My Italy

The news of Colonel Abriz's disappearance is sad news for Major General Hashem. Of course, what makes him even more worried is that the first brigade suffered a lot of losses.

At present, there are only about 4,000 troops left in the brigade. In addition to 800 casualties in the two-day battle with the Italian 8th Division, the remaining casualties came from the retreat at night.

Of course, Colonel Abriz, who is missing among them, must bear a great deal of responsibility. After all, he was the commander of the unit, so there was no way he could justify such heavy casualties.

Of course, considering that he is missing, Major General Hashem will not be able to pursue the case further. For him, the most important thing at the moment is to withdraw the Second Brigade in Vachali.

However, compared with the 1st brigade in Worla, Vachari was not attacked by the Italian army because it was on the road farther away from Durres and Tirana. This also gave the 2nd brigade enough time to evacuate. .

Major General Hashem has already ordered the Second Brigade to return to Tirana with its troops.

As for the 1st Brigade, its chief of staff will temporarily take over for the time being. Letting it recover first will also be conducive to the subsequent defense work. Therefore, the first brigade got two precious days of rest after returning to Tirana.

As for Lieutenant General Simeone in Durrës, he became more confident about his plan after receiving the news that the Eighth Division had captured Wola in two days and opened the road to Tirana.

Apart from the performance of the Eighth Division, there were of course other reasons that gave him such confidence. The most important reason was that in addition to the fact that all the Fourteenth Division had landed, the Fourth Mountain Brigade had also landed. .

Being able to send the 14th Division and the 4th Mountain Brigade ashore within four days was naturally inseparable from the hard work of the engineering troops.

Now that Simeone held two divisions and one brigade with a force of 40,000 men, he was even more confident in capturing Tirana. After all, in Tirana, the Ottomans only had two and a half divisions and less than 40,000 people (they did not know that the enemy's 21st Division had been withdrawn).

Not only does it have an advantage in strength, but it also has an absolute advantage in equipment. Currently, there are 67 artillery pieces with a caliber of 100 mm or more ashore in Durrës, including 31 artillery pieces with a caliber of 150 mm or more. As for the opponent, according to intelligence, it has 24 artillery pieces with a caliber of more than 100 mm, all of which are 105 mm howitzers. There are no cannons with a caliber of more than 150 mm and a longer range.

The reason for this is still the same problem. The Ottoman army did not intend to defend here, so the heavier large-caliber and cannons, which are very unsuitable for transfer, had no choice but to not carry them. After all, compared with lightweight artillery under 100 mm, large-caliber and cannons all start at least 1.5 tons. In this era where only animal power operates, they cannot be considered at all (there is no railway in Tirana).

Of course, the time to attack Tirana is not yet ripe, because we need to be more prepared. Among other things, we need to have enough ammunition.

In the past, the port was rushing to transport personnel and equipment, so ammunition transportation was ranked behind. Of course, this refers to the scale of ammunition required for large wars, and small and medium-sized battles do not require so much preparation.

Simeone currently has a goal and is preparing to occupy Vachari first. Because according to his judgment, after capturing Vola, the Ottomans should not continue to stay here, because the road to Tirana has been opened.

Soon the intelligence from the investigation confirmed his judgment.

"Vachali's enemies are packing their bags. It seems that the enemies are not stupid either."

Seeing the latest information from Vachari, Simone muttered to himself.

"Then shall we send the Fourteenth Division there?"

Faced with Chief of Staff Bartlett's words, Simeone thought about it and spoke. "Forget it, it's not appropriate to send another 14th Division. Let the Fourth Mountain Brigade pass. It just so happens that the terrain in Wachali is also suitable for the Fourth Mountain Brigade."

Bartlett also agrees with Simeone's words. The terrain of Vachari is indeed slightly more complex than that of Worla, which also results in the road conditions there being inferior to Worra. Letting the mountain brigade pass by will give full play to the lightness of its equipment. Besides, retaining the strength of the Fourteenth Division will make it better able to cope with various situations in the future.

Following Simone's order, the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Mountain Brigade, who had not fully recovered less than two days after disembarking from the ship, immediately packed up their luggage and prepared to set off after receiving the order. Colonel Ellance, the commander of the 4th Mountain Brigade, also immediately arranged the departure of the troops.

"Let the first regiment set off first, the second regiment after, and the headquarters and affiliated troops at the end."

Following his order, the 4th Mountain Brigade set off one after another.

Of course, there was basically no fighting in the Fourth Mountain Brigade on its way to Vachali this time. Even if there is, it is just a sporadic spontaneous action by local Albanians. However, these battles may be more appropriately called sweeps, and they cannot delay the Fourth Mountain Brigade at all. In the evening of the same day, Simeone received a message from Brigadier Ellans that they had occupied Vachari.

When the Fourth Mountain Brigade occupied Vachari, in the headquarters of the Second Macedonian Army, Lieutenant General Javad Pasha had just received a piece of intelligence, and his face was ugly.

"Damn it, the Italians confused us with their actions."

That's right, the information about the Italian army being restrained by the French exercises was finally known to the Ottomans.

Lieutenant General Javad Pasha, who received this telegram, had mixed emotions. This telegram came at a really bad time. If he could have known it four or five days in advance, he would have had other ideas. As for now, this is really bad. manage.

Because he had just received that Vola and Vachari had been abandoned, which put the garrison stationed in Tirana on an absolute defensive footing. If you want to change this situation, you must increase your troops, which is contrary to the policy he set at the beginning.

Perhaps seeing Jawad Pasha's hesitation, Major General Kahraman, the chief of staff of the army group, asked. "Then when the enemy attacks Tirana, can we send a surprise wave of reinforcements to prevent the enemy from being so presumptuous?"

Lieutenant General Javad Pasha certainly understood the meaning of the Chief of Staff's words, and wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to mobilize troops to give the Italians a hard blow. And it was not unwise to choose it when the enemy launched an attack on Tirana. Javad Pasha was naturally moved, but after carefully observing the map, he gave up the idea.

"Chief of Staff, although your idea is good, it is not easy to achieve such an effect. First of all, how to hide it from the enemy's sight. And even if we hide it, how can we defeat the enemy quickly instead of being entangled by it? .besides……"

Lieutenant General Javad Pasha asked several questions in succession, leaving Major General Kahraman at a loss as to how to answer them.

Seeing the look of the chief of staff, Javad Pasha could tell that he was just like himself, wanting to use this news to gain something. But he had not calculated the risks involved.

"Let's still prepare as before, continue to strengthen our positions and wait for the enemy's attack. It's much more difficult for us on the transportation line than our opponents."

Seeing that this news would not bring him any benefits, Lieutenant General Jawad Pasha was certainly not willing to give in. However, the risk involved in drastically changing the plan was too high and it was not worth it. The cautious Jawad Pasha, as the commander of the army, of course needs to consider all aspects, so it is better to be cautious.

However, although Lieutenant General Jawad Pasha chose to be cautious, the Italian side was not cautious at all. After five days of preparation, Simeone led the 8th and 14th divisions and most of the 4th Mountain Brigade to the outside of Tirana.

The first decent battle between Italy and Turkey was about to break out.