Rise of Australia

Chapter 456 Darkness
Since Russia joined the counter-offensive, almost everyone has a consensus that the only ending for the Germans is failure.

In fact, all countries except Germany think so, and even many German civilians feel that their country is not far from failure.

But the only one who doesn't agree with this is the German government, or the Hindenburg and Junker nobles who control the German government.

Under Hindenburg's planning, a huge death-defying counterattack is about to start, and it will also determine whether Germany will win or lose, at least Hindenburg thinks so.

In order to win this war, the Germans did everything possible.Almost all civilian factories have made concessions for military factories, and the government calls on all the people to go to military factories to produce needed materials for the front-line troops.

As a result, the production speed of German military factories has increased several times, from the production of tens of millions of bullets per month to nearly [-] million bullets per month.

Although this does basically meet the consumption of the front-line troops, there is also a problem for Germany, that is, the domestic economy has been destroyed by the war, and Germany's development has been messed up because of this war.

Even if there is unconditional peace here, it will take at least ten years for Germany to restore the pre-war situation and economy.

This situation also made the German military government even more crazy. They firmly believed that Germany could not fail, and instead pinned their hopes on a decisive battle to save Germany with a miraculous victory.

The biggest bad news for Germany is that the Allied Powers maintain an absolute numerical advantage over Germany on both the Eastern and Western fronts.

The German army has fully experienced the power of the crowd tactics. Even if Germany's battle loss ratio is as high as 1 to 3, or even as high as 1 to 6 in some areas, the Allied Powers are still laughing.

After all, what Germany is currently consuming is the colonial population of Britain and France, as well as Russia, which has no shortage of population at all.

But the Germans consume their own native population, and the death of every German is a weakening of Germany.

In the first month of the general counteroffensive, that is, in August 1917, the war between the Allied Powers and Germany set a new record, that is, the number of casualties in a single month exceeded 8 million, and the average daily number was injured or died due to this war. There are more than 200 people (the war started on August 8, but it was actually only 8 days).

Although only more than 200 of the 50 million people were German casualties, there is no doubt that the German government has begun to fear such a huge consumption.

In just one month, Germany lost one-tenth of its troops. How long can the remaining more than 400 million troops last?
There is also bad news for the German government. The troops supporting the Austro-Hungarian Empire and exchanging with the Austro-Hungarian Empire add up to more than 50 divisions, which is more than [-] combat troops.

Before the surrender of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, there was no connection with Germany, which also made the situation of this German army very dangerous after the surrender of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Fortunately, the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not directly join the Allies, otherwise it would be a question of whether the more than 50 troops could be kept.

You must know that the former German army was within the range controlled by Italy, and further north was the Austrian territory controlled by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Getting this German army back to Germany through Italy and the territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was not an easy problem.

The Allied Powers obviously also knew the existence of this German army. The Italian army frequently harassed this German army, and there were also a small number of Balkan troops and the assistance of the American army. This German army was dragged in Italy, and there was no way to return to the country. .

If the German government cannot provide any reinforcements to support this army, then this German army is very likely to be encircled and annihilated.

But there is no way. At present, almost all German troops are deployed on the east and west fronts. The reserve troops in the hands of Hindenburg and the German General Staff are less than 30.

It is a bit whimsical to think about 30 troops to rescue 50 troops.

If the 30 troops could save the status quo of this German army, this German army would have returned to the German mainland long ago.

Not only the predicament on land, the German navy was huddled in the port and did not dare to go out, because outside the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, a large number of Allied fleets were jointly patrolling.

The submarine tactics often used by Germany were basically no longer used. Because of the joining of the United States, the Allied Powers had enough warships to protect merchant ships.

Although occasionally one or two merchant ships are attacked by German submarines, such attacks are already scratching the itch for the current Allied Powers, but it will intensify the Allied Powers' hatred of Germany, which in disguise will increase the funds that Germany needs to pay indemnities after the defeat in the future.

In addition, every once in a while, there are many Allied bombers bombing German cities, or dropping some leaflets to persuade them to surrender.

German troops on the front lines, cities and factories in the rear, were among the targets of these bombers and aircraft.

The random bombing not only disturbed the order of these cities, but the large number of leaflets distributed on the plane also disturbed the thinking of these Germans.

Even the Germans who supported the war before the war could not help but question from their hearts at this time, and even began to question the decision-making of the government and the military in this war.

Because the chief of staff at this time was Hindenburg, Hindenburg was under considerable pressure.

Fortunately, there were two other chiefs of staff, Mao Qi and Falkenhayn, who also took a considerable part of the pressure.

It's just because Hindenburg is still active in German politics, so he is under the most pressure.

Because of the harassment of these Allied aircraft, coupled with frequent defeats in front-line battles, the prestige of the military government headed by Hindenburg has dropped a lot.

Many high-level military officials who were not Junker nobles even started to attack, saying that it was the blind command of the General Staff that led to the current predicament Germany is facing.

These people demanded that Hindenburg return power to Kaiser Wilhelm II, and not let Germany go further and further down the wrong path.

In fact, compared with the more extreme Junker nobles and military government, the German government was a little more rational during the reign of William II.

More importantly, William II was not a staunch main fighter.The interest groups represented by William II are more like the balanced faction.Although they want the war to be won, they can also accept the loss of the war.

After all, for William II, his throne is the most important.Only those who directly emptied William II and the government like Hindenburg

It is the greatest threat to the imperial power and government of Germany.

Although the military and civilians have already had some voices, Hindenburg will never pay attention to the questions of these people.

What a joke, Hindenburg finally emptied the rights of William II and obtained the actual ruling power of the military government.

It is impossible for him to hand over his rights to William II because of the remarks of some people in the country.

After all, William II also complained about being ostracized, and as the culprit of all this, Hindenburg is definitely one of the people William II hated.

Dare to return the rights to William II, Hindenburg is waiting to be liquidated by William II!

Although it seems that the Germans are in crisis, the consumption of the Allies is also huge.

Only half a month after starting the war, the Russians once again asked Australasia for help, asking to buy more weapons and equipment.

If it was in the past, Arthur would still find a way to delay the Russians and create greater benefits for himself.

But now, without thinking about it, Arthur directly agreed to the Russian's request.There is no way, even if Australasia does not sell weapons to Russia, there is still the United States salivating behind it and staring at the arms trade of various countries.

If Australasia rejects this order, the Americans will definitely step in and take over the order.

Instead of letting the Americans make money, it is better for Australasia to work hard and make the money themselves.

What's more, a stronger Russia is also a good thing for Arthur, at least the Russian monarchy should be able to last for a while.

Arthur was well aware that the greatest threat to the Russian monarchy was the control of the Workers' Union in Moscow.

What the Russian Provisional Government actually wanted was a constitutional monarchy, which Arthur could accept.

After all, a constitutional monarchy is also a monarchy, and a prestigious monarch can still hold a certain amount of power, just like Queen Victoria before.

Even a constitutional monarchy can hopefully be transformed into an absolute monarchy, and a prestigious and popular monarch can do it.

But if it turns into a republic that the Workers' Union hopes to restore the monarchy, it is basically impossible.

After all, not everyone is willing to have a king above them for no reason. This king will also take away part of the government's money, and even command himself with arrogance.

On September 1917, 9, the counterattack carefully planned by Hindenburg finally came.

Millions of German troops on the southern front broke through the defenses of the Allies, mainly the defenses of the Italian army, and even approached the Marne River for a time.

You know, Paris is just on the lower reaches of the Marne River, only more than 100 kilometers away from the German front line.

Germany's counterattack made the Allied Powers a little panicked. If Paris fell, it would not be a joke. The blow to the Allied Powers would be unparalleled.

After all, a considerable part of the 1000 million Allied forces on the Western Front were contributed by the French.

If the German sneak attack is really successful and the French are forced to surrender, it is a question of whether the remaining Allied forces can withstand the German attack.

In order to support the French and at the same time satisfy the feelings of the French government and the people, the British urgently announced to support another 50 troops on the western front.

Under the pressure of the Allies, Italy increased its troops by 20 to block the German attack.

At this time, the nearly 200 million reserve troops previously reserved will be useful.

Following an order from the Allied Headquarters, the reserve troops stationed along the Marne River and behind Verdun began to mobilize frequently, with the intention of driving the Germans back to the original front line.

The final result was good. On the banks of the Marne River, 70 kilometers away from Paris, millions of Allied troops successfully blocked the German army's attack and repelled the German army for more than 20 kilometers.

The outbreak of another offensive and defensive battle in Paris was avoided, which also made the entire Allied Powers, especially France, breathe a sigh of relief.

At the same time, it also made all the Allies understand that it is unreliable for the Italian army to become the main attack point, and it may even affect other fronts.

The Allied Headquarters made a decisive decision and mobilized 30 Australasian troops from the northern front and 30 Italian troops from the southern front.

With the well-developed transportation network in Belgium and France, the defense of up to 60 troops can be completed in almost two weeks.

In order to stabilize the front line during the defense change period, the Allied Headquarters decided to increase the offensive on other fronts during the defense change period, and at the same time sent a large number of reconnaissance planes to determine the movements of the Germans.

Of course, during the defense change period, there are as many as 50 reserve troops ready to go to the front line at any time to fill any vacancies caused by the defense change.

At the same time, the Allied Headquarters also asked the Russians to increase their offensive on the Eastern Front, and the Germans did not have any intention of launching a surprise attack like before.

Under the counterattack of millions of reserve troops, it took more than half a month to successfully drive the raiding German army back to the front line.

The Australasian army and the Italian army also completed a defense change during the past half a month, and the Australasian army became the main attack point on the southern front.

This is a daunting task for the Australasian army. After all, on the northern front, they can follow the British and play soy sauce, just as an auxiliary role.

But the southern front is mixed with the French army, the Italian army, the Balkan coalition army and the American army, plus the Australasian army that has just changed defenses.

As the main point of attack on the southern front, the Australasian army faced the greatest counterattack from the German army.

This also means that the Australasian army cannot avoid casualties, and it is impossible for the casualties to be as few as before.

However, as long as the current Germany can be defeated, all sacrifices are worthwhile.

At present, almost all the participating countries are yearning for peace, and Arthur is also looking forward to the post-war distribution of benefits in Australasia.

Why not sacrifice a Germany to make all the countries of the Allies happy and strengthen Australasia?

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(End of this chapter)