Admiral Tsolaglu's concerns were soon overlooked, and the bombardment fleet not only shelled Heraklion, but Chania and Rethymnon were both shelled.

Without waiting for them to guess the purpose of the Romanians' move, on the third day a large fleet appeared in the open sea. These ships were loaded with the Marines who were responsible for the landing, as well as some landing equipment.

Naturally, he and Admiral Papagos and Major General White were attracted by the sight, and it seemed that the landing of the Romanians was close at hand. And the target was the beach on the left side of Heraklion, which they intended to use to land and then seize the port city.

They were right, and a large number of Romanian officers and soldiers descended the rope ladder to the small boat that landed below. And among them, a square-headed boat is very eye-catching. This is a new landing craft in Romania, and it is also the first professional vessel built for landing in Romania.

This ship, which was specially responsible for landing, Romania named it the HDL-type landing craft. The boat has a total length of 13.8 meters, a width of 4.3 meters, and a full load displacement of 28.1 tons. The yacht is equipped with two 120 hp 6-cylinder diesel engines with twin-axle propulsion and a range of 81 nautical miles at 7.5 knots.

The boat can carry both soldiers and armored vehicles (an HR10 amphibious tank), which was also specifically required when it was designed.

Only then was such a landing craft designed, and 54 were procured by the Navy. And now these landing craft are all now in the Cretan waters. They are brought in by other boats and released when they are ready to be used.

And while the landing force was being prepared, the naval and air forces were also not idle, and the naval artillery fleet, in addition to three battleships, was now joined by six heavy cruisers. Although it was equipped with a 203 mm caliber gun, it could not be compared with the battleship, but it did not cause much damage to the defenders.

And, more crucially, the Greek-British coalition did not have many shore fortifications on Crete. Because Romania did not give them much time, counting from the beginning of the Greek campaign in Romania, there was only one and a half months. And from the time Athens was seized by him, it was only one month.

No strong fortifications can be built in a month, they are all hastily civil fortifications. Besides, when the Greek government retreated, it didn't bring much supplies at all, and although the treasury had brought something with it, there was nowhere to buy it now. As for British transportation, it is natural that weapons, ammunition, personnel and equipment should be the first priority. building materials, even the British troops themselves in Egypt were not enough.

So it was difficult for the defenders at the head of the guarded booth, who withstood the attack of naval guns from the sea on the one hand, and the blows from the air on the other. In order to cover the smooth progress of the landing operation, the Air Force has prepared 2,000 fighter sorties today alone.

Therefore, the officers and men of these defenders, before waiting for the enemy to land, suffered two blows.

"Boom!"

A violent explosion wiped out a bunker-like fortification.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

The defenders on the positions were constantly being attacked by the sea and air, and their morale was constantly low. Although many officers and soldiers hid in the anti-artillery holes, many fortifications were destroyed in them.

Although the defenders were somewhat overwhelmed by the predatory attack, the Romanian landing force drove towards the beach in ships.

"The Romanians are coming."

Following the report of the observation post, the defenders, who had been hiding from the attack, ran out of various hiding spots under the command of officers and soldiers, and they needed to block the Romanian offensive. But fortunately, this is a landing battle, and the armored fighting vehicles in which Romania has the upper hand are simply not able to use such tactics.

And with the appearance of a large number of defenders, the blows from the air and sea became more ferocious, and even fighters began to strafe them at low altitudes.

This made the defenders even more uncomfortable, and they were helpless against the threat from the sea and air. After many days of fighting, its air defense and fighters had been exhausted, and the defending Greek and British troops could only bear the burden of human life.

It's just that the Romanian troops who have landed have appeared in front of them, and they can shoot them with the weapons in their hands, and shoot the anger in their hearts at the incoming Romanian troops with the weapons in their hands.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

"Da, da, da~"

In the face of the Romanian marines who landed by boat, the defending Greek defenders immediately gave a warm attitude, and the sound of machine guns and artillery resounded throughout the beach. Every now and then, a landing ship is hit, turning the entire landing ship into a Shura field.

"Da, da, da~"

The landing force on the boat was not without counterattacks, and its 12.7mm machine guns were constantly giving counterattacks.

In the face of the incessant rain of bullets on both sides, all the officers and men who landed shrank their heads in the boats. The ship's armor was rattled and rattled, constantly alerting them to danger outside.

"Ready to land!"

With the order of the captain of the landing craft in the direction of operation, all the marines huddled together tightened their weapons.

"Ga~"

As the front hatch opened, everyone rushed into waist-deep water. Because everyone knew that it was necessary to get out of this great danger by leaving the landing ships as soon as possible, and the enemy fire would never miss such a good opportunity to shoot them.

"Ahh

Several of the slower soldiers were fired upon by the defenders' machine guns and immediately collapsed into the landing craft, their blood filling the cabin with blood.

The glass of the captain's observation room was also shattered. Fortunately, the captain was quick and lay down as soon as possible.

Now he didn't care whether there was anyone in the boat, and immediately began to reverse the boat, and the strong horsepower allowed the landing craft to quickly leave the dangerous beach.

The disembarking Marines did not care about the departure of the landing craft at all, and they were wading into the water and rushing towards the beach. In this distance, which was only more than 10 meters away from the enemy, the blow suffered by the officers and men of the Marine Corps was not small. Because of wading in the water, its movements are not fast at all, so it can withstand the damage of the enemy, and many officers and soldiers have fallen here.

However, the first wave of Romanian officers and soldiers landed on the beach. After getting to the beach, the officers and men of the Marine Corps quickly pounced upward. They preemptively set up positions at the booth and waited for subsequent reinforcements to arrive.

On the side of the fleet, the second wave of reinforcements came quickly, and this reinforcement has changed a lot compared to the first one, that is, this time a battalion of HR10 amphibious tanks was transported, and it was on its way.

The battle on the beach naturally attracted the attention of the three commanders, and the information was also sent to them one by one.

"The enemy is attacking the beach, and our division has entered the battlefield to hold on."

"The enemy has landed on the shore, our division is suppressing its firepower, and the current battle situation is still within our expectations, and the enemy is pressed on the beachhead and cannot advance an inch."

"The second batch of enemy reinforcements has come up, the enemy has transported dozens of tanks, and now requests reinforcements with anti-tank weapons!"

In fact, there was no need for the troops defending the beach to send a report, and the three commanders could see the situation at the head of the stall with a telescope, and they were located on a small hill called Gulness, just outside the city, which just included the beach.

I saw that a new batch of landing ships had arrived on the beach, and the number of reinforcements was not too large, but the tank vehicles that the landing force urgently needed were transported. Therefore, with the support of the second wave of the landing force, the landing force launched an attack on the defending troops on the first line.

The defenders, lacking anti-armor forces, were teetering in the face of such an offensive. The only few anti-tank guns in his hands were destroyed after destroying several enemy tanks.

In the face of this situation, the three commanders naturally did not let it go, and saw that a division of Greek troops was heading for reinforcements to the front-line positions under air raids.

In the face of this reinforcement, Romania naturally would not allow it to comfortably complete its purpose, and the artillery bombardment from the navy immediately shifted to it, and with the help of artillery school aircraft, the division suffered a lot of losses. In the face of this double blow from the enemy, the division commander immediately ordered, "All units should be immediately dispersed and reinforced at the company level." ”

The reinforcements that had been maintained in scattered groups had become even more dispersed under his orders, and they were moving towards reinforcements from their positions.