And as time goes by, the losses caused by street fighting have become more and more obvious.

Johnson, the commander of the 24th British Division, who was commanding the battle on the front line, was even more anxious.

He anxiously reported the situation to Wavell, and strongly asked Wavell to continue to send additional troops to reinforce them.

But in the face of such a request, Wavell is actually more tricky than Johnson's feelings.

Britain had no reserves in the North African theater, and the 974th and 775th Australian regiments, which were reserved for the second batch of troops, were worse off than the two British regiments of the 24th Division, and these two regiments were still to be used for the defense of Algeria to the south.

Because intelligence shows that in the south of Algeria, there are still more than 100,000 Italian troops who have fled from the British army to Algeria, and if the Italian army launches a counteroffensive from the south of Algeria while they are fighting the French army, the consequences will be unimaginable.

As the increasingly strong requests for reinforcements from the front went unanswered, the British 24th Division also slowed down.

In the end, Johnson, the commander of the 24th Division, transferred half of the guard battalion directly under the division, which was not used at this time, to reinforce it. And after that, there were hardly any troops around him that could be mobilized.

And if reinforcements are needed, Johnson has no troops to send.

Even the engineer battalion directly under his headquarters had long been dispersed into the combat groups of the various regiments.

If the first two regiments to attack still cannot complete the task of dividing and destroying the French army in the city, then their offensive may have to be temporarily stopped.

Contrary to expectations, the fighting in the city of Ejelle was still fierce, and there was no sign of abating.

At this time, Johnson was simply impressed by the French army that was defending and fighting in the city at this time, and the strong combat effectiveness of the troops directly under Belant.

Because in the battle to break through the Algerian border defense line in the front, he did not feel that those border garrisons were very capable of fighting, and the 131st and 768th regiments did not make much effort to achieve the breakthrough so far.

It's a pity that the smooth breakthrough of the first two positions has an important relationship with the British army's domestic response to France, which makes Johnson's judgment deviate because of factors outside the battle.

And he also forgot that the French troops on the Algerian border were relatively weak in firepower, which was due to their lack of ammunition to do.

However, Egelet's 3rd French Division, because it had been kept as a reserve by Berente before, had not experienced combat, and its ammunition reserves were quite abundant. Berente dealt with the traitors in the rear with lightning speed, and restored the supply of supplies to the southern end of the defensive line, so that the 3rd Division finally did not have to worry about ammunition problems like the troops in front.

Now, the British 24th Division has begun to show its effects due to heavy personnel losses.

The British army, which had just finished the war with the Italian army, although it had rich combat experience, combat effectiveness and morale were very strong, and it also achieved a relatively reasonable casualty exchange ratio in the battle. However, their attacking forces were weak and insufficient, which made the battle in the city not go according to Johnson's vision, but began to become more and more stalemate.

On the other hand, in the general headquarters of the British army, Wavell was also full of emotion, he was glad that he did not pin the hope of the battle on the fact that the French army in the city would retreat on its own initiative, so as to relax his vigilance.

Because he did not regard the French army as an Italian army that could easily retreat, Wavell also sent two regiments of the 24th Division on the southern front, which was not bad for the combat strength that had already been seen there.

Otherwise, perhaps no one can say exactly what the current battle situation in the city of Ejele will look like. Even, there is a possibility that the 3rd Division, which was transferred by the French army, will launch a counterattack!

Wavell was a little frightened when he thought of this, and he clearly felt that he had achieved good results in the battle against the Italian army during the time he had led his troops, and he had begun to underestimate the enemy.

This is not a good sign. After all, Berronte's French army was still very different from Mussolini's Italian army.

And as the battle in the southern sector slowly reached a stalemate, Johnson, who was in charge of the area, became more and more anxious.

He kept walking around the headquarters of his British 24th Division, trying to think of some coping strategy.

We have to find a way to change this situation, otherwise we are likely to lose all our efforts!

Wavell, who was also aware of the situation, discussed his thoughts with Johnson over the phone: "It's not okay to go on like this, we don't have any extra reserves." You see, if I transfer you to the 974th and 775th Regiments of the Australian Army, and let them go up and join the battle now, will you be sure that you will take Ejele? ”

Indeed, Johnson knows it in his heart. This may be the only way to go. On the three fronts, the British army was already fully engaged in the battle with the French army, and only the two Australian regiments defending against the remnants of the Italian army had not yet joined the battle.

If the 24th Division still wants reinforcements, only the Australian soldiers of these two regiments can be assigned to them.

But Johnson was still hopeful that his 131st and 768th regiments would be able to complete the task of dividing the French forces in the city without relying on reinforcements.

Therefore, he shook his head with the phone and rejected Wavell's suggestion: "Wait and see, I just reinforced my own guard battalion to the front, maybe the situation will change." ”

Wavell felt that Johnson was still lucky this time, and he didn't think that the strength of a guard battalion could change the tide of the battle.

Just as Wavell wanted to speak and continue to persuade Johnson, Johnson's side was interrupted.

A dusty British officer, running into his headquarters from outside, saluted Johnson and reported: "Division commander! Frank, communications staff officer of the 131st regiment, reports to you! The telephone lines of our regimental headquarters and headquarters were blown up, so the regimental commander personally sent me to report the war to you. ”

"You say." Johnson, who was suddenly interrupted from his train of thought, temporarily held the phone and looked at Frank Road while putting it to his ear.

"Our regiment, reinforced by the guard battalion, finally stormed the city center." Frank first reported the good news to Johnson, and there was no more exciting news for Johnson, who was hell-bent on taking Egele.

"Well done!" Hearing that the troops had advanced to the city center, Johnson waved his fist excitedly and said, "Let your regiment commander continue the offensive at all costs and take the city center for me." ”

However, the response to Johnson was not the answer in his image.

I only heard Frank reluctantly continue to report: "Division commander, the number of infantry in our regiment is further declining, and in some sections due to the large casualties of the infantry battle group, the advance has to be stopped. In some sections, the tanks we followed were also destroyed by the enemy because they lost the cover of the infantry battle group. The regimental commander asked me to ask the general to at least give our regiment one more battalion of infantry with full formation, so that our regiment could continue to carry out combat missions. ”