Bruno would gather daily with the fellow leaders of the Army Groups sent to the Balkan Campaign. At the same time, Montenegro, as expected, fell by the wayside. With Serbia out of the war, and being surrounded by a technologically superior army numbered over tenfold their own forces, the small Kingdom admitted defeat before the final battle had been waged.
In the span of a single season, the two greatest concerns of the Balkans had been taken out with swift and decisive action. Now all that remained was the Ottoman Empire, and it had been a thorn in Europe’s side for far, far too long. And Bruno would bring a brutal end to its regime, and in doing so, would allow Greece to reclaim its historical and disputed territories.
Bruno planned to be so thorough in his victory that not a single Turk would remain in the lands of Thrace, Ionia, Cyprus, the Dodecanese Islands, and Crete. So long as a single Turk occupied these lands, they would forever be disputed.
While simply killing the people in these regions was the most logical and practical solution available to Bruno and the Central Powers, Bruno did not believe that harming innocent and unarmed people was a proper thing to do.
Instead, he would follow the allied powers examples on how they destroyed German claims over its historical and ancestral lands following their defeat in the Second World War of his past life. Forceful relocation eastward into Anatolia.
The resources needed to acquire such a thing would be vast, and Bruno could not accomplish this goal during the war, but following a Central Powers victory which was Bruno’s ultimate goal in this life, he figured this reclamation of greater Greece could truly be established.
Thus, at the moment Bruno was speaking of his plans to his allies as he like they smoked a cigarette to calm his nerves.
“Transport ships will have to be allocated from the Austro-Hungarian Empire to accomplish our aims. There is simply no feasible reality where the High Seas Fleet can accommodate an escort at this moment, which will guarantee their safe travel from the North Sea and into the eastern Mediterranean.
As for the Black Seas fleet, until the Bosphorus and Dardanelles can be secured for our own forces, it is starting to look like the Russians will be unable to provide aid. It is because of this, I believe we should currently use our combined assets to assault this fortress here, unblocking access to our fleets to the Dardanelles strait.”
Bruno pointed to an area of the map any student of history would immediately recognize. The Gallipoli peninsula. It was definitely an eye opening gesture as the Austro-Hungarian, Russian, and Greek generals tensed up while straightening their backs after hearing Bruno’s suggestions on how to begin their invasion of the Ottoman Empire.
The Russian General among their ranks was quick to comment on the overwhelming cost of life that would be spent seizing such a fortified objective should they march upon Gallipoli.
“You do realize if we try to launch an amphibious landing, thousands of our men will die to take the peninsula, right?”
Bruno scoffed as he reached into his greatcoat’s inner pocket with his spare hand and pulled out his flask, quickly popping off the lid with the same hand before taking a swig, after doing so he stashed the flask away while taking a drag from his cigarette.
The harrowing look on his face as he spoke made it abundantly clear that he was all too aware of what price was about to be made to seize the Dardanelles straight, and that he lamented the thought of the overwhelming loss of life that would occur.
“Tens of thousands, at the very least… Nevertheless, wars are not won without casualties. That is the price of victory. And to win this war, we need to liberate the Black Sea Fleet from their isolation beyond the Bosphorus.
It will require time to muster the transports needed prepare for the ultimate goal being the siege of Constantinople. Which would be far less costly with the aid of the Russian Navy on our side. Unfortunately, in order to get to the Bosphorus strait, we must first seize Gallipoli. I’m going to make something abundantly clear to you all right now. Neither I nor the men beneath my command are properly trained in the art of naval landings. Nor do we have the appropriate equipment to do so.
We are soldiers, not marines. Nevertheless, we will be right there with you all in the thick of it when the time to begin the Gallipoli Campaign begins. In fact, I dare say we will probably sustain the highest rate of casualties, as my soldiers will be leading the vanguard as usual. Now, with all of this being said, you do not need to fret too much to the point of suffering an anxiety attack. It will take time to prepare the resources necessary to invade our next objective. And the Ottomans at the moment are more or less isolated within their own territory, focusing on defending eastern Anatolia from the advance of our forces in the region.
By midsummer of this year at the latest, we will begin our invasion of Gallipoli. As I am sure we can all agree that rushing ourselves into a new campaign after having just emerged victorious here in Serbia and Montenegro could prove to be far more costly than any of us desire.
We are in an extremely advantageous position at the moment where none of our nations have lost any significant ground in this conflict, while our enemies are pressed on all sides. We can take half a year to make the preparations necessary to ensure the least amount of casualties possible when we decide to pursue a finishing blow to the Turks and their damned caliphate once and for all.”
There was damn near a collective sigh of relief among those present when they realized Bruno did not plan to hastily advance upon the Dardanelles.
As for the preparations that would need to be made for the war? Bruno had long since begun producing them. There was just one problem: he would need a find a way to transfer the landing craft in mind from the Baltic and North Seas to the Mediterranean.