Romanian Eagle

Edel opened the Cyprus battle plan and immediately saw this plan jointly produced by the navy, land and air forces.

Edel was shocked when he opened it. He was surprised by the military's bold plan. Because the main force in this battle is neither the Marine Corps nor the Army, but the paratroopers of the Air Force.

Edel was right, the main force in this battle was the paratroopers. It all has to do with time. The hurried battle of Crete consumed a small half of the prepared materials, and the key is the professional landing force Marine Corps. The loss in the previous battle was too great and needed a break ( The previous island capture and Crete landing battles suffered too many casualties).

The island of Cyprus, on the other hand, belongs to the combat plan, and it needs to be launched immediately after the capture of Crete, mainly to prepare for the next landing in the Middle East. As long as you open the map, you can see that the island of Cyprus is only more than 100 kilometers away from Turkey and less than 200 kilometers away from Syria, and the island is large enough (the third largest island in the Mediterranean) to allow the island to hoard enough Troops peep at British and French colonies in the Middle East.

As for the island, the British side also attaches great importance to it, deploying 48,000 troops and more than 200 aircraft as a northern barrier to protect the British and French colonies.

Obviously, if the island is not taken, it will be impossible to land directly in the Middle East, so this has also become a prelude to Romania's invasion of the Middle East. It’s just that it’s not easy to attack the island. Since the island is 400 kilometers away from the nearest Italian island of Rhodes, this will make it impossible for many Romanian Air Force planes to reach Cyprus. (Crete is more than 500 kilometers away)

For example, Romania's current main fighter, the R20 Peregrine Falcon fighter, needs to return immediately after flying to Cyprus, and there is absolutely no time for combat.

So this also worried those combat staff. In the end, the only choice was the HF201 fighter. Fortunately, during this period of time, Romania was very satisfied with the effect of the aircraft, and the production efficiency was greatly improved, and it was able to produce a maximum of 120 fighters per month. The scale (mainly the effect of Alexander's air raid) prevented the aircraft from being as small as 200 or so.

It's just that although there are currently more than 500 aircraft, only more than 300 have formed combat effectiveness, of which there are only more than 100 aircraft left in the Air Force, which is exactly the size of a wing. Relying on the Air Force's own fighter jets to escort is definitely not enough, so the Navy must find a way.

Therefore, in this plan, it is necessary for the naval and air forces to jointly launch a fighter formation to conduct air strikes on the island of Cyprus as the first to destroy the enemy's air power and open the situation for the next battle.

After the enemy's air power was destroyed, the paratroopers were dropped near the Cyprus island airport by airborne methods. After capturing its airfield, the Romanian Air Force will use airlift to bring in other troops and equipment.

Of course, airborne alone cannot solve the battle. At that time, the Romanian Navy will also be responsible for using landing methods to support the battle.

The entire plan requires a small number of troops, only 54,000 troops, three divisions and one brigade. It's just that the two armies of the sea and the air used more. All five aircraft carriers participated in the battle, plus two battleships, three heavy cruisers, and other small warships and various transport ships.

As for the aircraft that the Air Force needs, there are 283 R20 fighters (escorts), 167 HF201 fighters, 228 RU28 bombers, 186 RU18 dive bombers, and 48 RU80 four-engine bombers.

Of course, there are the most important 386 RY58 transport aircraft. The transport aircraft is 19.2 meters long and 4.93 meters high. The whole machine has an empty weight of 7300KG, a maximum take-off weight of 12800KG and a load of 5.5 tons. It can carry 24 fully armed soldiers and 1 ton of supplies.

As for the airborne mission, it is the 1st Parachute Division, which consists of two paratrooper regiments and one airborne regiment, as well as an airborne artillery regiment (equipped with two 75mm light artillery battalions, a 37mm anti-tank battalion, an anti-aircraft battalion )constitute. In addition, there are reconnaissance battalion, engineer battalion, medical battalion, etc., with a total of 11,871 officers and soldiers.

Among them, the first airborne mission will be composed of the 1st Parachute Regiment and the 2nd Parachute Regiment. Their task is to capture the airport, build a defense line, and open the situation for the next landing.

I would like to mention here that there are currently four airports on the island of Cyprus, located in Paphos, Limassol, Larnaca and Nicosia.

The paratroopers need to capture mainly the two airfields outside Paphos and Nicosia, because according to intelligence, there are very few troops stationed there. As for Limassol and Larnaca, one is next to the naval base and the other is next to the gathering point of the British troops, which are not conducive to capture and defense.

And after they captured the airport, the next transport plane would bring reinforcements and equipment to them. Although they are basically all light weapons, the support from the Air Force will definitely be very timely, who made them the sons of the Air Force.

Of course, the help from the navy is just as much. The artillery fleet will approach the island to provide them with artillery support after clearing the opponent's air power.

Then rely on the landing force to open the situation, send heavy equipment and follow-up troops, and occupy the island of Cyprus.

Eder looked at this battle plan, how could it look like the battle plan of Crete, Germany in his previous life.

"Have you considered casualties in this way of fighting?"

"Your Majesty, we have already thought about it. We plan to use the fact that the paratroopers are parachuted at night to minimize the damage suffered by the paratroopers before they land. In addition, in order to cover the landing of the paratroopers, the Air Force bombers will also bomb the fact at night. And the landing force will also be Set off as soon as possible, get close to the island as soon as possible, and open up the situation for it.”

Admiral Fereit, who did not understand what Edel was referring to, was talking about the plan prepared by the military.

Because Germany has not yet attacked Belgium, the power of paratroopers is not yet known, and naturally the advantages and disadvantages of paratroopers are known. Although the exercise can simulate combat, it is not a substitute for the possibility of combat.

At present, the Romanian paratroopers have been slowly accumulated over the years, and Eder has some doubts about the one-time airdrop of so many paratroopers responsible for capturing the island of Cyprus. The main reason is that the paratroopers are too expensive, and not so expensive.

At present, the firepower of paratroopers is the pinnacle of light infantry. In addition to their own rifles or submachine guns, each soldier also has pistols, compasses, grenades, gas masks, daggers, military blankets, sapper shovels, bandages, cigarettes, water bottles and other items. These add up to thirty or forty kilograms, and these are indispensable supplies for paratroopers. If you add parachutes and ammunition, it's basically an extra person's weight.

In addition, the training time of paratroopers is long and expensive. Each paratrooper needs to go through at least five successful skydives alone, which can be expensive. So don't look at the light equipment used by paratroopers, but the formation cost is much more expensive than a standing infantry division, at least 1.5 times as much.

Therefore, Romania has only formed one and a half paratrooper divisions (the independent paratrooper brigade, which was originally going to form the second paratrooper division), and this time the military will put it into battle, in addition to time reasons, there are plans. Test the role of the paratrooper as a service.

When Edel heard what Admiral Fereit said, he thought about it and held back. Now that the military has decided to use the tactic of parachute center blooming, what else is there to say. Is it possible to tell them how to use paratroopers, and whether Edel has trained paratroopers, it is impossible to give instructions on this.

"Well, now that you have decided, let's follow the plan."

After Edel finished speaking, he signed his name on the battle plan.

Although Eder had his own doubts about the use of paratrooper tactics to capture the island of Cyprus, he could only approve it. After all, in addition to the general direction, Edel can still decide, how does he understand the military battle plan? It's not made by the military, just look at it and approve it.

Who would have thought that not long after sending off the Chief of General Staff, the Minister of Foreign Affairs hurried to him with a telegram.

Before Edel took over the telegram, Costel directly said the content of the telegram.

"Your Majesty, Italy asks our country for help!"

This sentence made Edel stunned, and even the outstretched hand did not catch the telegram.