Chapter 240 A New Form of War

Regarding the characteristics of the modern war mode, everyone has unanimously agreed that the defensive side has an advantage, so Wladyslaw's words made everyone nod in agreement.

After hearing Wladyslaw's prompt, Chief of General Staff Emmanuel said after careful consideration: "The trenches that Colonel Wladyslaw mentioned reminded me that the nearest large-scale war was Japan's. The Battle of Port Arthur in the Russo-Russian War (1904)”

"At that time, Japan and Russia were engaged in a large-scale modern offensive and defensive war around Lushun. Both sides invested a large number of advanced weapons, including Maxim machine guns, howitzers, grenades, radio equipment, and technical equipment. This war was very similar to the war that had just occurred in Macedonia. resemblance"

"Moreover, when the General Staff was studying the data of this war, the defenders had already begun to build a joint defense system consisting of barbed wire, machine gun and artillery positions, as well as trenches. This novel defense method once gave the attackers extreme The large casualties, combined with the experience and lessons of the 1912 War, we have sufficient reasons to believe that the mode of modern warfare has changed," Emmanuel said with a solemn expression.

"For those countries that advocate offensive operations, this is probably a situation they don't want to see."

Arms Minister Giannis raised his eyes and said with emotion: "Maybe I can explain this phenomenon from a technical perspective."

"This phenomenon occurs because of advances in weapons technology."

"In terms of rifles, the invention of smokeless gunpowder and the emergence of metal fixed bullets have greatly improved the rate of fire of rifles. The emergence of rapid-fire guns, mortars, and Maxim machine guns have greatly improved the rate of fire of these weapons. , which means that the firepower density on the battlefield has been greatly increased.”

"This situation is extremely unfavorable for the attacking side, because the attacking soldiers will inevitably walk out of the bunker and brave the enemy's bullets to advance, and the casualties can be imagined."

"The defenders are different. They have trenches to protect their own soldiers, and the soldiers can use the bunkers to shoot. Moreover, there is no good way for artillery to deal with soldiers hiding in the trenches."

"Traditional infantry tactics are nothing more than first destroying with artillery and then occupying with infantry, but now this tactic seems to have failed."

Constantine watched everyone communicate one after another, and was thinking about the information about trench warfare in his mind.

The mainstream view in Europe's military circles now still advocates a quick war, just like the Franco-Prussian War. The war on the main battlefield was over in a few months.

Even though trench warfare had begun to emerge in the Russo-Japanese War and the Balkan War, it still did not attract the attention of the European military community.

European military strategists still believe that the essence of modern warfare lies in offense, not defense.

For example, Germany's Schlieffen Plan advocated defeating France within a few weeks and then attacking Russia on the Eastern Front.

As for France, the current French army (in 1913) crazily worships offense. "War is a contest of spiritual wills." The first article in France's new version of "Field Regulations" is that "the French Army has restored its tradition. From now on, it will only attack Other than that, I don’t know any other laws.”

Therefore, it is naturally a cowardly act to let soldiers dig trenches and then conduct defensive operations.

"Everyone, it is obvious that due to the advancement of technology, the situation of war has undergone some obvious changes. The Greek army must adapt to this new situation of war. I hope that the officers of the General Staff can study more of this war trend in the future. Then make adjustments to the deployment of the Greek army, such as modifications to the infantry regulations," Constantine concluded while looking at the crowd.

After the meeting ended, Tsaveras and Emmanuel, the intelligence chiefs of the General Staff, remained motionless.

Both of their eyes were focused on Constantine, who immediately realized the problem.

After everyone left, the footsteps became farther and farther away from the conference room. Constantine looked at the two people who were still in their seats and asked, "What happened? My intelligence chief?"

After taking a look at Emmanuel, Tsaveras saw him nodding and said: "Your Highness, our espionage personnel in Bulgaria have discovered a series of intelligence, which unintentionally proves that the Bulgarian army is mobilizing rapidly. , completely unlike restoring peace and disbanding the army, and, according to the latest mobilization and deployment of the Bulgarian army, it seems that”

Constantine had something in his mind and continued to ask: "What does it seem like?"

Tsaveras was very cautious because he understood that as the intelligence director of the General Staff, they were the eyes of the Greek army. Once they made a mistake in judgment, there would be an own incident. He hesitated and said: "It seems that there is a war against Greece." signs”

Seeing that Constantine was silent, he thought that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince did not believe the news, and hurriedly said: "According to common sense, the Bulgarian army had a large number of soldiers entering the army during the war. Now that the war is over, there should be a large number of retired soldiers. Yes, but our intelligence personnel found no such signs."

"I have also received reports that Bulgaria has recently increased its troops to the Bulgarian border. According to Samaras, the staff officer of the Macedonian Army, the Bulgarian troops stationed in Western Thrace have been mobilized frequently. It is estimated that the number has reached 120,000. Even though So, Bulgaria is continuing to increase its troops in this direction," Emmanuel said with a serious face.

Constantine first signaled Tsaveras to go out, and after only the chief of staff was left in the conference room, he said: "It seems that Ferdinand (King of Bulgaria) has made a decision."

"However, we are not unprepared. We are prepared for this situation, right? How are the recruited Congolese soldiers?"

During the war, after seeing the large number of Bulgarian soldiers, the Greek army leaders had already transferred black soldiers to Europe one after another.

Constantine stood up, walked to Emmanuil, pulled out a high-backed chair, sat down next to Emmanuil, and whispered: "As the Chief of Staff, Emmanuil, what is your assessment of the outcome of a recent war between Greece and Bulgaria?"

After a moment of silence, Emmanuil said in a deep voice: "I still think Greece is more likely to win"

"As for the reason, the Bulgarian army overexerted itself in the last war. With a population of less than four million, the Bulgarian army recruited nearly 400,000 people. This ratio is almost jaw-dropping, and the ratio of military to civilians reached ten to one"

"Because this means that Bulgaria has almost pulled all men of military age to the battlefield"

"If Bulgaria still follows this mobilization model, the Greek army only needs to firmly resist the fierce attack of the Bulgarian army in the early stage, adopt a delaying mode, and launch a counterattack when Bulgaria is in trouble"