Rise of Australia

Chapter 352 Participating in the War, Expeditionary Army
Arthur responded positively to the inquiry from the British Empire.Australasia is very interested in sending troops to Argentina, not only to maintain the status of the Allied Powers, but also for Australasia's own interests.

So did several other countries, including the Entente.It would be fine if the British Empire itself was threatened. Like this, it was to protect the external interests of the British Empire, prompting the other powers of the Allied Powers to follow suit, and other countries were unwilling if they did not have enough interests.

However, for France and Russia, even if they jointly manage the whole of Argentina, their interests and interests are not too great.

Both France and Russia have a large amount of land and colonies. Moreover, Argentina is too far away from these two countries, and there are obstacles from the United States. Condominium Argentina is not worth the loss.

If France and Russia want to send troops together, the British Empire may have to give up some interests in other places to satisfy these two countries.

On July 1913, 7, a massive war broke out on the southern border between Argentina and Chile.

In this war, Argentina and Chile dispatched more than [-] troops, and almost assembled all the troops of their respective countries.

In addition to the reserve troops who are still training, it is no exaggeration to say that most of the combatable soldiers in Chile and Argentina have all been concentrated in this area.

The current state of the war is that Argentina is on the offensive and Chile is on the defensive.

Both sides are very anxious about the current war, Chile is eager to get support from the British Empire, and Argentina is eager to end the war and let it be concluded before the big powers react.

The senior officials of the Argentine government know that if the war they wantonly provoked really alarms the big powers, then they will not accept the end.

Only before the great powers acted, the Chilean army was quickly eliminated, and Chile's defeat became a certainty. Even if it was condemned by the great powers after the war, it would not be afraid.

But if Chile cannot be defeated before the big powers act, even if they rely on the United States, the wrath of the big powers is not something Argentina can bear.

The good news is that, except for the United States, the eight major powers in the world are all separated from Chile by thousands of miles, and there is also an ocean barrier.

The only United States that is relatively close is actually on the side of Argentina.

This also means that Argentina is fully hopeful that with the support of the United States, it can quickly end this war by taking advantage of its distance.

The diplomatic relationship between the British Empire and Chile is well known, but their diplomatic relationship depends on Chile's rich domestic saltpeter minerals.

As long as Argentina protects the British Empire's saltpeter mines from damage, the British Empire should not be too angry with Argentina, right?Shouldn't it?

It is precisely because of this idea that the Argentine military had to speed up the pace of the offensive, striving to end the war as soon as possible, so as not to make the war a little more unexpected.

According to conservative calculations, the reaction time of the great powers plus the time for dispatching troops, Argentina has at least two or three months to end the war.

It's a pity that the development of the situation was somewhat beyond the expectations of the Argentine government and military. The war between the two major powers in South America has instead entered a rather weird stalemate.

But this is actually quite normal. After all, to put it bluntly, the overall strength of Chile and Argentina are relatively close, and the population and economic scale are also similar.

The two sides also have the support of the great powers. Under such circumstances, it is not surprising that the war has reached a stalemate.

In particular, the first batch of weapons supported by the British Empire to Chile has been shipped from Australasia to Chile, which also allows the Chilean army to have sufficient weapons, equipment and ammunition supplies to persist in this war of attrition.

On the other side, Argentina also has support from the United States, as well as a huge amount of weapons, equipment and ammunition.

This also brought the war between the two sides into a rather weird state. The soldiers on both sides didn't care about the consumption of ammunition at all, but the results achieved had little effect.

If there is a reconnaissance plane carefully observing above the battlefield at this time, you can find a rather strange phenomenon, that is, the shooting of the soldiers on both sides is basically a random sweep. The goal is not to kill the enemy on the opposite side, but to consume all the ammunition in the weapons in their hands empty.

Except for the battlefield supervised by senior officers, all other sub-battlefields have fallen into this strange state.

The logistics officials of Argentina and Chile were surprised to find that since the start of this large-scale offensive and defensive battle, their consumption of weapons, medicines and supplies has increased a lot, but the results achieved have had little effect.

Even the casualties on one's own side were less than before. Except for the tragic casualties during the offensive and defensive battles, the casualties in other periods were not high.

This also led to a rather strange phenomenon, that is, in the first half of July, tens of thousands of people were killed or injured in Argentina and Chile.

In the second half of July, counting the two offensive and defensive battles that have already been carried out, the number of dead and wounded soldiers in Argentina and Chile was barely more than 1.

You know, in the second half of the month, the two sides have invested more than [-] troops in a large-scale offensive and defensive battle on the southern border.

It stands to reason that not only the consumption of materials, but also the number of casualties will increase a lot.

But at present, apart from the crazy consumption of ammunition, medical supplies and food, the casualties of one's own side and the enemy have not increased much.

But this is a good thing for Chile. After all, Chile's goal is only defense, and there is no counterattack idea.

For the Chilean side, their most important task is to defend the country before the British support arrives, and by the way, protect the British minerals in Chile.

But for Argentina, a standstill in the war is the last thing they want.

Once the war enters the stage of consumption, it will not only consume a lot of resources in Argentina, but most importantly, it will waste Argentina's time.

If the battle cannot be resolved quickly, the British may end up. Will the Americans send troops to help Argentina?

If the opposite is Italy, perhaps the Americans will.Opposite is the British Empire, the world's largest power, and even the German Empire will not easily offend, not to mention the United States, which is regarded as an upstart by Europeans and generally looked down upon.

To be honest, the war at this time has already overwhelmed the two major South American countries.If not for both parties having a firm belief in winning, I am afraid that at this time they have reached the stage of seeking peace.

In order to win this war, the Argentines spared no expense. The United States purchased a large number of heavy machine guns and artillery in order to break through Chile's defense line as soon as possible.

On July 1913, 7, near the end of July, the third offensive and defensive battle between Argentina and Chile officially started.

This time Argentina can be said to have played all its cards, adding [-] reserve troops to the front line, and supporting a large number of machine guns, artillery, weapons and ammunition, as well as medical supplies.

Currently on the front line, Argentina's equipment has surpassed that of Chile, which is enough to show how much Argentina has spent for this war.

These weapons and strategic materials alone have caused the Argentine government to owe huge debts.

If the war indemnity cannot be used to pay off this debt, I am afraid that the development of Argentina will be greatly restricted in the next ten years or so.

After all, this debt is owed to the Americans, and it is basically impossible in America to rely on the debts of the Americans.

The third offensive and defensive battle lasted for more than half a day, and finally ended in a big defeat due to the negligence of the Chilean commander.

This offensive and defensive battle also changed the offensive and defensive balance between Chile and Argentina, allowing the war to evolve from a balanced state at the beginning to one where Argentina has a certain advantage.

The clue can be seen from the number of casualties on both sides.Argentina invested more than 5 soldiers in this offensive and defensive battle, with 3024 dead and 12058 injured.

On the Chilean side, there were also more than 4 combat soldiers, with 5021 deaths and 14231 injuries.

Except that Chile had more casualties than Argentina, but because of the negligence of the Chilean commander, the Chilean army lost a position that was difficult to attack and easy to defend, and the garrison was forced to retreat more than ten kilometers.

This represents that the Argentine army has officially expanded forward by more than ten kilometers, and the area of ​​​​the exchange of fire between the two sides has come to Chile.

This is already extremely urgent for Chile, and it also forced Chile to ask the British Empire for help again.

On August 1913, 8, after the four major powers of the Allied Powers communicated with each other, they successively announced to intervene in the Chilean and Argentine wars, and would form an expeditionary force to help Chile defend the country.

The four major powers jointly intervened in the war between the two small countries, which instantly made the South American war a hot topic in the world. People are wondering how magical this place in South America is, which can attract the four major powers. send troops.

In fact, if the United States hadn't been so good behind the scenes, the people at this time would know that the war in South America involved not only the four major powers, but the United States in the Americas, a total of five major powers.

If it weren't for Germany's obsession with the development of naval armaments and its lack of interest in participating in this dispute, I am afraid that South America would attract not only the Allied Powers, but also the Allies.

It has been half a month since the last time the British Empire sent an inquiry telegram to Arthur.

During this half-month period, the four major powers of the Allied Powers conducted preliminary negotiations on the number of troops they would send.

According to the agreement of the Allied Powers, the proportions of the four major powers sending troops were: Britain 2, France 2.5, Russia 3, and Australasia 1.6.

The total number of troops sent by the four major powers has exceeded 9. With the powerful navy for escort and the remaining tens of thousands of Chilean troops, there is absolutely no problem in quelling a small South American war.

In addition to ending the South American War and protecting British interests in South America, this war was also an important way for the four major powers of the Allied Powers to demonstrate their military strength.

Therefore, according to the respective agreements of the four major powers, this time the expeditionary force will send elite troops from their own country, and the combat capability of the expeditionary force must be guaranteed.

Arthur is not clear about other countries, but the army that Australasia is expected to send is the Fourth Standing Division that has undergone long-term training.

The Standing Division is the combat unit with the most luxurious weapons and equipment and the best training in Australasia except the Guards Division.

Although the Fourth Division was established the latest, it has been training for several years.

Taking this opportunity, the soldiers for the fourth time can see the world, and it is necessary to see blood.

After all, an elite army must go through many wars, large and small, to take shape.

An army that relies on training cannot grow into an elite army.Only a soldier who has seen blood, a soldier who has been on the battlefield, is an excellent and elite soldier.

The reason why the current number of expeditionary forces in Australasia is 1.6 is because the number of divisions in Australasia is exactly 1.6.

Although the four major powers combined can easily gather millions of troops, but to deal with a small country like Argentina, let alone millions of troops, [-] troops are too large.

Even if they were all troops of the strength of the Australasian Standing Army, Arthur was confident that only 3 people would be needed to wipe out the entire Argentina.

Although the troops dispatched by the four major powers are collectively called the Allied Expeditionary Force, the timing of their respective dispatches is different.

In order to reach the battlefield as soon as possible, according to the internal agreement of the Allies, Australasia, which is the closest to here, will be the first to send soldiers.

The task of the Australasian army is to go to Chile and help the Chilean army defend the country.

Persist smoothly until all the Allied Expeditionary Forces arrive, and then gather all the manpower to organize a counterattack.

By the way, you can also practice the cooperation of all the troops of the Allied Powers, so that when the European War starts in the future, the four major powers of the Allied Powers will cooperate to fight together.

On August 1913, 8, the 5th Regular Division of the Australasian Expeditionary Force embarked on a journey to Chile on a transport ship.

In order to protect the transport fleet carrying the [-]th Regular Division, the Australasian Navy dispatched an escort fleet headed by a dreadnought and a battlecruiser.

Although the size of the escort fleet is not large, there is absolutely no opponent in the entire South American region.

Even if you look at the entire United States, the United States, one of the eight major powers, is probably the only one that can pose a threat to this escort fleet.

But does the United States dare to attack the Australasian transport fleet openly?Perhaps the naval strength of the Americans is stronger than that of Australasia, and the actions of Australasia are supported by the Allies, and the Americans also have to weigh the consequences of offending the Allies.

To put it bluntly, as long as the Americans jump off the field and fight against Australasia, the four major powers of the Allied Powers will send more expeditionary forces to land directly on the American soil.

Unless the Allies also help the United States, in this era, the dignity of the four major powers of the Allied Powers cannot be trampled on.

You know, looking at the status of the world's great powers, there are only eight.The Allied Powers directly concentrated half of the eight major powers, which is enough to show the strength of the Allied Powers.

From this point, we can actually see the impact of the current confrontation between the two major military blocs in Europe on the world.

You must know that the two major military groups in Europe, the Allies and the Entente, include seven of the eight major powers in the world.

Except for the United States, which is far away in the Americas, which is not affected, all the powers in the world have participated in the dispute between the two major military blocs.

This also represents a terrible fact that if a war breaks out between the two major military blocs, it will be a world war involving at least seven great powers and covering the whole world.

It is precisely because of this that the two parties in the dispute have many fears and dare not wantonly trigger this world war.

If there is not enough preparation, the current two major military blocs in Europe will not break out too fierce disputes.

After all, due to the confrontation between the two major military blocs, the popular hatred among the European powers is already very high.

If disputes are provoked wantonly, the people will be easily influenced and encourage the government to launch wars against other countries.

At that time, even if the European countries have no plans to go to war for the time being, they will have to start this war because of the boiling public opinion.

Europe developed rapidly because of the industrial revolution, but various revolutions can be seen everywhere.

This has led to the country's opinions being easily swayed by the people. After all, no one wants to be a country like France, where the cabinet or even the government is overthrown at every turn.

The state can influence the opinions of the people, and the people can also influence the judgment of the state.For decision makers in European countries, consideration of public opinion is also a necessary link and factor.

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(End of this chapter)