Chapter 766： Capture Cyprus

"Boom, boom, boom!"

Off the coast of Cyprus, under the leadership of four battleships, the artillery fleet is bombarding the island.

Under the attack of the artillery fleet, many important facilities and fortifications on the island were destroyed. In the air, the bomber group also arrived as scheduled, and the airstrikes combined with the artillery bombardment made the defenders on the island extremely uncomfortable.

And this time the Air Force basically no longer protects the paratroopers. They bombard the defenders one after another, especially the British forces that have just withdrawn are the key targets.

During the artillery bombardment of the fleet, the landing craft unloaded from the transport ship by the brigade drove towards the island full of officers and soldiers who landed.

They need to take advantage of the paratroopers to hold down the British forces, quickly seize the port, let more soldiers and equipment ashore.

The news of the landing troops on the sea naturally cannot be concealed. As the commander of the defending army, Major General Dowding Hughes, of course, also received the news.

"Immediately order the troops to assemble at the port and not allow the enemy to seize the port. In addition, they will report to France and General Wavell, requesting air support, and 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 their lack of air force that the Romanians take their advantage step by step. Until now, the enemy's warships have dared to approach the coast for shelling, but they have absolutely no means of counterattack.

It's just that his current cognition has no impact on the situation of the battle, because his troops were dragged by the enemies of both sides.

The airport defender, with the support of the air force, launched a counterattack against the retreating British army.

"Slap, slap, slap!"

"Da da da!"

The intertwined gunfire made the retreating British forces unable to withdraw at all. The paratroopers who had been crushed and beaten by them all night finally showed their anger during the day.

Of course, in addition to the support of the air force, the morale of the British army also has a lot to do with. The rumbling shelling from the sea has already proved the problem, that is, the British army is suffering from two-sided attacks. In addition to these paratroopers, there is also the news of the landing on the sea that has caused them to be upset.

It is impossible for a low-morale army to have much combat effectiveness, even if it is well equipped.

So this is a very rare scene where a small number of paratroopers chasing British troops to fight, which is a bit daunting.

In the port, the Romanian troops that landed are also at war with the defenders.

"Beware of grenades!"

Seeing a loud cry from the soldier, a hand grenade with green smoke popped out in front of everyone. They were all trained elite soldiers, and immediately fell down, letting shrapnel exploded a few meters away across their heads, and some even heard a crisp sound on their helmets.

"In the house on the left."

With the sound of this sentence falling, a few hand grenades came and greeted the past without being indecent.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

Several grenade explosions sounded in this room. The glass on the window was completely shattered, and the falling glass shards rattled on the ground.

As a long-trained soldier, naturally the enemy will not be wiped out just like this. Several soldiers immediately kicked the door open and searched inside with their guns.

"Snapped!"

A gunshot nearly hit a soldier who was observing the situation in the room. After determining the location of the enemy, several grenades were thrown in.

After a burst of explosion, the soldiers who rushed in saw nothing but a mess. Several foreign-style soldiers with turbans and beards appeared in front of everyone, but they had already been killed in the grenade explosion.

"Who are these people?"

When someone saw his dress, he asked curiously.

The well-informed soldier took the sentence. "These are all Indians. I heard that they are Sikhs, and they are the main force in the formation of British soldiers in India."

"These British guys are really..."

Soldiers who haven't thought of the right words for a long time don't care about these bodies.

Outside the attacking soldiers, on the beach on the side of the port, a large number of landing ships are constantly sending personnel and equipment ashore. Although the two divisions have never fought a landing battle, they have practiced before. And they also specifically looked for the battle reports of several previous landing battles and carefully studied the situation.

So this landing battle still looks decent, of course, among them, the help from the navy is also indispensable.

The two battleships Mircea and Vlad even fired at close range as close as five kilometers. Such close shelling made the defenders extremely uncomfortable. Not to mention the power of its large-caliber main gun, the secondary gun alone can crush the defenders behind the beach.

The previous several landing battles made the navy more handy in supporting shelling. According to the several shelling attacks, they found that the close distance and the damage rate of the shelling have been in direct proportion to the landing rate. If the shelling is 20 kilometers away, then the defender can block for ten hours, then ten kilometers is four hours, and six kilometers is two hours.

So this time, in order to solve the landing problem as soon as possible, the two battleships directly reached a distance of five kilometers by virtue of their thick skins. The firepower of its port has absolutely no effect on it at all.

In addition to allowing the two battleships to dare to act in this way, apart from occupying absolute air supremacy, there is also the lack of sea defense turrets on the island. More precisely, the only two 203 shore artillery summons have been destroyed.

This naturally allowed the Romanian fleet to support the landing forces at close range boldly and assuredly.

Just a battleship , its firepower is comparable to that of a heavy artillery regiment, and now there are many heavy artillery regiments approaching attacks, so that the defenders have little morale to resist under its muzzle. So in the landing force, the defenders who defended the beach under the first wave of blows were defeated.

And the landing so smoothly, naturally makes people happy. Major General Torres, who commanded the landing, made a bold decision. He did not wait for the reinforcements behind, but directly followed the retreating British troops and attacked the port area in one fell swoop.

And such a decision received a miraculous effect. Directly relying on the impact of the defeated army, the port area that it had invaded in one fell swoop, if the first wave of landing forces were not enough, it might be able to take the port in one fell swoop. But it's not bad. As long as they wait for the second wave of reinforcements from the landing forces, they will take the port with an absolute superior force.

And now that anyone with a discerning eye can see, the fall of Cyprus is already a matter of time. Because the British forces were divided into two places, and the previous attack on the airport made the force guarding the coast too low.

Coupled with unimaginable naval gun support, the landing fleet progressed extremely fast.

There is not much time left for the Cyprus defenders.