Rise of Australia

Chapter 973 The Obedient King

While anticipating and watching the direction of the German-Russian war, the Australasian Army stepped up its offensive against Estonia.

The Estonian army was originally an army formed by a puppet government. When faced with the well-equipped and powerful Australasian army, the Estonian army was like a pile of loose sand, which collapsed at the first touch.

In less than two and a half weeks, the Australasian army captured the Estonian capital of Tallinn and occupied important Estonian cities such as Rakvere, Narva, Pernu and Kuressaare.

With the exception of Võru, where German troops were stationed, and Tartu, not far from Võru, large tracts of Estonian territory had been recovered by Australasia.

It has only been 16 years since Estonia's independence, during which the King of Estonia was forcibly established and does not have much reputation in Estonia.

This also facilitated Australasia's actions in Estonia. Although the rulers of Estonia and Latvia were supported by Britain and France, Arthur would not be polite.

As long as these two countries are occupied by Australasia, Australasia will have the final say over the monarchs of these two countries.

On May 1939, 5, when the Australasian Army marched towards Tartu and Võru in southeastern Estonia, they were surprised to find that a German division originally stationed there had already withdrawn, leaving only a very small number of Estonian puppet troops.

The result was obvious. The two cities were recovered on the same day, Estonia declared independence from German puppet rule, and the Kingdom of Estonia was re-established.

However, there was a small episode before the establishment of the Kingdom of Estonia. The King of the Kingdom of Estonia first sought an audience with the Australasian ambassador to the UK in London, and then sought an audience with the generals of the Australasian army in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, and expressed a firm attitude, that is, to seek favor.

Yes, it’s just a simple attitude of seeking favor.

When the King of Estonia met with the Australasian ambassador, he was very humble and even said in person that Estonia would become Australasia's most loyal subordinate.

Arthur had originally planned to replace the king of Estonia, but after seeing that the king of Estonia was so tactful, he was no longer in a hurry.

However, in order to prevent Estonia from being a fence-sitter, Arthur asked the Australasia ambassador to the UK to warn the King of Estonia in a righteous manner, saying that Australasia was willing to cooperate with Estonia, but on the condition that Australasia must be Estonia's only ally.

The King of Estonia agreed to this very readily.

In order to gain the trust of Australasia, the King of Estonia even expressed his willingness to lease any area of ​​Estonia to Australasia to establish a military base.

At this point, Arthur had to admit that the King of Estonia was a smart man.

It would be beneficial for both countries for Australasia to establish a military base in Estonia.

First of all, for Australasia, it can ensure that even if this younger brother is not loyal, it has the means to deal with him.

For Estonia, this is not only a token of its surrender to Australasia, but it can also use the Australasia army to protect its own security.

After all, Estonia's neighbor is Russia, and the three Baltic countries once belonged to Russian territory.

If there were no troops stationed in Australasia, who could guarantee the safety of the Estonian king if Russia suddenly sent troops to occupy Estonia?
After all, Russia's political system is not a monarchy, and their ideas are even hostile to monarchy in certain aspects.

Moreover, compared with second- and third-rate monarchies in Europe, countries like Estonia are too weak and do not even have the qualifications to be a fence-sitter.

Estonia's current population is only about 100 million, especially after experiencing this war, the population has dropped below 100 million.

What can such a population do? It is very difficult for Estonia to arm an army of 10, and this is not even enough for an army group of the great powers.

Therefore, for a country like Estonia, they can only choose to be loyal after they have gained control of the country, because the country's strength is simply unable to bear the anger of a powerful country.

After taking Estonia, the Australasian army then headed south to Latvia.

Latvia is sandwiched between Estonia and Lithuania. Although its geographical location is not important, it is also the only way to reach Lithuania and Poland.

The Australasian offensive plan had completely abandoned the capture of St. Petersburg and instead changed to completely occupy the three Baltic states and Poland. In this way, the three Baltic states must be occupied as soon as possible, and Poland must be liberated first while Russia is busy rescuing the 150 million besieged troops.

As long as Poland was a barrier between Germany and Russia, it would be difficult for the Russian army to enter German territory.

Although there was no Russian army to jointly attack Germany, the Russo-German War had already consumed a considerable part of Germany's army and manpower, and the Germans were now just fighting a desperate battle.

There is a river in Latvia called Daugava River. This river divides the whole Latvia into two parts, north and south. Riga, the capital of Latvia, is also located on the north side of this river.

Why do we emphasize this river? Because according to the latest intelligence from the front, the Germans have this river in their strategic retreat in Eastern Europe.

Of course, it was not just this river. The German defense line was mainly concentrated on the Daugava River and the Dnieper River. These two rivers were not only natural defense lines that hindered the offensive of the Russian and Australasian armies, but also the dividing line of Germany's fate.

Once any army crossed the defensive line formed by these two rivers, Germany's fate would be completely in the hands of the enemy.

In order to thoroughly hold this line of defense, the Germans deployed a large number of artillery and infantry positions and dug a large number of trenches in the gap between the two rivers, namely in the Smolensk and Vitebsk areas.

Judging from the line of defense built by the Germans, the German government is determined to fight to the death with Australasia and Russia on this line of defense.

Anyway, this place is no longer far from the German mainland, and the logistical conditions are not as bad as deep in the heart of Russia.

If fighting were to take place here, the German army's logistics would be adequately guaranteed.

After learning that the German army had retreated south of the Daugava River, the Australasian army marched into cities such as Valmiera, Rezekne and Riga in northern Latvia.

Latvia has a significantly larger population than Estonia.

Although the area north of the Daugava River is only about half of Latvia's land area, its population is still over 140 million, which is larger than the entire population of Estonia.

The German-occupied areas to the south had at least 50 Latvians, which meant that the entire Latvia had a population of at least 200 million.

Lithuania, further south, also has a population of over 200 million, which to some extent reflects the development gap among the three Mediterranean countries.

But this is also normal. After all, these three countries are like stacked vertically. Estonia is very close to the Nordic region, the climate is relatively cold, and the population is naturally smaller.

The region where Lithuania is located is still in the temperate zone, and the population and economic development of Sweden's Scania region, Denmark and other regions parallel to Lithuania are quite good.

After occupying Riga, the capital of Latvia, the Latvian government had actually been liberated.

But compared with the King of Estonia, the King of Latvia is obviously not so sensible.

But it doesn’t matter. The king of Latvia is just a puppet supported by Britain and France. He is not very capable and his status in Latvia is not strong.

The first thing the Australasian army did when they entered Riga was to declare the liberation of the Latvian government. The second thing was to signal the Latvian government to depose the king and elect a new king of Latvia.

Where does the new king come from? Of course, it depends on who is more pleasing to the eye, more obedient and more discerning.

Anna and Prince Gustav already have several sons. If all else fails, they could choose one of Anna's sons who looks honest and decent to become the King of Latvia.

As for the so-called defense line established by the Germans south of the Daugava River, the Australasian army actually did not care.

Although it is still difficult to break through this line of defense from the front, the Australasian army does not have only this option.

(End of this chapter)