In the second month after the declaration of war, the Bulgarian campaign, which had been a concern for both Romania and the Entente, finally began. The 3rd and 7th Divisions, which had set out from Ruse, were the vanguard and took the lead in the operation.

Crushed by superior forces and equipment, they took the lead in capturing the border city of Carmen. This border city, which is forty kilometers from Ruse, fifty kilometers from Luman and forty-five kilometers from Veliko Tarnovo, is defended by only one militia regiment. Lieutenant General Mandiv, who was the forward commander, arranged only one brigade assault and took it in one battle.

Standing in the empty Carmen town hall and looking at the messy ground, Lieutenant General Mandiv instructed his staff officers. "Send a report to the commander that we have taken Carmen and have not met the enemy's resistance."

The young communications staff officer asked puzzled. "Sir, didn't we meet resistance outside the city?"

Faced with the staff officer's question, Lieutenant General Mandif said disdainfully. "A battle that collapses with a charge can also be called resistance?"

After speaking, the division commander Mandiff ignored the little staff officer, and thought about a general wearing the rank of major general next to him. "Major General Foktor, next I will lead the third division first, and your seventh division will follow, and we will meet outside Veliko Tarnovo."

Lieutenant General Mandif's words surprised Major General Foktor a little, and he couldn't help but speak. "It's very likely to be dangerous."

"It's not a big risk."

Mandiv opened his mouth to say what he was going to do. "The enemy even gave up directly on Carmen, and he must have reduced his forces to defend Veliko Tarnovo, and it is impossible to have a defensive line in the back. So I'm willing to bet that there won't be a large enemy force along the way from here to Veliko Tarnovo. ”

In the face of the confident Mandif, Major General Foctor could not dissuade him anymore, after all, the commander of the vanguard was also the other party. "Alright then, you go first. I left a battalion to meet the group, and then followed. ”

Seeing that Foctor agreed to his actions, Lieutenant General Mandiff immediately went to prepare for the march of the Third Division. In fact, Lieutenant General Mandev still had a careful idea in his heart, he planned to use the position of the third division to lure the Bulgarian army to attack, and then give the group army a chance to eat the enemy. The trigger for this idea was Lieutenant General Ankodar of the 1st Praetorian Guard Division, and the benefits that the commander of the 1st Praetorian Guard Division had gained after that battle were all red, so he also wanted to try it.

Then the 3rd Division, led by its commander, Lieutenant General Mandev, began to march towards Veliko Tarnovo, while the 7th Division began to move half a day late. The Bulgarian commander, Lieutenant General Kutinchev, who had been following the battle situation all the time, soon learned about this movement, but he was not at all moved by it in Veliko Tarnovo.

With the latest information on the Romanian army in his hand, he spoke disdainfully. "This kind of little trick can be used to make people embarrassed."

Hearing the words of the commander, several Bulgarian division commanders gathered in the command headquarters also spoke.

"Lieutenant General, shall we give them some color."

"We can send small groups of troops, taking advantage of their familiarity with the terrain, to harass their march."

"Lieutenant General, we ......"

Seeing the gossips about his advice to the Taoist masters, Lieutenant General Kudinchev raised his hand and motioned to listen to him. "As you all know, in Thessaloniki we have been fighting the enemy for a month, and the consumption is great. And at the moment it seems that we have no possibility of drawing troops from the Thessaloniki front, so now we are the only army resisting the Romanians. I can't risk putting the country in any kind of danger. ”

Lieutenant General Kutinchev's words all the division commanders present understood that they were the last capital of Bulgaria, and if they lost, they would withdraw from the battle.

Lieutenant General Kutinchev, after waiting for the division commander to digest these words, immediately voiced his battle plan. "And according to my plan, both Veliko Tarnovo and Norwich will be abandoned after gradual resistance, we will stretch the enemy's supply lines, and finally in Pleven we will block the enemy's attack, and then it will be the moment for us to counterattack."

"If you give up the city like this, what will the people do?"

Lieutenant General Kutinchev answered the question. "I will organize the evacuation of personnel and materials, among which young people, women and children will be the priority targets of the evacuation."

In the face of Lieutenant General Kutinchev's words, none of the division commanders present were moral people and knew that this was the best way. It is the most rational thing to evacuate supplies and useful personnel, leaving the elderly who lack food and clothing to increase the pressure on the other side to replenish their supplies. But there are more or less infarctions in their hearts, after all, they are also human beings, not machines, and they have feelings, who makes Bulgaria now strained in supplies.

In fact, Bulgaria was the most undersupplied country in the Allies, and over the years an army of one million had already overwhelmed a country that was not known for its food production in the mountains. Even since last year, the Bulgarian military has sent a group of soldiers back to help with the harvest during the early farming season.

However, these still do not allow the people to solve the problem of food and clothing, and a large number of old and weak people still die due to various injuries and diseases caused by hunger. Bulgaria's domestic resentment has been somewhat uncontrollable, but it can barely be maintained by relying on a strong patriotic national plot.

Glancing at the division commanders in front of him, Lieutenant General Kudinchev continued. "The next thing we have to do is to stop the Romanian attack for the people."

That's when someone asked. "What if it can't be stopped?"

"Then guarantee your strength, and wait for the next counterattack."

Seeing the division commander who had quieted down and the atmosphere was a little depressed, Lieutenant General Kudinchev knew that this was his own words, so he remedied it. "I have already consulted with the Commander-in-Chief beforehand, and as long as he resists the attack of the Allied forces outside Thessaloniki, he will bring reinforcements."

The commander-in-chief that Lieutenant General Kutinchev spoke of was not Ferdinand I, who was customarily held by the king, but by Admiral Zekov.

The full name of this Admiral Zekov was Nikolai Dzhekov and he was born in Sliven in 1865. He was a graduate of the Sofia Military School and volunteered to join the reserve regiment during the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885. In 1886, he took part in a military coup against Alexander. After the failure of the conspiracy, he was demoted to cadet and sent to serve in the 12th Infantry Regiment. Soon he received an amnesty and graduated from military school.

In 1887, he was promoted to lieutenant and assigned to Schumann's 2nd Artillery Regiment. In 1894 he was promoted to captain and sent to Italy, and in 1898 he graduated from the Military Academy of Turin. After returning to Bulgaria, he served in the 3rd Artillery Regiment and in the Army Staff Officer. In 1901, he was promoted to major and taught at the Sofia Military School, where he became its principal in 1912. In between, he gained the trust of King Ferdinand I, and from 1910 to 1912 he also served as commander of the First Regiment.

During the First Balkan War, Colonel Zekov served as Chief of Staff of the Second Army and was responsible for the initial siege of Edirne. Later, he led a raid on the fortress of Edirne, and made great achievements. He was unable to participate in the Second Balkan War due to illness, and after the war he was appointed commander of the Bulgarian Thracian troops.

After the Balkan Wars, King Ferdinand I refused to continue to command the Bulgarian army as commander-in-chief and supported Nikolai Zhekov in this position. Zhekov supported Bulgaria in the war on the side of the Allies, so when the decision was made to join the war, he assumed the post of commander-in-chief on September 24, 1915.

After taking over the post of commander-in-chief, Zekov worked hard to solve the problem of the bloated command of the Bulgarian army and the lack of supplies. He did a great job, not only reducing the number of personnel in the command to replenish the ranks, but also getting no less assistance from Germany and Austria-Hungary.

Moreover, he paid attention to the morale of the soldiers, and went to the grassroots company many times to understand the situation, and was deeply loved by the soldiers. In addition, it also made a lot of contributions in the battle of pincerizing Serbia.

It should be mentioned here that when Romania entered the war in the original plane, he also led the Bulgarian army into the army group led by Marshal Mackensen, and also performed quite well in the capture of Romania.

Therefore, after Lieutenant General Kutinchev said that he had discussed it with Admiral Zekov, the division commanders present were much more relieved.

It's just that the next battle needs to be faced seriously, and it is up to them to stop the Romanian army that defeated Bulgaria and pulled it out of the war.

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