Chapter 150： Battle of Tarnovo (5)

In the following days, the Romanian army's offensive made the Bulgarians miserable. Every time Romania tentatively attacked, if the position did not use machine gun artillery, it would be transformed into a real storm. The Tsarević position was forced to use suppressive firepower and would be destroyed by its artillery.

Now the First Army defending the Zarevec Mountain position has replenished its weaponry and manpower three times, and is now exhausted by the attacks of the Romanian army. Now the commander of the First Army, Lieutenant-General Kudinchev feels a lot of pressure, and he has to ask for help from Lieutenant General Savov, the Secretary of the Army.

Lieutenant General Savov, the Secretary of the Army who received a telegram from Lieutenant General Kudingchev for help, looked at the telegram in his hand and thought about how to deal with such a situation. But in the end he still had no good solution. Romania was better than them in every aspect, and he had nothing to do. At this time, King Ferdinand I opened the door of his office blankly.

"Lieutenant General Savov, I heard that Lieutenant General Kudinchev of the First Army asked you for help. I don't know what you plan to do?"

Ferdinand I’s unceremonious inquiries are quite rare, so he has to come up with a solution immediately. Regarding this, Lieutenant General Savov has no good way, only to talk about it. "Your Majesty, I am now thinking about countermeasures."

Lieutenant General Savov’s answer obviously did not satisfy Ferdinand I. He asked unceremoniously. "Then what is your measure?"

Lieutenant General Savov heard the king's suppressed emotions and tried to explain. "Your Majesty, our army is indeed very difficult to fight, but it is because the Romanian artillery far exceeds us. I think we can find a way on the supply line."

After hearing Lieutenant General Savov’s explanation, Ferdinand I calmed down and continued to ask. "Can you beat them?"

Facing the king’s question, Lieutenant General Savov answered truthfully. "No, they can only be allowed to retreat for a certain distance, and they will attack after being connected to the supply again."

"That won't work at all." After Ferdinand I first rejected the plan, he whispered a shocking news to him. "The army in the East Thrace region reported that the Ottoman army is beginning to gather. We must find a way to defeat the Romanians as soon as possible, or the attack of the Ottoman army is just around the corner."

Lieutenant General Savov who heard the shocking news was full of stunned expression. If the Ottoman army joined the war again, God would not be able to defeat the siege from all sides. No wonder King Ferdinand I could not sit still today. Lieutenant General Savov who heard the news was also anxious. In an anxious state, Lieutenant General Savov made a decision that made him regret for life. "Your Majesty, we want to defeat the Romanians in a short time, there is only one way."

Hearing that the Secretary of the Army has a way, Ferdinand I eagerly asked. "What can be done to defeat the Romanians in a short time"

"That is to prepare for a night raid."

Hearing the words of Lieutenant General Savov, the Secretary of the Army, Ferdinand I was lost in thought. Now this battle has only been fought for a little while, but everyone can see the huge disadvantage of the Bulgarian army. As a monarch who knew the army very well, Ferdinand I also knew that the hope of his army winning in a frontal battle was slim. Then only think of other ways, and now the night surprise attack is a good choice, placed in front of him. Of course he also knew the consequences of the failure of the surprise attack, but the temptation to succeed was so great that it was difficult for Ferdinand I to refuse this temptation. In the end he decided to take a gamble, and after figuring it out, he told his Secretary of the Army.

"Lieutenant General Savov, first make a plan."

As Lieutenant General Savov who has been with the king for many years, he knew the king's heart was moved. He was not happy because of Ferdinand I's promise. He still spoke calmly. "Your Majesty, I need two days to prepare."

Ferdinand I, who got the answer from the Secretary of the Army, knew that this was the plan with the shortest preparation time, and he spoke it graciously. "It's okay I can wait."

After speaking, Ferdinand I left the office of Lieutenant General Savov, Secretary of the Army. Seeing the departed king, Lieutenant General Savov was secretly saddened by the current situation, driving Bulgaria into a desperate situation, and he could only fight hard.

In the following two days, Lieutenant-General Savov completely ignored the situation in the position on Mount Tsarevets, but told Lieutenant General Kudinchev to hold the position. Therefore, the offensive of the Romanian army in the past two days can be found that the defensive Bulgarian army completely disregarded its own losses and desperately resisted their offensive. This situation was quickly reported to the rear command headquarters, but a high-level cadre of the command headquarters did not know the reason. They only sent planes to investigate and the Bulgarian army showed no signs of retreating, which left them puzzled.

After two days of preparation, on the morning of the third day, Lieutenant General Savov was in front of King Ferdinand I, General Podovich, Commander of the Fourth Army, and General Vidic, Commander of the Fourth Division.

Among them, the Fourth Army is composed of the Ninth Division drawn from the Second Army, the Sixth Division drawn from the Third Army, and the newly formed 15th Division from the mainland. The entire army has 89,000 people and has 214 artillery pieces. The largest is only 75 field guns and 127 light and heavy machine guns, which is pretty good in the Bulgarian army. The vanguard of this night attack is still the Fourth Division, because they have the most experience in large-scale night attacks, so they were selected by the Army Secretary Lieutenant General Savov as the key to this mission.

"In this night attack, I intend to open the gap from the Romanian left-wing defense line. First the 4th Division will launch the night attack, and then the 4th Army will follow up. The primary goal of this attack is to destroy the organization of the Romanian army and let them Chaos It’s heavy artillery to destroy the enemy if you can’t do it. The night attack will start at 2 o’clock in the morning tomorrow.”

Lieutenant General Savov continued to ask after speaking about the goal. "Do you have any questions?"

After hearing the inquiry from the Secretary of the Army, Major General Vidic, the commander of the Fourth Division, said about his difficulties. "Our Fourth Division currently lacks firepower support, and is time so tight?"

After hearing the words of Major General Vidic, Lieutenant General Savov spoke to him on the spot. "For the firepower issue, I will mobilize other troops to support you. On the issue of tight time, we have nothing to do. The First Army is about to be overwhelmed. Apart from you, we only have two newly formed divisions, and they will not be able to withstand Romania. s attack·."

After hearing the words of Lieutenant General Savov, Major General Vidic did not continue to speak, as he tacitly accepted the proposal of the Secretary of the Army.

Seeing that there were no comments, Lieutenant General Savov told them. "You guys are going to go."

Looking at the two generals who left, Ferdinand I walked up to him and asked with concern. "How sure are you?"

Lieutenant General Savov saw that no one else was present, and whispered his conclusions to the king. "There are less than two levels of assurance."

After hearing the words of his Secretary of the Army, Ferdinand I patted him on the shoulder and left without saying a word.

After the two generals left, the Fourth Army and Fourth Division were preparing for night attacks at night. They were busy preparing weapons and ammunition and the battle plan distributed to the troops below. It was busy until 9 o'clock in the evening, and then the troops rested to prepare for the night attack at 2 o'clock in the morning.

PS There is one more chapter to make up for yesterday’s evening, one chapter can’t be finished, it can only be divided into two chapters.