Greece to roman road

The confrontation between the two major European groups soon spread to other countries.

The Ministry of Defense building in Athens, December 4, 1911.

Constantine personally presided over the discussion on the war between Italy and the Ottoman Empire. Italy and the Ottoman Empire, one in the east and one in the west, are the most important neighbors of Greece in the east and west. These two countries took place in Libya and are ongoing. war, for Greece, such a live demonstration is the best opportunity to observe and evaluate the military strength of the two countries. There is no better time.

A total of seventy or eighty people participated in this meeting, including officers from the Greek Army who were commodores and above, Navy commanders who served as destroyer captains and above, and some government personnel.

Constantine stood up and saw the dark conference room, and nodded to Contoriotis sitting next to him.

The understanding Contoriotis stood up and came to the huge hanging map of the war situation in North Africa. Holding a baton, he was ready to explain to everyone the strategic situation of Italy and the Ottoman Empire in North Africa in the past few months since the two countries started the war. .

Seeing the dozens of faces in the audience focusing on him, Kontoriotis said: "Since the two countries declared war in September, the war between Italy and the Ottomans in Libya has been going on for three months."

"Because the naval strength of the Ottoman Empire is too far behind that of Italy, the Ottoman Navy has been hiding in the Dardanelles Strait and does not have the courage to fight the Italian Navy."

Everyone in the audience burst into laughter, especially the Greek naval officer among them.

"Turks are not born for the sea"

While ridiculing the cowardice of the Ottoman Navy, he also did not forget to ridicule his competitors.

"Libya's cities are mainly located along the coast, and the inland areas are almost all deserts. Oasis suitable for human survival are scattered in the desert."

"This is good news for the Italians. With the help of the Italian Navy, the Italian army can easily land and occupy important coastal cities."

"Judging from this situation, will this war end soon? After all, Libya's big cities are on the coast. Apart from some oases, there are no important strategic locations in the interior. Italy seems to have captured Tobruk." said an Army officer sitting in the audience.

Kontoriotis on the stage shook his head: "That's not the case. In fact, the Italians are riding a tiger now."

"Although he did not receive diplomatic support from the major European powers (all countries persuaded the Ottoman Empire to accept Italy's demands), Ottoman still decided to defend his North African territories."

"Although Egypt, under the control of the British, rejected the Ottoman reinforcements' request to pass through, the Ottomans still supported the Ottoman garrison in Libya through some channels, and also organized local Bedouin and Alabo (sensitive words, no way ) people to resist," Contoriotis explained, waving his baton and pointing at the map.

"In fact, although Libya nominally belongs to the Ottoman Empire, the Ottoman Empire does not actually control it. There are about 400,000 to 500,000 people in Libya. They are all nomadic tribes. They have tough personalities and are wild and untamable. As nomadic tribes, they have no shortage of The courage to fight”

Although Libya looks very large in area, about more than 1 million square kilometers, most of it is an uninhabited desert with little oil and water. The nomadic tribes are free and are only nominally subordinate to the Ottoman Empire. After the war broke out, The morale of the local people to resist the Italian invaders was very high.

Although the British authorities were implicitly leaning towards Italy, the Egyptian people still supported the Libyans as much as they could after learning about the Italian invasion.

"Although in coastal areas, they may not be an opponent of the Italian army, in inland areas, these alb cavalry are very mobile, although in terms of positional warfare, they cannot be an opponent of the Italians who have superior strength."

"According to the news our business group has received in North Africa, there is currently an Italian army of 3,000 people. Due to improper defense, it was surrounded by an Arab cavalry of 20,000 people. Together with the local 8,000 Ottoman troops, it was almost completely wiped out. "

Before the war broke out, there were many Greek merchants doing business in Libya. As one of the results of Greece's defeat of the Ottomans in 1897, Libya, which nominally belonged to the Ottoman Empire, also opened its doors to Greek goods.

After the war in Libya broke out, many Greek businessmen were still stranded there, and Greek intelligence officers harvested a lot of war intelligence there.

"Although Italy described this defeat as a simple resistance at home, after this disastrous defeat, the number of Italian troops in Libya has reached 100,000."

Constantine, who was sitting in the front row of the audience, secretly laughed at the poor performance of the Italians. The Italians would have no problem attacking along the coast. The problem was that the vast inland of Libya was completely unobstructed. In the great desert of Libya, those Alabo cavalry have obvious mobility advantages. Their camel cavalry is really suitable for fighting in the great desert of Libya.

Not surprisingly, as long as the commanders sent by the Ottomans to Libya make no mistakes and adopt guerrilla warfare, just like the Boers in South Africa did against the British army, and give full play to their advantages of flexibility and maneuverability, this war will become a war of attrition. The stalemate continues.

After all, the Italians cannot destroy their enemies, so what if they occupy coastal cities. The nomads can still persist relying on the oases in the desert, so the Italians cannot end the war.

As the war drags on, the land forces landing in Libya and the warships continuing to fight will continue to consume the Italian government's funds.

The Italians originally expected that the war would be over in a short time, but the local people's resolute resistance exceeded their expectations.

Italy originally expected that monthly consumption of 300,000 lire would be enough, but the current monthly consumption has reached 800,000 lire, and it seems that it will continue to grow.

After explaining the general situation of the war, Kontoriotis stepped down.

Constantine stood up and said loudly to the officers behind him: "Now everyone can speak freely. Each of you will be given a copy of the specific information about the war. This is the latest direct confrontation between the armies of major European powers. Everyone You can speak freely”

The reality in the conference room was quiet for a moment. Giannis, the Minister of Arms who was closest to Constantine, said: "As a participant in armaments work, I saw the information written in the information that on the Libyan battlefield, a new type of military equipment appeared in the Italian army. weapons, aircraft and armored vehicles”

"It seems that it did not play a big role in the war," said Emmanuel, Chief of General Staff.

Although aircraft and armored forces will be powerful weapons for the army in the future, Constantine did not agree with Giannis because the current aircraft and armored vehicles are too primitive and will not be available in the upcoming Balkan storm. Too useful.