Marshal August von Mackensen on the southern front stared at the defensive line, unable to find an answer. Bulgaria had ignited fighting at multiple points along the Bulgarian-Austro border, tying down most of the Austro-Hungarian forces.
In the end, the German-Austro-Hungarian force assigned to attack Romania had only sixty-two infantry divisions left, with a total strength of roughly 970,000 men. Of those, the Germans had forty-three divisions, totaling around 740,000 troops.
The Anglo-French Allied forces on the Western Front were now engaged in a new round of PK with the German army. These forty-three divisions were already the greatest force Germany could commit to the southern front.
Fortunately, the German-Austro-Hungarian forces had crippled the Russians earlier. Otherwise, if the Russians had thrown their weight in as well, the offensive and defensive positions would have been reversed!
Insufficient manpower was the greatest problem Marshal August von Mackensen faced. As the attacking side, the German-Austro-Hungarian forces numbered only 970,000, while the defending Bulgarian army stood at a full 1.38 million.
If that had been the only problem, it would have been manageable. A shortage of troops could be compensated for in other ways. After all, more than 400,000 of the Bulgarian troops opposite them were Indian soldiers with combat power equal to five, while nearly half of the remaining forces were newly raised units. In terms of actual combat strength, the German-Austro-Hungarian forces held the advantage instead!
This was also the confidence the German army had forged through its campaigns across Europe. Even as the attacking side, the casualty ratio still stood at 1:1.2, with the German-Austro-Hungarian forces retaining the upper hand!
As for firepower, after the Eastern Front campaign ended, the Russians had thrown the accumulated reserves of more than a decade to the Alliance. What Marshal August von Mackensen lacked