Greece to roman road

At noon on June 19, Constantine, who lived in the Tatoy Palace, received an urgent telegram requesting him to come to the Ministry of Defense building to urgently discuss the military situation.

As soon as Constantine entered the building and went to the conference room, he noticed that the staff of the General Staff were walking in a panic. Combined with the uncharacteristic behavior of the General Staff, Constantine already had some clarity in his mind.

When "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince" saw Constantine entering the conference room, the top Greek army officials sitting around the conference table immediately stood up and saluted him.

After Constantine looked at everyone, he found that almost all the officers present were staff officers at all levels of the staff department.

"Okay, is there a conflict between the troops stationed in Macedonia and the Bulgarians?" Constantine said without worrying about anything else and went straight to the topic.

"I just received a telegram from the Macedonian Army. There was a conflict between the Macedonian Army and the Bulgarian army stationed in front of them. It seems to have been caused by soldiers crossing the border," Army Chief of Staff Emmanuel said briefly.

"It seems to be because of a, biting, dog." When Emmanuel said the specific reason, there was a trace of embarrassment on his face.

Although the underlying cause of the war between the two countries is the discord caused by the territorial division after the last war.

But the immediate trigger was a border patrol dog that crossed the border, leaving Emmanuel with some confusion on his face.

After hearing what happened, Constantine was not surprised at all.

For this war, both the Greeks and the Bulgarians have their own agenda, and it no longer matters what the direct excuse is.

In order to raise funds for the war, Greece has launched a vigorous purchase of patriotic bonds. Such a drastic move by the Greek government cannot be hidden from the Bulgarian side.

Bulgarian intelligence officers could understand the Greek government's war intentions even by reading publicly available Greek newspapers.

"The armies of both sides stationed on the Macedonian border are now at war," Emmanuel said solemnly.

According to European war etiquette, the two warring parties generally need their ambassadors to declare war to the other party's government before fighting.

It now appears that Bulgaria has no intention of declaring war.

"Now the plan formulated by the General Staff still needs your decision," said Arms Minister Giannis.

For this expected war, the General Staff has naturally formulated a rigorous combat plan.

According to the country's strategic plan, it is the duty of the General Staff to make proactive preparations for the anticipated war.

Therefore, after receiving the telegrams of the exchange of fire between the two armies, there were two telegrams, named "Basil" and "Red Plan".

"Now the commander of the Macedonian Legion is in urgent need of a comprehensive war plan," Emmanuel said eagerly.

The troops on the front line are about to fight, but the senior officers have not yet been authorized by the General Staff to implement the plan. Naturally, a huge army composed of hundreds of thousands of people will be like a headless fly, not knowing what to do.

Therefore, after learning about the exchange of fire between the armies, Emmanuel immediately took out two combat plans from the safe.

Constantine was naturally aware of the two combat plans formulated by the General Staff.

The staff officers headed by Emmanuel asked Constantine for instructions many times during the process of formulating the battle plan.

Although the actual supreme commander of the army is Emmanuel, the chief of general staff, nominally the supreme commander of the Greek army is the king.

The duty of the chief of general staff is only to assist the supreme commander in making decisions.

The war plan can only enter the execution stage after receiving the order approved by the king.

The contents of these two combat plans, "Basil" and "Black Plan" are completely different.

The name "Basil Plan" comes from the name of a distinguished emperor in the Eastern Roman Empire.

The Macedonian dynasty was the longest-lasting Eastern Roman Empire and had the largest number of reigning emperors. It was also known as the "Golden Age" of the Eastern Roman Empire. Its founder was Basil I.

Basil I's successor, Basil II, happened to be the emperor at the peak of the Eastern Roman Empire in the "Golden Age" and was nicknamed the "Butcher of Bulgaria".

During the reign of Basil II, the northern part of the empire, the Balkan Peninsula, was under serious threat from the Bulgarians.

After the battle with the Bulgarians, Basil II captured more than 14,000 people, of whom only 140 were left as guides, and all the remaining Bulgarian soldiers were blinded.

These blinded soldiers, led by 140 people, lined up in a long queue and returned to Bulgaria.

According to rumors, these miserable Bulgarians caused great panic in the Bulgarian villages on their way back.

Therefore, the plan called "Basil", since it is named like this, is naturally an active offensive battle plan.

The main purpose of this combat plan is to actively attack Bulgaria's strategic depth and kill Bulgarian soldiers on a large scale.

Even if Bulgaria cannot be destroyed like Basil II, Bulgaria must be completely severely damaged so that it can no longer pose a threat to Greece and make Greece the hegemon in the Balkans.

Compared with the "Basil" plan, the "Black Plan" is much more conservative.

This is not even like a military plan, but more like Greece choosing a defensive plan to keep the enemy out of its borders when it is attacked.

The "Black Plan" is a passive plan. Its main purpose is to use complete fortifications to defend and wait for opportunities to counterattack.

Within the Greek army, the two combat plans have mixed reviews, and both are supported by some officers.

The Greek General Staff system was modeled after the German Army. Just like the German Army, all senior military officers have experience serving in the General Staff.

Therefore, even if the senior Greek military officers do not fully understand the combat plan formulated by the General Staff and Road Department, the plan is still clear.

Most officers, especially mid-level officers, still prefer the "Basil" plan. Its iron-bloodedness and decisiveness naturally satisfy the war-torn Greek officers.

Moreover, this can prevent the war from protracted and be resolved quickly. After all, Greece's financial resources are not rich and cannot withstand the consumption of a long-term war.

A passive defense plan like the "Black Plan" is naturally not in line with the preferences of a vigorous group like soldiers.

"Du-du-du", Constantine's fingers kept tapping on the table, and he hesitated in his heart.

"What do you two think?" Constantine asked Arms Minister Yiannis and Chief of General Staff Emmanuel.

After a long period of contemplation, Arms Minister Giannis raised his head and said decisively: "I still think it is more appropriate to adopt the black plan."

Afterwards, Constantine turned his attention to Emmanuel.

Emmanuel, who had also been hesitating for a long time, said slowly: "The black plan is indeed more suitable and less risky."

Although the "Basil" plan sounds exciting and more in line with the psychology of middle- and lower-level officers, senior officials still prefer the conservative black plan.

The reason why the two of them were surprisingly in agreement was because Basil planned such a head-on offensive plan with Bulgaria. Even if they could win, it would be a miserable victory.

After the first two wars, three people, including Constantine, have realized that the pattern of war has changed.

Especially in the Macedonian Campaign that just ended, the Macedonian Legion suffered heavy losses when attacking the fortresses and trenches defended by the Ottoman soldiers. This allowed the two men to clearly see the huge casualties they would have to bear if they attacked the enemy's well-defended fortifications. .

Most of the Greek casualties in this war occurred during the attack on fortresses and trenches.

Especially as the Minister of Arms, Giannis has been dealing with various army weapons all year round and has a keener sense of the evolution of war weapons.

At Constantine's prompting and reminder, Giannis even organized several small army drills just to verify the huge defensive advantages of the trench defenses proposed by Constantine.

After seeing the intricate trenches spread throughout the depths of the defenders, as well as the gleaming barbed wire fences, and the combined defense methods of Maxim machine guns, all the visiting Greek army officers took a breath.

In the trench warfare mode, the defender has a huge advantage over the attacker.

Whether it is the Maxim machine gun that can weave an airtight metal storm fire net when it fires, or the rapid-fire cannon with unprecedented firepower, which has entered the history of artillery development with great significance, as well as the fixed metal bullet breech-loading rifle that also has a significantly improved rate of fire. , which made Giannis, the Minister of Arms, feel sorry for the soldiers of the army.

Letting the soldiers charge with their flesh and blood is more like letting them die!

It is precisely with this understanding that the General Staff formulated the "Black Plan" and adopted a defensive strategy to deal with Bulgaria's war plan.

In addition to changes in the mode of war due to technological progress, Bulgaria's army strength cannot be underestimated. This is also an important reason why Constantine vetoed the "Basil Plan".

In the last war, Bulgaria's total population was less than 4 million. In order to deal with the threat from the Ottoman army, 600,000 people were recruited to serve in the army.

This ratio is simply jaw-dropping.

If Bulgaria's soldier recruitment ratio is relatively extreme during a state of war, then it is unbelievable that in peacetime, the Bulgarian Army retains a standing army of 500,000 people.

Constantine was surprised by the degree of militarism of the Bulgarian army.

For comparison, even if the population in the newly acquired territories of Greece after the war is added, the population has reached 6.15 million. With active preparations for war, the current number of Greek Army is 350,000, and 150,000 are mainly composed of Congolese blacks. Officers Congolese Regiment manned by Greeks.

If the population of Congo is also included, then the population of Greece is 26 million.

According to data obtained by Greek intelligence personnel, after Bulgaria gained new territory and population, its total population reached 5.2 million.

According to the consistent urine behavior of the Bulgarians, compared with the 600,000 conscripted soldiers in the last war, this number has increased and may reach 850,000!

Moreover, according to the assessment of the General Staff, the Bulgarian Army has strong combat effectiveness, capable officers, and brave soldiers. It is indeed the most powerful army in the Balkans.

Whether it was the Bulgarian-Serbian War of 1885 or the just-concluded Balkan War, the Bulgarian army had proven its combat effectiveness.

In the Bulgarian War of 1885, the Serbian army had an absolute advantage, but was still pushed back to Niš by the Bulgarian army.

In the Balkan War that just ended, the main force of the Bulgarian Army fought a decisive battle with the main force of the Ottoman Empire in Thrace.

The armies of Serbia and Greece were only responsible for the flank battlefield of Macedonia.

There are a large number of German officers serving in the Ottoman army, and almost most of the Ottoman officers have received complete German officer training.

Especially after losing to Greece in the 1896 war, the Ottoman Army learned from the pain and made a lot of changes. The army was filled with German weapons.

Krupp cannons and Mauser rifles were the basic equipment in the new Ottoman Army.

Especially after the revolution in the Ottoman Empire and the Young Turks taking power, the pro-German atmosphere in the Ottoman Empire became stronger and the status of German instructors in the army was once again enhanced.

Even in this situation, the Ottoman Army was still defeated by the Bulgarian army.

All in all, the Bulgarian Army is indeed an opponent that cannot be underestimated and is not easy to deal with.

This is why the General Staff agreed to develop such a conservative plan as the "Black Plan".

On the one hand, according to the results of the General Staff's assessment, the defender is more advantageous in the engagement.

On the other hand, the unusually high mobilization rate of the Bulgarian Army was also an important reason for Greece to adopt the black plan.

The high mobilization rate does give the Bulgarian army a numerical advantage, but at the same time, the extremely high mobilization rate has also become the fatal weakness of the Bulgarian army.

With such mobilization efforts, Bulgaria recruited almost all the country's prime men into the army.

What is the concept of such mobilization?

This is equivalent to three out of every eight men joining the army!

According to general military common sense, such a large army on the front line usually requires the same number of logistics personnel to ensure the front line supplies of the army.

Under such circumstances, the price paid by the Bulgarians for their extremely high mobilization rate was the almost complete interruption of domestic production activities.

Therefore, according to the calculations of the General Staff, instead of hoping to defeat the Bulgarian Army with a large number and strong combat effectiveness at a huge cost of casualties, it is better to adopt delaying defense tactics and wait for the enemy's internal collapse.

This is also the main reason why the General Staff formulated a black plan focused on defense.

"Your Highness, even so, I still ask the Prime Minister to be proactive in diplomacy and try to help Greece win over more enemies of Bulgaria," Emmanuel said.

Even so, in order to reduce losses and increase the chance of success, when facing the Bulgarians, Constantine also planned to use diplomatic means to recruit more helpers, increase the number of his allies, and attack Bulgaria from multiple sides.