Greece’s Roman Road

The confrontation between the two major European blocs soon spread to other countries.

The Ministry of Defense building in Athens, December 4, 1911.

Constantine personally presided over the discussion on the war between Italy and the Ottoman Empire. Italy and the Ottoman Empire, two countries, one east and one west, are the most important neighbors of Greece in the east and west. These two countries are in Libya, and the ongoing war , For Greece, such a live demonstration is the best opportunity to observe and assess the military strength of the two countries, and there is no better time.

A total of 70 or 80 people, including officers above the brigadier general level of the Greek army, commanders above the destroyer captain level in the navy, and some government personnel, participated in this meeting.

Constantine got up, saw the darkened conference room, and nodded to Cantoriotis, who was sitting next to him.

Cantoriotis, who knew it, stood up and came to the huge map of the war situation in North Africa hanging.

Seeing dozens of faces in the audience focusing on him, Cantoriotis said: "It has been three months since the two countries declared war in September, the war between Italy and the Ottomans in Libya has been going on."

"Because the naval strength of the Ottoman Empire is too far from that of Italy, the Ottoman navy has been shrinking in the Dardanelles, and has no courage to fight against the Italian navy."

The audience listening to the lecture burst into laughter, especially the Greek naval officer among them.

"Turks are not born for the sea"

While laughing at the cowardice of the Ottoman Empire's navy, he also did not forget to ridicule its competitors.

"Cities in Libya are mainly distributed along the coast, and the interior areas are almost deserts. Oasis suitable for human survival are scattered in the desert."

"This is good news for the Italians. With the help of the Italian navy, the Italian army can easily land and occupy important coastal cities."

"According to this situation, will this war end soon? After all, Libya's big cities are on the coast, and apart from some oases in the interior, there are no important strategic locations. It seems that Italy has already captured Tobruk." An army officer sitting in the audience said.

Cantoriotis on the stage shook his head: "It's not true, in fact, the Italians are now riding a tiger."

"Although not diplomatically supported by the major European powers (all countries persuaded the Ottoman Empire to accept Italy's demands), Ottoman still decided to defend his North African territories"

"Although Egypt under the control of the British rejected the request of the Ottoman reinforcements, the Ottomans still supported the Ottoman garrison in Libya through some channels, and also organized local Bedouin and alabo (sensitive words, no way) ) people resist," Cantoriotis explained, waving his baton over the map.

"In fact, although Libya nominally belongs to the Ottoman Empire, the Ottoman Empire does not actually control it. There are about 400,000 to 500,000 people in Libya, all of whom are nomadic tribes with sturdy characters and untamed wildness. As nomadic tribes, they are not lacking. Courage to fight"

Although Libya looks very large, it looks like more than 1 million square kilometers, most of which are uninhabited deserts, and there is no oil or water. Those nomadic tribes are free, but nominally subordinate to the Ottoman Empire. After the outbreak of the war, The morale of the local people against the Italian invaders was high.

Although the British authorities were vaguely inclined towards Italy, the Egyptians did their best to support the Libyans after learning of the Italian invasion.

"Although in the coastal areas they may not be an opponent of the Italian army, in the interior, these alb cavalry are very mobile, although in positional warfare they cannot be an opponent of the superior Italians"

"According to the information that our merchant group has obtained in North Africa, there is already an Italian army of 3,000 people. Due to improper defense, it was surrounded by an Arab cavalry of 20,000 people. In cooperation with the local Ottoman army of 8,000, it was almost completely wiped out. "

Before the outbreak of the war, there were many Greek businessmen in Libya doing business there. As one of the results of Greece's defeat of the Ottomans in 1897, Libya, which nominally belonged to the Ottoman Empire, also opened its doors to Greek goods.

After the outbreak of the Libyan war, there were still many Greek businessmen stranded there, and Greek spies gained a lot of war intelligence there.

"Although Italy described this defeat as a simple resistance at home, after this fiasco, Italy's military strength in Libya has reached 100,000"

Constantine, who was sitting in the front row, secretly laughed at the poor performance of the Italians. There would be no problem with the Italians' offensive on the coast. The problem is that the vast inland of Libya is full of unobstructed large In the desert, those Alabo cavalry have obvious advantages in mobility, and their camel cavalry is really suitable for fighting in the Libyan desert.

Not surprisingly, as long as the Ottoman commanders sent to Libya do not make mistakes and adopt a guerrilla warfare situation, as the Boers in South Africa did against the British army, and give full play to the advantages of flexibility, this war will become a war of attrition, and it will continue to be a war of attrition. stalemate.

After all, the Italians can't destroy their enemies, so what if they occupied the coastal cities, the nomads can still persist by relying on the oasis in the desert, then the Italians can't end the war.

The war has dragged on for a long time, UU reading www. uukanshu.com Those landed in Libya and the warships that continue to fight will continue to consume the funds of the Italian government.

The Italians originally estimated that the war could be ended in a short time, but the resolute resistance of the locals exceeded their expectations.

Italy originally expected to consume 300,000 lire per month. As a result, the monthly consumption has reached 800,000 lire, and it seems that it will continue to grow.

After explaining the general situation of the war, Cantoriotis stepped down.

Constantine stood up and said aloud to the officers behind him: "Now everyone can speak freely, and each of you will distribute a copy of the specific information of the war. This is the latest direct confrontation between the armies of major European countries. Everyone can speak freely”

The reality in the conference room was quiet for a moment, and the Minister of Armament Giannis, who was most next to Constantine, said: "As a participant in the armament work, I read that in the Libyan battlefield, a new type of military equipment appeared in the Italian army. weapons, aircraft and armored vehicles"

"It doesn't seem to have played a big role in the war," said Emanuel, chief of the general staff.

Although aircraft and armored units will be powerful weapons for the army in the future, Constantine did not agree with Giannis, because the current aircraft and armored vehicles are too primitive, and in the upcoming Balkan situation, there will be no too much effect.

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