The Bulgarian army, led by Lieutenant General Kutinchev, was preparing for defense after retreating to Plevin. And the pursuing Lieutenant General Fereit, after hearing that the Bulgarian army was entrenched in Plevin, also delayed the march, and he had to make final preparations for the capture of Plevin.

What made Lieutenant General Fereit so cautious was that, in addition to the large number of Bulgarian troops gathered in Preven, the quality of the local fortifications was also crucial.

Since ancient times, Pleven has been a transportation artery connecting Bulgaria and Romania, and traces of each era can still be seen in and around the city. Of course, as a communication artery, it was also considered to defend against possible enemy attacks, so Pleven has experienced many wars in history, and was destroyed three times, but later relied on the prosperous trade to rebuild.

Thanks to its location in the interior of Bulgaria over the years, Pleven has not been hit by war in these years, and the closest moment was the Romanian attack in the Second Balkan War. However, due to the change of situation this time, Pleven was not attacked. Since then, however, the Bulgarians have built a number of fortifications as a strategic point for defending themselves against their increasingly powerful neighbors to the north, and now is the time to use them.

As the commander of the Romanian army to attack Bulgaria, Lieutenant General Fereit was of course well aware of this, so he was also gathering his forces to smash this hard walnut. The most advantageous weapons in his hands to conquer the city were the two heavy artillery regiments assigned to him (one 150 heavy artillery regiment and one 210 heavy artillery regiment).

Among them, the 210th heavy artillery regiment was temporarily rationed because after the Battle of Suceava, the Romanian military found that large-caliber heavy artillery was the most effective in the face of enemy fortifications. Therefore, in the face of the Bulgarian troops gathered in the defense of Pleven, Lieutenant General Fereit prepared to use his most powerful weapons.

While Lieutenant General Fereit waited for his heavy artillery, Lieutenant General Kudinchev was also reinforcing the fortifications inside and outside the city. At the same time, the two of them also made small moves, arranging troops to harass the supply lines and force the Romanian army to disperse its forces, which was the duty of Lieutenant General Kutinchev as a commander. It is not surprising that Fereit arranged for a small number of elite soldiers to bypass Plevin, harassing the defenders.

So today I will attack your convoys, and tomorrow I will raid your rear quartermaster points just before the battle breaks out. But both men know that these are not effective means to defeat their opponents, and only the hard-fought offensive and defensive battles of Pleven are the focus of both sides.

This is how often and intensely time is spent. After a week of standoff, the heavy artillery that Lieutenant General Fereit had been waiting for finally arrived. So on the second day of the arrival of this 1918 year, the Romanian army was finally ready to attack.

Six kilometers outside the city of Pleven, a small village called Petrol, already filled with Romanian soldiers, the local Bulgarians had fled the village. In the open space outside the village, heavy artillery with its jacket raised from the muzzle of a cannon and artillery preparing for the battle, let people know that this was a Romanian heavy artillery position.

Among them, large-caliber cannons with slender barrels and howitzers with short and thick barrels can be seen here. Heavy artillery positions like Petrol, prepared by Lieutenant General Fereitt, will be heavy hammers against Plevin, the turtle shell.

By the time the hand was pointing to nine o'clock, the heavy artillery with the firing parameters set was already ready to fire.

"Boom, boom, boom"

The rapidly falling shells bombarded the carefully prepared positions of the Bulgarians, and a large number of painstaking fortifications could not withstand the bombardment of heavy artillery and turned into dust. The Bulgarian soldiers, hiding in the fortifications, trembled under the obscenity of the god of war.

This made the hearts of the Romanian soldiers who were waiting for the attack in their positions refreshed, and everyone was so excited when superior artillery fire swept through the enemy's positions.

"Look, there's a big explosion over there, and the position where the ammunition is supposed to be stored has been hit directly."

The explosion caused by the hit of a front-line ammunition depot made the soldiers discuss excitedly.

"I saw that some of the barrels were blown off."

"I also saw the machine gun blown up."

Seeing the fierce discussion of the soldiers, the low-level officers in charge of leading the command did not step forward to stop them, and talking before the battle helped to relieve their tension.

In the face of the Romanian heavy artillery bombardment, the defenders were certainly not indifferent, and they also fought back with their own heavy artillery.

"Howling"

A shrill voice came from far and near.

This voice made the faces of the experienced officers and soldiers change greatly. "Hide, there's shelling."

"Boom"

A shell landed more than 10 meters in front of the launching position, dissipating the soldiers who had been hotly discussing before.

"Damn, these Bulgarians won't be better."

"What about our artillery, bomb these who dare to counterattack the Bulgarian miscellaneous pieces."

Seeing their embarrassed appearance, the soldiers denounced again, and at the same time hoped that their artillery would teach these embarrassed enemies a lesson.

As a hot-air balloon artillery brother who did not disappoint them, had air supremacy and built an artillery school, he quickly hit the enemy artillery that dared to show his head.

In the face of Romanian counter-artillery shelling, the artillery of the defending side was scattered in all directions to dodge, and those that could not be avoided were reduced to parts under the bombardment of heavy artillery regiments. This also relieved the Romanian soldiers of the artillery bombardment on the positions, and also reduced the damage suffered by the shelled Bulgarian positions, which also served the purpose of the defending side.

After two hours of heavy shelling, the Bulgarian positions were in shambles, almost smoothed out the fortified positions, and looked like pitch black and full of pitted lunar surfaces.

Seeing this, the officer leading the team waved his arms and shouted. "Attack."

The soldiers on the initiating position were also highly motivated, and immediately followed their commander and rushed towards the enemy. From the sky, it looked as if the green tide was about to drown the opponent.

On the positions that had been tortured by Romanian heavy artillery, the Bulgarian soldiers, who were shaking their heads and were a little dazed, saw this situation and their faces changed greatly.

"Prepare to fight back."

One of the officers immediately and eagerly issued orders to his soldiers.

"There are not many enemies, hurry up and seize positions."

Far from stopping the soldiers' attack, the sparse gunfire on the battlefield boosted their morale.

This situation also made Major General Foctor, who was in charge of commanding the battle, very happy, and he ordered directly to the staff officer next to him. "Immediately let the artillery increase the interception firepower, we must not let the enemy reinforcements come up, I want to take the enemy's forward positions in this battle."

Under the orders of Major General Foctor, the already ferocious artillery fire was a little more urgent. This made it completely impossible for the Bulgarian soldiers who were reinforcing the front-line positions to pass, and it also made the Bulgarian commanders in charge of defense jump to their feet.

Led by their officers, they rushed into the fragmented positions with few casualties and engaged the enemy in close combat. Without reinforcements, the defenders of the position were driven out in parts, much to the satisfaction of Major General Foctor, who was in charge of directing the battle.

"Send a message to Lieutenant General Fereit, our army has taken the forward positions in the first battle. The enemy forces had been routed and retreated to the rear, asking for instructions on the next move. ”

Soon the receipt of Lieutenant General Fereit came to him with only one sentence. "I hope to continue to work hard to capture the enemy's defenses."

Lieutenant General Ferreuit's words greatly pleased Major General Foctor, who called in his communications staff to continue giving orders. "Let the rear artillery prepare, and in the afternoon we will continue to attack the enemy's positions and not give the enemy a chance to breathe."

In the ensuing battle, the Romanian army took advantage of its absolute superiority in artillery and soldier elite to launch fierce attacks on the defending Bulgarian positions one after another.

Heavy artillery bombardment of the infantry occupation, this tactic that allowed the Romanians themselves, who had suffered a great loss in Suceava, was just as effective as the Bulgarians.

Although Romania did not have as much heavy artillery and a larger caliber than the Germans, the Bulgarian fortifications were not as strong as those built by Romania. Bulgaria, which is inferior to its rivals, would not be able to build Pleven into a strong fortress made of reinforced concrete.

Most of the fortifications outside the city rely on civil fortifications, and only a small number of key defense points, hidden soldiers' caves, and ammunition storage points are reinforced with reinforced concrete. The fortifications in the city could only be simply reinforced with a large number of residential buildings, and only a few points were built according to the standard of standing fortifications, and most of these fortifications could not withstand heavy artillery bombardment.

In the face of the non-stop onslaught of the Romanian army, Lieutenant General Kutinchev, who was in command, complained again and again. After a week of onslaught without sparing his hands, he finally couldn't bear it anymore and asked the Bulgarian commander-in-chief, Admiral Zekov, for help.

In the telegram for help, Lieutenant General Kutinchev said. "If there are no reinforcements in ten days, then it will be impossible for you to withstand the enemy's attack."

Admiral Zekov was taken aback by Lieutenant General Kutinchev's request for help, so he had to find a way to transfer troops from the Salonika front, which turned the Bulgarian campaign around.

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