The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 1166 - 877: Train Troops Through Battle

Commander Christie was right. That very day, all Filipino and Kalimantan soldiers indeed had a hot meal, and it was of fine steak and white bread.

The next day did bring a more arduous war, which could be described as a full-scale offensive.

The first day's attack was merely a probe, with the Australasia Army deploying less than 10,000 troops overall, and the losses were heavy, with less than one-tenth of them retreating successfully.

On the second day, one could almost say the Australasia Army launched their entire force.

Because many island defense positions had been removed the day before, today's attack was still led by Filipino and Kalimantan troops, and this time more than 30,000 were deployed at once.

The attack was no longer confined to a main island but was directed at all the surrounding smaller islands.

The first downside of a full-scale offensive was the steadily increasing number of casualties.

In just over two hours, at least 6,000 native soldiers were killed or wounded, with the death toll even surpassing half.

If this trend continued, the force of 300,000 men under Commander Christie's command would last at most half a month's offensive.

And what about the casualties inflicted on the Island Nation Army by these Kalimantan and Filipino troops? They were almost negligible.

Firstly, in a beach landing battle, transporting firearms under the enemy's watch and maneuvering for firing was undoubtedly challenging.

Secondly, while the Filipino Army was still manageable, the Kalimantan Army was composed almost entirely of natives, which also meant that the Kalimantan Army lacked heavy artillery.

Around 11 am, after nearly four hours of fierce offensive, Commander Christie glanced at his watch, nodded satisfactorily, and said with a smile, "It should be about time. Let the soldiers take a breather. It's not the time to significantly expend native soldiers before our reinforcements arrive."

Subsequently, in the afternoon, the same scenario repeated itself.

In just one day, the Filipino and Kalimantan armies had suffered over ten thousand casualties. The death toll alone had already exceeded ten thousand, with nearly twenty thousand wounded; the severity was undeniable.

But there were results.

First off, the smaller islands surrounding the main island had almost all been captured.

Although the Island Nation Army had close to 100,000 troops in the Ryukyu Islands, it was certain that most of them would be deployed on more important islands.

The smaller islands served as the Ryukyu Archipelago's first line of defense, and the number of troops stationed there would definitely not be too many.

Actually, if Commander Christie ordered an all-out attack from the Filipino and Kalimantan armies, the results over the past two days would not have been limited to just the surrounding smaller islands.

But the problem was, Commander Christie, or rather the Australasian Government behind him, clearly had no plans to quickly capture the Ryukyu Islands.

From Commander Christie's actions, it was evident that Australasia's goal was, in fact, to train the combat effectiveness of the Filipino and Kalimantan armies through this landing battle.

The combat effectiveness of the Australasia Army was assured. After all, the military spending each year was a considerable figure, and with enough budget, Australasian soldiers were not necessarily elite but at least qualified.

However, the combat strength of these so-called cannon fodder troops from the Philippines and Kalimantan was not guaranteed.

Especially with Kalimantan, made up of indigenous troops, the overall discipline was poor, and the combat power that could be mustered was wholly unpredictable.

The purpose of Commander Christie's actions was twofold: first, to hone the combat strength of the Filipino Army and make them an important assistant to the Australasian forces.

Secondly, it was to let the Kalimantan Army experience such a brutal war and to be baptized by fire.

This could ensure that in the face of similarly cruel wars, the Kalimantan Army would at least remain stable, not falling into disarray at the start of the battle and giving the enemy a chance.

In Australasia's plan, the entire campaign against the Island Nation would turn into the greatest trial for the Filipino and Kalimantan armies.

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When the time came to defeat the Island Nation Army and lead an expedition to Europe, these native armies that had survived massive wars could also play a greater role on the European battlefield.

While Australasia proceeded with its plans, composed and unhurried, on the other side of the Earth, Europe was deep in the throes of war.

On June 27, Belgium's last city, Kortrijk, fell to the German Army. About ten thousand German troops grandly entered Kortrijk, officially marking the occupation of entire Belgium by Germany.

The Belgian government quickly gave up everything, taking some government officials and many important documents and materials, fled south to France, and then from France took ships to London.

They had no choice, as the combat power unleashed by the German Army was too terrifying, rendering even the interior of France insecure.

Germany, having successfully occupied all of Belgium, was now brimming with confidence. Coupled with the success of the Island Nation Army in delaying Australasia, the German General Staff confidently expressed to the German government the idea of conquering France within three months.

However, before launching a full-scale assault on France, the German General Staff had other plans for several neighboring countries.

After the fall of Belgium, Germany had successfully become the only neighbor of the Netherlands on the European continent.

More importantly, aside from the Dutch coastline, Germany may be considered to have wholly surrounded the Netherlands.

From the map, it is also clear that Germany's territory has taken on a more rectangular shape, with the northwest corner as if bitten by the Netherlands, leaving a significant gap.

More importantly, as Germany launched its attack on Belgium, the Netherlands also showed signs of leaning towards the United Kingdom.

There's no helping it; the geographical position of the Netherlands is very important to Germany and equally significant for the United Kingdom.

If Germany controlled the Netherlands, it would possess the means to threaten the southern coastline of the United Kingdom. German airplanes taking off from Dutch territory could bomb most areas of Britain.

Once the United Kingdom gained control over the Netherlands, it could bridge the channel and continuously transport a large number of soldiers to block the German Army's advance.

From the map, one can see that the German Army, which had penetrated into Belgium and the French border, could easily be surrounded by forces from behind the Netherlands.

To protect their front lines and to avoid the threats posed by the Netherlands' geographical position, Germany declared war on the Kingdom of the Netherlands on June 28, 1936, the day after they had fully occupied Belgium.

If declaring war on Belgium required some sort of pretext, by the time Germany declared war on the Netherlands, they had completely abandoned any pretense.

Although the relationship between the Netherlands and Germany was relatively good during World War I, even choosing the Netherlands as a refuge when William II fled, the issue now was that it was clear that the German Empire was no longer under William II's control. Without an exaggeration, William II had no control over Germany at this time; he was merely an Emperor of Germany in name only.

On the day of the declaration of war, under the command of Queen Wilhelmina, the Dutch Government immediately joined the Allied Nations comprising Britain, France, Austria, and Australia.

Luxembourg, sensing the crisis, declared its inclusion in the four-nation alliance the next day.

This made the current situation in Europe even more intense. Overall, the war in Europe was still a battle between Britain-France-Australia and German-Italy.

However, from that moment on, European Nations began to choose sides, joining one of the two major military blocs.

Just like the Allies and the Central Powers in World War I, the so-called World War II naturally had its own military bloc codenames.

The military alliance comprised of Britain, France, Austria, and Australia was known as the Allied Nations.

The reason is simple; the four countries that formed this military bloc were mainly connected by mutual alliance treaties.

The Franco-Austrian alliance, the British-Australian alliance, and the Anglo-French alliance together decided the name of this military bloc.

The military bloc formed by Germany and Italy was called the Central Powers.

The rationale was the same; Germany and Italy had signed a military treaty, which was the origin of the Central Powers' name.

Indeed, by coincidence, the two major military blocs of World War II were still named the Allied Nations and Central Powers.

Although the names remained the same, the main countries within these two military blocs had completely switched.

The main countries of the Central Powers in World War I were Britain, France, and Australia. In contrast, in World War II, they had become Germany and Italy.

Meanwhile, the main countries of the Allied Nations during World War I, Germany, and the Austrian Empire, had become Britain, France, and Australia in World War II.

No matter how the membership varied, the primary situation in both World War I and World War II in Europe was still the confrontation between Britain and France against Germany.

Arthur was also closely monitoring the situation in Europe.

After Belgium's complete defeat, France would face the pressure of the German Army alone. Even with some support from a portion of the British Army, they couldn't change the war situation in a short time.

This also meant that whether France could hold out for a while would directly determine the development of the situation in Europe.

If France could resist as it did in history, or even create the myth that the enemy could never conquer Paris before the French surrendered, then Arthur would have nothing to say.

But if the French managed to hold out, the situation in Europe could be vastly different.

Even if the Austrian Empire was defeated, it wouldn't significantly impact the overall situation. After all, a Germany that unifies most of Europe is destined to keep the Russians from sleeping well or dining comfortably.

Apart from wanting to exhaust the strength of Britain and France during World War II, Arthur had another plan: to encourage as much infighting between Germany and Russia as possible.

Once Britain and France were weakened, the most capable competitors for world dominance would be Australasia and Russia.

Even though Australasia would be more advantageous in competition between the two, if Russia were not significantly weakened, it might develop, as in history, into a bipolar situation.

Arthur didn't want to see such a scenario. The best outcome would be for both Britain and France and Russia to be greatly weakened in this war, allowing Australasia to naturally become the world's superpower, inheriting most of the British legacy.