Field Marshal August von Mackensen on the Southern Front was looking at the defensive line in dismay, and the Austro-Hungarian army was mostly pinned down by the fact that Bulgaria had provoked fighting at many points on the Bulgarian border.

In the end, the German-Austrian army responsible for attacking Romania was left with only 62 infantry divisions, with a total strength of about 970,000, of which the Germans had a total of 43 divisions with a total strength of about 740,000!

Now the Anglo-French forces on the Western Front are carrying out a new round of PK in the German army, and these 43 divisions are already the largest troops that Germany can invest on the southern front.

Fortunately, the German-Austrian coalition army had disabled the Russians before, otherwise if the Russians inserted another pole, the offensive and defensive momentum would be out of place!

The lack of troops was the biggest problem facing Marshal August von Mackensen, as the attacking side of the German-Austrian army had a total strength of only 970,000, while the Bulgarian army on the defending side was as high as 1.38 million.

If it is just this one problem, the lack of troops can be made up for by other aspects, anyway, there are more than 400,000 combat strength in the Bulgarian army on the opposite side equal to five Asan, and nearly half of the remaining troops are newly formed troops, and the strength and combat effectiveness of the two sides is the advantage of the German-Austrian army!

This is also the self-confidence of the German army across the European continent, even as the attacking side, the casualty ratio is still 1:1.2, and the German-Austrian forces still have an advantage!

In terms of firepower, after the end of the battle on the Eastern Front, the Russians lost all the money they had accumulated for more than ten years to the Central Powers, and the last thing that was lacking in the hands of Marshal August von Mackensen was artillery!

Of course, the Russians left the artillery for them, but not for the shells, so out of the tens of thousands of artillery pieces captured, only some of them of the same caliber could be used!

At present, the German-Austrian army has more than 8,600 artillery pieces, while the Bulgarian defenders have only more than 6,300 artillery pieces.

In general, the Germans had more howitzers and longer ranges, and the Bulgarian defenders had more rapid-fire guns.

It's a pity that this is the Balkan Mountains, and the Germans can't maximize their advantage in range! After all, with the exception of a few places, the defense line of the Bulgarian army was mostly built on the basis of the terrain, which was not conducive to the German artillery!

Both sides of the armored vehicles and tanks can only be said to be improvised, and the main forces of the armored tank units of the German army are naturally on the Western Front, and the Southern Front cannot be taken care of!

Due to the geographical location, the tank forces of Bulgaria now, which have been playing soy sauce almost all the time since their establishment, have not been able to attract the attention of the military.

Although Ferdinand knew that tanks were also the king of land warfare, it was a pity that considering the cost performance, he finally decided to invest this part of the funds in the air force.

Therefore, from the outbreak of the world war to the present, Bulgaria still occupies the position of the world's largest air power, and the number of air forces has swelled from 30,000 before the war to more than 300,000 now.

In the battle of the Eastern Front, the Russians were able to fight with the German-Austrian forces for so long, and the Bulgarian Air Force also made great efforts!

Now it is no exception, Marshal August von Mackensen is also a headache for the threat from heaven, since the outbreak of the war on the Southern Front, the German-Austrian forces have lost more than 800 aircraft and nearly 2,000 pilots.

Of course, despite the heavy losses, relying on the cover of anti-aircraft fire on the ground, although the German-Austrian forces had the upper hand in the air force, they did not completely lose air supremacy.

The Bulgarians, fearing too much losses, did not desperately snatch air supremacy!

Of course, he didn't know that this was Ferdinand's intention, it was better to let the German-Austrian army attack and the Bulgarian army to defend than the Bulgarian army to attack and the German-Austrian army to defend!

After all, when defending, these cannon fodder troops can be used as half of the main force, and if they take the initiative to attack, no one can really determine the outcome of this victory.

Field Marshal August von Mackensen was now in a great dilemma, and if he continued the attack, his troops would surely suffer heavy losses.

If the offensive is stopped, the number of enemies will increase the further you go, especially if there is a Russian eyeing you next to it, and if it is another year and a half, there will be another four or five million woolly bear troops on the eastern front.

This is also the reason why the German government is in a hurry to carry out the battle on the southern front, only by winning the battle of the southern front, they can cut off the transportation line between the Entente and the woolly bear, and finally force the woolly bear to withdraw from the war!

Of course, this was the idea of the German High Command, and Field Marshal August von Mackensen did not approve of it, he did not think that the German-Austrian forces would still have the ability to cut off the transportation lines between the woolly bears and the Entente after the battle on the Southern Front!

If you open the map, you can see that if you want to cut off the sea transportation line between Bulgaria and the Russians, either the German-Austrian army will fight Bulgaria all the way to Constantinople; Or hit all the way to the Caucasus along the coastline of Ukraine!

Don't say that now this point of strength, even the German-Austrian army at its peak can't do it, and the enemy is not a fool who will wait for them to fight over, and people will also fight back!

The battle on the southern front broke out for more than a month, and the German-Austrian army successfully broke through the first line of defense of the defenders, but there were still two lines of defense waiting for them behind, and victory was still far away, as the price of breaking through this line of defense, the German-Austrian army paid a full 180,000 casualties.

To put it simply, Transnesia has become the new meat grinder, although not as fierce as Verdun, but for Marshal August von Mackensen, he can't afford it!

Although the losses of the Bulgarian defenders were no less than 200,000, it is a pity that the official number of casualties in Bulgaria was only 8,000, and the rest of the casualties were not counted at all!

The casualties of the cannon fodder troops are at most a pension, and the battle has come to this, who cares about the money?

The depreciation of the currencies of various countries after the war has become a foregone conclusion, and if there is no money, it is a big deal to give up the gold standard!

Of course, Ferdinand was still very disciplined, and Bulgaria's military exploits and pensions could be converted into land, and no matter how much the currency swelled, the high-quality land on the plains would not depreciate.

Defense Minister Dante Kristof has now officially become the commander of the Balkan Front, and the purpose of the first phase of the operation has been achieved, which is nothing more than the depletion of the enemy's forces.

In the second stage, it was his turn to start counterattacking, which was also a matter of no choice, the strength of the German-Austrian coalition was limited, and there was no victory in the first stage, so it was natural to improve the offensive to the defense!

The enemy is not stupid, if it is not deliberately shown that the enemy is weak, the Germans should not want to conquer the first line of defense, do not forget that as the war progresses, the balance of forces between the enemy and us is also quietly changing.

From the initial 97:138 to the current 79:117, the ratio of forces between the two sides has not only not narrowed, but is further expanding, and the battle situation is tilting in favor of their side.

Dante Kristof of course hopes that the enemy will continue to work hard, and if necessary, he can also abandon Transnesia and put the battlefield on the Wallachian plains!

In order to lure the enemy deeper, even if Romania is beaten into ruins, Ferdinand doesn't care, of course, the current Romania is not much better than the ruins!

Dante Kristof naturally knew what the boss meant, and his first task was to kill or severely damage the German-Austrian army, and the second was to create a good foundation for Bulgarian rule in this land as much as possible!

How to do it is all up to him. Admiral Popov, who was far away in Asia Minor, did a very good job, worthy of his name as a "butcher" general, but he patted his chest and promised that the Asia Minor Peninsula would not cause trouble to the government after the war!

It's a pity that many of the things he could have done in the Ottoman Empire, Dante Kristof could not have been able to do in Romania!

There are few crimes against humanity in Romania that can be reached, at most those few traffickers can barely be detained, and as for the exploitation of the people by the aristocratic capitalists, what does it matter to him?

Let's engage in a security army, he also wants to find an enemy who is not in the same situation as the Romanians? Anyway, the national contradictions in Romania have not yet reached that point, so they can't go into battle in person, right?

As for more radical means, not to mention! If he dares to follow suit, wait to be drowned by the spitting stars!

Now, in the Asia Minor Peninsula, thanks to the diligent efforts of the security forces, criminals in any rebellious society cannot escape the severe punishment of the law, and the number of crimes has dropped to a record low, and the law and order are so good that they are all in shambles!

Now all the newly occupied territories of Bulgaria are "left untouched and closed at night"!

Of course, these are the merits of the security forces, and in line with the principle of giving priority to education and preventing problems before they occur, the security forces have often educated ordinary people, and they have achieved such amazing results!

Well, in order to prevent problems before they happen, reduce the crime rate, and catch a thief, they can all gather the whole town for a week-long study meeting!

If you catch a robber, it will be even worse, and you will have to hold a study conference for at least a month!

You can follow the analogy in turn, anyway, the bigger the crime, the longer the learning time, and at the same time, everyone must bring their own dry food, this is a pure public welfare education, and the organizer does not care about food!

And if someone doesn't perform well, take a day off, and then everyone is starting to study again until they pass the exam!

Then, the unpolished Ottomans disappeared one after another, and those who remained were honest and duty-bound, which was also done well by the security forces of the people.

Of course, if you leave, it's best not to come back, as long as you leave, your household registration will be destroyed, and if you come back again, you'll be a black household, and that taste won't be so good!

But Dante Kristof knew that he couldn't learn, and as long as Popov sacrificed this great textbook, the unbearable Ottomans would flee from the wind!

The main reason is that the Ottomans are too lazy to learn, and they don't even want to follow the teacher, and they can't finish their studies, so they have to keep studying, and they can't run without dry food!

If Dante Kristof had come up with this great textbook, it is estimated that the Romanian would happily exchange experiences with him, and according to the rules, he would have to take care of the food!

For this, Dante Kristof only needs to envy it, but Popov took the initiative to invite a large number of reporters to supervise the teaching, which can ensure that the whole operation is carried out in the sun, and he has not used any disgraceful means!

Teachers are basically volunteers, and even some reporters will visit teachers when they are interested, and now the mainstream media throughout Europe speak highly of their behavior of spreading human civilization!

It doesn't matter if they can't compare, anyway, the standards required of them in China are different, Dante Kristof only needs to win this battle, and the others can do that step.

If nothing else, the two commanders of Asia Minor have now booked the position of marshal, and at the same time there is a hereditary title, the level of which will not be determined until a later stage.

There has never been a general who does not want to be a marshal, and Dante Kristof is naturally no exception, but the position of marshal in Bulgaria is not so easy to obtain.

Until now Ferdinand had not granted it to anyone, and if the opportunity of this world war was missed, then he could also declare it insulated!

It is not enough to win this battle on the Southern Front, it is also necessary to win beautifully, and it is better to attack Austria-Hungary and occupy Vienna in one go, so that his exploits can be comparable to Popov's!

……

Chief of Staff Imia Dimityev said worriedly: "Old friend, it seems that we are in trouble, the enemy has probably discovered our plan, and the intensity of their attack has dropped very much!" ”

Dante Kristof just smiled slightly, and then said slowly: "You said that we should give up Transnesia now, will the enemy snap it up?" ”

Imia Dimitev said categorically: "Yes! Because of the occupation of Transnesia, there is no risk in sight! The southern front has been fighting for more than a month, and August also needs to give the country a firm, and he has no reason not to send the benefits to the door!

But is it really worth it? Even if we give up Transnesia, we can consume more than 100,000 troops from the enemy, and when we have to recover this place later, it will not be easy! ”

Dante Kristof took his baton, pointed to the map, and said: "You see, now we occupy most of Transnesia, and if we abandon Eastern Transnesia, we will attract the attention of the enemy."

Then we will send troops from Reśica to the rear of Belgrade, which is less than two hundred kilometers in terms of distance, and cooperate with our Third Army over there to take Belgrade in one fell swoop, and the whole battle situation will be alive! ”

After pondering for a moment, Imia Dimitev said: "Theoretically, it is feasible, we have a sufficient superiority in forces in the Romanian region, and there is no problem at all in sending ten divisions of troops to carry out a surprise attack!"

If the plan fails, the big deal is to lose most of Transnesia, and the loss is within the range of what we can bear!

In the end, it is nothing more than a hard-fought fight between the two sides, and I don't believe that the Germans dare to spend it with us all the time! ”

Of course, there is one thing that they all tacitly did not mention, that is, a battle between the German-Austrian forces in Transnesia will also be beneficial for Bulgaria to rule this region in the future!