Chapter 738 - Capture the Island (Part 2)
In fact, the battle to seize Lemnos is nothing, because the island’s will to resist is not too great. Many Greek officers and soldiers who lost confidence in this, like Lieutenant Madekai, couldn’t stand it and chose to surrender.
I would like to say which island has the most intense battle in this landing operation. It is Chios Island, whose fighting intensity is far more intense than that of any island.
Chios Island is located in the middle of the Aegean Sea. It is a famous island in Greece. According to rumors, Homer was born on this island. And since ancient times, the island has been prosperous because of this precious spice.
In order to guard this wealth island, Greece has stationed more than 6,000 people on the island, and its commander is also a representative of the hardliners, General Leonidas. The general who bears the name of the famous Spartan king, just like the king, resisted the Romanian offensive.
Now the two forces are fighting behind the beach. An armored battalion of the Marine Corps has followed the soldiers onto the beach, but the Greek army has been relying on its terrain to suppress the Marines attacking the beach.
Because of the terrain, these Romanian tanks can’t climb up, so they can only use the turret to attack. Although this method can cause casualties to the Greek defenders, it is still within the tolerance of the defenders.
“Boom~”
The battleship Mircea wandering in the nearby waters used its extremely powerful 380mm caliber cannon to fire on the shore.
Seeing that the attack was not smooth, the battleship Mircea, as a support firepower, naturally had to give enough support.
The sound of a train whistling from the air made the defenders immediately panicked. Because they had seen the power of this sound a long time ago, the crater was more than ten meters in diameter when shot down, and there was no living person within a hundred meters.
The earthquake caused by the violent explosion made many defenders in the vicinity unable to hold their guns securely. What’s more terrible is that one of the shells exploded more than ten meters away from a trench. After the explosion, no one of the Greek soldiers in this trench could stand up, and all of them seemed to be asleep. It’s just that the tragic image of the bleeding from the seven orifices is enough to make the timid not dare to look directly at it.
As the commander of the garrison, General Leonidas watched the situation where his troops were hit without changing his face. I saw him turning his head and commanding. “Immediately let the first regiment reinforce it, and then let the second regiment retreat and rest.”
“Yes, General.”
Seeing that the officer who was giving the order was about to leave, he suddenly stopped him. “Wait?”
“What else is there to order the general?”
“Arrange the militia group we have conscripted to the second line, and let them feel the atmosphere of the battlefield.”
“Yes, General.”
General Leonidas, who had given the order, began to observe the battlefield again.
In fact, General Leonida’s tactics are very simple, that is, the dead end. Just behind the beach, the Romanian army that used the landing had not yet started to strike it with firepower. Although it hurts myself a lot, it is more cost-effective than putting the Romanian army up.
And this is the sandy beach suitable for landing on Chios Island. Other places are either cliffs or reefs, and cannot be used as landing points at all. As for small groups of troops using small beaches to land, he is even more not afraid. He is already preparing a force to wipe out these small groups of enemy troops at any time.
Of course, this approach also has its limitations, that is, it is demanding on the terrain. In addition, if the Romanian army breaks through the position, then all his resistance will collapse. This is the top bull strategy, whoever withdraws first will be considered a failure.
In fact, he also knew that his failure was inevitable, because he lacked support, the navy did not have the advantage, and the air superiority was not obvious because of the distance between the two parties and other reasons. But even so, he has to show the fighting spirit of the Greek army.
So he has done the same ending as the famous Spartan king, death is not terrible, because he has nothing to fear.
Facing the decisive fighting spirit of General Leonidas and the desperate resistance of the Greek army, Major General Angel, who commanded the battle on the Romanian side, was very anxious. Because of the battles on other islands, he already knew that compared to his encounters, it was like an outing.
It’s just that I don’t have no other way to do this, that is, to wait for the support of other naval warships, use the overwhelming naval guns, and constantly bombard the defending positions, opening a gap to attack.
But this kind of least effort and effort was not what he wanted, because doing so undoubtedly meant announcing that the Marine Corps was unable to conquer the island. It also declared that his first Marine Corps division could not fight hard battles at all.
How could this make him accept such a result, his face is small, and it is big for the Marines to lose face, so he can only rely on the troops in his hands and continue to think of ways.
The first thing he ruled out was to land a small group of troops from other places to harass. This is because the effect is not obvious, and it is easy to put small groups of troops in danger.
The one he ruled out was to request air support. Because the air force currently needs to support the army, and it also needs to seize air supremacy, and the nearest Romanian airport on Chios Island is more than 300 kilometers away, and there will not be too much air support specially coming.
Then there is only one way before him, and that is to increase the firepower output. Thinking of this, he called a communications staff. “Send a report to Captain Costi immediately, asking him to increase support for ground combat.”
“Yes, General.”
“In addition, I’m going up on a reinforcement group. I want to smash the enemy’s position and let them see who is harder.”
Major General Angel had gritted his teeth at the end, and now he can’t wait to tear his opponent General Leonidas.
With his order, the main artillery of the Mircea-class battleship continued to roar, and several light cruisers and destroyers also approached the coastline cautiously, constantly shelling enemy positions.
These light cruisers and destroyers don’t look at the caliber of their main guns, but they can only be regarded as small and medium caliber naval guns in warships, but they are not small for the army. Moreover, the number of artillery is enough to support an artillery regiment, and it is also a large-caliber heavy artillery regiment with outstanding capabilities.
And such fierce shelling made the defender’s position immediately appear to be precariously shaky, which is even more so that the morale of the Marine Corps officers and soldiers who have just received reinforcements has greatly increased. They immediately took advantage of the shelling and attacked the enemy’s position.
“It’s not good, immediately order the militiamen to go up and let the second regiment to stand by on the second line. Also, let the third regiment rush over immediately, and only need to leave a battalion in Gili Suo to prevent the enemy from landing from other places.”
General Leonida, who has been observing the battlefield situation, can’t tell that this is a new offensive wave by the Romanian army. At this time, he also ignored the possible confusion caused by the militia on the front line, and immediately asked him to supplement it.
And the second regiment who was resting was also pulled up by him. In order to avoid the problem of not having a reserve team, he intends to let most of the three regiments support him immediately.
Now the commanders of the two sides have their own targeted formations, and they cannot replace the soldiers standing in battle.
The officers and soldiers of the Greek army’s front-line positions gradually stabilized their positions as the militia joined. Although the militia also appeared in a panic when they came up, but fortunately, they were comforted by soldiers and role models, and they gradually calmed down.
After General Leonida saw the battle line gradually settled, his heart finally stabilized. And after Major General Angel saw that his swift attack was about to be blocked by the opponent, the whole crowd threw down the telescope in his hand.
Just when the two commanders thought that this battle would end with this, a dramatic side happened.
The firing from the main guns of the Mircea-class battleship caused several shells to fall near the first line of positions. Such a superb shot not only smashed the morale of the defending army, but also changed General Leonida’s face.
“They dare to do this, aren’t they afraid of going to a military court?”
The reason for General Leonidas to say this is very simple. Because the guns of warships are affected by ocean currents and shaking, it is absolutely impossible to shoot too close to friendly forces, and they need to maintain a distance of at least 300 meters. Because I don’t know if the next shell will fall on the friendly army.
And the current distance is only more than 100 meters at most. It can be said that it precisely excludes Romanian soldiers from the killing range. Such shooting cannot be done by any navy. Then there are only two possibilities. One is that the warship has made a calculation error, and the warship is correct. The second is that the Romanians have red eyes, completely disregarding casualties.
He was right, it was indeed a mistake on the battleship. It’s just not a calculation error, but a communication error, saying the last digit wrong.
For this reason, Captain Costi was so frightened that he urgently called off the Mircea artillery support to investigate the problem.
And Major General Angel was also taken aback, because if the position of the artillery strike was a little bit off, it would fall directly on top of the attacking troops. This will not only cause huge casualties, it will also severely damage the morale of the army.
Such a round of fairy cannons shocked all three parties. It’s just that the attacking Marines didn’t know the reason. They only knew that the bombardment was very accurate and knocked down the enemy’s entire position.
Faced with such a gap in the whole paragraph~www.mtlnovel.com~ Then there is nothing to say, as long as it is over.
And this gun also destroyed the morale of the defenders, and they were frightened by such precise shelling. This is the cannon of a battleship, and its lethality is directly in front of the eyes. Moreover, the death of the defenders in the entire position was equally frightening.
At this time, the disadvantages of militiamen coming in were also reflected. Many militiamen could not withstand such a severe mental blow, and threw down their weapons and fled here. Driven by the militia, many soldiers couldn’t stand it either, throwing down their weapons and ran away.
The chain reaction just appeared.
The soldiers of the defending army who were still fighting bravely before, after the shelling, turned into a rout the next moment. The offensive Marine Corps officers and soldiers are much easier this time, they only need to drive the routs to attack the next position.
General Leonidas, who couldn’t bear the result, flushed like a jujube. Suddenly, he spouted a mouthful of blood and fell down. The panic cry of the officers still remained in his ears.
No one expected such a dramatic result.
With the understanding of the battle on Chios Island, the first phase of the naval operations has come to an end. In this operation, the navy seized all the large islands in the North Aegean Sea except Evia. As for the island of Evia, because it is too close to the mainland (the nearest 18 kilometers), and the island is too large, it is not suitable for naval landing operations.
And now the Navy’s next phase of landing operations plan needs to wait for the Army’s cooperation. I believe it will not be far, because the armored army led by Lieutenant General Hoffman has once again become the focus of the Greek battlefield.