Faced with the actions of the Allied Powers and Romania to kill you while you are sick, the Bulgarian government currently has no good solution. They can only ask for help from their allies.
In Berlin, high-level German officials gathered to discuss Bulgaria's request for help. As the newly appointed Prime Minister, Count Georg Hegelin was explaining his views to the Kaiser and his colleagues present.
"We must respond to Bulgaria's request for help, and according to our intelligence in Sofia, Bulgaria currently intends to withdraw from the war. This is a disastrous result for us. I believe the military is not willing to see this happen.
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At the end of Prime Minister Hegelin's words, he specifically nodded at Hindenburg and Ludendorff, who had rushed back from the front to attend the meeting. The two people who represented the military and participated in the meeting certainly knew the harm this situation would bring to the Allies.
How big.
And if Bulgaria is withdrawn from the war at this time, it will be a great encouragement to the British and French troops currently struggling to resist the German offensive planned by Ludendorff on the front line. It will also have a greater impact on the attacking German army. This is
Unacceptable to the military.
For this reason, as the current number one person in the military, Hindenburg spoke unhurriedly. "As the chief of the general staff, of course I know the consequences of the allies withdrawing from the war. We will never ignore it. For this reason, the first person and I
Quartermaster General Ludendorff has discussed it."
When Hindenburg said this, he signaled to Ludendorff. As his partner, the first quartermaster immediately took over Hindenburg's words and continued. "On the way, His Excellency the Chief of General Staff and I have made a military plan. We can currently
The troops immediately transferred include the 48th Division and the 94th Division being repaired in Munich, the 89th Division and the 153rd Division being repaired in Nuremberg, and the 72nd Division and the 286th Division being repaired in Stuttgart.
Then add the 42nd, 62nd, and 87th divisions that have been transported to Frankfurt to form a temporary new army responsible for military reinforcements. In addition, we also asked the allies to send troops for reinforcements.
Bulgaria’s request has yet to receive a response from Vienna and Istanbul.”
After Ludendorff finished speaking, his heart was bleeding. Not to mention the troops currently being repaired, the three divisions that had been transported to Frankfurt were the troops that had just been transferred from the Eastern Front. He also planned to use them as his troops.
It is used by the second echelon of offensive reinforcements, but currently it can only be used in the direction of Bulgaria, which was formed first.
In fact, there is one sentence he did not say, that is, if the reinforcements arrive and Bulgaria has withdrawn from the war, then these troops will join the Austro-Hungarian army to resist the Allied forces released from Bulgaria. Of course, apart from this
, Marshal Mackensen, who is currently entangled with the Romanians in Bacau, will also receive a telegram from the General Staff. Ludendorff plans to interrogate this outstanding master of mobile warfare as to why he has been entangled with the Romanians for so long.
After Ludendorff finished talking about the military plan, Hegelin, as Prime Minister, knew that it was time to tell the government's plan. He walked up to the crowd and said, "Our government has also discussed the assistance to Bulgaria.
, we plan to allocate part of the materials obtained from the Bushelvik people to aid Bulgaria. Among them, the most critical points are food and other daily necessities. We can only allocate 40,000 tons of wheat, 1,000 tons of meat and 100 tons of sugar as aid materials.
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In addition, our negotiations with Austria-Hungary and Turkey were not smooth. Vienna was only willing to give 5,000 tons of food as aid. Istanbul was willing to give 10,000 tons of food and 800 tons of cotton as aid. According to the negotiations
process, we believe this is the biggest concession that the two countries can make."
After hearing that the Prime Minister and the military had already discussed it, William II, who had been stripped of his power, could only reply, "Then let's implement this plan."
When Germany's plan was ready to be implemented, military assistance plans from Austria-Hungary and Turkey were also launched. Austria-Hungary was ready to cooperate with Germany's military operations and organized the last batch of troops that had just been transferred from the Eastern Front into the 15th Army, and together with Germany for
Reinforce Bulgaria's newly formed XVI Army and reinforce Sofia.
On the Turkish side, General Otto Zanders, the German commander who won the Battle of Dardanelles, led the Turkish Third Army to immediately reinforce the Salonika front line, allowing the Bulgarians to withdraw sufficient troops to deal with the Romanian attack.
attack.
The reason why Turkey and Bulgaria are so troubled is that the relationship between the two countries has always been relatively tense. In addition, Germany, as the mediator, also made a lot of efforts and made many promises in order to get Turkey to agree to send troops.
, including various weapons and ammunition. Turkey also knew the importance and attached great importance to Bulgaria, its only ally with land connection, and immediately dispatched the Third Army to defend Istanbul as reinforcements.
The reinforcement plan of the Allied Powers could not escape the attention of the Allied Powers. After learning of the Allied Powers' plan, Britain and France were also preparing to mobilize troops to defeat the Bulgarian garrison in Salonika in one fell swoop. Among them, the British side would prepare to reinforce the newly formed French front line.
The Australian and New Zealand troops directly turned the ship around to reinforce the Greek side. The French side, which suffered very heavy casualties, also gritted its teeth and picked out its colonial troops from North Africa and sent three divisions as reinforcements to Greece.
As for Lieutenant General Freit, who was already fighting with the Bulgarian army in Pleven, he also received a telegram from home. The two newly formed mobilization divisions are ready to assemble in Varna and can replace the defense here.
The Thirty-ninth Division was formed by the militia, allowing it to reinforce Lieutenant General Freit.
The Lieutenant General who received the telegram was attracted by Pleven, which was almost turned into ruins. The Bulgarian army, which had resisted his footsteps for a long time, was about to collapse. In fact, the Bulgarian soldiers survived after suffering tragic casualties.
With reinforcements failing to arrive, the country is indeed on the verge of collapse.
But Lieutenant General Kudinchev, as its commander, has some real abilities. He strongly encouraged the soldiers to resist the Romanian army not for others, but to protect their families from the invaders. Of course, this can only be done to a small extent.
In addition to improving the morale of some troops, he also used all the meat, tobacco and wine he had stored in Pleven to reward the soldiers, and also rewarded those brave soldiers with many properties.
After receiving both spiritual and material rewards, the Bulgarian soldiers were able to continue fighting against the Romanian soldiers who had the superior firepower.
However, these measures can only slow down the decline in the morale of the Bulgarian army, but cannot completely prevent the gap in firepower and troop capabilities. Despite the continuous fierce attacks, the Bulgarian soldiers were gradually driven out of their positions. And now Felei
What is waiting for is the only one. The soldiers drove the defenders out of the last position in the city. It is located in a neighborhood called Varian in the west of the city. This is the last way out to protect the defenders in the city, so it is also the strongest point. Now the Romanian army
They planned to get the Bulgarian soldiers out of the city, so they launched the most violent offensive here. For this purpose, the Romanians who attacked used three 210 heavy artillery to shoot directly, believing that this would make the defenders despair.
The process does not need to be described. At 4:15 in the afternoon, a report on the capture of Varian was placed in front of Lieutenant General Freit.
Seeing some of the staff members in front of him who were blushing with excitement about the victory, Lieutenant General Freit said, "Send a telegram to the country and tell them the good news. In addition, immediately send the Second Guards Division, the Third Division and the Sixth Division to
The division formed the vanguard and immediately followed the retreating enemy to launch a harassing offensive. I don’t want to fight such an offensive and defensive battle again.”
After Lieutenant General Freit's words fell, the staff officer immediately replied. "Yes, follow the order. I will give the order immediately."
As the order was issued, the three divisions that had just captured Pleven immediately launched a pursuit before they had time to rest. At home, the news of capturing Pleven also made everyone cheer, especially at this critical moment.
