On July 4, 1916, in the eastern Mediterranean, at the southern coast of the Asia Minor Peninsula, Alexanderta Bay (called Iskendron Bay, Turkey), the Royal Navy's "Revenge" class battleship "Determination". [ *]

Behind the two double-mounted 15-inch main gun turrets on the bow, in the air defense command post with a wide view above the bridge, General Alanby, commander of the British Cyprus Expeditionary Force, had just put down the binoculars in front of him.

On the beach with surging tides in the distance, hundreds of small infantry landing crafts, medium-sized vehicle landing crafts, large tank landing crafts and several tank landing ships with "cmm shells and big mouths".

Several troops that showed their power in the landing battle of the Gary Boley Peninsula in the early stages of the Battle of the Straits have already successfully landed on the three beaches on the south coast of the bay, which are connected from west to east, from the east.

The first landing force of the Royal Navy Infantry Division and the Army's 29th Division was about 15,000 officers and soldiers, guided by more than 100 tanks and armored vehicles from the 2nd Amphibious Mechanized Brigade of the Navy, and advanced towards several crucial commanding heights on the west and south of the beach.

Behind them were several Turkish infantry companies and shore defense artillery companies that had been bombarded by hundreds of light and heavy naval guns and hundreds of large and small aircraft. To the east of them, there were less than ten kilometers of flat farmland, which was the primary target of this landing operation - Alexanderta (called Iskendron, Turkey), the second largest port in Turkey.

Alanby's vision returned to the periphery of the "Determination", hundreds of large and small combat ships slowly drifted open the light blue sea, and poured violent artillery fire to the beachhead and the port from time to time.

The ones advancing behind the "Determination" are the "Elizabeth" super-dreadnoughts "Malaya"; the French Navy's "Bretany" super-dreadnoughts "Bretany" and "Provence"; the French Navy's "Colbert" class dreadnoughts "Colbert" and "Paris".

The "Malaya" was equipped with four twin-mounted 45-diameter 381mm main guns with the same diameter as the "Determination", but unlike the newly-served "Determination", its name "Lucky Malaya" has long been spread throughout the Allied countries: in December 1914, the "Malaya" was the flagship of Lieutenant General Bernie, the commander of the United Kingdom, Dutch, France and the United States, and was hit by four large and small torpedoes, and was hit by a four-engine heavy bomber and caught fire. However, he survived the disaster and returned to the country. After hitting the shipyard for more than half a year, he turned into the flagship of Lieutenant General Geram, the commander of the Allied Mediterranean Fleet.

Although the brand new "Breton" class super dreadnought is equipped with 5 dual-mounted 45-diameter 340mm main guns, the maximum thickness of the main armor belt is only 270mm, and the speed is only 2 or even slightly inferior to the "Elizabeth" class main warships equipped with 45-diameter 343mm main guns before. However, in the narrow and long-lost Mediterranean Sea, the expensive "Breton" class warships seem to be useless - in order to save limited resources to supplement the huge land consumption, the French Navy has decided to stop the construction of all large and medium-sized warships after completing the third ship of this class, Lorraine.

The two "Kolbet" class dreadnoughts were each equipped with six dual-mounted 45-diameter 305mm main guns - only five of them can be used on either side, and their tonnage, protection and speed are roughly the same as those of the "Brettany" class. Among them, "Kolbet" was the flagship of the 3rd Battleship Detachment, the main force of the Allied Indian Ocean Joint Fleet. They participated in the world-shocking Battle of the Bay of Bengal in August last year. In the past few days of naval and air wars, they achieved almost no results, nor were they injured worth mentioning, and finally returned safely.

This six-ship ship line connected to the end is the foundation of the "long-range support force" in the entire strategy fleet. Between this ship line and the coast to the south, another ship line consisting of nine front dreadnoughts was launched. It is the foundation of the "near-shore support force" in the strategy fleet. Their names are from west to east: Queen, Prince of Wales, Duncan, Cornwallis, Exmouth, Meng Tagu, Gauls, Charlemagne, and Sufferen.

You can tell from the name that the first six belong to the Royal Navy, and the latter three come from the French Navy. Among them, the 12th Battleship Detachment composed of four "Duncan"-class battleships participated in the Battle of the Bay of Bengal as part of the support force. Due to the slow speed and deployment in the back, the ships finally returned in disgrace without launching a bomb.

The standard displacement of these nine front dreadnoughts ranges from 11,000 tons to 14,000 tons, with a speed of 18 to 19 knots. The main equipment is two dual-mounted 40-diameter 305 mm main guns, and there are also 10 to 12 140, 152 or 163 mm caliber secondary guns.

In places closer to the coast than the "Nearshore Support Force", three staggered ships form the foundation of the "Nearshore Artillery Force", from west to east and north to south, in turn: 6 Lord Clive-class shallow water heavy gunboats each carrying 2 35-diameter 305 mm main guns, 4 "Abelcrombie"-class shallow water heavy gunboats each carrying 2 40-diameter 305 mm main guns, and 4 "Marson Sirte"-class shallow water heavy gunboats each carrying 2 45-diameter 381 mm main guns.

Around each of the above-mentioned troops, there were more than ten or dozens of light combat ships such as light cruisers, destroyers, and auxiliary ships such as minesweepers, armored gunboats, anti-submarine patrol boats, etc., swam around, and had already blocked the bay, which was only sixty or seventy kilometers deep and about thirty kilometers wide.

Outside Allenby's sight, there is also a "aircraft carrier special mixed force" parade in the Mediterranean Sea far away from the bay. Its base is the fleet aircraft carrier Victory and the "dead", the cruise ship is modified to the aircraft carrier Campania, the battle cruiser Invincible, and two "brave"-class "large light cruisers" that are actually light battle cruisers - the "brave" and the "glorious".

There are 24 rated carriers of the "Campania" with a standard displacement of 18,000 tons, 72 rated carriers of the "Victory" with a displacement of 22,000 tons, and 90 rated carriers of the "Born" with a displacement of 22,000 tons. The 186 carrier-based aircraft on these three aircraft carriers not only provide air defense, anti-submarine and reconnaissance support for the entire strategy fleet, but also undertake a considerable part of the fire support tasks on the opposite side.

In addition, on the Cyprus Island more than 100 kilometers away, there is a "Cyprus Air Force" composed of 250 shore-based aircraft and seaplanes. It provides the landing troops with main air-to-ground fire support and shares part of the fleet's anti-submarine, reconnaissance and even air defense missions.

With such huge and luxurious naval and air force support, Alanby's Cyprus Expeditionary Force, in addition to the aforementioned Royal Navy Infantry Division, the British Army's 29th Infantry Division and the 2nd Amphibious Mechanized Brigade of the Royal Navy, it also includes three infantry divisions of the Canadian Legion, two infantry divisions of the South African Legion, the 4th British Cavalry Division, the 1st Cavalry Division, the 2nd Cavalry Division, the 1st Assault Armored Brigade of the Royal Navy, the 2nd Tank Battalion of the British Army, etc.

The Expeditionary Force planned to capture the Port of Alexanderta within three to five days after the landing day. Then, with a (B Group) attacking the Beren Pass in the southeast, threatening Aleppo from the east; the main force (A Group) attacked Ottomaniye northward along the coastal railway, cutting off the railway line from the Asia Minor Peninsula to Aleppo. That is, cutting off the connection between the headquarters of the Ottoman Empire's Asia Minor and its provinces in Syria, Iraq, Palestine (where the holy city of Jerusalem in the Three Churches), and Hanzhi (where the holy city of Islam Mecca).

After that, the Expeditionary Force then divided its troops into one (C Group) and marched west along the Asia Minor Railway, intending to join forces with the Greek Expeditionary Force, which was about to land in Smyrna (now known as Izmir) in the Konia area.

At the same time, Group A will also advance east along the railway, turn south through the Bakhche Pass in northeast Ottomaniyer, bypassing the hills between the Ottomaniyer and the Aleppo Plain, together with Group B, which had attacked through the Beren Pass, to further cut off the connection between the Syrian-Iraq and Palestinian-Hanzhi.

As for the capture of Aleppo...

Jerusalem!

In the roar of the 15-inch main gun below the bridge, the man did not belong to his place name suddenly and uncontrollably ravaged Alanby's heart.

...

The capital, Xinhua Palace, the first combat duty room of the base camp.

"...Iskendlun's defenders were the 33rd Infantry Division of the Turkish Army. However, due to the continuous tightening of other fronts, the division's troops were successively transferred. By the end of June, the troops stationed were less than half of the troops stationed. In addition, there were less than ten coastal defense artillery companies, deployed in the permanent fortress and temporary coastal defense positions around the port city. The artillery equipped with either was too old or too small to fight against the Allied Forces with overwhelming advantages."

"There is a nominal division in the north and Aleppo in the east. The situation of these two divisions is worse than that of the 33rd Division. The actual scale is only equivalent to one regiment, without artillery and few machine guns."

"From Ottomaniye to the west and to Konia, all the garrison troops were less than three regiments, and the most combat-capable regiment was deployed in Konia to defend the United Airlines Command of our army's territory here."

After listening to the briefing of Su Sanling, the General Staff Operations Director, Gu Yingyang frowned and walked up behind his back in front of the map frame.

"Where is the Turkish Army's general reserve team?"

Su Sanling flipped through the folders and reached out to draw a line in the center of the map: "Assembled between Ankara and Afyon, there are five divisions, but each division has less than half the strength of the organization."

Gu Yingyang stopped and looked at the map, nodded, turned his head and continued to pace.

"How strong is the Allied Forces on the South Coast Front of the Strait?"

This time, Su Sanling did not need to read the folders again and replied casually: "There are roughly three divisions of the British and French troops, plus other ** troops, with a total force of about 100,000."

"Where is the Turkish army opposite?"

"The actual force of the thirteen divisions that are not satisfied is equivalent to five to six full divisions."

"How is the strength comparison of the Caucasus front?"

"The Russian army has five to six divisions, and nine missing divisions against the Turkish army - the actual force is equivalent to three to four full divisions."
Chapter completed!