Chapter 752： Battle of Crete (End)

This eye-catching force comes from the 39th Division. About one regiment's forces, under the direct leadership of its commander Mizick, broke through the enemy's line of defense and entered the city.

"Captain Kirkel, immediately let your people attack on the left and right, expand the breakthrough, and cooperate with the offensive of other troops. Move fast, and don't give the enemy a chance to react."

"Yes, General."

Following Mizick's orders. The troops that entered the city immediately divided a battalion of troops on the left and right wings. The commander of the regiment took the lead and went down to the second battalion that served as a frontal attack (MMP, I can't afford to hide it if I can't afford it).

In fact, how could Mizick not know the thoughts of Captain Kirkel, but he had to do it this time in order to do meritorious service. Because the 39th Division performed well in the Greek campaign, they were transferred to the second batch of reinforcements to attack Crete. The two regiments of the 39th Division that only landed last night were assigned to attack the left wing today.

And Mizick concentrated most of the equipment of the two regiments to the first regiment, and went into battle by himself. And his luck was good. The defenders who defended this segment were hit by the sea and air before, and their equipment lost heavily.

Mizick, who found that the defenders' firepower was not enough, used the tactics of strong offensive tactics even more rarely. After paying a certain amount of casualties, he successfully seized this position.

Now that I have made a breakthrough, I naturally need to help more people complete the task.

After learning that the position had not broken through for a while, the defenders in the city also sent troops to regain the battlefield. As a result, they encountered the second battalion which was assaulting in depth.

"Fire and beat them back!"

"Fire and destroy them!"

On one street, the two forces encountered each other, and the commanders of both sides made the same choice immediately.

"Bah, baah, baah~"

This is the Romanian G42 machine gun firing. They rely on the height of the house to throw bullets on the British soldiers on the street.

"Da, da, da~"

This is the British cloth wheeled machine gun firing. This machine gun similar to the Czech Republic also inherited its characteristics. Now it is also firing fiercely at Romanian soldiers.

Soldiers on both sides, who are now being suppressed by the opposing machine gun, can only try to leave the street and think of other ways. And the alleys have become the focus of the two sides' contention.

At this time, the G33 semi-automatic rifle used by Romania showed its continuous firepower. Often only two or three people can block an alley, making it impossible for the attacking British soldiers to attack it.

It's just that the commander of the Kirkell regiment knew that this was only temporary. Although he blocked the enemy's offensive with firepower, it was at least the strength of one regiment based on the size of the opponent.

"Report to the division commander immediately that we encountered a counterattack from a regiment of defenders and need reinforcements."

In fact, without his report, Mizick had already seen that his deep assault troops were blocked. Therefore, it is impossible for him to do nothing, and immediately let the follow-up troops reinforce them.

With the breakthrough of the 39th Division, the outer defenders chose to retreat depending on the situation. Because it doesn't help to stay, I can only return to the city to fight street fighting.

The Romanian army, which had achieved the first stage of the battle, took a short break and immediately plunged into the new battle in the city.

As for the Romanian army’s offensive, the British-Greek army will not sit idly by. Now for the three commanders, the issue of Rethymnon’s landing has been ignored. If Heraklion cannot be defended, then the battle will be too. Enter the countdown.

Therefore, the Greek Cointreau also sent only two divisions to strengthen Heraklion, but their reinforcements were a bit difficult.

"Be careful of shelling and fall down!"

As the officer yelled, all the running soldiers fell down quickly. Everyone fell on the ground meticulously while opening their mouths wide, even if this would cause mud and sand in their mouths, they would not care. These are all lessons of blood. People who don't do much are already dead or injured.

Only a sound of "Woo" was heard, and a large-caliber artillery shell from the sea hit the side of the team.

"boom!"

After the explosion, the army officer spit out the mud and shouted again. "All get up, go forward!"

The team once again embarked on the road of reinforcements.

Of course, not every team is so lucky, and some are unlucky. A reinforcement unit was hit by naval guns. There were more than 400 people, and only more than 100 people were able to reach them alive. This is still the result of a dud bomb hitting their side. At that time, the officer leading the team was ready to meet God, but he didn't expect to survive.

In the face of such a bad situation, the three commanders can only make a hard top. As for how long they can last, everything depends on God's will.

Heraklion can be topped by human lives, but Rethymnon can't do it anymore. On the 12-kilometer-long beach of Rethymnon, boats come and go, equipment and soldiers are constantly getting off the boat.

"Erlian gather here!"

A company commander with the rank of lieutenant greeted his soldiers loudly.

"Okay, that's it, it can be opened."

A vehicle landing ship is taking command of an R10 tank from the ship.

As for them, the city of Rethymnon, further away, was still full of smoke, and the sound of fighting guns kept one after another. It's just that the battle situation is very bad for the Greek defenders, they have been driven out of the city.

The 29th Division of Greece, which has just been formed, is completely a new force. The quality of its officers and men is considered low in the Greek army, so it was assigned to Rethymnon, which is considered to be the least attacked.

It's just that the Greek army completely underestimated the Romanian army's determination to attack Crete. Romania will prepare 7 divisions of 150,000 for this landing operation, which is higher than the estimate of the Greek defenders in any respect.

Moreover, in view of the long beach line of Rethymnon, the landing troops will not take any action. One shot is a brigade of Marine officers and soldiers This is also difficult for the 2nd regiment of the Greek 29th Division to defend the beach. It was defeated within hours.

And now the battle in Rethymnon City is about to end, when Romania’s heavy equipment will be able to land ashore, this is even more uncomfortable for the defenders.

Before long, there was a cheer in Rethymnon, and a large number of soldiers surrendered with white flags and weapons. No way, the new force was hit hard. In the absence of reinforcements, the surrender was also an inevitable choice.

However, the surrender of the Rethymnon garrison killed Heraklion. They were entangled in the city with the Romanian army, and it was impossible to withdraw.

Finally, before the Romanian army that had landed in Rethymnon came around, the three of them broke their arms to survive, and retreated into the Crete Mountains with the 15,000 Greek-British coalition forces who had forcibly retreated.

The troop's retreat process was not smooth. They were first attacked by the Romanian Air Force, and then many people in the army were dissatisfied with this and a mutiny broke out. After the three men took the troops to the central mountain area, there were only more than 4,000 people left on their hands. Later, they were besieged by Romanian mountain troops. Until December 30, it was difficult for the three to surrender to the defending army with the remaining 800 officers and soldiers.

Although the end of the Battle of Crete was delayed until December 30, it took only 7 days for Romania to seize all the towns on the island, plus 3 days for landing operations, it was only about 10 days.

In this landing battle, more than 4,000 Romanian officers and soldiers were killed or missing, and more than 8,000 were injured, a total of about 13,000. As for the 100,000 defenders, they were basically wiped out.

With the island of Crete being occupied by Romania, the fertile Middle East is finally exposed under the Romanian peak. Are Britain and France ready?