The Dossel River, which originates in the Carpathian Mountains, winds its way down the Deva to the west into the Danube. This gave Deva a gentle valley topography, and a railway from Romania made Deva an important point of transportation. Specialties such as honey, wheat, apples and wine from Transylvania made it a thriving city for trade.

The mountainous terrain on the north and south sides of the city can provide a good advantage for the defenders, but the terrain of the east and west valleys will make it more difficult to think about, and in general, Deva has advantages and disadvantages in defense.

The mighty Austro-Hungarian 10th Army, after a four-day march, finally reached the outskirts of Deva. Now Admiral Salamik was on the Colt Hill, north of the city, watching the Austro-Hungarian army.

"The Austro-Hungarian Tenth Army is really a lot of people this time."

Admiral Salamik put down the telescope in his hand and sighed.

The chief of staff, who also lowered his binoculars, voiced another concern. "And the intelligence shows that they carry a lot of heavy artillery, many of which are 210 heavy guns."

"We only have a 150 heavy artillery regiment, and this battle is going to be tough."

After speaking, the two looked at the maroon mud wall behind them, and the roof still showed living logs to build field fortifications. It was difficult for such a fortification to survive under the heavy Austro-Hungarian artillery, and the two commanders were also worried about it.

But it's all a matter of insufficient troops. Only five days earlier, General Salamik, with three divisions, had repelled the Austro-Hungarian attack at Sibiu. Then, three days earlier, in the face of reinforcements from the menacing Army Group South, the three Austro-Hungarian divisions attacking Deva had retreated.

However, although the Austro-Hungarian army had retreated, it inflicted heavy casualties on the defending Praetorian Division 1st and 19th Division. Among them, the 1st Praetorian Division has now suffered more than half of the casualties, while the 19th Division is even worse, and the strength that can continue the battle is only enough to form a brigade. This made Admiral Salamik, who came with reinforcements, almost spurt out a mouthful of old blood, and now that he has two crippled divisions in his hands, the next battle is afraid that it will be even more difficult.

Fortunately, this situation was already expected in China, and the mobilized troops to replenish it had already been transported to Terguzhiu. After two days of transportation, the two divisions were finally replenished yesterday. Although the combat effectiveness is very different from before, whoever makes the entire group army now lack troops, can only let these mobilized soldiers learn on the battlefield.

In addition, Admiral Salamik has one more thing to worry about, and that is the relationship with the residents of Dewa. Previously, the 1st and 19th Janissaries Divisions had carried out scorched earth operations to defend against the Austro-Hungarian mixed attack, which reduced half of Deva's houses to ruins. In addition, in order to clean up law and order, harsh measures were also used before, which made the relationship between the people of Dewa and the army extremely poor.

After Admiral Salamik arrived in 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 notice of compensation, Admiral Salamik decided to subsidize the owners of houses damaged by the Romanian army during the war, up to 80 percent of the value of the houses. The proclamation greatly alleviated the hostility of the Dwa residents towards the Romanian army, at least he would not spit on the soldiers behind his back.

Having observed the Austro-Hungarian army, Admiral Salamik immediately rushed back to Deva's headquarters, where he was to assign defensive tasks to several of his division commanders.

Admiral Salamik, who had been in his office to observe the operational map after returning to the headquarters, was reminded by the chief of staff who pushed the door in. "They've all arrived, can we get started?"

"Okay, I'll go over here."

After finishing speaking, the general tidied up his military appearance and strode towards the conference room.

"Your Excellency the Admiral has arrived."

As soon as the herald announced, the commanders of the divisions who were sitting in their seats immediately stood up, and Salamik walked to their respective seats with the chief of staff. Looking at the subordinates who were twinkling with stars, the general waved his hand and spoke. "Sit down."

After everyone had taken their seats, Admiral Salamik spoke, as usual. "You all know the importance of this meeting, so I won't repeat it again, and now let the chief of staff assign you your respective tasks, and if there are any problems, you may wait until the assignment is completed. Do you get it? ”

In the face of the general's inquiry, the division commanders present all answered in unison. "Understood."

Admiral Salamik was pleased with the answers, and he turned to the Chief of Staff. "Let's get started."

The chief of staff, who received the order, picked up a baton and walked to the wall facing the battle map where everyone was hanging. "Now let's talk about the specific arrangements of the group army for this battle of Dewa."

"First of all, the mountainous area to the north, where the most important part of the operation, is to be sent by our Army Group in this position, known as Mount Colt, where the Fifth and Eleventh Divisions will be dispatched. And the only heavy artillery regiment in our hands will also be assigned to you, and the northern mountains will be in charge of Major General Fergus. ”

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

"And on the eastern valley, we will arrange for the 15th Division to defend this position."

Speaking of which, the chief of staff named the commander of the 15th Division, Major General Kledov. "Your 15th Division needs to pay attention to one point, that is, to pay attention to the railway bridge over the Dolcell River, which cannot be occupied by the Austro-Hungarian army, which will be related to the safety of the supply lines of our Southern Army."

In the face of the roll call, Major General Kledov expressed determination. "Please rest assured, Chief of Staff, I will hold the bridge."

Then the chief of staff continued. "To the west, we have the 18th and 35th Divisions to defend the valley, and this is also the second breakthrough point of the Austro-Hungarian army. Therefore, the two division commanders, you should be more vigilant and report anything wrong to the headquarters. Again, this side was in charge of Major General Moderick of the 18th Division. ”

The division commanders present were not surprised by the arrangement of the command of the group army, because the divisions at the beginning of the thirties were all divisions formed by the assembly of the militia. Although the Minister of the Army, Thibaut Courtois, and the Chief of the General Staff, Prisan, had significantly increased the intensity of training for the militia reserves, the training of the standing divisions was far from sufficient. There is no way to arrange the militia division that has just been formed this time, who makes the Southern Army lack troops, and even the other two militia divisions, the 38th and 39th Divisions, are arranged in Petroshani to guard the rear road, not to mention others.

The Chief of Staff continued to arrange the task. "Then it was the 19th Division that defended the mountains to the south, and the 1st Praetorian Division stayed behind Dewa as a reserve for the army group."

As for the 19th Division, which is now seriously injured, to defend the southern mountains, the division commanders present have no opinion. Because this is the least vulnerable area, unless the Austro-Hungarian army wants to completely annihilate Army Group South, it is impossible to spend a day's detour to fight here. As for the 1st Praetorian Guard Division as a reserve, everyone has no opinion, even if it is also a big injury, but after all, it is one of the three elite divisions. With the 1st Praetorian Guard Division to reinforce themselves, everyone can be more assured.

After saying that, the chief of staff asked. "Did you hear me?"

"I heard it all."

The same words were shouted out from the mouth of the division commander present.

Seeing that everyone was in good spirits, Admiral Salamik asked as he knocked on the table. "Is there anyone else who doesn't understand it now?"

In the face of the general's questioning, none of the division commanders present spoke, and when he saw that no one answered, Salamik continued. "Since everyone has no doubts, then let's go to their respective defense areas and prepare."

After hearing the general's eviction order, the division commanders present prepared to leave, and at this time, Admiral Salamik seemed to remember something. "Ankodal and Dortred, you two stay for a moment."

Admiral Salamik's words caused the two generals to stop, and they waited until the others had gone before the admiral spoke. "Your reinforcements will use these days to step up their integration into the troops, and you will definitely join this battle, so hurry up. If you have any other difficulties, you can tell me now. ”

Seeing that the general stayed in order to enhance his combat effectiveness, of course the two division commanders who were seriously injured couldn't.

"In the previous battle, we consumed too many cannons and machine guns, can you give us some first?"

Faced with the lion's big mouth as soon as he came, Admiral Salamik spread his hands and spoke. "Now the army group has no extra artillery to give you, and I can only give you fifteen machine guns and twenty Madsen each. This is the greatest support of the army group, so don't think about anything else. ”

In the face of Admiral Salamik's addition, the two were already very satisfied, but they knew that now the country had been scavenged with all the ordnance that could be looted due to the expansion of the army. There was also a suggestion that the bronze cannons used during the previous War of Independence should be used for emergencies, but the Chief of the General Staff vetoed it, in the words of the Chief of the General Staff; The cost of training artillery personnel is higher than that of those guns, so don't take out old antiques to be embarrassed.

At the same time, in the headquarters of the Austro-Hungarian 10th Army, Lieutenant General Sam was also arranging the battle plan. "Note that the target of this operation is Colt Mountain, and I want you to take turns attacking here. I'm sure the commander on the other side knows how important this is to them, and must let him put all his energy here, and that Major General Cross's heavy artillery brigade will help you. According to the information we received, the Romanians had only one 150 heavy artillery regiment. ”

Speaking of which, Lieutenant General Sam said by name. "Major General Stepan, this time you take three divisions and wait for the enemy's reserves to appear, and then immediately go straight to the eastern valley, and I want you to take the railway bridge over the Doselle River. I'm going to let the Romanian army in Deva rout, you understand. ”

Major General Stepan certainly knows the importance of this, it can be said that the Tenth Army is covering for him, and if he can't get the target, he will know the consequences. But the credit for it is also the greatest, so he said that he suppressed the excitement in his heart. "Understood. This time, I pledged with the glory of a soldier that I would definitely seize the bridge and ensure the smooth progress of the battle plan. ”

Hearing the words of Major General Stepan, Lieutenant General Sam was very satisfied, so he spoke. "Start attacking Colt Hill early tomorrow morning, and show the strength of the Romanians to see that we are not so easy to bully."

So after a night of repairs, the Austro-Hungarian 10th Army was ready for battle. At this time, with the order of Lieutenant General Sam, the Austro-Hungarian large-caliber heavy artillery made the 5th and 11th divisions defending Colt Hill feel powerful.

A new phase of the Battle of Deva has arrived.

(https:)

Please remember that the first domain name of this book is:. Mobile version reading URL: