As Sergeant Deka shouted, the soldiers began to operate anti-aircraft guns and aimed at an enemy plane that wanted to sneak up and cause trouble.
"Bang, bang, bang..."
Two chains of fire quickly approached the reckless aircraft, and one chain of fire passed through the aircraft, causing a plume of smoke to appear from one side of the wing, scaring the aircraft into quickly making various maneuvers.
This naturally led to the squad leader, Sergeant Deka, holding his shooting baton high and shouting, "Continue the attack, don't let this plane get away."
But the next result was a bit disappointing to him. The continuous shooting did not hit the aircraft but let it slip away. Such a result naturally did not satisfy them, but this is normal. Their 20mm anti-aircraft artillery fire
It's easy to get hurt, and you have to rely on luck if you want to shoot it down.
"Crack."
The sudden sound of a gun being fired caught the attention of everyone on the gun position. The intense anti-air combat had already exhausted all the ammunition on the position, and at this time, Sergeant Deka, who was directing the firing, couldn't help but feel a little anxious.
"Sarsai, hurry up and bring the ammunition."
After urging Sarsai, who was sweating profusely while moving, he immediately pointed to the other people on the gun position and said, "Don't look at it. Go and move some ammunition quickly. He can't move it alone."
Until when."
The gunners, loaders and others at the idle gun position immediately went to help move the ammunition. For the 20mm anti-aircraft cannon they operated, the ammunition consumption was very large.
With the help of a few people, the 20mm anti-aircraft cannon started roaring again.
However, the air strikes are still continuing, and a lot of anti-aircraft firepower has been lost in the air strikes. At present, Beirut is already facing a shortage of air defense firepower, which has also caused huge losses to its military facilities, as well as the losses to the fortifications and weapons and equipment built.
Salsai's squad can still be fully staffed, which is relatively rare in the air defense force.
The air raids in these days not only caused a lot of losses to the French army, but also caused many people in Beirut to flee with their children. The war is about to start at the doorstep, so I am willing to stay here.
It's just that the people can escape, but the army naturally can't leave but is increasing in number.
As the commander of Beirut City Defense, Lieutenant General Mendelek has been so busy these days that he has never touched the ground.
"What did General Hinley of Damascus say?"
In the underground headquarters, while looking at the city defense map, he asked the chief of staff beside him. In front of him, there were staff officers constantly updating the map according to the latest situation. Various small flags were used to indicate the latest situation.
The status of the defenders.
"General Xinlai sent a telegram. At present, he can only spare one air defense battalion to support us, and it can only use small-caliber anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns."
Hearing what the Chief of Staff said, Mengdelek was a little dissatisfied. "Didn't you inform him of our situation? This small amount of troops is not enough for one day's wear and tear."
"I've already said it, but General Hinley called back that the Damascus air defense force has been depleted and he can no longer use it."
At present, France's air defense weapons and troops in the Middle East have basically been deployed to Beirut and Latakia. Only Damascus has some assigned due to its importance. And now Damascus's air defense forces have also been deployed. At present, the French army
The air defense forces in the Middle East are exhausted.
"Ask Paris for help and inform them of our current situation."
Mendelek stopped here. "Paris alone is not enough. The North African army has just suffered a major defeat. The focus of Paris' support will also be on Tunisia. Now we can only think of other ways and send a report to Cairo."
, requesting their support, whether it’s personnel, weapons, supplies or whatever, we want them all.”
Mendelek wants everything now, but he also knows that asking Paris may not be useful. Because the current defeat in North Africa means that even if France wants to reinforce, it will give priority to Tunisia. Moreover, it has lost sea control in the Eastern Mediterranean, and supplies and personnel need to go around.
You have to walk all the way around Africa to transport it, the distance is too long.
In addition, reinforcements were only a month or two away. He couldn't afford to wait, so he could only ask the British Middle East Command in Cairo for them.
However, although he was embarrassed, the chief of staff was hesitant. "Can Admiral Wavell give us something like this? After all, we belong to different countries, and it would be very difficult to directly cross Paris to ask for help from Cairo.
"
The chief of staff's words made Mendelek think twice and then said, "Then send a report to Gamelin and tell them that we need reinforcements. If the country cannot provide us with reinforcements, then we are allowed to ask for reinforcements from friendly forces."
Mendelek, who fully listened to the chief of staff's suggestion, immediately added one more item.
"Okay, I'll go get someone to send the report right away."
As the chief of staff left, Mendelek looked at the tragic scene outside of the air raid, and he already had a rough idea of the landing sites in Romania. If nothing goes wrong, then the Romanians will definitely land around Beirut.
The troops he currently has can cope with air strikes, but it will be difficult to land a landing.
Faced with Mendelech's request, Paris responded quickly. In the afternoon of the same day, there was a reply, allowing him to ask for help from the British army. At the same time, Paris also raised the issue of joint command between the two countries to London.
The joint command authority between the two countries that Churchill had been unable to obtain before was also handed over by Paris without hesitation when the situation became critical.
It's just that this decision made Churchill very angry, but considering the special relationship between the Anglo-French alliance, he could only hold his nose and accept it.
In a telegram sent to General Wavell, commander of the Middle East Army, London requested that it provide support to Beirut as appropriate while ensuring Egypt's security.
Facing London's orders, General Wavell decided after careful consideration that the 10th Army, formed by troops stationed in Iraq, Persia and other places, would send some troops to support the French Middle East. The troops sent were mainly composed of the 27th Division and the 34th Division formed in India.
Division, the 6th Sikh Brigade, and the 3rd Highland Artillery Regiment.
Although Wavell gave the reinforcements, except for the 27th Division currently stationed in the Sinai Peninsula for quick support, the 6th Sikh Brigade is still in Iraq, and the 34th Division and the 3rd Highland Artillery Regiment are still on ships in the Red Sea.
Because of the constraints of the Italian Army in East Africa, the British military strength is currently relatively dispersed.
One more thing, as a thorn in East Africa, the British and French Somali troops (Djibouti and Somaliland) are being attacked by the Italian army in East Africa. Under the attack of 30,000 Italian troops, 4,000 British and French defenders gave up their positions in Somalia.
The colony withdrew.
Because Wavell was unwilling to consume too much of his own troops and supplies, and when the British Navy had control of the Red Sea and could guarantee transportation lines, it was unwilling to spend too many troops and supplies on this deadly place. Therefore, it was defended by 4,000 people.
The army retreated, which was also a rare victory for the Italian army in East Africa.
It's just that they don't have much time left. In the Port of Limassol on the island of Cyprus, a large number of troops are boarding ships. They are the Romanian 9th Army that is about to launch a landing operation. The Army is composed of the 8th, 27th, and 39th Infantry.
The division is composed of the 2nd Marine Division (replenished by the 1st Marine Division that lost some of its troops), and its commander is Lieutenant General Fergus.
Outside the port, a large number of warships to protect them have been prepared outside the port, among which several mighty battleships are particularly conspicuous.
"Lieutenant General Fergus, it's up to you to make the first landing this time."
As the commander of the Army Group, Hoffmann and the Chief of Staff personally saw him off.
"Please rest assured that the 9th Army will definitely complete its mission."
Lieutenant General Fergus, who had fought in the first battle, gave the answer.
Romania's gathering of military ships could not be concealed from the British and French intelligence agencies. The island has a population of more than 300,000, and the hidden spies among them could not be cleared out by the Romanian army that had just occupied it.
In the evening of the same day, Admiral Wavell, who was far away in Cairo, received the news. "Immediately order all coastlines to be vigilant, mobilize reinforcements, and prepare to attack immediately."
Although Britain and France paid enough attention to it, a sudden riot caught them off guard.
