Edel is accompanying his wife, who is about to give birth, and the situation in Europe is unfolding in an irreversible situation.
After the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia on July 28, Russia's military mobilization also changed from a secret state to an open one that facilitated operations. 1.1 million reservists were mobilized into the army by Russia.
Faced with Russia's provocative attitude, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which had messed up, asked for help from its most reliable ally, Germany. Faced with the huge army that Russia began to gather, Kaiser Wilhelm II summoned his ministers for discussion. After learning that Russia had already
A few days after the secret mobilization, Germany asked Russia to cancel its military mobilization the next day on the grounds that Russia's military mobilization threatened Germany's security, and it was given a 12-hour time limit for a reply.
Faced with Germany's request, the Russian government ignored it. So Germany also started military mobilization on July 31 under the signature of William II. Germany began military martial law, the army stopped taking vacations, soldiers began to return to barracks, and the news was controlled
etc. At the same time, Germany's most important railway system was also placed under the jurisdiction of the military.
Faced with Germany's reaction, the French government, which had always regarded it as the biggest threat, also began military mobilization on August 1 and sent additional troops to defend the border with Germany. In fact, the French government had already begun preparations and began secret mobilization in Russia.
At that time, France quietly gathered its troops in North Africa at major ports, and Germany's military mobilization allowed France to speed up its actions.
Next comes the familiar moment of declaring war. Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary, Austria-Hungary and Germany declared war on Russia, France declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary. Germany invaded Belgium, and Britain declared war on it. It is worth mentioning here that Italy and the Italian government
According to the Treaty of the Alliance of the Three Emperors, war can only be declared when an ally is attacked, so Italy remains neutral when countries declare war on each other. Even if Italy is neutral, Europe has already begun a war that has turned into porridge, and Romania is
At times, he was also drawn in by both warring parties.
In the palace, Edel has completely neglected to accompany his wife who is about to give birth these days. Now that the European war has begun, he has been checking the latest news from various countries almost every day to see which of them can be useful to Romania. Now he is in the office
Summoned the Chief of General Staff, General Preishan, and the Minister of War, General Courtois, and other top military officials to review the latest battle report.
This is a message indicating that the German army captured the Fortress of the Sun in Belgium.
The Liege Fortress is also famous in Europe today. As a key point for the small country of Belgium to defend against Germany, it spent a lot of manpower and material resources to build the Liege Fortress in the last 10 years of the 19th century. There are 12 permanent fortifications arranged in a ring around the city. These
The fortress is equipped with 252 artillery pieces of various calibers, and is densely covered with machine gun fire points and infantry shooting holes. The Belgian 3rd Infantry Division defending the fortress is composed of 4 brigades and several other combat groups, with a total strength of about 36,000 people.
.
The fortress was destroyed by heavy artillery after blocking the German army for 10 days. Now this telegram is placed in front of Edel and the Romanian military leaders.
"I didn't expect that the current military fortress would be destroyed in just a few days. This was unimaginable twenty or thirty years ago."
After reading the telegram, General Courtois, the Minister of War, said with emotion. It must be known that in the Russo-Japanese War ten years ago, it took 5 months and 61,000 casualties to conquer the Port Arthur Fortress. And
It only took the German army ten days to capture the Fortress of the Lie Sun, with 10,000 casualties to capture this solid fortress. This made General Courtois lament that the world was changing too fast, and he was a little behind the times.
"Actually, this fortress still plays a role."
Hearing General Courtois' sigh, General Poulet stood up and said, "Without this fortress, the Belgian army would not have been able to stop it for ten days, let alone whether it could complete the task of recruiting troops."
When faced with Pleshan, the top army officials present all nodded secretly. Facing the attack of Germany, the strongest army in Europe, even if King Albert of Belgium sent all his troops there, he would probably not be able to resist Germany's "
Left hook".
"Just spending huge manpower and material resources to withstand it for 10 days is not worth the gain, isn't it?"
Lieutenant General Freit, who has only been serving as the military education director for a few months, expressed his considerations in terms of cost-effectiveness.
In the past few months, Lieutenant General Freit has been very cautious in his position as director of education. Firstly, he has no experience, and secondly, it is also because he wants to give a good result so that he can be favored by other colleagues.
recognition. Because he knew that if he wanted to continue to be promoted, he not only had to have a good impression in the heart of the crown prince, but also in the hearts of his colleagues, so he was deeply afraid that he had made mistakes that he should not have made.
The senior military officials present also thought about Lieutenant General Freit's words. This can also be used as a reference. Romania also has many strategic points. In the past, due to low military expenditures and low external pressure, the military invested in these points.
The funds are not too much. Among them, General Courtois, the Minister of War, and General Preshan, the Chief of General Staff, feel the most about this issue. In their drawers, they are already full of applications for building fortresses at strategic points.
A drawer.
Edel also thought about Lieutenant General Freit's words and said, "As for whether we should still build fortresses, I think we can reduce the amount of construction. After all, the German army has already demonstrated this issue to us.
But as for the extent to which it can be reduced, General Preshan and General Courtois need to ask the staff to conduct a deduction after they return. We are not rich and need to use the least amount of money to make the most reasonable plan."
Edel paused and continued. "However, the coastal defense fortress still needs to continue to be built. After all, our navy is still too weak, and our port city is an essential area that cannot be lost."
Preshan and Courtois, who were named by Eder, both nodded in agreement with the Crown Prince's words. Preshan also told the Crown Prince, "Your Highness, we will ask the staff to do this after the meeting, and we will definitely come up with something."
A reasonable plan.”
After General Pulie finished speaking, a group of senior military officials looked at the Minister of the Navy, Rear Admiral Lomodan. The two lowest-ranked generals who participated in this meeting, even if he was a minister (unfortunately, it was the Ministry of the Navy), was Alexander.
Faced with the Crown Prince's inquiry, Major General Lomodan could only say after his speech in Pleshan. "Your Highness, our Navy Department is mainly working on the coastal defense plan for Varna for the current coastal defense fortress. We plan to purchase 10 of them from the arsenal.
A specially customized ultra-long-barreled 240mm cannon will be used as Varna’s coastal defense artillery. As for other small ports, we will also prepare five 210mm cannons as mobile turrets to provide defense.”
After hearing what Major General Lomodan said, Edel asked with concern, "Do you have enough funds?"
Edel knew that the navy's funding had always been low, and now the pressure on coastal defense was relatively high, so he made inquiries to avoid any unexpected situations.
Faced with the Crown Prince's inquiry, Major General Lomodan still said generously, "The navy can still afford the funding issue."
After hearing what Major General Romodan said, Edel was still satisfied that at least the navy was sufficient for now. Just then a guard came in and quietly walked to the crown prince and said in a low voice. "Your Highness, the king is back. I heard that the king is back."
The German Ambassador Baslob went to the station to meet the king and talked to his majesty alone for a few minutes."
After hearing this, Edel calmly told the guard, "I understand, go down."
Edel then continued to discuss with senior military officials the impact of the war on the Romanian army. He seemed to be indifferent to the news he heard. Only those who were familiar with him could tell that in the subsequent discussions, the crown prince spoke a lot less.
PS: Regarding the chapter about the outbreak at the previous site, Mantou would like to explain here that this is not a pasting and copying. This is a condensed version of the information that Mantou bought specifically about the outbreak of World War I before and after the book review. After reading it, Mantou sorted it out by himself.
. Seeing that everyone’s reaction is a bit intense, Mantou will not continue to describe it in detail. If you don’t like it, just skip it. Mantou plans to write about Romania.
