Chapter 604: Sooner or later, they will all be mine
The Serbian army that retreated into Bulgaria is about 60,000 people, and their commander is Stefan Sternovic, the former Minister of War of the Kingdom of Serbia who is nearly sixty years old.
Sternovic was born in 1856. Starting from the 10th Russo-Turkish War, Sternovic participated in all wars of the Kingdom of Serbia and began to serve as Serbian Minister of War in 1908.
Sternovic was cooperative with the Russian Empire and was not opposed to handing over command of the Serbian army to George.
When the Serbian army was defeated, Sternovich had the opportunity to go into exile with Alexander, but he chose to lead his army to retreat into Bulgaria and continue to fight the Austrian army.
When they retreated into Bulgaria, many Serbian soldiers were still wearing single clothes. Their ammunition was almost exhausted, supplies were completely cut off, sick and injured officers and soldiers could not receive timely treatment, and morale was extremely low.
Brushinov placed the Serbian soldiers in a military camp on the outskirts of Sofia. Sternovic did not go to the official residence in Sofia that Brusinov had prepared for him, but chose to stay with him. His soldiers were together.
The military camp on the outskirts of Sofia has relatively complete facilities. After the soldiers arrived, they immediately moved into warm barracks. The quartermaster distributed cotton-padded clothes and boots to them. Their first meal was potato stew. Beef, some people were hospitalized because they ate too much.
“If we also have this level of logistics, we will definitely be able to drive the Austrians out.”
First Army Commander Givoin Mišić lamented that they were almost there Victory, but unfortunately failed.
Just after the Serbian army withdrew into Bulgaria, heavy snow fell in Belgrade and the Austrian army's logistics supply line was interrupted.
This was the opportunity Putnik had been waiting for.
It is a pity that Putnik could not wait for this moment.
“The biggest mistake we made was overestimating our own strength and underestimating our opponents.”
Only now does Sternovic fully realize that Serbia and its military powers gap.
Not to mention, the 11th Army led by Brusinov was not only equipped with armored units and heavy artillery, but also received air force support, which Sternovich dreamed of.
Serbia seems to be very ambitious, but in fact it is weak. Before the outbreak of the Balkan War, this country only had Belgrade. After the war, although it got North Macedonia, before it had time to digest it, the world war ensued. .
Sternovic now only hopes to regain Belgrade. Bosnia and Herzegovina is getting further and further away from Serbia.
"Gentlemen, are you having a good rest?"
The Bulgarian Chief of General Staff Konstantin Zosdorf came to visit Sternovich and Mišić.
Zosdorf was one of the few remaining officers in the Bulgarian army from the Ferdinand era.
During the Ferdinand era, Zosdorf was ostracized for opposing cooperation between Bulgaria and Germany. He also participated in the Rovno exercises as a military observer.
After the reconstruction of the Bulgarian army, Zosdorf was appointed by Polis as Chief of the Bulgarian General Staff. He worked diligently in this position and made great contributions to Bulgaria's mobilization.
“There’s nothing better than this. We have everything here, warm fires, fragrant coffee, and most importantly, there are no Austrians here.”
Sternovic wants to get there as quickly as possible Return to the battlefield as quickly as possible.
But this is unrealistic. Most of the 60,000 Serbian officers and soldiers are either sick or injured. They need a long period of recuperation before they can return to the battlefield.
Sternovic is recruiting new recruits from the Serbs who retreated into Bulgaria, and this work is not going well.
Serbs who are willing to serve their country have already enlisted in Serbia’s many previous mobilizations.
These Serbs in Bulgaria now, when Serbia faced the enemy invasion, did not choose to live and die with the country, but chose to flee their homeland, which itself explains their attitude.
"General Brusinov is discussing a new combat plan with Grand Duke Yuriev in Constantinople. If the plan is successfully approved, you can return to the battlefield as quickly as possible."
Zosdorf comforted Sternovich that the war had just begun and there would be more to come.
"God bless, I hope they can hurry up."
Sternovic prayed sincerely.
Mihic didn’t speak, he was very dissatisfied with George.
From the perspective of the Russian Empire, there is nothing wrong with George's approach.
But George's sitting back and doing nothing has caused huge harm to the Kingdom of Serbia. As a Serbian, Mišić has not escalated his dissatisfaction into resentment, and he is already very self-restrained.
Zosdorf did not stay long, he had other work to do.
After Zosdorf left, Mihic started to complain.
“Don’t complain, this is God’s test for us.”
After experiencing so many things, Sternovich was a bit nagging.
Sixty thousand soldiers were stationed in four camps in Sofia.
This is also thanks to the fact that the Bulgarian government built a large number of military camps in Sofia to welcome the 11th Army some time ago. Otherwise, it would be impossible to accommodate so many people in a short while. There are also some Serbs serving in the 11th Army, including Lieutenant Colonel Stefan Pavlovich, who was born in Belgrade.
Soon after Pavlovich was born, he went to St. Petersburg with his father and received education in St. Petersburg.
In 1887, Pavlovich graduated from the Nikolay Cavalry School, joined the Russian army in the same year, and served in the Caucasus Military District.
Pavlovich's current position is the artillery staff officer of the 89th Division. After the Serbian army retreated into Bulgaria, Pavlovich was ordered to assist Alexander Kitkov, chief of staff of the 11th Army, to reorganize the Serbian army.
Due to being away from Serbia for so long, Pavlovich cannot even speak Serbian.
However, in the Serbian army, most officers can speak Russian, so this does not affect the communication between Pavlovich and Serbian officers.
The situation of the Serbian army is very bad. According to Amur standards, at least half of the soldiers must retire and cannot continue to fight.
Sternovic does not think so. He hopes that the 11th Army will provide the Serbian army with enough rifles and supplies and replace a full set of weapons and equipment.
It would be best if Brusinov could provide the Serbian army with some armored fighting vehicles and artillery.
Pavlovich organized healthy soldiers to continue training using the previous weapons.
The new rifles will not arrive in Sofia until at least the next year.
For most Serbian soldiers, they are not concerned about the conflicts of interest at the top, but are full of interest in the living conditions of the Bulgarians.
Many Serbian soldiers are from North Macedonia, and they do not have much affection for the Kingdom of Serbia.
This is not surprising. For most people nowadays, the concepts of country and nation are relatively weak. They don’t care who rules them, they only care about whether they can live a good life.
“In Bulgaria, everyone can obtain land at low prices, and then get loans from banks to set up family farms or plantations. The reason why we can do this is entirely because we have a generous and A merciful king, he deserves the allegiance of all of us."
Pavlovich comforted the soldiers who were disabled due to injuries and could not return to the front line, hoping that they would not lose hope in life.
In order not to burden their families, many wounded soldiers chose to go into self-exile after retirement, stopped contacting their families, and died silently.
If these wounded soldiers are not properly taken care of, most of them will die in various tragic ways within five years.
"That's great!"
"I have always dreamed of owning my own farm. I will raise a horse and five hunting dogs. Every weekend, I will take my children and lead the dogs. Go hunting -"
"Our king is a deserter, he betrayed us"
The wounded Serbian soldiers talked a lot.
“Even if you can’t return to the battlefield, you can still contribute to the country. In Bulgaria, soldiers who are disabled due to injuries while fighting for the country are tax-free for life and have retirement pensions for life. As long as they are not greedy, they You can live happily ”
Pavlovich's words are full of temptation. Who doesn't want to live in a strong and wealthy country.
With Pavlovich's description, many soldiers who had lost their luster gradually regained their vitality.
These subtle influences will eventually form an unstoppable force in the Serbian army.
George ignores the Serbian soldiers. As the end of the year approaches, the wedding date of Polis and Elizabeth is getting closer and closer.
Polis hopes to hold the coronation ceremony and the wedding together.
Considering that all countries are at war, everything in the coronation ceremony and wedding was kept simple and extravagance was avoided.
Polis is the eldest son of George. George has been in Constantinople. Catherine and Anne came to Adrianople early to prepare for the wedding of Polis.
Although Polis wants everything to be simple, Polis is the king of Bulgaria after all. Nicholas and the kings of the Balkan Alliance will definitely come to attend Polis's coronation ceremony and wedding, and so will the Bulgarian people. Send blessings to Polis in various ways.
Ekaterina suffered another hemorrhage and privately invested five million rubles to sponsor Polis's wedding.
Anna was curious. When Polis was invited to be the king of Bulgaria, Catherine had already given Polis a large sum of money.
Not long after this, Ekaterina was able to come up with another 5 million, and her net worth was simply unfathomable.
Ekaterina said it was just drizzle.
Although Catherine failed to become the empress of the Russian Empire, she was favored by Alexander II for twenty years. After Alexander II's death, she invested in business in France and became a well-known enterprise in France. Family, her net worth is only much more than that of Anne.
Anne is not jealous either, sooner or later it will all be hers anyway.
(End of this chapter)