Qin Chuan and Colonel Slein spent a day in Tunisia.

During this period, they mainly inspected the Tunisian defense line with Neumann.

The troops transferred from Italy are somewhat different from those transferred from France.

It should be said that the combat effectiveness of the troops stationed in France was not weak at first, but they were used to the kind of life of luxury in France... The troops are different from other units. It is difficult for the troops to form combat effectiveness. It requires persistent and long-term training, but it is very easy to weaken the combat effectiveness and the process is also very rapid.

It was only more than half a year since France surrendered, but it was only more than half a year that was enough to relax the troops' tight strings. Once they were relaxed, it would be difficult to restore their combat effectiveness as before. This was the case with the 36th Infantry Division.

As a unit stationed in Italy, the 200th Division is always training... Italy is an ally of Germany and it does not need to be stationed. The German troops will be preparing to enter North Africa to fight in Italy, but they have not been able to come before due to transportation reasons.

But because they knew they were going to go to the battlefield, they would maintain their combat effectiveness while in Italy and even learn from veterans about fighting in North Africa.

Major General Neuman did this, requisitioned a portion of the wounded soldiers who were wounded from North Africa and transferred to Italy to conduct desert combat training for his instructors. However, what Major General Neuman did not expect was that they came to North Africa not to carry out desert combat but mountain combat and maritime defense operations.

However, this did not affect Major General Neumann's work in Tunisia.

"I think we should abandon the border between Tunisia and Libya!" Major General Neumann said: "Because southern Tunisia is still a desert, this terrain is not suitable for our army's defense. When it comes to mountainous areas in the central and northern regions, it should be the focus of our defense!"

Major General Neumann held a telescope and pointed at the soldiers who were repairing fortifications on the high ground, saying, "So, the focus of my defense is in Gabes, and I plan to build a line of defense along the high ground from there to Neglin."

Qin Chuan couldn't help but nodded when he looked at the map. To the west of Naglin was the Melegier Salt Lake. If the Allies wanted to avoid this line of defense, they not only had to go deep into the heart of the desert, but also crossed the salt lake and then crossed several mountains. This was almost impossible for mechanized troops.

"But have you ever thought it would be difficult to keep a line of defense?" Qin Chuan said.

Major General Neumann looked back at Qin Chuan, and then replied confidently: "Lieutenant, as long as we are prepared, coupled with the heroic soldiers of the Empire, the head of state and General Rommel's wise command, I believe we will defeat the attacks of the British and Americans."

After hearing this, Qin Chuan understood that Neumann was a fanatic, which means that he was at least partially convinced of "spiritual victory".

There is a certain reason why "spiritual victory" is rampant in this era, especially in Germany...

The most typical ones are the German and Italian troops. The German troops have high morale and fighting will, so they can always exert strong combat power on the battlefield, while the Italian troops' combat power is a mess.

In addition, the German army had previously pushed down neighboring countries and even France, which were known as the largest army, within more than a month on the European battlefield, so some people were wondering why this situation occurred.

Is it more troops than the enemy?

Of course not. In Europe, France, and the number of troops and people in Germany are several times that of Germany.

Is equipment better than the enemy?

Not to mention that Germany was restricted by the Treaty of Versailles, and in the early days many equipment were restricted and could not be developed more, especially in many aspects, with gaps compared with France.

After thinking about it, what Hitler mentioned is the racial issue, followed by the powerful combat power that the outstanding nations gathered together in a high spiritual and ideological unity broke out.

This idea has even been verified to some extent on the battlefield, because under the same equipment, high morale troops can always have stronger combat effectiveness.

But the US military is the best counterexample... The US military's fighting will and quality are actually the worst. When the army is insufficient in the middle and late stages, they even recruited prisoners into the army to counter the sentence, but they could win one war after another with advanced equipment and a large amount of ammunition. Many highly motivated German or Japanese troops were bombed without even seeing the enemy.

Therefore, war has always been a combination of people and equipment, and both the theory of spirit and equipment are biased.

"General!" Qin Chuan said: "How do you think the Tunisian defense line we built is compared with the French Maginot line?"

"This is not comparable, Lieutenant!" General Neumann replied: "The French's defense line is indeed stronger than ours, but the soldiers stationed at the defense line are different, and the generals are also different!"

"It's right!" Qin Chuan replied: "But I didn't see any difference in the deployment. The defense line is still mines, bunkers, trenches and barbed wire. The enemy can also attack with the same tactics. They can even drive warships into the Tunisian Strait and bomb the rear of the defense line with naval guns..."

"Do you have any better suggestions, Lieutenant?" General Neumann asked: "Is there any other defensive tactics besides that?"

"Of course!" Qin Chuan replied, then pointed to the bunkers on the high ground and the trenches between the high ground and said: "These are actually meaningless. They will be blown up by the Allies within a few days. Their function is to waste Allied shells. We know... After the Allied forces own the Suez Canal, Crete and Malta, their supplies can be transported continuously!"

Major General Neumann did not speak because what Qin Chuan said was indeed reasonable. If the German army had sufficient supplies and more artillery in North Africa, then they could also use this method to blow up the British defense line, except that the dominant Allied forces, especially when the United States was still in the war, the firepower was not comparable to that in the past when fighting with Britain.

"So!" Qin Chuan said: "Our fortifications should be built underground rather than ground, and should use each high ground as a point rather than a line of defense..."

"I don't understand!" Major General Neumann said: "If there is no defense line, how can we stop the enemy from attacking us in depth?"

Neumann said that the enemy could bypass the high ground and attack the German hinterland.
Chapter completed!