My Italy

With Carlo's strict orders, various urging orders issued from Rome forced all parties in the kingdom to speed up progress, the most eye-catching of which was the Italian Army in Albania.

The headquarters is located in the Balkan Army headquarters in Tirana. General Cardolna, the chief of general staff and commander of the army, has just dropped a telegram.

This was sent by General Saraguet, Minister of War. The content was mainly about King Carlo's requirements and asked him what else he needed.

Facing this obviously urging telegram from the Secretary of War, General Cardorna couldn't help but rub his somewhat swollen temples and smiled bitterly.

I originally thought that this location was a good job, but after arriving in Tirana, I realized that it was a hard job.

As the Minister of War said, the Ottoman defenders relied on the dangerous terrain of the Dinara Mountains to defend tenaciously. Due to the limitations of the mountains, the heavy firepower of the Italian army could not enter the mountains at all, and could only attack it with light artillery.

However, although Italy's light artillery has an advantage in quantity, the limitations of mountain combat cannot suppress the opponent's artillery like plain terrain.

Therefore, in the absence of artillery suppression effect, the Italian officers and soldiers had a particularly difficult time fighting.

Basically, it was a battle with the Ottoman defenders on the top of the mountains. Just climbing the mountains took a lot of energy.

And when they finally captured the hilltop and drove the enemy away, they found that there were still more positions and fortifications to fight for behind. This sight made many officers and soldiers feel really discouraged.

Moreover, the Ottoman defenders were not stupid. They used night attacks and cold-blooded attacks on Italian officers and soldiers from time to time, which made everyone even more nervous.

Therefore, the attack speed cannot be increased at all. We can only advance steadily and gradually at a speed of one or two kilometers per day.

However, this time the urging telegram sent from Rome put Admiral Cardorna under great pressure. He felt that he could not continue fighting like this.

At this time, the previous suggestions of Lieutenant General Simeone, commander of the Third Army, immediately came to his mind.

Cardorna is also a decisive person and immediately picked up the phone. "Immediately send someone to find Lieutenant General Simeone and tell him that I have something important to ask him."

Fortunately, the Third Army had just retreated in the past two days, which allowed him to quickly find Simeone.

About an hour later, Lieutenant General Simeone hurried to the headquarters. After a briefing, he finally came to General Cardorna. But the Admiral has a lot on his plate, and someone is still reporting on it.

Sitting on the bench outside the office, Simone faintly heard the sound coming from the door.

"Your progress is too slow. The heavy artillery must be transported to Ermeniti as soon as possible."

"I don't want to hear your explanation or your reasons. You only have two days. If you can't get it, I will personally send you to a military court."

General Simeone was extremely surprised when he heard General Cadorna's energetic voice penetrate the door. The chief of general staff rarely got angry, let alone such a big one.

But despite hearing these angry voices, Simeone was not worried about himself at all. You must know that his third army is the group with the best performance on the entire front. Even if it is to fight, it will not be his turn.

After a while, a general with the rank of major general walked out of the office with a frustrated expression.

Simonyi knew him. This was Major General Gardner, the commander of the Second Heavy Artillery Brigade. Although this man was only in charge of dozens of artillery pieces, the minimum calibers were all above 150 mm. However, due to the restrictions on heavy artillery in the mountains, he was not allowed to use them in the field. Nothing stands a chance in this war.

Of course, based on the news he just heard, it seemed that Admiral Cadorna was going to forcibly drag the heavy artillery into the mountain.

After greeting the nodding figure, Simeone was invited into the office.

"Simone, you're here."

Admiral Cardorna, who served as the commander, smiled when he saw Simeone coming in, and it was completely impossible to tell that he was so angry just now.

"Your Excellency, Chief of General Staff, here I come."

Faced with the friendly greetings from the Chief of General Staff, what else could Simeone do? Naturally, he had the same friendly attitude.

After both of them sat down, Admiral Cardorna continued. "Simone, after some consideration, I think the plan you proposed last time is feasible."

After hearing that the Chief of General Staff said that he wanted to consider his plan, although Simeone did not say it on the surface, he felt excited in his heart. In fact, it has been almost a week since he made the suggestion.

"So when does the program start?"

Simone's inquiry was not a problem for Admiral Cardorna, who took out a plan and said. "Let's start tomorrow. This is my slightly modified plan based on your plan. You can take a look first."

Simone took the plan and read it carefully without saying a word. Facing serious Simone, Admiral Cardorna did not disturb him. For a while, the only sounds in the office were the sound of the pendulum and the turning of books.

This plan is really based on Simeone's previous proposal. It concentrates Italy's four mountain brigades in Albania and his third army to form a powerful offensive force. Then the independent second heavy artillery brigade will also attack in two days. Joined, to gather superior troops and supplemented by powerful artillery, forcibly broke through the enemy's heavy troops deployed at Kicevo Pass, and invaded the Macedonian area.

The Kicevo Pass is the closest pass from Tirana to the Macedonian town of Prilep. There are currently five such passes from Albania to Macedonia, but the most important three are the ones leading to Prishti, the future region of Kosovo. Kukes Pass in Na, Gostivar Pass leading to the core Macedonian city of Skopje, and Kicevo Pass leading to Prilep.

The reason why Admiral Cadorna chose the Kicevo Pass is that Prilep is in an important position. It can not only threaten Skopje on the flanks through here, but also continue to threaten Macedonia's largest port Saloniga to the west, with its allies. Bulgarian troops converge.

Of course, this is just the general outline of the plan. In addition, it also covers various aspects such as troop assembly, attack direction breakdown, artillery configuration, etc. This content has twenty or thirty pages and requires at least an hour to read, and Simeone is enough. I watched it for an hour and a half.

During this period, Admiral Cardorna was sitting in his office, waiting for him to read the plan.

Admiral Cardorna asked after he put down the plan. "How about it?"

"It's much more complete than I thought before. I feel that according to the plan, we will definitely be able to break through the enemy's interception within five days."

After hearing Simone's words, Admiral Cardorna stretched out three fingers. "Only three days."

Simone was stunned by these words. Time must be too tight.

Seeing Simone's expression, Admiral Cardorna still didn't understand, so he directly told Carlo about giving him five days.

Since this is a forced order from the king, it seems that there is no room for negotiation in terms of time, and Simeone said simply, "That's okay, but I still need some supplies and equipment."

After hearing Simeone's words, Cardorna smiled. "Whatever you want, as long as it's available in Albania, I'll find it for you."

While the two of them were discussing the next battle plan, a large fleet was sailing towards Saloniga in the warm Aegean Sea.