Bastia is the main port in the north of Corsica, and together with Ajaccio in the south, it is known as the two pearls of Corsica. However, even if it is a pearl, the number of people in the two ports does not exceed 40,000.

The simple reason is that Corsica is poor, 4/5 of the island is made up of mountains and hills, and only the coastal areas have narrow plains, which also leads to a population of just over 100,000 people. It is perennially the poorest province in France.

Corsica was not satisfied with this, believing that they were not valued by Paris, and that the feeling of being under the fence was very strong, which led to the fact that the Corsican independence movement never subsided. This also made Italy never forget Corsica, which did not dare to have thoughts because of its lack of strength, and now it is taking advantage of the war to seize the island anyway.

Borgo is a town in the small plain south of Bastia, with its long sandy beaches, which is a great area for landing. So the French deployed a division of troops here to garrison it.

In the whole of Corsica, the French defense force had only one corps and three divisions of more than 40,000 men.

Being able to put a division in Borgo shows how much attention is paid to this place.

This is because it is the most suitable area of Corsica for landing, and the port city of Bastia is not far away. In addition, it is only 100 kilometers from Livorno, Italy, making Borgo the most land-prone area in Corsica.

Although the French attached great importance to Borgo, Corsica had limited troops, so at most one division could be placed here.

At this time, the officers and men of the division were suffering.

"Shelling, take care to dodge."

The observation posts on the positions were shouting, and a whining sound was heard in the air.

At this time, the French officers and soldiers hiding in the anti-artillery holes were silently praying that the shells would not fall on their heads.

"Collapse!"

A loud explosion came from nearby, and the French officers and soldiers hiding in the anti-artillery holes also felt a huge sense of tremor.

At this time, everyone was glad that they had escaped, but their ordeal was not over, and the shelling had not stopped.

On the sea, warships are constantly shelling Borgo Beach and in depth. This is the reserve combined fleet formed by Italy and Austria, and more than half of its warships are located here.

Its 75 mm, 120 mm, 150 mm, 200 mm, 280 mm, 305 mm, 350 mm and other guns are constantly firing at the Borgo front.

The bombardment of the Borgo line was covered by thick smoke from the explosion, so that the airships in the air that were making corrections could not observe the shelling on the ground.

The coastal fortifications arranged by the French army in Borgo consisted mainly of 170-mm naval guns (8 guns) dismantled from battleships, and a small number of 240-mm naval guns (2 guns). However, most of these coastal fortifications did not work. In front of airships, as well as former dreadnoughts, these guns were named one by one.

Some people may ask how Borgo is a very important place in Corsica, so how can this artillery be fired. The French Navy was at a disadvantage and there were too many key points to defend. Although Corsica is directly facing Italy, its strategic position is not high. Since France was at a naval disadvantage to Italy, the issue of coastal defense along the Mediterranean coast of France was on the agenda.

When it comes to coastal defense, France's focus is on the mainland, especially on Marseille, Toulon, and Nice.

In Marseille, for example, its coastal fortifications had the same new 305-mm guns as the Lone class, which had 8 guns in Marseille. In addition, there are 39 240 mm and 170 mm guns, which can be said to be armed to the teeth.

And Borgo's coastal defense is not as good as Marseille, but also compared to other locals.

So it's no surprise that the reserve combined fleet, made up of former dreadnoughts, smashed Borgo's coastal defenses to pieces.

At this time, on the battleship Genoa, Admiral Bartlette, as the supreme commander of the capture of Corsica and the commander of the Italian Sixth Army, was carefully observing the effects of the shelling.

It turned out to be good, he commanded as he left the telescope. "Order, let the 2nd Marine Division start landing immediately."

At this time, the Corsica combat unit was formed, which, in addition to the six divisions of the Sixth Army, was also attached to the second Marine Division, a specialized landing force.

Under the orders of Admiral Bartlett, the officers and men of the 2nd Marine Division began to lay down their landing craft and prepare to land on the beach.

For the landing in Borgo, the navy prepared 138 landing craft, which were enough to send the personnel and equipment of a regiment ashore at one time.

These landing craft, which were equipped with the officers and men of the Second Marine Division and their equipment, were rushing towards the beach on the Borgo line at this moment.

"The enemy is landing!"

Although the rumbling cannons continued, and Borgo was in a sea of fire, the dutiful observation post was still the first to see the menacing enemy.

With the call of the sentry, the French officers and men who had been hiding in the anti-artillery shelter rushed out of the anti-artillery hole one after another, regardless of the danger of shelling. They prepared their weapons and ammunition and waited for the Italians to come ashore to meet them.

At this time, although the French troops were waiting for the landing of the Italian army in their positions, they did not wait for the enemy's figure, but waited for a round of accurate artillery bombardment.

This is a shallow-water heavy artillery battleship built by the Italian Navy.

The origin of shallow water heavy gunboats was invented by the American Civil War, and this kind of shallow draft heavy artillery can support coastal warships on land or defend ports, and was subsequently imitated by various countries.

Of course, Italy also built it, but before that, the main work of this battleship was coastal defense. In the 20th century, when the Italian navy became more and more powerful, the need for firepower ships to support landing operations was particularly urgent.

Subsequently, after some development, the Tirana-class shallow water heavy gunboat was born. The class is 98.4 meters long and 28.4 meters wide, with a standard displacement of 5,870 tons and a full load displacement of 6,125 tons, and the main engine is a steam engine with a speed of 7 knots. Armed with 2 305-mm main guns, 4 105-mm secondary guns and 10 40-mm and 20-mm anti-aircraft guns.

In order to increase their ocean-going capabilities, their freeboard is essentially the same as that of destroyers. In addition, the stern part of the ship was cut off to form a long bow shape, almost in the center of the hull, with a three-legged mast, and an azimuth plate and observation post for artillery fire command on the top. Except for a small chimney at the rear of the battleship, there are no large buildings on the ship.

So this shallow water heavy gunboat looks a bit flat and has a weird display. Weird is weird, but its firepower is a disaster for Borgo's defenders. At this time, I saw three warships of this type sailing directly to a distance of 2,000 meters from the coastline, and then used their powerful main guns to call the French positions one by one.

No one can be calm when the cannon is aimed at you, the key is that it is useless for you to dodge the cannon, the huge lethality, even if you hide in the trench 20 meters away, you will be directly shocked to death by it.

Then the French officers and soldiers defending the beachhead were unlucky, and the remaining beachhead fortifications were destroyed one by one with a single accurate shell, and these fortifications that had escaped the previous shelling were now targeted by the huge guns at close range, and there was no possibility of survival at all.

As for the artillery in the hands of the defenders at this time, they did not dare to meet at all, and as soon as they fired, they would be discovered by the airships in the sky, and then they would be destroyed by a counterattack. For this reason, the French troops stationed in Borgo no longer had the desire to open fire after losing more than 20 guns. Besides, after the destruction of the coastal defense artillery, can those 75-mm rapid-fire guns in the hands of the army pose a threat to shallow-water heavy gunboats?

When there was no threat, the three Tirana-class shallow water heavy gunboats began to roll out their names with impunity. And after these beachhead fortifications were destroyed, the officers and men of the 2nd Marine Division finally arrived at the beach.

At this time, the French officers and soldiers guarding the beachhead had been bombed and suffered heavy casualties, and the French army of its original two battalions had only two companies left.

However, will alone could not change the predicament of insufficient troops on the beachhead, although from the landing of the 2nd Marine Division, the French troops on the beachhead opened fire desperately. But the huge number of disparities, as well as the disparity in firepower, allowed the beachhead to be lost after half an hour.

And after receiving the news that the front-line troops had captured the beachhead in half an hour, Admiral Bartlett took a look at it and put it down. He was not at all worried about the seizure of Corsica.

He preferred the French to reinforce Corsica, for which the navy even abandoned the siege of Corsica. However, it is a pity that the French army is not stupid and has no intention of reinforcing Corsica, even if it is the birthplace of its great man Napoleon.

After seizing the beachhead, after waiting for the arrival of the follow-up troops, the troops who landed first continued to advance in depth. At this time, three shallow water heavy guns were their most powerful artillery unit.

(End of chapter)