Admiral Cadorna indeed received the news earlier than Rome. He received the news at his headquarters in the morning when the Ottomans began to take action in Adrianople. Apart from the distance, he was well-informed.
There was also help from the Bulgarians.
As for the reason, you don't need to guess. They also want to use this news to stimulate the Italians. After all, most of the Bulgarian troops are in Adrianople, so helping the Italians is helping themselves.
The Bulgarians were right. When General Cadorna learned about the Ottoman attack in Adrianople, he immediately realized the problem.
The Ottomans wanted to rescue the surrounded Macedonian army, so they launched a desperate attack on the Bulgarians.
As the supreme commander of the Macedonian region, Admiral Cadorna has enough experience to know what to do, and now he must step up the offensive against Skopje.
The meaning of this is not that the previous coalition offensive against Skopje was not enough. You must know that whether it was the Italian army as the main force or the Bulgarian and Montenegrin troops attacking on the side, the offensive against Skopje was equally fierce. But Naihe seemed to know that it was him.
As if in the final battle, the local Ottoman defenders seemed to have taken a hit of gunpowder and braced themselves to withstand the allied offensive.
Even if the casualties were considerable, they were still not allowed to retreat at all. Therefore, it is a pity that the coalition forces still failed to break through the outer positions of the Ottoman defenders.
The experienced General Cadorna naturally knew the intentions of the defenders. The opponent wanted to take advantage of the peripheral terrain to block the coalition's offensive.
Cardorna had to praise this. The opponent's commander, General Yilmaz, did a very good job, because as long as you open the map, you can see that Skopje is actually in a basin-like terrain, surrounded by mountains and hills.
The terrain means that if the defenders want to defend the place, they must stick to the surrounding perimeter.
Therefore, the Ottomans cannot use the combat plan of Pleven Fortress in the 10th Turkish-Russian War this time. They can only defend the periphery, not the city. Besides, the two are different. Skopje is a city, not a fortress. For now
Under such firepower, local buildings with brick and wood structures could not withstand the artillery attack of the coalition forces.
Faced with the Ottomans' tortoise-shell defensive tactics, there are actually many ways to solve them. Take the most reliable method at present, the Italians conduct a step-by-step camp, with artillery as the leader, align themselves to carry out a fierce attack, and then use infantry to attack them.
Offensive, the casualty figures of such an offensive are definitely very good. The only drawback is that the time is too slow, and the ammunition consumption is not small.
However, this method is definitely not a good one for the current Admiral Cardorna, because it takes too much time and does not meet his requirements at all.
For this reason, he thought of another way. He called his secretary and asked.
"Is Lieutenant General Simeone here?"
"It hasn't arrived yet. When I called to inquire before, Lieutenant General Simeone had already set off not long ago. He is expected to arrive soon."
After hearing the secretary's answer, Admiral Cardorna continued, "When he arrives, bring him to see me immediately."
"As you command, Your Excellency."
After the secretary left, the Chief of Staff of the Italian Army lowered his head to deal with the documents on his desk that were about to be buried. This was his workload today.
As for Lieutenant General Simeone, whom General Cadorna was waiting for, he had just arrived in the town where the army headquarters was located.
Simeone sat on the carriage and looked at the extremely busy town. He had just led the team to withdraw from the position two days ago. He was summoned by the Chief of General Staff as soon as he took a breath.
When the driver showed his ID to the town checkpoint sentry, he noticed that the town was busier than the last time he came here. After passing the checkpoint, the carriage went directly to the army headquarters.
As soon as his feet stepped onto the entrance of the command post, an officer who had been waiting at the door immediately came forward to greet him.
"Hello, Lieutenant General Simeone, the general is waiting for you in the office."
"OK."
Simone was greeted and immediately followed him with three steps and two steps at a time.
After entering the headquarters, a noisy scene appeared in front of him, full of officers walking fast. Simone passed through them and walked all the way to Admiral Cardorna's office.
When he arrived at the door, the secretary knocked on his door.
"What's up?"
Admiral Cadorna's voice came from inside.
"Your Excellency, Lieutenant General Simeone is here."
"Invite him in quickly."
As Admiral Cardorna's voice fell, Simeone stepped into the office.
"Simone, have a good journey."
Admiral Cadorna, who saw Simone, asked him with a smile on his face.
Faced with Admiral Cadorna's inquiry, Simeone responded naturally. "It went very well, Your Excellency, Admiral."
After a brief greeting, the two soldiers immediately got down to business.
"Based on the current offensive, Simeone, how long do you think we can take to break through the enemy's defenses?"
Faced with the question raised by Admiral Cadorna, Simeone, who had carefully observed the front line position, thought for a while and replied. "If nothing happens in the middle, it will take at least half a month."
Simeone's answer made General Cadorna very satisfied, because he had also inspected the front-line positions, and the results were the same as his observations.
The main reason why both military commanders answered this way is that the current offensive is not going well. Although in the early stages of the battle, Italy took advantage of heavy artillery to force the Ottoman defenders to abandon their positions, but relying on the advantages of the mountainous terrain, they allowed them to give up their positions.
The offensive was very difficult in the second half.
The main problem is that the coalition offensive is already within the range of the Ottoman heavy artillery. Every time they attack, the heavy artillery from the Ottoman army brings the coalition offensive to a halt.
No one is willing to launch a life-threatening offensive under the bombardment of various enemy artillery. Even the Bulgarians, who are famous for their bravery, do the same.
This has happened before. The Bulgarian army wanted to increase its attack power. As a result, a brigade of troops was bombarded by various enemy artillery and was beaten back before it reached the position. It suffered nearly half of the casualties, leaving the Bulgarians
No one dared to launch an attack the next day.
Some people may ask, since the Ottoman artillery is so fierce, where are the Allied artillery?
Thanks to the mountainous terrain, although the number of coalition artillery far exceeded that of the Ottomans, the chance of the artillery entering mountainous operations being able to exert its full strength was slim.
Because the weight of current artillery is not very light, which also makes it inconvenient to move. When facing various artillery placed in bunkers by defenders, mountain operations require coalition artillery that can be maneuvered at any time. And coalition heavy artillery is even less likely to enter mountainous areas.
It can be composed of light artillery, which greatly reduces its strike power.
Therefore, when the enemy occupies the terrain advantage and the artillery cannot suppress the opponent, the front-line officers and soldiers cannot exert their combat effectiveness. At present, we can only slowly wear down the enemy, and at the same time wear down ourselves.
Admiral Cardorna waited until Simone finished speaking before he continued. "This is just like what I thought. It is difficult to defeat the enemy quickly with the current method alone. So if we want to defeat the defenders as soon as possible, then
We must find another way.”
After hearing what Admiral Cadorna said, Simonina still didn't know the purpose of looking for him this time.
"Chief of General Staff, if you have any idea, just give the order directly."
"Don't worry, I came to you just because I need you to be this sharp knife to tear open the enemy's defense line."
Having said this, General Cadorna thought for a while and asked, "How many troops do you have in the Third Army currently?"
"Currently, my Third Army still has 32,000 combat effectiveness."
Hearing Simeone's answer, General Cardorna couldn't help but frowned, because this force was a bit small. You must know that the Third Army had 42,000 people at full strength. However, considering that the Third Army had fought before
After several fierce battles, it is reasonable to think that the loss of troops will be relatively large.
Thinking of this, General Cardorna then said, "I will let the General 3rd Mountain Brigade operate together with your 3rd Army, under your command."
Having said this, after looking at the other party, Cardorna picked up the baton and talked about the next tasks that Simeone needs to do.
"After your Third Army has merged with the Third Mountain Brigade, you will use the cover of night to assemble toward Kumanovo, east of Skopje, where the Bulgarian army is located. After you are in place, I will attack you before you launch an assault.
Let all ministries step up their offensive and hold off the enemy. Then as a surprise force, you will unexpectedly join forces with the Bulgarians.
Quickly break through the enemy's defense line in the east. After breaking through the enemy's position, you continue to approach the city of Skopje. If you have a chance, take the city. The main difficulty of this operation is concealment. I will before you start,
Drive away the locals along the way, and then you have to rely on yourself. Are there any problems?"
"No problem, but I have a small request."
Facing Simone's words, Admiral Cardorna asked, "If you have any requests, you can make them now."
"I need ammunition for at least seven days of fighting." At this point, Simeone explained. "It is mainly to increase the firepower output and to prevent possible unexpected situations."
"No problem, I will have the logistics department prepare the ammunition you need for you. Are there any other questions?"
"there is none left."
In fact, after Admiral Cadorna told the plan, Simone thought about it carefully. He also knew that the first condition for the operation was concealment, and after hearing the preparations made by Admiral Cadorna in advance,
While working, he thought this battle could be fought.
Then the two discussed for nearly two hours, mainly about the details of the plan, the deployment of troops, etc., and the march route was also within the scope of discussion. When Simeone finally walked out of the general's office, he immediately boarded the waiting room
He took a carriage and rushed back to the headquarters of the Third Army overnight. According to the plan he discussed with the general, the Third Army and the Third Mountain Brigade needed to launch an offensive early in the morning the day after tomorrow. The time was tight and the tasks were heavy, so he naturally had no choice but to keep going.
