In fact, the battle to capture Lemnos Island was nothing, because the island's will to resist was not too great. Many Greek officers and soldiers who had lost faith in this, like Lieutenant Madkai, could not bear it and chose to surrender.

If there is one island in which the battle was fiercest in this landing operation, it is the island of Chios, which is far more fierce than any other island.

Located in the middle of the Aegean Sea, Chios is the famous frankincense island in Greece, where Homer is said to have been born. And from ancient times to the present, the island has been rich because of the precious spice of mastic gum.

And in order to defend the island of wealth, Greece stationed more than 6,000 people on the island, and its commander was also a representative of the hardliners, General Leonidas. The general, who bears the name of the famous Spartan king, is like the king, and resists the Romanian offensive to the death.

Now the two forces are fighting behind the beach, and an armored battalion of the Marine Corps has followed the soldiers to the beach, but the Greek army has been relying on its terrain to suppress the Marines attacking the beach.

The terrain made it impossible for these Romanian tanks to climb up, so they had to use the turret to attack. Although this method can cause casualties to the Greek defenders, it is still within the tolerance of the defenders.

"Boom~"

THE BATTLESHIP MILCEA, LOITERING IN THE NEARBY SEAS, FIRED AT THE SHORE WITH ITS POWERFUL 380MM GUNS.

Seeing that the attack was not smooth, the battleship Mircha, which was used as a supporting firepower, naturally had to give sufficient support.

The sound of a train whistle in the air made the defenders immediately panic. Because they had already seen the power of this sound, the crater alone had a diameter of more than ten meters, and there were no living people within 100 meters.

The earth shook from the violent explosion, and many of the nearby defenders could not even hold their guns steadily. What's worse is that one of the shells exploded more than ten meters away from a trench, and after the explosion, no one in the trench could stand up, and all of them seemed to be asleep. It's just that the tragic image of its seven orifices bleeding is enough for the faint of heart to dare not look at it directly.

And General Leonidas, as the commander of the defenders, looked at the situation of his troops being hit without changing his face. I saw him turn his head and command. "Immediately let the first regiment reinforce it, and then let the second regiment retreat and rest."

"Yes, General."

Seeing that the officer who was carrying the order was leaving, he was suddenly stopped by a call. "Wait a minute?"

"What else is the order of the general?"

"Arrange the militia regiments we have recruited to the second line and let them feel the atmosphere of the battlefield."

"Yes, General."

After giving the order, General Leonidas began to observe the battlefield again.

In fact, General Leonidas's tactic is very simple, that is, to die. Just behind the beach, taking advantage of the fact that the landing Romanian troops had not yet launched, they were attacked with fire. Although it would hurt you a lot, it would be more cost-effective than putting the Romanian army on board.

Moreover, this is the only beach suitable for landing on Chios Island, and the rest of the island is either a cliff or a reef, which cannot be used as a landing point at all. As for the use of small groups of troops to land on small beaches, he was even more afraid, and he had already prepared a force ready to destroy these small groups of enemy troops who landed.

Of course, this approach also has limitations, that is, it is demanding on the terrain, and if the Romanian army breaks through the position, then all his resistance will collapse. This is the bull tactic, whoever withdraws first will be considered a failure.

In fact, he also knew that his defeat was inevitable, because he lacked support, and the navy did not have an advantage, and air supremacy was not obvious because of the distance between the two sides and other reasons. But even so, he had to show the fighting spirit of the Greek army.

So he was ready to end up like the famous king of Sparta, and death was not terrible, because he had nothing to fear.

In the face of General Leonidas's fighting spirit and the desperate resistance of the Greek army, this made Major General Ingres, who commanded the battle on the Romanian side, very anxious. Because of the battles on the other islands, he already knew that compared to his own encounters, it was completely like an outing.

It's just that he doesn't have no other way to deal with this, that is, to wait for the support of other naval warships, use the naval guns that occupy absolute superiority, keep bombarding the defenders' positions, and open a gap to attack it.

But this most trouble-saving result was not what he wanted, because it undoubtedly meant declaring that the Marines were unable to take the island, and it was also declaring that the 1st Marine Division under his command could not fight a tough battle at all.

How can this make him accept such a result, his face is small, and the loss of face for the Marine Corps is big, so he can only rely on the troops in his hands and continue to think of a way.

The first thing he ruled out was to land small forces from other places to harass. This is because it is not very effective, and it is easy to put small groups of troops at risk.

The next thing he ruled out was a request for air support. Because at present, the air force needs to support the army, and it also needs to seize air supremacy, and the nearest Romanian airfield on Chios Island is more than 300 kilometers, and there will not be too much air support to come.

Then there is only one way in front of him now, and that is to increase the output of firepower. Thinking of this, he called a communications staff officer. "Immediately send a telegram to Captain Costy asking him to increase his support for the ground battle."

"Yes, General."

"In addition, on the reinforcement regiment, I will smash open the enemy's positions and let them see who is tougher."

Major General Ingres had already gritted his teeth at the end, and now he wanted to tear his opponent, General Leonidas, apart.

As he gave the order, the roar of the main guns of the Mircha-class battleships continued to sound, and several light cruisers and destroyers also cautiously approached the coastline, constantly shelling the enemy's positions.

These light cruisers and destroyers, regardless of the caliber of their main guns, can only be regarded as small and medium-caliber naval guns among warships, but they are not small for the army at all. Moreover, the number of artillery is enough to top an artillery regiment, and it is also a large-caliber heavy artillery regiment with quite outstanding capabilities.

Such a heavy artillery bombardment immediately made the defenders' positions appear to be crumbling first, which greatly boosted the morale of the newly reinforced Marine officers and men. They immediately took advantage of the artillery bombardment and attacked the enemy's positions.

"It's not good, immediately order the militia to go up and let the second regiment go to the second-line position to standby. Also, let the three regiments rush over at once, and only need to leave a battalion in Giliso to prevent the enemy from landing from other places. ”

General Leonidas, who had been observing the situation on the battlefield, could not see that this was a new offensive of the Romanian army. At this time, he didn't care about the chaos that might be caused by the militia on the front line, and immediately let it be replenished.

And the second regiment, which was resting, was also pulled up by him. And in order to avoid the problem that he had no reserves, he planned to let most of the three regiments come to support him immediately.

At present, the commanders of the two sides have their own targeted formations, and they cannot replace the soldiers standing in battle.

With the addition of the militia, the officers and soldiers of the front-line positions of the Greek army gradually stabilized their positions. Although there was a hint of panic when the militia came up, fortunately, there were soldiers around them to reassure and set an example, and it slowly calmed down.

General Leonidas' heart finally stabilized when he saw that the battle line was gradually settled. And after Major General Ingres saw that his swift attack was about to be blocked by the other party, he was so angry that he threw down the telescope in his hand.

Just when the commanders of both sides thought that this battle would end there, a dramatic side happened.

The fire from the main guns of the Mircha-class battleships allowed several shells to fall near the positions of the first line. Such a superb shot not only knocked down the morale of the defenders, but also made General Leonidas's face change greatly.

"How dare they do this, aren't they afraid of going to court-martial?"

The reason for General Leonidas's statement is simple, because since the guns of warships are affected by ocean currents and shaking, it is absolutely impossible to shoot too close to friendly forces, and it is necessary to maintain a distance of at least 300 meters. Because I don't know if the next shell will fall on the heads of friendly troops.

And now the distance is only more than 100 meters at most, which can be said to accurately exclude Romanian soldiers from the killing range, and no navy can do such a shot. Then there are only two possibilities, one is that the battleship miscalculates and hits right. The second is that the Romanians are red-eyed and completely ignore the casualties.

He was right, it was indeed a mistake on the side of the battleship. It's just not a miscalculation, it's a miscommunication, the wrong number in the last digit.

For this reason, Captain Costy was so frightened that he urgently called off the Mircea's artillery support and investigated the problem comprehensively.

Major General Ingres was also taken aback, because if the position of the artillery strike was a little off, it would fall straight above the heads of the attacking troops. This will not only cause huge casualties, but will also deal a heavy blow to the morale of the army.

Such a round of immortal cannons frightened all three parties. However, the reason for this was not known to the officers and men of the Marine Corps who were attacking, and they only knew that the artillery bombardment was very accurate, and the enemy's entire position was fired.

In the face of such a gap in the whole section, then what else is there to say, just attack it.

And this cannon also demoralized the defenders, who were frightened by such accurate shelling. This is a battleship's cannon, and its lethality is directly in front of you. And the death of the defenders of the entire section of the position is equally terrifying.

At this time, the disadvantages of the militia mixing in were also reflected, and many militiamen could not stand such a big mental blow, so they threw down their weapons and fled here. And under the drive of the militia, many soldiers couldn't stand it, so they threw down their weapons and ran away.

And so the chain reaction begins.

The officers and men of the defenders, who were fighting valiantly one moment, turned into a rout the next moment after the shelling. The attacking Marines were much easier now, they only had to drive the rout to attack the next position.

General Leonidas, who could not bear this result, his face flushed like a heavy date, and suddenly he spurted out a mouthful of blood and fell down, and the panicked cries of the officers remained in his ears.

No one expected such a dramatic outcome.

And with the clarity of the battle for Chios, the first phase of the Navy's operations came to an end, in which the Navy seized all the large islands in the North Aegean Sea, except for Evia. As for Evia, because it is too close to the mainland (the closest is only 18 kilometers), and the island is too large for the navy to land on the island.

At present, the navy needs to wait for the cooperation of the army in the next stage of the landing operation plan. It is believed that it will not be far away, because the Panzer Corps led by Lieutenant General Hoffmann is once again in the spotlight on the Greek battlefield.