The assault on Garr began in the early hours of 21 December, the deadline set by Ding Zhennan.

At Liu Zunshan's suggestion, three days earlier, on December 18, the 11th Marine Division had launched an amphibious landing near Kakinad, north of the delta at the mouth of the Godavari River, with one reinforced regiment and fire support from the 31st Task Force.

In order to attract the attention of the Vatican army, the navy also sent dozens of transport ships, but most of them were civilian freighters.

In addition, the landing fleet to the north also passed through the landing ground outside Kakinad and stayed for a day, but did not participate in the landing operation.

Because the Van army had little resistance, it took only 1 day for the Marines to consolidate the beachhead and then 2 days to expand inland.

By late night on the 20th, the Marines had advanced their front outside Kakinade.

At Ding's request, the regiment began shelling Kakinad on the afternoon of the 20th, and intensified the shelling after nightfall.

Although Kakinade does not have a port, it certainly has a lot of value as a coastal city in the estuary region.

By taking the city, the Marines would be able to swim upstream and attack the heart of the southern region.

Provided, of course, that there are enough troops.

However, it was not clear whether the feint operation in the south had any effect or not, at least in the early morning of the 21st, when the main offensive operation began.

As in traditional landing operations, it is still possible to start with fire preparation.

Presumably in order to use up the already piled up stockpiles of ammunition, especially those that had been stored for decades and had not had the opportunity to use them, the pre-landing firepower preparation was carried out by Task Force 31, and after two rounds of bombardment, the shelling phase began.

To this end, the Imperial Navy dispatched a total of 38 destroyers and cruisers.

Of these, four were built at the end of the Second World War, mothballed after the war, and were not opened until September to join the battle sequence.

The shelling operation began with these four large cruisers.

If it weren't for the fact that in the Posha Bay War, the stock of 400-mm shells was almost used up, and the reproduction of 400-mm shells was not only troublesome, but also meaningless in terms of cost-effectiveness, the Imperial Navy would probably have sent those few fast battleships.

Of course, the artillery power is 34 modern destroyers and cruisers.

All 34 battleships were armed with two 130-mm guns. When carrying out ground strike missions, each warship provides firepower equivalent to a reinforced heavy artillery battalion of the army, and has a stronger sustained combat capability, which is more suitable for carrying out pre-landing fire suppression tasks.

This is also the main reason why the Imperial Navy retains large-caliber naval guns, if anything.

Naval artillery against enemy ships?

Obviously, this is nothing more than a gimmick used to cheat money.

The Imperial Navy has always attached great importance to naval supremacy operations. The reason is simple, the Imperial Navy is a global hegemon, and there is no need for sea domination at all. Even if there are a few opponents with a bit of weight, such as the Nuland Navy and the Manman Navy, it is the air combat in which aircraft carriers and carrier-based aviation units play the leading role in determining the outcome of the victory. It is only after seizing air supremacy that we have the ability to gain sea supremacy.

After gaining air supremacy on the battlefield, or relying on carrier-based aviation, do you still need to worry about sea supremacy?

Of course, naval guns can indeed be used for naval warfare, but mainly against small and medium-sized ships.

It is precisely because of this that on some warships with smaller tonnage, such as frigates, the Imperial Navy abandoned the minimum standard that it had adhered to for decades, that is, the main gun caliber of the main battleship was not less than 130 mm, began to use 80 mm rapid-fire guns, and invested in the development of special ammunition.

However, if it is only used against small ships, especially armed speedboats, 30 mm machine guns are actually sufficient.

However, on destroyers and cruisers, the Imperial Navy still insisted on using large-caliber naval guns.

In addition, it was only after the outbreak of the Great War that the "Yangcheng" class destroyers, which were launched, reduced the number of main guns from two to one. If I really want to say it, this is a compromise that has to be made, that is, in order to equip the "Qingzhou" class with the "Golden Bell Jar" system and 96 vertical launch tubes developed for the "Qingzhou" class, the "Yangcheng" class also considered canceling all the main guns in the design stage, and in the end only the bow of the ship was retained. In order to retain the main guns in the stern, it is necessary to eliminate the helicopter flight deck, or hangar, which leads to a significant reduction in anti-submarine capabilities.

Obviously, two anti-submarine helicopters are more valuable than the addition of one main gun.

The Imperial Navy insisted that large warships use large-caliber naval guns, that is, to strike at ground targets.

In a sense, ground support has always been the main task of the Imperial Navy, or the key reason for the Empire to maintain a strong navy.

Don't forget, the Liangxia Empire was a land power.

Even after winning the Second Global War, the fundamental attributes of the empire remained unchanged, and it was still able to maintain and consolidate its land hegemony on the world island.

In other words, the sea power of the empire must serve the land power.

In fact, in the latter part of the Second Global War, this characteristic was already manifested.

After defeating its main opponents, the Imperial Navy's main task in the final two years of the war was to support landing operations.

Even more so after the war.

During the Polish-Iraqi War, the Imperial Navy was entrenched in Posha Bay and was not threatened at all, and all combat operations revolved around ground strikes and ground support.

Obviously, naval artillery is the most important ground strike weapon.

If the intensity of use is used as a criterion, no weapon is better than naval artillery, not even carrier-based attack aircraft.

There are many people who feel that the Imperial Navy is still clinging to the giant ship cannon doctrine.

To some extent, this is just the inertia of development.

The key point is that during the Second Global War and the Polish-Iranian War, large-caliber naval guns have always been the main means of delivering ground strikes, and they surpassed aviation forces in terms of strike effect and cost-effectiveness ratio. Especially in landing combat operations, naval artillery has an irreplaceable value.

For this, there was no reason why the Imperial Navy should not develop naval artillery.

It's just that with the birth of all sorts of precision-guided munitions, especially cheap guided munitions, the status of naval guns has been affected.

From the standpoint of the Imperial Navy, the Third Global War may be the swan song of large-caliber naval artillery.

No matter how the war will be fought in the future, driven by technology, more and more traditional weapons, including naval artillery, will be sent to museums.

Of course, not yet.

During the shelling, which lasted several hours, 38 warships knocked out tens of thousands of shells.

This was followed by a landing operation.

Unlike traditional landing operations, this time there was no beaching.

In the first assault forces, or in the first attack, there were simply no amphibious forces. There were no landing craft, no hovercraft, no amphibious armored vehicles, no amphibious tanks, not even assault boats, and the nearest landing ship was tens of kilometers away.

It was the transport helicopter that brought the first landing force ashore!

In fact, this is also the first time that the theory of "three-dimensional landing" has been used in large-scale landing operations since the birth of the theory.

The Imperial Navy dispatched 9 amphibious assault ships, 12 integrated landing ships, 24 dock landing ships, 24 force projection ships, and 24 assault ships.

Here, not counting other warships carrying helicopter gunships and participating in landing operations.

If you want to say, the main force is actually the latter two auxiliary landing ships transformed from civilian ships.

The so-called force projection ship has actually undergone necessary modifications, and can carry more than 3,000 officers and soldiers of a reinforced marine regiment, as well as all the main battle equipment, and also set up helicopter take-off and landing points on the open-air deck, and large ro-ro cargo ships that can provide support for helicopters.

It must be said that the Imperial Navy was always preparing for war.

Although there was no law to support it, in peacetime, the Imperial Navy used a variety of tactics to secretly control the shipping companies of its own country and its allies. In order to strengthen the control of civilian ships with military use, the Imperial Navy also set up a special agency for private enterprises. Among the many civilian vessels, the most important is the ro-ro ship that can be used to carry main battle equipment.

Ro-Ro ships built in Imperial shipyards and operated by Imperial or Allied shipping companies have vehicle decks that are capable of carrying military standards and can be loaded with Imperial Army and Marine Corps main battle equipment, including main battle tanks with additional armor, without preparation.

In addition, large ro-ro freighters have helicopter take-off and landing platforms. If necessary, non-essential facilities can be removed and additional helicopter take-off and landing points can be set up on the open deck. In fact, all of the 24 large ro-ro freighters requisitioned had additional helicopter take-off and landing points.

However, due to the constraints of the hull structure, the ro-ro freighter cannot carry a helicopter.

That's a minor issue, though.

In order to take advantage of the helicopter landing points on ro-ro freighters, all amphibious assault ships and integrated landing ships carry as many assault transport helicopters as possible. Before the landing operation began, all of these helicopters flew to the Ro-Ro freighter to bring the officers and men ashore on the Ro-Ro freighter.

Comparatively, assault ships are more extreme.

This thing is actually a container ship.

Of course, all of them are large container ships with a displacement of about 100,000 tons.

Unlike RoRo freighters, these container ships not only have the necessary modifications, but also have the ability to support helicopters in sustained operations.

The point is that it can only support helicopter operations.

Due to the limitations of the internal structure, container ships cannot carry the Marine Corps, and it is difficult to carry large equipment, at most they can only transport some equipment and materials loaded in containers. Due to the size of the hull and the flat deck, container ships are ideal for carrying and operating helicopters, and can even be used to carry maintenance equipment to achieve sustained combat capabilities comparable to those of landing ships.

To put it simply, these assault ships are actually helicopter carriers.

In fact, container ships can also be transformed into aircraft carriers, carrying light attack aircraft, or vertical take-off and landing fighters, so as to obtain stronger combat capabilities.

For example, a 100,000-ton assault ship that can carry 1,500 standard containers can carry up to 30 "Z-18" assault transport helicopters, and set up 5 take-off and landing points, and support 5 helicopters at the same time, but with its huge tonnage, especially the internal space, the self-sustaining ability of the assault ship far exceeds that of the amphibious assault ship.

At a distance of 50 kilometers from the landing site, the assault ship could carry supplies for 18 days at the intensity of sorties of 120 sorties per day.

Almost 3 times more than a 40,000-ton amphibious assault ship!

In addition, it will take at least 3 days for amphibious assault ships to resupply after they run out of supplies.

That is, without taking into account the combat wear and tear of helicopters, the efficiency of an assault ship when performing vertical delivery tasks is about twice that of an amphibious assault ship.

If nothing else, just 24 assault ships carried more than 700 large helicopters.

In addition, 12 amphibious assault ships and 12 integrated landing ships have built nearly 300 helicopters.

In addition to more than 100 helicopter gunships carrying out attack missions, there are about 900 transport helicopters, two-thirds of which are large helicopters.

Sending out all these helicopters can deliver more than 15,000 officers and soldiers at a time, or transport 2,500 tons of supplies.

Of course, it is not possible to make all the helicopters at the same time.

Only a third of the helicopters were dispatched in the first assault, but all of them were "Z-18" and "Z-17", transporting about 3,000 officers and men in total.

In fact, it is a reinforcement of the forces of the Marine Corps.

In addition, matching heavy weapons were shipped, including dozens of ultra-light howitzers, as well as larger-caliber mortars for greater use.

It's just that such a large number of troops will definitely not be delivered to one location.

Of course, there is no need for this.

According to the operational plan drawn up by Ding Zhennan, the first round of assault operations was mainly aimed at six strategic arteries near Port Diamond, mainly to control ground transportation.

To put it bluntly, the mission of the first air assault was to encircle and blockade Port Diamond.

As for the attack on Port Diamond, it will still have to wait until the amphibious landing.

The point is that Port Diamond is not only a port, but also a city with more than 100,000 inhabitants, and urban warfare is inevitable.

Actual combat has long proved that light infantry has no place in the city at all.

Without armor cover, the infantry was left to the enemy once they entered the city. In fact, the light infantry simply could not penetrate the cities held by the enemy.

To attack the city, you must rely on armored forces.

As a matter of fact, the amphibious assault operation and the vertical assault operation began almost at the same time, but because the speed of hovercraft and landing craft was slower than that of helicopters, the landing craft and hovercraft carrying tanks and other main battle equipment were still sailing at sea while helicopters were sending lightly armed Marine officers and men ashore.

It was only at about 9 a.m. that the amphibious landing operation officially began.

Because of the previous attack, and the road leading to the landing site south of Port Diamond, the Marines did not meet any decent resistance when they stormed the beach. It was not until they took control of the beachhead and advanced in the direction of Port Diamond that they were counterattacked by the Van army.

At this point, it was already around 3 p.m.

After the second group of troops went ashore, the security of the beachhead was already sufficiently guaranteed.

In addition, engineering troops will land at night, as planned.

As expected, the first runway of the field airfield will be put into operation on the morning of the 22nd, and then it will be able to deploy the Air Force's front-line attack aircraft in advance.

To this end, the front commander of the Marine Corps advanced the attack on Port Diamond to the evening of the 21st.

This was about half a day ahead of schedule!