Chapter 151： The Battle of Tarnovo

The night was good today and there was no moonlight. The general who was preparing for the night attack was greatly excited. At 12 o'clock in the night, the soldiers were called up to eat, and then they began to march towards the Romanian right-wing positions, intending to give them a bit of cruelty to relieve themselves. The grievances that have been shelled these days.

In the Romanian right-wing position late at night, the guards of the 12th Division carefully observed the situation in front of them. Bulgaria’s sneak attack has already been known to them through the propaganda of the two countries. Therefore, all positions have been strictly guarded these days. The flares were fired every few minutes, and this situation made the fourth division's night attack even more difficult. But this time they will be up to no matter how difficult it is, because Bulgaria will be unable to withstand the frontal battlefield.

On the line of the 12th Division, a captain was holding a telescope to observe the movement of Bulgaria under the light of the flares. At this time, he noticed that a piece of grass moved at a distance of 500 meters. When he planned to observe again, the flares were moving. It has gone out.

"Fire the flares on the right side again."

The conscientious captain asked the artillery to fire another flare.

"Boom" Another flare illuminates everything in front of the position, which exposes the unexpected Bulgarian soldiers. Seeing the densely packed Bulgarian soldiers in front of the position, the captain yelled without hesitation.

, "Night attack."

then took out a flare gun and slammed the red flare that represented the night attack on the sky. Seeing that their intention was exposed, the officers and soldiers of the Bulgarian Fourth Division no longer concealed it. They straightened up and quickly rushed to the Romanian position, intending to rush into the trenches when the Romanian army did not respond. However, their intention was clearly seen through, and the numerous machine guns on the Romanian positions made their ideas unrealistic. For a while, the Bulgarian soldier was blocked from moving at a distance of 300 meters in front of the position.

This made the division commander Major General Vidic very anxious, and he ordered the staff behind him. "Let the artillery attack knock out the firepower on the Romanian position."

When Major General Vidic ordered the artillery, news of the Bulgarian night attack also reached the Romanian headquarters. When Edel heard the news of the Bulgarian night attack, he ran into the command hall without even wearing his military uniform. Seeing that the crown prince came out wearing only a shirt, it was also the newly arrived Chief of Staff General Courtois and the Deputy Chief of Staff Major General Prosi waiting to greet him.

Edel asked before they could speak. "How is the front line now?"

Hearing Edel’s question, Major General Prossi, who has read the telegram, said. "Now the position can still be held, after all, we are not Serbs."

"Then our plan can be used?"

Hearing the crown prince’s question, Major General Prossi said after taking a look at Admiral Courtois. "It's time to proceed."

After hearing Major General Prossi’s words, Edel looked at Admiral Courtois, and the opposite of the Crown Prince’s inquisitive gaze, Admiral Courtois also agreed. "Since there is a rare opportunity for Bulgaria to attack, why don't we fulfill them?"

Seeing that the two chiefs of staff agreed, Crown Prince Edel issued a rare order to the staff. "Preparing to implement the V plan."

Everyone in the command room started to get busy for a while. In fact, the V plan was prepared in response to the Bulgarian night attack. After the first line of the plan is attacked, it will gradually give up resistance within an hour to make way for the two wings. After three kilometers, there will be two divisions intercepted. At the same time, two divisions attacked from both sides. The division that finally released the gap would close the gap with the reinforcements of the two divisions, enclosing the Bulgarian army that broke into the position on a three-kilometer piece of land to encircle and annihilate it.

Now with the raid by the Bulgarian army, this plan has also been implemented by the Romanian army.

At this time, the second and third divisions of the Third Army began to move. They will deploy defenses three kilometers behind the 12th Division to stop the Bulgarian assault. The 1st and 4th Divisions of the First Army will be deployed on both wings, preparing for flanking the Bulgarian army. The Eighth Division will move to the front line and prepare to close the 12th Division, and the Cavalry Division is also preparing. Based on the battalion group, they plan to stop the fish that slipped through the net after dawn. A large invisible net prepared for the Bulgarian army has begun to prepare, and the Bulgarian army is still fighting hard to break through the position of the 12th division.

"Call the artillery to fire."

The pioneer of the Bulgarian assault, Major General Vidic, the commander of the Fourth Division, shouted to the chief of staff beside him with red eyes.

It turned out that Romanian machine guns had already shot many assaulting soldiers of the Fourth Division, even though he had already ordered the firing. But the machine guns on the Romanian positions are too cunning. They usually flick a shuttle to change a place. The previous artillery attacks were often one step too late, and they couldn't accurately hit the supporting firepower on the position, causing the fourth division of the charge to suffer a lot of casualties, causing the fourth division to delay the attack.

Seeing such a scene, Major General Vidic was also anxious as the commander of the 4th Division. He could only order the artillery to continue bombarding the machine gun points on the Romanian position, hoping to relieve the pressure on the frontline troops.

After fighting for almost an hour, the firepower on the position gradually decreased, and the Bulgarian soldiers could no longer stop the impact, and the soldiers broke into the position. Seeing that his subordinates finally broke through the Romanian position, Major General Vidic's face finally turned overcast like the weather, and he said to the chief of staff beside him with a smile. "Despite the heavy casualties, everything is worth it."

The chief of staff also put aside the worry in his heart and asked. "Then I will send a telegram to the Fourth Army and let them follow up immediately."

Major General Vidic did not look back, still raising the telescope in his hand to tell him. "Go ahead."

The news that the Fourth Division had broken through the first line of defense in Romania quickly passed back to the general headquarters of the Bulgarian army, so that King Ferdinand I and the Secretary of the Army, Lieutenant General Savov, who had been waiting for the news, were relieved of the heavy burden in their hearts. None of them can sleep tonight, and they are all waiting for this raid that concerns the fate of Bulgaria. Breaking through the first line of defense in Romania is a good start.

As the pioneer of the 4th Division in the attacked position, after the arrival of the 4th Army reinforcements, continue to march towards the rear of Romania. The Fourth Army also sent two divisions to follow the Fourth Division to continue the advance, but they encountered resistance from the Romanian Second and Third Divisions three kilometers away. Facing the fierce firepower on the Romanian position, the Bulgarian army combined with the strength of the three divisions completely attacked and made up for it. This made Major General Vidic, the commander of the Fourth Division, who was in charge of this attack, secretly anxious. In the plan, if they could not break through the Romanian defense line before dawn, then their night attack would have failed.

"The Romanian defense doesn't look good this time. We are running out of time."

The chief of staff spoke of his concerns to Major General Vidic. It is now four o'clock in the morning. If the position in front of them cannot be breached before six o'clock, the three divisions will be exposed to Romanian artillery.

Major General Vidic said as if to cheer himself up after hearing the chief of staff's words. "We haven't captured this position at 5:30, so we retreat."

Hearing the unwillingness of his partner, the Chief of Staff only agreed to talk about it. "Well, this time can allow us to attack twice, if we can't, we will retreat."

Then the Bulgarian army launched a larger offensive. A large number of soldiers bravely attacked the Romanian position in front of them, completely ignoring that their comrades were hit by bullets and bombed by artillery.

"These Bulgarians fought very bravely." Lieutenant General Salamik, commander of the Third Army, who was observing the battle behind the position, commented on these Bulgarian troops.

"It's a pity that they can't resist bullets no matter how brave they are, and our Romanian army will do better than them when attacking." The commander of the First Army, Lieutenant General Puleshan, is obviously not optimistic about these Bulgarian troops.

Seeing that the two army lords in front of them were stunned, the other generals behind them didn't dare to interrupt.

But the soldiers on both sides of the battlefield don't care about the others. Now they have to kill the enemy soldiers on the opposite side to protect themselves. However, in the confrontation between the two soldiers, the Romanian army used its superior technology, trench defense and machine guns to help the Bulgarian soldiers.

When the Bulgarian army attacked at five o'clock, the 12th and 8th divisions that retreated to both sides of the first-line position began to attack. The 15th Division of the Fourth Army, guarding the gap, faced the elite soldiers who had trained for several years in Romania. The recruits were not opponents after these trainings for more than a month, and they were driven out of the trenches one after another.

The three Bulgarian divisions that were attacking were panicked as soon as they heard the news. They were planning to withdraw their troops. The first and fourth divisions waiting on the two wings also rushed over from the two wings and entangled them. The second and third divisions also rushed out of their positions. Facing the siege of the four Romanian divisions, the Bulgarian army of the three divisions was completely unable to retreat, and could only watch his back road closed by the eighth and twelfth divisions of the Romanian army. Seeing that the Bulgarian troops of the three divisions were encircled on the nine square kilometers of land, in order to avoid too much casualties, the Romanian troops who had entangled them also retreated.

This made Major General Vidic uncomfortable. They knew that the Romanian army would bombard them with heavy artillery after the arrival of the day. Under the massive artillery attack of the Romanian army, whether the young man they brought would survive depends on God. Will.

For this reason, their three divisions tried to take advantage of the eighth and twelfth divisions defending the first-line position to launch a final attack while their foothold was not stable. The 15th Bulgarian Division that was repelled also tried to attack the position in order to respond to the three encircled divisions, distracting the defenders. The Eighth Division and the Twelfth Division, defending the front line, withstood the fiercest attack in this battle.

"Machine gun suppression."

A Romanian officer on the position yelled to him, and a Maxine machine gun group under his command issued an order. The main shooter is now completely ignoring the machine gun's operating manual, holding down the trigger and not letting go, frantically shooting the Bulgarian soldiers rushing to the position. Under the fierce attack of the desperate main shooter, the offensive of the Bulgarian army in front of this position was suppressed.

Just when the officer breathed a sigh of relief, under the interference of noisy sounds, there was an unnoticeable gunfire, and the desperate main shooter fell to the ground. After seeing the main shooter fell to the ground, the deputy shooter hurriedly stepped forward to make up for his position. At this time, another shot was fired. This time the officer used the flame of the muzzle to see where the cold gun was placed. This was under the body of three Bulgarian soldiers, and a rifle was quietly stretched out. He stepped forward and took the machine gun, and shot at the three corpses that he had spotted. In front of the powerful firepower of the Maxine heavy machine gun, he really became a corpse this time.

The Bulgarian offensive continued until dawn, but the front line guarded by the two Romanian divisions was still firmly in their hands. Facing this situation, the besieged Bulgarian army was completely desperate. At this time, Romania's fierce artillery fire arrived as expected. In the face of unavoidable scenes, a large number of Bulgarians were killed. Many people could not stand such an attack. The Romanian army surrounded on all sides surrendered.

The 110,000 troops who raided the Romanian position eventually only retreated 23,000, of which 48,000 died and 39,000 were captured. Among the 39,000 captured, 11,000 were wounded.

While waiting for news from the headquarters, Crown Prince Edel saw the results of this battle and knew that Bulgaria's peace settlement was in sight. After the battle, he plans to give the honorable minister the award to the commendation, and the rank that should be promoted will be promoted.

Different from the laughter and laughter of the Romanian army, after the Bulgarian King Ferdinand I and the Secretary of the Army Lieutenant General Savov who were waiting for the news received the news, their faces were like paper and their eyes revealed deep despair.

Ferdinand I grabbed the Secretary of the Army by the shoulder and asked in a desperate tone. "What should we do now? What should we do."

Lieutenant General Savov, who was surprised by Ferdinand I, felt that the king was holding his shoulder firmly. After he calmed his heart, his brain started thinking quickly.

"Your Majesty, we must now withdraw our troops and abandon Tarnovo."

After hearing Lieutenant General Savov’s suggestion, Ferdinand I said with a blank eye. "Yes, now this is our last force, and we can't waste it here anymore. We have to go back quickly, we..."

Ferdinand I could not help but tears as he spoke. He was crying for the disillusionment of the dream of Greater Bulgaria, and also for the heavy casualties in Bulgaria.

Seeing King Ferdinand I lose control of his emotions, Lieutenant General Savov is equally uncomfortable, but he will organize the evacuation of the army, but it is estimated that at least two divisions will be needed to break the situation. So now the First Army, which is holding on to the position of Mount Tsarevets, cannot withdraw Now only Lieutenant General Kudinchev can make sacrifices.

For this reason, he personally called Lieutenant General Kudingchev, but they will stick to it for three days no matter what, Lieutenant General Kudingchev promised with his reputation that he would hold the Romanians for three days and allow them to retreat.

After thinking about all this, Lieutenant General Savov began to prepare to evacuate. He first asked the Fourteenth Division to step forward to reinforce the First Army, and then withdrew the Third Division. The now defeated assault soldiers began to retreat to the rear after the reorganization of the Seventh Division.

After the Romanian army eliminated the three Bulgarian divisions that attacked at night, they began to attack the Bulgarian First Army defending the Zarevec Mountain position. This time they will face the three Romanian armies attacking in turn, but the Bulgarian First Army defending the Zarevec Mountain position has been tenaciously defending after receiving firepower from other lightly evacuated troops. It was not forced to retreat until three days later.

However, when the First Army defensively evacuated, only 37,000 people were left. With the addition of the troops supplemented to the First Army, they left 60,000 casualties on the position, which is considered heavy casualties. And the heavy firepower was completely abandoned by them because of the evacuation.

Romania occupied Tarnovo on July 21. This time around the city of Tarnovo, Bulgaria invested 247,000 troops, Romania invested 230,000 troops, and the two sides approached 500,000 in the battle. In the end, 113,000 casualties were captured in Bulgaria, while Romania also lost 28,000. With the end of this battle, Bulgaria's war potential has been exhausted, and other countries have begun to prepare for subsequent diplomatic negotiations.

PS is finally over, and then we will enter the familiar plot of steamed buns. Don’t miss it.