Romanian Eagle

The Dorsel River, which originates in the Carpathian Mountains, winds its way down through Deva and joins the Danube in the west. This allows Deva to have a gentle valley terrain, and a railway from Romania has made Deva an important traffic point. Specialties such as honey, wheat, apples and wine from Transylvania have also made this city a prosperous trading city.

The mountains on the north and south sides of the city can provide the defender with a good advantage, but the terrain of the east and west river valleys will make them worry a lot. In general, Dewa has advantages and disadvantages in defense.

The mighty Austro-Hungarian Tenth Army finally arrived in the suburbs of Deva after four days of marching. Now Admiral Salamik is on Mount Colt in the north of the city, watching the Austro-Hungarian army.

"The number of the Austro-Hungarian Tenth Army is really large this time."

Admiral Salamick put down the telescope in his hand and sighed.

The chief of staff, who also put down the telescope, voiced another concern. "And the intelligence shows that they carried a lot of heavy artillery, many of which are 20 heavy artillery."

"We only have a 50 heavy artillery regiment, and this battle will be difficult."

After speaking, the two of them looked at the maroon-red mud wall behind them, and the live logs on the roof were still exposed to build field fortifications. Such fortifications are difficult to survive under the heavy artillery of Austria-Hungary, and the two commanders are also worried about this.

But all of this is a matter of lack of troops. Only five days earlier, General Salamik had led three divisions to repel the three Austro-Hungarian attacking divisions at Sibiu at Petrosani. Then three days ago, facing reinforcements from the menacing Army of the South, the three Austro-Hungarian divisions attacking Deva retreated.

However, although the Austro-Hungarian army had retreated, it caused huge casualties to the defending 1st Division and 19th Division of the Guard. Among them, the 1st Division of the Imperial Guard has now suffered more than half of the casualties, and the 19th Division is even worse. At present, the troops that can continue to fight are only enough to form a brigade. This made Admiral Salamick, who came with the reinforcements, almost spit out a mouthful of old blood. Now that he has disabled two divisions, the next battle will be even more difficult.

Fortunately, the country had already anticipated this situation, and the mobilized troops for it had already been delivered to Targuriu. After two days of transportation, the two divisions were finally filled yesterday. Although the combat effectiveness is vastly different from before, who made the entire army group lack strength now, and can only let these mobilized soldiers learn on the battlefield.

In addition to that, Admiral Salamick needs to worry about one more thing, and that is his relationship with the residents of Deva. Previously, the 1st and 19th Guard Divisions had carried out scorched-earth operations in order to defend against the attack of the Austro-Hungarian mixed team, which turned half of Deva's houses into ruins. In addition, in order to clean up the law and order, he also used severe methods, which made the relationship between the people of Dewa and the army extremely poor.

And after Admiral Salamik arrived at Deva,

Feeling that this is not the way to go, so the newly released compensation method for damaged houses was posted on the streets. In this compensation announcement, Admiral Salamik decided that for houses damaged during the war due to the fighting of the Romanian army, a subsidy will be given to the owner of the house, and the specific amount is 80% of the value of the house. This announcement greatly reduced the hostility of the residents of Deva to the Romanian army, at least he would not spit at the soldiers in the back.

After observing the Austro-Hungarian army, Admiral Salamik immediately rushed back to Deva's headquarters, where he would assign defensive tasks to several of his subordinate division commanders.

After returning to the headquarters, Admiral Salamick, who had been in his office to observe the combat map, was reminded by the chief of staff who pushed in the door. "They've all arrived, can we start?"

"Okay, I'll go right now."

After finishing speaking, the admiral sorted out his military appearance and strode into the conference room.

"Your Excellency is here."

Following the announcement from the herald, the division commanders sitting in their seats immediately stood up, and Salamick led the chief of staff to their respective seats. Looking at the twinkling subordinates, the admiral waved and said. "All sit down."

After everyone was seated, Admiral Salamick spoke up as usual. "You all know the importance of this meeting, so I won't repeat it. Now let the chief of staff assign you your respective tasks. If there are any problems, you may wait until the assignment is complete. Do you understand?"

Faced with the admiral's question, the teachers who were sitting all answered in unison. "Understood."

Admiral Salamick was very satisfied with everyone's answers, and he turned to the chief of staff and spoke. "let's start."

The chief of staff who received the order picked up a baton and walked to the wall facing everyone with the battle map and spoke. "Now let's talk about the specific arrangements of the army for this Battle of Deva."

"The first is the most important northern mountain for this operation. In this position called Colt Mountain, our army will send the fifth and eleventh divisions, and the only heavy artillery regiment in our hands will also be assigned to you. , Major General Fergus will be in charge of the mountains to the north."

Hearing this, Major General Fergus, the commander of the fifth division, nodded to everyone, while Ankodar and Dotrid, who had a rescue friendship with the fifth division, responded with a smile.

"And on the eastern river valley we will have the fifteenth division defending this position."

Having said that, the chief of staff named Major General Kledov, the commander of the fifteenth division. "Your fifteenth division needs to pay attention, that is, pay attention to the railway bridge on the Dossel River. It cannot be occupied by the Austro-Hungarian army. This will be related to the safety of the supply line of our southern army."

Faced with the roll call, Major General Kledov showed his determination. "Please rest assured, Chief of Staff, I will defend the bridge."

Then the Chief of Staff continued. "We have arranged for the 18th and 35th divisions to defend the river valley in the west. This is also the second possible breakthrough point for the Austro-Hungarian army. So two division commanders, you should be more vigilant, and report to the headquarters if there is anything wrong. . The same side is in charge of Major General Moderke of the Eighteenth Division."

The division commanders present were not surprised by the arrangement of the group army headquarters, because the divisions at the beginning of their thirties were all made up of militiamen. Although the previous Army Minister Courtois and Chief of General Staff Prieshan have greatly increased the training intensity of the militia reserve, the training with the standing division is far from enough. This time, there is no way to arrange the newly formed militia division on top. Who made the southern army short of troops? Even the other two militia divisions, the 38th and 39th divisions, were arranged in Petrosani to guard the back road, not to mention Say something else.

The Chief of Staff continued to arrange tasks. "Then the 19th Division is defending the mountains to the south, while the 1st Division of the Imperial Guard is left behind in Dewa as the army reserve."

The division commanders present had no objection to the now severely injured Nineteenth Division defending the mountains to the south. Because this is the area that is the least likely to be attacked, unless the Austro-Hungarian army wants to wipe out the southern army, it is impossible to spend a day's journey to hit here. As for the First Division of the Imperial Guard as a reserve team, everyone has no opinion, even if it is also severely damaged, but after all, it is one of the three elite divisions. There is a division of the Imperial Guard who can reinforce them, and everyone can feel more at ease.

After speaking, the chief of staff asked. "Have you heard clearly?"

"All heard clearly."

The same words were shouted out from the mouths of the teachers present.

Seeing that everyone was in good spirits, Admiral Salamik tapped on the table and asked. "Who doesn't understand now?"

In the face of the admiral's question, none of the teachers present said a word, and after seeing that no one answered, Salamick continued to speak. "Since everyone has no doubts, let's go to their respective defense areas to prepare."

After hearing the admiral's expulsion order, the division commanders present were preparing to leave. At this time, Admiral Salamick seemed to remember something. "Anchordar and Dotrid, you two stay."

Admiral Salamick's words stopped the two generals, and the admiral didn't speak until everyone else had left. "For your supplementary soldiers, take advantage of these few days to step up their integration into the army. You will definitely join in this battle, and hurry up. If you still have any difficulties, you can tell me now."

Seeing that the admiral stayed in order to enhance his combat effectiveness, of course the two commanders whose vitality was severely injured could not.

"Our artillery and machine guns consumed too much in the previous battle. Can you supply some to us first?"

In the face of the request of the lion to speak out, Admiral Salamick spread his hands and said. "Now the group army doesn't have any extra cannons for you. If you have machine guns, I can only give each of you 15 Markqin and 20 Madsen. This is the biggest support of the group army, so don't think about anything else."

Facing the addition of Admiral Salamick, the two were very satisfied, but they knew that the military expansion in the country had already wiped out all the ordnance they could loot. Moreover, some people suggested whether to take out the bronze cannons used in the previous independence war, but it was rejected by the chief of the general staff. In the words of the chief of staff; the cost of training artillery personnel is higher than those of the cannons, so don't take any old antiques. Come out and be embarrassed.

At the same time, in the headquarters of the Austro-Hungarian Tenth Army, Lieutenant General Sam was also arranging the battle plan. "Note that the target of this operation is Colt Mountain. I want you to attack here in turn. I believe that the commander on the opposite side knows the importance of this place to them, and must let him put all his energy here, and Major General Cross's The heavy artillery brigade will help you. According to the information we have, the Romanians have only one regiment of 50 heavy artillery."

Speaking of which, Lieutenant General Sam said by name. "Major General Stepan, this time you and three divisions will go straight into the eastern valley as soon as the enemy reserves appear. I want you to take down the railway bridge over the Dorsel River. I want the Romanian army in Deva. Defeat, do you understand?"

Major General Stepan certainly knew the importance of it. It could be said that the Tenth Army was covering for him. If he couldn't get the target, he believed that he also knew the consequences. But the credit is also the biggest, so he mentioned the excitement in his suppression. "Understood. This time, with the honor of a soldier, I promise that I will capture the bridge and ensure the smooth progress of the battle plan."

Hearing the words of Major General Stepan made Lieutenant General Sam very satisfied, so he spoke. "We will start attacking Colt Mountain early tomorrow morning and show our strength to the Romanians. We are not so easy to bully."

So after a night of repairs, the Austro-Hungarian Tenth Army was ready for battle. At this time, with the order of Lieutenant General Sam, the large-caliber heavy artillery from Austria-Hungary made the fifth and eleventh divisions defending the Colt Mountain feel the power.

A new phase of the Battle of Deva has arrived.