Greece to roman road

While the fierce offensive and defensive battles on the Greek border were going on, the First Division of Salonika was also under tremendous pressure.

Due to the important position of Salonika, two divisions of the Ottoman army, totaling about 30,000 people, frantically attacked the positions of the first division in order to relieve their frontline legions.

The number of enemy troops was twice that of the defenders of Salonika.

In addition, the Ottoman army used a large number of heavy artillery during the attack on Salonika, which doubled the pressure on the First Division.

But Manugianaski's First Division also had its own unique advantages.

First of all, since Salonika is surrounded by plains, in order to hold on to Salonika, Manugianaski ordered his troops to dig deep trenches to cope with the enemy's heavy artillery bombardment.

In order to strengthen the defensive capabilities of the front line, the First Division also used Maxim heavy machine guns, combined with trench defensive positions, which made it even more difficult for the Ottoman army attacking Salonika - every attack, under the fire of the Greek army's heavy machine guns, There were heavy casualties.

These Maxim heavy machine guns were part of the pre-war Greek armaments and were purchased from Germany.

It was precisely by relying on the combination of trenches and Maxim machine guns that the First Division was able to remain rock solid under successive attacks by the superior strength of the Ottoman army.

Second, the logistical convenience of the First Division.

Weapons such as the Maxim heavy machine gun, when fully fired, can fire at a rate of 300 rounds per minute, and the bullets are shot out like running water.

Without adequate logistical support, the military's use of such weapons is simply asking for trouble.

In fact, it is precisely because of the abnormal rate of fire of the Maxim heavy machine gun that many military strategists have concerns about it - what level of logistics does this thing require before the army can use it?

For Greece, the problem was neatly solved.

The Ottoman Navy did not even have the ability to sail out of the Dardanelles Strait to fight. In contrast, the Greek Navy could patrol the Aegean Sea unscrupulously.

At Constantine's request, the navy continuously used sea transportation to transport logistical supplies and supplementary troops in Greece for the fiercely fighting First Division. At the same time, it transported the wounded of the First Division back to Athens when it returned.

It can be said that the strong support of the Navy allowed the first division, which had no worries, to let go and defend Salonika with all its strength.

It was precisely with this unique advantage that from January 10th to 23rd, under the attack of the superior strength of the Ottoman army, the city of Salonika was impregnable and unbreakable.

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By January 26th, the Greek-Ottoman War had been going on for about two months.

Due to lack of supplies, the Macedonian legion of the Ottoman army barely managed to cope with the strong attack of the Greek Thessaly legion.

In January, the lack of supplies among the Ottoman troops became extremely obvious, and news of logistical disruption spread like wildfire among the Ottoman army.

In order to collect rations for the soldiers, almost all farmers near the battlefield, whether Greeks, Jews, or even MSLs, were robbed by hungry soldiers.

Even so, after January 20th, the entire army had no intention of fighting, and the soldiers were panicked. They had to deal with the Greek army's offensive every day, and they were already exhausted and embarrassed.

In the early days, in the face of the fire preparations of the Greek artillery, the Ottoman army's artillery would fire back. In the later stage, the Ottoman army simply huddled in the simple trenches of the position. It was not until the Greek army attacked that the officers ordered the soldiers to fire.

Desperation spread among the soldiers.

The Austrian commander Edmund was looking forward to the news of retaking Salonika and restoring logistics supplies, but the news was delayed.

In order to trap the enemy Macedonian Army, Constantine personally notified the Epirus Army to bite the Ottoman garrison in Ioannina so that it had no time to worry about the Macedonian Army.

The Macedonian legion, which was waiting for reinforcements, was outflanked by the Greek army. After the hope of opening up logistics was shattered, it was already too late to retreat.

The forced Edmund Pasha surrendered to Constantine in disgrace on the morning of the 27th.

The soldiers' cheers soared into the sky.

Constantine, who was standing in the command camp, could clearly hear the movements on the position.

In the border battle, the Ottoman army suffered 80,000 soldiers, 25,000 casualties, and more than 60,000 prisoners. Almost half of the casualties came from Greek artillery.

The Thessalian Army suffered 15,000 casualties, including 5,000 Congolese.

In order to celebrate this victory, the headquarters ordered that the soldiers of the Thessalian Legion be allowed to rest for two days, and a celebration banquet was held for the soldiers.

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Greece won the border battle and completely annihilated the Ottoman Macedonian advance, causing an uproar in Europe.

The next day, the British Foreign Secretary personally visited Constantine's headquarters to verify the specific conditions of the Greek campaign on the spot.

"A great and glorious victory, Your Highness Constantine. From today on, your name will be a household name throughout Europe." When the Marquis of Salisbury saw Constantine, he was full of flattery.

"Thank you for your congratulations, Marquis" Constantine welcomed him into the conference room.

"Your Highness, do you know? The entire Balkans, and even the whole of Europe, were alarmed because of your victory." At this point, Salisbury turned to look worried.

"According to our ambassador in Belgrade, news of the defeat of the Ottoman army by the Greek army reached Serbia, and the Serbian king immediately ordered the mobilization of troops."

"I was just severely scolded by the Austro-Hungarian Empire and asked to stop the dangerous move of mobilizing troops."

"Similar news also came from Bulgaria"

“These two countries are ready to make a move now.”

This was within Constantine's expectation. After all, both Serbia and Bulgaria coveted Ottoman territory, especially European territory, and it was definitely possible to add insult to injury.

However, the big brothers behind these two countries, Austria-Hungary and Russia, do not want anything to happen to their two younger brothers at this time.

Austria-Hungary does not want Serbia to become stronger, even if Serbia is Austria-Hungary's little brother.

There are also conflicts between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. There are a large number of Slavs in Austria-Hungary. Among them, Croatia, Slovenia, and even Boch, which was taken over by Austria-Hungary in 1881, are home to a large number of Slavs.

In the eyes of Serbian nationalists, these are fellow Serbs.

Serbia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire are neighboring countries, and the growth of Serbia is not in the interest of Austria-Hungary.

Similarly, after Bulgaria obtained the Eastern Rumelia province that originally belonged to the Ottomans, it moved infinitely closer to the goal that Russia had coveted for hundreds of years-Constantinople.

Russia has fought eight Russo-Turkish wars over this city. How could it allow Bulgaria to get involved?

Therefore, although these two countries coveted the troubled Ottoman Empire, they had nothing to do.