Greece to roman road

On July 8, the news that Romania and the Ottoman Empire sent troops to attack Bulgaria at the same time quickly reached the Ministry of Defense where the General Staff Headquarters is located.

"This is really good news. After the two countries send troops, Bulgaria's defeat is only a matter of time," Emmanuel said with relief, his words filled with unabashed joy.

After the war with Bulgaria, even with the defensive advantage, the Greek army paid a price of 40,000 casualties after more than 20 days of fierce fighting.

This includes more than 20,000 indigenous people in Congo, Africa.

After the war began, according to statistics and feedback from the Macedonian Legion Staff Department, the overall quality of these Congolese indigenous legions was not high, and compared with regular Greek field troops, their combat effectiveness was average.

However, in battles that rely on trench defense, if it is just pure defense, the quality requirements for soldiers are not high. Even Congolese soldiers with poor literacy and obedience rates can meet the needs of trench defense.

This was specifically stated in Manugianasky's report telegram to the General Staff.

This information also made the Greek General Staff overjoyed, because it meant that in future wars, more Congolese soldiers could be recruited in large numbers, increasing the potential number of soldiers of the Greek Army.

After all, under the rule of Greece, Congo's economy is developing steadily and its population is growing steadily. According to data from the Congolese government, the total population of Congo is about to exceed 30 million.

In comparison, mainland Greece has a population of just over six million.

If the mainstream mode of war in the future is trench warfare, then Greece can completely increase the proportion of Congolese soldiers in the army.

Of course, this may also be related to the fact that Bulgaria suddenly encountered a war mode such as trench warfare and had no experience in dealing with it.

According to the telegrams sent back from the front line, the Greek trench defense line was able to respond well to the Bulgarian army's attack, which may be related to the relatively "poverty" of the Bulgarian army.

The number of large-caliber heavy artillery equipped in the Bulgarian Army is scarce. Most of the artillery is small-caliber field artillery. It has limited destructive power against strong fortifications and cannot effectively kill Greek soldiers in the trenches.

Secondly, as an agricultural country, Bulgaria has limited military expenditures, so the supply of artillery shells is naturally relatively scarce, and it is unable to continuously provide sufficient artillery shells to the artillery.

Also, the artillery of the Greek Army is much better than the Bulgarian artillery in terms of quantity and quality.

In the artillery battle with the Greek army, the Greek artillery had the upper hand.

The Bulgarian army attacked the well-built defense lines of the Greek army, but was in an awkward position of lagging behind in terms of artillery, a technical weapon that can effectively damage enemy trenches. This was also the main reason for the excellent results of Greek trench defense.

After the war started, as the Greek national propaganda machine was launched, the news that happened on the Macedonian battlefield almost occupied most of the content of Greek newspapers. The whole of Athens was immersed in an atmosphere of worry. The usually bustling city was obviously less busy. A little more relaxed and leisurely, but a little more nervous and worried.

Thinking of this, Constantine said to everyone: "Deliver this good news to the media as soon as possible to relieve the nervous nerves of the people."

"After Romania and the Ottoman Empire sent troops, the Bulgarian army that is attacking our defense lines in Macedonia is bound to fall into chaos in the short term. This is the perfect opportunity for the Greek army to counterattack," said Arms Minister Giannis.

"Well, immediately notify Manujianaski of this news, so that the Macedonian Army can take advantage of the opportunity to look for fighters, and try to maximize the results before Bulgaria sues for peace, so that there can be more in future international negotiations. There is room for negotiation," Emmanuel said to the communications soldier in the conference room.

Due to the particularity of the political and military situation in Europe, the major powers are restraining each other. Under the current structure, the European powers are not allowed to engage in wars of national annihilation.

According to European practice, the defeated country will generally be required to cede territory and pay compensation after being defeated.

Just like after the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, why did Prussia, which won a great victory, not annex France.

Prussia did not have this idea, but was concerned about the opposition of neighboring powers, such as Britain and Russia.

Therefore, even if Greece can defeat Bulgaria this time, Bulgaria will only cede part of its land. In order to maintain the balance of the Balkan situation, the great powers cannot tolerate Bulgaria being destroyed or dismembered.

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Thessaloniki, the headquarters of the Macedonian Legion

After learning that the Ottoman Empire had sent troops to regain Eastern Thrace, and that the Romanian army had crossed the Danube and marched towards Sofia, Manugianaski was looking for opportunities to fight back.

On July 11, the frontline Greek troops in various parts of the defense line were responding to the Macedonian Army Staff. The Bulgarian troops in front of them were also faintly covering each other and breaking away from contact with the Greek defense line.

Sensing that the Bulgarian army was retreating, Manougianasky immediately ordered his staff to formulate a counterattack plan.

Since the beginning of the war, almost all the battles of the Greek army have been focused on defense. All the Greek participating troops who learned the news were filled with anger and eager to teach the Bulgarian bastards a lesson.

On July 13, 1913, all the Kingdom's troops on the Greek-Macedonian front received a counterattack order codenamed "Greece Must Win" from the General Staff. More than 400,000 Greek Kingdom Army troops were ready to go.

At 6:30 in the morning on the 13th, thousands of guns were fired along hundreds of kilometers of front lines. The Greek artillery, which had accumulated ammunition for several months, frantically threw hot steel at the Bulgarian positions.

In just 2 hours, hundreds of thousands of tons of ammunition were poured on the Bulgarians.

The Bulgarian soldiers behind the bunker felt the overwhelming Greek attack for the first time.

The seemingly endless piercing roars and deafening explosions, accompanied by the vibrations from the ground, struck hard on the hearts of the Bulgarian soldiers sitting behind the bunkers. The overwhelming shelling continued to stimulate the Bulgarians' emotions. nerve.

The guy who was unlucky and happened to be blown up by the shell seemed to be lucky. His heart was eaten by fear. He huddled at the base of the bunker behind the wall and held his head, howling hysterically, shaking his body, and letting out suppressed sobs. Poor Bulgarian guy, completely broken.

Even if they survive, everything that happens today will wake them up from the dark night like a nightmare.

The heart-wrenching screams that came to his ears made Lieutenant Yorkovich hold his head and huddle his body even tighter.

As an artillery officer, Second Lieutenant Yorkovich was faring better than the infantrymen who endured the horrors of the proposed bunkers.

The Bulgarians, who kept hitting their heads and bleeding against the defense line of Nizhny Tarovs in Greece, finally learned something. The machine gun positions were finally not set up directly on the parapets of the trenches, but like the Greeks, they had Specially built firepower points.

The roof made of thick logs and the thick soil covering the top gave Lieutenant Yorkovich some psychological comfort.

However, the explosion of the shell still made his heart feel as if it was tightly held by a big hand. His curled up body squeezed the air in his chest, making him open his mouth like a fish out of water, and his ears were buzzing. Buzzing” and couldn’t hear anything at all.

At 9:45, with the shrill sound of signal flares, the Greek Army on the entire front began a full-scale counterattack!

The Greek artillery fire extended backwards slowly, as if it would never stop. Second Lieutenant Jokevich felt that he had gone through a long period of centuries. Such torture even made him feel that he might have been blown directly into the sky by a cannonball, and maybe even a little longer. Take it easy.

Second Lieutenant Yorkovich struggled to stand up, then his trembling legs softened and he sat back on the ground.

He turned his head mechanically and looked around. The soldiers in the bunker were covered with dust, and they were slumped on the ground with dull eyes. It took a while for their dull eyes to regain their energy.

Even if this was the case inside the eye, it was self-evident what the scene would be like outside. Even though the cannonballs had fallen far behind, there was still silence in the trench, as if the Greek artillery fire had killed everyone.

After a while, there was a slow sound in the trench. The soldiers who had recovered sluggishly followed the instructions to carry the wounded, and wielded shovels to dig out the simple trench that had been collapsed by the bombing.

Because the Greek counterattack was caught off guard and there was no time to dig deeper trenches, the trenches where the Bulgarian soldiers were hiding only had a shallow layer, which did not provide a good defense against shelling.

Everyone lost interest in talking and just acted mechanically.

The sound of the explosion slowly faded away, and Lieutenant Victor vaguely heard a friction sound that he had never heard before.

He pressed his legs with both hands and stood up vigorously. Second Lieutenant Yorkovich approached the shooting port in front of the bunker and looked out.

The space in front of the battle line was filled with gray smoke and dust, which were traces of shell explosions.

The Bulgarians finally noticed the growing friction sound. The Bulgarian officers and soldiers who slightly poked their heads out widened their eyes and looked at the direction of the sound.

Soon, the Greek army they were already familiar with slowly appeared in their field of vision, wearing khaki military uniforms that were full of spots and color blocks and had no aesthetic sense.

"Greek armored cars?" Second Lieutenant Yorkovich was no stranger to armored cars.

Armored cars are no longer a rare thing. The armies of various European countries have more or less armored cars modified from civilian cars and are serving in the army.

Although he didn't know why the Greek armored cars made a harsh metal friction sound, knowing what these iron boxes were made him feel at ease.

Outside the eyes, the Bulgarian officers who also knew about armored vehicles also began to loudly tell the soldiers who had never seen such equipment before and were a little commotion about what was on the other side.

The actions of the officers had an effect. Armored vehicles were not uncommon, and the Bulgarian army also had equipment. The armor was not thick, and the Maxim machine gun could effectively penetrate them.

Moreover, their wheels could not cross the trench. With this knowledge, the Bulgarian soldiers quickly felt at ease.

The regimental machine gun detachment commanded by Second Lieutenant Jockovich had eight Maxim machine guns. The machine gun detachment, which was divided into two teams and arranged to form cross fire like the Greeks, was originally enough to block an entire front line and become an insurmountable death zone for Greek infantry.

However, faced with the death metal storm swept by eight machine guns, the Greek armored car continued to advance unhurriedly except for a string of sparks being hit by bullets from the front.

"How is that possible?! How thick are the Greeks' armored cars?"

"Damn it! Get rid of that firepower point quickly!" The Bulgarians were horrified here, while the Greek army was a little angry.

At this time, in order to have an offensive effect, the Macedonian Army's only dozens of armored vehicles were also used in this counterattack.

The 76 armored vehicles scattered across the attack width of the infantry division of about 4,000 meters are not too many. However, when facing the Bulgarian infantry position head-on, no matter how they fired, the armored vehicles that were still slowly approaching gave the Bulgarians The soldier was greatly shocked.

At this time, the four armored vehicles in front of the two firepower points of the Bulgarian army were obviously unable to completely cover the infantry following behind. The Greek infantry company commander, who was suppressed by the machine gun and could only huddle behind the armored vehicle, could not carefully follow the armored vehicle and fiercely He raped and fixed the hatch cover at the rear of the fighting room that was used to replenish ammunition, and then shouted to the rear, "Enemy machine gun fire point found, requesting support."

Before anyone could reply, a shell 30 meters away hit the front armor of an armored vehicle on the right. Shrapnel flew everywhere for a while, making people worried.

At the same time that the armored vehicle on the right was hit, the two field guns at the rear noticed the conspicuous muzzle flash of the machine gun and opened fire immediately. One 75mm shell missed a few meters, while the other hit the machine gun fire point on the left. , mud mixed with broken wood flew up to a height of more than ten meters.

"75 mm field gun?!" Second Lieutenant Jokevich screamed. The hardness of the Greek armored vehicles was obviously beyond his imagination.

One of the two firepower points has been blown up, and the next one is my turn!

"Where's the artillery? Artillery, hurry up and kill the Greek armored cars!" Victor could only hope that his field artillery could kill all the remaining Greek armored cars like they did just now.

Learning from the wooden piles placed by the Greeks in front of the trenches, even if they were not blown up by the overwhelming artillery shells, they could not stop the advance of the Greek armored vehicles. The Bulgarians could only watch in despair as the wooden piles were knocked down.

As the armored car approached a distance of 300 meters, clearing the last machine gun point of the Bulgarians on this defense width of several hundred meters, Lieutenant Jokovich's mind was deeply imprinted with the explosion of Greek artillery at the last moment of his life. of dazzling fire.

The Bulgarian soldiers, whose will had long been destroyed by the shelling and shelling, and who fought only under the pressure of officers and group behavior, finally lost their last bit of courage.

After the Greek armored vehicles ignored the bullets and used their indestructible bodies to tower over their heads, the Greek infantry who followed these bodies jumped into the bunker and collapsed.

At 11:28, less than three hours after the Greeks launched their attack, the Macedonian Army headquarters received a report from the front line. The three divisions in the frontal attack had broken through the simple defense line of the Bulgarian army and were continuing to attack the Bulgarian army in depth. .