Chapter 385 Rapid Expansion of the Military Industry
On August 24, 1914, the Australasian Expeditionary Force, totaling more than 316,000 men, began to march towards the European battlefield.
In order to help the Australasian Expeditionary Force reach Europe faster, Britain and France sponsored a large number of transport ships and promised to protect the expeditionary force's transportation throughout the entire process.
But no matter what, it will take at least more than a month for Australasia to reach the French border. During this more than a month, the French border can only be maintained by the British and French coalition forces.
After the French border battle ended, the number of casualties in France exceeded 140,000, which forced Joffre to admit the failure of the border battle.
Although both France and Germany are fighting the war according to the established combat plans, judging from the current progress made by the two countries, France's Combat Plan No. 17 has failed, while Germany's plan to pass through Belgium has succeeded.
Although the effective strength of the French army has not been consumed much, the failure of the border war caused the German army to sweep through French territory as if leaving the court. The place they passed was like a scorched ruins. Even French President Poincaré was in Nigaku. Er's family cemetery was also dug into a toilet.
Although I don’t know if this was intentional by the German army, the situation France is currently facing has fully demonstrated France’s current crisis.
After the failure of the border war, Xiafei was at the headquarters thinking about the real reasons for the defeat and the decision to save the war situation.
Although both the military and political circles criticized Xiafei, Xiafei was not too panicked at this time.
Seeing his boss frowning as he thought about the problem, Xiafei's assistant and adjutant, Captain Miller, couldn't help but remind him: "Your Excellency, Commander-in-Chief, don't you think there is a problem with the deployment of the army?"
Xiafei was stunned for a moment and looked at his assistant. He did not blame him for asking the question unexpectedly, but continued to ask with interest: "Captain Miller, what do you think the German army should do next?"
As the aide-de-camp of the French Commander-in-Chief, Captain Miller's resume is naturally not ordinary.
He was born in the Saint-Cyr Military Academy and has repeatedly achieved military exploits in the army. He is shrewd and capable and is an extremely capable young officer.
Xiafei took him with him as an accompanying adjutant, and he also had the intention of training Miller.
Captain Miller heard Xiafei's question and thought carefully for a while before replying: "Your Excellency, Commander-in-Chief, I think the Germans' next goal must be to attack Paris. There are three ways to choose from in attacking Paris. The first is One is from the axis of Cambrai via Amiens and Rouen, and returns to Paris from the west. The second is from the axis of Maubeuge, Saint-Quentin and Soissons, and the third is to attack Paris directly. Roix and Maubeuge turned to the southwest, pursued the main force of our army, and then attacked Paris. Judging from the current situation of our army fighting and retreating, the Germans are most likely to choose the third route. "
Xiafei nodded encouragingly, looked at his adjutant with gratified eyes, and continued to ask: "Is there any way to deal with it?"
"Although our army has been newly defeated, our main force still has combat capabilities. The northern route army can retreat towards the Marne River and hold on along the river. In addition, an elite group army can be dispatched to station north of the city of Paris, which can not only defend Paris, but also You can look for opportunities to attack the German flank," Miller continued.
For the French army, retreat is okay, but continuous retreat is not advisable. As the capital of France, if Paris falls too early, it will not only bring a huge blow to the French people and army, but also to the entire Allied Powers.
You know, the battlefield on the Western Front is basically defended by the French army. If the French army loses its combat effectiveness too early, it will be equivalent to losing a powerful boost to the Allied offensive and defense.
Xiafei's laughter became louder, he nodded with satisfaction, and said to Miller: "Captain, I think we should change positions. You will be the commander-in-chief, and I will be your adjutant."
Although there was a bit of a joking tone, Xiafei's words were not entirely jokes.
In fact, Miller's proposal to take office is basically consistent with Joffre's idea, which also means that Miller's ability is indeed worthy of being the commander-in-chief of France in some aspects.
The day after the expeditionary force was dispatched to Australasia, that is, August 25, 1914, Joffre officially changed his deployment and promulgated a new combat plan.
First, prevent the disintegration of all French armies, but allow the integrated troops to evacuate in an orderly manner to Verdun, the Aine, Craon, Laon, Raphael, Saint-Quentin, and the Somme.
At this time, Xiafei still didn't know that his order would lead to the outbreak of some of the most brutal battles in World War I.
The line from Verdun to the Somme River was the position designated by Joffre to build military facilities and build offensive and defensive positions.
Starting from this decision by France, the Western Front battlefield fell into protracted trench warfare. The two sides compete not only in manpower, but also in material, financial and transportation capabilities.
Since the beginning of the war, all military-industrial enterprises in Australasia have entered into a state of overtime production.
On the European battlefield, the consumption of weapons, equipment and ammunition is also increasing faster. Britain, France and Russia are already negotiating a batch of huge arms trade orders with Australasia.
According to the current situation, this arms trade order is divided into 400,000 rifles, 1,200 artillery pieces, 500 heavy machine guns, 100,000 grenades, 80 million rounds of rifle bullets, 10 million rounds of machine gun bullets, and 200,000 Various types of artillery shells.
This is more than 10 million Australian dollars involved in the huge military purchase, and the net profit alone is at least 4 million Australian dollars.
And the bulk of this weapons purchase order belongs to the Russian Empire. Because of the crazy military expansion of the Russian Empire, many soldiers have not yet received their own weapons.
In the current Russian army, there is a tradition of snatching weapons. Of course, it is not to snatch weapons from one's own comrades, but to snatch the bodies of those who died on the battlefield.
As long as you are quick, you can take the weapons from the bodies, and then these weapons will belong to you, whether from the enemy or from your comrades.
This also leads to the current chaos in Russia's logistics. There are guns produced by Russia itself, guns supported by Britain and France, guns produced in Australasia, and guns produced in Germany. If it is a little more chaotic, it can be called a multinational product.
These various types of weapons have caused a huge burden on the logistics of the Russian Empire, and the Russian government has made up its mind to replace the weapons of the elite troops.
At least adopting unified combat weapons in the elite troops can greatly reduce the logistical pressure caused by different weapons.
This batch of weapons orders is almost a quarter of Australasia's inventory. Even if Australasia's military factories work overtime, the current rate of consumption of weapons and equipment (including foreign exports) is still far greater than the production rate.
This also makes Arthur's previous decision to order crazy stockpiling of weapons and equipment extremely wise, and the military factories are more obedient to Arthur's orders.
So far, the number of employees in the Royal Military Factory has reached 25,000. This number has increased by nearly 10,000 compared to more than a year ago, which does not show how exaggerated the expansion rate of the military factory is.
Even the expansion rate of Australasia's civilian military factories is also very amazing. Conservative estimates show that the number of employees in Australasia's military industry has exceeded 30,000. The biggest change that the war has brought to Australasia is the crazy expansion of the military industry.
If the war continues, the number of employees in Australasia's military industry may even exceed 50,000, moving towards the 100,000 mark.
Although this is a good thing for promoting employment in Australasia, when the war is over, how to deal with the overly large and bloated military industry is also a problem.
There was a long gap between World War I and World War II. Australasia was destined not to have too many wars due to its special geographical environment.
Unless Australasia could instigate many regions around the world and artificially create many wars, otherwise the weapons and equipment manufactured would have nowhere to sell.
Wait, Arthur suddenly felt that such behavior was somewhat familiar. Isn't this the world policeman in the future?
Although the war has lasted for nearly a month, the impact on Australasia is not too great.
Judging from the current situation in Australasia, the lives of residents are still the same as usual. Except that the military factories are constantly recruiting people, there seems to be no difference in other things.
This is the benefit brought by Australasia's unique geographical location. Even if World War I affected six powers, it was basically unlikely that the war would spread to Australasia's homeland.
If Australasia had not sent an expeditionary force and had transported weapons and equipment and resources to Europe many times, this war would seem to have little connection with Australasia.
Of course, it is impossible to say that the war has no impact on Australasia. At least in terms of immigration, especially since the second half of this year, the number of immigrants in Australasia has been visibly reduced.
Before, there were a large number of tankers and transport ships going back and forth between Oceania and Europe every day, transporting thousands of immigrants to Australasia.
But since the second half of this year, the number of immigrants has been reduced by more than half. If it were not for the number of Russian immigrants struggling to support it, I am afraid that this year's immigration figures would be directly cut in half.
According to the report of the Immigration Bureau of the Ministry of Civil Affairs of Australasia, this year's immigration has dropped significantly compared with last year, and the final number of immigrants may not exceed 700,000.
The number of Russian immigrants accounts for the majority, which should be around 500,000 to 550,000.
Without the support of Russia's stable source of immigrants, I am afraid that the immigration boom that Australasia has maintained for more than ten years will end, and the population growth rate of Australasia will also decline.
On August 27, 1914, after several days of preparation, the weapons and equipment delivered to Britain, France and Russia were successfully shipped from Sydney Port, and the troops were divided into two groups to France and Russia's Far East.
The expeditionary force of Australasia had set off by ship a few days ago. They will arrive in France at the end of September, and then take the railway from France to the border to cooperate with the British and French forces in the battle.
In addition to requesting support from Britain and Australasia, France and Russia are also seeking support from other neutral countries.
In fact, since the beginning of the war, some important neutral countries, such as Italy and Bulgaria, have been the targets of the Allies and the Entente.
Needless to say, Italy, as one of the great powers, is adjacent to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and France, and has good naval strength in the Mediterranean region.
If Italy can be lured to join the war, it will be good news for either side (only limited to the navy).
The Allies and the Central Powers have never stopped trying to win over Italy. Although Italy has already declared neutrality, the interventionists and neutralists in Italy have been arguing for a long time about which side to join.
The Allies and the Central Powers are also negotiating frantically with Italy. If nothing unexpected happens, Italy should wait and see for a while before making a decision.
In addition to Italy, Bulgaria has also been jointly won over by the Allies and the Central Powers.
Bulgaria's geographical location is relatively important. It is not only located in the Balkan Peninsula, the outbreak point of World War I, but also close to Serbia, Romania, Greece and other countries.
If Bulgaria joins the Central Powers, Serbia will be attacked from all sides, which is not a good thing for the Allies.
After Bulgaria obtains the support of the Central Powers, it can completely pose a major threat to Serbia and the Balkans.
And if Bulgaria joins the Allies, it will also be a huge help to the Allies. Not only can Serbia have no worries about backup, and concentrate on uniting with Russia to fight against the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but it can also make the Balkan region a whole, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire's advantage in this area will disappear.
However, compared with Italy, which is more fence-sitter, it is actually more difficult to win over Bulgaria.
Italy will join whoever gives more benefits, and they are only waiting for which side to enter the greater advantage.
Bulgaria is different. In the Second Balkan War, the hatred between Bulgaria and Serbia deepened, which greatly reduced the possibility of Bulgaria joining the Allies.
Unless Britain and France can offer conditions far exceeding those of the Allies and satisfy the forces and people in Bulgaria, otherwise, Bulgaria is unlikely to join the Allies.
In any case, Bulgaria's geographical location is indeed very important, and Britain and France are also trying their best to win it.
In addition to winning over countries like Italy and Bulgaria, the four major powers within the Allies have also held many meetings, of course, in the form of telegrams.
The four great powers are conducting various negotiations to determine how much concessions can be given to these neutral countries in order to attract these countries to join the Allies and fight against the Central Powers together.
If nothing unexpected happens, the Italians should join the Allies. It must be said that Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire have direct territorial conflicts, which is the reason that prevents Italy from joining the Central Powers.