Bulgarian Empire

The roar of the cannon was stirring, and a stream of light flickered, bursting out of the sky with dazzling light! After the artillery battle lasted for more than two hours, the firepower of the Turkish counterattack became weaker and weaker, and was gradually suppressed.

Popov knew that the opportunity was coming, and ordered without hesitation: "Attack!"

It was the 1st Infantry Division who launched the attack in the first round. Under the cover of many artillery pieces, they began to storm the Turkish army's Catalja position!

In this battle, the cannon once again displayed supreme power, clearly telling the world: "What is the God of War!"

In particular, the more than 300 cannons provided by the Russians played an important role. In this kind of fortified battle, there is nothing more powerful than a powerful cannon that can destroy the enemy's fortifications, kill and injure the enemy in large numbers, and attack the enemy's weapons. Morale up!

The casualties of the Turkish army were very large. Due to the wrong estimate of the number of artillery pieces of the Bulgarian army, there were serious problems in the deployment of the positions!

It was suddenly attacked by Bulgarian artillery, and the time was chosen in the early morning. When the nobles were sleeping, they did not organize in time!

When the Turkish artillery began to fight back, more than ten minutes had passed. In just ten minutes on the battlefield, the price paid is often painful!

The Bulgarian artillery focused on taking care of the artillery positions of the Turkish army and the tents of the soldiers. In just ten minutes, the Turkish army withdrew from the war with at least dozens of artillery pieces before they started!

After various factors were superimposed together, the Turkish army suffered more than 4,000 casualties in just over two hours, which is considered rare in the history of war!

The sudden shelling also disrupted the connection between the various units of the Turkish army, especially some recruits were running around like headless flies!

As soon as the general offensive began, the First Infantry Division of the Baojun tore a hole in the Turkish army's position, and a steady stream of Baojun entered the Turkish army's position through this hole!

Subsequently, the Ottoman army also organized a large number of troops to counterattack the position, and the two sides launched a fierce fight!

Undoubtedly, the Bulgarian army with stronger combat effectiveness had the upper hand in this fight, and practiced to suppress the Turkish army!

The brutal battle lasted until the evening, and the Ottoman army began to retreat when they could not do anything!

It's not that easy to leave! General Popov, who took advantage of the advantage, immediately ordered to beat the dog in the water. At this time, the troops on the front line had already chased the Turkish army's buttocks and beat them!

The Catalja position, which historically hindered Bulgaria's offensive, was just taken down! But Popov couldn't be happy at all, or the top leaders of the entire First Army couldn't be happy!

In the battle during the day, the fighting power and fighting will of the Turkish army far surpassed any Turkish army they had seen before!

Popov asked dejectedly, "Has the battle result been counted?"

Petrov said in a low tone: "It came out, but the result was much worse than we imagined!

During daytime battles, we wiped out 15,000 enemy troops and captured 6,842 enemy troops.

But the casualties we paid were also huge!

The First Infantry Division had 3,842 casualties, of which 856 were killed, 685 were seriously injured, and the rest were minor injuries!

The Eighth Infantry Division suffered 1,285 casualties, of which 586 were killed and 284 seriously injured...

The total casualties of our army: about 7,800 people, more than 2,100 people died, and more than 1,000 people were seriously injured! "

Popov sighed and said: "Yes! For one Catalja, we lost half the strength of the main division!

From the beginning of the war to the present, our First Army has defeated hundreds of thousands of Turkish troops and conquered dozens of fortresses, and the casualties are nothing more than that!

It seems that the next battle is not easy to fight! The Sudanese government has issued a death order, 'Where the city is and the people are, the city is dead and the people are dead', and now the Ottoman army is coming to fight desperately! "

Petrov sneered and said, "The Ottomans are only starting to work hard now, don't you think it's too late? Even if they can keep Constantinople, so what?

Almost all the Balkans were lost and went into our pockets,

They still want to take it back but fail!

What age is it, and the whole family is still being implicated, the Sudanese government is really cruel! "

Popov smiled wryly and said, "But it's very effective, isn't it? Those who dare to surrender to us now are basically from the Balkans. I really didn't expect that group of nobles and gentlemen to fight hard enough!"

My Mr. Chief of Staff, how are we going to report back home now? With such a large number of casualties, I really don't know what kind of turmoil it will cause in the country! "

Petrov was so depressed that he wanted to vomit blood. No matter how he reported, the First Army would fail!

Conquering a qatalja position, or taking advantage of it, and losing such a big loss, how can we explain the past? If it was Constantinople that was conquered, it would be almost the same!

"Report honestly! Explain the situation clearly to the country. It is impossible to conquer Constantinople without paying 50,000 to 60,000 casualties!

If the Ottoman Empire increases its troops again, the loss is estimated to increase, so let the country make mental preparations first! "

Compared with the distress of the First Army, Eder Pasha and a group of Ottoman officers in Constantinople are even more distressed at this moment!

The artillery with high hopes has lost hundreds of artillery and thousands of artillery casualties in today's battle!

Don't think about the advantage of firepower, just wait to be bombarded!

Even worse, the heavily guarded Catalja position was lost in less than a day, and the defenders of two divisions were also buried by the way. This is undoubtedly worse!

Edel Pasha said coldly: "Let's talk about it! Now everyone is a grasshopper on a skipping rope, and no one can escape. If you have any ideas, just speak up!"

General Ettore Pasha, who was withdrawn from the front line, was the first to speak: "The current situation is obvious, with the intervention of the Russians, we have lost our firepower advantage!

Everyone here has seen the combat effectiveness of the Bulgarian army! To defend Constantinople, it is simply impossible to do it with the 80,000 troops in our hands now!

I suggest explaining the situation directly to the country and asking for help! We need at least 200,000 reinforcements and a large amount of weapons and ammunition to defend Constantinople!

If the aristocratic gentlemen in the country still advocate a counterattack, then there is no need to talk about an army of less than 500,000 troops! Just to be on the safe side, let's call in an army of 800,000, and we can hit Sofia! "

Everyone roared with laughter, and Ettore Pasha spoke out. You are also nobles, why do you want us to work hard at the front when you are enjoying yourself in the rear?

Don't they know the situation of the Ottoman Empire? There is no problem with an army of 200,000, as long as we wait a few months, we can always get together! There is no problem with an army of 800,000, just wait another year or two!

The only thing is weapons and equipment, let’s import them from abroad, the government won’t be able to pay for them; let’s produce them ourselves, then after three to five years, maybe we can get them all together, and the quality can’t be guaranteed!

Eder Pasha knew very well that he was unable to suppress this group of proud soldiers "defeated generals", and he was also very dissatisfied with staying in Constantinople to fight desperately.

At the moment, regardless of whether the country can send reinforcements, he said coldly: "Since everyone agrees, let's jointly report it!"

...

Ferdinand, who had just received the emergency battle report from the front line, felt a chill in his heart. Could it be that something went wrong and the Ottomans came back?

Hastily opened the battle report, fortunately it was a victory report, but the more he looked down, the more surprised he was!

Not worried, but happy!

In history, the Bulgarian army was blocked by the Catalca position and could not make a breakthrough; now the First Army has conquered the Catalca position on the first day. In his opinion, this is undoubtedly a good thing!

As for the casualties, "one will succeed and ten thousand bones will die"! Constantinople was not so easy to fight, and there were heavy casualties. Ferdinand had already prepared for it!

After thinking about it, Ferdinand decided to fight, and immediately ordered: "Aide, send a report to the First Army Command! Content: Order General Popov to take Constantinople at all costs!

Now I authorize him to recruit additional troops on the spot, and the scope of recruitment is engineering divisions and militia volunteers of all nationalities!

When necessary, it is allowed to form a temporary division on the spot and join the siege! "