Chapter 265 Bloody Macedonia

At about 2:10 pm, the Bulgarian army had deployed in front of the Greek defense line.

"Mound-"

Three flares slowly rose into the air, attracting everyone's attention. This was obviously a signal for the Bulgarian army to attack.

After several flares were launched, the Bulgarian army led by Ivanov kicked off the attack.

At first, there were a few sparse artillery shots, which stirred up a few clouds of dust on the Greek positions. Then the sound of artillery firing became more and more dense, and finally covered the entire Greek trench defense line of more than ten kilometers.

Major General Papademos, who put down his telescope to watch the battlefield situation, immediately shouted to the messenger behind him: "Notify all units immediately and prepare for artillery fire."

"In addition, notify the artillery regiments of each division not to alarm the enemy first, pay attention to hiding our artillery positions, and at the same time observe and record the artillery positions of the Bulgarian army, calibrate the firing parameters, but without my order, no firing is allowed," Papademos said.

The Greek artillery is not inferior to the Bulgarians. Papademos kept the artillery silent because he wanted to verify how well the trenches carefully constructed by the Greek army could defend against artillery bombardment.

Although the Greek army has made many assessments of the trench tactics and conducted various exercises under simulated actual combat conditions, the results of many assessments have shown that the casualties of the defensive troops squatting in the trenches are far lower than those of the offensive troops. However, the trench warfare model has not been tested in actual combat. Many officers in the Greek army are still worried that the rash adoption of tactics that have not been tested in actual combat will be too risky.

Secondly, the Greek army is the defender and is not in a hurry at all. It is the Bulgarian army that should be in a hurry. After all, the longer the delay, the more disadvantageous it will be for Bulgaria.

If the Bulgarian army's artillery fires first, they will expose the position of their artillery. Before the Greek artillery fires, the commanders of the Bulgarian artillery will be worried that their artillery positions will be hit by the firepower of the Greek artillery.

But for the Bulgarian army, it was even more impossible to let the soldiers charge directly to Greece without using artillery fire coverage to destroy the Greek army's defense line.

The dozens of barbed wires arranged hundreds of meters in front of the Greek position alone can not only turn the charging soldiers into live targets, but also raise the anti-infantry mines buried underground!

Papademos calculated in his mind that if the trenches were really effective in preventing artillery bombardment, then the Greek army would have already gained some advantages just after the war started.

The messenger did not dare to neglect the general's order and immediately turned around to convey the order.

The soldiers in charge of defense in the trenches, after receiving the order from their superiors, immediately hid in the trenches to defend against the Bulgarian artillery bombardment.

As a result, not many soldiers were seen on the defense line of more than ten kilometers.

After an hour of artillery bombardment, the sound of Bulgarian artillery became increasingly sparse.

"Report to the general, this is the casualties report of soldiers in the trenches during the shelling, which was counted by officers of each division." The messenger held a document in his hand and handed it to Papadimos respectfully.

It's finally here, Papadimos said secretly, then took the document and glanced at the numbers on it. He was overjoyed to see that more than 800 people were killed and wounded in the shelling.

Judging from the momentum of the Bulgarian artillery when it just opened fire, the Bulgarian artillery had absolutely no spare power.

Hundreds of artillery continued to fire for an hour. Such an offensive was not an easy task for the Bulgarian army.

The first is the cost of artillery shells. For Bulgaria, an agricultural country, almost all artillery shells are purchased from abroad.

The second is the transportation problem. Transporting hundreds of thousands of artillery shells to the front line is also a huge burden for logistics.

The Bulgarian army bombarded for an hour, and the Greek soldiers only suffered hundreds of casualties. This result is absolutely acceptable to Papadimos.

Of course, the Bulgarian army's artillery bombardment was not completely fruitless. After the smoke from the explosion of the shells dissipated, the Greek infantry's position had already become bumpy, and the soft soil seemed to have been plowed. The dozens of barbed wires were twisted and twisted, and many gaps were blown out.

After the Bulgarian artillery was completely shut down, the infantry began to charge towards the Greek position like a tide.

The Greek artillery unit finally showed its power. With intermittent gunfire, a few sparse shells passed through the air and then landed in front of the position.

The signal of the Bulgarian infantry's attack sounded the death knell of the artillery. When the Bulgarian infantry, like a tide, thought that their artillery preparations had caused serious casualties to the Greek soldiers, the Greek rapid-fire guns deployed behind the defense line finally showed their power!

With a muffled sound, a ball of orange flame spurted out of the muzzle, the barrel quickly retreated, and then quickly reset under the action of the gun carriage, the breech opened, a brass shell was thrown out, and then a gunner sent a 75mm shell into the barrel, then locked the breech block and pulled the gun rope.

In the first few minutes, the average firing rate of each artillery reached 8 rounds per minute! The whistling shells passed through the air, and a few seconds later, the Bulgarian artillery position in the distance was shrouded in flames and smoke.

Violent explosions continued to come from the target area. Because there was enough time for the artillery to measure the distance in advance, the accuracy of the first round of shooting was good. The shells were almost evenly scattered in the target area. In a very short time, a large number of equipment and personnel were killed and injured by the flying shrapnel and flames.

The artillery company of the Greek Legion tilted the deadly rain of bullets on the top of the target like a machine, using dense shrapnel to blow up the artillery into pieces and sweep down the soldiers in groups.

The flames and smoke that foreshadowed death rose behind the position.

The flames and smoke on the rear position were like a dark cloud, covering the hearts of the attacking Bulgarian army.

At this time, about half of the Bulgarian army had rushed to a position only 300 meters away from the target, and they could rush down with a little more effort!

Under the rebuke of the officers, the soldiers launched the first wave of attacks on the position! A large number of soldiers began to sprint, while some soldiers picked up their rifles and started shooting!

With a creaking sound, a soldier seemed to have stepped on something. When he raised his foot in surprise, a death metal storm composed of hundreds of steel balls passed under his feet. In just a moment, the steel balls completely shattered the lower body of this poor guy!

Then it flew through the soldier's broken body and flew towards the unprepared soldiers behind him!

In an instant, several huge gaps appeared in the Japanese front line that rushed forward like a wave. Although most of the anti-infantry mines deployed on the front were destroyed and detonated by artillery fire, they still made the Bulgarian infantry suffer in the first place.

The rest of the people continued to move forward on the broken limbs of their comrades on the ground. They used hysterical howls to dispel the fear in their hearts, and rushed towards the opponent like a beast, hoping to overwhelm the opponent with the bayonet in their hands.

"Bulgarians? They rushed into the trap we set like a group of wild boars that had not lost their minds. They tried to overwhelm steel with their barbarity, but it turned out that they were of no use except leaving corpses in front of our positions and providing targets for us soldiers hiding in the trenches!" A Greek soldier commented after the war.

As the Bulgarian soldiers approached, the Greek soldiers initially only used rifles for long-range shooting, and then the sound of "da da da" was heard on the position.

That was the Maxim machine gun firing!

The deadly metal storm and dense rain of bullets swept down a large number of Bulgarian soldiers in an instant, just like cutting wheat.

In order to more effectively play the advantages of the Maxim machine gun in defense, the staff of the Greek Army also imitated the Germans and carefully studied the tactics of using machine guns.

Soldiers in the charge process seem to be easily hit by the Maxim machine gun, but in fact, if they shoot directly at the charging soldiers from the front, the medium and long distances will have little effect.

At close range, the enemy's infantry's accurate shooting will also pose a serious threat to the machine gunners. After all, such important targets as machine gunners are the priority targets of soldiers.

The machine guns shoot at the charging enemy from the flanks, and the enemy will have no way to escape.

The Greek soldiers used multiple machine guns to shoot on the left and right flanks, forming crossfire, which was an insurmountable iron wall.

Under the coercion of the officers, the Bulgarian soldiers roared violently and rushed towards the Greek positions unwaveringly. Soon, these people fell down in rows like dominoes.

The continuous "da da da" shooting sound came continuously, as if knocking on the soldiers' hearts.

The brave Bulgarian soldiers were also confused at this time. When facing the Ottoman army, it was not the case at all. This was different from the previous battlefield.

The first wave of the Bulgarian charge lasted only more than 20 minutes before it was repelled. The speed of victory was beyond Papademos's expectations.

However, the number of Bulgarian soldiers killed and wounded in this round of attack was only more than 3,000. If it were not for the destruction of several crucial artillery positions of the enemy, such a loss would not be too great for Ivanov's army.

"This is simply unimaginable!" Looking at the artillery positions that had been plowed by artillery shells, Ivanov's face was gloomy. The morale and pride of the soldiers accumulated in the successive victories in previous wars were beaten back to their original form in an instant.

The Bulgarians who thought they were good at fighting were as powerless as children in front of the Greek army. The sharpest fangs were destroyed by the opponent in just the first tentative attack, and the artillery suffered heavy losses. How could this battle be fought?

Let the soldiers charge in the face of the enemy's artillery?

It was originally thought that the Greeks' land acquisition had suffered nearly an hour of artillery preparation, and the defending soldiers would certainly suffer heavy casualties, but judging from the counterattack of the Greek soldiers just now, the artillery preparation of their own side caused extremely limited casualties.

The current situation is very clear. The Greek army is strong in combat effectiveness and has well-prepared fortifications. It is obvious that they are waiting for the Bulgarian army to attack.

The damage caused by artillery bombardment to the enemy's defense line is limited, and it will also expose the position of the artillery.

If there is no artillery bombardment, what is the difference between directly charging and sending the soldiers to death?

However, delaying it will be more disadvantageous to the Bulgarian side. The Greeks obviously want to adopt a delaying tactic, and time is on their side.

Just when Ivanov was a little hesitant, the signalman reported that the two infantry divisions that came to support were already there.

At the same time, there was also intelligence from the northern battlefield. The Bulgarian army in the direction of Petrich had begun to attack Serres, targeting the defense line near Serres on the Greek defense line.

Serres and Nizhetarovs, two important fulcrums of the Greek defense line, were attacked by the Bulgarian army at the same time.

Ivanov's army needed to launch a fierce offensive to prevent the Greek army from taking care of both the north and the south, to contain the Greek army in front, and to strive to quickly break through the defense line and end the war quickly.

After learning the news, Ivanov had to bite the bullet and ignore the requests of his subordinates-delay the attack before thinking of an effective way to deal with the Greek trenches.

Ivanov knew clearly in his heart that the Bulgarian strategy was to attack the Greek defense line from the north and the south. At present, all the actions of the Bulgarian Army were implemented around this strategy. Once this strategy failed, the Bulgarian Army would soon fall into a passive position.

He had no other choice.

He could only bite the bullet and continue the attack.

The next morning, the Bulgarian army, which had been resting for a night, regrouped and planned a new round of offensive.

"Let all the artillerymen stop estimating the shortage of artillery shells and strengthen the bombardment," Ivanov ordered his subordinates.

"Let's start," when the sound of artillery sounded again, the Bulgarian troops on the left and right wings were eager to try.

In this attack, Ivanov will press all his troops to the battlefield in order to achieve results!

·······

Papademos also knew that the next enemy attack would not be as easy to deal with as the previous tentative attack.

The Bulgarian army, which suffered a loss once, will attack more fiercely next time!

At 8 o'clock in the morning, the artillery of the Bulgarian army opened fire first. The Greek artillery no longer hid its firepower and launched a head-on artillery battle.

Ivanov then learned his lesson and immediately ordered the Bulgarian army to attack while the artillery bombarded the Greek soldiers' positions.

From the gathering of the army to the launch of the attack, the Bulgarian soldiers will move forward in the rain of bullets every step. Once they are driven to the battlefield, they will be attacked whether they advance or retreat.

In this situation, people's survival instinct makes them forget their fear temporarily. When most people stumbled to the shells, the firing rate of these artillery seems to be faster than that of rapid-fire guns!

Shells exploded next to the soldiers who had just assembled.

The lethality of the fragments formed by the cast iron forged projectile body is no worse than that of steel balls. These cheap shrapnel easily blew up half of the soldiers in a squad, and the remaining people trembled and lay on the ground, no matter how the superiors scolded, punched and kicked, they would not stand up.

However, even so, the Bulgarians' attack continued to advance steadily step by step. The continuous reinforcements in the rear forced the front team to rush to the opponent's position. At a distance of 200 to 300 meters, the Bulgarian army encountered the most severe test!

In the frontal attack, the soldiers faced a composite firepower attack of machine guns and mortars.

The fierce firepower of the machine guns created bloodstains among the charging Bulgarian soldiers, and the shells fired by the mortars sent a large number of shrapnel to the heads of the Bulgarian soldiers every minute.

The soldiers who huddled together were taken care of first. After a series of grenades fell, a platoon of Bulgarian soldiers quickly disappeared in the smoke and flames.