Greece’s Roman Road

The gloomy sky was densely clouded with lead, vultures hovered over the battlefield, and the air was filled with the strange smell of carrion, blood and sulphur.

The open space between the Greek defenses and the Bulgarian army was littered with dead bodies.

For the next two days, the battle line near the Nizhny Tarovs fortress became the focus of the battle between the Greek and Bulgarian troops.

In order to break through the defense line of the Greek army, Ivanov adopted several methods, changing from a full-line attack to a key breakthrough, or even a night attack method. In order to change the predicament, Ivanov made attempts.

After five days of offensive, the Bulgarian army on Kavala's side had not made any significant progress.

The continuous fierce attack has caused more than 20,000 Bulgarian soldiers casualties in just a few days. Ivanov had to bear the huge pressure and stopped the attack on his own initiative.

"Captain Johnkovich, you have been commanding the attacking troops at the forefront these days. I need your opinion. Our attack is not going well. What do you have to say?" Ivanov said silently in the camp. said the captain.

The reason why the Bulgarian army's continuous offensive was hindered was because the Greek army had adopted unprecedented new tactics. Ivanov, who had an important military mission, was eager to understand the characteristics of the new Greek tactics. Several junior officers in command of the front-line army were called to the camp to find a countermeasure.

In just a few days, John Covic, an optimistic and cheerful mid-level and junior officer, has become reticent under the baptism of high frequency of death.

"Sir, I beg you, don't let the soldiers go to death needlessly, this is a trap, the advantage of the Greek soldiers hiding in the trenches is too great, our artillery bombardment has no effect on the rats hiding in the trenches. "

"When attacking, the Greek soldiers were protected by bunkers, and the bombing area was small, but our soldiers needed to move forward quickly and charge towards the enemy's position. Three or four hundred meters away, the rifles of the Greek soldiers could hit us with a high hit rate. soldier shooting"

"In addition to the infantry behind the bunker, after we got close, there were also the Maxim heavy machine guns, the German son of a bitch, who made such evil weapons, our brothers were swept to the ground in droves"

"Sir, a frontal attack on such a position is impossible. Soldiers just die in vain."

As a battle-hardened general, Ivanov, who had not been able to attack smoothly, was in a sullen mood. When he saw the submissive company commander in front of him, he was furious. He rushed forward, grabbed Johnkovich's collar, and roared. Said: "It is because of a weak and incompetent officer like you that we cannot win."

Ivanov gasped violently because of the rage in his chest. After calming down, he also understood that the lower-ranking officer in front of him had probably suffered too much mental shock in the past two days, so he suppressed his voice and said, "There is no way to break through the **** thing. Greek trenches?"

Ivanov was so impatient because, as a senior officer, he clearly understood that the situation in Bulgaria was not optimistic.

Bulgaria's economic foundation is not as good as Greece's. The continuous war has overwhelmed Greece's finances, not to mention Bulgaria.

Almost all of the funds for this military operation in Bulgaria were obtained from German-Austrian loans.

Hundreds of thousands of prime-age men joined the army, and many more worked for the army, which brought production in Bulgaria to a near standstill.

If the war cannot be resolved quickly within a month or two, it will be a failure for Bulgaria.

In addition, although the number of Bulgarian troops has an advantage over Greece, due to the poor relationship between Bulgaria and all its neighboring countries, they have to station some troops in the border areas to contain the other side and prevent the other side from looting.

The Ottoman Empire was brooding about the loss of Thrace, and Romania also had ambitions for Dobroga in Bulgaria. Once Bulgaria fell into decline, I am afraid that the surrounding countries would attack Bulgaria.

This resulted in the inability of Bulgaria to concentrate its forces against the Greek army.

The total number of Bulgarian soldiers now participating in the offensive against the Greek lines is only about 400,000.

The rest of the Bulgarian soldiers were forced to stand at the border to contain countries that were deeply hostile to Bulgaria.

Before the war, the Bulgarian military estimated that the Greek army was about 300,000 people. As for the 150,000 Congolese indigenous soldiers convened by Greece, they were not counted.

For the current unfavorable situation, Ivanov can only pray that De Austria can keep the diplomatic promise made to Bulgaria when he instigated Bulgaria to start: regardless of success or failure, De Austria will guarantee Bulgaria's territorial integrity with its national credibility.

It was this commitment made by the German and Austrian side that finally made King Ferdinand (King of Bulgaria) make the decision to attack Greece.

Ferdinand would naturally not ignore the vicious situation that the neighboring countries had territorial intentions against Bulgaria. After receiving this promise from Germany and Austria, Ferdinand decided to let go and compete with the Greeks for Macedonia.

Deo stood for Bulgaria and, whether successful or not, would ensure the territorial integrity of Bulgaria and successfully persuaded the ambitious king.

On June 30, Constantine, who was in Athens, received a telegram from Manugianaski that the offensive of the Bulgarian army had been successfully contained.

After getting the news, Constantine, together with the chief of staff Emai Nur, hurried to the prime minister's residence, looking for Prime Minister Venizelos to discuss matters.

"Mr. Prime Minister, you should also know the information from the Macedonian front line," Constantine said to Venizelos easily.

"His Royal Highness, congratulations, under your command, the Greek army successfully repelled the enemy again," Venizelos said with a smile.

"Although the war situation has eased now, and it is the Greek army's turn to take the initiative, we cannot defeat the enemy directly by means of trenches," Prime Minister Emai Noor interjected.

"Now the Greek army and Bulgaria are at a stalemate. Even if we can finally defeat the Bulgarians, it will inevitably bring Greece into a long-term war. Prime Minister, every day the war drags on will cost the government a lot of money. If we can do diplomatically With some efforts, this war may be brought to a quick end," said Emma Inur.

The continuous wars have seriously overdrafted Greece's finances. It is our common expectation to end the wars as soon as possible.

Venizelos also served as the foreign minister of Greece, and was initially appreciated by Constantine. With the help of the royal family, he successfully became the prime minister. It was also because of his outstanding diplomatic ability that made him stand out.

"Since the start of the war, Greek diplomats have been working hard, trying to lobby other neighboring countries to join the alliance against Bulgaria," Venizelos said.

"It's just that when the Greek army has not made a breakthrough in the frontal battlefield, countries are still in a wait-and-see state."

As a wise diplomat, Venizelos will naturally not ignore the irreconcilable contradictions between Bulgaria and neighboring countries, which is a favorable condition for Greece.

During this time, Venizelos frequently urged the Greek ambassadors to foreign countries to test the attitudes of the countries around the Balkans.

Including Serbia, Romania, and the Ottoman Empire, the governments of the three countries have recently received many visits from Greek diplomats.

It's just that the attitudes of the various countries have been surprisingly consistent. The three countries have kept silent on the invitation of Greece, even the Ottoman Empire, which hates Bulgaria to the core, is no exception.

"The actions of various countries did not exceed my expectations. They will naturally make the most favorable choice for their own country. Before the Bulgarian army shows obvious decline, they will not easily express their position."

"Once the Bulgarian army shows defeat, the attitude of the Balkan countries will naturally change," Venizelos said confidently.

Constantine agreed with Venizelos' analysis. The attitudes of various countries depended on the performance of the Greek army.

If the Greek army is defeated by the Bulgarian army, Romania and the Ottomans will naturally stay out of the way, and it is impossible to provoke the Bulgarian army, which has won consecutive battles.

And Serbia will definitely fall to the ground and attack Macedonia in Greece.

In the same way, once the Bulgarian war is setback, the three countries that also have territorial disputes with Bulgaria will naturally swarm up and beat the underdogs.

As long as Bulgaria is in trouble, you can get a piece of the pie from Bulgaria at a small price and almost without taking any risks. This kind of guaranteed profit is naturally what countries are willing to do.

Thinking of this, Constantine asked: "So what is the Prime Minister's plan? Where do you plan to make a breakthrough?"

Now the offensive of the Bulgarian army is firmly defended by the Greek army, and the war situation has only entered a stalemate.

After all, the use of trenches for defensive operations did give the Greek army a favorable position. It would take a lot of trouble to directly defeat the Bulgarian army by relying on trenches.

The current situation is delicate. Once Greece can win over a helper to deal with Bulgaria, then the stalemate can immediately change to the direction of Greek victory.

"I plan to visit Constantinople immediately, contact the Ottoman Empire, then cross the Bosphorus Strait, pass the Black Sea, and go to Romania. As long as I can win over the two countries and join the anti-Bulgarian alliance, there will be no Serbia with an ambiguous attitude. Other options," Venizelos said.

The Ottoman Empire, which had lost a great deal of Balkan territory in previous wars, was not afraid that they would not be tempted.

Especially after the loss of Eastern Thrace, after Bulgaria occupied Edirne, the former capital of the Ottoman Empire, there was no buffer between Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria!

The capital of the Ottoman Empire became a frontier city, under constant threat of Bulgarian troops.

In fact, there are also reasons why Bulgaria welcomes the olive branch extended by Deo.

As an important member of the Entente, Russia is well known for its ambitions for Constantinople.

But after the Balkan Wars, Constantinople was only one step away from Bulgaria, and King Ferdinand seemed to immediately take the famous city into his hands.

For Russia, Bulgaria is a little brother supported by itself - Bulgaria was able to gain independence from the Ottoman Empire, or Russia, the big brother, spared no effort to help, and it was successful.

Now Bulgaria has in turn made demands on Russia's Constantinople.

During the Balkan Wars, the Bulgarian army tried to attack Constantinople, but failed.

Such a performance by Bulgaria will naturally arouse the fear and disgust of Russia, and Russia, as one of the three giants of the Entente, has a huge influence in the Entente.

Therefore, it is not surprising that Bulgaria fell into the arms of the Allies represented by Germany and Austria.

Constantine thought of this and couldn't help but admire Ferdinand's plan.

The reason is also very simple, stay in the Entente, in the case of Russian opposition, Bulgaria has no hope of getting Constantinople at all.

On the side of the Allies, Bulgaria has such an opportunity to take the city of Constantinople into its hands.

"The Ottoman Empire has always been obsessed with the lost Thrace. As far as I know, the Ottoman Empire has now deployed hundreds of thousands of troops on the new Bulgaria-Ottoman border. Once they have the opportunity, they will never let go of recovering Thrace. opportunity," Constantine said.

"As for Romania, I'm afraid it's not that easy to win over Romania to join the anti-guarantee alliance," Constantine pondered.

After the independence of the Kingdom of Romania, King Carol I was a distant relative of the royal family of Hohenzollern in Germany.

Before becoming king of Romania, he held public office in Prussia.

Because the king was from the Hohenzollern family, Romania had a very close relationship with Germany.

In other words, Romania's shot against Bulgaria will naturally be opposed by Germany.

Currently Romania is a country close to the Allies.

"His Royal Highness, this is not the era when feudal monarchs put personal likes and dislikes and interests above national interests," Venizelos said.

"His Majesty King Carol cannot harm Romania's national interests because of his family ties"

"If King Carol didn't even have such political consciousness, he would never be able to sit firmly on the Romanian throne."

Constantine thought of the king who founded the Hohenzollern dynasty in Romania, and also felt that Venizelos was right.

Emai Nur, who has been listening, is obviously relieved. These days, Emai Nur, who is the chief of the general staff, has been under enormous pressure.

If Prime Minister Venizelos' visit goes well and win over an ally for Greece, even if this ally does not really send troops, but only takes some actions in the border area to attract the attention of the Bulgarian army and contain part of the Bulgarian army, it can greatly share the burden The pressure of the Greek army.