Rise of Australia

Chapter 897 The two pro-German countries and the New Balkan Alliance

After watching the specific test of the homing pigeon helicopter test machine, Arthur still has high expectations for the development of helicopters.

Even in a short period of time, the development of helicopters in Australasia can play a considerable role, and helicopters can also flood the rescue and strategic transportation fields in Australasia.

After praising Douglas' company for their research, Arthur returned to the palace.

Douglas has been very busy recently. It not only has to produce the Sop-34 transport aircraft, but also improves it. It also has to take time to develop helicopters. It can be said that it is doing three things at once.

Fortunately, the Sop-34 transport aircraft has now entered the assembly line production mode. Mass production can not only effectively reduce the cost of the Sop-34 transport aircraft, but also increase the construction speed of the aircraft.

Just over half a month has passed since the air raid on the Ryukyu Islands, and the number of Sop-34 transport aircraft in Australasia has increased by more than ten.

If this rate of development continues, by the time the island country is attacked, the number of Sop-34 transport aircraft owned by Australasia can easily exceed hundreds, and the number of paratroopers transported at one time can reach more than tens of thousands.

If Arthur hadn't wanted to end the war against the island country too early, in fact, judging from the current technological and industrial gap between the two sides, the island country would not have been able to hold on for too long in the hands of Australasia.

Even if Australasia is not doing its best, the current situation in the island nation is very bad. After losing the Ryukyu Islands, the Australasian Air Force would harass the mainland cities of the island country from time to time and conduct air raids on the more important areas of the island country.

Coupled with the blockade from the navy, the current domestic situation in the island country is very chaotic and the economic situation is also very bad.

According to the predictions of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff, even if Australasia does not launch a full-scale offensive, the poor domestic conditions of the island countries will force them to launch an attack on Australasia.

That's the kind of time Australasia has been waiting for. If the island nation wants to attack, the first step must be to launch an attack on the Australasian Navy.

As long as the island nation's navy is dispatched, it will definitely be a naval decisive battle. If it wins this naval decisive battle, the island country will actually have failed.

The next step is Australasia's various tortures on the island countries, and the way of war with the island countries to slowly amuse themselves.

Having said that, in the preparation stage before the war, Arthur felt that he was quite busy.

But after the war broke out, Arthur was not so busy.

After all, for the handling of war, Australasia has a complete Ministry of Defense, General Staff and military headquarters. Arthur only needs to coordinate the overall situation.

Arthur also knew the truth well. If you are not so proficient in military command, then the best way is not to interfere with the dispatch of various departments.

This also caused Arthur to be very idle at the moment. Apart from occasionally caring about the production status of armaments and the domestic economy, he had nothing to do.

It is worth mentioning that in order to train William, Arthur had sent him to the Persian Gulf to undergo military training in the Persian Gulf.

As an officer who graduated from the Royal Military Academy, William still had military command capabilities, but he had not experienced the baptism of war.

In order to train William, Arthur specially prepared a position of regimental commander for him and let him participate in the war in the East African battlefield.

Why feel free to let William participate in the war?
First of all, what the East African battlefield faced was Italy and its colonial armies. Whether it is Italy or the Italian colonial army, their combat effectiveness is only so-so compared to the German army.

By participating in the battle under such circumstances, William's own safety can still be guaranteed.

What's more, William holds the position of regimental leader and does not need to charge forward. He only needs to do his job as a commander and lead the army to complete military tasks.

Under the alliance of Britain, France and Australia, the East African battlefield was quickly opened. A large number of Allied troops arrived in the Italian colonies and launched a fierce attack on the Italian colonial troops.

The first to be attacked was naturally the Abyssinian Empire, which Italy had only captured a few years ago.

It can also be seen from the map that Italian East African colonies, including the Abyssinian Empire, are relatively far away from the Italian mainland.

If Italy wanted to go from its mainland to its East African colonies, it would either have to go through the Suez Canal, or it would have to go around the entire Africa.

The Suez Canal is currently firmly controlled by the British, which means that Italy has no choice but to go around Africa.

But it’s not easy to get around Africa either. Gibraltar was controlled by the British, which also meant that the Strait of Gibraltar was filled with a large number of British fleets.

Once the Italian fleet is discovered by the British fleet, the only outcome waiting for them is sinking.

Without the support of mainland Italy, the East African colonies could not last more than a few days under the joint attack of the British, French and Australian forces.

On August 1936, 8, the Italian East African colonies were divided among the three countries of Britain, France and Australia.

Among them, the French acquired Eritrea and Afar, plus the former French Somaliland, and established the French colony of Eritrea.

The British acquired the entire Abyssinian Empire and established the British Colony of Abyssinia.

Australasia obtained Jubaland and Somaliland in Italy, as well as British Somaliland controlled by the British, and established the Australian Somaliland Colony.

The news of the partition of the Italian East African colonies came back to Italy, which was like a bolt from the blue.

The East African colonies are one of Italy's most important colonies and one of the few Italian colonies in Africa and even the entire world.

After losing its East African colonies, Italy's only remaining large colony was the Libyan colony.

Libya is located on the Mediterranean coast, across the sea from mainland Italy.

Compared to the Italian East African colonies, Italy values ​​these colonies on the Mediterranean Sea more.

In order to defend the Libyan colony, Italy announced an increase of 30 troops to the Libyan colony and dispatched some aircraft and tanks to Libya.

Although it has strengthened its defense of its Libyan colonies, Italy has clearly underestimated the ambitions of Britain, France and Australia to occupy Libya.

In terms of offense, Britain and Australia are obviously the main forces. The British easily formed an army of nearly 70 with the help of Indian, South African and Egyptian armies.

Although these people are all indigenous and their combat effectiveness is difficult to guarantee, they are still 70 people, so they still have a certain degree of combat effectiveness.

As for Australasia, although only 30 troops were sent, 5 of them were the main force, which was equivalent to hundreds of thousands of colonial troops. Coupled with the more than 50 troops from France, the combined troops of Britain, France, and Australia have exceeded one million. Facing the Italian army, which has only defenders in total, the advantage is still huge.

There are only two directions for attacking Libya, namely the east and the west.

The Western Front offensive was dominated by British and French troops, advancing from the direction of Gabes towards Tripoli, one of the few cities in Libya.

The eastern front, dominated by British and Australian troops, advanced from the direction of Sidi Barani to Tobruk and Benghazi in the Libyan colonies.

Because the Libyan colony is located in the Mediterranean and surrounded by British and French colonies, Australasia has no interest in Libya.

Even though Arthur knew that Libya had oil reserves, he still chose to give up because of Libya's remote location.

Of course, giving up on Libya is not in vain. Australasia would not participate in the partition of Libya in exchange for the British possessions of Oman in the Middle East.

Although Oman is not as valuable as the colonies along the Persian Gulf, it can also effectively expand Australasia's colonies in the Persian Gulf, which is a good exchange of interests.

Without the participation of Australasia, the Libyan colony would naturally be divided between Britain and France.

Arthur was not interested in the results of the partition between Britain and France, but presumably the British would not let France gain too many colonies.

In order to relieve the pressure on the French, the British used the navy, a large number of air forces, and even a considerable number of tanks in this attack.

Millions of British, French and Australian troops quickly entered Italy's Libyan colony with lightning speed and launched a fierce offensive on the colonial cities.

At the cost of hundreds of thousands of casualties, it took Britain and France only more than half a month to successfully capture the Libyan colony and reduce Italy's sphere of influence to the Italian mainland.

During this period, although Italy tried to support the Libyan colonies, most of its resources were repulsed by the British fleet.

Italy had no choice but to sit back and watch its last large colony being carved up by Britain and France.

With the defeat of the African colonies, the German and Italian offensive in Europe became more urgent.

On August 1936, 8, Germany and Bulgaria signed an alliance, and Bulgaria officially entered the German battlefield.

Bulgaria's surrender to Germany made the situation in the Balkans even more anxious. You know, Bulgaria was also the losing side in the last world war.

Although the defeat of Turkey allowed Bulgaria to gain a lot of souls, it was defeated by the Balkan countries, and the territory gained from Turkey was also divided among various countries.

It is precisely because of this history that Bulgaria hates several of its neighbors, which is why they chose to join Germany.

After Bulgaria and Germany signed an alliance, Bulgaria's northern neighbor Romania also experienced changes.

Romanian Chief of Staff Ion Antonescu, with the support of Germany, vigorously promoted the pro-German theory and received the support of a considerable number of Romanians.

Germany also promised Bulgaria that as long as it forced Romania to join its own camp, Germany would take note of Romania and let Romania return the Bulgarian territory it had occupied since the Balkan War.

This statement was widely welcomed by the Bulgarians, and Bulgaria also joined the camp of coercing Romania.

Faced with the north-south attacks from Germany and Bulgaria, the Romanian government feels under pressure, and the Romanian people also feel the threat from Germany.

Under such circumstances, the pro-Germanist Ion Antonescu received support from a large number of Romanians and became a very important figure in Romania.

The successive changes in Bulgaria and Romania alarmed other Balkan countries. Once Germany reaches out to the Balkans, these Balkan countries will have no ability to resist.

In order to protect their territorial security, the Balkan countries, led by Yugoslavia, had to turn their attention to Britain and France.

Within Europe, the only one that can confront Germany is the four-nation alliance of Britain, France, Austria, and Australia.

More importantly, Yugoslavia and Italy already have territorial conflicts, and it is absolutely impossible for Yugoslavia to join the German camp.

This also means that Yugoslavia actually has only one choice, which is to join the British and French camps and help Britain and France defeat Germany.

On September 1936, 9, representatives of the Yugoslav state, the Greek government, the Albanian government, and the British and French governments met in Athens, Greece, to formally discuss issues related to the situation in the Balkans.

During this negotiation, representatives of Yugoslavia mentioned the developments in Bulgaria and Romania, and requested support from Britain and France in this regard.

The diplomatic representatives of Britain and France were naturally happy to see Yugoslavia, a large Balkan country, approaching them, so they expressed their willingness to support Yugoslavia and other countries.

Due to German pressure, negotiations among various countries were quickly completed and a new Balkan Alliance Treaty was concluded.

The Treaty of Alliance stipulates that Yugoslavia, Albania and the Kingdom of Greece, which signed the treaty, are allies and are subject to the independent protection of Britain and France.

If any one of the three countries is attacked by another country, it is regarded as an attack on the entire alliance. At the same time, Britain and France will provide strong support to the three countries and, if necessary, can open up a new Balkan battlefield, just like the previous World War I.

As representatives of Britain and France signed the Balkan Alliance Treaty. The three Balkan countries finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Although this treaty cannot completely guarantee their safety, it can at least ensure that they have a certain backing when facing an attack by a military group led by Germany.

In fact, you can understand from the map why the three Balkan countries became so panicked after learning about the news in Bulgaria and Romania.

If Bulgaria and Romania surrendered to Germany, they would encircle the Balkans with Germany and Italy.

Yugoslavia, Albania and Greece are all in this huge encirclement.

This also means that without external support, it will be difficult for the three countries to fight against the entire German-Italian military group, and it is very likely that they will be quickly defeated by the German army.

With the support of Britain and France, at least the Royal Fleet will ensure their safety. Even if they face the risk of national annihilation, they can go to London by sea and form a government in exile to continue resisting Germany.

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(End of this chapter)