Vol 2 Chapter 56: As if assisted by the 2nd Army
After the Adrian Fort conquest, Ferdinand has set his sights on Constantinople!
At this time, the First Group Army swept away the leaves like autumn winds, swept through Kerklareli and Lule Burgaz after the war, and the road to Constantinople was already clear!
"Did the Russian promised artillery come?" Ferdinand
"The ship was loaded from the port of Odessa yesterday, and the navy shipped it directly to the front line. If nothing unexpected happens, it will be delivered to the husband's hands tonight!" Prime Minister Constantine replied solemnly.
Ferdinand hesitated, saying "Constantinople is not so easy to break, after all, it is the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Although the Armenians tossed one time ago, the Sudanese government will not give up!
Once we can't overcome it in the short term, the Ottoman Asian reinforcements will continue to rush over, and we can't stand it!
Send the last heavy artillery regiment over. At this stage, Romania will not participate in the war! "
...
Ferdinand decided to work hard!
The Ottoman Empire is having a hard time. The situation in the Balkans is becoming more and more unfavorable to the Ottoman Empire. At the same time, the internal fighting of the Ottoman government is getting fiercer!
In the face of the crisis, not only did the major factions fail to unite and cope with difficulties together, but instead dumped each other and shrugged off their responsibilities in an attempt to defeat political opponents with the Balkan war!
As a result of internal struggles, huge differences in the strategy of the Ottoman Empire occurred.
The conservatives, led by the Prime Minister, believe that the Ottoman Empire will not win in the short term.
Proposition 1. Abandon Bosnia and Herzegovina in exchange for the Austro-Hungarian Empire giving up support for the alliance;
2. Abandon Egypt and get British support;
3. Strengthen the offensive against Greece, put pressure on the Greek government, and let Greece withdraw from the Balkan alliance through political means;
4. Temporarily abandon Kosovo area, abandon most of Macedonia, and focus on defense. Reinforce Istanbul immediately and fight protracted war with Bulgaria.
The radicals, led by the Minister of the Interior, believe that the nationalism of the Ottoman Empire is now on the rise. If the government does not take appropriate measures, it will cause further turmoil in the domestic situation and oppose major concessions to the major powers!
Proposition 1. Abandon the Greek battlefield and concentrate its forces on a decisive battle with Bulgaria in the Macedonian region;
2. Send troops to Istanbul and fight against Bulgaria;
3. Immediately expand the army to prevent the Russians from participating in the war.
The pessimists guarded by the Minister of Finance believe that the Balkan War is an agent war of the powers, and must be cautious. Once it is not handled properly, it may trigger another wave of powers to divide the Ottoman Empire.
Especially Russians! They believed that the Balkan war was planned by the Russians in order to seize the Black Sea Strait, while other powers could compromise!
Proposition 1. Abandon Bosnia and Herzegovina, and ask Germany to come forward to coordinate relations with Austria-Hungary;
2. Recognize the status quo in Egypt in exchange for the British not participating in the Balkan war;
3. Use the Greek city currently occupied as a bargaining chip and negotiate with the Greeks;
4. Buy Bulgaria and break up the Bulgarian-Russian and Balkan alliances. To this end, you can give up all European territories except the Istanbul area!
...
The Sudanese government has yet to make a noise, and the battlefield has changed again. On May 15, 1897, the Ottoman army in Skopje mutated!
The Ottoman army mutiny is not news of the day or two, it always comes so many times a year, but this time it happened in the wrong place.
At this moment, the Bulgarian army is coming down!
The causes and consequences are no longer important. Anyway, they are all the same old routines. The detained army and the arrested strong men are unbearably oppressive and rebellious.
Dante-Christophe had no chivalry and discovered a change in the Ottoman barracks. He immediately launched a tentative attack. After more than five hours of hard work, the largest city in Macedonia had the Bulgarian flag inserted!
Until now Dante Kristof was faint, and the victory came too suddenly.
Counting the results, this campaign annihilated more than 3,800 enemies and captured more than 45,000 enemy forces!
Seeing this number, Dante Christoph was very doubtful if his men wrote an extra zero! The Bulgarian army involved in the attack only had more than 30,000 divisions, broke through a city defended by more than 50,000 people, and captured more than 40,000 people.
"What's going on? Did the Ottomans collectively diarrhea today and obediently become captives?"
The chief of staff held back a smile and said, "The Ottomans didn't have a collective diarrhea, but they really became captives!
This is the detailed battle report. Please take your time! "
After a moment of effort, Dante Kristof browsed through the battle report and lamented, "It's not self-defeating!"
The chief of staff laughed. "Isn't that right? The more blind the Ottoman is, the better it is for us!"
Since the beginning of the war, the Ottoman army defeated by our Second Army has already exceeded 100,000, and the captured enemy forces have also reached 70,000!
You know that there are only more than 80,000 garrisons in Macedonia. How did these people come? Didn't you already know? "
Dante Kristof still said incredibly, "Who knows that Ottomans can die like that! Are their commanders all idiots?
Obviously there are only more than 10,000 regular troops. They just arrested more than 40,000 civilians to make up the numbers. Do they think they can scare us by the number? "
The chief of staff thought for a moment and said cautiously, "Are you asking Ali Pasha? Maybe he thinks these people are loyal supporters of the Ottoman Empire!"
If more than 40,000 people are united in their hearts, even if they are holding gimmicks, they can cause us a lot of harm during street fighting! "
Dante Kristof countered, "Let's save it! It's as if the previous Macedonian uprising, Aris Pasha had not led his troops to suppress it!
It is not easy for them to be scourged by Macedonia The local people hate them so much, can he know?
Didn't we see that we were over here? Are the local people 'snacking the pot of jug to welcome the king'? Without their help, we would not have been able to advance so fast! "
...
Is Ali Pasha under discussion whether they are two idiots, and he does not know that Ali Pasha who has escaped a calamity is also very wronged, he does not know the specific situation at all!
The system of the Ottoman army has long been confusing. It has long become common practice for military officers who have lost their voices and defeated the army to capture the number of strong men.
Many units in the Macedonian region were defeated by the Second Army for several rounds. Some units of the Ottoman Army were eliminated, but in the establishment of the Ottoman Army, they still exist!
As long as the high-level generals are still there, the troops will be replenished quickly, of course, no one knows whether they can fight.
It would be nowhere else. The revolution in Macedonia has just been put out. There are many fishes missing. Seeing that opportunities come, of course, we have to do something!
Skopje's situation is just a microcosm of the Ottoman army. Successive battlefields, the strength of the Macedonia region is insufficient, and they are forced to seize a large number.
The next battle of the Second Army was smooth sailing!
After the Greek-Turkish war broke out, the Sudanese government not only deployed a large number of troops from Macedonia, but also removed a large number of strategic materials.
At the moment, Macedonia is not only short of troops, but also lacks supplies. Especially in areas close to Greece, weapons and ammunition have been exhausted in many places!
In the following week, the Second Army swept through Macedonia, and if it was not restricted by logistics, it had now captured Thessaloniki!