"Bang, bang, bang!"

Off the coast of Cyprus, an artillery flotilla led by four battleships is shelling the island.

Under the blow of the artillery fleet, many important facilities and fortifications on the island were damaged. In the air, bomber groups also arrived as promised, and the air raids and artillery bombardment made the defenders on the island extremely uncomfortable.

Moreover, this time the air force basically no longer protects the paratroopers, and they bomb the defenders one after another, especially the British troops who have just withdrawn.

And when the fleet was shelling, the landing craft unloaded by the brigade from the transport ship drove towards the island with the landing officers and men.

They needed to take advantage of the fact that the paratroopers were holding back the British forces, and quickly seize the port so that more soldiers and equipment could be brought ashore.

And the news of the appearance of a landing force on the sea naturally cannot be concealed. As the commander of the defenders, Major General Dowding Hughes, of course, also received the news.

"Immediately ordered, the troops were assembled towards the port, and the enemy could not be allowed to seize the port. In addition, a message was sent to France and General Wavell with requests for air support, at least to drive away the enemy's artillery fleet. ”

Maj. Gen. Dowding Hughes now has the best understanding of the role of the Air Force, as the battle has largely changed because of the Air Force. It is precisely because of the lack of strength in their own air force that they will be taken away by the Romanians step by step. By now the enemy's warships have dared to carry out artillery bombardments close to the coast, and they themselves have absolutely no means of counterattack.

It's just that his current perception has no effect on the situation of the battle at all, because his troops are being dragged down by enemies on both sides.

On the side of the defenders of the airfield, with the support of the air force, they launched a counterattack against the retreating British troops.

"Smack, smack, smack!"

"Da, da, da!"

The intertwined gunfire made it impossible for the retreating British troops to retreat, and the paratroopers who had been pressed and beaten by them for a 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 fell sharply. The rumbling shelling from the sea was very indicative of the fact that the British were being attacked from two sides, and that in addition to their paratroopers, the news of the landing at sea had disturbed them.

It is simply impossible for an army under morale to have much combat effectiveness, even if it is well equipped.

So there is a very rare scene, a small number of paratroopers chasing the British troops, which is a bit jaw-dropping.

And in the port, the landed Romanian troops were also engaged with the defenders.

"Watch out for grenades!"

As the soldiers shouted, a smoke-emitting grenade popped out in front of everyone. They were all elite soldiers who had been trained for a long time, and they immediately fell to their stomachs, allowing shrapnel to explode several meters away over their heads, and some even heard the crunch of their helmets.

"Inside the house on the left."

As the sound of these words fell, several grenades came and returned the favor without being rude.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

The sound of several grenade explosions rang out in the room. The glass on the window shattered completely, and the falling glass shards rattled on the ground.

As a soldier who has been trained for a long time, it is natural that the enemy will not be eliminated in this way. Several soldiers immediately kicked open the door and searched inside, guns raised.

"Smack!"

A gunshot rang out, nearly hitting a soldier who was observing the room. After determining the position of the enemy, several grenades were thrown into it.

After a burst of explosions, the soldiers who rushed in saw nothing but a mess, several exotic soldiers with turbans and beards, who had already died in the grenade explosion.

"Who are these?"

Someone saw his dress and asked with some curiosity.

A well-informed soldier answered. "These are Indians, I heard what kind of Sikhs, are the main force of the British in forming soldiers in India."

"These Brits, they're really ......"

The soldiers, who had thought for a long time and couldn't think of the right words, didn't care about these corpses.

Outside the attacking soldiers, on the beach on the side of the harbor, a large number of landing ships were constantly bringing men and equipment ashore. Although neither division had fought a landing battle, it had been practiced before. Moreover, they also specially looked for the battle reports of several previous landing battles and carefully studied the situation.

So this landing battle is still decent, of course, in this, help from the Navy is also essential.

The two battleships, the Mircea and the Vlad, were even closer to a distance of five kilometers for close shelling. Such a close shelling made the defenders extremely uncomfortable. Not to mention the power of its large-caliber main gun, the secondary cannon alone can crush the defenders guarding the beach.

The previous landing battles had made the Navy more comfortable with support shelling, and they found that the distance of approach was directly proportional to the rate of damage caused by the shelling. If the artillery is shelled from 20 kilometers away, then the defenders can block it for 10 hours, then 10 kilometers is 4 hours, and 6 kilometers is 2 hours.

So this time, in order to solve the landing problem as soon as possible, the two battleships went directly to a distance of five kilometers by virtue of their rough skin and thick flesh. It is completely to the point of striking and destroying whom, and the firepower of its ports is completely ineffective against it.

In addition to the absolute air supremacy, the two battleships dared to act in this way, and the lack of coastal defense batteries on the island, more precisely, the destruction of only two 203 shore guns.

This naturally made the Romanian fleet even more bold and relieved to support the landing troops at close range.

The firepower of a battleship alone was comparable to that of a regiment of heavy artillery, and now the approaching attack of many regiments of heavy artillery gave the defenders little morale to resist under their guns. So in the landing force, the defenders defending the beach under the first wave of blows were defeated.

And the landing went so smoothly, which naturally makes people happy. Major General Torris, who commanded the landing, made a bold decision, he did not wait for reinforcements from behind, and directly followed the defeated British army and attacked the port area in one fell swoop.

And such a decision has had a miraculous effect, directly relying on the impact of the defeated army, so that the port area that it invaded in one fell swoop, if it were not for the lack of landing troops in the first wave, maybe the port could be captured in one fell swoop. However, it is not bad, as long as they wait for the reinforcements of the second wave of landing troops, they will take the port with absolute superiority.

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

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

Now there is not much time left for the Cypriot defenders.