Chapter 901 The Fall of Paris

As time entered October 1936, bad things still happened, that is, the French capital Paris officially fell.

However, there is also good news, that is, France has truly gotten rid of its bad reputation in history, and is no longer the laughing stock of the country that surrendered before Paris was conquered.

Of course, the Germans also paid a very painful price to break through Paris.

Britain, France, Australia and Germany gathered more than 4 million troops near Paris. After a complete Paris offensive and defensive battle, the four countries lost more than half, and Britain, France and Australia only had nearly 1 million troops retreating south to Orleans.

Germany, as the attacking party, was even more tragic, with more than 800,000 soldiers killed in the battle, and almost everyone was injured.

The total number of aircraft invested by the four countries in Paris added up to more than 5,000, of which more than 1,500 were destroyed, and more than 2,000 aircraft were injured.

Although the fighting around Paris has stopped, the wreckage and ruins caused by the war can be seen almost everywhere, and the smoke of gunpowder has turned this once prosperous metropolis into a hell on earth.

How tragic was it? The casualties reported by the troops were approximate figures. In this war, it was impossible to count the specific casualties.

Because every once in a while, a large number of soldiers would fall on the road of charging or defending, and the number of casualties was constantly jumping.

After retreating to the vicinity of Orleans, Australasia counted the army. Originally, there were nearly 800,000 combat troops, but only about 300,000 successfully evacuated.

Among them, 150,000 local troops of Australasia successfully evacuated, and the remaining 150,000 were troops from the Philippines and Kalimantan.

This means that in this Paris defense war, Australasia's losses alone were close to 500,000, which is already a very exaggerated number.

When the British, French and Australian troops retreated to Orleans to reorganize the defense line, the German army had already entered Paris and declared martial law.

Although the French government had evacuated south to Tours before the German army entered Paris. But this still cannot change the influence of Paris on the whole of France, and it cannot change the status of Paris in the hearts of the people of Germany and France.

On the morning of October 14, the German 18th Army officially entered Paris. The commander-in-chief of the army group, Bock, held a grand military parade on the Champs Elysees in Paris.

The once bustling metropolis has now become a silent ruin and a dead city. Apart from the German soldiers who maintain order, there are few French people.

Because before the fall of Paris, most Parisians had fled to the suburbs or rural areas, and a few hid in their homes, fearing that they would be discovered by the German army.

Although European countries claim to be civilized countries, no country is truly completely civilized when it comes to war.

Even Germany, after conquering a country's capital, will inevitably do some things to vent its anger.

Especially since Germany and France have maintained hatred for decades, it is not surprising that Germany did some uncivilized things after conquering Paris.

Before this military parade, the German army had completely replaced the French tricolor flag hung in Paris.

The flag of the German Empire replaced the French tricolor flag and was hung on the top of the Eiffel Tower, French government departments, Paris City Hall and the French Parliament.

Things really happened as the French people expected. After conquering Paris, the German army immediately began to vent their anger.

They strictly controlled the remaining citizens in Paris, and some German soldiers even molested French women on the street.

On the afternoon of October 14, the German army returned to the Compiègne Forest.

This forest is quite special. More than 20 years ago, it was the place where the German Empire surrendered to France and its allies.

After more than 20 years, the Germans returned to this forest with a much more complicated mood.

In an open space in this forest, there is a victory monument erected by the French after World War I, on which a fallen German eagle is carved.

Next to the victory monument is a bust of French Marshal Foch.

Marshal Foch's great name is well known in France.

Marshal Foch participated in many battles of World War I, and after the end of World War I, he was awarded the rank of marshal of Britain, France and Poland.

Such an achievement is naturally not something that ordinary people can do. As one of the most famous French generals in World War I, Foch is remembered by the French people to this day.

The German army did not destroy Foch's bust, but built a new statue of the German Prime Minister in front of Foch's sculpture.

After a short stay in Paris, the German army resumed the offensive, aiming directly at Orleans in the south of Paris.

The current situation is far different from that in history. In history, France was ready to surrender before Paris was captured.

There was even a joke that it would never be possible to capture Paris before France surrendered, which made him nailed to the pillar of shame forever.

Now, although Paris has been captured, the Germans have also paid a heavy price.

What's more, the military government has moved south to Tours. France not only has no intention of surrendering, but has even decided to resolutely resist Germany.

Even if Tours was captured, there were still large cities like Bordeaux, Toulouse and Marseille to move to the south.

Although France's territory was not large, it could still delay the Germans for a while if it repeatedly established defensive lines.

In terms of fighting the Germans, Britain and Australasia have also become serious.

In a new Allied meeting, Britain, France and Australia discussed a new battle plan, which was to contain the German army through Orleans, and Britain and France took the opportunity to deploy a new line of defense in Tours and try to stop the German army north of the Loire River.

Such a decision is quite risky, because the Loire River runs through most of France, dividing France into two parts, north and south.

Relying on the Loire River to establish a defensive position means completely abandoning the vast territory north of the Loire River.

These territories include Brittany, Normandy, Paris and Calais. It obviously takes a lot of determination to abandon these territories.

But in other words, if a more solid defense line can be established based on the Loire River, France will at least not be in danger of extinction.

After all, less territory means easier defense, and more troops can be deployed on each line of defense. This is the only good news.

At present, there are about 2 million French troops in France, 300,000 troops are deployed in Orleans, about 700,000 troops are heading to Tours, 300,000 troops are stationed on the Maginot Line, 500,000 troops are stationed on the line from Turin to Nice, and 200,000 troops are scattered in Troyes and Nancy.

There are only about 300,000 Australasian troops left, all located near Orleans.

The British army is about 700,000, 200,000 of them remain in Orleans, 200,000 go to the line from Rennes to Nantes, and the remaining 300,000 are deployed in Tours.

The German army is currently about 3 million. In addition to the hundreds of thousands of troops that have entered Paris, there are hundreds of thousands of troops distributed throughout France, besieging French cities.

Although it seems that the German army is larger, Germany has mobilized most of the domestic troops, and the cumulative number of conscriptions has reached a terrifying 5 million.

Britain and France still have a large number of colonial troops in preparation. If Britain and France are given more time, they can gather tens of millions of troops at any time.

Even in Australasia, the mobilization situation at this time is far less exaggerated than imagined.

Even the two vassal states of Kalimantan and the Philippines, they only mobilized millions of troops each, and they can still squeeze them.

As the war gradually entered a white-hot stage, the production and procurement of weapons in various countries also became very important.

France lost a large area of ​​land, and its military industry was greatly affected. Fortunately, France has two very reliable allies, Britain and Australasia, and most of their recruits' equipment also comes from these two countries.

How exaggerated is the profit of the military industry?

Since the war lasted for such a long time, Australasia's profit in the military industry has been close to 200 million Australian dollars, and this is because Britain and France did not import too many weapons from Australasia before.

As Britain and France began to purchase a large number of Australasia's arms, the income of Australasia's military industry will usher in a surge.

It is no exaggeration to say that the income from selling arms alone can support the war between Australasia and the island countries.

In other words, the war with the island countries does not require Australasia to make any economic investment at all. With the income from arms trade, the military expenditure can be supported.

At present, the best-selling items in national-level trade are food, weapons and medicine.

Australasia has made considerable achievements in this regard, and naturally became one of the most profitable countries in this war.

It should also be thankful that because Australasia is far away from the main battlefield in Europe, there is no need to worry about the impact of the war on the mainland.

Even the UK has to face the bombing of the German Air Force from time to time, and it is impossible for industrial production not to be affected.

But because of the distance of Australasia, the nearest enemy island countries cannot pose a threat to the mainland of Australasia.

This also leads to the fact that Australasia's industry and economy still maintain a very rapid growth rate, and there is no feeling of being in a war period at all.

Of course, a very important part of the reason is that the war in Australasia at this time is in a state of limited mobilization.

Before the outbreak of the war, the total number of soldiers in Australasia was about 570,000. So far, the army has only expanded to just over 1 million, which is a relatively healthy level for the total population of the entire country.

As of the beginning of 1936, the total population of Australasia was about 45.59 million, which was already in the middle among all the powers, and the population disadvantage was basically eliminated.

According to the size of the army mobilized by the European powers, the ratio of Australasia's soldiers to the total population was already the lowest among all the participating powers, even lower than some countries that did not participate in the war.

The population of Italy and France was at the same level as that of Australasia, but the total number of soldiers mobilized in the war in these two countries was as high as 2 million and 3 million, both of which were two or three times that of Australasia.

Under such circumstances, it was completely impossible for the industrial production of France and Italy to remain unaffected.

This is why the geographical location of Australasia is very good. It is precisely because of the relatively remote geographical location that Australasia can be free from the impact of the war, and can also achieve positive economic and industrial growth during such a war.

In order to better help the French resist the German army, Britain and Australasia also promised the French government that they would support a new batch of troops within a month.

The UK currently has about 700,000 troops in France. Within a month, the UK will increase its troops by at least 500,000 and maintain the size of the British Expeditionary Force at about 1.2 million.

Australasia will increase its troops by 500,000 within a month to fulfill the previous agreement with the French and maintain the size of the Australasian Expeditionary Force at 800,000.

In this way, the total size of the British, French and Australian armies will exceed 4 million. It is not realistic to defeat the German army, but it is still possible to delay the German army.

In addition to the 4 million troops expected in France, the opening of the second battlefield in the Balkans is also very important.

As a famous powder keg in Europe, the Balkans have a relatively good military combat level.

Especially compared with the great power Italy, the combat effectiveness of the armies of a considerable number of Balkan countries has exceeded that of Italy, of course only limited to the army.

If the three Balkan countries can participate in this war, the Allied Powers, mainly Britain, France and Australia, will not only have three more powerful allies, but also millions more Balkan troops.

Although Romania and Bulgaria are also likely to join the German camp, the size of Yugoslavia is enough to fight against Romania and Bulgaria, not to mention the help of Greece and Albania.

Moreover, there are not only these countries in the Balkan Peninsula. The Republic of Turkey, which occupies Constantinople, and Hungary, which also gained independence in World War I, can also have an impact on the situation in the Balkans.

Of course, the most exciting thing is the huge country in the northeast of the Balkan Peninsula.

In many meetings between Britain, France and Australia, the solution to Russia has been mentioned.

Russia is the only one among the powerful countries that has not participated in the war. Such an exception is not allowed to exist at all.

After all, everyone has consumed their strength because of this war, but Russia has been developing in this war. Isn't this obviously making a special case?

Facing this country that is likely to develop into a major concern for them, the British said that it is absolutely impossible to let Russia stay out of it.

How to deal with the trouble of Russia is actually very simple, and it is written in the defense plan for France.

As long as the French defense line is run like an iron barrel and the Germans are firmly blocked outside the defense line, the Germans will definitely find a new way to resolve this war.

Germany and Russia were enemies in World War I. If the Western Front cannot be broken through, there is a high probability that Germany will focus on Russia on the Eastern Front.

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