The preparation of fire before the landing lasted a total of 6 days, 4 days less than scheduled. On the morning of 10 November, the Marines launched a beach-rushing landing.

The chosen landing location was not at Telok Fortress, nor on the south side of the fortress, but on the north side of the fortress.

This is a very bold and equally unexpected tactic.

In essence, the Kib fortress was actually a military port, or rather a group of ground fortresses built around the bay, similar to Verdun or Liège. Counting from the outermost defense line of the fortress, more than ten kilometers inland, is the vast Dongxuan Plateau.

To the north of the fort is the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and to the south, the Somali Peninsula borders the Gulf of Aden and the Mua Sea.

For the attacking side, there are not many options.

Because the Kibu fortress had already been fully militarized, it was extremely difficult to attack directly, so the attackers often chose to land in the open south.

At that time, the Imperial Army landed on the western side of the Somali Peninsula and then ventured inland, unexpectedly cutting off the ground access to the Kib fortress; At the same time, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait was blocked by the navy, cutting off sea routes; Eventually, it took a long siege and a ferocious artillery bombardment that lasted for several months to take the Kibu fortress, or more precisely, force the depleted defenders to surrender.

In the event of a landing on the north side of the fortress, the first thing to do is to let the landing fleet venture into the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Obviously, if several marine divisions are to be delivered at once, it is necessary to use dozens, or even hundreds, of large landing ships, then it will be a huge trouble to just let the landing fleet deploy in the narrow sea area north of the strait, that is, to obtain a suitable landing site.

After the successful landing, it was necessary to face the difficult problem of ground offensive.

Because thousands of meters inland is the Dongxuan Plateau, that is, the coastal mountain range, the ground forces cannot be deployed, and the difficulty of the assault is very huge.

To put it simply, the defenders only need to concentrate their forces to blockade the coastal plain area.

Bypassing the Esplanade Mountains?

Not to mention whether there are roads or not, even if there are, the next thing will be to collapse hundreds of kilometers of uninhabited land, that is, a desert without even an oasis.

The difficulty of attacking is so great that even if Lian Xu is promoted, he can only be discouraged.

In this way, the landing force would have to storm the enemy's defensive line without gaining a firm foothold, and there would be a risk of being routed after the landing.

Of course, it is more risky to be precise.

It is for this that the armies that have historically attacked the Kib fortress either landed directly near the fortress or on the Somali peninsula south of the fortress.

This time, the Imperial Navy chose the Assab region to the north.

It must be admitted that the suddenness of the campaign was indeed reached.

Prior to this, the focus of the fort defenders was on the south side.

In order to prevent the landing of imperial troops in the direction of the Somali Peninsula, the Royal Army of Bran not only expanded the defensive line, but also set up dozens of minefields in advance.

If anything, on almost all of the beaches that might have been chosen by the Imperial Navy as landing grounds, the Bran Royal Army was more or less mined, and a patrol force was left nearby mainly responsible for reconnaissance and surveillance, ensuring that the landing Imperial troops could be spotted in the first place.

In addition, the Bran army sends small aircraft to patrol the coastal areas of the Somali peninsula every night.

Most importantly, the main force of the defenders of the fortress was all in the south.

In order to thwart the landing Imperial army in time, the Royal Army also gathered its limited armored force, that is, dozens of light tanks, to form an assault force, which was specially used as an assault force for counterattack operations to assist the infantry on the defensive line to defeat the invading Imperial army.

Of course, the artillery of Bran's army was also concentrated on the south side of the fortress.

Crucially, Bran Royal Army still has a hand.

According to the information provided by the Sixth Bureau, the Royal Army of Bran has a stockpile of at least 200,000 mines in Kibhuki, which have been distributed to the main force guarding the fort last month. Since it was impossible to prevent the landing of imperial troops on the Somali Peninsula, the commander of the defending forces had already given the order. As soon as the southern line of defense was breached, the defenders of the fort immediately used these mines, laying more minefields to the south of the fort.

For this reason, the defenders of the fortress also specially organized a group of officers and men to learn the skills of rapid mine-laying.

If all 200,000 mines were used, it would take months to clear them!

If Bran's army could hold out for a few months under attack, even if it finally fell, it would be considered a victory.

As far north as for the north, there are only a few sporadic patrols.

It can be seen that Bran's army never thought that the Imperial Marines would land on the west shore of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to the north of the fortress!

The Imperial Navy was also well prepared for the aforementioned problems.

First of all, only 24 landing ships were dispatched in the first wave of the landing operation, half of which were tank landing ships, and only half of the marine divisions carried out the task of beach-grabbing landing, to be precise, an infantry regiment, a reinforced tank battalion, and a reinforced infantry battalion.

It's all elite troops.

In addition, sufficient combat materials were delivered.

According to the arrangement, after the successful landing, the attack was actually launched by two reinforced battalions, and the infantry regiment that took the lead in seizing the beach was responsible for guarding the beachhead and providing logistical support for the front-line troops during the attack.

In this way, after the success of the beach, it can be immediately pushed into depth.

The key is also that the landing ships involved in the operation are in turn.

After the completion of the beach-grabbing operation, the first batch of 24 landing ships must be evacuated within the required 24 hours to vacate the landing site.

The next day, a second batch of 24 landing ships will arrive.

In the same 24 hours, this group of landing ship units sent the troops and supplies on board, and even if it was not completed, they had to be evacuated according to the plan.

This was followed by the third batch of 24 landing ships.

After the third batch of landing ships completes their delivery mission, the first batch of landing ships that took the lead in launching a beach-grabbing will return.

All in all, it is to speed up the transfer of troops and supplies as much as possible, and ensure that there are not too many landing ships in the landing ground at any given time.

It was in this way that the infantry regiment, with a strength of up to 4,000 troops, was left behind, and two reinforced battalions, with a total of 1,800 officers and men, were pushed to the fortress.

As for the other problem, the mines laid by the Royal Navy of Bran can only rely on minesweepers.

Fortunately, for the Imperial Navy, the last thing that was lacking was minesweepers.

Probably because they had enough of mines during the last war, the Imperial Navy has always attached great importance to minesweepers, and even more to minesweeping technology.

Even on naval holidays, the Imperial Navy did not reduce its investment in the field of minesweeping technology.

Before the outbreak of the Great War, the Imperial Navy had more minesweepers than the other 3 naval powers combined!

Although most of them are old minesweepers built during the last war, the equipment on them and the technology related to minesweeping have not stopped developing.

After the outbreak of the Great War, the Imperial Navy ordered 150 minesweepers in the first year.

Up to now, the total number of minesweepers in the Imperial Navy has exceeded 400, and it is still growing at a rate of almost 10 per month.

If you want to say anything, dare to choose to land in the north of the fortress, let the landing fleet venture into the present, and the mine-filled Bab el-Mandeb Strait relies on the world's first mine-sweeping strength.