Greece’s Roman Road - Chapter 231

Northwest of the Ottoman line

The “tuk-tuk” sound of bullets hitting the ground sounded right at their feet, and Greek soldiers kept falling to the ground by bullets.

The soldier who was hit in the thigh clutched his wound and shouted for the medics, and the bright red blood quickly stained the ground beneath him.

The soldier who was hit in the abdomen fell to the ground, squeezing the wound and wailing fiercely, and some people tried to put the outflowing intestines back into their abdominal cavity, and then twitched weakly on the ground as their vitality passed.

Sergeant Simitis of the 2nd Division, the infantry squad led by him was very unlucky at this moment and ran into an Ottoman army machine gun company.

Although 3 machine guns were knocked out by the previous shelling, the remaining 5 machine guns still caused huge casualties to the company to which Simitis belonged.

“Machine gun, hold down that point of fire for me,” Simitis shouted loudly. “The others continue to charge, don’t lie on the ground, it will only get worse!”

The machine gun team in the squad followed behind Simitis, who was the squad leader. When they heard the order, they jumped forward and fell into a shallow crater. Then they put the Maxim machine gun on the ground and immediately started shooting. .

The machine gunner pressed his cheeks tightly to the **** of the gun, his shoulders pressed against the butt, the recoil of continuous shooting spread throughout his body through his shoulders, the mixed emotions of tension and excitement made him grit his teeth, and the muzzle of the gun clenched his teeth. The flames flickered, and the man’s throat hurt from the smoke, but his fingers never let go of the trigger.

Now is not the time to shoot short bursts, the clip bars are lit in an instant.

The machine gunner opened the receiver cover, took off the magazine clip and threw it away, the sub-shooter immediately took out a magazine clip and hung it on the side of the gun body skillfully. The magazine strip was pulled out of the magazine bag, the new magazine strip was installed, the receiver cover was buckled down, pressed firmly, then the bolt was pulled, and then the trigger was pulled, and the dense bullets continued to spew out.

Bullets were fed into the barrel as the clip bars moved, and in the blink of an eye they jumped out of the ejection opening at the other end of the receiver, and the hot bullet casings with lingering smoke smashed to the ground, gradually forming a bullet. The piles of shells collided with a pleasant clanging sound.

Soldiers on both sides of the Greek army and the Ottomans were constantly being torn apart. To break this stalemate, the only way to completely destroy the opposing machine gun positions.

With red eyes, Simitis roared at Sergeant Karamandis, the nearby mortar squad leader of the same level as him: “Karamandis, use mortar support, we need you to use mortars to deal with the front. enemy machine gun positions”

Sergeant Karamandis also knew that the situation was urgent, and with a nod he jumped into a crater with his own people.

The soldier carrying the seat plate smashed the seat plate **** the ground, and the protruding part under the seat plate slammed into the soft soil. , and then removed the protective cover on the muzzle.

Karamandis took out the sight hanging in the small box on the chest and inserted it on the side of the gun body, and then turned the steering wheel to adjust the direction: “Direct shooting, high-explosive shells, two shots in a row, no correction”

At a distance of less than 100 meters, Karamandis was even confident to smash the cannonball into the Frenchman’s crotch, so there was no need to waste time correcting the ballistics.

The loader immediately drew a cylindrical thick paper tube from the bag on the ground, unscrewed the lid, and took out the mortar shell.

“Ready!” Called Karamandis, the loader put the end of the shell into the muzzle, clasped the side of the shell tightly with both hands, “released” the palm of his hand, and the shell slid into the barrel, followed by a bang. Muffled sound, shells flew out.

Before the first shells landed, Karamandis continued to shout: “Prepare”, “Let it go”

Two clouds of smoke rose from the positions of the Ottoman army, and the Ottoman army machine gunners in front of them suffered heavy casualties in an instant.

Seizing this opportunity, Herbert’s squad rushed to the front of the Ottoman army position.

After a volley of gunfire pushed the Ottoman soldiers’ heads back into the trenches, the Greek soldiers finally jumped into the trenches.

The trenches built by the Ottoman army were straight, and a bullet could go from one end of the trench to the other.

The rifles equipped by Greek soldiers are Greek standard rifles modified from Enfield rifles. Several rounds of bullets can be preloaded in the magazine, which can fire continuously and rapidly in a very fast time.

In contrast, the Mauser 98 rifle used by the Ottoman army is a single-shot rifle that requires the process of reloading and pulling the bolt for each shot.

In the straight trenches, the faster-firing Greek soldiers naturally had the advantage.

Therefore, in the first trench, the resistance of the Ottoman army was quickly disintegrated by the offensive of the Greek soldiers.

The Greek vanguard soldiers who had occupied the first trench had gained a firm footing. The scattered vanguard troops began to gather in the first trench, and the troops began to gather on both sides of each traffic trench connecting the second trench.

In the tent of the General Headquarters of the Macedonian Legion

Constantine sat restlessly at the table, silent in the face of the huge battlefield situation map.

The map details the distribution of Greek and Ottoman armies.

More than a dozen combat staff members kept moving the small flags representing the army on the map, discussing the development of the occupation with each other.

After the start of the full-scale offensive, although Constantine did not think the plan would fail, he was still uneasy until the final result was known.

“Report, just received a telegram from the second division, our army has just broken through the first line of defense of the Ottoman army’s northwestern line of defense,” a signal soldier walked in and said loudly.

The news was like a barrel of gasoline poured into a fire, and the atmosphere in the room immediately became warm.

“What? Is this true?”

“Great, finally, the first good news has appeared”

Constantine jumped up from his seat and walked quickly to the signal soldier, who was confirmed by the telegram.

“Report our army’s offensive in the northwest, breaking through the enemy’s four lines of defense”

In the next few hours, there were frequent reports of good news from the headquarters, and five lines of defense were successively broken by the Greek army.

In the next few days, the Greek army that broke through the northwestern defense line quickly interspersed. In order not to be surrounded by divisions, the Ottoman army shrank the defense line.

By January 4, the Bastani Fortress, the Kastritesa Fortress, and the city of Thessaloniki had been cut off from each other by the Greek army, and fell into a bad situation of fighting each other.

By January 6th, although the Ottoman army was still holding the fortress, the tide was over, and it was only a matter of time before the Ottoman army in Thessaloniki was defeated.

Thessaloniki Chengzhong Aitsa Pasha residence

In the office, many Ottoman officers looked sad and the atmosphere was bleak. The ashtray on the table was full of cigarette butts, and the room was filled with smoke.

“Everyone, the defense of our army in Thessaloniki City has failed. In order to avoid meaningless losses, I propose to seek negotiations with the Greeks.” Seeing that no one spoke, Aitsa Pasha took the lead and broke through the room. of silence.

Everyone is well aware that the so-called negotiation is just a euphemism. According to the current situation of the Ottoman army, it is more appropriate to say that it is a surrender negotiation.

Although the Ottoman army was attacked by the Greeks, the defense line was broken, but there are still about 60,000 Ottoman soldiers in the city.

The figure of 60,000 looks impressive, but these soldiers are short of food, ammunition, and weapons. They are new defeats, and their morale is low. They are already a group of defeated soldiers, and they have completely lost their organization and discipline.

There is no point in forcing a soldier like this to fight against the morale of the Greek soldiers.

“Your Excellency, we still have 60,000 people, and the city of Thessaloniki. We can organize soldiers to fight the Greeks in the city, and we can persist.” Aitsa Pasha’s subordinate, Vesippa Xia said reluctantly.

In the last war (War of 1897), Thessaloniki was lost, and the Germans helped to get it back from the Greeks. Now that Thessaloniki is lost again, it is impossible to come back.

“First of all, we don’t have a sufficient supply of ammunition. Even if we fight in the street, we can’t win. That will only anger the Greeks.”

“Secondly, the success of street fighting requires an important condition, that is, the full support of the residents of the city. Do you think the residents of the city will stand with us?”

Aitsa Pasha looked around the crowd and asked back.

The crowd was silent.

In the city of Thessaloniki, there are about 300,000 Jews living, and the rest of the ethnic groups, msl and Greeks combined ~www.mtlnovel.com~ The number is less than 100,000.

The current Thessaloniki is the largest Jewish settlement in the world.

In the past, the Ottoman government encouraged Jews to settle in the city in order to downplay the Greek influence in Thessaloniki.

Why did the Jews cooperate with the Ottomans?

“For the Empire, under the current war situation, the most important thing is to keep Thrace, Macedonia is irrelevant, and now, the Bulgarians are very aggressive in Thrace, and the important fortress city of the Empire, Adrianople, Even Constantinople is facing a huge threat,” Aitza Pasha tried to convince everyone.

“Since the loss of Thessaloniki is unstoppable, then we might as well use Thessaloniki in exchange for some benefits, such as allowing the Greeks to agree to the return of the remaining 60,000 Ottoman soldiers to Thrace.”

Vesip Pasha wanted to ridicule Aitesa Pasha for being whimsical, but when he turned to think about it, there was a movement in his heart, and it might not be impossible.

“You mean to alienate the relationship between Bulgaria and Greece?” Vesip asked in an uncertain tone.

Aitsa Pasha nodded: “Although Greece and Baosai are allies, no matter how close the relationship between them is, the issue of the territorial division of Macedonia will be filthy.”

“If there is a conflict between Greece and Bulgaria over the ownership of Thessaloniki, no matter what, the pressure on the Ottoman Empire can be relieved,” Aitsa Pasha explained earnestly.

The Ottoman Empire has successively fought a war with Italy and a war with the Balkan Alliance. These two wars are indeed beyond the reach of a declining empire.

Seeing that there was no more objection from the crowd, Aitsa Pasha called for his servants, prepared a carriage, and went to the British Consulate in Thessaloniki.