Chapter 312： Follow-up (2)

"The Ninth Army retreated to Hungary, what should we do?"

Major General Hans seemed to have known the situation before, and as soon as he came up he asked the most important question of the Tenth Army.

Facing the chief of staff's inquiry, Lieutenant General Sam asked instead of expressing his thoughts. "Then what is your suggestion?"

Regarding Lieutenant General Sam’s request for advice, Major General Hans said what he had just thought of. "I think we must evacuate under the current circumstances."

Major General Hans pointed to Deva's location on the map and continued. "I think that after the Ninth Army retreats, the enemy's target must be us. At that time, we will not be opponents regardless of whether it is troops or weapons and equipment. At that time, the offensive and defensive positions will be uncomfortable. So I think we need to do it sooner. Decided."

"And we can retreat directly to Adela while the enemy is still on the front line of Cluj and entangled with the Ninth Army."

Of course Lieutenant Adrassam who the chief of staff said knows. This is the main route of the railway line from Hungary to Romania, and there is a southern line to Belgrade. And the origin is the Muriel River in the Transylvanian Plateau, passing through here and turning back to the south into the Danube. It can be said to be the most powerful city point to defend against Romania's possible offensive.

With his own chief of staff approach, Lieutenant General Sam also admitted that this is the best defensive plan currently available. But retreating like this made Lieutenant General Sam very unwilling. "Hans, you are right, but I don't think we can just go like this at the moment."

Seeing that his chief of staff wanted to inquire about the meaning after hearing this sentence, Lieutenant General Sam directly expressed his consideration. "Hans, I know that your consideration is to reduce the loss of our group army, but you only consider military issues. This is not comprehensive, and we have to consider the political and diplomatic impact."

Sam asked rhetorically at this point. "Chief of Staff, you said if we lost Transylvania in one month, what would happen?"

Facing Sam's question, Major General Hans expressed his considerations. "The already bad domestic environment will be even more difficult. In terms of diplomacy, the allies will also have different views on the empire, and it will affect the battle of Italy prepared by His Majesty."

Facing the chief of staff's answer, Lieutenant General Sam nodded. "I know what you said, but I think the most important thing at the moment is to pay attention to the emotions of the soldiers. A quarter of the soldiers of our Tenth Army are from this land. If they retreat in this way, they will be discouraged. This It is not good for future operations."

Lieutenant General Sam hadn't said a word here, so he was reluctant to belong to the heavy artillery brigade. The third independent heavy artillery brigade of the Austro-Hungarian Army under the command of Major General Kross, but spent the efforts of the Imperial Army. The heavy artillery brigade composed of nearly 100 150, 180, 210, 240 caliber grenades and cannons, but the army of all countries is jealous. baby.

There are only six brigades in the Austro-Hungarian Army, and Lieutenant General Sam was cautious when he used them for fear of heavy losses. And if it retreats according to Major General Hans's retreat, then this heavy artillery brigade with the hard work of the Army will hardly return to Adela. Because Deva is hundreds of kilometers away from Adela, it will take at least five days at the slow speed of the heavy artillery brigade, but the Romanians don't need so much time to surround it.

Therefore, whether Lieutenant General Sam is to stabilize the Transylvanian soldiers or to keep the Third Artillery Brigade, he needs to fight the Romanians. Through Deva’s battle, Lieutenant General Sam felt that the Romanians were not too short and too strong, and he still had the hope of keeping the heavy artillery and stabilizing the military spirit by the way.

"Hans, we can't just go dingy like this."

Looking at the map in front of him, Lieutenant General Sam quickly searched for a place suitable for combat, and soon a place name located in Deva and Adela appeared in front of him. "Having played against them in Misio, these Romanians should not be allowed to be too presumptuous. But if the Salamik in front of us dares to come out of the tortoise shell, we will give him a great taste."

Following the order of Lieutenant General Sam, the Tenth Austro-Hungarian Army began preparations for its withdrawal. The changes in the Austro-Hungarian army immediately attracted the attention of the Deva garrison.

In the headquarters of the Army Group South in Deva, General Salamik was considering the withdrawal of the Austro-Hungarian army.

"Admiral, we can't just let them evacuate like this, otherwise the defensive operation will cost our entire army too much."

The one who was generously speaking was Lieutenant General Ankodar of the First Division of the Imperial Guard. Of course, he was not only speaking to the admiral, but to every division commander who had participated in the Battle of Deva.

The speech of Lieutenant General Ankodar embarrassed Admiral Salamik. Originally, he planned to announce the good news that Cluj had been taken. Who knew that after hearing that Cluj had been taken, these division commanders immediately used this to talk about how to expand the results of the battle. But Admiral Salamik didn't think much at the beginning, and the topics discussed by these teachers were unified. The topic also changed from how to expand the results of the battle to how to hold the Austro-Hungarian Tenth Army in front of him, and wait until Lieutenant General Feleit brought reinforcements to destroy the enemy's heavy regiment in one fell swoop.

But Admiral Salamik, who saw all this, knew that this was the division of the Southern Army Group, unable to swallow the bad breath that was violently beaten by the Austro-Hungarian Tenth Army, and wanted to retrieve this as the situation changed. Place.

However, not everyone agrees with Lieutenant General Ankodar's words, and he also intends to be more prudent. "But now we are not strong enough to hold the enemy, so let's wait until the friendly forces of Cluj arrive before we fight."

But the speaker was quickly stunned back. "Colonel Antonescu, let's do your job well, don't desert the soldiers, otherwise it will make people laugh."

After saying this, Antonescu clearly heard laughter, which was a place where someone couldn't help but laugh. However, facing this situation, Antonescu was very unwilling in his heart, but there was no way. Who would let the division he led was just a mobilized division. Moreover, he was only a deputy. If the commander hadn't taken over the troops because of a sudden illness, he wouldn't even have the qualifications to sit here.

After seeing the other voices coming up being suppressed, Admiral Salamik knew that this was the unanimous decision of the main commanders of the subordinates. In fact, Admiral Salamik himself felt very aggrieved in the Deva battle, and after seeing everyone's consensus, he was also willing to be a favor. After all, the group army is only a temporary establishment. See you at www.novelhall.com in the future, and the delay of the Austro-Hungarian army this time is not too dangerous.

"Since everyone agrees so, then I decided to deploy the 1st, 15th, and 18th Divisions to attack and delay the enemy. I cannot let them leave comfortably. The other divisions continue to guard against possible sudden attacks by the enemy. . "Salamik paused at this point and continued. "However, your attacking troops must pay attention, and they must withdraw when they find that the enemy has a reflexive attack."

"Yes."

As for General Salamik's words, all divisions and commanders present could understand it. It would be too shameful to plant a big somersault before the end of the battle.

Sure enough, after the containment attack launched by the Southern Army, it was immediately counterattacked by the Austro-Hungarian Tenth Army, which made the people who were planning to breathe out a bad breath abruptly held back. However, this is only a glimpse of the Tenth Army. After Fereit hurriedly arrived with the elite of the Central Army and the Northern Army, Lieutenant General Sam's Tenth Army finally couldn't stand it. In the face of nearly 300,000 Romanian elite offensives, the Tenth Army was defeated. However, after the Romanian army drove it out of Transylvania, it did not continue to pursue it, because Romania's biggest threat, the German army on the eastern front had already arrived at the border to test and this had just begun.

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