Chapter 427: Disparity in Strength

The then Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies was Count Alexander William Frederick Attenborough, who also served as the Commander-in-Chief of the Dutch East Indies.

Although it seemed that he was in charge of both military and political affairs, in fact, only Governor-General Alexander himself knew that his life was not easy.

Although the Dutch were still in a superior position in the Dutch East Indies, it was equivalent to having nearly 40 million slaves under Governor-General Alexander's command to oppress.

The Dutch hardly cared about the life and death of the indigenous people in the colonies. They could occupy the property, wives and daughters of the indigenous people at will. Trampling on their dignity and depriving them of their lives.

But this land was not as peaceful as it seemed on the surface. The guarantees from Britain and France did not seem to be very effective, and Australasia was eyeing this land.

And within the Dutch East Indies, the more than 40 million indigenous population had hundreds of ethnic groups. The relationship between these ethnic groups was very complicated, and the relationship between the indigenous forces composed of these ethnic groups was also very complicated.

The orders of the Dutch East Indies colonial government were not so effective in some indigenous countries. The areas that the Dutch East Indies could really control were only most of Java Island, Sumatra Island, Kalimantan Island and part of Sulawesi Island.

The entire Dutch East Indies has more than 10,000 islands, but except for some larger islands, other islands are not under the control of the Dutch East Indies.

Although this seems a bit strange, after all, the Dutch are a more developed and powerful European country than the local indigenous people.

What's more, the Dutch have ruled this land for hundreds of years. Logically, even if they have not assimilated all of these populations, they should have controlled most of the areas and achieved proper management.

But in fact, if you compare the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies unilaterally, you can find that the biggest problem for the Dutch is the snake swallowing the elephant phenomenon.

The Netherlands has only more than 6 million people so far, but the population of the Dutch East Indies has reached more than 40 million, which is nearly seven times the total population of the Netherlands.

It is impossible to assimilate more than 40 million indigenous people with a population of more than 6 million.

Even now, there are a large number of sultanates in the Dutch East Indies, which have considerable autonomy, and some of them do not obey the rule of the Dutch East Indies at all.

To rule this land with a population of more than 40 million, the Netherlands has more than 100,000 combat troops in the Dutch East Indies, including more than 30,000 regular troops and more than 100,000 indigenous troops.

But it is obvious that this army is not enough to properly rule a population of 40 million.

In addition, the navy controlled by the Dutch East Indies colonial government is very small, even smaller than the navy of the six major Australian colonies combined.

Under such circumstances, the Dutch East Indies government cannot properly control more than 10,000 islands in its territory. Rebellions in the Dutch East Indies are frequent, and the frequent rebellions give the Dutch a headache, but they can do nothing about it.

According to the Royal Security Intelligence Service, there are as many as 17 indigenous sultanates in the Dutch East Indies. The larger sultanates have a population of millions, and the smallest sultanates have hundreds of thousands of indigenous people.

In particular, Sulawesi Island has five indigenous forces. These indigenous countries control most of Sulawesi Island, greatly weakening the Dutch rule in Sulawesi Island.

This also leads to the fact that although the Dutch own the property of tens of millions of indigenous people, these indigenous people cannot be used well at all.

If the Netherlands is a country with a population of tens of millions, or the Netherlands is closer to the Dutch East Indies, the Netherlands can make better use of the Dutch East Indies.

Of course, even so, the Netherlands can still obtain a lot of benefits from the Dutch East Indies every year, including rubber, food and other economic products.

The reason why the Netherlands is slightly stronger than Belgium is that it controls the Dutch East Indies, which can generate nearly 10 million pounds of income for the Dutch government every year.

After the Australasian government announced the clearing operation, Governor Alexander had already been closely planning the deployment of the Dutch East Indies and temporarily strengthened the defense of the entire Batavia.

As the core area of ​​the Dutch East Indies, Java Island has a Dutch division and more than 60,000 indigenous troops, with a defense force of about 80,000.

If we only look at the number of soldiers, the garrison in Batavia is about twice that of the Australasian army, and has an absolute advantage in terms of numbers.

But war is not just about the advantage in numbers, but the number of military equipment, artillery, and aircraft, the Dutch garrison is far behind the Australasian army, not to mention that the Australasian mainland can still send supplies continuously, while the Dutch mainland is 18,000 miles away from here, and the fastest transportation time takes more than a month.

Another point is that the size of the Dutch army is far behind that of Australasia. And after Australasia officially declared war, Arthur called George V and asked him to set up a line of defense in the Suez Canal area to block the Dutch transport fleet from going south.

This also meant that if the Dutch fleet wanted to support the Dutch East Indies, it had to go around Africa, which greatly increased the time required for support.

Under this premise, it would take the Dutch fleet two months to reach the Dutch East Indies.

Two months later, the war in the Dutch East Indies was over, and the Dutch came just in time to sign a contract.

In Batavia, Governor Alexander's face was not very good at this time.

Governor Alexander looked at the diplomat Renault who had just returned from Australasia and asked: "Ambassador Renault, how many troops can Australasia send?"

As the former Dutch ambassador to Australasia, Ambassador Renault's understanding of Australasia must be higher than that of Governor Alexander and others, which is why Governor Alexander asked Ambassador Renault.

"It's hard to predict, Mr. Governor. But Australasia has recruited at least 700,000 indigenous troops since the war. There are only about 500,000 on the European battlefield. This also means that if Australasia is willing, they can send at least 200,000 indigenous troops at any time." Ambassador Renault shook his head, sighed slightly, and said to Governor Alexander.

Ambassador Renault's term of office began in 1908, and it has been nearly seven years now.

In these seven years, Ambassador Renault has witnessed the development of Australasia with his own eyes. He also naturally knows that the current Australasia is definitely not something that a small Netherlands can resist.

Ambassador Renault could not help but feel a little envious and jealous as he watched Australasia evolve from a weak colony more than a decade ago to one of the most important powers, a major member of the Allied Powers, and the overlord of Oceania.

The rise of Australasia was very smooth, with the help of Germany, Britain and Russia. The biggest enemy before the European war was only the Netherlands, and it was Australasia that took the initiative to provoke the war.

Let's look at the Netherlands in Europe. To rise, it must be agreed by Britain, France and Germany.

But it is obvious that these three countries do not want another power to appear in the Low Countries, even if it is a secondary power.

The Low Countries can threaten the English Channel and the British coast, northeastern France, western Germany and the Ruhr area. Any movement here will attract the attention of the three major powers, and it is also a region that the three major powers are vying to win over.

It is no exaggeration to say that any choice of the three people may offend one of the powers of Britain, France and Germany.

This is a fatal blow to the Netherlands. Surrounded by these three great powers, the Netherlands has no hope of expansion in its homeland. Its colonies are currently coveted by Australasia and there is no hope of a comeback.

Look at Belgium, which claims to be a neutral country. Germany can fight whenever it wants. Thinking of this, Ambassador Renault couldn't help but sigh again, envious of the rise of Australasia and its superior geographical location.

"Damn it, send a telegram to the country immediately, asking the country to send at least 100,000 troops to support. Otherwise, the Dutch East Indies will not be able to resist the attack of the Australasia army." Governor Alexander did not care about Ambassador Renault's sigh. His attention at this time was completely attracted by Ambassador Renault's statement that Australasia had at least 200,000 combat-ready colonial troops.

Although it was only a colonial army, the natives were holding hot weapons, which were enough to cause fatal injuries.

What's more, Australasia also had a large number of artillery and aircraft, and Batavia could be bombed by the fleet on the sea, which was a fatal blow to the defending side.

You know, naval guns are generally equipped with artillery with a caliber of more than 300 mm, which can cause great damage to any fortifications.

Coupled with the bombing from ground forces and the sky, every day of delay will cause a large number of casualties to the Dutch army.

"Yes!" Governor Alexander's men did not dare to hesitate and hurriedly tried to send a telegram to the Netherlands for help.

In fact, the Dutch government at this time was also bitter. They had received a clear reply from the British that no fleet flying the Dutch flag would be allowed to pass through the Suez Canal.

This also means that the journey from the Netherlands to the Dutch East Indies has increased by more than half. Even if the Netherlands immediately transports aid, it will take at least two months to arrive.

However, the Dutch government did not disclose to the Dutch East Indies that it could no longer pass through the Suez Canal, which expressed the government's order to defend Batavia and the entire Java Island at all costs.

The Dutch government also hypocritically stated that a large number of supplies had been transported urgently, and it would take less than a month to reach Batavia at the fastest.

However, the Dutch government did not mention anything about the navigation of the Suez Canal or whether the Dutch transport fleet would be surrounded by the Australasian fleet in the Indian Ocean.

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