The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 1205: Chapter 900: The Fall of Paris_2 Chapter 1205: Chapter 900: The Fall of Paris_2 In confronting the Germans, the United Kingdom and Australasia had become serious.

In a new Allied Nations conference, Britain, France, and Australia discussed a new battle plan, which was to restrain the German army through Orleans, while Britain and France took the opportunity to deploy a new defensive line along Tours and sought to block the German army north of the Loire River.

Such a decision was quite risky because the Loire River runs through more than half of France, dividing the country into northern and southern parts.

Establishing a defensive position relying on the Loire River meant completely abandoning the vast territories north of the river.

These territories included Brittany, Normandy, Paris, and Calais; abandoning these territories obviously required great resolve.

However, on the other hand, if a more robust defensive line could be established along the Loire River, France would at least not face the crisis of annihilation.

After all, less territory meant easier defense, allowing for more military to be deployed along each segment of the defense line, which was the only good news.

Currently, the French native army had about 2 million, with 300,000 deployed in Orleans, about 700,000 heading towards Tours, 300,000 stationed along the Maginot Line, 500,000 stationed along the line from Turin to Nice, and 200,000 scattered between Troyes and South Zinc.

The Australasian army was left with only about 300,000, all located near Orleans.

The British army had about 700,000, with 200,000 remaining in Orleans, 200,000 moving towards the line from Rennes to Nantes, and the remaining approximately 300,000 deployed along the line at Tours.

Meanwhile, the German army had about 3 million, aside from the several hundred thousand that had already entered Paris, there were several hundred thousand more spread throughout France, besieging its urban cities.

Although it seemed that the German army was larger, Germany had already mobilized most of its domestic soldiers, with the cumulative number of enlistees reaching a terrifying 5 million.

However, Britain and France still had a large number of colonial troops being mobilized, and given more time, they could gather an army of tens of millions.

Even Australasia’s mobilization situation was not as exaggerated as imagined.

Even the two servant countries, Kalimantan and the Philippines, had only mobilized a few million troops each; there was still some potential to exploit.

As the war gradually escalated, the production and procurement of weapons became very important for all nations.

France, having lost a large portion of its territory, saw its military industry greatly affected. Fortunately, France had two very reliable allies, the United Kingdom and Australasia, and most of the new recruits’ equipment also came from these two countries.

How exaggerated was the profit in the military industry?

Throughout the duration of the war, Australasia had already made nearly 100 million Australian Dollars in profits from the military industry, which was despite the prior lack of significant imports of Australasian weapons by Britain and France.

As Britain and France began to purchase Australasian military equipment in large quantities, the income from the Australasian military industry was about to surge.

It is no exaggeration to say that the income from just selling armaments was enough to support Australasia and the Island Nation’s war effort.

In other words, the war with the Island Nation did not require any economic input from Australasia. With the income from the arms trade, they could already support the military expenditures.

Currently, in national-level trade, the best sellers were grain, weapons, and medical supplies.

Australasia had notable achievements in these areas and naturally became one of the most profitable countries in this war.

It was also fortunate that Australasia, being far from Europe’s main battlefield, did not need to worry about the impacts of war on its native land.

Even Britain’s native land had to occasionally face bombings by the German Air Force, making it impossible for industrial production to be unaffected.

But due to distance, even the closest enemy, the Island Nation, could not pose a threat to Australasia’s homeland.

This also led to the industry and economy of Australasia still maintaining a considerable pace of growth, with no sense of being in a period of war.

Of course, an important part of the reason depended on the fact that Australasia’s war mobilization was limited at this time.

Before the outbreak of the war, the total number of soldiers in Australasia was around 570,000. As of now, the military had expanded to just over 1 million, which was a healthy level for the total population of the country.

As of early 1936, the total population of Australasia was approximately 45.59 million, placing it in the middle among the powerful nations, and the disadvantage in terms of population was essentially leveled.

According to the scale of military mobilization by the European powers, the ratio of Australasian soldiers to the total population was already the lowest among all participating powers, and even lower than some non-belligerent countries.

Italy and France had populations at the same level as Australasia, but these two countries had mobilized totals of 2 million and above 3 million soldiers respectively in the war, which were two to three times that of Australasia.

In such a scenario, it was completely impossible for the industrial production of France and Italy not to be affected.

This is why the geographical location of Australasia is considered very advantageous. It was precisely the remote location that allowed Australasia to be unaffected by the war on its native land and to achieve positive growth in its economy and industry during this war period.

In order to better help the French defend against the German Army, Britain and Australasia had also agreed with the French government to support a new batch of troops within a month’s time.

Britain currently had around 700,000 troops in France, and within a month, Britain would increase its forces by at least 500,000, maintaining the size of the Expeditionary Force of Britain at around 1.2 million.

Australasia would increase its forces by 500,000 within a month, fulfilling a prior agreement with the French, keeping the scale of the Australasia Expeditionary Force at 800,000.

Consequently, the total size of the military of the Britain-France-Australia Three Nations would exceed 4 million. Defeating the German Army was not realistic, but it was possible to stall the German Army.

Apart from the anticipated 4 million troops on French territory, opening up a second front in the Balkans was also very important.

The Balkans, known as Europe’s powder keg, still had decent combat capabilities in its army.

Especially compared with the military powers like Italy, a significant part of the Balkan states’ armies already surpassed Italy, of course, concerning only the army.

If the Balkan Three Countries could participate in this war, the side of the Allied Forces, mainly Britain, France, and Australia, would not only have three strong allies but also several million more Balkan troops.

Although Romania and Bulgaria were also very likely to join the German side, the size of South Slavia alone was sufficient to oppose Romania and Bulgaria, not to mention with the help of Greece and Albania.

Moreover, there are not only these few countries on the Balkan Peninsula. The Republic of Turkey, which occupies Constantinople, and Hungary, which also became independent after World War I, could equally influence the situation in the Balkans.

Of course, the most intriguing is still this enormous country in the northeastern part of the Balkan Peninsula.

In multiple meetings among the Britain-France-Australasia Three Nations, the method of dealing with the Russia Nation was already mentioned.

Russia Nation was the only powerful nation not participating in the war, an exception that fundamentally was not allowed to exist.

After all, everyone was weakened by this war, while the Russia Nation was quietly developing, which clearly favored making an exception.

Facing this country that might become a serious threat, the British asserted that it was absolutely impossible to let Russia Nation remain uninvolved.

How to deal with the Russia Nation was actually quite simple and was included in the defense plan concerning France.

As long as the French defense lines were managed to be as solid as an iron barrel, resolutely keeping the Germans outside the line, the Germans would definitely look for new ways to resolve the war.

Germany in World War I was an enemy of the Russia Nation, if they couldn’t break through on the Western Front, it was very likely that Germany would turn its attention to the Russia Nation on the Eastern Front.