The Rise Of Australasia
Chapter 518: Chapter 406: Siege of Bulgaria

After the consolation segment, it was time for the military rank promotions and rewards for all soldiers.

Starting with the Fourth Division's Brigadier General Scott, who was successfully promoted to Major General, becoming one of the few high-ranking officers in Australasia.

The Chief of Staff for the Fourth Division was promoted to Brigadier General, and the instructor was promoted to Colonel. Soldiers who performed courageously in the war and earned merits were also rewarded.

Just as the Fourth Division's rewarded officers and soldiers were cheering and celebrating, the offensive on the Balkan Peninsula was officially launched.

After arriving in the Balkan Peninsula, Commander Martin contacted Greece, Montenegro, Romania, and Serbia, gained the support of these countries, and became the supreme commander of the Balkan Front.

Of course, these countries had no chance to refuse, as Commander Martin's appointment was a joint decision of the four Allied powers. They would be wise to comply with the instructions unless they could challenge all four powers.

Under Commander Martin's planning, a large-scale campaign on the Balkan Front was about to be launched.

There were two enemies on the Balkan Front, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Turkish Empire.

Although the Ottoman Turkish Empire was much larger in size than Bulgaria, the Bulgarian army had slightly better combat capabilities than the Ottoman Turkish Empire's army when it came to military force.

More importantly, the Bulgarian army's numbers were smaller, and after the previous chaos, the number of Bulgarian troops had dropped below 200,000.

But the entire Balkan Front had 150,000 Serbian troops, 200,000 Romanian troops, 100,000 Greek troops, 50,000 Montenegro troops, and 100,000 Australasia troops.

Such troop numbers formed an overwhelming advantage, and neither Bulgaria nor Ottoman Turkey had any means to resist.

After discussions, Commander Martin decided to defeat Bulgaria first. For one, Bulgaria had fewer soldiers, and compared to the vast territory of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, Bulgaria was the easier problem to solve.

Secondly, to deal with the Ottoman Turkish Empire, it was necessary to capture the stronghold of Constantinople.

In order to prevent Bulgaria and Ottoman Turkey from attacking from both the north and south, it became necessary to defeat Bulgaria first.

On May 27, 1915, following Commander Martin's order, Romanian, Serbian, Greek, Montenegrin, and Australasia Expeditionary Forces launched a comprehensive offensive against Bulgaria from the north, west, and south.

The main attack area was on the western border of Bulgaria. There were 150,000 Serbian troops, 50,000 Montenegrin troops, and 100,000 Australasia Expeditionary troops stationed there.

Since Bulgaria's capital, Sofia, was located near the western border, the border between Serbia and Bulgaria became the primary direction of the offensive.

In order to end the battle as soon as possible, the Balkan Front assembled over 2,000 artillery pieces for a brutal bombing of Bulgaria's border.

In just one day, the entire Balkan Front consumed millions of artillery shells, all of which hit Bulgaria's border, leaving the Bulgarian army greatly shocked.

This was not a psychological shock, but a physical one.

Heavy artillery bombing made Bulgarian army positions unstable, and some crude concrete positions even collapsed directly, putting Bulgarian soldiers inside into eternal sleep.

It was conservatively estimated that there were tens of thousands of Bulgarian soldiers killed either directly by artillery fire, by shockwaves, or buried alive due to collapsed positions.

Although the number of casualties did not exceed one-fifteenth of Bulgaria's total, the constant bombing of one day greatly reduced the morale of the Bulgarian army.

More severe was the fact that due to such large-scale bombing, the army's logistics could not be sent to the front, and the wounded could not be transported to the rear. The cries of pain from the wounded could be heard everywhere in the positions.

After a whole day of heavy bombing, the Bulgarian soldiers finally gained a brief respite.

It was actually because the Balkan Front's ammunition reserves were not enough. In one day, they had consumed millions of shells, leaving the not-so-distant Russian army envious but helpless.

While the Bulgarian army was busy transporting the wounded to the rear, the charge of the Allied forces on the front line was officially launched.

Leading the way were several divisions from the Australasia colonies. It was not that the natives weren't afraid of death, but they were faced with subsequent bullets from behind.

The indigenous soldiers cried and screamed as they charged towards the enemy's position, causing a considerable effect on the already chaotic Bulgarian soldiers in front.

Because of the language barrier, the indigenous soldiers yelling and shouting while charging seemed like enraged howls to the Bulgarian soldiers, as if the Grim Reaper was coming for their lives.

The sight of the vast army charging immediately alarmed the Bulgarian soldiers who had just relaxed and were preparing to rest. They were hustled out of their resting area by the shouts of their officers and formed lines in the trenches.

As the frontline closest to the Bulgarian capital and taking into account that the relationship between Serbia and Bulgaria was the worst among the Balkan countries, the number of Bulgarian soldiers stationed at this border was also the largest, once amounting to 150,000 people.

However, with the war consuming numbers, the total number of troops stationed at this border was now less than a hundred thousand, far behind the Allied forces.

On the Bulgarian border, the Allied forces launched a fierce attack. The Serbian and Montenegrin armies charged with extraordinary ferocity, because after the failure of Bulgaria, they would be able to gain a large amount of land and benefits, just like in the Second Balkan War.

At this time, the commander-in-chief of the Bulgarian border had lost all hope. He had just received news that it was not only the western border, but there were also attacks from Romania and Greece in the north and south.

It was obvious that Bulgaria was the first target of the Balkan countries for the Allies.

Under the fierce attacks of a large number of armies, the Bulgarian forces suffered nearly 40,000 casualties in just two days, a decrease of one-fifth of the combat troops.

It should be mentioned that the reason Bulgaria joined the Allied forces was due to its poor relationship with the other Balkan countries.

For the other Balkan countries, in order to be able to carve up more interests after the war, they put nearly all their effort into the attack on Bulgaria, using the majority of their forces and mobilizing all kinds of resources within the country to transport to the frontlines.

Faced with the deep hatred and enmity of the other Balkan countries, the Bulgarian government was in a predicament at this time.

Judging by the current situation, Bulgaria's defeat is a foregone conclusion. But the problem is that Bulgarians bear a strong grudge against the Balkan countries led by Serbia.

Right after the First Balkan War, the Balkan countries, led by Serbia, joined forces against Bulgaria, leading to the breakout of the Second Balkan War, which resulted in Bulgaria losing a large portion of its newly occupied territory and even some of its original territory.

Filled with deep hatred, if the Bulgarian government dared to propose peace talks, angry Bulgarian citizens would likely stage large-scale protests,

and even go against the government and the royal family.

By this time, Bulgaria's Tsar Ferdinand, a proponent of war before its outbreak, had disappeared, attempting to shift the responsibility of the war entirely onto the government.

Of course, Ferdinand's current title is not that of a king, but rather, the self-proclaimed Tsar.

Speaking of Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria, his experience was somewhat similar to Arthur's, both of whom came from the same German family, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and compared to Bulgaria, Ferdinand was also a foreign monarch.

In 1886, a coup broke out in Bulgaria, and the then ruling Alexander I, who had only been in power for seven years, was forced to abdicate and Ferdinand, who served as an officer in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was elected as the new Crown Prince of Bulgaria.

To prevent Russia from gaining control of Bulgaria, the road of election to monarchy in Bulgaria was extremely difficult.

Bulgaria's government searched all the way from Denmark to the Caucasus, even conceiving the idea of inviting the king of Romania to become Bulgaria's crown prince, almost establishing a dual state system similar to the Austro-Hungarian Empire with Romania.

Although Ferdinand eventually became Crown Prince of Bulgaria, the move was met with skepticism by many European royal families, including Arthur's grandmother, Queen Victoria.

This resulted in Ferdinand not gaining much power during the early period of his reign as Crown Prince, with the government's power being controlled by the leader of the Liberal Party, Stefan Stammbolov.

It wasn't until after the assassination of Stefan Stammbolov that Ferdinand gradually gained control of Bulgaria's political situation and obtained a considerable amount of power.

But now, Ferdinand truly wished for Stefan Stammbolov to be resurrected, best to take control of Bulgaria's political situation once more.

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Bulgaria's defeat in the war had become a foregone conclusion, and there must be someone of great influence to bear the responsibility of failure.

Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria knew very well that as the main advocate and person who personally started the war, he was very likely to be held accountable after the war and may lose the throne of Bulgaria, just like his predecessor Alexander I.

For Ferdinand, this was not good news. Although he would still be a member of the great Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family if he lost the throne of Bulgaria, his father was Prince Albert, the brother of King Fernando II of Portugal.

However, the problem was that compared to being a powerful ruler like the Tsar of Bulgaria, the huge gap in one's ordinary royal family status would be enough to drive him to despair.

For an individual who had held the highest level of power, the tremendous loss of status and authority was unbearable. The double emptiness in both body and mind could lead a normal person to break down and could erode any confidence they might have.