"This is absolutely not possible. Our ammunition is completely insufficient, and you should see that the 80,000 tons of ammunition we provide per month is already the limit."
Negotiations are still going on. The person who said this was French Army Minister Paul Panleve. Faced with the Romanian lion's request for 250,000 tons of ammunition per month, he completely refused. In his words, if he agreed,
Romania's request, then the French army would not have to fight.
The person who answered the minister was the Romanian military representative Major General Dotov. The major general spoke. "Minister Panleve, of course we understand the pressure on the Western Front better, but we also hope that you can see that we in Romania
Dilemma. We are facing a state of being surrounded by the Allies. In addition to facing the Black Sea, we are enemies in every aspect. Moreover, we also have to prevent attacks from the Black Sea. This is too much pressure for us. In addition, we have reserves of ammunition.
It’s simply not enough.”
Having said this, Major General Dotov laid an ambush and continued. "Our Romanian military currently only reserves one million tons of ammunition. According to the current intensity of the Western Front, it is not enough to fight for three months."
"But you won't be able to achieve the intensity of the Western Front."
Seeing Major General Dotov's tendency to become more miserable, General Pétain, who had already served as the commander-in-chief of the French army, spoke out about the difference. Pétain took the initiative to join this negotiation, and he is now interested in every aspect that can be alleviated.
The French army was very interested in the work under pressure. He saw too many casualties in the Battle of Verdun, and the consumption of each division was calculated on an hourly basis. Therefore, after Pétain took over as commander-in-chief, he focused on finding reinforcements and
He has shown great enthusiasm to let the British army take over the defense of more important areas. So far, it seems that his results are very good. The British army has taken over many important positions. For example, the Somme area has been fully accepted by the British army.
"Yes, Your Excellency, General. But we are facing battles from three directions and can last for up to five months."
When Petain pointed out the differences, Major General Dotov admitted generously. "But I believe you didn't let us join the camp just to let Romania defend the front, right?"
Facing this eloquent Romanian military representative, French Army Minister Paul Panleve immediately responded. "Of course not. We also hope that the Romanian army can fight bravely and make greater contributions to defeating the evil Germany and Austria.
, but we really can’t fulfill your requirements for ammunition and supplies.”
Major General Dotov thought for a moment and asked, "So how much supplies and ammunition can you give?"
After hearing what Major General Dotov said, Minister Panleve and Admiral Pétain quietly discussed and said, "We can only provide 100,000 tons of supplies and ammunition per month at most. If this does not meet your requirements,
request, then you can choose to defend against the Allies' attack."
Major General Dotov heard the Allied Powers give the amount of supplies. After thinking for a while, he said, "Then we will follow this amount."
After Romania and the Allied Powers negotiated military material assistance, there is now only one last problem left to solve, and that is Bulgaria, which lies between the two parties. As the sole supporter of the Allied forces on the southern front, Bulgaria has currently mobilized no less than one million people.
, for Bulgaria with a population of only 5 million, this can be regarded as a nationwide force. Regardless of the combat effectiveness of the mobilized soldiers, the mobilization rate of more than 20% is considered the first among participating countries. However, the domestic situation of Bulgaria mobilizing such a force does not count.
That's great. Too many people join the army and are not engaged in production. Bulgaria's crops have failed in the past two years, and domestic dissatisfaction has intensified.
When talking about the coordinated operations against Bulgaria, Major General Dotov immediately asked about the topic that Romania is most concerned about now. "According to our proposal for coordinated operations between the two parties, our attack on Bulgaria requires your troops in Greece to contain it first. No.
Do you know how long you can hold him back?"
Faced with Major General Dotov's inquiry, the topic was immediately taken over by General Pétain. "Our army in Greece is not stronger than that of Bulgaria. You must know that there are 460,000 Bulgarian troops confronting us in Salonika, and there are 460,000 Bulgarian troops facing us in Salonika.
Behind us there are 250,000 second-line troops in Serre, Zlama and other places. And we only have 430,000 troops in Greece, so it is completely impossible to defeat them."
"Your Excellency Pétain, those second-line Bulgarian troops are actually nothing to worry about. The weapons they are equipped with are all thirty or forty years old antiques. Most of their artillery pieces are old-fashioned artillery pieces. There are also many bronze cannons. I don't think you need them at all.
What a worry." Major General Dotov said another topic at the same time. "And your troops in Greece are no less than those in Bulgaria."
Faced with the topic suddenly raised by Major General Dotov, General Pétain shook his head and said, "I have made accurate calculations. We only have so many troops in the local area."
Facing Petain's words, Major General Dotov said, "Your Majesty, General, you still have an army on Greek soil, and they have been here for two years."
Facing Dotov's words, Pétain immediately remembered that Romania wanted the Serbian army to join the attack on Salonika. In fact, after the defeated Serbian army had been training in Greece for two years, only the remaining
The 160,000-strong army now has 180,000 people. Britain and France have tried to take advantage of them more than once, but they were rejected by the Serbs. They only participated in the battle to regain their homeland. This made Britain and France very worried about this.
Because of his headache, Petain was also quite moved by the mention of Major General Dotov.
Pétain immediately began to think about the use of this Serbian army. As for the reason why it only participated in the war to regain the country, Pétain completely ignored it. There was nothing more important than reducing the French army. In his opinion, this was just an excuse.
If they hadn't been concerned about Russia's attitude before and relied on Britain and France to spend great efforts to rectify them, these Serbian troops would have no excuses. Now that the Romanian representative has singled out the 180,000 Serbian troops, they have no reason to refuse unless they don't want to.
The share you deserve after the war.
However, Major General Dotov obviously not only surprised Petain, he also surprised Balfour. "And I think that the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps in Egypt can actually join the European battlefield, defeat Bulgaria first, and then defeat the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Comparable
It’s much more useful in the Middle East.”
The Anzac Corps that Dotov mentioned is the main force of the British army in Egypt. This army that has captured Jerusalem is also called the Oceania Corps because most of its soldiers are from Australia and New Zealand. Now Romania actually fights
This also made Foreign Secretary Balfour, who had not spoken at all except the beginning, a bit at a loss.
His mind was still a little confused and he spoke. "I didn't bring any military personnel with me this time, so I can't answer your question."
Seeing the departure of the British negotiators, the French representatives, who had gained a lot from this negotiation, also left. It seemed that they also had to spend time considering Romania's proposal. After a while, only the Romanians themselves were left in the room.
At this time, Barnosk, as the negotiator, stepped forward and patted Major General Dotov on the shoulder and said, "Major General, your proposal is really good."
