After the breakthrough on Lloris's side, the rest of the place is not bad either. Led by tanks, they launched one attack after another on the positions of the defenders who were ploughed by artillery fire.

And with the non-stop transportation of landing ships, more and more Romanian soldiers landed on the beach, and not only the infantry brought ashore, but also armored vehicles, tanks, and self-propelled guns.

In the face of more and more continuous attacks with increasing intensity, the Greek army could not hold on at all, and the front-line positions were directly broken. This allowed Romania to finally gain almost 5 kilometers of depth and say goodbye to the situation of staying on the beach.

The Romanian army, now landed, was preparing for an attack on Heraklion, preparing to seize its port for more support and equipment.

And the failure of the beachhead landing and blocking battle made the faces of the three supreme commanders of the defenders who watched the whole battle very ugly. After nearly a day of fierce fighting, the enemy was still not blocked, and no one could still maintain a good mood.

"Now, what are we going to do?"

In order to resolve everyone's embarrassment, Admiral Tsolaglu took the initiative to throw out questions.

"What else can be done, prepare to defend Heraklion, we can't let the Romanians get the port, otherwise this battle can't be fought."

The thought of the casualty report that had just been sent made Admiral Papagos feel distressed. In the blockade, the Greek army suffered more than 10,000 casualties, while the Romanian army that landed was estimated to suffer about 5,000 casualties. Two of their own divisions lost their combat effectiveness, in exchange for one of the opposing divisions losing their combat effectiveness.

This is still the most difficult landing battle, and if it is replaced by other battles, then it will be even more difficult to fight. Of course, this also has a lot to do with the Romanians' superiority in the sea and air.

The support from the sea caused the three battleships to run out of grenades and need to go back to replenish ammunition, and the Air Force also dispatched 3,000 sorties to support the battle today. Basic air support accounts for half of the credit.

"Let my men go on the defensive. They know a lot about urban warfare and believe that they will be able to defend the enemy more effectively. ”

Rarely, Major General White took the initiative to ask for help, which attracted the attention of Admiral Papagos and Admiral Tsolagru. Actually, it's nothing, the main thing is that Major General White is from a practical point of view. The Greek army suffered more than 10,000 casualties and losses, and its own side also needs to share part of the pressure.

In addition, Admiral Papagos has not many troops at his disposal now due to the scattered defenses, so he also needs to show his role as an ally. Although there are some minor personal conflicts with Admiral Papagos, now is not the time to argue about it.

"Alright then, your army will take over the defense of Heraklion, and I will leave an infantry regiment formed by the locals to assist you."

Admiral Papagos didn't talk nonsense either, he made arrangements directly.

Although Admiral Papagos did not say anything, his tone was respectful enough. And this also made Admiral Tsolaglu's worries completely relaxed.

While the defenders were preparing for tomorrow's battle, Vice Admiral Holt, who was in charge of the landing battle on the ship, also looked at the casualty figures as if they were sinking into water. With nearly 5,000 casualties, the landing battle completely lost the combat effectiveness of the 1st Marine Division, and now he only has one 2nd Marine Division left in his hands. Although there are other units to cooperate, how can they have the specialty of a marine division in the landing battle, and they can't even swim the whole division.

This is not the time for him to sigh for this, there will be another battle in the 2nd Marine Division tomorrow, I hope it will not be as tragic as today.

This is the end of today's battle, and both sides are preparing for tomorrow's battle. Only the transport ships on the sea are like little bees, constantly transporting materials and personnel to the shore.

The overnight transportation allowed the officers and men to be replenished, and more importantly, a large amount of equipment was also transported ashore during this time. Officers and men who are adequately equipped will inevitably have a positive impact on the rest of the battle.

At dawn the next day, the battle between the two sides began, and the landing Romanian officers and soldiers began to attack Heraklion. With support from the sea and air, these Romanian officers and soldiers quickly approached its walls.

Yes, as the largest port and the largest city in Crete, Heraklion still has its walls. The walls date back to the Ottoman wars of the Republic of Venice and were later fortified by the Ottomans, with the intention of controlling the pearl of the Eastern Mediterranean from the enemy.

However, after the First Balkan War, Crete returned to Greek hands.

And now, Romania intends to change the island's ownership.

"Woo~"

As the screams got closer, a group of defenders immediately scattered in all directions.

"Boom!"

The fleeing defenders felt a jolt under their feet, and the reinforced concrete fortress behind them exploded like a powder keg. The scattered rubble was like bullets, hitting a few unlucky people who couldn't even scream, and then fell straight to the ground. The other defenders did not dare to step forward at this time, so they could only try to find a place to hide. Zero-One Reading Network

A 500KG aerial bomb was so powerful that the defending British defenders felt the difficulty of the battle.

"Attention, the enemy is coming!"

With a shout, all eyes were on the incoming Romanian army. If they can't hold Heraklion, then this battle will not serve their purpose.

With the appearance of the Romanian army with a mixture of tanks and armored vehicles, all the British defenders present knew that this bitter battle would begin.

Just when everyone was fascinated by the battle, a communications officer suddenly broke into the headquarters.

"News has just been received that an enemy fleet has appeared in Rethymnon, and that the enemy landing fleet is approaching its shores. The commander of the defenders, Major General Holick, asked us for help. ”

"What?"

The three people present involuntarily shouted at the same time.

No way, this news is so shocking that they can't help but be surprised. Because according to the cognition, in this case, it must be an offensive against Heraklion to fight for the largest port city. What does it mean that Romania suddenly has landed off the coast of Rethymnon?

No matter what he thought, as the supreme commander, Admiral Papagos naturally would not let this telegram fall behind, so he reached out and took the telegram and read it carefully. In fact, the message was very short, that is, the time and scale of the enemy's appearance, and the size of the troops that were being landed, and then the telegram asking for help.

Although the message was very short, Admiral Papagos did not dare to slack off, and he read it and handed it to the other two. After everyone had finished reading it, he spoke. "What do you think about this?"

Faced with Admiral Papagos's words, Admiral Tsolaglu thought for a moment and said. "At present, judging from the scale of the enemy's landing, it cannot be ruled out that the enemy wants to contain our troops, but if we do not do it, then the other side may increase its troops. After all, there is only one 49th division to defend in Rethymnon, and the combat effectiveness is weak, so we cannot afford not to defend it. ”

Admiral Tsolaglu sounded like he was talking but not talking, but only the other two knew that it was just a difficult decision to make. True, the total strength of the Anglo-Greek armies in Crete has always been insufficient, and their combined strength is only a little more than 90,000.

It sounds like a lot, but after deducting the troops to defend the ports of the whole island, they have only a little more than 50,000 troops at their disposal. And in the landing battle of Heraklion, 10,000 were already lost, and two divisions were incapacitated. As for the defensive troops, those who know military common sense know to use units with weaker combat effectiveness.

Rethymnon was located before Heraklion and Chania, both of which were forty or fifty kilometers away. It was previously estimated that this was the port that was least vulnerable to enemy attacks, because although it had the longest beach on the island, the port of Rethimnon was also the weakest of the three. Not to the detriment of its unloading equipment, very disadvantageous to the Romanian army, which is heavily dependent on its equipment.

Although the analysis is the first to go, the problem now is that the enemy has landed. And they landed when they couldn't distinguish their troops, which embarrassed the three of them.

In the final analysis, the Romanians bullied them for their lack of shore defense, relying on their naval and air superiority to strike at the defenders who lacked major generals.

"So what do we do now?"

As the commander of the British army, Major General White, he could not sit still now. Of course, he hopes that the other party understands the current situation and makes the right choice.

As Chief of Staff, Admiral Tsolaglu suggested. "Why don't you send reinforcements from the 17th Division?"

"No way!"

"No way!"

White and Papagos replied in unison, rejecting the suggestion.

Papagos: "One unit of the 17th Division alone is not enough. ”

Major General White: "Now transfer troops, what about Heraklion!" ”

In fact, this is a question of choosing between early death and late death, in fact, according to the military common sense of the three people, can they still know that Crete is a place of death. And they still choose to stick to the reason that, on the one hand, this is the last territory, and they can't just give it away. On the other hand, nature is its unique geographical location.

And the different answers of the two also represent different ideas, but this time neither of them caused an argument. Because at the same time the fighting from Heraklion was fierce, and even a Romanian army broke into the city with superior firepower.

At this moment, the three of them could no longer care about Rethymnon's battle, and immediately focused their attention on the battle here.