Chapter 501: Large-Scale Military Expansion (Please Give Me a Monthly Ticket!)

"In addition to the existing heavy and light industries, we should also strengthen cooperation with the British and introduce a batch of new chemical and military industries from the UK." Prime Minister Kent continued:

"The British Empire has an absolute advantage in the navy. With our good relationship with the British Empire, this can also be transformed into our advantage.

At present, we have mastered the technology of aircraft carriers, but it is not certain that this technology can completely replace the current battleships.

The British Empire's research on battleships is still continuing. We can more easily obtain the most advanced battleship technology in the world and maintain our leading battleship technology before aircraft carriers completely replace battleships.

In addition, we have already achieved a clear advantage in aircraft and tank technology, and we should continue to increase investment to maintain our lead.

The battlefield has proved that these two weapons have a huge role, and they are also the guarantee for us to gain absolute advantage in future wars." Prime Minister Kent said with a firm face.

Whether in peacetime or wartime, investment in military technology is necessary, and even the top priority of the national fiscal budget.

Although Australasia is not an extreme country that advocates the use of force, it also attaches great importance to the investment in military research. The annual military budget is maintained at about 20% to 30% of the total fiscal expenditure, and the comprehensive military strength has ranked among the top five in the world.

Except for Britain and France, it seems difficult to find a country that can lead Australasia in terms of land and navy.

Germany suffered too many restrictions after the war, and it is impossible to rise again without a long recovery period.

The current civil unrest in Russia has also damaged Russia's strength. Tsarist Russia and Soviet Russia alone may not be able to beat Australasia.

In addition, perhaps only the island country and the United States are somewhat threatening to Australasia.

After all, the island country has a population of more than 50 million and can form millions of land forces, which is also a problem for Australasia.

However, the good news is that the navy of the island country has suffered greater restrictions. As an island country, it is unlikely that the island country wants to threaten Australasia only by relying on its land force advantage.

As for the United States, its military strength did not expand much during World War I, and the number of its army was reduced to about 100,000 after World War I.

Moreover, the combat effectiveness of the US military is definitely the last among the great powers. American soldiers do not have the excellent military qualities of the Germans, nor the crazy spirit of the islanders who are not afraid of death. Their weapons and equipment are not as good as those of Britain and France. They participated in World War I late, and their performance in the later battles was not very good.

The US Navy is also good in terms of scale, but the main warships of the United States are still different from the main warships of the United Kingdom in terms of the naval guns they carry.

The current United States is definitely among the top three in the world in terms of industry and economy, and can even suppress the injured Britain and France, claiming to be the world's number one industrial and economic power.

But in terms of comprehensive strength, the US military strength is obviously lagging behind, and the current threat to Australasia is not that high.

However, the last flu crisis also made Americans aware of the threat from Britain and France, especially the threat of the World Alliance under British rule.

This also stimulated the Americans to build ships very quickly, and the speed of building battleships was like making dumplings, which was comparable to a new naval arms race.

In order to deal with the threat of the Americans and improve Australasia's own combat effectiveness, it is necessary to expand the army and navy of Australasia in a new round.

Under the gaze of the cabinet ministers, Prime Minister Kent took out a long-prepared expansion plan and handed it to Arthur.

The current size of Australasia's regular army is actually very small, far less exaggerated than the expeditionary force of up to one million during World War I.

The main army of Australasia, that is, the army composed entirely of Australasia, has only two guard divisions and four regular divisions totaling 104,000 regular troops and three guard forces stationed in the colonies totaling 12,000 people totaling 116,000 people.

Because all the indigenous troops were disbanded, Australasia lost nearly 100,000 troops compared to before.

But this is inevitable. After all, compared with those armies composed entirely of indigenous soldiers, the conventional army composed of Australasians will be the main force in future wars.

The time when the population of Australasia was the most scarce has passed, and the population of 20 million can arm millions of troops at any time.

What's more, the population of Australasia will at least maintain an annual growth rate of one million, which also means that only 100,000 conventional troops are not enough for this country.

The battlefield of World War I has proved that the number of participants in this world war is absolutely hundreds of millions. What can 100,000 troops do? It is just a two-day consumption of a huge battle.

In Prime Minister Kent's military expansion plan, the existing 4 conventional divisions will be fully upgraded and expanded to 12 infantry divisions, 4 artillery divisions, 2 cavalry divisions and 1 tank division, a total of 19 divisions, and more than 250,000 combat troops.

Even if the weapons on the battlefield have undergone earth-shaking changes, infantry is still the mainstream of the current war and one of the most important armies among the major branches of the military.

In addition to the largest infantry division, the expanded four artillery divisions will also make the firepower of the Australasian Army more powerful.

At present, Australasia is already studying tracked artillery, applying tank chassis technology to artillery to improve the transportation capacity of artillery.

If this technology can be realized and used stably, the importance and role of the artillery division on the battlefield will be greatly increased.

As for why it is necessary to form two cavalry divisions when there are tanks, it is because the performance of the current tanks is not stable and the failure rate is relatively high.

The tanks of the second generation cannot adapt to all battlefield environments. In some deserts, hills and mountains, and even areas with bumpy roads, the cavalry division can play a better role.

At least until the stability of the tank is not fully guaranteed, the role of the cavalry division is still very useful.

As for the last fully organized tank division, it was a sign of respect for the newly developed tank technology in Australasia.

Although the stability of tanks cannot be completely guaranteed, after all, they are new weapons that have been tested on the battlefield and can play a huge role on the battlefield. It is still necessary to equip them in large quantities.

As tank technology advances, countries will pay more and more attention to the construction of tanks. Australasia equipped tanks on a large scale in advance. Although it seemed like a big gamble, Arthur knew that it was not a loss.

The mechanization of the army is a necessity for the development of science and technology and the times, and it can also greatly improve the combat effectiveness of the army.

When tank technology is fully mature in the future, corresponding tracked artillery, armored combat vehicles, etc. will also come to the fore, enriching Australasia's weapons system and improving the mobility of the Australasian army.

Although he is Arthur's absolute confidant, he can greatly influence Arthur's decision. However, Prime Minister Kent is still very sensible. In the military expansion plan, he did not mention the Guards controlled by Arthur at all, but only mentioned the regular army responsible for the Ministry of Defense.

This military expansion plan will directly allow Australasia's regular army to exceed 250,000 people. Counting the current 40,000 Guards and more than 10,000 garrison troops, the number of Australasian troops will exceed 300,000. people, reaching the conventional level of a middle-level power.

You know, before the outbreak of World War I, European countries did not have many standing armies, and only Russia exceeded 1 million.

The German Empire, which is famous for its army combat effectiveness, did not even have more than 500,000 troops around 1910.

However, with the development of military science and technology in various countries, it is inevitable that the number of troops will gradually increase.

With the advancement of weapons of mass destruction such as machine guns and artillery, the number of casualties in a battle is definitely beyond what these countries could have imagined before.

This actually means that the war has caused extremely serious damage to the country. It is almost impossible for any country to survive the war alone.

Arthur looked at the military expansion plan submitted by Prime Minister Kent, and he was still very satisfied.

However, in order for the government to have its own ideas, it is important to give these cabinet members the opportunity to express their views.

Instructing the guards to circulate the army expansion plan to all cabinet members, Arthur ordered: "You all have a look at it. If you have different suggestions and opinions on this army expansion plan, you can put it forward."

After everyone had read the military expansion plan, Arthur first looked at Defense Minister Raul and asked: "Minister Raul, is it difficult to expand the conventional army to 250,000 people? What will it do to the combat effectiveness of our existing army?" Is the impact serious? "

The current conventional army only has four divisions with 64,000 troops. The expansion to 250,000 troops is equivalent to about four times the expansion.

Such a huge military expansion will inevitably have an impact on the combat effectiveness of the existing army. Even though Australasia's military academy and previous wars have reserved enough reserve officers for the new army, a large number of veterans must be mobilized into the new army to ensure that the new army has a certain combat effectiveness.

"Your Majesty, we have rotated all armies in previous wars to ensure that all armies participate in the war. Based on our current reserve of reserve officers, the impact of expanding the conventional army to 250,000 on the combat effectiveness of the existing army It’s not too serious,” Minister Raul replied.

"But the combat effectiveness of the new army is always a problem. If they do not experience the test of real war, it is difficult to ensure that they have sufficient combat effectiveness through training alone." Minister Raul continued.

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