While Bulgaria was preparing to take action on its own without waiting for news from Austria-Hungary, Romania was also beginning to prepare to assemble its troops in the name of military maneuver exercises.
In the 12th Division stationed in Iasi, the soldiers began to prepare their belongings. Rifles, water bottles, bullet boxes, gun oil cans, blankets and other items were all packed by the soldiers and prepared to be carried with them.
After returning from the Bulgarian Observation Group, Major General Freit returned to his post. He had seen the performance of both sides in the Balkan War. Now Division Commander Freit is inspecting the preparation of his soldiers. Look.
Looking at the busy soldiers in front of him, he said to the chief of staff beside him, "Set up more supply points on the road so that the soldiers can get adequate rest on the road."
The chief of staff was a little surprised that his division commander would attach so much importance to this exercise. He had obviously gone through such exercises many times, and he was already very familiar with it. He would remind himself of it. Of course, he would not refute his military opinion.
The officer entrusted him with his arrangements. "I have sent a transportation group to leave in advance and have arranged 6 supply points on the road to ensure that we can reach Slobozia on time."
After hearing the answer from the chief of staff, Division Commander Freit praised, "Well done, we need to allow the soldiers to get adequate rest."
Two days ago, he received a telegram from the Chief of General Staff, General Pu Lieshan, asking him to prepare for this exercise. He also informed him that this exercise was actually a war, and it was strictly forbidden to spread it outside. Now this
General Plesan only conveyed the true purpose of this exercise to the division chief. Therefore, Division Commander Freit could not explain to his chief of staff that this was not a maneuver exercise but a preparation before the war. That's why he
The troops visited and inspected everywhere to see the preparations with their own eyes and understand the real situation of the troops below.
After listening to the chief of staff's report, Freit walked into the barracks and looked at the equipment prepared by the soldiers. Commander Freit opened a backpack packed by the soldiers and looked at it, including a bayonet, a water bottle, and a gun oil can.
A cowhide bullet box containing a hundred rounds of bullets and a blanket for resting are neatly placed together. Adding a Mauser 98 rifle, this is the equipment carried by a soldier. These add up to almost the same amount
With a weight of 15 kilograms, this weight fully considers the physical fitness of the soldiers, allowing them to have the strength to walk longer distances.
After checking the preparations of the soldiers, Freit came to the station of the most important artillery regiment of the 12th Division. He happened to see them preparing to transport the 105 howitzer, the largest support weapon at the division level.
"Pour it back a little more."
A lieutenant was sweating profusely while standing next to a German 105 howitzer produced by a Romanian arsenal, giving loud instructions to a Dongfeng truck in front of him. There were more than 20 artillerymen standing next to the 105 cannon.
, they were no better than the lieutenant, they were all dripping with sweat, and some were even topless, obviously preparing to hang the cannon on a truck and transport it away.
If future generations see this 105 howitzer, they will think it does not look like a cannon before World War I. The main feature is that this 105 howitzer has a pair of 30 cm wide rubber hollow tires instead of the steel rim wheels from World War I. This
It is also to adapt to the increasing number of trucks in the Romanian army. Because in the army's maneuvering exercises, the steel rim wheels of the cannons cannot be well adapted to the transportation of trucks, so the Volkswagen Factory specially designed this 30-wide truck specifically for the army's cannons.
Centimeter rubber hollow tires. After using this kind of tires, the military was very satisfied with the cannon that had been replaced with new tires. Whether it was on the road or in the wilderness, it was much better than before, which was unanimously praised by the army.
"stop"
The lieutenant who was commanding the vehicle said to the surrounding soldiers after seeing the vehicle parked, "Hurry up and mount this gun."
These soldiers hurried forward and hung the gun bracket on the truck. As the soldiers hung the bracket on the hook on the back of the truck, the truck dragged the cannon and transported it to the train station to prepare to take the railway.
"Sir, why are you here?"
When Freit was watching soldiers transporting cannons, the artillery regiment commander came to him breathing heavily and said.
Looking at the artillery regiment commander in front of him who was also covered with beads of sweat on his forehead, Ferreit said. "The chief of general staff attaches great importance to this exercise. I came down to see how you are preparing. It seems to be pretty good now. Everything
Everything is going on in such an orderly manner.”
Hearing the division commander's praise, the artillery regiment commander did not show too much joy. He replied, "Commander, please rest assured that our artillery regiment has experienced maneuver exercises many times."
When Division Commander Ferreit subsequently inspected other troops, he found that these troops were well prepared, and some even brought fruits in consideration of the hot weather. After seeing that his subordinates were very thoughtful, he returned with peace of mind.
Arrive at the division headquarters.
The situation of the 12th Division is not unique to him. All divisions in Romania are similar to him. It's just that the 12th Division is stationed farther away and has more preparations.
While each division was preparing to move closer to the Bulgarian front line, in the palace, the Chief of General Staff of Plesan was actually reporting to Crown Prince Edel the positions that each division was preparing to reach this time.
"Your Highness, this is our preparation plan before this war."
General Pleshan took a prepared exercise plan, also called preparations before the war, and handed it to the crown prince.
Edel picked up the exercise plan that the Chief of Staff of Plesan had prepared for a long time and looked at it. In this plan, the 7th, 5th, 10th, and 2nd Guards Divisions that made up the Romanian Second Army moved to Giuslijiu respectively.
To the north and south of the capital Bucharest are Comana, Budeshti, Grejaca and other places. The 2nd, 3rd, 12th and Cavalry Divisions that make up the First Army are stationed between the capital and Constanta respectively.
The third army composed of the 1st, 4th, 8th, and 14th divisions was stationed in Megidia, Alber, and Coba around Constanta.
Ding and other places. The 17th Division was stationed in Constanta to prepare to protect the logistics supply line.
After all divisions arrive, the Second Heavy Artillery Regiment (36 150 heavy howitzers, 18 150 cannons, a total of 5,000 personnel) will be assigned to the Third Army, and the First Heavy Artillery Regiment (36 150 heavy howitzers, 18 150 cannons,
cannon, with a total of 5,100 personnel) assigned to the Second Army, and the Third Heavy Artillery Regiment (18 150 heavy howitzers, 36 150 cannons, with 5,800 personnel) assigned to the First Army.
The commander of the First Army is Lieutenant General Plesan, Chief of General Staff. The commander of the Second Army is Lieutenant General Andrew, the Deputy Chief of General Staff. The commander of the Third Army is Deputy Minister of the Army Salamik. This military operation
The overall commander is Crown Prince Eder, the chief of staff is Army Minister General Courtois, and the deputy chief of staff is Major General Prossi.
It can be seen from this list that General Pleshan also took great pains to not only satisfy the current king's power in the army, but also obtain a lot of benefits for the crown prince's power in the army, and also arranged himself to be the easiest to excel.
The first army served as the commander. The crown prince was selected as the commander-in-chief. He was afraid that the minister of war would be the chief of staff and would disrupt his plan, so he arranged for his friend Prossi to be the deputy chief of staff to help watch.
Edel looked at the arrangements made by the Chief of General Staff of Pleshan and said nothing. There was no suspense in this war, and the people he arranged were all generals who were well recognized in the army. As for Pleshan's arrangement of himself into the First Army,
Edel also thinks there is no problem. After all, he still holds the rank of lieutenant general. After this war, Edel plans to mention it to him. This also needs to be supported by military exploits.
After reading the plan, Edel said to Pleshan, "It's very good. There are no problems. Just do it as mentioned above."
"Okay, Your Highness."
While Romania was preparing for war, Bulgaria finally waited for news from Austria-Hungary.
