Mediterranean Hegemony Road

On March 12, 1918, the Bulgarian Military Council announced the new division of military districts, personnel appointments and troop deployments, as well as the final disarmament plan.

According to the plan, the whole country of Bulgaria will be divided into ten military districts, three of which are in the Balkans, namely:

Transylvania Military District, responsible for the defense of Bulgaria's northwestern territories, with a total strength of about 65,000;

Belgrade Military Region, responsible for territorial defense in the southwest, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a total force of about 48,000;

The Sofia Military Region is responsible for the entire territory from the Black Sea coast to the Mediterranean Sea, including the defense of the former Bulgaria, Constantinople, the Greek peninsula, and Albania, with a total force of about 85,000. (Note: 100,000 guards, not counted.)

There are four military regions in Asia, namely:

The Asia Minor Peninsula Military Region is mainly responsible for the defense of the Asia Minor Peninsula. The main task at present is to keep an eye on the Ottomans in Ankara, with a total force of about 96,000.

Transcaucasus Military Region, mainly responsible for Georgia's defense, with a total force of about 32,000;

The Persian Gulf Military Region is mainly responsible for the defense of Iraq, Iran, and the Persian Gulf coastal areas, with a total force of about 68,000;

The Middle East Military Region is mainly responsible for the defense of Syria, Jordan, Palestine, and the Arabian Peninsula, with a total force of about 88,000; (including Somalia)

There are also three military regions in Africa, namely:

The Libyan Military Region, responsible for the defense of the Libyan region, has a total force of about 23,000;

East African Military Region, responsible for the defense of Tanganyika, Rwanda and Burundi, with a total force of about 28,000;

West African Military District,

Responsible for the defense of the Namibian region, with a total force of about 22,000.

The total strength of the 6th Army in Bulgaria is still as high as 655,000 people. If the navy (76,000) and the air force (68,000) are added, the total national strength is as high as 799,000!

This total military strength is still considered high among the great powers, far exceeding that of Britain and France, but Ferdinand still approved it.

There is no way, no amount of troops will be enough, unless you learn from Britain and France in the colonial areas and form colonial troops to maintain order, but in Bulgaria it will not work.

Unless Ferdinand abandons the localization of the colony, any increase in the local armed forces of the colony is prohibited. The current British and French colonial forces are also the main force to overthrow their colonial rule in the future.

Out of this consideration, Ferdinand decided not to teach the locals to use guns. Even if there is a rebellion in the future, the police can suppress the riots!

Don't doubt, the chiefs of this era really have very few firearms, and they can't produce them themselves. They can only buy a small amount of equipment for their cronies to use, which is not a threat to the regular army.

Perhaps after the colony is cleared, Bulgaria's 6th Army will cut its troops again, and the navy and air force will not move, but this reduction is limited to tens of thousands of people, and the final total national strength is still impossible to be less than 700,000. Can't sleep without Ferdinand!

The distribution of the navy is simpler. The main fleet is directly divided into three, namely: the Persian Gulf fleet, the Mediterranean fleet, and the African fleet.

The main fleet is still the Mediterranean Fleet, with half of the main ships, followed by the Persian Gulf Fleet, and the African Fleet is only responsible for making soy sauce.

This is determined by geographical location. For example, Libya does not need the African fleet to be responsible, and the Mediterranean fleet will be responsible for their security.

The same is true for the Somalia region. The Persian Gulf Fleet is responsible for the maritime security in this region. The final purpose of the African fleet is to guard Namibia and Tanganyika, several African port cities that are still under planning!

Compared with the navy, the air force is much more active, and airports are all over the country. Anyway, the aircraft requirements are not high in this era, and a hardened plain is an airport.

Even in order to strengthen the control of the place, Ferdinand is still considering deploying planes to each company. When the military district requires a meeting, the officers can be convened in a few hours, and the local rebellion can be put out.

This idea was made by Ferdinand based on the actual situation in Bulgaria. First, there are still a large number of aircraft in the hands of the Bulgarian Air Force. Once the war is over, these aircraft can only be retired. After retirement, these aircraft will be scrapped. Good use too.

It is impossible for the civilian market to eat these more than 30,000 planes. Civilian airlines have just started. Except for transport planes, fighter jets and bombers have no way to deal with them. Capitalists will not buy them, and Ferdinand will not dare to sell them. !

Secondly, the maintenance cost is simple and cheap. The performance of the aircraft in World War I was not good, and it was also very durable in operation, and the requirements for driving skills were not high.

There is also cheap fuel. Bulgaria is unlikely to be short of fuel anyway. The government can purchase fuel at a very low price, and the cost is not too high.

...

Marshal Imya Dimitev has been having a headache recently. Since the great Ferdinand inadvertently proposed the idea of ​​equipping the company with aircraft at the staff meeting, the military generals have been looking for them one after another. door.

There is no doubt that the 6th Army will definitely support it, and the Air Force will naturally oppose it. Once this plan is completed, there will be no Air Force in the future colonial war.

To deal with the indigenous rebels in the colony, any aircraft is a black technology, and there is no need to worry about anti-aircraft firepower.

One company has one plane, one regiment is one squadron, and one division has one squadron. In future wars, they don't need to call for air force support. The number of them can kill the enemy.

...

Popov, Minister of the 6th Army, asked unhappily: Your Excellency Chief of the General Staff, deploying aircraft to each company, what is your staff still hesitating about for such a good thing?

Did the Air Force put pressure on you? Impossible, Yemia, you are not a coward, those little brats in the Air Force dare not threaten you?

Imya Dimitev's face sank. He wanted to say, is there anyone else other than the 6th Military Department who dares to threaten the Chief of General Staff?

Imya Dimitev asked unhappily: Enough Popov, am I still thinking about it? You think I don't want to equip the aircraft to the company?

But is the question so simple? What about logistical maintenance? What about the crew? What about the cost? As long as these problems can be solved, the planes are ready-made and stacked in the warehouse. I will mention it to you immediately!

Popov said calmly: Our 6th Army is not picky, as long as it is an aircraft, whether it is a fighter or a bomber, even a transport aircraft.

The crew, aren't they all ready-made? You can drop from the 6th Army to the Air Force, why can't you transfer back to the 6th Army from the Air Force? They are all Bulgarian troops, but without that law, internal transfers cannot be made!

As for logistical supplies, don't we have oil fields? Can't you just buy it at direct cost? The big deal is that I will do their work myself, I believe the capitalists will support our work!

Imya Dimitev searched his forehead and said, Impossible! You can't move any of the Air Force's crew members, and the 6th Army's staffing cannot be increased, and military spending can't be increased. If you can do Get ready!

You don't have to worry about the aircraft, we have some ready-made products, all of which are produced by our own military industrial enterprises, with guaranteed quality. If you want after-sales service, you can also find someone, and the rest is up to you!

Popov gritted his teeth and said, Well, anyway, our 6th Army is going to order this batch of planes, so it's alright to let the Air Force help us train them, right?

We don't ask to train fighter pilots, as long as we can fly a plane, I can't do it. With so many people in our 6th Army, we still can't make up more than 10,000 pilots!

Imya Dimitev asked worriedly: What about the logisticians? Do you want to train a crew for each company?

Popov smiled and said, Why do we need such a complicated plane? We only need the simplest plane, and send the repairmen in the army for training. Isn't repairing a car the same as repairing an airplane?

As for the other crew members, of course, ordinary soldiers have part-time jobs. What's wrong with learning a little more knowledge? Don't forget the knowledge level of our 6th officers and soldiers now, but it is very high!

Imya Dimitev has to admit that Popov's idea is still somewhat feasible. Now the knowledge level of the officers and soldiers in the Bulgarian active-duty troops is indeed not low, at least they graduated from primary school, and even retired. back home.

If they were asked to study, it would not be difficult to train a group of logisticians. The only troublesome issue was funding.

The problem of pilots is automatically ignored. With the huge base of the 6th Army, it is really not a problem to train 10,000 to 8,000.

Imya Dimitev said helplessly: Well, I agree!

Anyway, don't increase military spending, don't increase the establishment, let the 6th military toss it by itself, if it fails, it will waste a batch of aircraft, and if it succeeds, it will make a lot of money.

After receiving the support of the General Staff, Popov immediately took Imya Dimitev to find Ferdinand. There is no doubt that he will cut through the mess and settle the matter.

...

It will be Ferdinand's turn to have a headache. Is it really that easy to assign planes to companies? If so, it is estimated that many countries in future generations have done this, and hundreds of millions of fighter jets cannot be matched, and there is no shortage of millions of helicopters, right?

Ferdinand asked calmly, What about the airport?

Don't think that he proposed it first, they will definitely support it. In fact, Ferdinand only had this idea, but he was not sure whether the idea was correct, so he mentioned it inadvertently and let the Bulgarian military decide. !

Imya-Dimitev thought for a while and replied, Your Majesty, ordinary planes don't have high requirements on the airport. It's enough to add a few runways to the camp in the military area. The cost will not be too high!

Ferdinand nodded, of course the construction cost is not high, the problem of hundreds of tons of cement, but the land does not need money?

He asked again: Have you solved the problems of personnel, logistics, and military spending?

Popov replied prudently: Your Majesty, please rest assured, we can train the personnel ourselves, and we, the 6th Army, will find a way for the military expenses, but we hope that we can get the goods at the cost price for the logistics procurement!

Ferdinand thought for a while and said: The production of aircraft is the responsibility of state-owned enterprises, so it is not a problem to get the goods at cost price. I can also think of ways for you to purchase fuel, but for other costs, you have to figure out your own way!

In addition, the problem of the airport is still very troublesome. If you are in a colony, you can enclose the land yourself, but in the Balkans, we don't have that much land for you to use!

After a moment of silence, Popov replied: Yes! Please rest assured, Your Majesty, we do not need to be equipped with companies in the Balkans, as long as we are equipped with divisions!

Ferdinand shook his head and said: No, I mean that the planes are equipped to the company, it is only implemented in the colonies, where the land is vast and sparsely populated, you can play with it, but not in the Balkans, in case you come up with something When things come, it's troublesome!

Just a question, how do you plan to solve some of the increased military spending?

Just kidding, Ferdinand proposed that the main purpose of assigning planes to the company was to strengthen the supervision of the colony and limit the birth of the emperor.

But the Balkan Peninsula is different. The power of the 6th Army is already very strong. If it continues to strengthen, the air force + navy may not be balanced. Ferdinand does not like anything that breaks the balance of power!

Popov knew that the 6th Air Force's dream was broken, Ferdinand's meaning was very clear, the status of the Air Force would not be shaken, and the 6th Army was equipped with aircraft just to maintain the rule of the colony.

By the way, more pilots can be trained. If it weren't for the fact that the aircraft speed of this era could not be freely controlled, Ferdinand would have promoted agricultural aircraft long ago.

Fortunately, the idea of ​​​​building the 6th flight is not very strong. This time, it is only with a try attitude, and it is expected that it will fail.

Popov answered honestly: Your Majesty, our 6th Military Department plans to open up several farms overseas, and strive to solve the food problem of the local garrison within three years, which can save a lot of military expenses!

Ferdinand nodded. As early as during the World War, the Bulgarian army was preparing to enclose the land, but the places they were optimistic about in advance were later sealed by Ferdinand as a fief.

Now they are forced to plan farms again. Since the restructuring of state-owned enterprises, the military and the government can no longer participate in commercial operations. Except for agriculture, they can only wait for financial allocations.

Fortunately, Bulgaria now has a lot of land, and they can go overseas to enclose land. The government can only focus on the Asia Minor peninsula at most. For example, even if the army encircles all the land in Africa, no one will intervene.

In this regard, Ferdinand is also happy to see it happen. It is not easy to open those areas in this era. The military is willing to open up wasteland, and it must be strongly supported!

Ferdinand smiled and said, Well, then I wish you good luck! I will personally sponsor you another 100,000 tons of fertilizers, and I hope you can produce results soon!

Ferdinand didn't care about how the army opened up the wasteland. Anyway, he didn't think the army would go to the fields honestly. Maybe there will be plantations in the Bulgarian colonies soon.

Anyway, the army will not be short of labor. The two predecessors of Britain and France have already set an example. They have no reason to learn!

...

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