Chapter 128 The Key to War

Thessaly Corps, front-line command

The Thessaly Corps command received the news immediately: the Marines successfully captured the city of Thessaloniki on the night of the 27th.

The conference room was filled with a relaxed and happy atmosphere, because it meant that the most important step of the Athena Plan had been completed.

"Now the entire war situation is very clear. The Ottoman Macedonian Corps' logistics supply transit station has been wiped out by us," said the Corps Chief of Staff Canaris in a brisk tone.

The officers burst into laughter.

"Think about it, the more than 80,000 Ottoman Macedonian Corps in front of us, the daily consumption of food, horses, ammunition and supplies is an astronomical figure"

"For such a corps, the logistics supply line has been cut off by us, and the enemy is completely passive"

The main idea of ​​the so-called Athena Plan is to use the 40,000 Congolese colonial troops suddenly strengthened by the Greek army to disrupt the enemy's military deployment, and use this as an opportunity to find the enemy's flaws, and then use the enemy's flaws to lay the foundation for completely defeating the enemy.

The Athena Plan is such a plan to win by surprise.

There is no doubt that this plan is very risky.

What if the enemy does not act as expected by the General Staff?

What if the Marines fail to land a large number of soldiers on the coast in such a short period of time?

This is why the Chief of the General Staff believes that the Athena Plan is too risky.

Fortunately, so far, the Greek army has succeeded in attacking the enemy's flaws - taking advantage of the empty defense of Thessaloniki and using the Marines to launch a sneak attack, but the period after this is the most critical stage for winning.

"The next period of time is the most critical," Constantine said in a serious tone.

"If the enemy's reinforcements first take back Thessaloniki, open up the supply lines of the front-line troops, and then the morale will rise, successfully defeat us, or continue the war"

There is no doubt that once the enemy recaptures Thessaloniki and regroups, the best result for Greece is that the war will continue to stalemate. For Greece, a small country with a small population, this can almost directly declare the war a failure.

Even though the Ottoman Empire was in serious decline, a lean camel is still bigger than a horse, with a vast territory and a population of tens of millions.

In contrast, Greece has a population of no more than two million and a territory of no more than 50,000 square kilometers.

Greece is not qualified to stalemate with the other side, as the two countries are not on the same level.

A quick victory is the only option for Greece to win the war.

The Ottoman Empire is not like that. As long as it drags on, although it will suffer certain consumption and cause the domestic economy to deteriorate, it is better than losing the war.

There is a fundamental difference between big countries and small countries in terms of the ability to withstand the blows of war.

For a big country, although it will be humiliated if it fails in a war once or twice, its huge size can still allow it to support itself and have a chance to turn over.

For a country like the Ottoman Empire, the decline of the Ottoman Empire has been extremely obvious since the 19th century, and several wars have ended in failure.

If it were not for the intervention of other countries, the Ottoman Sultan would have been overthrown by Ali of Egypt.

At that time, Ali's army had even taken Nicaea.

Even though it was so corrupt, the Ottoman Empire was still one of the major powers in Europe until the 20th century.

For a small country like Greece, this was not the case. A war directly determined the fate of the country.

There would be no chance of turning over.

A failed war would cost a lot.

The fate of the losers of military adventures was constant military coups, economic turmoil, serious internal friction in the country, and hardship for the people.

"It is still our Thessaly Corps that will defeat the enemy in front of us - the Ottoman Macedonian Corps - before the enemy takes back Thessaloniki, and then quickly rush to support Thessaloniki and Epirus to win a brilliant victory."

The atmosphere in the conference room became solemn.

In the subsequent war process, Thessaloniki will become the key to this war.

If the Ottoman Empire regains Thessaloniki, then the Ottoman Empire will win.

The Greek army will firmly hold Thessaloniki, and then defeat the Ottoman army that is in a supply dilemma, and then it will be able to end the war with a victory.

The fate of Thessaloniki determines the fate of the two countries.

This is a race against time.

There is no doubt that in order to win the war and regain the initiative on the battlefield, the Ottomans will draw troops from all over the country and attack Thessaloniki frantically in the next period of time.

Relying on 2,000 marines is far from enough to defend this important city.

After all, the marines are not regular armies, and their only heavy weapons are some mortars.

It is urgent to send reinforcements to support Thessaloniki.

"The commander of the First Division, Major General Manogianaskis," Constantine ordered.

Manogianaskis immediately stood up respectfully from his chair.

"Order your troops to go to Thessaloniki immediately to assist the marines there," Constantine said solemnly.

The First Division is the earliest organized division in Greece, and most of the soldiers are elite and brave.

However, since the beginning of the border battle, it has been placed behind the front line by Constantine as a strategic reserve.

This put Manujianaski, the commander of the First Division, in an awkward position, and he had always had objections to this arrangement.

Now the 1st Division was finally given a combat mission.

But Manujianaski felt tremendous pressure instantly.

Looking at the troubled Manujianaski, Constantine frowned and said: "Major General Manujianaski, you are not afraid of difficulties, are you?"

Everyone in the conference room was somewhat considerate of Manujianaski: As Salonika was the key to the outcome of the war, the Ottomans would definitely send a large number of troops to besiege Salonika.

Relying on one of Manougianaski's divisions alone, even if it was the First Division of the Greek Army, with its powerful combat effectiveness, it was not enough to make up for the huge gap in numbers.

"Your Excellency, Army Commander, if you want the First Division to stay in Salonika for a longer period of time, you must replenish us with more heavy equipment."

"If nothing else, you must allocate at least 90 Maxim heavy machine guns to us."

"There are also heavy artillery. We purchased 105mm howitzers from the French. You also need to add 20 to our first division."

The Ottoman Empire Army has many heavy artillery with a caliber of more than 100 mm. Due to the limitations of the mountainous terrain in northern Greece, such heavy artillery is difficult to use.

However, the terrain of Salonika is different. It is surrounded by a plain. Such heavy artillery can be called a battlefield weapon. It not only has huge lethality, but also has a long range.

In order to quickly recapture Salonika, the Ottoman army will not be stingy with the use of heavy artillery in its offensive in Salonika.

Relying solely on the divisional artillery regiment of the First Division, equipped with 75mm rapid-fire field guns, it was difficult to deal with the threat of the Ottoman army's large-caliber heavy artillery, both in terms of range and power.

As for the Maxim heavy machine gun, from the perspective of defensive operations, it is indeed more suitable for defensive operations.

The Maxim heavy machine gun weighs 27 kilograms and uses water cooling. It is indeed of little use in offensive operations in border battles. It is better to be used by the First Division.

Constantine thought for a moment and nodded in agreement with Manugianasky's request.