CHAPTER 283: REVISED: CHAPTER 283 V BEACH LANDING BATTLE

Shire didn’t know about this until he arrived at the anchorage five days later.

The anchorage was built next to a desolate island thirty nautical miles from the Dardanelles Strait, discovered by the British to have deep waters without reefs.

Most importantly, fresh water springs were found on the island.

This meant the fleet could replenish fresh water nearby without needing to transport it from Malta Island.

(Note: Malta Island was a British colony at this time, gaining independence in 1964)

The British even sent engineers to the island to build roads, transport water, store it, and then distribute the water barrels to small boats each day.

When Shire first arrived at the anchorage, he was almost shocked by the scene before him:

Under the cries of seagulls, hundreds of ships of various sizes, transport ships, trawlers, and minesweepers were arranged in a large circle like a harbor, with various warships in the center.

Patrolling destroyers surrounded the perimeter, and Shire’s convoy was intercepted by a destroyer several nautical miles away. Only after signal lights and identity checks were they allowed to pass.

Finally, Shire’s convoy, guided by the destroyer, was assigned to a designated area to anchor.

After all, Britain, as an old naval power, conducted everything professionally, but in stark contrast was its deeply ingrained bureaucratism, which was the main reason for its defeats.

Shire and Tijani first boarded the battleship "Suffren," the flagship of the French Fleet, where Major General Gephardt was stationed.

Major General Gephardt was a middle-aged man with sideburns. He looked very steady and calmly shook Shire’s hand, simply saying, "Welcome, Colonel."

Then he looked at Tijani and said, "Long time no see, Tijani. I didn’t expect us to meet on the battlefield."

Tijani laughed and introduced him to Shire, "This is Uncle Gephardt. If I hadn’t insisted on joining the army, I would probably be his subordinate by now."

Shire understood immediately, realizing that Tijani had connections here.

Major General Gephardt led Shire and Tijani to an office on the ship’s island. He sipped his coffee and looked towards the Dardanelles Strait, "We just attempted to land at V Beach, but unfortunately, we failed again."

"The British?" Tijani asked.

Shire had the same thought.

"No," Major General Gephardt shook his head, and then a trace of surprise flashed in his eyes, "I thought you knew, they are reinforcements sent by France like you."

Shire looked puzzled.

Tijani made an "uh" sound, "We didn’t even know about this contingent."

Major General Gephardt hesitated briefly, then smiled bitterly and shook his head.

He understood; this was an internal power struggle within the French Army, trying to outshine Shire.

These bastards, thinking of internal strife at a time like this.

But, how much better could the navy be?

Major General Gephardt didn’t elaborate further on this topic; he directly shifted the conversation to the landing operation, "This landing operation was commanded by Major General Onore. They brought two coal ships as auxiliary landing craft, each carrying 2000 men."

As he spoke, Gephardt flipped through the documents, found a photo, and handed it to Shire, "This is the ship."

Shire looked at it; it was a coal ship with several openings made along its side. In this era, it could be considered an innovation.

Tijani came over to take a look, smiled slightly, with a hint of mockery at the corner of his mouth.

"I hope you’re not using this kind of ship for the landing," Major General Gephardt said with some concern in his eyes.

"No, I am not using this kind of ship," Shire replied.

Major General Gephardt relaxed upon hearing the answer, took a sip of coffee, and nodded, "Good!"

Unexpectedly, Tijani added, "We brought a similar one, but it’s much smaller!"

Major General Gephardt froze, glanced at Tijani, then at Shire, looking somewhat defeated.

"Didn’t it work?" Shire asked knowingly, wanting to learn more information.

Major General Gephardt responded with a solemn expression, "Yes."

"They ran this ship aground on the coast of V Beach. Under the cover of fire, they used two barges as bridges between the landing ship and the beach."

"Then the troops connected one company after another along this passageway to land."

"However, just as they prepared to open the door and lower the ramp, they encountered heavy fire from the defenders. The enemy had already reinforced V Beach, with an estimated thousand troops present."

"With difficulty, the soldiers descended the ramp only to become targets for enemy fire, at least half of them were trapped inside the ship, unable to get out."

...

Tijani looked at Shire with some concern.

Shire knew what he was worried about. Shire’s landing craft was somewhat similar to this modified coal ship.

If there was any difference, it was that Shire’s landing craft could deploy soldiers ashore much faster.

Shire held the photo and lifted it towards Tijani, saying, "It looks the same on the surface, but there’s a significant difference. You could think about the problem from the enemy’s perspective."

Tijani pondered for a moment, then nodded thoughtfully, "You’re right, Colonel."

"If I were defending against the enemy on the shore, I could see this coal ship from afar because it’s so large."

"Moreover, I could roughly predict its landing position based on its direction."

"After that, it would take at least ten minutes to prepare for the landing..."

While speaking, Tijani looked at Major General Gephardt.

Major General Gephardt replied, "No, it took more than half an hour to prepare, just as I said. The enemy unleashed heavy artillery and machine gun fire on it, and they had to connect the barge to the ship under a hail of bullets."

Tijani acknowledged, "Half an hour, that’s enough time for the Ottoman Empire to position other machine guns. By the time they could finally land, the enemy’s firepower could fully seal them off."

Shire nodded slightly, this was exactly what he meant.

The key to landing operations was speed.

If one constantly worried about enemy machine gun bullets sweeping through the landing craft once the ramp opened, not even a deity could stop it.

Shire’s landing craft had the advantage of being able to suddenly drop its passengers at any time and place before the enemy’s firepower could organize.

However...

Tijani seemed to have realized this too, and said, "The Ottomans already know we are focusing on V Beach, which means..."

Shire gave Tijani a meaningful look, both of them understanding.

Major General Gephardt suddenly felt a surge of confidence in these two young men.

Although he couldn’t understand what they were saying, he felt they were much more reliable than Major General Onore, at least being able to analyze the enemy situation and the direction of the war.