood up, staring at the ground in disbelief. "This...this is a trap?"

Although he didn't understand what kind of trap it was, he knew it was dangerous.

He quickly turned and sprinted towards the road, shouting as he ran, "Get out of here, everyone!"

The German troops then realized what was happening and started their vehicles and tanks, trying to leave the trouble zone as quickly as possible.

But it was all too late.

The cracking sounds grew louder and more frequent.

Then, with a "boom," a large area collapsed.

Tanks, cars, and large numbers of German soldiers screamed as they fell into the pit, as if swallowed by a monster.

If anything remains, it's the towering cannon barrel of the tank.

But it only lasted a moment. Soon it sank slowly like a shipwreck, as if it had sunk into a swamp.

Then there was another loud "boom," and this time an even bigger section collapsed.

Other German soldiers tried to escape, but the broken salt crust created a chain reaction, collapsing like dominoes and instantly raising a cloud of dust that swallowed people and vehicles.

The salt marshland had become a dead zone, where German soldiers struggled and screamed in panic, but they could not break free from the soft sand and instead sank deeper and deeper.

In the end, the sand mercilessly buried their mouths and noses, leaving only their raised hands trembling and twitching outside, before finally coming to rest a few minutes later.

Colonel Muller was fortunate enough to escape unharmed.

He wisely did not flee back to his command vehicle, but instead sprinted onto the road at top speed, and then retreated to the other side of the high ground amidst panicked stares.

Colonel Muller concluded that the British had likely dug a large pit here.

But looking back, he realized that this was not the case. This "big pit" could not have been created by human effort; it had almost trapped his entire unit, including the tanks.

He stood there stunned, his chest heaving violently, hardly believing it was real.

The entire 5th Armored Regiment, which had been marching in high spirits and in neat formation just moments before, suddenly vanished before his eyes.

Only a few scattered people and a few sidecar motorcycles remained.

--------

Similar to Colonel Muller were a group of British maintenance soldiers, including Thorne, who were hiding behind the sand dunes.

They didn't run away.

It wasn't that they didn't want to run, but they were pinned down by the fast and intense firepower of the well-trained German troops, unable to lift their heads.

They could only continue to hide behind the sand dunes and keep their bodies as low as possible.

A significant number of them thought they were doomed; as soon as the Germans approached, they had only two options: surrender or be killed.

They even harbored resentment towards Thorne in their hearts:

How could I believe this guy?

He's an oil salesman who's never been to war. Am I crazy?

Now, we are all going to be buried with him for this foolish act!

Thea's heart also started to pound:

What if Thorne is wrong?

What if there aren't any salt marshes here?

Or will the water tanker not cause a chain reaction?

Just then, a series of crisp cracking sounds came from below, accompanied by screams and cries of terror from the German soldiers.

The group cautiously poked their heads out and were shocked to find that the once flat ground had been filled with a large crater, and the road was broken into sections. Large numbers of German soldiers were trapped in the crater, as if they had fallen into a huge swamp and could not get out.

"My God, what's happening?" Ferguson exclaimed.

Although he was mentally prepared, Ferguson still couldn't believe it when it actually happened.

Thorne glanced behind him. The German reconnaissance troops leading the way seemed to have noticed the anomaly behind them and had already turned back to provide reinforcements.

"Hey, Thea," Thorne reminded her, "we should get out of here!"