Ejele is a small city located behind the border between Algeria and Libya, but further behind this small city is part of Algeria's large oil field that Berante is trying his best to protect.
Now both Britain and France have accumulated a large number of troops here. The British want to capture Ejele in one fell swoop and then complete control of the Algerian oil fields, while the French want to defend Ejele to the death to protect the road to Algeria.
The lifeline of the oil field.
Among Berante's three sections of defense line - north, middle and south - Ejele belongs to the city on the southern end of the defense line.
The southern front happened to be the area where the French army received the most severe suppression.
Here, the two positions in front of Ejele have been lost, and the newly transferred French Algerian 3rd Division used the original third position to expand and build a huge U-shaped formation around Ejele.
position.
As for the British army, after discovering that only the southern offensive was effective, they changed their strategy. Instead of first conquering the French northern capital and reducing the French army's big target in Africa, they first occupied the French oil fields and destroyed the southern front line of France.
Small target plan for the defenders.
On the basis of the original strength of the southern front, British General Wavell also dispatched the 131st Regiment and the 768th Regiment of the British 24th Division to the southern front to strengthen the British attack on Ejele.
Taking advantage of its superior artillery, the British army on the southern front launched a heavy artillery strike on the French U-shaped defensive positions.
After destroying most of the French army's fire support points with artillery fire in the direction of their attack, they dispatched the 131st Regiment and the 768th Regiment, the cutting-edge troops transferred from the 24th Division, to launch an attack into the city of Ejele.
Advance in depth.
The British army's advance was not slow, and after the baptism of British artillery fire, the French defense force here was indeed greatly weakened.
In the view of the commanders of the French 3rd Division, this situation will be quite dangerous if it continues.
As a result, the 3rd Division had to begin to assemble black defense forces from other areas and assemble in the direction of the British attack.
At the same time, in order to prevent a large group of French officers and soldiers from being squeezed into a building and being wiped out by the British army with one shot, the French army also learned to be smart and began to disperse into many groups and go to various houses to carry out operations.
Defense is not limited to fighting concentrated in seemingly solid buildings.
These French combat groups are usually composed of one squad of white French soldiers and two to three squads of black Algerian soldiers, and their combat effectiveness is trustworthy.
Since the support troops of the British 24th Division were temporarily transferred, they did not carry many artillery shells, and there was half an hour of intensive artillery preparations ahead. It didn't take long before their bombardment had to stop -
—Because the shells are almost running out.
At this point, Britain and France entered a new stage of close combat.
The British 24th Division has considerable experience in urban combat. After many urban battles with the Italian army, the commanders and fighters of the British 24th Division have a lot of experience on how to effectively eliminate enemy soldiers defending in street battles.
This also brought considerable trouble to the French army in the city of Ejele.
Fortunately, the British army's street fighting experience was gained from the Italians, and many aspects are still not suitable for use against the French army.
Of course, the British army also has certain capabilities in street fighting attacks. They are also divided into many combat groups to fight.
The British infantry combat teams assisted by engineers can often perform at a very stable level in battles for houses in urban battles. There are many times when the black French soldiers who have little combat experience do not understand what is going on.
, suddenly found a British combat team appearing behind him, or after a loud noise, the British troops blasted from the house next door through engineers and rushed into the house where the French troops were located and fired a burst of fire.
In general, the dispersed attacking British combat groups were like mercury pouring to the ground, gradually penetrating and encroaching on the French Ejelay defense line.
What the officers and soldiers of the French 3rd Division did not expect the most was that the offensive force transferred by the British army was not just infantry, but a mixed force with anti-tank guns and tanks.
In addition, the British anti-tank guns usually have shields and are lifted and pushed forward by the gun crew. Although they move very slowly, the power of this direct-fire artillery can give the French army a headache.
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Sometimes, the French army clearly used the terrain to gain an advantage in urban battles and suppressed the British attack, but soon there were British soldiers hiding behind the shields and pushing forward such direct-fire artillery.
After these artillery are aimed and fired, generally speaking, one shot can destroy a house.
The French army in the building did not have much to do with this kind of artillery, because the British artillerymen were hiding behind the shields and could not be hit with guns.
Many French soldiers, even just seeing this kind of direct-fire artillery, immediately fled from the building where the muzzle was pointed.
What caused the French army even more headaches was the British tanks. These steel monsters were quite astonishing in terms of mobility and protection.
If we talk about direct-fire artillery such as British anti-tank guns, French officers and soldiers can sometimes kill the British artillery by changing the shooting angle, making it ineffective.
Then, Ejelet's French army had basically nothing to do against the British tanks.
The French soldiers also knew that if they wanted to destroy the British steel monster when they had no tanks or anti-tank guns, they had to get very close and attack the engine behind it.
But the British infantry following the tanks gave the French almost no such chance.
The British combat team was not careless when advancing. They searched and cleared all the buildings house by house along both sides of the tank's route. Many of them were organized and hidden in street buildings.
Because of this, the French anti-tank group was eliminated in a house far away from the British tanks.
Fortunately, even if the British army had such an advantage, the 131st Regiment and the 768th Regiment still failed to complete their missions.
The reason is very simple, it is caused by insufficient troops.
Although the casualty exchange ratio between the two sides during the battle was acceptable, the numbers of the two British regiments were still slowly declining. In many areas where breakthroughs were supposed to be achieved, because the follow-up teams of the British army could not keep up, they could only watch helplessly.
Then the French army deployed new troops to block it.
After all, Algeria is a place that France has worked hard for many years. Although the French army here does not have advantages in weapons and combat qualities, they can continuously replenish their troops and offset some of the casualties with black soldiers recruited locally in Algeria.
, the French army still did a good job in this regard.