Chapter 406 Payment of Pension

While the Allies were planning the famous counter-offensive on the Eastern Front, the Allied camp was also planning to provide new support to Russia on the Eastern Front.

There were two routes for Britain and France to transport supplies to Russia. One was from the North Sea to the Baltic Sea, but it would pass through the waters controlled by the Germans.

The second was from the Mediterranean, passing through Constantinople and arriving at the Black Sea, which would pass through Constantinople controlled by Turkey.

The good news is that with the participation of the Italians, the Allies had an absolute naval advantage on both routes, so the route for transporting supplies to Russia was not cut off.

Especially on the route from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, although Constantinople had a strong coastal defense fort, it was inevitable that the Turkish army would lose all its European territory under the joint attack of the Balkan countries.

At a time when Serbia and Russia took on most of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's military forces for the Balkan countries, Greece, Montenegro, and Romania focused on attacking Bulgaria and Turkey.

In addition to Serbia, which is ambitious, the Balkan countries have an absolute advantage in the Balkan region. Bulgaria is struggling to defend its own territory. Turkey has almost lost all its European territory except Constantinople.

Of course, it still needs to fight against Bulgaria. In addition, most of Serbia’s troops are tied up by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Therefore, Turkey’s Constantinople is still strong at present, which is also a nail inserted into the interior of the Allied Powers.

If the Allies want to transport supplies to Russia as soon as possible, they must remove the nail of Constantinople.

After thinking for a long time, the Allies held consultations and decided to open a new front in the Balkan Peninsula, accommodate the Balkan countries, establish the Balkan front, completely eliminate Bulgaria and Ottoman Turkey, besiege Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Europe, and open up trade routes with Russia.

Of course, the new battlefield enemies are only Bulgaria and Turkey, and at most a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s troops. Therefore, Britain and France do not plan to send troops there.

After communicating with Australasia, the Balkan Front will be led by Division Commander Martin, who will lead the 2nd Guards Division, 3rd Division, 1st Colonial Division, 2nd Division, 3rd Division and 4th Division with more than 100,000 troops to form the Balkan Expeditionary Force, which will join forces with Greece, Romania, Montenegro and Serbia to attack Bulgaria and Ottoman Turkey and protect the Mediterranean routes.

After eliminating Bulgaria and Turkey, the Balkan Expeditionary Force will join forces with Russia to directly encircle Germany and Austria-Hungary from the east, west and south.

In this way, Germany and Austria will be like a turtle in a jar. Not only will their foreign trade and transportation routes be completely cut off, but they will also not receive any resources and material support from the outside world.

If the entire encirclement can be completed, there will be hope for the end of the war. Even if the German and Austrian counterattacks are strong, they will be exhausted in rounds of consumption.

Arthur also knew that the Australasian army would support the Balkan countries. In fact, Arthur also supported such a plan.

At present, the battlefield on the Western Front has entered a stalemate. The Germans are desperately defending. Even if the four-nation coalition of Britain, France, Australia and Italy joins forces, they will not be able to do anything to the Germans in a short time.

The current battlefield on the Western Front is like a harvester. In addition to harvesting the lives of the soldiers of the Allied Powers and the Central Powers, the line of fire between the two countries has not moved at all.

For such unnecessary consumption, it is better to avoid spontaneous combustion. After the main force of the Australasian army went to the Balkans, it targeted Bulgaria, known as the Balkan Prussia, and the Ottoman Empire, which could be regarded as a great power decades ago.

The combat effectiveness of these two countries is far behind that of Germany. It is just right to show the combat capability of the Australasian army to the outside world, and at the same time make enough contributions in the war, and get more benefits in the future.

May 25, 1915.

Just as the Australasian Expeditionary Force arrived in the Balkan Peninsula and prepared to launch the first wave of offensives, the first military rank promotion ceremony since the war was also being held in Australasian, and it was also a pension ceremony for wounded and killed soldiers.

No one knew how long the war would last, so Arthur decided to hold a rank promotion and pension ceremony every time the army retreated.

Only by giving the pension to the families of the fallen soldiers as soon as possible and compensating and rewarding all the soldiers who participated in the war can we justify the soldiers' charge on the battlefield and their contributions to the country.

At around 10 o'clock in the afternoon, the Sydney Palace Square was full of people, and there were more than 10,000 soldiers of the Fourth Division standing there.

"Ladies and gentlemen. On this special day, we stand together solemnly and sadly to commemorate the more than 10,000 soldiers who have died in the war.

No one knows how long the war will last, and no one knows how many more soldiers we will sacrifice. But the belief in protecting the country allows these brave and fearless soldiers to charge at the enemy again and again. They are fearless of death in exchange for a peaceful and stable life in our country.

All our soldiers are great. They may be your fathers, husbands, sons, friends, or people you don’t know at all.

But for the country, for the royal family, and for all the people, they bravely and fearlessly gave their lives.

I declare that the families of all fallen soldiers can receive 10 times the country’s per capita annual income as a one-time compensation, and their children will be provided free of charge by the royal family until they reach adulthood or graduate from high school.

These fallen soldiers will be buried in the Sydney Heroes' Cemetery, where they will be worshipped and remembered by the people of the country.

All wounded soldiers can have their salaries doubled during their recovery period, and those who become disabled can receive 5 times the country's per capita annual income as compensation, and the treatment of all wounded soldiers will be borne by the state and the royal family. "

Hearing the compensation policy that Arthur mentioned, some soldiers in the audience couldn't help but raise their heads proudly.

Australasian's current compensation policy is relatively complete among all countries in the world, and it is implemented very firmly.

You know, Australasia's casualties are relatively few among the major participating countries, which is also the basis for Australasia to firmly implement the compensation policy.

Take Russia as an example. At present, Russia's death toll has reached hundreds of thousands, and the number of casualties has already exceeded one million.

With such a large number of casualties, even if each person is only compensated with 100 rubles, the total amount is as high as hundreds of millions of rubles, more than 10 million pounds.

And the compensation of 100 rubles is only a little more than 10 pounds, which is undoubtedly just a drop in the bucket for the families of injured and killed soldiers.

This is actually one of the reasons why Russia collapsed relatively quickly in its original history. Russia mobilized tens of millions of troops to fight, and the casualties reached millions.

But among these millions of casualties of Russian soldiers, Very few people can get pensions.

Many Russian peasant families, after sacrificing an adult man, not only have to face compensation, but also higher taxes.

This is not the end. Many Russians are also facing job losses, reduced incomes, rising prices caused by inflation, shortages of materials and other factors. It is reasonable that the people are dissatisfied and rebellious.

In addition to the above compensation for the wounded soldiers, all soldiers of the Fourth Division will receive twice the annual national income as a reward in addition to their salaries, in recognition of their meritorious service in the war.

Soldiers, the royal family and the government will never forget your contributions in the war, and I will never forget it.

May Australasia become stronger and stronger under your protection, and may all Australasia people not have to worry about war, hunger, poverty and disease, and live in peace, health and happiness in Australasia. "Arthur said to all the soldiers with a smile.

These pension and reward policies cost a lot. According to the scale of more than 2,000 deaths and more than 6,000 injuries in the Fourth Division, the cost of pensions and rewards for the Fourth Division alone has exceeded 2 million Australian dollars, which is close to one-fiftieth of the current annual income of the Australian and American governments.

Of course, Arthur would not miss such an excellent opportunity to win the hearts of the people and the army.

All pensions and rewards for soldiers are funded by the royal family and personally awarded to every soldier or soldier's family.

This also makes every soldier more loyal to the royal family, and the families of the fallen soldiers are grateful to the royal family without any complaints.

According to the pension policy of Australia and America, the fallen soldiers can receive 10 times the average annual income, more than 500 Australian dollars as compensation.

This income is actually not small, enough to buy a house in the center of Sydney, open a small-scale factory and become a small capitalist.

Or buying a large amount of land in the suburbs and becoming a farmer or rancher is a good choice.

According to the pre-war gold price of 7.33 grams per pound, more than 500 Australian dollars is equivalent to nearly 3.66 kilograms of gold. According to the prices of later generations, this pension is equivalent to more than one million.

Of course, if we take into account the price gap formed in the past 100 years or so, I am afraid that this number will be multiplied several times, or even more than ten times.

In any case, this pension is not a small number, enough for the families of the fallen soldiers to live a better life.

In addition, the government will also bear the education of the children of the fallen soldiers, and save a lot of expenses for their families.

In order to make all soldiers more at ease, Arthur directly promised that they can go to the Royal Bank to get pensions and rewards today.

As long as the personal information and family information of the soldiers can be provided, they can choose two payment methods: check or cash. Or continue to deposit in the Royal Bank, you can enjoy the highest interest rate for savings.

For Arthur, since he wants to give pensions and rewards to soldiers, it is naturally best to get them on the same day.

Talking about not being able to do it will only cause public disgust. Anyway, Arthur has already earned the 2 million Australian dollars from military trade with Russia, and even earned several times.

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