Chapter 287 V Beach Landing Battle

Charles didn't find out about it until he arrived at the anchorage five days later.

The anchorage was built next to a desert island more than 30 nautical miles away from the Dardanelles Strait. Through detection, the British found that the water here was deep and there were no reefs.

The most important thing is the discovery of spring water on a desert island.

This means that the fleet can replenish fresh water nearby without having to send it from the island of Malta.

(Note: The island of Malta was a British colony at this time and became independent in 1964)

The British even sent engineers to the island, asking them to build roads, transport and store water on the island, and then distribute water storage buckets to small boats for transportation every day.

When he first arrived at the anchorage, Charles was almost frightened by the scene in front of him:

Under the flying and howling seagulls, hundreds of ships of all sizes, including transport ships, trawlers, and minesweepers, formed a large circle like a harbor on the outer layer, with warships of various types in the middle.

There were also destroyers patrolling the outside. Charles's fleet was stopped by the destroyers a few nautical miles away. They signaled and boarded the ship to confirm their identity before being allowed to pass.

In the end, Charles's fleet was arranged to berth in the designated area under the leadership of the destroyer.

After all, Britain is an old naval power, and everything looks very professional. But in sharp contrast, it has been powerful for too long and has developed a hopeless bureaucratic style. This is why it loses the battle. main reason.

Charles and Tijani first boarded the battleship "Sufren", which was the flagship of the French fleet. Rear Admiral Guy Platt was on this warship.

Major General Guy Platt was a middle-aged man with a beard. He looked very stable. When he saw Charles, he shook hands with Charles very calmly and said simply: "Welcome, Colonel. "

Then he looked at Tijani: "Long time no see, Tijani. I never thought we could meet on the battlefield."

Tijani smiled "hehe" and introduced to Charles: "This is Uncle Gaiprat. If I had not insisted on going to the army, I should be his subordinate now."

Charles was convinced that this was Tijani's relative.

Rear Admiral Geplat brought Charles and Tijani to the office on the ship island. He looked towards the Dardanelles Strait with a cup of coffee: "We just tried to land on V Beach, but unfortunately, Another failure."

"British?" Tijani asked.

Ciel had the same idea.

"No." Major General Guy Pratt shook his head, and then a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes: "I thought you knew that, like you, they are reinforcements sent by France."

Ciel looked confused.

Tijani said "Uh": "We didn't even know this force existed."

Major General Geprat hesitated for a moment, then shook his head with a wry smile.

He understood that this was a power struggle within the French army, and they wanted to defeat Charles.

These bastards are actually thinking about fighting among themselves at this time.

However, how good can the navy be?

Major General Guy Platt did not elaborate on this aspect. He directly brought the topic to the landing battle: "This landing battle was commanded by Major General Honoré. They brought two coal ships to assist the landing, each carrying 2,000 people. people."

As he spoke, Guy Prat rummaged through the documents, found a photo and handed it to Charles: "This is this kind of ship."

Charles took a look and saw that there were several exits next to the coal ship. This could be said to be an innovation in this era.

Tijani came over to take a look and smiled slightly, with a hint of mockery in the corner of his mouth.

"I hope you won't use this kind of ship to land in the same way." Major General Gaiprat said with some worry in his eyes.

"No, I don't use this kind of boat," Charles replied.

Major General Geprat relaxed after hearing this answer. He took a sip of coffee and nodded: "Very good!"

Unexpectedly, Tijani added: "We brought a similar one, but much smaller than it!"

Major General Geprat was stunned. He looked at Tijani and then at Charles, with a look of despair on his face.

"It didn't work?" Charles asked knowingly. He wanted to know more information.

Major General Geprat said "hmm" and replied solemnly:

"They beached this kind of ship on the coast of V Beach, and under the cover of fire, they used two barges as a bridge to park between the landing ship and the beach."

"Then the troops landed along this channel one company after another."

"However, when we were just stranded and ready to open the door and set up the ramp, we encountered fierce shooting from the defenders. The enemy had already replenished their troops on V Beach. At this time, there were estimated to be more than a thousand people."

"The soldiers finally walked down the ramp, but they became targets of enemy fire. At least half of them were blocked inside the ship and unable to get out."

…

Tijani looked at Ciel worriedly.

Charles knew what he was worried about. Charles's landing craft was somewhat similar to the landing craft converted from the coal ship.

If anything, the Shire's landing craft could get soldiers ashore faster.

Ciel held up the photo and raised it to Tijani and said: "On the surface they look the same, but in fact they are very different. You can think about the problem from the enemy's perspective."

Tijani pondered for a moment and nodded thoughtfully:

"You're right, Colonel."

"If I were defending the enemy from the shore, I would be able to see this coal ship from a long distance because of its size."

"Moreover, I can also preliminarily determine its approximate landing location from its direction of travel."

"After that, it will take at least ten minutes to prepare for its landing..."

Tijani then turned his gaze to Major General Geprat.

Major General Geprat replied: "No, it took more than half an hour to prepare. As I said, the enemy fired artillery and machine guns at it fiercely, and they had to connect the barge to the hull under the hail of bullets."

Tijani hummed: "More than half an hour, which is enough for the Ottoman Empire to transfer machine guns from other directions. When they can finally land, the enemy's firepower can completely block them."

Charles nodded slightly, that's what he wanted to say.

The key to landing operations is the word "fast".

If you always think that once the springboard is opened, the enemy's machine gun bullets will rain down on the inside of the landing craft, even gods can't stop it.

The biggest advantage of Charles' landing craft is that you can choose to suddenly put people down at any time and any place, and people are already on the shore before the enemy's firepower has time to organize.

However...

Tijani seemed to have thought of this, and he said: "The Ottomans already know that the focus of our landing is V Beach, which means..."

Charles looked at Tijani meaningfully, and the two of them understood each other tacitly.

Major General Geprat suddenly had some confidence in the two young men in front of him.

Although he didn't understand what they said, he felt that they were much more reliable than Major General Honoré. At least they could analyze the enemy situation and the direction of the war.