Tengerten

After quenching their thirst and filling all their water bags, canteens, and empty fuel barrels, the unit resumed its march.

The road became flatter shortly after they left the oasis, and unlike before, where all they could see was sand, there were now occasional patches of withered grass or green desert plants along the roadside, such as cacti and bitter melons.

This made the march much easier. Werner picked three bitter melons and, while walking, performed a juggling act to entertain the soldiers.

Amid the soldiers' cheers, the baker shouted, "Well done, Werner! It would be even better if you took a bite!"

The soldiers burst into laughter.

"Sergeant Otto!" Werner casually tossed one of the bitter melons to the baker. "How about we make a bet? You take a bite, and I'll take a bite!"

The soldiers started to egg them on:

"Bet, bet!"

"Eat, eat!"

…

The baker didn't hesitate at all. He grabbed the fruit and took a big bite, then chewed it with great relish.

"Hmm, not bad!" The baker nodded at Werner, "Want to try?"

Werner was stunned, as were the surrounding soldiers.

"Damn it!" Kuhn cursed, "Are you joking? Or do you think you're immune to poison? Spit it out now!"

The baker laughed, opened his mouth wide, and revealed that there was nothing inside. Then, like a magician, he pulled out the perfectly intact bitter melon from his hand and waved it in front of everyone, proudly saying, "Fooled you all!"

The soldiers finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"You got us, Sergeant!" Werner said, "That was really convincing—you win!"

"Do you know?" The baker said, "I've always wanted to be an actor!"

"An actor baker?"

"Yes, but I ended up as a soldier!" The baker said self-mockingly, "This is probably going to be my final profession!"

The soldiers were deeply moved by these words, and a few even smiled bitterly and shook their heads.

Qin Chuan could understand their feelings. They all had their own dreams—some wanted to become engineers, some wanted to be doctors, others aspired to be farmers... but the war had turned their dreams into distant fantasies. What awaited them now was one battle after another, until death.

As the soldiers fell silent, reflecting on this, a tense order suddenly came from the front:

"Take cover from air attack!"

"Take cover from air attack!"

…

The soldiers quickly stopped and lay on the ground, hastily pulling their rain ponchos from their backpacks to cover themselves. The drivers jumped out of their vehicles and, with the help of their co-drivers, unfurled the canvas that had been rolled up in the rear of the trucks, covering the entire vehicles.

These canvases and rain ponchos had been dyed the same brown color as the sand—these were items they had acquired from the Italian army. As the colonial power in Libya, the Italians had some equipment suited for desert warfare.

Soon, the entire unit blended seamlessly into the desert, at least from an aerial perspective.

Before long, the sound of planes droning overhead could be heard.

Qin Chuan figured that the scouts deployed around the unit must have spotted the planes from afar and alerted the unit to take cover. Otherwise, it would have been too late to hide.

Qin Chuan was tempted to peek out and look at the sky but thought better of it. If his curiosity led to the entire unit being exposed... he wondered if the Germans would treat him the same way they had treated Berger.

The British planes circled overhead a few times, but finding nothing, they gradually flew away.

When they got up, Qin Chuan felt as if he had returned to reality.

When the unit was deep in the desert, they didn't have to worry about the enemy or enemy aircraft—it was as if they were in another world, cut off from the rest of the world... but now, they were back in reality.

"Keep moving!"

"Keep moving!"

…

The order came down quickly, and Qin Chuan couldn't help but glance back at the awe-inspiring desert.

Not long ago, he had been desperately trying to escape from there, but now he found himself missing it. Because Qin Chuan felt that... the real world might be even more brutal and dangerous than the desert.

The next day, the unit received orders to accelerate their advance because they had received news that the main German forces had already launched an attack on Mechili. If they delayed any longer, this penetration force would fall behind the main advancing force.

But in reality, this wasn't true—it was just one of Rommel's lies to spur the unit into moving faster... or perhaps it was one of Rommel's exceptionally bold ideas.

Because Rommel was indeed trying to organize a German attack on Mechili, despite having few soldiers with him.

"I'm giving you one hour; you must launch an attack on Mechili!" Rommel furiously ordered General Streck, commander of the 5th Light Armored Division.

"I'm afraid that's not possible, sir!" Streck replied. "Most of my troops haven't arrived yet. Without the troops, we can't attack, and forcing an attack would only result in a meaningless loss of life!"

Rommel was not satisfied with this answer and roared, "You're nothing but a coward! That's no excuse for not attacking!"

Streck, enraged, stepped closer to Rommel and unbuttoned his collar, revealing the Iron Cross medal he had earned last year in France for bravery. He said, "General, are you suggesting that I'm unworthy of this medal? If so, I'll rip it off and throw it at your feet!"

Rommel was momentarily taken aback—this was a serious matter... because Streck's Iron Cross had been awarded by Hitler himself. Criticizing Streck would be tantamount to questioning Hitler.

"No, General Streck!" Rommel softened his tone. "You've misunderstood. I just want you to do everything you can to rally your troops and launch the attack on Mechili as quickly as possible!"

"I will, General!" Streck said as he turned and left Rommel's command post.

This left Rommel in an awkward position because he hadn't actually given Streck permission to leave.

As it turned out, Streck was right. It wasn't until two days later that enough troops were gathered to begin the attack on Mechili... if they had launched the attack two days earlier as Rommel had wanted, the troops would have arrived at the British lines in small, isolated groups, only to be slaughtered.

Meanwhile, as the battle at Mechili commenced, the men of the first regiment also reached their destination—Tengerten.

But when the German soldiers saw Tengerten through their binoculars, they were stunned: Tengerten was just an ordinary small town in the desert, surrounded by open terrain with no natural defenses.

Taking it might not be difficult, but holding it would be a different matter, especially with the British forces still having tanks at their disposal.