Chapter 352: Joining the War, Expeditionary Force

Arthur responded positively to the British Empire's inquiry. Australasia is very interested in sending troops to Argentina, not only to maintain the status of the Allies, but also for Australasia's own interests.

This is also true for several other countries in the Allies. If the British Empire is threatened, it would be fine. In this case, it is to protect the British Empire's foreign interests and prompt the other powers of the Allies to follow suit. Other countries are unwilling to do so without sufficient interests.

However, for France and Russia, even if they co-manage the entire Argentina, the interests and interests are not too great.

France and Russia both have a lot of land and colonies, and Argentina is too far away from these two countries. There is also the obstruction of the United States. Co-managing Argentina is not worth the loss.

If they want France and Russia to send troops together, I am afraid that the British Empire will have to give up some interests in other places to satisfy these two countries.

On July 23, 1913, a large-scale war broke out on the southern border of Argentina and Chile.

In this war, Argentina and Chile dispatched more than 100,000 troops, almost all the troops of their respective countries.

In addition to the reserve forces that are still in training, it is no exaggeration to say that most of the combat-ready soldiers of Chile and Argentina have been concentrated in this area.

In the current situation of this war, Argentina is on the offensive and Chile is on the defensive.

Both sides are very anxious about the current war. Chile is eager to obtain support from the British Empire, while Argentina is eager to end the war and let it come to a conclusion before the great powers react.

The top leaders of the Argentine government know that if this war they have wantonly provoked really alarms the great powers, then the outcome will be unacceptable to them.

Only by quickly destroying the Chilean army before the great powers act, and making Chile's defeat a foregone conclusion, will they not be afraid of the condemnation of the great powers after the war.

But if Chile cannot be defeated before the great powers act, even if it relies on the United States, the anger of the great powers is not something Argentina can bear.

The good news is that except for the United States, the eight great powers in the world are thousands of miles away from Chile, and there is also an ocean barrier.

And the only one that is relatively close, the United States, is actually on the side of Argentina.

This also means that Argentina has every hope of ending the war quickly with the support of the United States, taking advantage of its distance advantage.

The diplomatic relations between the British Empire and Chile are well known, but their diplomatic relations depend on the rich saltpeter mines in Chile.

As long as Argentina ensures that the British Empire's saltpeter mines are not damaged, the British Empire should not be too angry with Argentina, right? Probably not, right?

It is precisely because of this idea that the Argentine military has to speed up the pace of attack and strive to end the war as soon as possible, so as not to make the war more unexpected.

If conservatively calculated, the time for the great powers to react plus the time for sending troops, Argentina has at least two or three months to end the war.

Unfortunately, the development of the situation has exceeded the expectations of the Argentine government and the military, and the war between the two major powers in South America has entered a rather strange stalemate.

But this is actually very normal. After all, to put it bluntly, the comprehensive strength of Chile and Argentina is relatively close, and the population and economic scale are not much different.

Both sides also have the support of the great powers. Under such circumstances, it is not surprising that the war is in a stalemate.

In particular, the first batch of weapons supported by the British Empire to Chile had been shipped from Australasia to Chile, which also gave the Chilean army sufficient weapons, equipment and ammunition to persist in this war of attrition.

On the other hand, Argentina also had support from the United States, which also provided a large number of weapons, equipment and ammunition.

This also put the war between the two sides into a rather strange state. Soldiers on both sides did not care about the consumption of ammunition at all, but the results achieved were very limited.

If there were reconnaissance planes carefully observing the battlefield at this time, a rather strange phenomenon could be found, that is, the shooting of soldiers on both sides was basically random, and the goal was not to kill the enemy on the opposite side, but to consume all the ammunition in their weapons.

Except for the battlefields supervised by senior officers, all other secondary battlefields fell into this strange state.

The logistics officers of Argentina and Chile were surprised to find that since the start of this large-scale offensive and defensive battle, their weapons, elixirs and supplies had increased a lot, but the results achieved were very limited.

Even their own casualties were less than before. Except for the tragic casualties during the offensive and defensive battles, the casualties in other periods were not high.

This also led to a rather strange phenomenon, that is, in the first half of July, Argentina and Chile had a total of more than 10,000 casualties.

In the second half of July, including the two offensive and defensive battles that had already taken place, the number of casualties in Argentina and Chile was only just over 10,000.

You know, in the second half of the month, both sides invested more than 100,000 troops and carried out a large-scale offensive and defensive battle on the southern border.

It stands to reason that not only the consumption of supplies, but also the number of casualties should increase a lot.

But at present, in addition to the crazy consumption of ammunition, medical supplies and food, the casualties of both sides and the enemy have not increased much.

However, this is a good thing for Chile. After all, Chile's goal is only to defend, and there is no idea of ​​counterattack.

For Chile, their most important task is to defend their territory before the British support arrives, and to protect the British minerals in Chile.

But for Argentina, the war is at a standstill, which is what they least want to see.

Once the war enters the consumption stage, it will not only consume a lot of resources in Argentina, but most importantly, it will waste Argentina's time.

If the battle cannot be resolved quickly, the British may end up in trouble. Will the Americans send troops to help Argentina?

If the opponent is Italy, perhaps the Americans will. The opponent is the British Empire, the world's first power. Even the German Empire will not offend it easily, not to mention the United States, which is generally looked down upon by Europeans as a nouveau riche.

To be honest, the war at this time has made the two major South American countries a little overwhelmed. If both sides did not have a firm belief in winning, I am afraid that it would have reached the stage of seeking peace.

In order to win this war, the Argentines spared no expense. The United States purchased a large number of heavy machine guns and artillery in order to break through Chile's defense line as soon as possible.

On July 29, 1913, near the end of July, the third offensive and defensive battle between Argentina and Chile officially began.

This time, Argentina played all its cards, adding 10,000 reserve troops to the front line, and supporting a large number of machine guns, artillery, weapons and ammunition as well as medical supplies.

At present, Argentina's equipment on the front line has surpassed Chile, which is enough to show how much Argentina has spent on this war.

These weapons and strategic materials alone have caused the Argentine government to owe a huge debt.

If the war reparations cannot be used to pay off this debt, I am afraid that Argentina's development will be greatly restricted in the next ten years.

After all, this debt is owed to the Americans. It is basically impossible to rely on the Americans in America.

The third offensive and defensive battle lasted for most of the day and ended in a great defeat due to the negligence of the Chilean commander.

This offensive and defensive battle also changed the offensive and defensive balance between Chile and Argentina, allowing the war to evolve from a balanced state at the beginning to a certain advantage for Argentina.

The number of casualties on both sides can show the clues. Argentina deployed more than 50,000 soldiers in this offensive and defensive war, with 3,024 deaths and 12,058 injuries.

Chile also had more than 40,000 combat soldiers, with 5,021 deaths and 14,231 injuries.

In addition to the fact that Chile suffered more casualties than Argentina, the negligence of the Chilean commander caused the Chilean army to lose its difficult-to-attack and easy-to-defend position, and the garrison was forced to retreat more than ten kilometers.

This means that the Argentine army has officially expanded forward by more than ten kilometers, and the area of ​​exchange between the two sides has come to Chile.

This is extremely urgent for Chile, and Chile has to ask the British Empire for help again.

On August 2, 1913, after the four major powers of the Allied Powers communicated with each other, they successively announced their intervention in the Chile-Argentina War, and would form an expeditionary force to help Chile defend its territory.

The four great powers jointly interfered in the war between the two small countries, which instantly made the South American War a topic of discussion in the world. People were curious about what kind of magic South America had that could attract the four great powers to send troops.

In fact, if the United States had not hidden it too well behind the scenes, the people at this time would know that the war in South America involved more than just the four great powers. The United States, located in America, had a total of five great powers.

If Germany had not been obsessed with developing naval armaments and had no interest in participating in this dispute, I am afraid that South America would attract not only the Allies, but also the Allies.

It has been half a month since the last time the British Empire sent an inquiry telegram to Arthur.

During this half month, the four great powers of the Allied Powers had preliminary discussions on the number of troops they would send.

According to the agreement of the Allied Powers, the proportions of the troops sent by the four great powers were: 20,000 for Britain, 25,000 for France, 30,000 for Russia, and 16,000 for Australasia.

The total number of troops sent by the four great powers has exceeded 90,000. With the powerful navy for escort and the remaining tens of thousands of Chilean troops, there is absolutely no problem in calming down a small South American war.

In addition to ending the South American war and protecting Britain's interests in South America, this war is also an important way for the four great powers of the Allied Powers to demonstrate their military strength.

Therefore, according to the respective agreements of the four great powers, this expeditionary force will send the elite troops of their own countries, and the combat capability of the expeditionary force must be guaranteed.

Arthur is not clear about other countries, but the army that Australasia is expected to send is the Fourth Standing Division, which has been trained for a long time.

The Standing Division is the combat unit with the most luxurious weapons and equipment and the best training in Australasia, except for the Guards Division.

Although the Fourth Division was established the latest, it has been trained for several years.

Taking this opportunity, it is still necessary for the soldiers of the Fourth Division to see the world and see blood.

After all, an elite force must go through many wars of varying sizes before it can be formed.

A force that relies on training cannot grow into an elite army. Only soldiers who have seen blood and been on the battlefield can be excellent elite soldiers.

The reason why the current number of expeditionary forces in Australasia is 16,000 is because the number of people in an Australasia division is exactly 16,000.

Although the four great powers can easily gather millions of troops, it is too large to deal with a small country like Argentina, let alone millions of troops.

Even if all the troops are the strength of the Australasian regular army, Arthur is confident that only 30,000 people are needed to flatten the entire Argentina.

Although the troops sent by the four great powers are collectively called the Allied Expeditionary Force, the time of their dispatch is different.

In order to reach the battlefield as soon as possible, according to the internal agreement of the Allies, Australasia, which is closest to here, will send soldiers first.

The mission of the Australasian army is to go to Chile and help the Chilean army defend the country.

Successfully hold on until all the Allied Expeditionary Forces arrive, and then gather all the manpower to organize a counterattack.

By the way, it can also practice the degree of coordination of all the Allied forces, so that when the European war begins in the future, the four great powers of the Allied forces will cooperate and fight.

On August 5, 1913, the Australasian Expeditionary Force, the 4th Regular Division, boarded a transport ship and embarked on a journey to Chile.

In order to protect the transport fleet carrying the Fourth Regular Division, the Australasian Navy dispatched an escort fleet led by a dreadnought and a battlecruiser.

Although the escort fleet was not large in size, it had absolutely no rivals in the entire South American region.

Even if we look at the entire American region, the only one that can threaten this escort fleet is probably the United States, one of the eight great powers.

But does the United States dare to attack the Australasian transport fleet openly? Perhaps the American navy is stronger than that of Australasian. Australasian's actions are jointly supported by the Allies, and the Americans have to weigh the consequences of offending the Allies.

To put it bluntly, as long as the Americans jump into the field now and oppose Australasian, the four great powers of the Allies will send more expeditionary forces and directly land on American soil.

Unless the Allies also help the United States, the dignity of the four great powers of the Allies cannot be trampled on in this era.

You know, there are only eight great powers in the world. The Allies directly concentrated half of the eight great powers, which is enough to show the strength of the Allies.

From this point, we can actually see the impact of the current confrontation between the two major military groups in Europe on the world.

You should know that the two major military groups in Europe, the Allies and the Allies, include seven of the eight great powers in the world.

Except for the United States, which is far away in America, all the great powers in the world have participated in the dispute between the two major military groups.

This also represents a terrible fact. If a war breaks out between the two major military groups, it will be a world war that will affect at least seven great powers and cover the entire world.

It is precisely because of this that both parties in the dispute have many fears and dare not wantonly trigger this world war.

If there is no sufficient preparation, the current two major military groups in Europe will not have too fierce disputes.

After all, the confrontation between the two major military groups has caused a high level of public hatred between the European powers.

If disputes are provoked wantonly, the people will be easily affected and incite the government to start a war against other countries.

At that time, even if European countries have no plans to go to war for the time being, they will have to start this war because of the boiling public opinion.

Europe developed very quickly because of the Industrial Revolution, but various revolutions can be seen everywhere.

This makes it easy for the opinions of the country to be influenced by the people. After all, no one wants to become a country like France, where the cabinet is overthrown or even the government is overthrown at any time.

The country can influence the opinions of the people, and the people can also influence the judgment of the country. For decision-makers in European countries, considering the opinions of the people is also a necessary link and factor.

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