(Chapter to)
Today's weather is very good and the waves on the sea are not too big, so the landing operation of the French army is also very smooth. Among the 60 landing craft, only 4 capsized due to the British bombardment, and the French soldiers on board also fell. They entered the water, but they discarded their heavy equipment within the first time, and were rescued on board by subsequent landing craft, without any casualties. These are the results of hard training.
After the artillery of the British 7th Infantry Division started shelling, the French warships docked on the sea immediately suppressed them. In less than 10 minutes, all the British artillery positions were misfired, and the cannons of each door became rotten copper. Bandits, although some cannons were not damaged, they unanimously chose to remain silent, because if they dared to continue firing, they might be destroyed soon.
At 8:30, the first landing craft finally came ashore, and the 12 soldiers on it jumped off as soon as the ship docked, and rushed towards the beach under the cover of the machine gunner. Then, more and more landing craft docked, and a large number of French soldiers launched a fierce attack on the British defensive positions. Due to the damage to the fortifications, coupled with weapons, the resistance of the British army was extremely difficult. Fortunately, they have a whole regiment of troops, which is able to block the attack of the French army.
"Bastard, aim at that firepower point. There are two heavy machine guns there." The commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Regiment of the 2nd Marine Division ordered. Although the firepower of the French artillery fleet was very fierce, some firepower points hidden in blind spots survived. They brought a lot of trouble to the French offensive.
Under the command of the battalion commander, the two mortars aimed at the fixed fire point that was constantly firing machine gun bullets. After two explosions, the firing point still hadn't been hit. "Damn it, continue." The battalion commander angrily punched the ground with his fist and ordered. Fortunately, the second round of shelling finally worked, and the firepower point was finally destroyed after eating two shells. "Machine gun cover, attack." The battalion commander continued to issue orders.
In this way, constantly attacking, constantly falling down. On the battlefield, gunshots, cannons, shouts when charging, screams when being hit, and groans when facing death, plus those huge craters and scattered limbs and arms , making the beach a **** on earth.
Half an hour later, the French marines of the second battalion landed. After they joined the attack, the direction of the British army became more and more tight, and there was a possibility of being broken by the French army at any time.
"Go back and report to the commander. I need reinforcements. I can't hold it anymore." The commander of the British 7th Infantry Division growled. Down is still in jeopardy. There were a large number of landing craft on the sea, and the regiment leader knew that if these French troops landed, his defense line would probably be torn apart. "What the **** are those **** artillerymen doing? Are they all dead?" the regiment commander kept cursing.
At this time, Ralph, the commander of the British 7th Infantry Division, was also very embarrassed. He now only has 1 infantry regiment, 1 cavalry regiment and the troops directly under the division. The battle has only been going on for an hour so far. The front line can't stand it anymore, but the nearest reinforcements can't arrive until 3 hours later. If all the troops are wiped out now, what can he use to defend Plymouth?
After receiving the third request from the front line for reinforcements, Ralph reluctantly sent an infantry battalion for reinforcements. At the same time, he ordered his troops to prepare for street fighting. At the same time, the cavalry was ordered to hide in a forest outside the city, preparing to launch a counter-charge when the French army attacked Plymouth. After all, the cavalry could not exert much combat effectiveness in street fighting, and they were more suitable for fighting in the wild.
After defeating the British defense line, the French army was not eager to launch an attack on Plymouth, but was constantly accumulating strength, ready to kill with one blow. At 10:30, there were already 3 French regiments landing. Leaving one regiment to protect the landing field, the other two regiments launched an attack on Plymouth.
With the support of naval artillery fire, they quickly reached the city of Plymouth. However, it was at this time that the British cavalry hiding in the woods suddenly rushed out, caught off guard, and the French army suffered heavy losses. However, the panic soon ended, and they, who had received strict training, immediately set up their machine guns and began to resist the impact of the British cavalry. At the same time, they sent a report to the navy to provide them with fire support.
Under the powerful firepower of the French army, the British cavalry was completely suppressed after achieving the initial record. The firepower network composed of squad machine guns, heavy machine guns, mortars and naval guns has completely become the death sickle for harvesting the lives of British cavalry. A large number of British cavalry were shot down and trampled into meat sauce by their comrades. .
The fierce battle went on for a full hour, until the battlefield fell silent again. In the battle just now, the British 2nd Independent Cavalry Brigade, a regiment of more than 2,500 people, less than 500 evacuated the battlefield, and the remaining 2,000 people and their mounts were all shot to death. The French army also paid a very heavy price, with casualties of a whole battalion, most of which were sacrificed during the initial period of the battle.
Due to the heavy losses and it was time for lunch, the French army had to temporarily stop the offensive, let the soldiers rest, and then launch a new offensive. At this time, reinforcements from one regiment of the 7th Infantry Division finally arrived, and the other two regiments will all arrive in the afternoon. Although the strength of the army is getting stronger and stronger, Ralph is still very uncertain. He also read the loss report in the morning. The loss of the British army is 2 to 3 times that of the French army. How can such a high battle loss ratio Let him not worry?
At two o'clock in the afternoon, the French offensive resumed. At this time, all the troops of the 2nd Marine Division have already landed, but because the port has not been captured, the heavy weapons cannot be unloaded yet. Subsequently, the two infantry regiments of the 89th Corps also began to land. Their task was to protect and expand the landing field, while the offensive was temporarily handed over to the 2nd Marine Division. At the same time, General Monty, the commander of the 89th Army, also sent a telegram to Saint-Brieuc, asking the three infantry divisions and troops directly under the 89th Army who were still waiting there to start shipment. Two batches of troops can arrive. By that time, the port should also be occupied. In that case, the speed of loading and unloading can be greatly increased.
The battle in the morning caused the 2nd Marine Division to lose a whole regiment of troops. Such a large loss made the officers and soldiers of the 2nd Marine Division very angry. In the afternoon attack, they invested a full 3 regiments of troops. With the artillery support of the navy, they quickly entered the city of Plymouth and started fierce street fighting with the British army.
They are much tougher than the British army who have received specialized street fighting training, but they are not as familiar with the situation as the British army. Therefore, they had to adopt a straight-line attack, use grenades to open the way, and advance straight. The consequence of this tactic was that a large number of residential buildings were destroyed. During the offensive, French soldiers often encountered British civilians who were hiding. They usually hid together as a family. Under normal circumstances, French soldiers would not intervene when encountering these civilians, but if they attacked the French army, they would have to be sorry.
Tragic killings were staged everywhere in Plymouth. Although the resistance of the British army was very tenacious~www.mtlnovel.com~ and the last two infantry regiments and a cavalry regiment of the 2nd Independent Cavalry Brigade also rushed back in the afternoon, but, They still couldn't win. After the French army reinforced 1 regiment again, they were completely driven out of Plymouth, and no more than 2,000 people survived the entire 7th Infantry Division.
In the end, Ralph had to admit defeat and led the remnant army to retreat eastward. At this time, the French army did not have the extra energy to pursue. They had to spend a lot of time and energy on the maintenance of the port and the elimination of British resistance.
In the early morning of June 14th, the 1st Infantry Division of the 89th Corps and the troops directly under the Corps landed. The arrival of a large number of soldiers and heavy equipment greatly enhanced the strength of the French army, and in the afternoon all the British troops in Plymouth were wiped out. . And began to actively attack eastward.
Although the British army had already received the news that the French army had landed in Plymouth at this time, the time was too short for them to respond in time, and the French army's fierce attack had already begun. The 1st Infantry Division of the 89th Army Corps and the 2nd Infantry Division and 3rd Infantry Division that arrived later launched a fierce attack on the British army along the coastline. Poole, directly threatening the flank of the British garrison at Portsmouth. As a result, the British side had to deploy a large number of troops to intercept, which directly weakened the troops of other parties and created conditions for the other two landing points to win the landing operations.