Three consecutive days of preparations made the Greek Army Group commanded by General Mandiv more fully prepared.
Moreover, the air force's attack also let Greece know what modern air strikes are. In three consecutive days of high-intensity air strikes with up to 4,000 sorties, the defenders lost 80% of their air defense weapons. They lost 281 artillery pieces, 981 vehicles, and 21 trains, destroyed
More than 4,000 tons of ammunition were used, and there were more than 15,000 casualties among officers and soldiers, and more than 8,000 civilian casualties.
Such huge casualties and equipment losses have already made the Greek army feel resentful and hurt. Although the casualties among the soldiers are not serious, the equipment losses are too great. The entire Greek army has less than 600 artillery pieces.
When the Greek defenders were in the most uncomfortable situation, the Romanian army began a large-scale attack.
Outside the defense line, more than three hundred cannons with a caliber of 150 mm or more were concentrated. Their mission would be to blast a gap in the Leptokalia defense line of less than 30 kilometers.
In addition to these more than 300 large-caliber heavy guns, there are also more than 600 medium-caliber cannons of 105 and 120 mm, which will also join this chorus.
In the early morning of November 13, following an order from General Mandif, thousands of medium and large-caliber artillery began to bombard the Greek positions.
"Boom, boom, boom!"
The violent shelling made the earth tremble. The officers and soldiers on the Greek garrison position felt the artillery fire on the Western Front for the first time in World War I. The violent shelling left the position without a foothold, and the violent explosion shock wave destroyed everything in sight.
.
"boom!"
A field bunker was blown to pieces by large-caliber heavy artillery.
"boom!"
A bombproof hole was hit, and the soil on the top floor was blown down directly. No one escaped.
"boom!"
A well-hidden artillery was hit, and the cannon turned into parts formed a second shock wave.
The dense rain-like shelling was something that many Romanian officers and soldiers had never seen before. They all looked over to observe the shelling. Now they are not worried about their own safety at all, because the defenders have decided that they have no energy to take care of them. The defenders are now
The priority should be to survive this earth-shattering bombardment.
Captain Ledley, who faced this bombardment, experienced it personally and survived the incident, wrote in his diary. "The Romanian bombardment made me feel like the end of the world. My soldiers and I were extremely scared.
, everyone in the bomb-proof cave is praying to God, praying that he can protect us from this disaster."
"And I have to admit that our prayers worked. After the shelling, we saw a 210mm artillery shell on our anti-aircraft hole. Fortunately, it was a dud, otherwise the first platoon and I would all be killed. Only my second platoon
and the fourth platoon were not so lucky, they were all hit by the enemy. At that time, I thought I was lucky, but after our encounter, I realized that this was just the beginning..."
Yes, this Romanian bombardment not only caused heavy casualties to the Greek defenders, but also severely damaged the morale of the defenders.
The Romanian side, which caused the Greek army to suffer such a blow, dropped 30,000 tons of artillery shells on the Greek defenders in just 4 hours. Although the cost was huge, the effect was great.
Of course, Admiral Mandiv's gifts for Greece were not limited to this. At the end of the artillery bombardment, nearly 400 bombers, covered by more than 100 fighter jets, rushed towards the defenders. More than 100 of them were
It is an RU18 dive bomber capable of precise bomb delivery.
This aircraft is very popular with the navy and army, and its effectiveness on the battlefield is far greater than that of the RU28 twin-engine bomber. Because of its diving scream, many people call it the Stuka of Romania. Although the RU18 dives The performance of the bomber is worse than that of the Stuka, but its reputation is far inferior to that of the German aerial death.
Just for this air support, the Southern Air Force of the Air Force collected most of its bombers. These fighters flew from Salonika, Serre, Kavala and other places, among which the ones closest to the battlefield
The closest airport to here on the Chalkidiki Peninsula is the Thermai Gulf, which is less than 50 kilometers away.
As the Air Force fighter planes arrived, ground troops also began to attack the defending positions. However, this time tanks from the 4th Armored Division were also among them.
Although the Romanian armored forces have great experience in using tanks intensively for assaults, it does not mean that they will not use infantry and tanks in coordination. Under the leadership of a large number of tanks, Romanian soldiers can better exert their combat effectiveness.
Facing the Romanian army's offensive, which was coordinated by ground, air, and tanks, the Greek army was in panic.
"Enemy tank!"
A soldier saw an R20 tank slowly approaching the position and let out a heartbreaking shout. However, his reminder was of no use on the position because there were no anti-tank guns in the entire position. Let alone anti-tank guns.
There are no guns, not even an anti-tank gun. Why don’t the positions have these anti-tank weapons? It’s because the Greek army has not purchased them.
Yes, with the rapid development of armor technology, the Greeks believe that their country's terrain is not suitable for the use of tanks.
Therefore, Greece lacks anti-tank weapons. Its entire army only has 36 37mm anti-tank guns and 48 Boyce 14mm anti-tank guns (fewer in history).
Such anti-tank weapons cannot even stop an armored battalion. They are owned by the entire army and cannot be concentrated in one position. Unfortunately, there is not even an anti-tank gun assigned to this position.
So in the face of such a situation, which blinded the garrison commander, he could only shout loudly, "Prepare explosives."
Yes, Greece now plans to use manpower to blow up the slowly approaching tanks, but they don't know enough about Romania's infantry-tank coordination. The few suicide squads who attacked were all sacrificed before they could get within 100 meters of the tank.
In Romanian infantry-tank tactics, the infantry needs to protect the tanks, and the tanks in turn help the infantry clear fire points.
"boom!"
The R20 tank aimed its 75mm tank gun directly at a point of fire, and sent it into the sky with one shot.
"boom!"
Another point of firepower was sent to the sky.
Faced with one after another being destroyed by tanks, his own firepower was destroyed, which made the defender commander blind. He gritted his teeth and could only continue to trade his life for this tank that made him so popular, but the attacking Romanian soldiers would not let him do so.
The G33 semi-automatic rifle in hand prevented any Greek soldiers who tried to get close to the tank from succeeding.
Faced with such scoundrels, the defenders had no choice but to carry it to death. It was just that they kept delaying their lives, which would not last long.
"Ah, I want to go home!"
One Greek soldier couldn't stand the pressure, dropped his weapon and ran away. Under his leadership, more Greek soldiers dropped their weapons.
"Come back quickly, all of you, come back quickly."
Seeing the collapse of their soldiers, the garrison officers shouted anxiously.
It's just that he alone can't save this situation. In fact, not only his position, but almost the entire position is in this situation. If you look down from the air, you will find that on the defender's position, facing the Romanian army,
There was an attack, and crowds of people were evacuating.
And this is all caused by too much pressure from the Romanian army. In history
The Greek army that defeated the Italian army and occupied southern Albania could not survive a round under the attack of Romanian modernization.
Faced with the collapse of the Greek army, General Mandif also saw clearly, and he picked up the phone. "General Hoffman, it is your turn now."
Following General Mandif's order, an even louder roar sounded on the Romanian side.
