Greece to roman road

In order to reduce casualties, after weighing the left and right, Colonel Ferrad had no choice but to agree with Staff Officer Hedlis and ask for help from the fleet.

In the command module of the Trikupis, Contoriotis met with Staff Officer Hydlis, who returned to the flagship in a rubber boat overnight.

After learning that the Marines encountered the enemy occupying favorable terrain during the landing and were waiting for work, they needed fire support from the fleet, and they fell into deep thought.

Haidris looked at the silent naval commander with anxiety, feeling uneasy in his heart.

The Greek warships that make up the rapid response fleet are all the elite of the Greek Navy in recent years. They are all cutting-edge warships and are the absolute main force of the Greek Navy.

In daily exercises, these warships, although under the control of naval soldiers, also conduct a small amount of live-fire target training, and more of them conduct simulated tactical exercises.

There is no other reason. The cost of training in the navy is too high.

Putting aside factors such as warship maintenance and the salary of highly qualified naval personnel, let’s just talk about the 12-inch (approximately 305 mm) main gun of the Invincible-class battle cruiser equipment of the Greek Navy.

The two Invincible-class battlecruisers in the Greek Navy, Trikoupis and King George, are each equipped with eight four-barrel 12-inch guns, all of which are imported from Britain.

The purchase price of each artillery piece is 80,000 pounds!

The equivalent of the Greek drachma is two million!

What concept?

The annual income of a worker in Greece is about one thousand drachmas.

What is the lifespan of such an expensive artillery piece?

The life of each gun is approximately 100 to 110 rounds.

In other words, such an expensive artillery will be useless after firing a hundred rounds.

When a 12-inch artillery fires a shell, the damage to the artillery itself alone is about 20,000 drachmas, the annual income of twenty Greek workers.

Using such expensive artillery to deal with the Ottoman island-defending army of about a few hundred people on Lemuus Island is really a bit like using artillery to fight mosquitoes.

The imaginary enemies of the two Invincible-class battle cruisers are two pre-dreadnoughts imported from Germany by the Ottoman Navy. There is no need to waste the life of expensive artillery.

The Greek Navy is far from having the luxury of using battle cruiser main guns to deal with land targets.

Contoriotis hesitated: "Is it necessary?"

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Seemingly seeing the commander's hesitation, Heidelis explained: "The destroyers in the fleet all have artillery calibers below 150 mm, which are used for shelling the shore. When the enemy is on guard, even if they use high-explosive bombs, the effect will be the same." Not significant”

The caliber is large, and the power of the artillery is naturally high.

The Invincible-class main gun has a caliber of 305 mm and a shell weight of 300 kilograms. It is naturally easy to use it to deal with the Ottoman troops lurking around Mudros Bay.

Kontoriotis analyzed all the gathered intelligence and thought of the order sent by the General Staff of Athens at home, requiring that the strategic requirements of blocking the Dardanelles Strait and offshore shipping in Asia Minor be completed as soon as possible.

According to intelligence knowledge, the Ottoman side was under strong pressure from the Balkan Alliance in the direction of Macedonia after the war due to its backward domestic transportation and limited land transportation capabilities. It was in urgent need of mobilizing personnel and materials from the Asian part of the Ottoman Empire to the European part.

The port city of Salonika, because it is far away from the control area of ​​​​the Ottoman navy, has been sealed by the Greek navy since the war. Naturally, Ottoman ships did not dare to enter Salonika from the Thermaic Gulf.

However, these ships stayed close to the coastline. After emerging from the Dardanelles Strait and heading north along the coast of Thrace, they could still transport supplies and personnel to Macedonia and support the Ottoman army in the Macedonian region.

After all, the Ottoman Navy still has a certain degree of deterrence. Before the rapid response fleet can annihilate or severely damage the Ottoman main fleet, the Greek warships are approaching the coastal areas of Thrace to operate, which is more dangerous.

Therefore, the safety of these Ottoman supply ships sailing closely along the Ottoman coastline is still guaranteed.

The General Staff naturally did not want to allow more Ottoman soldiers to enter Macedonia, because this meant that the power of the Asian part of the Ottoman Empire was likely to be used against the Greek army.

It is the top priority of the navy to occupy the strategically important Lemuas Island as soon as possible so that the fleet can free up its hands and carefully guard against the Ottoman main warships.

Therefore, even if it costs some money, it is okay.

After thinking about this, Kontoriotis agreed to Staff Officer Hyrdlis's request for fire support.

After 1,500 Marines spent the restless second half of the night on the cold coast of Mudros Bay, it finally became bright.

At about 6:00 a.m., the fleet received the commander's order to target the main gun firing points of the two Invincible-class battle cruisers. The entire fleet bombarded the coast of Mudros Bay to provide fire support for the Marine Corps.

At 6:10, the entire fleet of ten warships, two battle cruisers, and eight destroyers fanned out around Mudros Bay and completed preparations for the attack.

The two Invincible-class warships were the first to open fire. The eight 12-inch twin turrets installed on the two war beasts were aimed at the target. The ferocious and thick artillery muzzles were diagonally facing Mudros Bay, and there was a deafening chorus of loud noises. Afterwards, the muzzle puffed out thick smoke, mixed with orange-red flames.

"······Chirp"

The three-hundred-kilogram high-explosive bomb, with a strong sound of breaking through the air, drew several bright arcs in the air.

After a brief period of silence, more than a dozen brilliant sparks rose from the hills and woods of Mudros Bay.

After several main gun shells exploded, the conspicuous targets pointed out the direction for other destroyers, and the eight destroyers also tilted their metal storms towards the enemy positions.

After Ferad heard the sound of artillery fire, he quickly took his telescope and observed the conditions of the surrounding hills and woods where the enemy troops were hiding.

The strong momentum aroused after the explosion of the shell blew away all obstacles that hindered the advancement of the Marines.

Flying sawdust, broken stones, and messy weeds all mixed together, leaving Mudros Bay in chaos.

During the entire hour of shelling, the jungle around Mudros Bay experienced intensive carpet bombing. Explosions occurred one after another. The dust in the sky blocked the view and shrouded the entire position.

Fedra looked at the fierce bombardment in front of him and estimated in his mind that the violent air wave generated by the 305 mm caliber naval gun using high-explosive bombs after the explosion, even if the soldiers were not directly hit by shrapnel and hid in the bunker. , even if he wasn't directly shocked to death, he would have been seriously injured.

Around seven o'clock in the morning, the fleet's bombardment stopped. It took a full half hour for the dust covering the position to disappear, revealing its true appearance.

Colonel Ferrad took a deep breath.

The originally dense grass around Mudros Bay was now sparsely dotted with trees and dotted with a few exposed rocks.

After the bombardment, it was a mess. The trees and grass were completely gone. The ground was covered with a layer of vegetation debris. The messy rocks were completely exposed. The entire position was ravaged by artillery and was beyond recognition!