Chapter 305： Defending the Deva (6)

The Dorselle River, which originated from the Carpathian Mountains, winds down through Deva and joins the Danube to the west. This gives Deva a gentle river valley terrain, and a railway extending from Romania makes Deva an important transportation point. Special products such as honey, wheat, apples and wine from Transylvania have made it a prosperous trade city.

The mountains on the north and south sides of the city can provide a good advantage for the defender, but the terrain of the east and west valleys will make it more troublesome. In general, Deva has advantages and disadvantages in defense.

The mighty Austro-Hungarian Tenth Army finally arrived in the suburbs of Deva after a four-day march. Now Admiral Salamik is on the Colt Mountain in the north of the city, watching the Austro-Hungarian army.

"The number of the Austro-Hungarian Tenth Army is really large this time."

Admiral Salamik put down the telescope in his hand and said with a sigh.

The chief of staff, who also put down the telescope, expressed another concern. "Moreover, intelligence shows that they carry a lot of heavy artillery, many of which are 20 heavy artillery."

"We only have a 50-heavy artillery regiment. This battle will be very difficult."

After speaking, the two looked at the maroon mud wall behind them, and the living logs were still exposed to build field defenses. Such fortifications are difficult to survive under the Austro-Hungarian heavy artillery, and the two commanders are also worried about this.

But all this is a problem of insufficient strength. Five days ago, Admiral Salamik led three divisions and repelled the three divisions from Sibiu and Austria-Hungary in Petrosani. Then three days before the reinforcements to the menacing Southern Army, the forces of the three Austrian-Hungarian divisions that attacked Deva retreated.

However, although the Austro-Hungarian army had retreated, it caused huge casualties to the defending First Division and the 19th Division. Among them, the First Division of the Guards has now suffered more than half of the casualties, and the 19th Division is even more miserable. At present, the force that can continue to fight is only enough to form a brigade. This made Admiral Salamik, who had followed the reinforcements, almost spit out his old blood. Now that he has crippled two divisions in his hands, the next battle may be even more difficult.

Fortunately, this situation has already been anticipated in the country, and the mobilized troops to supplement it have already been transported to Targuzhu. After two days of transportation, the establishment of the two divisions was finally filled yesterday. Although the combat effectiveness is quite different from the previous one, whoever makes the entire group army lack strength now can only let these mobilized soldiers learn on the battlefield.

In addition, Admiral Salamik needs to worry about one more thing, and that is the relationship with the residents of Deva. In order to defend the offensive of the Austro-Hungarian mixed team, the First Division and the 19th Division carried out scorched earth operations, which turned half of Deva’s houses into ruins. In addition, in order to rectify public order, severe measures were used, which made the relationship between the Deva people and the army extremely poor.

After Admiral Salamik rushed to Deva, he felt that this was not the way to go, so the newly released compensation method for damaged houses was posted on the streets. In this compensation announcement, Admiral Salamik decided to subsidize the owners of houses damaged by the Romanian army during the war, and the specific amount is 80% of the value of the house. This announcement greatly reduced the hostility of the residents of Deva towards the Romanian army, at least he would not spit at the soldiers behind his back.

After observing the Austro-Hungarian army, Admiral Salamik rushed back to the headquarters of Deva, where he would assign defensive tasks to several division commanders under his command.

After returning to the headquarters, Admiral Salamik, who had been staying in his office to observe the battle map, reminded him of the Chief of Staff who was pushed in. "They have all arrived, can we start?"

"Okay, I'll go over."

After speaking, the admiral sorted out his military appearance and strode towards the conference room.

"Your admiral, here."

Following the announcement from the messenger, the commanders of the divisions sitting on their seats immediately stood up, and Salamik walked to their seats with the chief of staff. Looking at the subordinates who flashed the stars, the admiral waved his hand. "Sit down."

After everyone sat down, Admiral Salamik spoke as usual. "You all know the importance of this meeting, so I won't repeat it. Now let the chief of staff assign your respective tasks. If there are any problems, you may wait until after the assignment. Do you understand?"

Facing the general's question, the teachers sitting there all answered in unison. "understood."

Admiral Salamic was very satisfied with everyone's answers, and he turned his head and spoke to the Chief of Staff. "let's start."

The chief of staff who received the order picked up a baton and walked to the wall facing everyone on which the battle map was hung. "Now talk about the group army's specific arrangements for this Deva battle."

"The first is the northern mountain area, the most important part of this battle. At this location called Colt Mountain, our group army will dispatch the Fifth Division and the Eleventh Division. And the only heavy artillery regiment in our hands will be assigned to you , Major General Fergus will be in charge of the mountains to the north."

Hearing this, Major General Fergus, the commander of the Fifth Division, nodded to everyone, and Ankodar and Dotrid, who had had a rescue friendship with the Fifth Division, responded with a smile.

"On the east river valley we will arrange the 15th Division to defend this position."

Speaking of this, the chief of staff named the fifteenth division commander Major General Kledov. "Your 15th Division needs to pay attention to one thing. It is to pay attention to the railway bridge on the Dorselle River. It cannot be occupied by the Austro-Hungarian army. This will be related to the safety of our Southern Army's supply line."

Facing the roll call, Major General Kledov expressed determination. "Please rest assured, the chief of staff, I will guard the bridge."

Then the chief of staff continued. "We arranged for the defense of the 18th and 35th Divisions in the West River Valley. This is also a very likely second breakthrough point for the Austro-Hungarian army. So you two division commanders must be more vigilant and report anything wrong to the command headquarters. . Also here is the Eighteenth Division Major General Mordelk in charge."

Regarding the arrangement of the group army headquarters, the division commanders present were not surprised, because the divisions beginning with the 30th were all divisions formed by the militia. Although the former Secretary of the Army Courtois and Chief of Staff Prieshan have greatly increased the training intensity of the militia reserve, the training with the standing division is far from enough. This time, there is no way to arrange the newly formed militia division on the top. Whoever makes the Southern Army lack strength, even the other two militia divisions, 38 and 39 divisions, are arranged to guard the back road in Petrosani, let alone. Say something else.

The chief of staff continued to arrange the task. "Then the 19th Division is defending the mountains to the south, and the 1st Guard Division stays at Deva as the group army reserve."

Regarding the nineteenth division's defense against the southern mountains, which is now badly injured, none of the division commanders present has any objection. Because this is the most difficult area to be attacked, unless the Austro-Hungarian army wants to completely wipe out the Southern Army, it is impossible to spend a day's journey around here. As for the first division of the guards as a reserve team, everyone has no opinion, even if it is also badly injured, but after all, it is one of the three elite divisions. If you have the First Division of the Guards, you can reinforce yourself, so everyone can be more at ease.

The chief of staff asked after speaking. "Did you hear clearly?"

"Listen clearly."

The same words were yelled out from the teachers present.

Seeing that everyone is in good spirits, Admiral Salamik knocked on the table and asked. "Is there anyone who doesn't understand now?"

Faced with the general's question, none of the teachers present said anything. After seeing no one answered, Salamik continued talking. "Since everyone has no doubts, then go to their respective defense zones to prepare."

After hearing the admiral's dismissal order, the teachers present were preparing to leave. At this time, Admiral Salamik seemed to think of something. "Ankerdal and Dotrid, you two stay for a while."

Admiral Salamik's words stopped the two generals, and the admiral said it only after everyone else had left. "The supplementary soldiers given to you can use these few days to step up their integration into the army. You will definitely join in this battle, and you should hurry up. You can tell me if you have any difficulties now.

Seeing that the admiral stayed here to enhance his combat effectiveness, of course the two commanders who had been greatly injured would not be able to do so.

"We consumed too much artillery and machine guns in previous battles. Can you please give us some more first."

Facing the lion's request to open his mouth, Admiral Salamik said. "Now the group army does not have any extra cannons for you. If you have machine guns, I can only give you 15 Maxines and 20 Madsen. This is the greatest support of the group army, so don't think about anything else."

Facing Admiral Salamik's supplement, the two were very satisfied, but they knew that the country had already wiped out all the weapons that could be searched because of the expansion of the army. And some people suggested whether to take out the bronze cannons used during the War of Independence, but was rejected by the Chief of Staff. In the words of the Chief of Staff, the cost of training artillery personnel is higher than those of the artillery. Come out ashamed.

At the same time, in the headquarters of the Austro-Hungarian Tenth Army, Lieutenant General Sam was also arranging a battle plan. "Note that the target of this battle is Colt Mountain. I want you to attack here in turn. I believe the commander on the opposite side knows the importance of this place to them, and must let him put all his energy here~www.novelhall.com ~And Major General Cross’s heavy artillery brigade will help you. According to the information we have, the Romanians have only one 50 heavy artillery regiment."

Speaking of this, Lieutenant General Sam said by name. "Major General Stepan, this time you took the three divisions and waited until the enemy reserve appeared, and immediately went straight into the east river valley. I want you to seize the railway bridge over the Dorselle River. I want the Romanian army in Deva Rout, do you understand."

Of course Major General Stepan knew the importance of this. It can be said that the Tenth Army was covering him. If he can't get the target, I believe he knows the consequences. But the credit is also the greatest, so he talked about the excitement in his suppression. "Understood. This time, with the honor of a soldier, I promise to seize the bridge to ensure the smooth progress of the battle plan."

Hearing what Major General Stepan said made Lieutenant General Sam very satisfied, so he said. "Tomorrow morning, we will start attacking Colt Mountain, and we will show our strength to the Romanians. We are not that easy to bully."

So after a night of refurbishment, the Austro-Hungarian Tenth Army is ready for battle. At this time, with the order of Lieutenant General Sam, the large-caliber heavy artillery from Austria-Hungary made the Fifth and Eleventh Divisions defending Colt Mountain feel powerful.

The new phase of the Battle of Deva has arrived.