Greece to roman road

Northwest of the Ottoman defense line

The sound of bullets hitting the soil was heard near their feet, and Greek soldiers were constantly hit by bullets and fell to the ground.

The soldier who was hit in the thigh covered his wound and shouted loudly for the medical staff. The bright red blood quickly stained the ground beneath him.

The soldiers who were hit in the abdomen fell to the ground, wailing miserably while suppressing their wounds. Some of them tried to put the spilled intestines back into their abdominal cavities, and then twitched feebly on the ground as their life force passed away.

The infantry squad led by Sergeant Simitis of the Second Division was very unlucky to run into an Ottoman army machine gun company.

Although three machine guns were knocked out by previous shelling, the remaining five machine guns still caused huge casualties to the company to which Simitis belonged.

"Machine gun, suppress that firepower point for me," Simitis shouted loudly: "Others continue to charge, don't lie on the ground, it will only make things worse!"

The squad's machine gun crew, following behind Simitis, the squad leader, immediately jumped forward upon hearing the order, lay down in a shallow crater, then placed the Maxim machine gun on the ground, and immediately started shooting. .

The machine gunner pressed his cheek tightly against the butt of the gun, and pressed his shoulders against the butt of the gun. The recoil of the continuous shooting spread through his shoulders and spread throughout his body. The complex emotions of nervousness and excitement made him grit his teeth, and the gun muzzle tightened. The flames flickered, and the thick smoke made his throat hurt, but his finger never let go of the trigger.

Now is not the time for short bursts of fire. The magazine strips are burned out in an instant.

The machine gunner opened the cover of the receiver, took off the magazine strip and threw it away. The deputy shooter immediately took out a magazine strip and hung it skillfully on the side of the gun body. The machine gunner pinched the iron piece exposed outside the magazine bag and pulled it. Pull out the magazine strip from the magazine bag, install the new magazine strip, push down the receiver cover, press hard, then pull the bolt, and then pull the trigger, dense bullets continue to spurt out.

Bullets were fed into the chamber of the gun as the magazine bar moved. In the blink of an eye, they popped out of the ejection port at the other end of the receiver. The hot bullet cases with residual smoke fell to the ground, gradually forming a circle. The pile of shell casings collided together and made a pleasant clanking sound.

Soldiers on both sides of the Greek army and the Ottoman army were constantly being torn apart. The only way to break this stalemate was to completely destroy the machine gun positions on the opposite side.

With red eyes, Simitis shouted at Sergeant Karamandis, the nearby mortar squad leader of the same level as himself: "Kalamandis, use mortars to support us quickly. We need you to use mortars to deal with the front lines." enemy machine gun position"

Sergeant Karamandis also knew that the situation was urgent, so he nodded and jumped into a crater with his men.

The soldier carrying the seat plate slammed the seat plate to the ground hard, and the protruding part under the seat plate was inserted into the soft soil. The soldier carrying the gun body slammed the gun body against the seat plate, and then opened the bipod. , and then took off the protective cover on the muzzle.

Karamandis took out the sight hanging from the small box on his chest and inserted it into the side of the gun body, then turned the direction wheel to adjust the direction: "Direct aim shooting, high-explosive bombs, two rounds in a row, no correction."

At a distance of less than 100 meters, Karamandis was even sure of smashing the shell into the Frenchman's crotch. There was no need to waste time correcting the trajectory.

The loader immediately pulled out a cylindrical thick paper tube from the bag on the ground, unscrewed the lid, and took out the mortar shell.

"Ready" Karamandis shouted. The loader put the tail end of the cannonball into the muzzle, held the sides of the cannonball tightly with both hands, "released" his palms, and the cannonball slid into the barrel, and then with a "bang" There was a muffled sound, and the shells flew out.

Before the first shell hit the ground, Karamandis continued to shout: "Ready" and "Fire"

Two clouds of smoke rose from the Ottoman army's position, and the machine gunners of the Ottoman army in front of them suffered heavy casualties instantly.

Seizing this opportunity, Herbert's squad rushed in front of the Ottoman army's position.

After a volley of gunfire pushed the heads of the Ottoman soldiers back into the trench, the Greek soldiers finally jumped into the trench.

The trenches built by the Ottoman army were straight, and a bullet could hit from one end of the trench to the other.

The rifles equipped by Greek soldiers are Greek standard rifles modified from Enfield rifles. The magazine can be preloaded with several rounds of bullets, allowing them to fire continuously in an extremely fast time.

In contrast, the Mauser 98 rifle used by the Ottoman army was a single-shot rifle. Every time it was shot, it required the process of loading and pulling the bolt.

In the straight trenches, the Greek soldiers with faster firing speed naturally had an advantage.

Therefore, in the first trench, the resistance of the Ottoman army was quickly broken down by the offensive of the Greek soldiers.

The Greek vanguard soldiers who occupied the first trench had established a firm foothold. The originally scattered leading troops began to gather in the first trench, and the troops began to assemble on both sides of each communication trench connecting the second trench.

In the tent of the headquarters of the Macedonian Legion

Constantine sat restlessly at the table, silent in front of the huge battlefield situation map.

The map details the distribution of Greek and Ottoman armies.

More than a dozen combat staff officers were constantly moving small flags representing the army on the map, discussing with each other the development of the occupation.

After the all-out attack began, although Constantine did not think the plan would fail, he still felt uneasy before the final result was revealed.

"Report, I just received a telegram from the Second Division. Our army has just broken through the first line of defense of the Ottoman army's northwest defense line," a communications soldier walked in and said loudly.

The news was like a barrel of gasoline thrown into a fire, and the atmosphere in the room immediately became heated.

"What? Is this true?"

"Great, finally, the first good news has appeared."

Constantine jumped up from his seat, walked quickly to the signal soldier, and the telegram was confirmed.

"Reporting our army's offensive in the northwest, breaking through the enemy's four lines of defense"

In the next few hours, good news came frequently from the general headquarters, and five lines of defense were breached by the Greek army.

In the next few days, the Greek army that broke through the northwest defense line quickly penetrated. In order not to be divided and surrounded, the Ottoman army shrank its defense line.

By January 4, the Bazani Fortress, the Castritsa Fortress, and the city of Salonika had been cut off from each other by the Greek army, and fell into a terrible situation of fighting on their own.

By January 6, although the Ottoman army was still holding on to the fortress, the situation was over. It was only a matter of time before the Ottoman army in Salonika was defeated.

Aitsa Pasha's mansion in Thessaloniki

In the office, many Ottoman officers looked sad, the atmosphere was miserable, the ashtrays on the table were filled with cigarette butts, and the room was filled with smoke.

"Everyone, our army's defense in Salonika has failed. In order to avoid meaningless losses, I propose to seek negotiations with the Greeks." Seeing that no one spoke, Aitsa Pasha spoke first, breaking the silence in the room. of silence.

Everyone is well aware that the so-called seeking negotiations is just a euphemism. According to the current situation of the Ottoman army, it is more appropriate to say that it is surrender negotiations.

Although the Ottoman army's defense line was broken by the Greek attack, there are still about 60,000 Ottoman soldiers in the city.

The number of 60,000 seems considerable, but these soldiers lack food, ammunition, and weapons. They are now newly defeated and have low morale. They are already a group of broken soldiers, completely losing organization and discipline.

It no longer makes any sense to force such soldiers to fight the Greek soldiers with high morale.

"Your Excellency, Commander, we still have 60,000 people and the city of Salonika. We can organize soldiers to fight with the Greeks in the city. We can still hold on." Aitsa Pasha's general, Visipupa Xia said reluctantly.

Salonika was lost in the last war (the 1897 war), and the Germans helped to recover it from the Greeks. Now that Salonika has been lost again, it is impossible to come back.

"First of all, we do not have sufficient ammunition supply. Even if we engage in street fighting, it is impossible to win. That will only anger the Greeks."

"Secondly, the success of street fighting requires an important condition, which is the full support of the residents of the city. Do you think the residents of the city will stand with us?"

Aitsa Pasha looked around at everyone and asked.

Everyone was silent.

There are about 300,000 Jews living in Salonika, and the other ethnic groups, MSL and Greeks combined, number less than 100,000.

Salonika is currently the largest Jewish settlement in the world.

In the past, the Ottoman government encouraged Jews to settle in Thessaloniki in order to dilute the Greek influence in the city.

Why did the Jews cooperate with the Ottomans?

"For the empire, under the current war situation, the most important thing is to protect Thrace. Macedonia is no longer irrelevant. But now, the Bulgarians' offensive in Thrace is extremely fierce. The empire's important fortress city, Adrianople, Even Constantinople is facing a huge threat," Atesar Pasha tried hard to convince everyone.

"Since the loss of Salonika is unstoppable, we might as well use Salonika in exchange for some benefits, such as getting the Greeks to agree to the return of the remaining 60,000 Ottoman soldiers to Thrace."

Visip Pasha wanted to ridicule Etesa Pasha for his whims, but when he thought about it, he thought that it might not be impossible.

"You mean to drive a wedge between Bulgaria and Greece?" Visip asked in an uncertain tone.

Atesa Pasha nodded: "Although Greece and Pausa are allies, no matter how close the relationship between them is, there will still be trouble when it comes to the territorial division of Macedonia."

"If there is a conflict between Greece and Bulgaria over the ownership of Salonika, no matter what, the pressure on the Ottoman Empire can be relieved," Aitsa Pasha explained earnestly.

The Ottoman Empire fought successive wars with Italy and the Balkan Alliance. These two wars were indeed beyond the capabilities of a declining empire.

Seeing that there was no longer any objection, Atesa Pasha called his servants, prepared a carriage, and went to the British Consulate in Salonika.