Romanian Eagle

Chapter 751 The Battle of Crete (7)

After breaking through on Loris' side, other places are not bad. Led by the tanks, they attacked the defenders' positions ploughed by artillery fire again and again.

With the continuous transportation of landing ships, more and more Romanian soldiers landed on the beach, and not only the infantry they brought, but also armored vehicles, tanks, and self-propelled artillery.

In the face of more and more continuous attacks with increasing intensity, the Greek army could no longer defend, and the first-line positions were directly broken. This allowed Romania to finally gain a depth of nearly 5 kilometers, and bid farewell to the situation of continuing to stay on the beach.

The Romanian army, now landed, is ready to attack Heraklion, ready to seize its port for more support and equipment.

The failure of the beachhead landing to block the battle made the faces of the three supreme commanders of the defenders who watched the entire battle look very ugly. After a fierce battle for nearly a day, the enemy was still not blocked, and no one was able to maintain a good mood.

"Now, what should we do?"

In order to resolve everyone's embarrassment, Admiral Tsoraglu took the initiative to raise questions.

"What else can we do, prepare to defend Heraklion, we can't let the Romanians get a port, otherwise this battle will not be fought."

Admiral Papagos felt distressed when he thought of the casualty report just sent. In the blocking battle, the Greek army suffered more than 10,000 casualties, while the casualties of the Romanian troops who landed were expected to be around 5,000. Two of their own divisions lost their combat effectiveness, in exchange for one of the other's divisions to lose their combat effectiveness.

This is still the most difficult landing battle, and if it is replaced by other battles, it will be even more difficult to fight. Of course, this also has a lot to do with the Romanians occupying the sea and air superiority.

The support from the sea caused all three battleships to run out of grenades and needed to go back to replenish the ammunition, and the Air Force also dispatched 3,000 sorties to support battles today. Basically, Shanghai air support takes half of the credit.

"Let my people defend. They are very knowledgeable about urban warfare and believe they can hold the enemy more effectively."

It was rare that Major General White took the initiative to invite him, which attracted the attention of Admiral Papagos and Admiral Tsoraglu. In fact, this is nothing, mainly because Mr. White will start from a practical point of view. The Greek army suffered more than 10,000 casualties, and the losses were not small, and their own side also needed to share some of the pressure.

Besides, Admiral Papagos has not many troops available now because of the scattered defense, so he also needs to show his role as an ally. Although there is some personal conflict with Admiral Papagos, now is not the time to argue about it.

"Well then, your army will take over the defense of Heraklion, and I will leave an infantry regiment formed by the locals to assist you."

Admiral Papagos is no nonsense, he made arrangements directly.

Although Admiral Papagos didn't say anything, he gave enough respect in his tone. And this also completely let down Admiral Tsoraglu's worries.

While the defenders were preparing for tomorrow's battle, Lieutenant General Holt, who was in charge of commanding the landing battle on the ship, also looked at the casualty numbers sinking like water. With nearly 5,000 casualties, this landing battle completely knocked the First Marine Division out of combat effectiveness, and now there is only one Second Marine Division left in his hands. Although there are other troops to cooperate, but they don't have a marine division major in the landing battle, they can't even swim in the whole division.

This is not the time for him to sigh for this. There will be another battle in the Second Marine Division tomorrow. I hope it will not be as tragic as today.

Today's battle is over, and both sides are preparing for tomorrow's battle. Only the sea transport ships, like little bees, keep transporting materials and personnel to the shore.

The overnight transportation allowed the officers and soldiers who landed to be replenished, and more importantly, a large amount of equipment was also transported ashore during this time. The officers and soldiers who get enough equipment will definitely have a positive impact on the next battle.

At dawn the next day, the battle between the two sides started, and the Romanian officers and soldiers who landed began to attack Heraklion. Supported by air and sea, the Romanian officers and soldiers quickly approached its walls.

Yes, as the largest port and largest city in Crete, Heraklion still has walls. The city wall can be traced back to the war between the Republic of Venice and the Ottomans, and then the Ottomans were reinforced. Its original intention was to control the pearl of the Eastern Mediterranean from the enemy's disturbance.

It was only after the First Balkan War that Crete returned to Greek hands.

And now, Romania intends to let the island change its ownership.

"Woo~"

As the screams got closer, a group of defenders immediately fled in fright.

"boom!"

The fleeing defenders felt a shock under their feet, and the reinforced concrete fortress behind them exploded like a violent powder keg. The scattered rubble was like bullets, hitting a few unfortunate people who couldn't even scream, and then fell straight to the ground. The other defenders did not dare to step forward at this time, and they only tried their best to find a place to hide. Zero One Reading Network

A 500KG aerial bomb was so powerful that it made the defending British defenders feel the difficulty of the battle.

"Attention, the enemy is coming!"

With a shout, all attention was focused on the incoming Romanian army. If Heraklion cannot be held, then the battle will not achieve their purpose.

With the emergence of the Romanian army of mixed tanks and armored vehicles, all the British defenders at the scene knew that the next hard battle would begin.

Just when everyone was attracted by the battle, a communications officer suddenly broke into the headquarters.

"I just got the news that the enemy fleet has appeared in Rethymnon, and the enemy landing fleet is approaching its coast. The commander of the garrison, Major General Hollick, asked us for help."

"what?"

The three present involuntarily cried out at the same time.

No way, this news is too amazing, they can't help but be surprised. Because according to knowledge, in this case, it must be an offensive against Heraklion to compete for this largest port city. Romania suddenly appeared to be landing off the coast of Rethymnon. What does this mean?

No matter how he thought about it, as the supreme commander, Admiral Papagos would naturally not let this telegram fall behind, and I saw him stretch out his hand to take the telegram and read it carefully. In fact, the telegram is very short, it is the time and size of the enemy's appearance, and the scale of the troops that are landing, and then the telegram asking for help.

Although the message was very short, Admiral Papagos did not dare to neglect it, and saw that he handed it to the other two after reading it. After waiting for everyone to read it, he opened his mouth. "What do you think about this?"

Facing the words of Admiral Papagos, Admiral Tsoraglu said after thinking about it. "At present, according to the scale of the enemy's landing, it cannot be ruled out that the enemy is trying to contain our troops, but if we don't care, then there is the possibility that the other party will increase their troops. We cannot fail to guard."

Admiral Zolaglu sounded like he said or not, but only the other two knew, it was just difficult to make a decision. That's right, the total strength of the British and Greek armies in Crete has always been insufficient, and their combined strength is only over 90,000.

It sounds like a lot. After deducting the troops defending the ports all over the island, the troops they can use are only a little over 50,000. In the battle of Heraklion, 10,000 had already been lost, and two divisions had lost their combat effectiveness. As for the defensive unit, anyone who understands military common sense knows to use weaker units.

Rethymnon is located in front of Heraklion and Chania, both forty or fifty kilometers away. In previous predictions, this was the port that was the least likely to be attacked by the enemy, because although there was the longest beach on the island, the port of Rethymnon was also the weakest among the three places. It is not conducive to its unloading equipment, and it is very unfavorable to the Romanian army that relies heavily on its equipment.

Although the analysis is straightforward, the problem now is that the enemy has landed. And they landed with soldiers they couldn't tell apart, which embarrassed the three of them.

After all, the Romanians are bullying their lack of coastal defense, relying on their own sea and air superiority to attack the defenders who lack major generals.

"So what should we do now?"

As the British commander, Major General White, he can't sit still now. Of course, he hopes that the other party understands the current situation and makes the right choice.

Admiral Tsoraglu, the chief of staff, suggested it. "How about sending reinforcements from the 17th Division?"

"no!"

"no!"

The unanimous reply from White and Papagos rejected the suggestion.

Papagos: "The 17th Division alone is not enough."

Major General White: "Now move troops, what about Heraklion!"

In fact, this is a matter of choosing between early death and late death. In fact, according to the military common sense of the three, it is still possible to know that Crete is a dead place. And they still choose to stick to the reason. On the one hand, this is the last territory, and they can't just let it go. Another aspect of nature is its unique geographical location.

The different answers of the two also represent different ideas, but this time neither of them caused a dispute. Because at the same time, the battle from Heraklion became fierce, and even a Romanian army burst into the city with superior firepower.

This time, the three of them could no longer care about the battle of Rethymnon, and immediately focused their attention on the battle here.

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