Chapter 124: Dilemma

"The soil in many places is only a thin layer covering the rocks. The shovels in the hands of the soldiers are simply not enough to dig trenches deep enough to defend field artillery," the platoon leader complained to Constantine.

Constantine recorded this in his notebook and secretly thought: Due to the mountainous and hilly terrain of northern Greece, the soldiers could not dig trenches of sufficient depth. This situation was more beneficial to Greece, which had an advantage in artillery.

"Um-"

"Winter, sir, Lieutenant Winter." Seeing Constantine hesitate to speak, Winter immediately introduced himself.

"Lieutenant Winter, don't worry. In any case, we have an advantage in strength and artillery technology is more advanced than the Ottomans. The enemy's soldiers are in a much worse situation than you," Constantine comforted.

"Your Excellency, Legion Commander, we" a soldier next to Lieutenant Winter suddenly interjected.

Seeing the people around him suddenly looking at him and moving their lips together, Nono didn't dare to speak anymore.

Seeing this, Constantine took out a copper cigarette case from his pocket, opened it, and handed it to Lieutenant Winter and the soldiers.

On the battlefield, cigarettes are one of the few things that can make soldiers relax.

The three of them squatted on the ground and puffed away, and the atmosphere became more harmonious.

"Soldier, what did you want to say just now?" Constantine asked with a cigarette in his mouth.

"Your Excellency, Legion Commander, we will win, right?"

Having said that, seeing Constantine still looking at it, he quickly said: "Lofts, sir, my name is Lofts"

Loves's face was stained with dirt, his hair was sticky with sweat, and his tawny military uniform was dirty.

"Of course, Loves, this war won't last long. What does your family do?"

"Growing olives, sir, I have a piece of hilly land at home that is full of olives and a few citrus trees," Loves responded.

Olives and citrus are a few types of cash crops that can be grown in Greece.

"Don't worry, Loves, no matter what, it won't delay your return home to collect olives." While comforting him, Constantine, who was squatting in the trench, stretched out his hand to brush off the dirt on Loves' helmet.

·······

In the frontline command camp, senior officers gathered together to discuss the situation on the frontline.

"After these two days of fighting, we have roughly understood the enemy's intelligence. The Ottoman army in front of us is about 80,000 people."

"The enemy is only equipped with German Krupp field artillery, the number is about 200. Probably due to the difficulty of movement in the mountainous terrain of northern Greece, the heavy artillery of the Ottoman army was not put into use."

"This is good news for us"

According to pre-war military intelligence, the Ottoman army had many heavy artillery with a caliber above 100 mm.

The advantage of heavy artillery is that the shells are powerful and have a long range. The disadvantage is that it is relatively bulky, difficult to tow in mountain operations, and cannot follow infantry operations.

Artillery in the Ottoman Empire has a long history, which can be traced back to the use of Urban cannon by Muhammad II to help the Ottoman army break through the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. The city wall of Constantinople was well-defended and almost impenetrable in the cold weapon era. .

Since then, the Ottoman Empire's army has always had the tradition and habit of using heavy artillery.

After getting closer to Germany, the Ottoman Empire naturally purchased a large number of Krupp cannons.

"Gentlemen, there is no doubt that our military strength is superior," Canaris introduced to everyone while holding a baton and analyzing the battlefield situation.

Constantine's mobilization of Congolese troops to fight in Europe was beyond the expectations of the Ottoman military.

If the 40,000 indigenous troops in the Thessalian Army were excluded, everyone's military strength would only be the same.

"According to the requirements of Plan Athena, we should increase the pressure on the enemy and force the enemy to request assistance from the rear," said Manujianaski, commander of the 1st Division.

This division commander's First Division, as the Greek army with the earliest formation and the most powerful combat effectiveness, has been used by Constantine as a strategic reserve from the beginning to the present, staying behind the busy line, so he is naturally dissatisfied.

Plan Athena, even these senior military officers, are unknown. They probably know the main ideas of the plan, but the specific military deployment in the plan is strictly confidential.

"That's true. We should take advantage of our strength and flank the enemy," Canaris said to everyone, pointing to the military map.

"In the ensuing battle, one division and the fourth division of the Congolese Army came to implement this plan and tried to outflank the enemy's flanks."

After hearing this, Brut and the commander of the 4th Division, Ammannsgeber, agreed with this plan.

········

The Ottoman army's frontline command camp.

The commander of the Ottoman army, Edmund Pasha, was discussing with the German adviser Goltz how to deal with the Greek army.

In this Ottoman war against Greece, German officers contributed a lot, and many German instructors directly left the field to command the Turkish army in combat.

After all, the German Officer Advisory Group was sent by the Kaiser at the request of the Sultan to train Hamid II in a modern army and to train Ottoman officers step by step.

If the Ottoman army was defeated by the Greek army, where would the German officer corps lose face?

"The scouts reported that the Greek army was making a detour to the east of my position, and it seemed that they wanted to encircle and encircle them on the flanks," Edmund Pasha said with a headache.

For such a large-scale military operation, the movement of the two divisions could not be concealed at all. The scouts of the Ottoman army easily detected the movement of the Greek army.

And the Greek army itself did not seem to have any intention of concealing it. It mobilized the army in a big way and did not shy away at all.

Goltz looked at the distribution of enemy and our forces on the military map: "The enemy suddenly transferred four black colonial troops, but I didn't expect that the combat effectiveness was quite good."

The Congolese division performed well in combat under the mode of Greek officers, a small number of Greek soldiers, and most of the battalions were still black.

Originally, according to the intelligence learned by the Ottoman military, the total strength of Greece was about 50,000, and even after emergency mobilization, it would not exceed 90,000.

In this case, the Ottoman Empire's army in Macedonia only needed to deal with it according to this number.

The Greek army suddenly used a large number of black troops, which exceeded the military's prediction and assessment, and directly led to the Ottoman army being at a disadvantage in terms of quantity and put in a disadvantageous position.

What Edmond Pasha could not stand even more was that the Greek artillery had an incredible firepower.

Originally, the German military officers who went to Austria were quite confident in their own Krupp artillery technology.

The Ottoman artillery, which was equipped with a large number of Krupp field guns, was suppressed by the Greek artillery, making the Ottoman army, which was already at a disadvantage in terms of manpower, even more passive.

So far, after combining the intelligence collected from various aspects, the officers of the Ottoman command are still unable to determine how many artillery pieces the Greek Thessaly Corps is equipped with.

The data from various aspects are contradictory.

According to the scene of the Ottoman army's position being bombarded, based on the general field artillery firing rate, it is estimated that the number of field artillery pieces of the Thessaly Corps is about 450.

However, according to the visual observation data of the front-line scouts, it is impossible for the Greek artillery position to place 450 field artillery pieces.

From a common sense point of view, this number of artillery pieces, a full 450 pieces, the Greek army simply does not have the financial resources.

Obviously, the Greek army's painstaking and strict confidentiality of the intelligence of the 75mm rapid-fire gun has been rewarded on the battlefield.

The artillery was caught in a sweeping attack, which made the situation of the Macedonian army even worse.

"The Greeks are now openly using their superior force and using the flank tactics, while the main force is keeping a close eye on our army"

"If we don't react, we will be caught in a pincer attack, which may lead to the collapse of the army"

"If we mobilize troops to defend the flanks, the Greek army will definitely attack head-on. Once the front position is captured, it will still be a rout"

Edmond Pasha is now in a dilemma.