Rise of Australia

Chapter 901 The Fall of Paris
As time entered October 1936, something bad still happened, that is, the French capital Paris officially fell.

But there is also good news, that is, France has truly gotten rid of its bad reputation in history and is no longer the laughing stock of a country that surrendered before Paris was conquered.

Of course, the Germans also paid a heavy price in order to capture Paris.

Britain, France, Australia, and Germany gathered more than 400 million troops near Paris. After a complete offensive and defensive battle in Paris, the four countries suffered more than half of their losses. Britain, France, and Australia only had close to 100 million troops retreating south to the vicinity of Orleans.

As the attacker, Germany was even more brutal, with more than 80 soldiers killed in the battle, and almost everyone was injured.

The total number of aircraft invested by the four countries in Paris was more than 5000, of which more than 1500 were destroyed, and more than 2000 were injured.

Although the fighting around Paris has stopped, the wreckage and ruins caused by the war can be seen almost everywhere, and the smoke has turned this once prosperous metropolis into a hell on earth.

How tragic is it? The casualties reported by the troops are already approximate. In this war, it is impossible to count the specific casualties.

Because every once in a while, a large number of soldiers will fall on the way to charge or defend, and the number of casualties is constantly beating.

Only after retreating to the vicinity of Orleans did Australasia take stock of its troops. Of the originally close to 80 combat troops, only about 30 were successfully evacuated.

Among them, 15 Australasian local troops successfully evacuated, and the remaining 15 were Philippine and Kalimantan troops.

This means that in this defensive battle in Paris, Australasia's losses alone were close to 50, which is already a quite exaggerated figure.

While the British, French and Australian troops were reorganizing their defense lines in Orleans, which had retreated, the German army had already marched into Paris aggressively and declared martial law.

Although before German troops entered Paris, the French government had already evacuated south to Tours. But this still cannot change the influence of Paris on the entire France, nor the status of Paris in the hearts of the people of Germany and France.

On the morning of October 10, the German 14th Army officially entered Paris. Bock, commander-in-chief of the Army Group, held a grand military parade on the Champs Elysées in Paris.

The bustling and bustling metropolis in the past has now turned into silent ruins and dead cities. Except for the German soldiers who maintained order, French people were rarely seen.

Because before the city of Paris was destroyed, most Paris citizens had fled to the suburbs or countryside, while a small number were hiding in their homes for fear of being discovered by the German army.

Although European countries claim to be civilized countries, no country is truly fully civilized when it comes to war.

Even Germany will inevitably do something to vent its anger after conquering the capital of a country.

Especially since Germany and France have maintained hatred for decades, it is not surprising that Germany did some uncivilized things after conquering Paris.

Before this military parade, the German army had completely replaced the French tricolor flag flying in Paris.

The flag of the German Empire replaced the French tricolor and was flown from the top of the Eiffel Tower, French ministries, Paris City Hall and the French National Assembly.

Things turned out just as the French people expected. After capturing Paris, the German army immediately began to vent its anger.

They strictly controlled the remaining citizens of Paris, and some German soldiers even molested French women in the streets.

On the afternoon of October 10, the German army returned to the Compiègne Forest.

This forest is quite special. It was the place where the German Empire surrendered to France and its allies more than 20 years ago.

After more than 20 years, the Germans returned to this forest with much more complicated emotions.

In a clearing in this forest, there is a victory monument erected by the French after World War I, with a fallen German eagle carved on it.

Next to the Victory Monument is a bust of French Marshal Foch.

Marshal Foch's famous name is well known in France.

Marshal Foch participated in many battles in World War I, and after the end of World War I, he obtained the rank of marshal in Britain, France and Poland.

Such an achievement is naturally not something that ordinary people can achieve. As one of the most famous French generals in World War I, Foch is commemorated by the French people to this day.

The German army did not destroy Foch's bust, but erected a new statue of the German Prime Minister in front of Foch's sculpture.

After a brief stay in Paris, the German army relaunched its offensive, aiming directly at Orleans, south of Paris.

The current situation is far different from that in history. Historically, France was ready to surrender before Paris was captured.

He even made a joke that he would never be able to capture Paris before France surrendered, and he was nailed to the pillar of shame forever.

Now, although Paris was captured, the Germans also paid a heavy price.

What's more, the military government has moved south to Tours. Not only did France have no intention of surrender, it even decided to resolutely resist Germany.

Even if Tours is captured, there are still large cities such as Bordeaux, Toulouse and Marseille further south that can be relocated.

Although France's territory is not large, it can still delay the Germans for a period of time if it forms defensive fronts again and again.

Britain and Australasia were also getting serious about fighting the Germans.

In a new Allied meeting, Britain, France and Australia discussed a new combat plan, which was to contain the German army through Orleans. Britain and France took the opportunity to deploy a new line of defense along the Tours line and strive to block the German army north of the Loire River.

Such a decision is quite risky, because the Loire River runs through most of France, dividing France into northern and southern parts.

Establishing a defensive position based on the Loire River meant completely giving up the vast territory north of the Loire River.

These territories included Brittany, Normandy, Paris and Calais, and abandoning these territories would obviously require great determination.

But in other words, if a stronger defensive front can be established based on the Loire River, France will at least not be in danger of annihilation.

After all, less territory means easier defense, and more troops can be deployed on each line of defense. This is the only good news.

There are currently about 200 million French troops in France, 30 are deployed in Orleans, about 70 troops are going to Tours, 30 troops are stationed on the Maginot Line, 50 troops are stationed on the line from Turin to Nice, and 20 troops are stationed on the line from Turin to Nice. Scattered in Troyes and Nancy.

There are only about 30 Australasian troops left, all located near Orleans. There are about 70 British troops, 20 of whom stayed in Orleans, 20 of whom went to the line from Rennes to Nantes, and the remaining 30 or so of whom deployed defense lines in Tours.

The German army currently has about 300 million troops. In addition to the hundreds of thousands of troops that have entered Paris, there are hundreds of thousands of troops distributed throughout France and are besieging French cities.

Although it seems that the German army has more troops, Germany has currently mobilized most of its domestic troops, and the cumulative number of conscripts has reached a terrifying number of more than 500 million.

Britain and France still have a large number of colonial armies being prepared. If Britain and France are given more time, they can gather tens of millions of troops at any time.

Even in Australasia, the mobilization situation at this time was far less exaggerated than imagined.

Even the two slave states of Kalimantan and the Philippines have only mobilized millions of troops each, and they can still squeeze them.

As the war gradually intensifies, the production and procurement of weapons by various countries has become a very important matter.

Because France lost a large area of ​​its territory, its military industry was greatly affected. Fortunately, France has two very reliable allies, Britain and Australasia, and most of their recruits' equipment comes from these two countries.

How exaggerated are the profits of the military industry?

Since the war has been going on for such a long time, Australasia's profits in the military industry have been close to 2 million Australian dollars. This is because Britain and France did not import many Australasian weapons before.

As Britain and France begin to purchase large quantities of Australasian armaments, the revenue of the Australasian military industry will also see a surge.

It is no exaggeration to say that the income from arms sales alone can support the wars in Australasia and island countries.

In other words, the war with the island country does not require any economic investment from Australasia. With the income from the arms trade, it can already support the consumption of military expenditures.

Currently, in national-level trade, the top sellers are food, weapons and medicine.

Australasia has made considerable achievements in this regard, and has naturally become one of the most profitable countries in this war.

We should also be thankful that because Australasia is far away from the main battlefield in Europe, the mainland does not need to worry about being affected by the war.

Even in the UK, the mainland has to face bombing by the Luftwaffe from time to time, and it is impossible for industrial production not to be affected.

However, due to the distance between Australasia, none of its nearest enemy island countries can pose a threat to Australasia's homeland.

This has also resulted in Australasia's industry and economy still maintaining a fairly rapid growth rate, and there is no sense of being in a war period at all.

Of course, a very important part of the reason also depends on the fact that the war in Australasia is in a state of limited mobilization at this time.

Before the outbreak of the war, the total number of soldiers in Australasia was approximately 57. So far, the army has only expanded to just over 100 million, which is a relatively healthy level for the total number of people in the entire country.

As of the beginning of 1936, Australasia's total population was approximately 4559 million, which was already in the middle among all major powers, and its demographic disadvantages were basically eliminated.

Judging from the size of the armies mobilized by the European powers, the ratio of Australasian soldiers to the total population is already the lowest among all the powers participating in the war, and is even lower than some countries that did not participate in the war.

The populations of Italy and France are at the same level as those of Australasia, but the number of soldiers mobilized by these two countries in the war has reached more than 200 million and 300 million, which are two or three times that of Australasia.

Under such circumstances, it is completely impossible that the industrial production of France and Italy will not be affected.

This is why Australasia’s geographical location is so excellent. Precisely because of its relatively remote geographical location, Australasia can be protected from the impact of war, and it can achieve positive economic and industrial growth during such war times.

In order to better help the French resist the German army, Britain and Australasia also promised the French government to support a new batch of troops within a month.

The UK currently has approximately 70 troops in France. Within a month, the UK will increase its troops by at least 50 to maintain the size of the British Expeditionary Force at around 120 million.

Australasia will increase its troops by 50 within a month to fulfill its previous agreement with the French and maintain the scale of the Australasian Expeditionary Force at 80.

As a result, the total army size of Britain, France, and Australia will exceed 400 million. It is unrealistic to defeat the German army, but it can still be done to hold the German army back.

In addition to the estimated 400 million troops in France, the subsequent opening of the second battlefield in the Balkans is also a very important matter.

As a famous powder keg in Europe, the Balkans have relatively good military combat capabilities.

Especially compared with the great power Italy, the military combat effectiveness of a considerable number of Balkan countries has exceeded that of Italy, of course limited to the army.

If the three Balkan countries can be allowed to participate in this war, the Allies, led by Britain, France and Australia, will not only have three more powerful allies, but also millions of Balkan troops.

Although Romania and Bulgaria are also likely to join the German camp, the size of Yugoslavia is enough to fight against Romania and Bulgaria, not to mention the help of Greece and Albania.

Furthermore, these countries are not the only ones on the Balkan Peninsula. The Turkish Republic, which occupies Constantinople, and Hungary, which also became independent in World War I, can also have an impact on the situation in the Balkans.

Of course, the most exciting thing is this huge country in the northeast of the Balkan Peninsula.

In many meetings between Britain, France and Australia, the method of dealing with Russia has been mentioned.

Russia is the only country among the major powers that has not participated in the war. Such an exception is simply not allowed to exist.

After all, in the final analysis, everyone has been depleted of strength because of this war, but Russia has been developing in this war. Isn't this obviously doing something special?

Faced with this country that is likely to develop into a serious problem for them, the British said that it is absolutely impossible to keep Russia out of the matter.

How to deal with the Russian problem is actually very simple, and it is written in the defense plan for France.

As long as the French defense front is managed into an iron barrel and the Germans are resolutely blocked from the defense line, the Germans will definitely find new ways to resolve this war.

Germany and Russia were enemies in World War I. If the Western Front could not break through, there was a high probability that Germany would focus on Russia on the Eastern Front.

　The second update of 4000 words, please vote for me and support!

　　Day 3/10 of 7000, it has been updated to 10000/ today. Please vote for me and support!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)