Romanian Eagle

On 21 November, Army Group South and Tenth Austro-Hungarian Army fought in Deva. Four days later, on November 25, the Austro-Hungarian Ninth Army intercepted Army Group North near Sonat, and the two sides immediately launched a major battle.

For a time, the battle of hundreds of thousands of people in two places attracted everyone's attention. Of course, as the king of Romania, Eder was also very concerned about this. Not to mention the moment when the current situation of the Romanian army has become very delicate, so at this time, His Excellency the Chief of General Staff, who mainly controls the war situation, was recruited into the palace.

"My chief of staff, how is the war going now?"

After Pleishan arrived at the palace to say hello, Eder asked directly.

In the face of the king's inquiry, he explained it. "Your Majesty, the current situation is still within our General Staff's expectations. The reason for this situation is also within our expectations."

Eder could only believe the explanation of the chief of staff, but he still raised his concerns about this situation. "But the casualties of fighting in this way will not be small. What we lose now are the elite soldiers we have trained for many years. I am afraid that the combat effectiveness of the troops will drop too fast."

The main reason is that the elites of President Jiang in World War II suffered heavy casualties at the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, which caused the image of almost collapse later too profound. Therefore, Edel has some concerns about this, and the Romanian army has not yet faced the German army in the east. He is a little afraid that the casualties will be too large and will not be able to withstand the German attack in the next battle.

Facing Edel's question, Preshan certainly knew the reason. The main reason is that the Romanian follow-up mobilization force has not yet followed up, but the standing army on active duty has moved too fast, resulting in a situation where the Romanian army fights more with less in Transylvania.

In fact, the deep-seated reason is the military's expression of anxiety about the enemy on all sides, which is also closely related to the Romanian army's combat thinking. Now the mainstream thinking is to defend the enemy outside the country, of course Romania is no exception, so when making plans, they try to keep the enemy close to the border as much as possible. Romania joined the war and faced the situation of being surrounded by enemies. As a result, the army liked to use its forces to the limit in the execution of operations. This has a lot to do with the lack of domestic forces.

In the face of more than 3 million troops from Austria-Hungary, over one million troops of the German Eastern Front, and 600,000 troops of Bulgaria, Romania currently has only a little over one million troops mobilized. If you don't use your troops to the limit, you may not be able to hold it. At that time, Romania's construction achievements of more than ten years will be destroyed, which will make the army with the sword of the kingdom unacceptable. Therefore, whether it is the staff who made the plan, or the commanders on the front line, they will be used to thinking about using a small amount of troops to achieve the greatest results. However, it seems that the elites trained for many years can still support the plans of the staff and commanders.

As an executor of the army, Priesan, of course, also knew these reasons, and he could only tell the truth when confronted with the king's inquiries.

"Your Majesty, the current Solat battle is part of our plan."

Hearing what Preshan said, Eder said it with interest. "Go on."

"The whole plan was like this. At first we planned to assemble the northern and central armies to launch an attack on the Austro-Hungarian ninth army to capture Cluj. Later we learned that the enemy's ninth army had 200,000 people, and our two armies joined together. There are only 250,000 people in the rear, and the strength advantage is not large. The enemy is in defensive operations, and there are many fortifications around Cluj. If our elite soldiers capture it, the casualties will not be small. Moreover, Cluj has a railway connecting to Hungary. , but not being able to capture it quickly is likely to lead to a war of attrition, which is what we don’t want to see.”

Eder nodded when he heard this, and fought against the 200,000 troops of the Austro-Hungarian army with 250,000 troops. Even if it did not perform well in the Eastern Front, it was not so good to defeat the opponent. Not to mention that there is a railway connection to the rear, once it can't be taken quickly, the Romanian soldiers can't afford it at all in a war of attrition.

After seeing Edel nod in approval, Preshan continued. "Later Lieutenant General Freiit came up with a plan."

Eder's mind immediately came up with the image of the resolute officer who was taciturn in military meetings after he was promoted, devoted himself to officer training and other matters.

"Lieutenant General Fereit believes that if we directly join the two armies to attack Cluj in this way, there will be heavy casualties. And if Austria-Hungary has follow-up army reinforcements, it is likely to lead to failure, so he thinks that the enemy needs to be mobilized. So he discussed with Lieutenant General Andrew and used the North Army he led as a bait to lure the Ninth Army to attack. Then the Central Army took advantage of its emptiness and took advantage of its emptiness. The lieutenant general's plan is half done."

Preshan's words, listening to His Majesty the King's heart is filled with admiration. However, some concerns were pointed out by Edel, who knew a little about military affairs. "The Central Army has a huge military strength of 100,000 people. It is impossible for the enemy not to pay close attention. And as long as the enemy notices, it is very possible to send troops to delay the pace of the Central Army and then leave the battle."

Edel's analysis, Preshan explained with a smile. "We have already anticipated this, so our response is to have the Central Army deploy elite troops and march to Cluj in a stealthy manner, while the rest of the troops continue to reinforce Sonat."

Speaking of which, Preshan said the latest news. "Our intelligence officers in Cluj found that the enemy had only one division left to defend, which shows that our plan was successful. Now we only need to send troops from Army Group Center directly to Cluj, and we can take wherever."

The news from Preshan fills Edel with hope, so he asks. "So we shall soon be able to capture Cluj?"

Edel's words made Preshan a little embarrassed. "There are still a few small issues that need to be resolved at the moment."

"what is the problem?"

"Yesterday, Lieutenant General Andrew sent a telegram that Austro-Hungarian planes were reconnaissance over them every day, which made him unable to make a move to divide his troops for the time being."

Preshan's words made Edel a little anxious. "Didn't you think of a solution?"

Preshan opened his mouth to answer. "We're going to send planes right away to get rid of these Austro-Hungarian flies, but the front-line airports aren't ready yet."

Preshan's words caught Edel's attention. "What caused the airport to be unavailable?"

"The field airport runway and fuel are ready, mainly aircraft parts and maintenance ground crews are still on the way."

Hearing the question that annoyed Preshan, Edel thought of a solution for the future. "It is completely possible to let the plane take it directly, with two fighters sitting, and bombers rushing over with accessories first. We need to ensure that there are no Austrian-Hungarian eyes in the sky."

Eder's suggestion, after Pleishan returned to the General Staff, he immediately arranged for the waiting 3rd Wing of Romanian Army Aviation to implement Eder's suggestion. As a result, hundreds of planes were immediately brought on the ground and accessories for transfer, and the field airport that had received the order immediately arranged for these planes to stop.

When the Austro-Hungarian plane came to reconnaissance the next day, it was immediately intercepted and expelled by the Romanian fleet. After a disproportionate exchange of fire, the Romanian fighters firmly controlled the sky. Next, we need to see the performance of the Central Army.