The Romanian military observation group that Eder missed had already arrived in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, when Bulgaria declared war on the Ottomans. This time the military observation group was led by Fereit, commander of the 12th Division of the Romanian Army.
The Commander of the Freit Division left a deep impression in front of the Crown Prince and Chief of General Staff Plesan. Now this good impression has brought him a good job as the head of the military observation group. After he got the head of the group
The commanders of other divisions were very jealous when he was on duty. He believed that if his superiors were satisfied with this observation, it would bring great convenience to his advancement.
After the Romanian military observation group stayed in Sofia for a day, they went down to join the Bulgarian army. Most of the members of the observation group were sent to the First Bulgarian Army, which was the main force of Bulgaria's attack on Western Thrace.
Their commander was Lieutenant General Vasil Kutinchev, a general with a keen sense of battlefield situations and who had participated in the Bulgarian War.
In this war, he commanded a partial Bulgarian division with the rank of major general. With his amazing battlefield sense, he defeated the Serbian army's 25,000 snipers with 17,000 men in the Budakos area.
He defeated the main force of 67,000 people led by King Ferdinand I and almost surrounded the main force of 56,000 Serbian troops. With this achievement, Lieutenant General Vasil Kutinchev was promoted to lieutenant general by the king. Now General Ferdinand I
Bulgaria has entrusted him with the main force, obviously hoping that he can achieve great results again and make greater contributions to Bulgaria.
And he has the most elite troops in Bulgaria. Among them, the commander of the 1st Infantry Division is Major General Toshev, the commander of the 3rd Infantry Division is Major General Sarafov, and the commander of the 10th Infantry Division is Major General Brady Slilov.
, here I would like to focus on the Third Division. This division has three brigades and six regiments, with a number of 31,000 people, which is larger than the average Bulgarian wartime division.
The First Army now has 95,000 troops. The Bulgarian military has also reinforced most of the machine guns and artillery provided by Romania. The First Army now has 72,000 rifles, 186 machine guns, and 287 artillery pieces. Although most of them
Some of them are small and medium-caliber artillery, but they are considered the most elite ones in the Bulgarian army.
In accordance with the alliance's division of labor, Bulgaria focused on operations in Thrace and Macedonia. It deployed its main force in Thrace, consisting of three armies. The First Army (95,370 men) was led by General Vasil Kudinchev and three infantrymen
Division, deployed south of Yambol, operating along the Densa River. The Second Army (102,748 men), under the leadership of General Nikolai Ivanov, consisted of two infantry divisions and an infantry brigade
, deployed to the west of I Corps and assigned to capture the powerful fortress of Adrianople (Edirne).
According to these plans, the Third Army (94,884 men), under the leadership of General Radiko Dimitriev, was deployed to the east and behind the First Army, with cavalry units covering it out of sight of Turkey. The Third Army had three
infantry divisions, and were sent across the Stranian Mountains and to lead the Kirk Kilis fortress. The 2nd (49,180) and 7th (48,523 men) corps were assigned independent roles, in Western Thrace and
Battle in East Macedonia.
The nominal commander-in-chief of the Bulgarian army was Tsar Ferdinand I, but in fact control and leadership rested with his deputy, Lieutenant General Mikhail Savov.
At this point, I would like to mention that at that time, this kind of conscripted military establishment was commonly used in the Balkan Peninsula. The establishment of the army was divided into wartime establishment and peacetime establishment. In peacetime, a division was estimated to have more than 10,000 people, but in wartime, a large number of reserves were recruited.
It will be more than 20,000 in no time. This method saves military expenses, and usually only needs to ensure the training of technical arms. However, this method has a huge shortcoming. The organizational power is not high, and the soldiers' military capabilities are low and they cannot complete too much.
The tactics were too complex and could not withstand too high casualties. Therefore, at that time, hundreds of thousands of people from both sides often fought, and in the end thousands of casualties were lost, and one side lost morale and retreated.
However, since all countries now have this conscription model, the gap is not obvious yet. It will not be until after World War I that the standing army model will gradually emerge. Nowadays, the standing army model like Romania is still relatively rare.
On the third day after the war began, various Bulgarian armies launched attacks across the border against the Ottoman Army.
"Hurry, hurry up."
In the Seventh Company of the Third Battalion of the Second Regiment of the First Division of the First Bulgarian Army, company commander Sakdov was encouraging his subordinate soldiers to speed up their pace. These soldiers were panting heavily with sweat on their foreheads and followed
The footsteps of the comrades are heading towards the destination.
After cheering on his soldiers, he took out his pocket watch from his coat pocket and checked the time. He said to his deputy, Second Lieutenant Bodnov, "It seems that our marching speed is pretty good. We should arrive at Poirot before six o'clock in the afternoon."
The small village of Nika.”
"It should be okay, company commander. I heard that the friendly forces in front of us just had a battle with the Ottoman army in a small town called Karosman. These Ottoman troops were poorly trained and were defeated by them in one blow." Second Lieutenant Bodnov
After answering his boss, tell him the information he just received.
Captain Sackdorf looked at him a little strangely. "How did you get this news?"
Second Lieutenant Bodnov told the source of his information. "The messenger named Spurf who passed by just now told me. He also asked for a cigarette from me as reward."
Captain Sackdorf suddenly remembered that a messenger on horseback asked them for water before, and it was probably at that time that his deputy got the news.
After hearing the good news, Captain Sackdorf smiled and said to his deputy. "It seems we have to speed up, otherwise the Ottoman army will be wiped out."
After saying this, Captain Sackov followed his soldiers forward, and Second Lieutenant Bodnov quickly followed.
When the Bulgarian grassroots troops were advancing towards their respective goals, in the headquarters of the First Army, Lieutenant General Vasil Kutinchev was asking about the progress of each department.
"Where is the First Division now?"
The communications officer who heard his commander's question replied, "They just sent a telegram in the morning. The First Division just crossed the border and arrived at a small town called Karosman. Here they defeated the Ottoman blockade of 3,000 people."
After hearing the communications staff's answer, Lieutenant General Vasil Kutinchev took a military map and found this small town called Karosman, which is right on the border. He was quite satisfied with the result of the advance.
"Is there any other news?" Lieutenant General Sirkutinchev continued to ask the communications staff with his head buried in the map.
"After defeating the blockade of a small group of Ottoman troops in the border town of Serio, the Second Army is heading towards Luledor. The Third Army is in the Charvotte area."
Lieutenant General Silkutinchev listened to the staff report and quickly found the location of the friendly forces on the map. On the map, their three armies marched in a zigzag shape, and his first army was the arrow.
While Lieutenant General Sirkutinchev was looking at the map and considering the next military action, Major General Toshev was also wondering about the intelligence in the first division's headquarters.
The 3,000-man Ottoman army they defeated in the town was reported by the pursuing subordinate troops and retreated to a town called Lule Burgas fifteen kilometers away. The pursuing troops saw that there were a large number of positions there.
Moreover, the Ottoman army was very large, estimated to be tens of thousands, and they quickly retreated. Now he was considering whether to launch a test attack to confirm, or to report directly to Lieutenant General Sirkutinchev. In the end, he decided to report first.
PS Mantou is going crazy trying to find information on all parties in the Balkan War. There is too little information on this war. If any book friends who know the detailed information can join the group to chat privately with Mantou, thank you.
