Greece’s Roman Road

After the officers who were sent to Germany to study and study the command of the German Army returned to Greece one after another, the long-planned military reorganization by Constantine and the Chief of General Staff began.

Syntagma Square Royal Palace, King's Military Council.

"Your Majesty, my colleagues, in view of the rapid development of military technology and the emergence of various new technologies, new weapons such as smokeless powder, new rifles and rapid-fire guns have appeared one after another, and the tactics of 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," said the Chief of General Staff.

King George, sitting in the first seat, silently flipped through the army reorganization plan in his hand.

"As new technical weapons enter the army, such as m1890 rifles and 75mm rapid-fire guns, a large number of troops have begun to be installed, and the organization of the army should indeed be changed," echoed Constantine, who was sitting at the head of King George.

Speaking of rapid-fire guns, King George raised his brows and asked, "How about the production of 75mm guns, can the production capacity keep up with the deployment speed of the army?"

King George was very concerned about the main weapon of the Greek artillery, even if he knew little about the military.

The Minister of Armament Ioannis said: "Your Majesty, the production of 75mm rapid-fire guns in the machinery factory has reached the monthly output of ten."

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

Some radical officers even believed that as long as the Greek army could equip a large number of such artillery pieces, even the Ottoman army supported by the Germans would not necessarily be unable to defeat the Greek army.

"Currently, the monthly output of the m1890 rifle has reached 2,800, and it is entering the army in large numbers and distributing it to the infantry."

"In terms of the military's strategic material reserves, at present, 8 million bullets and 800,000 artillery shells have been reserved." Giannis directly reported the main work progress of the military logistics department.

The huge military expenditure of 200 million drachma is rapidly being transformed into military supplies.

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

"The reorganization of the army this time is mainly to adjust division-level units. The infantry divisions of the army will be divided into two types in the future, standing divisions and capable divisions."

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

"The total number of elite divisions is maintained at about 5,000 people in peacetime. Officers at all levels and technical weapons are fully equipped. The lack of personnel, mainly infantry, will be filled after wartime mobilization," said Chief of Staff Emma Enor. .

Seeing that there was no objection from the crowd, 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 capable divisions"

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

"The other two standing divisions and two capable divisions were deployed on the border of Thessaly, mainly to guard against the Ottoman troops stationed in the Macedonia region"

King George listened intently to Emanuel's report, and estimated in his heart that after the mobilization, the Greek army had about 80,000 people. This army was enough to deal with the threat of the Ottoman army distributed in northern Greece.

"Then what about the adjustment within the army division?"

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

Constantine briefly introduced the adjustments within the infantry division unit.

Looking around, seeing that there was no objection from everyone, King George nodded to his attendant.

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

King George I stood up and said to the crowd, "I agree to this military restructuring."

This concludes the Imperial Military Conference.

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

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

With a large number of new equipment entering the army, soldiers need a period of running-in period, which is not something that can be completed in a short time.

"Also, the General Staff will continue to increase the intensity of non-military personnel entering the army," Constantine also emphasized.

Although technically more technical auxiliary units such as communication technology, engineer company, field hospital, etc. are not directly related to the military's military capabilities, the importance of such auxiliary units in the military cannot be ignored by the military leaders of various countries.

Engineers build bridges when they encounter rivers, and open roads when they meet mountains. Without the assistance of engineers, the mobility of the troops will be greatly affected.

As for communication technology, the role is more direct. It is necessary for each unit of the army to maintain communication with the headquarters or with other friendly troops. An army that cannot communicate in time cannot be expected to be in war How much of a role it plays in.

Professional troops with high technical requirements, such as signal troops and engineers, are different from the general military requirements. What they need is not soldiers who fight bravely, but professionals who are proficient in advanced technology.

Emanuel nodded, both of them were very pertinent.

Since the Greek military and political leaders decided to increase their investment in the army, he, the chief of the general staff, is like a spinning top.

After the meeting, Constantine came to the port of Piraeus, took a destroyer, and went to Aegina Island, where the naval special forces were trained. , an island 100 kilometers from Athens, is the training base chosen by Cantoriotis for the Marine Corps.

Standing on the deck of the destroyer, Cantoriotis pointed to a 4,800-ton Greek navy's coastal battleship, the Pizzeria, 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 battery at sea. The only advantage is that it has a tonnage of 4,800 tons and can accommodate more personnel.

In the waters one kilometer away from Aegina Island, two warships stopped, only to see people on the decks of the two warships rushing around.

After Cantoriotis gave an order, two fishing net-shaped rope ladders were first dropped on the sides of the Pizzeria warship, and then the inflated rubber boat was put into the sea by the marines in cooperation with each other. After that, the fully armed marines slowly climbed into the rubber boat floating on the water through the rope ladder.

At the beginning, the rubber boats that the soldiers had logged in were just wandering around the Pizzeria. After the rubber boats with nearly a hundred soldiers were assembled, each rubber boat was loaded with 10 people, a total of ten rubber boat teams, opened the gasoline engine, and sent out The noise of "humming" charged towards the island of Aegina, one kilometer away.

"This is the first wave of logging in, there are a total of 100 people, and the rest of the team will follow the previous military actions and repeat the cycle," Cantoriotis introduced to Constantine, who was holding binoculars. .

Holding binoculars, the two of them observed ten rubber boats in sight, and rushed directly to the beach of Aegina. Then the soldiers quickly put down their backpacks, checked their equipment, and prepared for battle.

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