The Bulgarian army did not sit idly by while conquering Bulgarian towns along the Romanian route and encroaching on its territory. Under the coordination of the Minister of War, Lieutenant General Mikhail Savov, they were gradually reinforcing troops from the Sehi front in Macedonia and Thrace.

And the Serbs and Greeks will not allow Bulgaria to smoothly withdraw troops, because according to the agreement, the two countries want to hold back the Bulgarian army and create an opportunity for Romania to attack Sofia. Among them, the Serbian army, under the command of Marshal Putnik, launched a 2-hour attack on the Bulgarian army, and after receiving a "heavy price" of 800 casualties, they stopped the offensive.

The Greeks were even more "brave", and they attacked the Bulgarian 2nd Army under King Constantine I, and after suffering 200 casualties, they were defeated. The obligation of the alliance was also fulfilled for Romania. Thanks to the "powerful" offensive of the two countries, Bulgaria decided to transfer the troops of the two fronts from 150,000 to 180,000. Of these, 90,000 were newly recruited and transferred to the binational front. 20,000 troops were also drawn from the Ottoman border, plus 60,000 re-recruited for the Romanian invasion, for a total of 260,000 troops to meet the Romanian invasion.

However, it will take time for Bulgaria to gather troops, and Romanian troops are already approaching the objectives of the first phase, Suman and Varna. Among them, the Romanian Third Army was already preparing to launch an attack on Varna, the largest port city in Bulgaria.

As early as the 6th century BC, the Greeks settled here and named it "Odessos". In the second half of the 6th century, there was an influx of Slavs from the north and the name was changed to "Varna". In 1878, after the 10th Russo-Turkish War, the city was given to the newborn Bulgaria by the Russian army that liberated Bulgaria, and has since remained the largest trading port city in Bulgaria.

At the headquarters of the Third Army, the commander of the corps, Lieutenant General Salamik, was explaining the essentials of the attack to the commander of the 1st Division, Major General Deleguca, and the commander of the 8th Division, Major General Gellasim.

"You attack from the west and from the north, and I will have the 2nd Heavy Artillery Regiment to support you. Due to the shore defense batteries at Cape Vinov, the Navy has no way to help, and you need to capture the batteries to get naval support. ”

Since Varna was east of the sea and south was a narrow bay called Asperu, the Romanian army could only attack from the west and north, but because the Bulgarians had few defenders in the area (the 2nd Independent Brigade had more than 8,000 men and later called up 22,000 men to defend, but the lack of training and combat effectiveness was worrying), the Third Army believed that the battle would be resolved in three days

After talking about the overall offensive, Lieutenant General Salamik named Major General Gelasim of the 8th Division. "Major General Gelasim, your 8th Division, when you need to launch an offensive to the north, send a regiment to capture Cape Vinov and take the shore defense batteries there. According to intelligence, there are 2,000 coastal defense troops there. ”

Major General Gerasim, who was named, replied cheerfully. "Please rest assured, Your Excellency, our Eighth Division has no problem."

Lieutenant General Salamik told them when he saw that both men were confident. "Then go back and prepare, we'll start attacking at ten o'clock."

After the two major generals finished speaking, they each returned to their units to prepare for the upcoming attack.

In the 2nd Heavy Artillery Regiment, 150 artillery pieces have been deployed, and howitzers with a length of 9.5 kilometers and cannons with a length of more than 12 kilometers can completely suppress the small and medium-sized artillery that Bulgaria has. Now a huge row of circular artillery bunkers has been built, heavy guns have been placed in the middle of the bunkers, surrounded by a 1.5-meter-high civil structure breastwall to provide protection, and behind the gun emplacements there is a trench that leads to another circular bunker not far away, in which a large number of shells have been hoarded.

When the clock pointed to ten o'clock, 54 150 guns of the 2nd Romanian Artillery Regiment opened fire. The shells weighing up to 45KG were unbearable for Varna, a port city that was not fortified. Guided by the observation balloons, a large number of fortifications were reduced to rubble by Romania's excellent artillery techniques, and the soldiers stationed there also turned to dust as they were hit.

After the 2nd Heavy Artillery Regiment opened fire, the 3rd Army concentrated its 50 105 howitzers and launched artillery bombardment on the Bulgarian soldiers stationed in the trenches outside the city. For a time, Varna's defenders suffered heavy casualties and pressure.

"You guys get cover."

A Bulgarian officer, hiding behind a two-story house, shouted loudly to several recruits standing in the street at a loss. When the recruits heard the officer's voice, they planned to hide with the officer. At this time, only a "boom" was heard, and the house that was his bunker was blown up, and the air wave pushed his military hat in front of several recruits.

In Varna, many soldiers and civilians were crushed under the houses destroyed by heavy artillery, and for a time a large number of panicked locals ran out of the streets, seeing the heavy casualties of their soldiers and civilians, and Major General Shakhnosev, as the commander of the defenders, was anxious.

I want to mention here that he, a major general, was only brought up the day before yesterday. Previously, he was only a colonel and brigade commander of the 2nd Separate Brigade, and after Romania declared war on Bulgaria, he was urgently promoted to major general as the highest-ranking officer in Varna, where he was responsible for the defense of the city of Varna. After declaring war in Romania, he urgently recruited 14,000 men from the city as his own defensive force, and also recruited 8,000 men from the surrounding areas to strengthen the defense of Varna.

Faced with a large number of soldiers suddenly called up, Varna did not prepare so many weapons at all. Major General Shaknosv searched up and down Varna and found 5,000 rifles, and he took out more than 4,000 guns from the inventory of the 2nd Independent Brigade, but only more than 9,000 guns. He divided the men into nine supplementary regiments, issued 1,000 rifles to each regiment, and then issued ammunition to soldiers who did not have guns, and asked them to pick up rifles from soldiers who had died in battle.

The shelling of the Third Army lasted for an hour, and a large number of buildings in the city of Varna were destroyed, and now it is not like the houses of later generations are made of reinforced concrete. Due to economic reasons, most of the buildings in Varna are now made of brick and timber, and even in Romania only large buildings are made of reinforced concrete. The reason is that steel is not cheap now, and the cost is too high to use.

The 1st and 8th Divisions outside the city launched an artillery attack on the Bulgarian positions using the divisional 75 guns after the large-caliber artillery stopped, while the two regiments, which were the first to attack, also began a tentative offensive.

"Ready, the Romanians are coming."

A Bulgarian officer, who was observing in the trenches, shouted at the soldiers who were crouching in the trenches to avoid the shelling, and when he saw that someone had not yet come forward, he stepped forward and kicked him down. The other officers were doing the same thing as him, and the mood of the soldiers in the position was quite good because of the presence of these officers.

Seeing the attacking Romanian soldiers still four or five hundred meters away from the positions, the officers on these positions kept walking around the battlefield to encourage the soldiers, and shouted in their mouths. "Hold steady, don't shoot."

It was only after seeing these Romanian soldiers enter the three hundred meters that the officers shouted. "Shoot."

The Bulgarian soldiers, who had been waiting impatiently, would shoot their hatred for the death of the invaders and their comrades at the attacking Third Army soldiers through their weapons, which immediately provoked a more precise counterattack from the other side. In a confrontational fire, the soldiers of the Third Army relied on better shooting skills, and the Bulgarian soldiers could not raise their heads on the pressed position.

"Follow me."

Seeing the suppressed Bulgarian soldiers on the positions, the Romanian commander, who commanded the battle, shouted to the soldiers behind him.

After saying that, he got up and rushed towards the Bulgarian soldiers on the position, and the Romanian soldiers behind him also rushed over with his commander. For a time on the position, the soldiers on both sides began a fierce fight.

The two commanders of the 8th and 1st Divisions, who were observing after his death, saw this scene and ordered another regiment to be sent for reinforcements.

Finally, after two hours of fighting. Romanian troops captured positions outside the city. The defeated Bulgarian soldiers retreated along the communication trenches into the city.

Inside the headquarters of the Third Army, the corps commander, Lieutenant General Salamik, frowned after watching the battle. He turned to the chief of staff beside him. "It looks like the next battle will be very difficult."

The Chief of Staff took over the words of Lieutenant General Salamik and said. "It seems that the commander of the city is a very smart fellow."

Lieutenant General Salamik after hearing the words of his chief of staff. Said in a deep voice. "He wants to hold us back and buy time for the main Bulgarian army, so it depends on whether he is capable or not. I'm not afraid of street fighting. ”

After Lieutenant General Salamik finished speaking, he called a staff officer and ordered him. "Give the 2nd Heavy Artillery Regiment an order to focus on attacking the Bulgarian fortifications. At the same time, the 1st and 8th Divisions also sent a report, asking them to advance and clean up repeatedly after breaking through the fortifications of the city. I will see what he will do to guard the city. ”

Following the order of the commander, the Romanian and Bulgarian soldiers began to fight fiercely.

PS The war scene is not well written, and the steamed buns still have to be practiced, otherwise there will be a lot of war behind how to write.