In the headquarters of the First Army, Lieutenant General Silkutinchev received the intelligence from Major General Toshewei, thought about it, and said to the communications staff: "Send a report to the First Division and ask them to report to Lule Burgas."
Launch an attack to test it out."
After receiving the telegram from Lieutenant General Silkutinchev, the commander of the 1st Division, Major General Toshevii, began to prepare for tomorrow's attack.
Luleburgas, which was about to be attacked by the First Army, had 27,000 Ottoman troops, and behind it there were 21,000 troops ready to support. The Ottomans had 147,000 troops on the line from Luleburgas to Budahirsar.
The person who commanded this line of defense was Zam Pasha, the commander-in-chief of the Ottoman army, and the one who defended the key point of Lule Burgas was his right-hand man Artha Pasha.
Zam Pasha's decisive border strategy in Macedonia has failed, but he also has his own reasons. The local situation in the Ottoman European territories is very turbulent. If they retreat, the people everywhere will no longer obey Ottoman rule, and European countries are weak to the Ottoman Empire.
The essence will be clearly seen. Therefore, with the army at an absolute disadvantage, he can only hope that the army will perform well to save the situation. Unfortunately, he underestimated the strength of the Balkan countries and overestimated the quality of the Ottoman army. Even if Macedonia loses, in the West
He did not dare to give in on the outer lines of Thrace, the Ottoman capital. Now he is the only one who takes personal command and hopes to save the situation. May Allah bless him.
Early the next morning, in a small village called Polonika, the Seventh Company of the Third Battalion of the Second Regiment of the First Division got up early. After breakfast, they would prepare to go to
Marching to Lule Burgas, sixteen kilometers away, the battalion headquarters sent a messenger last night, saying that today the entire regiment would launch an attack on the Ottoman army entrenched there.
This made Captain Sackov and Second Lieutenant Bodnov, who had long wanted to fight the Ottoman army, very happy. So they got the soldiers up early in the morning to have breakfast, intending to make peace with these pagan troops and liberate them.
Let the oppressed and suffering people of Western Thrace bask in the light of the Lord's mercy.
After breakfast, Captain Sackov walked to Second Lieutenant Bodnov and asked his deputy loudly, "Second Lieutenant Bodnov, are everyone here?"
Facing his commander's question, Second Lieutenant Bodnov also answered loudly. "Excluding the cooking squad, the actual number of people in the whole company is 258. There are 258 people. The whole company has arrived."
Captain Sackdorff was very satisfied with his deputy's answer. After showing the majesty of his company commander, he ordered, "Prepare two columns and set off."
Following Sackdorf's order, the Seventh Company began to march towards Lule Burgas in two columns. Many subordinates of the First Division scattered nearby got up early like them, marching neatly towards Lule Burgas.
March forward to Luleburgas, the scheduled location. Viewed from the sky, the units of the First Division follow each other like streams flowing into a river. The marching route is on the road, approaching Luleburgas.
At close to noon, the First Division had arrived at the outskirts of Lule Burgas. Lule Burgas is located in a gap in the Gaslow Mountains. There is a road leading to Istanbul from behind. This is also a place that the Ottoman Empire cannot give up.
reason.
After the 7th Company joined the large forces of the 1st Division and arrived here, they first built their positions, while the 2nd Regiment to which the 7th Company belonged rested. The Ottoman army had no intention of sending troops to harass them. They wore small round hats and watched quietly.
The actions of the First Division.
After lunch, the launching position had been built. The artillerymen of the First Division pulled the cannon onto the newly built emplacement and piled fresh soil around the emplacement.
The Seventh Company also followed the Second Regiment into the starting position. Company Commander Sackdorf encouraged his men loudly. "Those Ottoman troops are like quails. As long as you rush in front of them, these people will flee, so
All you have to do now is press forward to win."
While Captain Sackdorf was encouraging his men, Major General Toshevii was also observing the Ottoman position with high-powered binoculars in the temporary headquarters of the 1st Division.
After observing the Ottoman position on the opposite side, Major General Toshevich said to the division chief of staff Donotov next to him: "This probing attack is not easy to fight."
Chief of Staff Donotov, who was observing with him, agreed. "Yes, I saw that the number of people in the opposite position is no less than that of our first division, and our artillery is not dominant, so I suggest that we test the strength of this attack a little bit."
That’s fine.”
After hearing the suggestion from the chief of staff, the division commander asked Major General Tuoshewei to think for a moment and then replied, "That's fine."
After answering the chief of staff, Commander Toshewei looked at the time. It was exactly two o'clock, and ordered the staff officer around him. "Let the artillery fire first."
Under the order of Major General Toshevich, the 1st Division brought 54 artillery pieces and launched a fierce bombardment on the Ottoman front-line positions. For a time, the position was filled with smoke, and from time to time, Ottoman soldiers could be seen being killed on the position.
Captain Sackdorff, who was on the starting position, saw this scene and shouted loudly, "Well done."
This smoke-filled scene, coupled with the excitement of launching an attack, made him extremely excited.
However, due to the small amount of ammunition carried, the bombardment came and went quickly, and it only lasted half an hour before it stopped.
At this time, they heard their leader yell loudly, "Attack."
Company Commander Sackdorf was the first to rush out of the trench and shouted, "Follow me."
When the soldiers of the Seventh Company saw their company commander's actions, they rushed out with great courage, and the other companies of the Second Regiment also rushed out.
Major General Toshewei, who was observing the attack in the headquarters, nodded. He was very satisfied with the combative state of his soldiers.
On the battlefield, Sackov led the second regiment soldiers towards the Ottoman army's position. The defensive artillery fire arrived as expected, bombarding the offensive troops of the second regiment. From time to time, soldiers were affected by the explosions of artillery shells, and there were many Bulgarian soldiers.
Soldiers fell on the charging road.
Since the Ottoman artillery was aimed at most of the follow-up troops of the Second Regiment, the Seventh Company, which was the first to charge, suffered very few casualties, and the company commander Sackdorf was still very active.
Of course, the artillery of the First Division would not let its troops bear the bombardment alone. When the Ottoman artillery appeared to bombard the Bulgarian army, the counterattack artillery fire also hit the defenders' artillery positions, reminding them not to forget their existence. So the Ottoman artillery was divided into
Half of the artillery was deployed to counterattack the artillery of the Bulgarian First Division, which greatly reduced the pressure on the attacking second regiment.
Along the way, the second regiment withstood the Ottoman army's artillery attack and rushed forward. Captain Sackdorf was still in the lead. After running 250 meters away from the Ottoman front-line position, he increased his vigilance and saw the unique small round shape of the Ottoman army.
The hat appeared in front of him, and he became more vigilant. After seeing the Ottoman troops in the trench raising their guns, he shouted.
"Lie down."
The whole person fell down on a low-lying terrain in front of him, his body close to the ground. After hearing his shouting, the subordinates behind him all fell to the ground in a similar manner.
"Bah~bah~bah"
A burst of gunfire rang out, and many Bulgarian soldiers who had no time to lie down were hit. They fell to the ground and could not get up again. The soldiers behind them had no time to grieve and continued to charge.
Sackdorff and his men lay on the ground to fight back while waiting for the follow-up soldiers of the Second Regiment to catch up. For a while, the soldiers from both sides were fighting lively in front of the position. Sackdorff quickly got up when he saw the follow-up troops following up.
, holding a pistol in one hand and waving a command knife in the other, shouting.
"Go ahead."
The soldiers of the Seventh Company stood up and rushed up with their heroic company commander. Sackdorf dodged from left to right like a civet cat and quickly approached the Ottoman position, surprising the Ottoman soldiers on the position.
Taking advantage of their surprise, Sackdorf rushed into the position. Before they could react, he took a pistol and shot several Ottoman soldiers around him. These soldiers were shot one after another.
He was hit by a pistol at close range and fell to the ground. Sackdorf threw the unloaded pistol towards a soldier who was aiming at him.
"Snapped"
The soldier who was disturbed by him missed his shot. Of course, Sackdorfer would not give him a second chance. He picked up the saber in his hand and rushed in front of him, ducked sideways to avoid his thrust, and killed him with a backhand knife.
In just a few seconds, he single-handedly killed several Ottoman soldiers around him. The other Ottoman soldiers were stunned by his heroic performance.
At this time, the soldiers of the Seventh Company and the Second Regiment also rushed into the trenches, and for a while both sides were engaged in hand-to-hand combat. As time passed, the Ottoman soldiers gradually lost to the Bulgarian soldiers. At this time, a large number of Ottoman troops came from behind the position for reinforcements.
The commander of the second regiment who followed the soldiers shouted.
"retreat."
The Bulgarian soldiers ran out of the Ottoman trenches that they had finally captured and ran towards their own positions.
Major General Toshewei, who was watching the battle from the rear, commented on the offensive to the chief of staff beside him. "The soldiers did a good job."
"indeed."
Hearing the words of approval from the Chief of Staff, Major General Toshewei sighed and continued. "However, we still don't have enough troops. The Ottoman army's second-line position only used half of its strength, and the third-line position showed no response at all, which shows that they have sufficient strength. And I pay attention.
Only half of the artillery positions on the position were firing, and the other half was completely silent. There was only the sound of rifles and no movement of machine guns, and the position was destroyed by us with one blow. This was an inducement for me to continue to invest more troops and increase the attack.
, he underestimates me too much."
After hearing Major General Toshev's analysis, Chief of Staff Donotov asked, "How should we send a message to the Lieutenant General?"
"Let's just say that the enemy has strong troops and strong positions in Luleburgas, and our First Army probably won't be able to take it down." After Major General Toshewei told his chief of staff the plan, he planned to return to the headquarters.
But after taking two steps, he turned around and said, "I admire the commander who was at the front of the attack today. Please go and commend him for me."
"Well, I like to reward heroic subordinates the most." Chief of Staff Donotov said with a smile. He also liked this heroic officer a little bit.
Captain Sackdorf didn't know that his war-god-like performance had attracted the attention of the two division commanders, but he would soon find out.
In this test attack, the First Division tested the strength of the Ottoman position at the cost of 549 casualties. The Ottoman army failed to lure the First Division to continue the attack at the cost of 443 people. I believe that it will not be long before the two sides will fight again.
There is another chance to fight.
PS The next chapter is expected to be late, and Mantou has not saved the manuscript. I found a problem. The number of updates every day is more than 5,000 words, but the recommendation votes are actually being dropped. How do I say this?
