Chapter 310: Ammunition in Short Supply

After the war broke out in Europe, the war situation in Europe changed dramatically in September. Read

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First, in September, Germany's Schlieffen Plan failed. The French army defended the German army's fierce attack on the Marne River, and Germany's idea of ​​a quick victory was completely shattered.

Almost at the same time as the Marne River Conference, the British coalition forces faced a fierce offensive from the German army on the Western Front. In order to relieve the pressure, the two countries urged Russia to launch an attack on Germany and contain Germany from the east.

After that, two Russian armies, with a total of 800,000 people, attacked East Prussia, Germany, but were completely wiped out by the inferior German army led by Hindenburg and Ludendorff.

As for the Balkans, well, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Serbia fought back and forth.

For a time, the development of the European war situation completely exceeded everyone's expectations.

But one thing is very clear, the war has inevitably become protracted.

In this situation, both the Allies and the Central Powers began to compete to win over neutral countries in order to strengthen their own strength and weaken the other side.

Signs of further expansion of the war were already obvious.

Then, two German warships, "Goeben" and "Brest", "detained" by the Ottoman Empire, flew the flag of the Ottoman Empire and bombarded the Russian port of Odessa.

The arrival of these two warships attracted the attention of the Greek navy.

In contrast, before the war, the people of the Ottoman Empire raised money by tightening their belts and ordered two modern warships from British shipyards.

As a result, on August 3, the Ottoman Empire received British rule: the war has broken out, we have to accept the two warships, and the shipbuilding funds will not be refunded.

Neither the warships nor the money were returned, Britain's arrogant diplomacy in the style of the great powers made the Ottoman Empire angry.

Compared with Britain's arrogance, Germany was full of sincerity and directly presented the two German warships to the Ottoman Empire.

The two warships were nominally detained by the Ottomans, and the Germans won great favor, and the Ottoman authorities eliminated the boiling public opinion.

Seeing that the Ottoman Empire and the Germans were getting closer and closer, in order to teach the Ottomans a lesson, the British government ordered the freezing of all Ottoman property in the UK.

Soon, a warship flying the Ottoman Empire's crescent flag, under the command of German naval officers, bombarded the Russian port of Odessa.

On October 29, 1914, the Ottoman Empire officially joined the war.

The war burned to the doorstep of Greece.

The severe development of the situation has put increasing military pressure on Greece.

In the Balkan Peninsula, only Romania, Bulgaria and Greece still maintain neutrality.

On October 30, Constantine, together with the Chief of Staff Emmanuel and the new Minister of Armaments Manugiansky, set off from Athens and took a train to Thessaloniki to inspect the armaments of the Greek Army.

In the train compartment, the three discussed the Greek army's preparations for war.

"I didn't expect the Germans to be so generous that they actually gave the Ottomans two warships directly. Among the warships in service in the Greek Navy, only two battlecruisers are combat-capable. The Germans actually gave the Ottoman Empire two modern warships directly," Manogianaskis said with envy.

"There is no way. The Germans are really willing to pay in order to achieve their strategic goals," Emai Nur said calmly.

"The Germans' strategic goal is to win over the Ottoman Empire and cut off the most important communication channel between Russia and its Allied allies, the Dardanelles-Bosphorus Sea Knight," Emai Nur explained to the two.

"The current war situation has inevitably become protracted, which has led to changes in the response methods of various countries."

"Russia has a large population, and there are many young and middle-aged men who are suitable for military service. Even if the Russian army loses some troops, as long as Britain and France support Russia with sufficient arms and supplies, the losses caused by the Battle of Tannenberg to Russia are not worth mentioning at all."

Constantine nodded in agreement: "For the Allied camp, the greatest strategic significance of the Ottoman Empire is that it can contain and weaken Russia. Russia has a huge human resource base, but a weak industrial base. It needs allies to provide it with weapons and equipment as assistance, and the Dardanelles controlled by Turkey will cut off this military assistance connection."

"Germany's top leaders undoubtedly clearly saw the importance of the Dardanelles to Russia, so they spared no expense to win over the Ottoman Empire to join their side."

Before the war, Russia was the largest grain exporter in Europe, and 90% of grain transport ships passed through here, so the Dardanelles can also be called the economic lifeline of Russia.

Once controlled by the enemy, not only can Russia's wheat not be sold, but all ships carrying military supplies and daily necessities cannot enter the Black Sea ports. Russia can be said to be strangled.

"Now that the Ottoman Empire has been wooed, it is foreseeable that Germany will not be satisfied with this and will continue to woo Bulgaria," Constantine said in a deep voice.

"Once Bulgaria is also pulled into the Allied camp, we can see that a noose is formally formed around Russia's neck."

"This noose starts from Germany in southwest Europe, along the Berlin Baghdad Railway, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire. A front line bordering each other."

"The work to be done next is to continuously tighten this noose until Russia suffocates to death."

The two listened to Constantine's story and sketched out Germany's military concept in their minds.

Russia's seaports for external exchanges are very limited. There are four main seaports, St. Petersburg on the Baltic Sea, the Northern Route, the Trans-Siberian Railway-Vladivostok, and seaports in the Black Sea region.

After the two sides launched a war, the Baltic Sea was naturally blocked by the German navy.

As for the Northern Route, under the technical conditions of this era, it was almost like death.

The weather was bad and there was the threat of ice floes, making it very difficult.

After the Ottoman Empire joined the Allied camp, the Black Sea routes between Russia and the outside world were also cut off.

So, Russia’s only remaining external channel is Siberia-Vladivostok.

However, this railway is a single-track railway, with a long distance and low transportation efficiency.

The Trans-Siberian Railway is the longest railway in the world. It was built on July 13, 1904 and took 13 years to complete.

It crosses the Ural Mountains, extends in the forests of Siberia, and spans almost 1/4 of the circumference of the earth. The railway is designed to run at a speed of 80 kilometers per hour. It takes seven days and seven nights to reach the terminal in Vladivostok, a total of 9,288 kilometers from Moscow.

Now Russia can only rely on such a channel,

"Once Bulgaria is won over by the Germans, we may also be forced into the war."

Manujianaski and Emmainur looked calm.

The most hated country in Bulgaria now is definitely Greece.

After the two Balkan wars, Bulgaria not only failed to gain Macedonia, which it had longed for with confidence, but also lost a lot of territory.

Instead, Greece took almost all of Macedonia.

In order to win over Bulgaria and realize its grand strategy, Germany has completed the blockade. There is no guarantee that it will not make commitments to Bulgaria, such as the issue of Macedonia's ownership.

Thinking of Bulgaria's insane mobilization rate in history, even if Bulgaria's total population is less than four million, it will still have an army of six to seven million.

Coupled with the support from Germany and Austria-Hungary, they will definitely provide sufficient arms and supplies. Berlin passes through the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the train bound for Sofia will be full of German arms to arm the Bulgarians.

"No matter what, the Greek army should be ready for combat now. Your Excellency, Chief of General Staff, how is our mobilization system?" Constantine asked.

"Although it is impossible to predict when Greece will be involved in the war, your army must still be fully prepared and ready to enter the battle at any time."

Emmanuel said calmly: "After the baptism of two wars, Greece's mobilization mechanism has been very perfect."

"Our General Staff has formulated a complete Greek Army Reserve training plan. All young people in Greece, over the age of 18 and under 40, are required to undergo military training on time.

The training time is from the 4th to the 6th of each month. Such frequent military training also requires the government to invest a sum of money to provide subsidies to the reservists who participate in the training.

Both rural residents and urban residents are no exception.

The General Staff Headquarters adopts different models based on the actual situation and the differences in life between rural and urban residents.

Military training for rural residents, since they usually have to participate in land labor, military training is mainly carried out during the slack season, and is carried out intensively at this time.

As for urban residents, since they usually have to work and go to school, we will use their rest time for training. "

"How is the mobilization efficiency?" Constantine continued to ask.

"According to the estimates of our General Staff, theoretically if a war breaks out, after the Greek Army begins its general mobilization, it can mobilize 400,000 troops within a week, and within 15 days, this number can reach 750,000 troops."

Emmanuel then went on to add: "This number does not include the number of indigenous Congolese soldiers"

Manougianaski interjected: "There is no problem with mobilization. Depending on Greece's current economic situation, the government's finances can be maintained within six months to one year. We have discussed this issue with the government departments."

"But Your Highness, relying on the production capacity of our military factory, we do not have sufficient arms supplies to supply a large number of soldiers on the front line."

"According to the information sent back from the Western Front, the war there turned into trench warfare, which made artillery preparation very important for both offense and defense," Manugianaski said with an ugly face.

"Our armaments department found that everyone's calculations of military supplies reserves and consumption rates during peacetime are too optimistic."

“In the just-concluded Battle of the Marne, the actual consumption of artillery shells was 240,000 rounds per day. According to my friend who serves in the French army, the French General Staff calculated the consumption of artillery shells before the war to be 30,000 rounds per day. hair"

"According to him, France's reserve of 75mm artillery shells can only support until September 1914, and its reserve of rifles can support until November. France's domestic production of 75mm artillery shells can only meet 7% of demand,"

"According to estimates, starting from November, the French army's ammunition reserves will be unable to make ends meet. By February 1915, the entire French army was short of 700,000 rifles and 1,500 75mm artillery pieces."

Hearing that the French army had consumed 240,000 French artillery shells in one day, Emmanuel's expression changed and he quickly asked: "How many artillery shells are there in the army's armament reserve?"

"890,000 rounds for the 75mm and 210,000 rounds for the 105mm," Manogianasky said sadly.

Even though Constantine was prepared, he was surprised. According to the consumption of the Battle of the Marne, the total reserve of artillery shells of the Greek Army was completely consumed in four or five days.

"So what is Greece's military production capacity now?" Constantine asked quickly.

"According to data from the armaments department, if production is at full capacity, 1,000 rifles, 80 machine guns, 300 barrels and 100,000 rounds of artillery shells can be produced every month."

Although Constantine could not know how much arms and supplies would be needed based on the scale of the General Staff's mobilization of more than 700,000 troops.

However, the production capacity reported by Manujianaski is undoubtedly far from enough.

According to this production capacity, not to mention anything else, the gap is very large for more than 700,000 rifles alone.

When a soldier goes to the battlefield, he can't be without a rifle, right?

War preparations mainly focus on materials, rather than simply pursuing the number of troops.

Emmanuel said: “Before the war, none of the major participating countries expected that the war would turn into a long-term war of attrition. The general staffs of the armies of each country were formulating various offensive plans instead of considering how to defend. Military thinking is still very common.”

"After the war broke out, all countries failed to switch to a wartime economy in time. Military operations mainly relied on pre-war arms reserves. No one thought that these reserves were only enough for a few months."

“Armies from all countries are facing ammunition shortages, and it’s not just our problem in Greece.”

"Is there any way to solve the problem?" Emma Inur asked.

Manugianasky said confidently: "Your Excellency, Chief of General Staff, please rest assured! Although the Greek army has a large military industry gap, I believe that the situation of the Bulgarian army will only get worse."

"As long as military spending is sufficient, we can give arms factories the right to produce arms now. Even if the gap is still too large by then, we can also seek assistance from other countries."

"Anyway, we don't have to be like the Russians. Even if we have supplies, they can't transport them in."

"The worst-case scenario is to ask for help from the outside world, such as the US military factory."

"In addition, our military industry department plans to immediately send a working group to the military factory for supervision with the consent of the Crown Prince and Prime Minister Venizelos. Although it is too early to talk about the Greek army joining the war, our military industry supplies Production can be mobilized in advance.”