I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 795: Die First
Stanley Baldwin overlooked one thing. When he defined the war between Britain and Theo as a "foreign war", Stanley Baldwin subconsciously defined Theo as a sovereign state independent of the Commonwealth.

Stanley Baldwin's purpose in launching a war was not to conquer Theo, but to divert domestic conflicts.

David Beatty supported the war in order to maintain the influence of the Royal Navy.

Britain is a maritime power, and the navy has far more influence in the UK than the army.

However, during the World War, the Royal Navy's performance did not meet expectations, which made many people begin to doubt the correctness of "The Origin of Sea Power".

Through the Rivne exercises, Russia has fully demonstrated the importance of maintaining a strong army.

Britain's power has declined to the point where even its naval superiority is in jeopardy, and it must make some trade-offs.

Just as London decided to go to war, Russia also took active action.

On April 4, the main force of the Russian Pacific Fleet visited Coconut City and will hold joint exercises with the Navy of the Grand Principality of Yuriev.

The exercise was massive, with not only the main forces of the Russian Pacific Fleet but also the Air Force and Army participating.

The Pacific Fleet's exercise area was located between the Grand Duchy of Yuriev and Theo, which was strongly opposed by Britain.

The purpose of Britain's reactionary war was to divert domestic conflicts, which determined that Britain could not invest too much energy in Western Australia. The main task of the Royal Navy was to blockade the Western Australian coastline.

The Pacific Fleet has designated the waters between the Grand Duchy of Yuriev and Theo as an exercise area, and the risk of conflict will be greatly increased if Royal Navy warships enter the area.

Peter ignored Britain's opposition and not only transferred all three battleships of the Pacific Fleet to Coconut City, but also dispatched battleships from the Atlantic Fleet and the Mediterranean Fleet to Coconut City for support.

This news instantly attracted worldwide attention.

During the Russo-Japanese War, the reinforcement fleet formed by Russia was completely wiped out due to its long expedition, which marked the peak of the Japanese Navy.

Does this time the reinforcement fleet have to go around Africa to reach East Asia?

The last time the Royal Navy wanted to pass through the Suez Canal to Australia, it was rejected by the canal company, which subsequently triggered the canal crisis.

This time, the Canal Company opened the door and agreed to allow the Russian reinforcement fleet to pass through the Suez Canal.

This made the British very unhappy.

When the Royal Navy wanted to pass through the Suez Canal, the Canal Company refused to agree, and the two companies are still in litigation.

After the canal crisis was resolved, the canal company demanded that the British Mediterranean Fleet compensate it for the losses caused by blocking the canal.

The Mediterranean Fleet ignored it. I’m just blocking it. What can you do?

Now that the Russian fleet is about to pass through the Suez Canal, the Canal Company is giving it the green light. Why?
The Canal Company’s response was exactly the same as that of the Mediterranean Fleet: I am willing!

The canal company's headquarters had been moved from London to Constantinople, out of reach of the Mediterranean Fleet.

The French passenger ship "Liberty" was seized by the British Asiatic Fleet.

The Liberty carried 800 gold prospectors to Theo.

This seems like a normal reason, as there has been an endless stream of prospectors heading to Theo to pan for gold since the discovery of gold in Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie.

After the rebellions in Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie were quelled, the Western Austrian government nationalized all the gold mines in the two areas and operated them by the Yuriev Mining Company. Private gold mining has been completely stopped.

So these so-called gold diggers were clearly the so-called “volunteers” heading to Theo to fight.

During the Second Boer War, more than 2000 European volunteers went to South Africa to fight.

The key point is not how strong the fighting power of these 2000 people is, but that these volunteers from various countries turned the Boer War, which originally had nothing to do with European countries, into the focus of the world and brought enormous pressure to the British Expeditionary Force. Otherwise, the number of women and children who died in the concentration camps would be more than 26370.

But looking at this number, it doesn't seem like much compared to the millions of casualties in world wars.

But you have to know that the total population of the Boers is only 44.

This is why South Africa, as a Commonwealth country, only symbolically sent two divisions during the World War.

There is no need to compare it with Australia and Canada, which are also dominions.

South Africa's contribution to the Commonwealth during the world war was not even as great as that of New Zealand, whose total population was only one million.

There are 10 New Zealanders in the Anzac Corps, equivalent to % of New Zealand's total population.

Given the example of the Boer War, it was only natural that the "Liberty" passenger ship was seized.

For the British, it's a natural progression.

For France, this is simply ridiculous.

In 1926, France was fighting two wars at the same time, one was the Rif War, which involved 30 troops, and the other was a rebellion in its Middle Eastern colonies.

France obtained Syria, which originally belonged to the Ottoman Empire, through the Paris Peace Conference, and then began its colonial rule in Syria.

The Syrians did not recognize the French government, and there were many actions against French colonial rule, which finally broke out at the end of last year with a large uprising of 20 people. The French government was overwhelmed by the colonial uprising.

Britain then added fuel to the fire, and Paris could no longer tolerate it.

On May 5, just one week after the British army seized the "Liberty", the French government officially stated its support for Western Austria's independence.

Previously, only a few French politicians supported Western Austria's independence, and the French government's attitude has always been ambiguous and it has not made any public statement.

Just as the UK was becoming increasingly isolated internationally, on May 5, a fishing boat from the Philippines was sunk by the British Navy, killing four fishermen.

This process is also rather tortuous.

On May 5, the Royal Navy's HMS Roaring destroyer discovered a fishing boat from the Philippines in the waters north of Western Australia.

The Grand Duchy of Yuriev is between the Philippines and Australia. Due to frequent disputes between Filipino fishermen and fishermen from the Grand Duchy of Yuriev, it is unlikely that Philippine fishing boats will appear in this waters.

Just when the Royal Navy asked the Philippine fishing boat to stop for inspection, the Philippine fishing boat not only did not obey the Royal Navy's request, but also accelerated to escape.

It would be fine if the Royal Navy could not provoke the powerful Russian Navy.

The Philippines is a colony of the United States, how dare they dare to challenge the American government?
So the Royal Navy accidentally sank the Philippine fishing boat while firing warning shots.

The United States' colonization of the Philippines was different from Britain's direct rule. It adopted the method of supporting the Philippine government for indirect colonization. Therefore, compared with Britain's overseas dominions or colonies, the Philippine government had more power. With the support of the United States, the Philippine government also had the confidence to challenge the Royal Navy.

The Philippine government has asked the Royal Navy to conduct a thorough investigation into the incident and compensate the Filipino fishermen.

The Royal Navy insisted that the vessel that was sunk was not a fishing boat at all, but a smuggling vessel.

If it was a fishing boat, why did it run away after seeing the Royal Navy? It should have stopped the boat and accepted the inspection. The Royal Navy would not eat people.

Since he ran away, there must be something shameful going on.

The Philippine government does not agree with the Royal Navy's explanation.

Is it true that the smuggling ship cannot rely solely on the Royal Navy's one-sided statement? In order to catch the thief and seize the stolen goods, where is the evidence?
The evidence is on the seabed. Whoever makes the claim must provide evidence. As long as the Philippines can prove that it was just an ordinary fishing boat and there were no contraband on board, the Royal Navy will pay compensation.

The lawsuit between the Royal Navy and the Philippines was about to be brought to the League of Nations. On May 5, the exercises between Russia and the Grand Duchy of Yuriev officially began.

The "Roar", which had just sunk a Philippine fishing boat a few days ago, was ordered to go to the waters near the exercise for close observation.

What the captain of the "Roaring" did not expect was that the first to appear was not a Russian warship, but a bomber from the Grand Duchy of Yuriev.

The bombers of the Grand Duchy of Yuriev are of the same lineage as those of Russia. Apart from the national flags on the fuselage and under the wings, there are no other differences.

The bomber pilots of the Grand Duchy of Yuriev were also reckless. After discovering the "Growler", they not only did not move away, but flew directly towards the "Growler".

The "Roar" treated the enemy as a formidable force. It not only sounded the air defense alarm, but also began to use a zigzag tactic to evade the enemy.

This bomber is not a heavy bomber with four engines, but a torpedo plane with two engines.

For warships, torpedo planes pose a greater threat than heavy bombers. If the "Growler", with a displacement of only 800 tons, is hit directly by a torpedo, the entire ship will be torn to pieces and no one will be spared.

"The enemy has already taken an attacking stance. We can shoot it down."

The first officer of the "Roaring", Cole, was livid. The unprofessional behavior of the Grand Duchy Yuriev bombers was a serious provocation to the Royal Navy.

Captain Stewart pursed his lips and looked at the approaching torpedo plane without saying a word.

This is not a Philippine fishing boat that can be sunk at will. The United States will not turn against Britain over such a trivial matter.

The Grand Duchy of Yuriev can change its face at any time.

Not to mention shooting down military aircraft directly.

Even if the torpedo plane crashed near the "Growler" due to its own malfunction, the Grand Duchy of Yuriev would blame the Royal Navy.

So not only can the "Growler" not open fire now, but Stewart has to pray that nothing unexpected happens to the plane.

Although the torpedo plane pilot was reckless, he had superb skills. He flew towards the "Growler" close to the sea surface and passed by it at high speed.

What made Stuart angry was that when the torpedo plane flew over, it deliberately turned sideways and showed the torpedo under the fuselage to the "Roaring".

This is simply getting close to the face and opening wide.

What Stuart did not expect was that as the "Roar" was maneuvering at high speed, a sailor who was operating an anti-aircraft machine gun on the deck accidentally fell into the water.

this--

The Russian warships had not been seen yet, but a Royal Navy sailor had died first.

(End of this chapter)