My Italy - Chapter 666 Battle of Tunisia (3)

“Cannon attack, squat down.”

At this time, in a trench in Shaal, the French officer leading the team shouted loudly to the Tunisian soldiers who looked frightened in the trench.

At this time, there was a sharp whistling sound in the air, followed by an explosion. At this time, the reinforced artillery regiment of the 15th Division was constantly bombarding the position with 75- and 105-mm cannons. Thanks to the high-level Italian artillery team, the bombardment targets basically the trenches.

The constantly exploding positions panicked the soldiers defending in the trenches. They were like deer jumping into a pack of wolves, not knowing what to do.

The officer’s words had no effect on the fearful soldiers. More importantly, they could not understand the officer’s French.

Although France has been in Tunisia for 30 years, the French government has no consideration in wanting all Tunisian people to learn French. On the contrary, the middle and upper classes in Tunisia have learned some French, but the people at the bottom simply do not have the time and energy.

Therefore, the biggest problem with the conscripted colonial army was the communication problem between officers and soldiers.

In fact, there is no problem in normal times, because French officers have translators and communicate with the soldiers through translators.

But this is a problem on the battlefield. Translators may also be injured or killed. How should officers communicate with soldiers? Even if the translation is fine, if the order is conveyed through the translator, who knows whether it will be distorted.

The officer in this position was injured when he encountered the translator and left. Now he is blind when facing his own soldiers. Although he also understands some simple daily expressions, he doesn’t know much in military terms. In fact, not only his position was like this, but the entire front was similar.

These recruited indigenous soldiers have only been in the army for four or five months. How far can they be trained if their words need to be translated?

To be specific, they enter recruit training for two months, then join the army for one month, and then are sent to their destination. On average, each soldier has fired only more than thirty rounds of bullets.

The Italian soldiers who are their opponents have a training volume of 200 rounds of bullets every year. Not to mention that during the three months of training for recruits, at least one hundred rounds of bullets must be fired.

As for the officers supported by the army, the gap between the two sides is even wider. Because according to the tradition of the French army, outstanding officers should serve locally.

Especially after the war broke out, the French army suffered too many losses, and even qualified officers were transferred to the mainland as supplements or to form new troops. As for the colonial troops, they were led by the remaining officers. How good do you expect these officers to be who don’t even look down on the local army?

It was precisely because he knew the quality of the enemy in front of him that Major General Kasapa, the commander of the 15th Division as the vanguard of the Eighth Army, dared to attack it with the strength of a division.

Speaking of which, Major General Kasapa is also a veteran in the army. At the age of 59, he is about to retire. In the past, he had participated in all the wars after Carlo succeeded to the throne. Although he was unlucky and participated in the war, he was always in the army with little fighting, so he did not make any achievements, but it can be regarded as hard work. As well as experienced.

Later, he was promoted to major general three years ago and became the deputy commander of the 15th Division. After the division commander was transferred last year, the military considered that he was about to retire, so he was rehabilitated.

Unexpectedly, the war broke out not long after the correction. Since this man was very familiar with the 15th Division and had good abilities, he continued to serve as the commander of the 15th Division. In the previous Italian-French border war, because the 15th Division was a reserve force, it did not get much opportunity to perform.

As for being later assigned to the Eighth Army to prepare for the Tunisian campaign, the veteran finally couldn’t bear it anymore. He has been in the military for most of his life, but he is not a talented officer. He can show his style even without war, and he must rely on war to express himself. However, since there has never been a chance, there is no way to show off.

But this time we finally met, and we had to show off no matter what, so after being incorporated into the Eighth Army to prepare for the Tunisian campaign, he kept saying that he was willing to lead the 15th Division as the vanguard.

Faced with the veteran’s constant requests, Lieutenant General Brazeau, as the actual commander of the army group, finally agreed to his request. In addition to the veteran’s indomitable spirit, it is also because the 15th Division is the most powerful unit in his hands, which can be seen just by the number of the 15th Division.

In order to live up to the expectations of Lieutenant General Brazo and to prove himself, after taking up the position of forward in the 15th Division, Kasapa worked early and late to work on the forward. In his opinion, if he is not talented and smart, then he can only use hard work to make up for his stupidity.

At this time, looking at the French position that was constantly being bombarded in front of him, Kasapa already had an idea in his heart, but he still needed to wait for a telegram.

I checked my pocket watch. If I’m not late, I should be here soon.

While Kasapa was thinking, he saw a communications officer running up to him with a telegram.

“Division Commander, this is a telegram from the airship unit.”

Looking at the telegram in front of him, Kasapa smiled. “Very good, call me Colonel Bogado.”

“Teacher, call me.”

At this time, Colonel Bogado, who was tall and exuded a macho aura, came in front of him. And the group he led had a ferocious character just like his temperament.

“Bogado, you came just in time. I need you to attack the enemy from the middle to the left-wing position. Are you confident that you can break through the enemy’s position in one go?”

“Commander, leave it to our regiment. We will definitely be able to capture the enemy’s position in one go. Look at those panicked native soldiers. Do they know how to shoot accurately?”

Colonel Bogado patted his chest and assured that he believed his regiment had this ability.

“In this case, you will launch the main attack, and the 2nd and 3rd Regiments will be responsible for containing it from the two wings. In addition, the airship unit from Tripoli to help us will arrive soon, and it will be responsible for air support for your regiment.”

Kasapa also gave Yi Tuan the use of the airship he had summoned.

“With the airship, I feel more confident.”

“Not allowed to cause too many casualties?”

Seeing Colonel Bogado’s confident look, Kasapa then reminded him.

“Don’t worry, I will show you a beautiful record for the division commander. Hey, the division commander’s airship to support us has appeared.”

The rumbling sound of artillery continued until the airship reached the sky above the French army. Looking at the dark airship above their heads, the French officers and soldiers were a little panicked. Because in mainland France, the Italians have used airships to conduct countless ground attacks.

In order to deal with threats from the sky, French arsenals urgently developed anti-aircraft machine guns, anti-aircraft guns and other defensive weapons. However, due to insufficient current production, most of these equipment remain in France.

As for Tunisia, which faces Italy directly, the French army considered the safety of its own North Africa, so it still allocated some. There are a total of 24 anti-aircraft machine guns and 8 anti-aircraft guns, but these weapons are all deployed on the front line in Tunisia. Shahal, which only slows down the enemy’s advance, is not equipped with these anti-aircraft weapons.

At this time, these airships boldly descended to an altitude of 1,500 meters. At this altitude, even the airship’s machine guns would pose a huge threat.

At this time, the sound of artillery stopped, and groups of Italian officers and soldiers were seen rushing towards their position.

“When the enemy attacked, they all came out to the trenches.”

Under the orders of the officers, these indigenous soldiers ran out with rifles in their hands. The airship in the sky at this time made these people a little panicked, and some even chanted the name of Allah in their mouths.

At this moment, intensive machine gunfire suddenly sounded in the sky, and then several people in the trenches fell to the ground with blood splatters on their bodies.

“This is an airship shooting from the sky. Everyone, please fight back.”

“Bah~bah~”

A burst of gunfire rang out, and the soldiers who shot at the airship kept firing, trying to drive away or shoot down the airship. However, at an altitude of 1,500 meters, these rifles and even machine guns do not have such a high range, so this is just a useless effort.

“The enemy is approaching. Don’t worry about the airship above.”

At this time, looking at the Italian soldiers who had entered the shooting range, the French officer leading the team kept ordering his soldiers to ignore the threat from the sky. Of course, it was difficult for him to give orders just by speaking, so he used his hands and feet to let these indigenous soldiers who had never seen the market know which one to deal with now.

But seeing that no one cared about it, the airship became even more happy. Not only did he use machine guns to shoot at the soldiers in the trenches, he also dropped bombs on them.

Although the harassment of machine guns and bombs did not cause much damage to the defenders, it made the soldiers restless. Coupled with their poor marksmanship, the shooting effect made people shake their heads.

At this time, the 1st Regiment of the 15th Division lived up to its ferocious character. Under the cover of mortars, machine guns, and smoke bombs, the officers and soldiers of the regiment attacked along the weak points of the defenders given by Division Commander Kasapa. After a charge, they actually broke into the French position. Although the native soldiers on the position were cheered by French officers, many of them still sneaked away without paying attention.

In fact, even if they don’t slip away, they are no match for the group. Bayonet fighting requires courage. Look at the eyes of these indigenous soldiers. They have everything. They just lack courage, so they were opened up by the group at once. gap.

“Immediately ordered other troops to open a gap along the group and continue the attack. We will strive to defeat the enemy today.”

As the breach widened, other French officers and soldiers in Shah’al also began to waver. The enemy was so fierce that he captured the friendly positions with one charge, so what should I do next?

Kasapa, who did not give the enemy time to react, directly launched a larger offensive without giving the opponent a chance to respond.

At this time, the native soldiers in the French position began to flee. Often the opponent was still in the trench before, and after turning around, there was only one rifle there.

After one regiment broke through three trenches in succession, no one could stop the French army from being defeated at this time.

At this time, Major General Kasapa, who was looking at the situation, had a deep understanding of these indigenous troops. “It seems that not everyone has the combat capability of our servant army in East Africa.”

I feel like I’m writing three chapters instead of two.