(Chapter 1 arrives, there will be chapter 1 later)

The Channel Islands are called the Normandy Islands in French. For the royal territory. In the northwest of the Cotentin Peninsula in France, in the English Channel at the entrance of the Bay of Saint-Malo, 130 kilometers north of the British Isle. The area is 194 square kilometers. It consists of the islands of Jersey (116 square kilometers), Guernsey (65 square kilometers), Alderney (Alderney) and Sark (Sark). Since the confrontation between Britain and France and later Iberia, it has been used as the forward position of the British navy to blockade France.

"General, we are only 100 nautical miles away from our destination. If we continue to move forward, we will encounter the British patrol fleet." On the bridge of the flagship "Andresi" of the Iberian Navy, sailing The chief is reporting to Boult.

Looking up at the nautical clock, it was already 10 o'clock in the afternoon, and now their position was just in the west of the Normandy Peninsula, and they were about to enter the English Channel. Since the Royal Navy was defeated by the Iberian Navy several times, the Royal Navy Channel Fleet had to shrink its defenses, focusing on defending the entrance and interior of the channel, while its vigilance outside the channel was greatly reduced.

"Order the ships to pay attention to their vigilance. They continued to sail at two o'clock in the morning. Now, except for the soldiers and officers who are in charge of vigilance, everyone should take the time to rest." Boult ordered. Today is already November 2. After 5 days of sailing, Burt finally led the Iberian fleet to come here. His task this time is very clear, that is to defeat the Royal Navy Channel Fleet, and help the Marine Corps capture the Channel Islands and occupy Le Havre in the Gulf of Seine with the help of the Army, and use the excellent geographical conditions here to establish a A temporary naval base in order to be able to fully compete with the British Navy for the Strait. This time, the fleet he led was very large, including 4 "Bonaparte" class warships and 16 "Iberia" class warships, and its strength was definitely above the British Royal Navy's Channel Fleet. If the other British fleets did not support the Channel Fleet, it would be very easy for the Iberian Navy to complete their combat missions. Since the capture of the Gibraltar Fortress, the formation of the Marine Corps has been put on the agenda. Under Xiao Jie's special arrangement, four elite regiments were drawn from the army's six regiments to form this army dedicated to landing operations. This time Boult brought two regiments, ready to participate in the upcoming island landing operations.

The period of time in the early morning is when the British fleet's defenses are the most lax, and it is also the best time for the Iberian fleet to sneak into the English Channel. When the time came, Boult ordered the fleet to implement a blackout, and all the communication between the ships was done by radio. Fortunately, they have a new communication tool like a radio, otherwise it would be basically impossible to complete this plan. Not to mention anything else, just the command of the ships in the dark night is enough for Boult to worry about.

The Iberian fleet slipped into the English Channel like a cunning loach. They sailed slowly along the coastline of the Normandy Peninsula, praying that this would not touch the British patrol fleet to ensure the suddenness of the attack.

Fortunately, their secrecy work is very good. The British have never discovered that a huge fleet has slipped into the English Channel. At 6 o'clock in the morning, it was already dawn. At this time, the Iberian fleet had entered the Bay of Saint-Malo, and it would take at most two or three hours to reach the target sea area. And at this time, even if they were discovered by the British fleet, it would be too late for them. Burt's heart that had been hanging all this time was relieved.

At 7:30, the chefs on the warships distributed breakfast to the sailors under the leadership of the logistics officer. Judging from the current speed, they would be busy in an hour.

At this time, the siren sounded, and the sailors rushed to their posts immediately, without even having time to eat, many of them just grabbed a quick piece of bread and ran away.

"What happened?" Boult appeared on the bridge. His hair was a little messed up, his clothes were not properly dressed, he had been paying attention to his military appearance, and now he rushed out without even buttoning up his discipline buttons.

"I found the British patrol fleet. The opponent's scale is not large, only one third-tier battleship, two gunboats and two three-masted clippers. The 'Prince Joseph' has already taken the Zaragoza, 'Barcelona' The No. 1, "Valencia" and "Malaga" approached." Boult's chief of staff, Major General Sucrete, replied. "There is no big problem. The British patrol fleet will not be our opponent. It's just that the action has been leaked. The enemy's three-masted clipper is retreating. It is impossible to catch up." Sucrete sighed.

"It's good to be here only to be discovered by them. Order a ship to move forward at full speed, the transport fleet breaks away from the fleet, the 'Emperor Napoleon' and the Cadiz and 'Castellón' The 'Alicante' stayed behind to protect the convoy, and the other warships headed towards the Channel Islands at full speed, so we couldn't leave too much time for the enemy to react." Boult said firmly.

The British fleet stationed in the Channel Islands is not large. There are only 14 large and small warships including 1 second-class battleship, led by a rear admiral. When the major admiral received the information about the large-scale invasion of the Iberian naval fleet, he was petrified, and quickly sent someone back to the country for help. Then send an order to the island to guard them strictly and wait for the arrival of aid. But it is too late now, it is already 8:30, and the Iberian fleet is less than 10 nautical miles away from Guernsey, where his headquarters is located, and it will arrive here in less than an hour.

"General, we have arrived in the waters where the Channel Islands are located, but we have not found the British fleet." A staff officer replied.

"It doesn't make sense? Didn't the enemy run away? Didn't the intelligence say that a second-tier battleship led more than a dozen British warships to station here?" Sucrete said suspiciously.

"I think they didn't run away, but hid among the many islands. The opponent knew that they were not our opponents, so they deliberately hid the fleet in order to preserve their strength or catch us by surprise." Boult analyzed. .

In fact, the British major general had just such an idea. He was not as powerful as the Iberian fleet, so he had no choice but to lead his fleet to play hide-and-seek with the Iberian fleet in the archipelago. As long as he can wait for the arrival of the main force or seize the time to give the Iberian fleet a fierce blow, it will be a great achievement for him.

"How long until the Marines arrive?" Boult asked.

"There is still one hour." Sucrete replied.

"The Prince Joseph, the Zaragoza, the Barcelona, ​​and the Valencia and the Malaga form an artillery formation to open up the landing field for the marines! Other warships pay close attention to the enemy's situation and take precautions. Sneak attack by the British fleet." Boult ordered. His plan was to send warships to destroy the defensive firepower on West Island and clear the way for the landing of the marines. If the British fleet comes to stop it, then he can just use this opportunity to wipe them out in one fell swoop. It doesn't matter if the British fleet is not fooled. Two regiments of marines are enough to occupy all of Guernsey, and then go to capture other islands. Anyway, one of their combat missions this time is to occupy the Channel Islands.

At 10 o'clock in the morning, the "Prince Joseph" led the artillery formation to the outside of St. Peter Port in Guernsey, and stopped about 6 kilometers offshore. There are a total of 20,000 people on Guernsey Island. The British stationed a reinforced battalion of soldiers here. There are about 1,000 people, mainly concentrated in St. Peter Port.

At 10:15, the shelling began. The battleships of the bombardment formation launched a fierce bombardment of St. Peter's Port with naval guns. Since all the battleships had been taken away by the British major general, and the coastal defense artillery on the shore could not reach the Iberian fleet, the British defenders of St. Peter's Port The army fell into a passive situation. In less than half an hour, the entire city became a sea of ​​flames, except for the port area. Considering that the Iberian fleet will use this port, the port is not within the shelling range of the artillery formation. After half an hour of shelling, the entire defense force of St. Peter Port was completely destroyed, and British soldiers and civilians suffered heavy casualties in the shelling. A large number of civilians ran to the outside of the city, while those troops hid in the port area to prepare for the final resistance~lightnovelpub.net~ It seems that the other party really can't bear it. The Marines are out. Seeing that the opposing fleet did not respond, Burt ordered the Marine Corps to launch an attack.

About one company of soldiers formed the first attack wave and rowed the boat towards St. Peter Port. They encountered only sporadic resistance, and landed on Hexi Island without paying any casualties. After the landing, the soldiers of the Marine Corps began to establish a beachhead, waiting for the arrival of the next batch of soldiers. When the second wave of two companies landed, they launched an attack on St. Peter Port.

The resistance of the British defenders was very fierce, but their numbers and weapons were at an absolute disadvantage. In less than 2 hours, they were tightly compressed in the port area and could not move.

"Blow up the port, and the Iberians cannot use it." The commander of the British army, a major, gave the order to blow up the port. The engineers quickly buried gunpowder under the infrastructure of the port, and detonated it after the preparations were completed.

Hearing the explosion sound from the direction of the port, Boult naturally knew what happened. Immediately ordered the Marine Corps soldiers to launch a fierce attack, destroy the enemy, and repair the port as soon as possible. (To be continued, if you want to know the future, please log in to .QDAN., more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)