Chapter 443 Generous (Part 2)
The fierce artillery battle continued, and as time went by, the French navy slowly gained the initiative and suppressed all the coastal defense artillery of the Gothenburg defenders. But in this way, a lot of time is wasted. By the time all the large-caliber coastal defense guns in Gothenburg were destroyed, it was already 3 o'clock in the afternoon.
"General, Field Marshal Monty is calling to ask when the landings can begin?" the orderly reported to Dalcy.
"Reply to Field Marshal Monty, Gothenburg's fort has been completely suppressed by us, and all large-caliber coastal defense guns have also been defeated and destroyed. The landing can be carried out in half an hour." Darcy replied.
"In addition, order all warships to come up and prepare to destroy Gothenburg's fortifications." Darcy ordered. After receiving Darcy's order, more than 10 destroyers that had been staying behind also all leaned up. Although the 122mm naval guns and 105mm naval guns they carry are not opponents of the large-caliber coastal defense guns of the Gothenburg defenders, they are still very easy to deal with the fortifications built on the beach.
"The 'God' and 'Dordogne' use their secondary guns to attack, and the main guns to defend, to suppress the firepower of the opponent's turret that may appear." Dalcy issued the order again. Although the 210mm coastal defense guns and 240mm coastal defense guns of the Gothenburg defenders were all destroyed. However, the opponent's 155mm coastal defense gun should still have some left. These coastal defense guns still pose a very serious threat to the destroyers of the French Navy.
As the French navy began to bombard the fortifications of Gothenburg, a large number of shells hit the beach overwhelmingly. Originally, the fortifications built on the beach could not be particularly strong. When they were bombarded by the artillery fire of the French navy, a large number of fortifications were destroyed immediately.
"General, all our large-caliber coastal defense guns have been destroyed, and now the French fleet has begun to focus on our fortifications." A junior officer reported to Eric.
Eric started fighting with a "babble", took a telescope, and went to the observation hole to have a look. Sure enough, more than 10 French warships were pouring shells on the beach non-stop. The fortifications of the Swedish army continued to fall and were destroyed amidst the explosions in the distance. Countless Swedish soldiers were torn to pieces by the flying shrapnel. Even some caves for hiding soldiers were trampled by large-caliber artillery shells from the French Navy. All the Swedish soldiers hiding inside were buried alive inside.
Seeing such a scene, Eric's eyes turned red: "How many 155mm cannons do we have?"
"There are still 12 guns. But we still have 60 122mm cannons." The junior officer replied.
"What about the 105mm howitzer and the 75mm field gun?"
"The 105mm howitzer and the 75mm field gun were not damaged because they were not drawn to the front line." The 105mm howitzer and the 75mm field gun were of little use against the battleships of the French Navy, so Eric sent them Arranged to the end.
"Pull out all the 105mm howitzers, gather all the 155mm and 122mm coastal defense guns, and focus on attacking the opponent's destroyer." Eric ordered with red eyes.
"Yes, General." The junior officer ordered. And quickly conveyed Eric's order.
On the French side, after receiving the notice that they could land in half an hour, the French transport ships also began to approach. Landing craft were put down on many troop carriers. These landing craft are not big, and each ship can probably carry a squad of people. The soldiers of the Marine Corps have already stepped into the landing craft, and when the landing order is issued, they will set off as the first soldiers to land. According to Monty's plan, the first batch of landings, they will drop into a battalion of the 2nd Marine Division. After they land successfully, the rest of the Marine Corps will land behind them. With the assistance of naval warships, they will establish a safe landing field.
When the time reached 3:20 in the afternoon, the French transport ship had already reached one kilometer behind the French Navy fleet. Here they will wait for the end of time.
But at this time, the mutation suddenly appeared. The Gothenburg artillery that had been silent began to shell again violently, and a large number of shells exploded around the French fleet.
"Fire the main gun and suppress them. Damn it! This is the shell of the 155mm cannon, the 122mm cannon and the 105mm howitzer." Darcy hurriedly issued an order.
Of course, their sudden attack also caused a lot of trouble to the French navy. The landing originally scheduled for 3:30 had to be postponed, and even several battleships were injured. Among them, two "Dolphin" class destroyers were even severely damaged, losing all combat effectiveness, and had to withdraw from the battle. I'm afraid I have to go back to the berth for a month or two before I can return to the battlefield. The remaining battleships also suffered more or less minor injuries.
The artillery battle is still going on, but the French navy still has an absolute advantage. With the "God" and "Dordogne" alone, the French Navy suppressed all the remaining 105mm howitzers in Gothenburg. The remaining more than 10 destroyers still concentrated their firepower on the fortifications of Gothenburg.
At 4 p.m., Field Marshal Monty gave the order to begin the landing operation. The 7 troop carriers broke away from the formation and headed rapidly towards the coast.
"Damn it, the French are going to land. All the troops will enter the position immediately." Major General Kyle came out of the anti-battery hole and shouted loudly to the phone.
Under his order, the Swedish soldiers got out of the anti-battery holes one after another, braved the fierce French artillery fire, picked up their guns and entered the position. During this process, many Swedish soldiers were torn to pieces by French artillery fire.
When the 7 troop carriers sailed to only 3 kilometers from the coast, 63 landing craft were released, and under the operation of the marines, they rushed away from the shore like arrows leaving the string. These landing craft carried more than 700 people from the 1st Battalion, 4th Regiment, 2nd Division, Marine Corps.
After putting down the landing craft, the troop carrier also retreated quickly. You must know that they have no fighting power at all. It is quite dangerous for them to be near the coast.
The artillery fire of the French navy also let go of the beach that had been ravaged by them for a long time, and began to extend in depth.
"The French have begun to land, and all field artillery are ready for battle." Eric ordered. Long before the French army began to land, he ordered the soldiers to pull out all the 75mm field guns.
When the landing craft was about 1 km away from the coast, these field artillery began to show off. The volley of hundreds of field battles is definitely a huge disaster for those landing craft that have no defense at all. During the first round of shelling, several landing craft were destroyed, and all the marines on board fell into the water. Some have been directly killed by shrapnel, and some are still struggling in the water.
"Order all the destroyers to turn their guns around and suppress them." Darcy ordered crazily.
Before being suppressed by the French navy, the hundreds of field guns of the Gothenburg defenders had fired 5 rounds of salvo. During these 5 rounds of salvo, they destroyed nearly 20 landing craft and directly killed the 2nd Marine Corps 2nd Division. One-third of the strength of the 4th regiment and 1st battalion. But then the French navy's revenge immediately caused them to lose dozens of field artillery.
These field artillery were Eric's last bargaining chip, and he didn't want to lose them all, so he ordered the artillery to retreat immediately. In this way, the French Marine Corps landed without any danger.
However, the danger was not over yet. As soon as they landed, they were fiercely blocked by the infantry inside the Gothenburg fortifications. The powerful firepower made the marines unable to lift their heads, and were pinned down on the beach. .
"Quick, adjust the distance, aim at the enemy's firepower points, and fire." Seeing that the marines were suppressed on the beach, Darcy directly ordered the "Shenjuan" to turn its guns and provide them with fire support.
Immediately ~www.mtlnovel.com~ dozens of cannons including 305mm naval guns on the Shenjuan turned their muzzles one after another and fired a salvo at those firepower points.
Suddenly, there was only a loud sound of landslides and ground cracks, and those firepower points were immediately blown away. There is only a row of huge pits with a diameter of several meters to tens of meters left on the beach. That should be the crater left by the naval gun on the "Shen Juan". The small one is left by the 75mm naval gun, and the large one is left by the 305mm naval gun.
The marines who were suppressed on the beach were stunned by the power of the "Shenjuan". But the situation on the battlefield gave them no time to think about it. Taking advantage of this opportunity, they quickly launched a charge and broke into the positions of the Gothenburg defenders. Heavy machine guns, squad machine guns and mortars were quickly set up to provide fire support for the charging Marines.
Seeing that they had successfully landed, Field Marshal Monty immediately ordered that the second batch of two battalions of Marines set off immediately.
A large-scale landing battle involving hundreds of thousands of people kicked off. This is absolutely unprecedented for France and the whole world. However, what the French and Xiao Jie never imagined was that before long, their enemies, the United States and Canada, would soon conduct a landing battle not much smaller than theirs this time.