After the breakthrough on Loris' side, other places were not bad either. Under the leadership of tanks, they launched attacks again and again against the defenders' positions that were plowed by artillery fire.
With the continuous transportation of landing ships, more and more Romanian soldiers landed on the beach, and not only infantry, armored vehicles, tanks, and self-propelled artillery were brought ashore.
Facing more and more continuous attacks with increasing intensity, the Greek army could no longer hold on, and the front-line position was directly broken. This allowed Romania to finally gain a depth of nearly 5 kilometers, and bid farewell to continuing to stay on the beach.
Condition.
The Romanian army now landing is preparing to attack Heraklion and prepare to seize its port to obtain more support and equipment.
The failure of the beachhead landing blockade made the three top commanders of the defenders who were watching the whole battle look very ugly. After nearly a day of fierce fighting, the enemy was still not blocked, and no one could still maintain a good mood.
"Now, what should we do?"
In order to resolve everyone's embarrassment, Admiral Cuolaglu took the initiative to ask questions.
"What else can we do? Prepare to defend Heraklion. We cannot let the Romanians gain access to the port, otherwise this battle will not be fought."
General Papagos felt distressed when he thought of the casualty report that had just been sent. During the blocking battle, the Greek army suffered over 10,000 casualties, while the casualties of the Romanian army that landed were estimated to be around 5,000. Two of his divisions lost their combat effectiveness.
In exchange for one of the opponent's divisions losing combat effectiveness.
This is still the most difficult landing battle. If it were replaced by other battles, it would be even more difficult. Of course, this has a lot to do with the Romanians' superiority in sea and air.
The support from the sea caused the three battleships to use up all their grenades and need to go back to replenish ammunition. The Air Force also dispatched 3,000 sorties to support the battle today. Basically, sea and air support accounted for half of the credit.
"Let my people defend. They know urban warfare very well and I believe they can support the enemy more effectively."
It is rare that Major General White took the initiative to volunteer, which attracted the attention of General Papagos and General Tsoraglu. In fact, this is nothing, mainly because Major General White is considering it from a practical point of view. The Greek army suffered more than 10,000 casualties and suffered a lot of losses.
, and I also need to share some of the pressure.
Besides, Admiral Papagos currently has few troops available due to his scattered defenses, so he also needs to show his role as an ally. Although he has some minor personal conflicts with Admiral Papagos,
Now is not the time to argue about it.
"Well, your army will take over the defense of Heraklion, and I will leave an infantry regiment formed by local people to assist you."
Admiral Papagos didn't waste any time and made arrangements directly.
Although General Papagos didn't say anything, his tone was respectful enough. This completely put aside General Tsolaglu'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 number of casualties. With nearly 5,000 casualties, this landing battle was going to be a disaster.
The First Marine Division has completely lost its combat effectiveness, and now there is only the Second Marine Division in hand. Although there are other units to cooperate, they have no Marine Division expertise in the landing battle, and they cannot even swim with the entire division.
Now is not the time for him to sigh about this. There will be another battle tomorrow for the Second Marine Division. I hope it won't be as tragic as today.
Today's battle is over. Both sides are preparing for tomorrow's battle. Only the transport ships on the sea are like little bees, constantly transporting materials and personnel to the shore.
One night's transportation allowed the landing officers and soldiers to be replenished, and more importantly, a large amount of equipment was also transported ashore during this period. The officers and soldiers who obtained sufficient equipment will definitely have a positive impact on the subsequent battle.
At dawn the next day, the battle between the two sides began. The Romanian officers and soldiers who landed on Heraklion began to attack Heraklion. With support from the sea and air, these Romanian officers and soldiers quickly approached its city wall.
Yes, as the largest port and largest city in Crete, Heraklion still has a city wall. The city wall can be traced back to the war between the Republic of Venice and the Ottomans, and was later reinforced by the Ottomans. Its original intention was to control the East.
This pearl of the Mediterranean is protected from enemies.
However, after the First Balkan War, Crete returned to Greek hands.
Now, Romania plans to change the island's ownership again.
"Woo~"
As the screams got closer and closer, a group of defenders immediately fled in fear.
"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 unlucky guys who couldn't even scream.
Then he fell straight to the ground. The other guards and soldiers did not dare to step forward at this time, so they could only try to find a place to hide.
A 500KG aerial bomb was so powerful that the defending British defenders felt that this battle was difficult.
"Attention, the enemy is coming!"
With a shout, everyone focused on the incoming Romanian army. If Heraklion could not be defended, then this battle would not achieve their goal.
As the Romanian army of mixed tanks and armored vehicles appeared, all the British defenders present knew that the hard battle was about to begin.
Just when everyone was attracted by the battle, a communications officer suddenly broke into the headquarters.
"I just received news that an enemy fleet has appeared in Rethymnon, and the enemy landing fleet is approaching its coast. The garrison commander, Major General Holik, asked us for help."
"What?"
The three people present shouted involuntarily at the same time.
There was no way, this news was so shocking that they couldn't help but be surprised. Because according to their understanding, in this case, they must launch an offensive against Heraklion to compete for this largest port city. Romania suddenly deployed its troops off the coast of Rethymnon.
It looks like landing, what does this mean?
No matter how he thought about it, as the highest officer, General Papagos would not let this telegram fall behind. He reached out to take the telegram and read it carefully. In fact, the telegram was very short. It contained the time and scale of the enemy's appearance, as well as the information about the landing.
The size of the troops, and then the telegram asking for reinforcements.
Although the message was very short, Admiral Papagos did not dare to neglect it. After reading it, he handed it to the other two. After everyone had read it, he said, "What do you think of this?"
Facing General Papagos, General Cuolaglu thought for a while and said. "Based on the scale of the enemy's landing, we cannot rule out the possibility that the enemy wants to contain our troops, but if we don't care, then the other party will easily
It is possible to increase troops. After all, there is only one 49th Division defending Rethymnon, and its combat effectiveness is weak, so we have to defend it."
Admiral Tsoraglu sounded like he had not said anything, but only the other two knew that it was just difficult to make a decision. Yes, the total strength of the British and Greek armies in Crete has always been insufficient, with their combined strength being only 9
10,000 years ago.
It sounds like a lot. After deducting the troops defending ports across the island, they only have a little over 50,000 troops at their disposal. In the Heraklion landing battle, they already lost 10,000 people, and two divisions lost their combat effectiveness. As for
For defensive forces, anyone who understands military common sense knows to use troops with weaker combat effectiveness.
Rethymnon is located before Heraklion and Chania, both of which are forty or fifty kilometers away. In previous predictions, this was the port least likely to be attacked by the enemy, because although there are
It has the longest beach on the island, but the port of Rethymnon is also the weakest among the three. It is not conducive to unloading equipment and is very detrimental to the Romanian army, which relies heavily on its equipment.
Although the analysis was sound and logical, the problem now was that the enemy had landed. And they landed when they couldn't separate their troops, which embarrassed the three of them.
In the final analysis, the Romanians were bullying their lack of coastal defense and relied on their sea and air superiority to attack the defenders who were short of major generals.
"So what do we do now?"
As the commander of the British army, Major General White, he cannot sit still now. Of course, he hopes that the other party will understand the current situation and make the right choice.
As the chief of staff, General Tsolaglu suggested, "How about sending reinforcements from the 17th Division?"
"no!"
"no!"
The response from White and Papagos was unanimous, rejecting the suggestion.
Papagos: "The 17th Division alone is not enough."
Major General White: "Now move the troops, what will happen to Heraklion!"
In fact, this is a matter of choosing to die early or die late. In fact, according to the military common sense of the three people, they still don’t know that Crete is a place of death. And they still choose to stick to the reason. On the one hand, this is the last territory and cannot be surrendered like this.
On the other hand, it is naturally its unique geographical location.
The two people's different answers also represent different ideas, but this time neither of them caused a dispute. Because at the same time, the fighting from Heraklion became fierce, and even a Romanian army broke into the city with superior firepower to suppress it.
At this time, the three of them no longer cared about the battle in Rethymnon, and immediately focused their attention on the battle here.
