Chapter 462 Death in the Sky
Chapter 462 Death in the Sky
Qiao Garden, two bamboo houses.
Shao Quanzhong slapped the mahogany desk, causing the globe and ink bottle on the desk to shake and the ink to splash all over the table.
"Damn it, the British brother is so dishonest, he stabbed me in the back."
Queen Isabel, who was wearing a military uniform and a boat-shaped hat and reading intelligence, remained silent.
The intelligence from the Intelligence Department arrived late. Of the 2.6 million pieces of military equipment that Britain urgently ordered from Daxia, only 2 million were for Indian soldiers.
Six hundred thousand copies were secretly transported to Romania by British warships, and used to arm Romania with fifty modern mechanized divisions, including four tank divisions and two heavy artillery divisions.
At the same time, Britain promised that after the war, it would help Romania acquire 103,600 square kilometers of land in Transylvania, which was currently occupied by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
When the European war broke out, Romania had been hesitating between two sides, holding 600,000 soldiers and waiting for the price, ready to take action to seize the fruits of victory at the critical moment.
King Carol I of Romania was a German, so he was naturally friendly to the Allies. But Romania had always coveted Hungary's Transylvania, and wanted to join the Allies to take advantage, so it had been fighting in Europe for almost three years without taking sides.
Now that Britain has offered so many benefits at once, including equipment for 600,000 people, plus the promise of the world leader, Romania has finally made up its mind to take side.
However, Romania did not openly join the Allied Powers. Instead, it declared war on the neutral country Bulgaria on its own on the grounds of territorial disputes.
Well, war was declared, and the time when the telegram was sent out for declaration of war was only ten minutes before the Julju front took action.
The instructions Romania received from its big brother Britain were to eliminate Bulgaria and cut off the arms and civilian supplies that were transported to Berlin through the Bulgarian channel.
If this is not possible, then controlling the port of Varna or destroying the railway from Varna to Sofia and then to Belgrade, Budapest and Vienna would also be considered mission accomplished.
In the eyes of Carol I, this task was easy. When the British brother was in need of people, I got a great advantage.
Bulgaria's development in the past three years has been silent, and it has always appeared poor to the outside world. The money it earned mainly came from subcontracting Daxia's arms exports, and no one monitors its customs.
Romania then declared that it was dissatisfied with the territory that Bulgaria inherited from the Ottoman Empire after the Balkan War, and announced its sovereignty over the southern Dobruja region, using this as an excuse to brazenly launch a war.
Le Sen, who was standing next to him, bowed his head and was scolded, "Marshal, I failed in my duty——"
Shao Quanzhong waved his hand. "Forget it, forget it. It's not your fault. We have almost no intelligence personnel deployed in Romania. It's good enough that you can find out so much information."
The eyes of the major powers were either on the Western Front or on the major participants in the European War. Who would pay attention to Romania, a bystander?
"Isabel, pick up Quan Xiao for me."
As soon as the call was connected, Shao Quanzhong's tone was full of concern, "Quanxiao, don't worry, I will contact you immediately and ask Lucia to help you besiege Romania."
Why didn't the Huai Army take action themselves? Well, there is a reason.
You see, Britain did not attack Bulgaria itself, but encouraged Romania to do so. This means that it did not want to break off relations with Daxia.
Britain still needs to import a large amount of weapons and daily necessities from Daxia. If it attacks Bulgaria and breaks off relations with Shao Quanzhong, not only will the Germans run out of resources, but it will also be left with nothing.
Moreover, if Shao Quanzhong was angered, Daxia would be doomed if it joined the Allied Powers.
As for Daxia, it was reaping the benefits of the war on both ends, and joining the European war at this time would definitely not be worth it. Unless Britain broke off relations with it, it would be difficult for Shao Quanzhong to make up his mind to join the war.
This is why Britain armed Romania to fight Bulgaria. Bulgaria was a neutral country, Britain had no reason to attack, and was afraid of angering Shao Quanzhong.
This is the situation, this is what happened, and neither Britain nor Daxia wants to start a war at this time.
The voice of Quan Xiao on the other end of the phone was very cheerful, "Brother, no need. The Russian troops have suffered a series of disastrous defeats and have just announced their withdrawal from the European war. They need to rest and restore their morale. Don't bother them. I can handle it myself."
"Romanians have big appetites and don't even consider their teeth."
"Just wait and see how I make them suffer this time, and make the British swallow this loss, with 1.2 million pounds of equipment going down the drain."
Shao Quanxiao was so confident because he received information from the battlefield.
"Brother, in the past three years we have armed 800,000 people, including 40 mechanized infantry divisions, four tank divisions, and now we have a most advanced diesel-powered tank division and two bomber squadrons." "Our strategic goal is to destroy the Austro-Hungarian Empire at a critical moment and take over the entire southern Slavic region."
"The Romanian clown came out to perform at this time, which is a good opportunity for us to practice."
Shao Quanzhong was relieved at once. He actually knew Bulgaria's strength, but he was just too concerned.
"Quanxiao, I can't just sit there and watch. Let's put it this way. There are 200 bombers and 500 new tanks shipped to Germany at the port of Varna. You can use them first."
"I'll explain to the Germans two days later. After all, this is to protect their transportation lines, right?"
…………
On the Romanian front, in the small town of Baneasa, the 22nd Regiment, which was pursuing the enemy, encountered head-on a mechanized infantry division and a tank division that were reinforced by the enemy.
Romania has mobilized 600,000 troops and is ready to cross the Danube from multiple locations in order to capture Bulgaria, which apparently has only 200,000 troops, in one fell swoop.
"Humph, an enemy regiment dares to chase a division. Division Commander Radu is really a loser. Someone - eh? What's that sound?"
There was a buzzing sound in the sky. Lieutenant General Seljiu looked up and saw a black formation of bombers in the opposite sky. What was that?
The bombers at this time had no natural enemies and were flying almost close to the ground. Thirty-six bombers appeared before them in an instant.
The small but powerful napalm bombs were dropped one by one by the bombardiers on the bombers.
That’s right, the technology is not yet mature and there is no mechanical bomb-dropping device. The Haoguozi Company is working on designing that thing urgently. Now bombers drop bombs by hand.
No matter how small the hand-dropped bombs were, they were still napalm bombs. The bombers flew close to the heads of the Romanian tanks, dropping more than 70 incendiary bombs in one wave.
Thirty of them fell on the roof of the huge steam tank. In an instant, the tank was filled with thick smoke, and sticky burning gasoline entered the cab. Firemen kept jumping directly out of the tank.
Only 30 tanks were lost? You're overthinking it. The bombers circled around and came back immediately. They were carrying a lot of incendiary bombs.
Soon, the tanks turned into burning torches, and the infantry following behind were at a loss.
"charge!"
The 22nd Regiment's unique "Liberty Leading the Bulgarian People" flag was placed on the armored vehicle, and the heroic regiment began its charge against the tank division.
The two bomber squadrons dropped all their incendiary bombs but did not leave. Instead, their planes circled in the sky, and the Maxim machine gunners on the planes kept firing from the sky, causing the Romanian infantry on the ground to flee in panic.
"Report! General Staff's order, the participating divisions stop pursuing and rest on the spot."
"We can still fight—"
"The division commander has strictly ordered you not to continue charging."
After two days of hard fighting, the participating division, which defeated two divisions with the support of air firepower, also lost 25% of its men and dug trenches on the spot for defense and repairs.
However, the trenches they dug were useless, and the Romanian troop movements could not keep up with the pace of the Bulgarian military.
A day later, the soldiers who were resting saw a new tank division roaring past at a speed of 55 kilometers per hour, heading straight for Bucharest.
Three days later, another new tank division and a tank reinforced brigade rumbled by.
In the sky, 236 bombers flew back and forth between the military airports in Bucharest and Pleven Fortress.
At various crossings on the Danube, thirty-nine old steam mechanized divisions and four steam tank divisions crossed the river together.
Before the Romanian army could cross the river, it was pushed back into the Bulgarian territory.
The fighting in various places was in full swing. Before the result was known, on the fourth day of the war, Bucharest was burned to ashes by napalm bombs, and King Carol announced his defeat and surrender.
(End of this chapter)