Off the coast of Cyprus, the artillery fleet, led by four battleships, was bombarding the island.
Under the attack of the artillery fleet, many important facilities and defenses on the island were damaged. In the air, bomber groups also arrived as scheduled. The air strikes and artillery bombardment made the island defenders extremely uncomfortable.
Moreover, this time the Air Force basically no longer protected the paratroopers. They bombed the defenders one after another, especially the British troops who had just withdrawn.
While the fleet was shelling, the landing craft unloaded from the transport ship were fully loaded with landing officers and soldiers and headed for the island.
They needed to take advantage of the British troops being restrained by paratroopers to quickly seize the port and get more soldiers and equipment ashore.
Naturally, the news of the landing troops on the sea could not be hidden from anyone. As the commander of the garrison, Major General Dowding Hughes also received the news.
"Immediately order the troops to assemble towards the port and not allow the enemy to seize the port. In addition, send a message to France and General Wavell to request air support. At least the enemy's artillery fleet must be driven away."
Major General Dowding Hughes now has the deepest understanding of the role of the air force, because this battle has basically changed because of the air force. It is precisely because of his insufficient air force that the Romanians have gradually taken away their advantage. Until now, the enemy
All the warships dared to approach the coast and conduct bombardment, but they themselves had no means of counterattack.
It's just that his current knowledge has no impact on the battle situation at all, because his troops are held back by enemies on both sides.
The airport defenders, with the support of the air force, launched a counterattack against the retreating British troops.
"Pah, pah, pah!"
"Da da da!"
The intertwined gunfire prevented the retreating British troops from retreating at all. The paratroopers who had been suppressed and beaten by them all night finally showed their anger in the daytime.
Of course, in addition to the support of the air force, the plummeting morale of the British army also has a lot to do with it. The rumbling shelling from the sea has very clearly explained the problem, that is, the British army is being attacked from two sides. In addition to paratroopers like them, there are also people at sea.
The news of the landing caused their military morale to be in chaos.
It is impossible for an army with low morale to have much combat effectiveness, even if its equipment is good.
So there was a very rare scene, a small number of paratroopers chasing the British troops, which was a bit jaw-dropping.
At the port, the Romanian troops who landed were also fighting with the defenders.
"Be careful with grenades!"
As the soldiers shouted, a smoking grenade appeared in front of everyone. They were all elite soldiers who had been trained for a long time. They immediately fell down and let the shrapnel exploded several meters away pass over their heads. Some even shouted
I heard a sharp clang on the helmet.
"Inside the house on the left."
As these words fell, several grenades were fired back and forth, but the insolence was ignored.
"Boom, boom, boom!"
The sound of several grenades exploding resounded in this room. The glass on the window was completely shattered, and the falling glass shards made a clanking sound on the ground.
As soldiers who have been trained for a long time, it is natural that the outside enemies will not be eliminated like this. Several soldiers immediately kicked open the door and started searching inside with their guns raised.
"Snapped!"
A gunshot rang out and almost hit a soldier who was observing the situation in the room. After determining the enemy's position, several grenades were thrown in.
After a burst of explosions, the soldiers who rushed in only saw a mess. Several foreign-style soldiers wearing turbans and beards appeared in front of everyone, but they had already been killed in the grenade explosion.
"Who are these people?"
Someone saw his outfit and asked curiously.
A well-informed soldier added, "These are all Indians. I heard they are Sikhs. They are the main force of British soldiers in India."
"These British guys are really..."
The soldier, who had been thinking for a long time but couldn't think of the right words, stopped caring about these corpses.
Outside the attacking soldiers, on the beach on the side of the port, a large number of landing ships were constantly sending personnel and equipment ashore. Although neither division had ever fought a landing battle, they had practiced it before. And they also specially found
I carefully studied the battle reports of several previous landing battles.
Therefore, this landing battle was still a decent one. Of course, the help from the navy was also indispensable.
The two battleships Mircea and Vlad even came as close as five kilometers away for close-range artillery fire. Such close-range artillery fire made the defenders extremely uncomfortable. Not to mention the large-caliber main guns they were equipped with.
It is so powerful that the secondary artillery alone can defeat the defenders guarding the beach.
Several previous landing battles have made the navy more comfortable in supporting artillery bombardments. Based on the several bombardments, they found that the close distance is directly proportional to the damage rate of the bombardment. If the bombardment is twenty kilometers away, then the defenders can block ten bombardments.
In terms of hours, ten kilometers is four hours, and six kilometers is two hours.
Therefore, in order to solve the landing problem as soon as possible this time, the two battleships relied on their rough skin and thick flesh to reach a distance of five kilometers. They were completely able to hit and destroy each other, and the firepower of their ports had no effect on them at all.
What allowed the two battleships to dare to do this was not only the absolute air superiority, but also the lack of coastal defense batteries on the island. To be more precise, the only two 203 shore guns were destroyed.
This naturally made the Romanian fleet bold and confident to support the landing troops at close range.
The firepower of just one battleship is comparable to that of a heavy artillery regiment, and now there are many heavy artillery regiments attacking at close range, leaving the defenders with little morale to resist under its guns. Therefore, among the landing troops, the first
The defenders defending the beach were defeated by the wave.
Naturally, people were happy that the landing went so smoothly. Major General Torres, who commanded the landing, made a bold decision. He directly followed the retreating British army and invaded the port area without waiting for reinforcements.
And such a decision had a miraculous effect. It directly relied on the impact of the defeated troops to attack the port area in one fell swoop. If the first wave of landing troops had not been insufficient, they might have been able to capture the port in one fell swoop. But it was not bad, as long as they waited until the second wave.
With the reinforcements of the landing force, they will seize the port with their absolute superior strength.
Now anyone with a discerning eye can see that the fall of Cyprus is already a matter of time. This is because the British army is divided into two parts, and the previous attack on the airport left the number of troops guarding the coast too low.
Coupled with the unimaginable naval gun support, the landing fleet progressed extremely fast.
