Field Marshal August von Mackensen, commander-in-chief of the Central Powers on the Southern Front, was in a worse mood lately, and the pressure was even greater as the Entente opened a new front in Italy and threatened Austria, knowing that the reinforcements promised by Austria-Hungary would not arrive!

Now he has less than 600,000 combatable soldiers, and this number continues to decrease with the passage of time.

Although the enemy's losses were greater, they still did not instill the slightest joy in Field Marshal August von Mackensen, and Germany had already won too many tactical victories to be rejoicing, and it seemed to him that the war would have been fought in vain if no strategic breakthrough had been made!

August von Mackensen was hesitating to tell the country whether to abandon the battle on the southern front and switch to the offensive first, after all, there was really no hope of victory on the southern front now. A familiar voice came from outside the room, interrupting his musings.

"Good news, marshal! Our troops on the front have already conquered Salva, and the enemy's defense line in Transylvania has been torn open by us! ”

The person who came was none other than Colonel Berg Irma of the General Staff, and it was obvious that he was very excited now! (Note: The position of the colonel in the German army is very special, it is higher than that of ordinary officers, and it is equivalent to the role of the superintendent.) ）

August von Mackensen was surprised and asked, "What?" The enemy's line of defense was torn apart? ”

After saying that, August von Mackensen came to the side of the map and looked at it carefully.

No wonder he was surprised, the two sides had been fighting for so long, and he had almost touched the strength of the enemy. The weakest troops of the enemy were the colonial troops, and the war had been fought to the point where it was almost consumed, and the combat effectiveness of the rest of the troops was still good, at least more than that of the troops of the ally Austria-Hungary.

Moreover, the opponent is outnumbered, and relying on favorable geography for defense, it is almost impossible to tear apart the enemy's defense line, but now the enemy's defense line has been torn apart!

Colonel Berg-Irma explained: "We were able to break through the enemy's defenses, it was a complete accident, the enemy troops stationed in the Salva region were all colonial troops, their limited combat effectiveness was torn open by us, and by the time the enemy reacted, the gap was already very large, and the enemy's reinforcements launched a fierce counterattack against us, but they were all repulsed!" ”

Listening to this explanation, Marshal August von Mackensen's mood did not improve, but became even heavier, the two sides have been fighting for so long, he does not think that the commander on the opposite side is an idiot!

August von Mackensen subconsciously thought that this was a conspiracy of the enemy, and although he could not think of any conspiracy of the enemy for a while, with the intuition of a soldier, Auguste von Mackensen still insisted on his own judgment.

August von Mackensen said coldly: "Order the front-line troops, fight steadily and steadily, and do not be greedy for merit!" ”

Colonel Berg-Irma asked very excitedly: "Your Excellency Marshal, now that we have torn open the enemy's defensive line, it is time for the whole army to press and expand the results of the battle, why should we slow down the attack?"

Once the enemy is allowed to rebuild the defensive line, our efforts will be in vain, which is ......"

August von Mackensen glared at him fiercely and said in a serious tone: "Shut up, Mr. Colonel, don't think of your enemies as idiots as you are, okay?"

Building a new line of defense? After having fought with the Bulgarians for so long, when did you find out when they had only one line of defense?

Are you sure that our all-army advance is expanding the gains of the battle, and not burrowing into the enemy's pocket formation?

What happens once you get trapped? Tell you that now there is no longer a single army in the country to come to the rescue of us! And as long as we lose the battle on the Southern Front, Austria-Hungary will be finished, can you afford this consequence? ”

Apparently Berg-Irma hit the muzzle of the gun, and Auguste von Mackensen, who was in a bad mood, poured his anger directly on him.

It's a pity that he is a field marshal, he is only a colonel, even if the status of the colonel of the General Staff is very special, and he can even command a group army in the army, but he is still only a colonel!

Even if he was already very dissatisfied in his heart, thinking that August von Mackensen was too old to take even the slightest risk, he could only listen obediently.

……

The German army's caution made Dante Kristoff's plan half of the failure, and it was impossible to inflict a heavy defeat on the German-Austrian army in Transylvania, but this did not affect the blitzkrieg of Belgrade.

In fact, the plan for luring the enemy into a deep part this time was very simple, that is, to lure the German army to a specific battlefield, and then concentrate the main force of the air force to carry out a strategic bombardment to inflict heavy damage on the enemy, and finally the two sides would have a decisive battle.

To achieve this, the enemy must be concentrated sufficiently, preferably on a plain, and the weather must be clear, and Auguste von Mackensen's caution undoubtedly allowed the German-Austrian army to escape!

The enemy was not fooled, but Dante Kristof was still a little disappointed, after all, he had done a lot of coordination work for this plan, and he also seconded the air force unit that was supposed to go to Italy to establish a base.

Suddenly, an operational staff officer ran up to him and asked, "Your Excellency, the Air Force Command has called and asked if we are going to continue with the original plan?" ”

Dante Kristof did not hesitate at all, and said fiercely: "The original plan remains unchanged, since the main force of the German-Austrian coalition has not arrived, then focus on taking care of their troops who have arrived at the predetermined location!" ”

Since it has been preparing for so long and consuming so much manpower and material resources, Dante Kristof is not willing to waste it like this.

Even if there are not many German-Austrian troops on the front line, but in line with the principle that no matter how small a mosquito is, it is also meat, and killing these tens of thousands of people is worth the ticket price!

"Yes!" The staff officer replied

……

The spectacle of thousands of bombers in battle was rare even in World War II, and it has never happened now.

Not to mention anything else, the construction of airports alone is a troublesome task, and if it weren't for the plains of Romania, this work alone would be devastating.

Secondly, the coordination of take-offs from different airfields is a problem, even for the Bulgarian Air Force.

After all, in addition to bombers, escort fighters are also indispensable, and this command is even more difficult.

At dawn on January 26, 1917, the Bulgarian Air Force launched a major sortie of 262 bombers and 180 escort fighters to launch strategic bombardments against the German-Austrian forces in the areas of Salva, Dejge, and Romuli.

The German-Austrian troops, who had just woken up from their sleep, were blindfolded before they could react, and incendiary bombs falling from the sky set fire to tents and warehouses......

The fire began to burn, which can be called a modern version of the burning company camp, and soon the smoke rose and the second group of bombers suddenly realized that they had lost their bombing target.

They had to go farther to find targets for bombing, and the Germans in the Baya Mare and Bolsa areas were also unjustifiably killed.

The sudden bombing brought heavy losses to the German-Austrian forces, of course, this loss mainly refers to weapons, equipment, ammunition and materials, and the casualties are not too great.

After all, the world war has been breaking out for so long, everyone still knows how to escape, and it will be safe to leave the camp.

In fact, this was a surprise to the German-Austrian army, and in normal times, the camp was also arranged with a heavenly threat in mind, and a certain distance was maintained between adjacent tents.

But when marching and fighting, there is no way to do it so standardly, they are all hastily erected tents, and everyone does not think so much about the distance.

Besides, now they are chasing the enemy, and the southern front has been fighting for so long, and they have not encountered a single bombardment by the Bulgarian Air Force, so the officers naturally neglected this problem!

But this negligence gave the German-Austrian coalition a blow to the head, and the Bulgarian infantry immediately launched an attack after the bombardment, and the Allied soldiers who were evading the bombardment are now facing the attacking enemy with their bare hands, and the outcome is self-evident.

In one day, the German-Austrian army lost more than 50,000 troops, and also lost the initiative on the battlefield and had to go on a full-scale defense.

Dante Kristof was not surprised to see this result, even if the enemy commander did not make this mistake, it would not have escaped this end, and even their casualties may have been even greater.

You must know that in this battle, less than 5,000 people were killed in the bombardment of the Bulgarian Air Force, and the rest of them began to run away, even if more than 47,000 prisoners were captured by the Bulgarian army, in fact, the number of soldiers who fled back was still even higher.

If the camps had not been joined together, they would probably have to suffer several more rounds of bombardment, and they would have to fight against the Bulgarian ground forces against the bombers, and the loss of personnel would have been even greater.

Dante Kristof said calmly: "Give the country a good report, and at the same time start the next plan!" ”

The chief of staff shook his head and said: "The next plan has to wait and see, now we can beat a wave of water dogs first, the German-Austrian alliance has lost more than just personnel this time!"

According to the information sent by our reconnaissance plane, it can be preliminarily judged that the enemy has lost at least more than 150,000 weapons and equipment this time, as well as a large amount of material losses, and they will not be able to replenish it in a short period of time.

At least in the next week, their weapons and equipment will not be able to be replenished, and with the poor logistics and transportation system of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, they may not be able to replenish their equipment even in another half a month.

In other words, in the coming period, we will only face 400,000 German-Austrian troops, which is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! ”

Dante Christophe pondered for a moment, then said, "With 900,000 against 400,000, our odds are very good, and we can do it!"

The battle plan for the raid on Belgrade has been canceled, and the water dogs will be beaten first!

Let the air force bomb the enemy's railway line every day, in case we are lucky enough, the enemy has not replenished the equipment for ten days and half a month, it will be enough for us to inflict heavy damage on the enemy army, and August von Mackensen will not be able to return to the sky no matter how powerful he is! ”

……