Chapter 106: Army Expansion (Please Subscribe!)

On February 21, 1902, after several days of discussion with German military experts, Australia's military expansion officially began.

Of course, this round of military expansion was not intended to prepare for any military action, but simply to expand Australia's military strength and ensure control over its homeland and colonies.

It was also helpless to say. The reason why Australia chose to expand its military was entirely because the pitiful number of troops could no longer meet the needs of garrisoning Australia and New Guinea colonies. The Guards, as an important army to protect the royal family, could not be stationed elsewhere.

Under such circumstances, it is very necessary to expand the existing army.

Australia has a population of nearly 4 million. Conservatively speaking, it is no problem to expand the army to 40,000 to 50,000 people.

Of course, the first round of expansion plans will not be so crazy. Arthur's goal is to recruit 15,000 people and complete the plan to reorganize the active army.

According to the change plan formulated by the Ministry of Defense, those soldiers who have completed the training will be expanded to the backbone of the First National Defense Division.

The organization of the First National Defense Division mostly adopts the organization of the German division, with a full-strength division of up to 16,000 people.

Compared with the slightly bloated organization of Germany, the organization of the Australian army has made some changes to it, canceling the brigade-level organization and changing it to three infantry regiments plus an artillery regiment and a cavalry battalion to form an infantry division.

In terms of weapon configuration, Arthur has high hopes for the new National Defense Division, and the Ministry of Defense has also spent a lot of money on this.

In terms of heavy machine guns, the First Division has five heavy machine gun companies, each of which is equipped with six MA-96 Maxim machine guns, with a total of 30 heavy machine guns.

In terms of artillery, the First Division has one artillery regiment plus three artillery companies, a total of four artillery battalions.

The artillery regiment is equipped with a variety of artillery. Ideally, each artillery battalion of the artillery regiment will be equipped with eight CA-1 machine guns plus five M1897 automatic artillery and three 105mm howitzers with technology provided by German experts.

The artillery companies of the three infantry regiments are equipped with four CA-1 machine guns and two M1897 automatic guns.

In this way, the firepower of the First Division has reached the same level as that of the German army, or even slightly exceeded it.

Especially after being equipped with a large number of semi-automatic artillery, the number of artillery and firepower output of the First Division are definitely not inferior to those of the German army.

Of course, the cost of equipping such a First Division will also be very huge. Just the cost of the 30 heavy machine guns and dozens of artillery pieces exceeded 30,000 pounds. Adding the cost of soldiers and rifles, it will cost at least 50,000 pounds to form this infantry division, and the monthly training and maintenance costs of weapons and equipment will be as high as tens of thousands of pounds.

Such an army is completely based on Germany. Even if it is placed on the European battlefield in the future, it is a powerful army.

Not to mention being placed in Oceania. Counting the surrounding enemies, the only thing that can defeat this army is the number of people.

It is worth mentioning that after this conscription, the theoretical number of Australian troops has reached 25,000.

Among them, the Guards will be expanded to 8,000 people, doubling the number of people. These 8,000 people will form a mixed Guards Division, including an infantry regiment, a cavalry regiment and an artillery regiment.

The number of soldiers left for the First Division is as high as 17,000. The reason why there are 1,000 more people than the planned establishment is that these extra people will become reserve officers of the Second Division and instructors for the Second Division's recruitment in the future.

The combat effectiveness of a division composed entirely of recruits and a division composed of veterans and recruits is definitely different.

Veterans have a significant improvement in the combat effectiveness of the troops, and can also be used as reserve officers for future expansion of the troops.

For this reason, under the discussion of the Ministry of National Defense, the officers of the First Division will have an additional deputy position, and these deputy candidates are likely to drop to the second division as full-time officers in the future.

For the existing soldiers, this also indirectly increases their hope for promotion.

Even if the ability is not enough to be an officer of the army now, you can also strive for a deputy position.

After a period of training, won't they still become officers when the army expands in the future?

Although it may take a little longer, it is better than having no hope of promotion directly.

The Australian Department of Defense's expansion plan has been welcomed and actively participated by a large number of Australians.

As soon as the news spread, the recruitment offices set up in New South Wales and Victoria were crowded with people.

As for other states, due to their small population, they are not considered for the time being.

As the capital of Australia, there is a neat and long queue at the recruitment office in Sydney.

Even one street cannot accommodate the people who sign up, and several nearby streets are also surrounded by crowds.

Although Arthur has not personally seen the scene at the recruitment office, the Victorian newspaper and the Australian Daily reported at least this.

It is hard to say how many of them are sincere in joining the army to serve the motherland, because the benefits of Australian soldiers are very high, even ordinary soldiers generally have an annual salary of about twelve pounds, far exceeding the per capita income level in Australia.

More importantly, the number of conscriptions this time is only 15,000, but it is carried out simultaneously in Australia's two most populous states.

This also led to a significant reduction in everyone's chance of being selected, which is why the recruitment office was so crowded at the beginning.

After all, working hard in a factory can only earn ten pounds a year. As long as you join the army, you can get a salary of at least twelve pounds a year, and once you become an officer, it will be even higher.

Australia is surrounded by islands of major powers, and there are no enemies directly bordering it. In this case, Australia should not go to war, right?

Many people are lucky enough to think that they will be safe even if they join the army. Under the temptation of high salaries, they choose to join the army.

Of course, this scene is also what the Ministry of Defense and Arthur want to see. No matter what the reason for these people to join the army is, as long as they join the army, various ability training and ideological education will make them understand what is loyalty to the emperor and patriotism, what is serving the motherland, and what is sacrificing one's life for justice.

Australia's crowded recruitment office has won the favor of German experts. In the words of German experts, even if there is such a scene in the whole of Europe, I am afraid that only Germany has such a scene.

This is not bragging by German experts. The history of the founding of the German Empire is the history of wars with the surrounding powers.

As the German Empire, which defeated Austria and stepped on France, and succeeded in unifying two powerful countries, its military capabilities are absolutely world-class.

Since the Kingdom of Prussia, the Prussian army and the Junker nobles have always been one of the overlords of the European army. After defeating the traditional powerful France, the identity of the leader of the European army fell directly on the German army.

This also led to the German people's recognition and pride in the country. Every time Germany expanded its army, the enthusiasm of the Germans was unmatched by other European countries.

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