Desperate Serbia
In contrast, Serbia, on the other side, is much worse. Far away in Belgrade, Aleksandar I is worried about his head!
It is just the first day of the war. The front line has been sending bad news one after another! Obviously, his side has superior numbers of troops, but the result is that he keeps losing battles!
Aleksandar I did not deny the words of the generals at the front. Are the Bulgarians so powerful? With the advantage of firepower, are they invincible?
Aleksandar I asked angrily, "Minister of War, how do you explain the series of losses on the front?"
The Minister of War, who he called, took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his forehead, organized his thoughts, and said: "Your Majesty, you know: Bulgaria is attacking three fronts this time, and the strategic plan we have drawn up is - 'Let him come from several fronts, I will go only one way'!
This time we chose to fight off their attack on Niš all the way and take a defensive position in other areas. Some losses are expected!
So far, our strategy is correct. If we divide our troops and are led by them, we will not be able to take advantage of our strength!
Although there are small defeats on the front line now, but the main force is still there. As long as General Subrovich can finish off the enemy in the Niš area, this war will give us an advantage!
So far, General Subrovich has reported to us the situation on the front line. The Bulgarians broke through the two lines of defense, which were supposed to be used to lure the enemy deeper!
Even if we are breached early, it doesn't matter. No matter what, in the Niš area, we have more than 200,000 troops, four times as many as the enemy, and it's only a matter of time before we achieve victory!"
The words spoken by the Minister of War are treated as farts by the crowd, all in order to find excuses for failure, but of course, it is now a time of war, and everyone does not have the energy to nitpick!
The last sentence was enough to convince the crowd that the Bulgarian army, no matter how good it was, could not do it with one against four! More than 200,000 Serbian troops defeated 50,000 enemy troops, and people are still confident!
Aleksandar I was certainly aware of this, and if the war had not continued, he would have had to court-martial all the generals who had lost the war!
In his opinion, with an absolutely superior number of troops but still constantly losing the war, it is either incompetence or greed and fear of death!
Aleksandar I still remember well that nine years ago, after the defeat of the Bulgarian-Serbian War, his father, King Milan, was forced to abdicate and leave Serbia!
King Milan did not say anything good about the military. Waste, fools, and cowards are the words of the Serbian army!
With superior numbers, superior firepower, or a surprise attack, it turned out that the regular army did not win against a randomly conscripted disorganized army!
Aleksandar I has always been skeptical of the fighting ability of the Serbian army and has been trying to carry out military reforms since he took power, but it's a pity that they were all blocked by the military!
Now that the facts are in front of him, the first thing Aleksandar I thought was not how strong the Bulgarian army was, but that it was the greed and fear of death in the army! The proof is that they defeated the battle they fought, and the senior officers are still alive!
Even the fact that the Serbian army, with its inferior weaponry and lack of logistical supplies, was ignored by him!
He glared at the Minister of War, spoke with another, and asked, "Prime Minister, what do you think?"
The Prime Minister, who he named, was silent for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, this is a complicated issue!
If General Subrovich can achieve a quick victory in the Niš region, a big battle will be ahead!
On the contrary, if you drag on a few days, when the enemy reinforcements arrive, our strength advantage will no longer exist, then I'm afraid it will be difficult!
And if the war continues, the logistical pressure on us is too great!
The current inflation in the country has been very serious, and the normal life of the people has been affected! We can't fight a prolonged war. With the current war spending, maybe in two or three months, we will be bankrupt!"
After hearing the prime minister's pessimistic prediction, Aleksandar I's face became even more gloomy, and he said fiercely, "Give orders to the troops at the front, from now on: those who retreat die, those who surrender die!"
Seeing that the crowd wanted to stop, Aleksandar I added: "You all know very well that to win this war, we in Serbia will have to fight for our lives!
Any greedy mind will make us lose this war! In that case, let's fight! Our army's combat strength is not as good as the enemy's, our firepower is not as good as the enemy's, but we have the advantage of numbers!
Then let's fill them with human lives! Use a human wave tactic to pile them up. If you can't do it with one for one, use two or three for one!
In short, we can't afford to lose this war, and Serbia can't afford to lose it!"
Having said that, Aleksandar I left without looking back, and by now, he was finally beginning to regret it! To blindly go to war with Bulgaria, Serbia simply did not have time to prepare for war!
Once this war is lost, it is still unknown whether Serbia will be finished; all of them, high government officials, will definitely be finished!
In that case, let's fill it with human lives! Even if it's a draw or they can barely hold off, they still have a way to get through this political crisis! Anyway, all the people who died were lowlifes, and they, the high and mighty officials, didn't have to die!
All eyes met, no one said anything, and then turned their attention to the Minister of War in unison! The meaning was obvious since the king had ordered it. Let's carry it out!
After much hesitation, the Minister of War finally nodded silently, and then a sternly drafted telegram poured out to the front!
When he received the telegram, Subrovich's face turned pale. It was going to be a massacre!
After some thoughts and hesitations, he still decided to carry out! In order to get the victory, nor care so much now, even if scolded by the soldiers, is not better than losing the battle!
"Come on, let's summon the officers above the rank of colonel to a meeting. If they can't come to the front, let them read the telegrams and wait for the news!" Subrovich said with a sigh.
In any case, after this battle, he is wearing the hat of General Butcher!
...
In contrast to the great success of the Left Army and the Right Army, the Middle Army, which is the main force, is now a little late and has just launched a full-scale attack!
It's not that they are incompetent, it's mainly to wipe out the enemy in the area south of the lower South Morawa River, and if they fight too hard, the enemy won't run away!
The two main regiments of the Royal Army, making a detour from the Ottoman Empire, cut through the Kumanovo area and bypassed the rear of the Serbian army, cutting off the Serbian retreat!
At the command headquarters of the Middle Army, the crowd was still celebrating this risk's success! Little did they know that the Serbs had decided to fight to the death, that the inspector was already in position, and that the soldiers at the front could not run if they wanted to!