Chapter 314 The Initiative Is in the Hands of the Enemy

Bahar's fishing boat set out at dusk, with only two guards, a communications team and a radio, and landed on the west side of the defense line when it got dark.

Bahar's arrival was warmly welcomed by the military and civilians. He was like a shot of adrenaline for them who were on the verge of collapse.

In particular, Bahar told them loudly:

"Brave soldiers, the enemy can block our roads on land, but cannot block our sea supply lines!"

"I came here smoothly and brought food!"

As he said, his subordinates lifted bags of flour from the fishing boat and placed them in front of everyone.

The originally depressed Ottoman soldiers and militiamen burst into cheers in an instant.

Bahar then shouted:

"We can use wooden boats and fishing boats to transport food and ammunition at night. It's not difficult!"

"But we need two days to make enough boats."

"Just hold on for two days, the situation will be different, and victory will eventually belong to us!"

The soldiers cheered even louder. Bahar brought them hope, the hope of victory, and the hope of survival.

But only Bahar knew that the so-called fishing boats and wooden boats did not exist, which was not realistic at all.

During the day, the Allied seaplanes would find these fishing boats, and the battleships would sink them more than ten kilometers away.

At night, the Ottoman coastal defense guns could not see the dark sea surface, and the enemy's destroyers would cover both sides of the cape to completely block it.

This is also the reason why Bahar chose to set off at dusk. This is the transition period between day and night. The laziness and slackness of the British gave him the opportunity to get here safely.

...

The sound of artillery rumbled.

In the tunnel, Charles was lying on the bed that Adrian had made with the shell box to rest. The pillow was a backpack. He didn't even dare to take the marching blanket out of the bag because it would soon be unusable in the humid environment.

At the head of the bed was a tree stump left by the Ottoman soldiers, on which was a kerosene lamp. When it was lit with a black smoke flame, the choking smell of smoke instantly filled the entire space.

Before, Charles would definitely not be able to stand this smell, but now he feels it is a kind of enjoyment. It was like incense, which could drive away the smell of blood and corpses brought by the sea breeze.

Under the flickering light, Charles, lying on his back, stared at the several wooden boards used for support on the top of the tunnel in a daze.

He was a little confused about the status of the enemy forces in the "A" corner.

Since the fleet entered the Gulf of Saros, the fleet has been bombarding them intermittently for several hours, and it did not stop at night, and still bombarded them with large-caliber shells one after another.

Charles originally thought that the Ottomans would choose to surrender tonight at the latest.

After all, most of them were militia, engineers and logistics troops. These troops had not received much combat training, and now they were in a desperate situation, so they should not be able to hold on for long.

Darkness was their best opportunity. They could secretly leave the team and cross the no-man's land to surrender to the French army.

But the fact was just the opposite. It was already past eight o'clock in the evening, and there were only a few Ottoman militiamen who surrendered. Among them, there were two members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. After they became prisoners, they were forced by the Ottomans to build trenches and found an opportunity to run out.

What is the reason for not surrendering?

Courage?

Or because of defending the homeland?

At this time, a dark shadow flashed at the entrance of the tunnel. Charles turned over and picked up the rifle on the bedside and aimed at the target, with his finger on the trigger.

"Hey, Colonel, it's me." Tijani's voice was a little nervous: "Relax, Adrian is guarding outside the door, no enemy will come here!"

Tijani regretted it a little. He forgot that today was Charles' first day in the battle. Such "newbies" often get overly nervous and grab the rifle and pull the trigger at the slightest sign of trouble.

Charles took a breath and put the rifle back to its original place. His tone was a little embarrassed: "Sorry, General, I don't know what's wrong with me."

"I understand." Tijani replied: "It will be fine after a while, you just aren't used to it."

"Maybe!" Charles replied, he felt that he would never get used to it.

Tijani didn't dwell on this issue too much. He held a document in his hand, which was the record of the interrogation of the surrendered Ottoman soldiers.

"The matter has been investigated." Tijani handed the document to Charles: "It's not that your plan has a problem, but that the enemy has countermeasures."

Charles took the document and flipped through it under the kerosene lamp. He noticed a name: "Bahar?"

"Yes." Tijani lay on Charles' bed like a puddle of mud, groaned comfortably, and replied lazily: "Remember today in Bukiya Village, we were blocked by the enemy for nearly 20 minutes and almost got into trouble? He disobeyed orders and led his troops to seize it privately!"

Charles said "Oh", this guy is something.

"He is a colonel." Tijani continued: "If calculated by military rank, he should be at least a major general or even a lieutenant general. He directly commands three divisions and indirectly commands three more divisions."

This is not surprising on the battlefield. Capable officers' command power expands rapidly when war breaks out, but their military ranks are not promoted in time.

Tijani continued, "He entered corner 'A' by sea when it was dark. The Ottomans regarded him as a war hero. He said he would build a sea transportation line."

Charles understood that Bahar had stabilized the army in corner 'A' by "looking at the plum to quench thirst".

Then Charles frowned. If the enemy in the "A" corner did not surrender, the Allied reinforcements would have no space to land. They could only send a few thousand people to reinforce the defense line where Charles was.

There would be no way to have more people. It would be meaningless if the defense line could not accommodate them. Half of them would die if they were crowded and bombed by enemy artillery.

Tijani stood up, took the kettle and gulped a few sips, then lay down heavily, turned over and seemed to be exhausted. His voice became softer and softer: "They said Bahar asked us to hold on for at least two days. Do you think we can hold on for two days?"

Charles did not answer. He thought for a while and said, "You may have misunderstood 'at least two days'."

"What?" Tijani replied in a dreamlike voice.

Charles replied: "Your understanding is that Bahar asked them to hold out for two days, which is the limit of the defenders of corner 'A', so we only need to hold out for two days, and then the Ottoman army will collapse."

Tijani murmured and asked back: "Isn't it?"

Charles smiled lightly: "There is another possibility: after two days, the enemy will be confident of breaking through our defense line, so Bahar asked them to hold out for two days."

Tijani seemed to be asleep and did not respond for a few seconds.

But suddenly he sat up again, turned his head and looked at Charles in shock: "You mean, the initiative is in the hands of the enemy? We only have two days to force them to surrender?"