Greece to roman road

After the officers sent to Germany to study and learn German army command returned to Greece one after another, the army reorganization that Constantine and the Chief of General Staff had planned for a long time began.

Syntagma Square, Royal Palace, King's Military Council.

"Your Majesty, colleagues, in view of the rapid development of military technology, various new technologies are emerging one after another, new weapons such as smokeless gunpowder, new rifles and rapid-fire guns have appeared one after another, and the tactics in war have also changed. In order to adapt to the needs of the new situation, The original organizational structure of the Greek Army should also keep pace with the times and make changes," the Chief of General Staff said first.

King George, who was sitting in the first seat, silently looked at the army reorganization plan in his hand.

"As new technological weapons enter the army, such as m1890 rifles and 75mm rapid-fire cannons, a large number of troops begin to be deployed, and the organization of the army should indeed be changed," Constantine, who was sitting under King George, agreed.

Speaking of rapid-fire artillery, King George frowned and asked: "How is the production of 75mm artillery? Can the production capacity keep up with the army's installation speed?"

King George was very concerned about the main weapons of the Greek artillery, even if he knew only a little about military affairs.

Giannis, the Minister of Arms present here, said: "Your Majesty, the current production of 75mm rapid-fire guns at the machinery factory has reached ten guns per month."

After the initial small-scale experimental equipping of troops, the superior performance of the 75mm artillery made commanders at all levels of the army crazy. This powerful rapid-fire gun with a rate of fire several times that of other conventional artillery allowed army officers to attack their own artillery. Confidence increased.

Some radical officers even believe that as long as the Greek army can equip a large number of such artillery, the Greek army may not be unable to defeat the Ottoman army even if it is supported by the Germans.

"The current monthly production of m1890 rifles has reached 2,800, and they are entering the army in large numbers and being distributed to the infantry."

"In terms of the army's strategic material reserves, it currently has 8 million bullets and 800,000 artillery shells in reserve." Giannis directly reported the main work progress of the Army Logistics Department.

The huge military expenditure of 200 million drachmas is rapidly being converted into military supplies.

King George considered the two pieces of information, turned around and asked, "Tell me about the main content of this military restructuring."

"This military reorganization is mainly to adjust division-level units. The army's infantry divisions will be divided into two types in the future, standing divisions and elite divisions."

"Among them, the total number of standing divisions has been increased to about 11,000."

"The total number of elite divisions in peacetime is maintained at about 5,000. It is fully equipped with officers and technical weapons at all levels. The missing personnel, mainly infantry, will be filled after wartime mobilization," Chief of General Staff Emma Inol said. .

Seeing that no one had any objections, he continued: "At present, Greece mainly has an army of about 50,000 people."

"After adjustment, the Army mainly has three standing divisions and two elite divisions."

"One of the standing divisions is deployed on the border of Epirus to guard against the Ottoman army in the direction of Albania and northern Epirus"

"The other two regular divisions and two elite divisions are deployed on the border of Thessaly, mainly to defend against the Ottoman troops stationed in Macedonia."

King George listened to Emmanuel's report with rapt attention, and estimated in his heart that after mobilization, the Greek army would have about 80,000 people. This army number was enough to deal with the threat of the Ottoman army in northern Greece.

"What about adjustments within Army divisions?"

Constantine took over the topic and replied; "After adjustment, an infantry division includes three infantry regiments and a divisional artillery regiment, 24 heavy machine guns, of which the artillery regiment has 24 75mm artillery pieces, and a communications company , an engineering company, a field hospital, a logistics transportation group, about 1,000 people."

Constantine briefly introduced the adjustments within the infantry division units.

Looking around and seeing that no one had any objections, King George nodded to his attendants.

The attendant came forward with the paint and seal, melted the sticky red paint on the document submitted by Emmanuel about the reorganization of the army, and assisted the king to imprint the seal on the paint at the seal.

King George I stood up and faced everyone and said, "I agree to this military restructuring."

This ends the imperial military meeting.

After King George left the meeting room, everyone continued to discuss the details of the change.

"Your Excellency, Chief of General Staff, although various technical weapons are being rapidly installed in the army, we must also urge the soldiers and commanders at all levels in the army to learn to use new weapons," said Arms Minister Giannis.

As a large number of new equipment enter the army, soldiers need a period of running-in period, which cannot be completed in a short time.

"Also, the General Staff will continue to increase efforts to recruit non-military talents into the army," Constantine also emphasized.

Although highly technical military auxiliary units such as communications technology, engineering companies, and field hospitals are not directly related to the military's military capabilities, the importance of such auxiliary units in the military cannot be ignored by the top military leaders of various countries.

Engineers build bridges across rivers and clear roads across mountains. Without the assistance of engineers, the mobility of the troops will be greatly affected.

As for communication technology, its role is even more direct. It is necessary for various units of the army to maintain communication, whether with the headquarters or with other friendly forces. An army that cannot contact in time cannot be expected to survive in the war. What role does it play?

Professional units with high technical requirements, such as the communications corps and engineering corps, have different requirements from the general military. What they need is not soldiers who are brave enough to fight, but professionals who are proficient in advanced technologies.

Emmanuel nodded, their opinions were very pertinent.

Since the Greek military and political leaders decided to increase investment in the army, he, the chief of general staff, is like a top, busy and busy, with no time to spare.

After the meeting, Constantine came to the port of Piraeus, took a destroyer, and went to Aegina Island, where the naval special forces train, for an inspection.

Aegina is an island located in the Aegean Sea, 100 kilometers away from Athens. It was the training base of the Marine Corps selected by Kontoriotis.

Standing on the deck of the destroyer, Kontoriotis pointed to the 4,800-ton offshore battleship of the Greek Navy, the Pizzeria, which was following behind him, and introduced to Constantine: "In order to train the Marine Corps, I I specially applied for this warship to help.”

This poor warship, with a speed of only 6 knots, is basically a floating fort on the sea. Its only advantage is that it has a tonnage of 4,800 tons and can accommodate more personnel.

In the waters still one kilometer away from Aegina Island, two warships stopped, and people were seen walking around in a hurry on the decks of the two warships.

Contoriotis gave an order, and two fishing net-shaped rope ladders were first thrown down from the sides of the ship on both sides of the Pizzari warship. Then the inflated rubber boat was lowered into the sea by the Marines in cooperation with each other. Afterwards, the fully armed Marines slowly climbed into the rubber boat floating on the water through the rope ladder.

At first, the rubber boats that the soldiers had logged in were just wandering around the Pizzari. After the rubber boats carrying nearly a hundred soldiers were assembled, each rubber boat carried 10 people, and a total of ten rubber boat teams turned on the gasoline engine and issued a signal. The "buzzing" noise rushed towards the island of Aegina one kilometer away.

"This is the first wave of logging in. There are a hundred people in total. The remaining team members will follow the previous military actions and repeat the cycle." Kontoriotis introduced to Constantine who was holding binoculars. .

The two men held telescopes and observed ten rubber boats in the field of vision, rushing directly to the beach of Aegina Island. Then the soldiers quickly put down their backpacks, checked their equipment, and prepared for battle.