Romania officially declared war on Greece on 29 October, and Italy declared war on Greece the following day, after Greece rejected the Romanian and Italian demands.

Greece, which had been declared war by the two countries, also quickly joined the Anglo-French alliance. It's just that at present, the two countries do not have enough maritime forces in the eastern Mediterranean, and they can only take advantage of the opportunity to use the gap to urgently transport a batch of personnel and materials by sea and air, but this batch of materials and personnel will not be too many.

In addition, in order to show its attitude with Greece, the British army also mobilized two squadrons of Hurricane fighters to be stationed in Athens to protect the airspace of Greece. It's just that these two squadrons alone can't do it, you must know that Romania has a wing stationed in Thessaloniki alone, and more than 1,000 advanced fighters of all kinds are stationed in the entire Thracian region.

At present, the city of Thessaloniki has become a large barracks, full of officers and soldiers wearing the uniforms of the navy, army and air force. Many officers and soldiers looked at this Mediterranean-style city curiously, and the warm and humid climate was something they had never encountered before.

It's no wonder that whenever they have time, these Romanian soldiers come running to play. It's just that in the past few days, with Romania's declaration of war on Greece, there have been fewer figures wearing military uniforms on the streets.

And in Menboco, outside Thessaloniki, this is the headquarters of the Greek Army Group currently formed in Romania, with a huge establishment of 16 divisions and 5 brigades under its command, and its total strength has reached 320,000.

With such a large force, there was no shortage of commanders, and Admiral Mandiff was in charge of commanding the Greek campaign.

And he is now at the headquarters to welcome the arrival of a general.

"Hello Hoffman. I didn't expect you to perform so well in Poland, and I knew in Thessaloniki that you had played a trick on our allies, the Germans. ”

Mandiff greeted Lieutenant General Hoffmann, who was this time transferred along with the 1st and 4th Divisions to reinforce the Hellenic Army. The two of them will form an armored corps with the 8th Panzer Division and the 54th Motorized Division, which have arrived long ago, and become the trump card in the hands of Mandiv, and the commander of this armored corps is Hoffman.

In the face of Mandiv's praise, Hoffman could only shirk and say that he dared to bear the praise of the director of education. "I don't deserve such praise from Your Excellency the Admiral, it's just that I'm just at the right time."

"Don't be too modest, I'm not always as serious as Fereitt."

Hoffman didn't dare to answer this. The topic between military giants, he has no capital to get involved.

Seeing that Hoffman didn't dare to answer, Mandiv didn't wait for this topic to be pulled out by himself, and continued. "I'll tell you the good news, we are very satisfied with your fight in Poland, as long as this time is not bad, you should be able to get promoted."

Mandiv's words made Hoffman feel a wave of ecstasy in his heart. It is said that a soldier who does not think of a marshal is not a good soldier, and how could Hoffman, as a lieutenant general, not want to be promoted to general. It's just that it is too difficult to be promoted to general, even if Hoffman has been a lieutenant general for almost ten years, it is very troublesome for promotion.

Because Romanian generals represent not only military ranks, but also political status, there is a limit to the number of Romanian generals. Not only do you need to have military exploits and contributions to the army, but you also need to have a place for you to top.

Therefore, this will result in the current Romanian lieutenant generals and major generals more than 200, but the rank of general on active duty can be counted on one hand.

And now the words of Admiral Mandev clearly represent that the number of generals will be expanded, and if you think deeply, the rank of marshal will also appear. It's just that it's not known who will be the first, because it takes His Majesty to make a decision.

Mandiv looked at Hoffman, who was a little excited, and thought that he had not taken advantage of the news in vain. In fact, he knew more than Hoffman, because it came from His Majesty Eder.

In view of the great increase in the size of the Romanian army, in order to solve the embarrassment of possible ranks in command, the proposal on expanding the number of senior ranks, which was jointly drafted by Fereit and him, as well as by the navy and air force, has been put on His Majesty's desk. And according to the information he got, His Majesty also agrees with the time.

It's just that these newly promoted generals can't be compared with the old generals in terms of political status. If nothing else, the history of the protégé alone is not comparable to these new promotions. Of course, sooner or later, these old guys will hand over their rights, but they will have to wait until later.

Of course, if it is not ideal to fight on the battlefield, then it is the same for everyone. And for the Greeks, he Mandiv could not have capsized the ship after expended energy. The sea, land and air have an absolute advantage, so they can't win the battle, so they can go home and hug their grandchildren as soon as possible.

Of course, Mandiv informed Hoffman of the news, and he was not idle to do anything. It's that he has to use the sharpest Romanian knife well, and he has to win not only but beautifully, otherwise how can he convince others.

I saw him summon Hoffman to the side of the battle map and began to talk about the mission assigned to him this time. "The armored forces were all brought out by you, and I am sure you must be very familiar with them. So I'm going to tell you about your mission this time. ”

I saw Mandiv pointing to the battle map. "Now, according to the information we have received, the Greek army has mobilized 500,000 troops, of which 350,000 are for us, and another 60,000 are deployed on the border with Albania.

Among them, in the Macedonian region, there were more than 50,000 enemy Fifth Army, and in the Thessaly district there were 280,000 enemy troops. The enemy forces in the Thessaly district relied on the terrain around the key point of Liptokalia to build fortifications in an attempt to use the Pindus Mountains to hold back our troops. What do you think about this? ”

Admiral Mandiv's words were clearly in mind for Hoffman, who looked at the map of the concentration points of the enemy's troops, and thought for a moment as he looked at the map of the assembly points of the enemy's troops. "Since the enemy's heavy forces are massed in Laptokalia, then we can use the sea transport troops to land from the rear behind."

"This method can't be used, and the navy has other tasks, so it can't be used by sea."

Hearing that His Excellency the Admiral had rejected his proposal, Hoffman was not discouraged, but continued to speak. "Then we concentrate our forces on one point, and as long as we open a gap, then send a fast force, and we can go all the way to Athens."

Speaking of which, Hoffman also knew what his mission was.

"That's right."

And for Hoffman's words, Mandiv praised. "The Greeks thought they could use the terrain to stop us from attacking on all sides, so let them taste our firepower. I'll smash a gap and let you break straight in. And this time the code name of your action is Thunder, and it will be directly destroyed with the power of thunder. I will celebrate your success in Athens. ”

Since it was a long-distance attack that he was good at, Hoffman was afraid of anyone. I saw him speak. "Rest assured, Your Excellency, I will take Athens and dedicate it to you."

"I just want you to have this momentum."