The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 1206: Chapter 901: Balkan War Flames Chapter 1206: Chapter 901: Balkan War Flames It’s worth mentioning that although Paris had fallen, the loss of Paris did not at all diminish the French people’s resolve to resist the Germans.

After relocating the government to Tours, the French Chief of General Staff, de Gaulle, issued a “Message to the People of France.”

In this important document, de Gaulle mentioned, “France is not fighting alone, we still have allies such as the British Empire, the Austrian Empire, and the Australasian Empire.

Although we have lost Paris, this does not mean that we have lost hope of defeating the Germans.

Whether you are an ordinary French citizen, an engineer or technician in an armaments factory, or a soldier wounded and retired from the battlefield, please heed my call and commit yourself to every place where the country needs you.

No matter what happens, the flame of French resistance will never be extinguished, and the French people will never surrender.

Soldiers, behind us is not only Tours but also the vast French public and our families.

For our families and compatriots, for the final glory of France, for the survival of our country, let us forget all previous failures and stand together in unison, and cry out to our enemies: France is invincible! The French will never surrender!”

One has to admit, although France’s performance in the war fell far short of Germany’s, France was not lacking in true patriots.

Following de Gaulle’s call, a large number of young French people quickly assembled and mobilized as many as 500,000 soldiers in a short period of time.

Did these French youths recognize the current military government? Perhaps not. After all, it was a government established by a military coup and had controlled France for only a short time; it was difficult to win the recognition of all French people.

But the phrase “We will not be slaves in defeat” was enough to make more French people stand up and eagerly join the military, join the ranks of those resisting the Germans.

This is also precisely the intangible and invisible sentiment of patriotism. When a nation faces crisis, if countless heroes stand up, then that nation will never perish.

While France was mobilizing extensively, Germany, on the other hand, was declaring war on multiple countries one after another.

As mentioned before, Germany was in dire need of the iron and other mining resources of the Nordic Trio.

After capturing Paris, Germany could not wait to declare war on the Nordic Trio and carried out a grand landing on Norway and Sweden.

Latvia and Estonia were also declared war upon, creating the astonishing scene of Germany waging war against most of Europe, a venture even more reckless than in World War I.

In addition to attacking these small Nordic countries, Germany also began to heavily bomb Britain, dropping a large number of leaflets urging surrender.

At the beginning of the war, invading Britain was not a part of the German Empire’s plans.

The German Chancellor even naively believed that if Germany could swiftly defeat France, Britain would also agree to peace talks.

But unexpectedly, not only did the British refuse to engage in peace talks, but with the help of the British, even France abandoned the option of negotiating with Germany.

Although the German government repeatedly contacted Britain, attempting to resolve the war with Britain in a more peaceful way, the German government time and again received only one word in response, a resounding “no!”

Winston Schmidt, the new Prime Minister of Britain, even publicly declared in his speech to the British people, “I will be here in London, commanding the entire war from here. If the Germans want to attack us, let them come.

I will be sitting right here, in this very chair. Either the Germans will surrender, or they will carry my body out of here!”

The firm stance of Britain took Germany by surprise, and some of the German public even mocked the British as fools.

After all, at this point in the war, Germany had captured an absolute advantage, having occupied a large amount of French territory.

Wherever the German Army went, any country was at most in a defensive position, and even defense was difficult to achieve.

In such circumstances, Britain still wanted to hold on to the war; was this not just waiting for defeat and then the partition of their colonies?

Although some Germans did not understand, the stance advocated by Britain was indeed very firm at this time.

In response to the attitude of the British, the German Chancellor also gave his own speech in the new session of Congress. This speech marked a change from his previous hysterical style, instead becoming moderate and elegant.

“Unfortunately, I have heard but one call from Britain, that war must go on. Is this the voice of the British people? Perhaps not.

This is not the voice of the British people, but the voice of British politicians. In all conscience, I feel it is my responsibility to appeal once more to Britain and other countries to exercise your reason and common sense.

I believe I am qualified to make such an appeal because I am not a defeated supplicant begging for mercy but a victor speaking in the name of reason.

Tough to say, but you have no firm footing to continue this war. Apart from increasing casualties, it is an utterly unnecessary act; yet you persist in it.”

The very night that the German Chancellor gave his speech, hundreds of German airplanes dropped numerous leaflets over Britain’s major urban cities, featuring the full text of his speech.

Printed in bold on the leaflets was the sentence, “Surrender, this is a war between politicians; it should not trouble ordinary people.”

What the Germans did not expect was that even before they had widely distributed the speech leaflets, the German Chancellor’s speech had already been broadcast throughout Britain.

Regarding Germany’s intimidation-like speeches, the British government not only showed no fear, but also capitalized on the situation, alerting the entire British public to be on guard against Germany and to prepare for the continuation of the war.

On October 17, 1936, during a new round of negotiations between the governments of Britain and Germany, Lord Halifax of Britain officially mentioned in a broadcast, “Unless the Germans are willing to maintain pre-war borders, Britain could never agree to peace.”

The bombing of Britain by Germany did not cause the British to shrink back; instead, it ignited their desire to fight.

On October 19, 1936, Britain, France, and Australia gathered more than 2,000 airplanes in Britain, with an obvious purpose.

From morning till night of that day, over 2,000 airplanes launched a massive bombing campaign against the German-occupied areas in the Netherlands, Belgium, and France, and carpet bombed some important areas.

And it didn’t end there. Frankfurt, Dortmund, Bremen, and Hanover within Germany were also subjected to massive bombings, with at least tens of thousands of bombs dropped.

Such large-scale bombing was not only retaliation for Germany’s bombing of London but also a response to Germany’s threatening speeches.

As Germany anxiously attacked the Nordic Trio, the Balkan Region was finally beginning to unite slowly.

On October 21, a large-scale conflict erupted at the border between South Slavia and Italy, with military forces from both sides even resorting to gunfire, akin to warfare.

The conflict that day caused hundreds of South Slavic soldiers to be injured, with more than ten soldiers dying on the spot.

That wasn’t all; Bulgaria, which had joined forces with Germany, also demonstrated an extraordinary ambition.

It is known that, in the previous Balkan Wars, most of the land occupied by Bulgaria had been divided up, with even its own native territory being forcibly ceded to a part of Romania.

Naturally, Bulgaria now yearned to retake its land.

On October 23, the conflict between Bulgaria and Greece erupted at the border. The Bulgarian army in Haskovo attacked the Greek Army in Alexandroupolis and occupied the Greek border outposts.

Such attacks were of course intolerable to the Greek Army.

Although no formal declaration of war was made, the Greek Army, on the second day—the 24th of October—organized an attack on the Bulgarian army in Haskovo, resulting in dozens of Bulgarian soldiers dying on site.

The so-called powder keg was naturally explosive at the slightest provocation.

Following two consecutive conflicts, neither the German-aligned camp with Italy and Bulgaria nor the British-aligned South Slavia and Greece were satisfied.

Italy, after making preparations, directly launched a larger-scale attack, its magnitude not less than a full-scale battle.

The unprepared South Slavic army was directly struck by the Italian Army, suffering casualties already in the thousands.

South Slavia could no longer endure this.

On October 27, 1936, South Slavia directly occupied Zara in Dalmatia, controlled by Italy, and hung the South Slavic national flag at the city council of Zara.

This amounted to an undeclared war, which was naturally unacceptable to Mussolini.

On October 28, Italy declared war on South Slavia.

On the afternoon of October 28, Germany declared war on South Slavia.

On October 29, South Slavia declared war on Germany, and Greece and Albania declared war on Italy and Germany.

On October 30, Bulgaria declared war against South Slavia, Albania, and Greece, as the Balkan war formally began.

Although the Balkan Peninsula war had already started, the current situation was obviously still favorable for the British side.

Before Romania entered the war, the three Balkan states only needed to face Italy and Bulgaria.

Because of France’s 500,000 soldiers, Italy had less than a million troops to mobilize.

Among the three Balkan countries, South Slavia had the largest population and could mobilize about a million soldiers as well.

Greece, despite having a smaller population, managed to muster up 500,000 soldiers without much trouble. As for Albania with the smallest population, it would be quite good to have a military force of about 150,000.

Combined, these forces amounted to over 1.7 million, enough to confront Italy and Bulgaria without being at a disadvantage.

Due to the division of occupied territory among other Balkan states, Bulgaria’s population was also not large in the Balkan region.

Currently, Bulgaria could mobilize an army roughly on par with Greece, about 500,000.

Although it could barely bring together a million, for Bulgaria, with not a large population, this could likely cause damage to the nation’s core.