(Chapter to)

"General, we will arrive at White Island in one hour." The navigator reported to Hercules, the new commander of the Mediterranean Fleet. When the British Navy attacked the Mediterranean Fleet, Admiral Broca, the commander of the Far Mediterranean Fleet, unfortunately died in battle. After that, Hercules, the former chief of staff of the Mediterranean Fleet, won the prize and served as the fleet commander.

"Notify the 7th Division of the Marine Corps and get them ready for battle," Hercules ordered. Now that the British Navy has been expelled from the English Channel, the Atlantic Fleet has returned to their base, the Terceira Naval Base in the Azores, and the Channel Fleet has dispatched its main force to the North Sea to encircle and suppress the remnants of the British Navy. Because of this, the important task of escorting the Marine Corps fell on the shoulders of the Mediterranean Fleet. Fortunately, this task is not heavy, and it is only 80 kilometers away from Wight Island. There is no danger at all. The most is to provide artillery support for the marines when they land, and these are very easy.

At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the French Navy's Mediterranean fleet arrived in the waters of the Isle of Wight. There are two main landing sites initially selected, the towns of Ventnor and Shanklin on the southeast of the Isle of Wight. Perhaps it was expected that the French army would land on the Isle of Wight, so the British deployed an entire infantry division here, the 17th Infantry Division. The two towns of Ventnor and Shanklin are the areas on the island that are most likely to be selected as landing sites, so the British army stationed a regiment of troops in each of these two towns.

"General, Rear Admiral James, commander of the 7th Marine Division, has arrived," an officer reported as he entered the bridge.

"Please come in." Hercules said.

The tall Rear Admiral James came to the bridge of the Dauntless. "Hercules, our division is ready for landing operations at any time. However, according to observations, the British army has already established fortifications on the beach. I hope that your fleet can increase artillery support for us. Talk to the British army. Fortifications, then our losses will be reduced a lot." Major General James asked.

"No problem. The original mission of our fleet is to **** you and provide artillery support." Hercules readily agreed to Major General James' request, and ordered: "The 'Grand Duke' and the 'Warrior' lead two ships respectively. The 'Bonaparte'-class battleship and four 'Iberia'-class warships bombarded the landing area, destroying the opponent's fortifications and clearing the way for the landing of the marines." Hercules' flagship in the Mediterranean Fleet' The Dreadnought gave the order. After receiving the order, the 'Grand Duke' and the 'Warrior' respectively led several warships to execute the order.

"Commander, a large number of French ships have been found on the sea. Our battalion commander asked you what to do?" A small signal soldier ran into the regiment headquarters of the 3rd Infantry Regiment of the 17th Infantry Division of the British Army stationed in Ventnor.

"Bah!" Colonel John, the head of the rough 3rd Infantry Regiment, spit out thick phlegm and said, "Tell your battalion commanders to hide all the soldiers in the artillery holes. If the French start to land, they must be driven away." Go to sea, the regiment headquarters will support them at any time."

The little communications soldier responded and went back to deliver orders.

Later, John found a signal soldier and ordered him: "Go to the division headquarters immediately and tell him our situation here, and ask him to be ready to send troops to support us at any time."

The communications soldier nodded and rode away. The 17th Infantry Division is headquartered in Newport, the center of the Isle of Wight, only 15 kilometers away from Ventnor, and it only takes ten or twenty minutes to ride a horse.

At this moment, the sound of 'long, long' cannons came from the beach, and the huge explosion made the air seem to vibrate. "Damn it, isn't the artillery more powerful? If we have such powerful artillery, it's hard to say who will win the final victory." John said fiercely. From his words, there was a strong jealousy and resentment.

On the sea, the "Grand Duke" lined up with two "Bonaparte" class warships and four "Iberia" class warships, and launched a fierce bombardment at the fortifications built by the British army on Ventnor Beach . Although the power of the shells exploded on the beach was greatly affected, it could not be easier to solve the fortifications built by the British army with local materials and sand on the beach. Under the fierce shelling of the French fleet, the fortifications built by the British army fell apart in an instant.

The bombardment lasted only half an hour, and the French bombardment fleet began to conduct extended bombardment to the rear. At the same time, the transport ships on the sea also put down a lot of small boats, a total of 50 boats, carrying nearly a battalion of troops, rowed towards the beach.

"Enter the position! Damn it, the French are starting to land, everyone, come out and enter the position." The commander of the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Infantry Regiment shouted standing outside the artillery hole after the French artillery fleet began to extend the bombardment . A large number of British soldiers drilled out of the artillery holes like groundhogs and entered the position with guns in hand. Although the artillery fire of the French artillery fleet was very powerful and almost destroyed all their fortifications, the loss of personnel was not much.

Today's sea breeze is very small, so the waves are not too big. The small boats that landed in France landed almost without any difficulty. Of course, one of the small boats capsized due to other reasons, and all the more than 10 soldiers on board also fell into the sea, but fortunately, they rescued them in time. All the equipment on his back was lost, so there were no casualties.

As soon as the landing force landed, they were blocked by the British defenders. The old-fashioned water-cooled heavy machine gun made a sound like tearing tarpaulin, and the bullets flew towards the French marines at high speed. Many people were hit because they had no time to dodge. "Damn it, why didn't the fleet's bombardment kill those damned Britons?" Many French soldiers couldn't help complaining.

However, complaints are complaints, and battles still have to be fought. A whole squad was set up with machine guns, and fired at the British army. A series of mortars were also set up and launched shelling at the firepower of the British army. Since the Marine Corps carried out landing operations, they did not carry heavy weapons. The most powerful weapons were 80mm heavy mortars and a small number of 75mm field guns.

Under the fierce counterattack of the French landing forces, the firepower of the British army was quickly suppressed. And the artillery of the British army could not provide them with support, because the French artillery fleet was still parked on the sea not far away, and the airship in the sky provided artillery data for bombardment. Once a suspicious place is found, especially a place similar to the British artillery position, the violent shelling will be launched mercilessly, so that the British artillery position will quietly hide in the dense forest without firing a single shot.

"Machine gun cover, infantry assault!" The battalion commander of the landing force saw that the firepower of the British army had been suppressed, and then ordered the infantry to start assaulting forward.

In the process of advancing, soldiers continued to fall to the ground with heavy bullets, but everyone couldn't care so much, and stepped forward on the corpses of their comrades-in-arms. Under the powerful firepower of the French army, the British defense line was in jeopardy. At this time, another wave of landing troops had already set off. Seeing the densely packed landing craft on the sea, the battalion commander of the British army ordered to a signal soldier: "Quickly report to the regiment commander, there are too many enemies and the firepower is too fierce, we can hardly hold on, we need support."

The landing force of the 7th Division of the French Marine Corps landed at Ventnor and Shanklin at the same time. Two regiments were arranged at each location, and the remaining regiment was used as a reserve. The landings at Ventnor and Shanklin started almost at the same time, and the attack on Ventnor was a little smoother due to geographical factors.

After the second wave of the French landing force came ashore, the pressure on the British army increased greatly. Under the attack of the French army, the defense line may be breached at any time.

"Retreat back and abandon the first line of defense." The commander of the 1st British Battalion had to issue an order to retreat after the French army invaded his position. At this time, the French army had already established a landing field on the beach about 1 km long~lightnovelpub.net~about 500 meters wide. After observing this situation, the commander of the 7th Division of the French Marine Corps ordered the landing force of the 3rd wave to start landing. After that, a large amount of military supplies also began to be shipped. The port of Ventnor is very low, and large transport ships can't get in at all, so they have to switch to small boats for shipment.

The landing force of the French army at this time has reached two battalions, that is, the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the 7th Division that first landed and the 3rd Battalion that landed later. After the British army began to retreat, the 1st Battalion was left to protect the landing field, while the 3rd Battalion pursued the British army in order to expand the landing field.

Under the pursuit of the French army, the British army retreated steadily. It wasn't until John arrived with a battalion of reinforcements that the situation stabilized. But now the battle line is far away from the beach, almost advancing to the city of Ventnor.

John really wanted to drive the French landing troops into the sea, but the opponent's firepower was too strong. Without artillery fire support, it was very difficult for his troops to even approach the French defense line. After launching several charges in succession, they were all beaten back. As a last resort, John had to temporarily stop the attack and ordered the infantry battalion used as a reserve team to also go into battle. He knew that the longer the time dragged on, the more French troops would land, and the more unfavorable it would be to the British army. However, even so, facing the French defense line, his army was still unable to break through. The soldiers were also very tired and had no energy to continue fighting. No way, John had to wait for the reinforcements from the division to arrive before making any plans.