Chapter 225 Military Intelligence

Speaking of which, in fact, countries where nomadic regimes were established, such as Ottoman Turkey, were not good enough, and their soldiers did not lack the courage to fight.

How to put it? To put it nicely, these Ottomans are called advocating force, loving freedom, and being innocent.

To put it mildly, he is lazy and undisciplined. His gangster habits are deeply rooted in his bones and he likes leisurely work.

There is a saying that illustrates the character of the Ottomans. Things gained with bloodshed are more precious than things gained with sweat.

Of course, it may be precisely because of this character of the Turks that the Ottoman Empire is in this embarrassing situation.

The free and loose Ottomans are not adapted to large-scale industrial production at all. They are horses galloping on the grassland, but you want to drag them into the mill and put on a halter!

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At three o'clock in the afternoon, Chief of General Staff Emma Inur personally came to the Macedonian Army Headquarters to inspect the frontline military situation.

Constantine welcomed Emma Inur into the tent, and at the same time ordered Colonel Hammett to notify the entire army of major generals and officers with the rank of major general and above to come for a meeting.

"The main task of coming to the front line this time is to explain to everyone the current situation of the Balkan Alliance," Emma Inur said, looking at the main officers of the Macedonian Legion.

After that, he turned around and came to the hanging map of the Balkans and explained to everyone: "According to the information obtained by the Greek ambassador in Belgrade, after the declaration of war, so far, the Serbian army has quickly mobilized 250,000 people."

"The supreme commander is the former Minister of War and famous war hero Radomir Putnik. It is divided into 10 infantry divisions, two independent brigades and one cavalry division," Emmanuel explained while drawing on the map Give instructions to everyone.

"One division and an independent brigade supported the Montenegrin attack on Novi Pazar. The remaining army was divided into two armies. The first army, with 20,000 people, led by Peter Bojovic, went straight to the central Macedonian city of Skop. Here, the Second Army, with more than 70,000 men, under the command of Stefan Stefanovich, formed the left wing, cooperating with Bulgaria (nominally), and marched towards Stracin in eastern Macedonia. The Third Army, commanded by Yankovic, was in Right wing, target Kosovo.”

The officers below heard that Serbia's strongest army was pointing directly at Skopje, and they started talking.

There was a buzz in the tent.

These people are all senior Greek military officers, and naturally they have heard about the war plan of the General Staff.

Skopje in Macedonia was also the target of the Greek army, which had been determined before the war.

Although we are now allies, there is no consensus among the three countries on the issue of dividing the territory of Macedonia, which belongs to the Ottoman Empire.

This also means that once Macedonian territory is occupied by the army of a certain country, it will undoubtedly have an advantage in the battle for ownership.

"Okay, let's listen to the Chief of General Staff's explanation of the war situation first, and calm down," Constantine said calmly.

"Next, there's Bulgaria," Emmanuel continued as he saw the conference room became quiet again and pointed his baton at Bulgaria.

"Bulgaria quickly mobilized 370,000 troops after the war. So far, Bulgaria accounts for half of the entire alliance's troops." Speaking of this, Emma Inur's face was grim.

"The Bulgarian Army has nine infantry divisions, one cavalry division and approximately 1,100 artillery pieces."

“The nominal commander-in-chief is King Ferdinand, while actual operational command rests with his deputy, General Michael Savoy. The Bulgarians also have a small navy of six torpedo boats deployed in the Black Sea coastal."

Facing Bulgaria, which may currently have the strongest army in the Balkan Alliance, Constantine also became serious and asked in a deep voice: "So, what is the approximate deployment of Bulgaria's army?"

This is an issue that Constantine is very concerned about. After all, Bulgaria has nearly 400,000 troops, and no one dares to underestimate them.

"Bulgaria deployed its main force in Thrace, consisting of three armies. The First Army, with three infantry divisions, was deployed in Yambol in the south and attacked southward. The Second Army, led by Nikolai Ivanov The General's command, with two infantry divisions and an infantry brigade, was deployed to the west of the 1st Infantry Division and was assigned to capture Adrianople. According to the plan, the 3rd Army was deployed to the east and rear of the 1st Army. Covered by cavalry divisions, the Third Army, with three infantry divisions, was assigned to capture the fortress of Kirk Kilise."

"The 2nd and 7th Divisions are to be operated as independent divisions in Western Thrace and Eastern Macedonia," Emmanuel replied.

Looking at the red arrow drawn by Emmanuel on the map representing the movement of the Bulgarian army, Constantine nodded thoughtfully.

Bulgaria is actually under the greatest pressure among the three countries.

After acquiring the province of Eastern Rumelia in 1895, the entire territory of Bulgaria was located in the north of Thrace. It can be said that it directly threatened the security of Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire.

This also determined that in this war, the decisive battle between Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire in Thrace was the main battlefield.

The general movements of the Bulgarian army mentioned by Emmanuel also illustrate this point.

The troops Bulgaria sent to Macedonia and Western Thrace only had two independent divisions.

This was also the Bulgarian army that was likely to cross paths with the Greek Macedonian legions.

The two independent divisions must have come with the mission of capturing Thessaloniki.

The main force of Bulgaria still had to deal with the threat of the Ottoman army in the south.

In fact, the war had been going on for more than ten days, and the Greek navy and the Ottoman navy had already decided the winner, and the armies of various countries had barely been mobilized.

Constantine, who was sitting at the table, touched his chin and muttered to himself: "So, Greece's main competitor for the Macedonian territory is actually Serbia"

"After the Greek navy cut off the Ottoman coastal route to Macedonia, no matter how the Ottomans resisted, they could not be the opponent of Greece and Serbia's north-south attack. In other words, no matter what the situation was between Bulgaria and the Ottomans in the main battlefield of Thrace, the Ottoman army was sure to fail in the inland area of ​​Macedonia"

This was determined by the geographical location.

Compared with Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece were relatively far away from the core territory of the Ottoman Empire-Asia Minor.

Bulgaria was facing the main force of the Ottoman Empire at this time.

"The General Staff thinks so too," Emmanuil said.

"In order to capture the central city of Macedonia, Skopje (which seems to be the capital of the Republic of Macedonia today), before the Serbian army, the Albanian army led by Lieutenant General Manugianowski, a total of 130,000 people, set out from Tirana three days ago, and the target was also Skopje."