Chapter 354 Taking over the Solomon Islands

According to the agreement between Australasia and the Allied Powers, when the number of Australasia's standing troops reached 400,000, that was when Britain and France began to transfer Pacific colonies to Australasia. new

You know, although there are only a few archipelagos and islands in the Pacific colonies, the total area is not too large.

But this does not mean that transferring colonies is a simple process. Even if the Australasian company is relatively close to the colony, it will take at least half a year to fully accept it.

This also involves the admission and repatriation of the colonial population, the reconstruction of colonial order and government, taking over the colonial garrison, etc.

More importantly, this area involves a small half of the Pacific Ocean, which also means that the Australasian navy must patrol this area to ensure the maritime security of these colonies.

But the good news is that Australasia currently has no rivals in this area. It also relies on the Allies and is not worried that the security of these colonies will be threatened.

Of course, if you want to calculate it, the United States may be in danger now.

Because of the current South American war, the forces behind Argentina and Chile are actually competing in secret.

However, I think the United States should not have the guts to directly participate. As long as the Allies do not help the United States, the current comprehensive military strength of the United States is simply not comparable to that of any country such as Britain and France.

However, for safety reasons, Australasia will be the first to receive islands that are relatively close to the mainland, such as the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, which is very close to Australian New Guinea.

The entire Solomon Islands has a land area of ​​approximately 28,400 square kilometers and a total population of nearly 220,000.

But the current Solomon Islands is divided and governed by Britain and Germany. Germany occupies the two northern islands, and the United Kingdom occupies the entire Solomon Islands except these two islands.

After a note was sent to the British Ambassador to Australia, the transfer of 1 colony officially began.

The population of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate is approximately 150,000, of which less than 20,000 are British and European immigrants, and the rest are local indigenous people.

What needs to be resolved is the issue of whether to retain these 20,000 people. For the remaining indigenous population of nearly 130,000, the problem is easy.

Or, sacrifice your life for the future construction of the Solomon Islands. Or, be deported to Southeast Asia or other regions.

There is also a more thorny issue, that is, the placement of the Solomon Islands, or the political division level of the Solomon Islands.

At present, there are generally two ideas and methods. One is to separate the Solomon Islands and create a Solomon Islands colony.

On the other hand, because the Solomon Islands are relatively close to New Guinea, some officials proposed to merge the Solomon Islands into the Australian New Guinea colony without establishing separate administrative divisions.

These two proposals actually have little impact on Arthur.

After all, the governor of the colony was personally appointed by Arthur, which also meant that the colonial governor would be more loyal to Arthur than the elected governor.

Whether the Solomon Islands is incorporated into Australian New Guinea or treated as an independent colony, it is within the scope of the colony, so the difference is not too big.

After comprehensive consideration, Arthur, at the suggestion of Prime Minister Kent, decided to separate the Solomon Islands as a colony and name it the Solomon Islands Colony. newᴄᴏᴍ

After all, the Solomon Islands are hundreds of kilometers away from Australian New Guinea, so unified management is not convenient.

More state-level administrative units will also help Arthur reward his subordinates. At the same time, these colonial governors were also Arthur's loyal supporters and could support Arthur's status to a certain extent.

A model of the colonial garrison accompanied Mark MacOsland, the first governor of the Solomon Islands Colony, to the Solomon Islands. It also represented Australasia's takeover of the Solomon Islands, in Oceania and the Pacific. Within the scope, expand your sphere of influence again.

Before Mark MacOslander left, Arthur specially met with him and tested Mark MacOslander's ability.

What the Solomon Islands need to do now is, first, to retain the colonial population as much as possible and ensure the development of the colony.

The second is to stabilize the order of the colony as soon as possible and prevent possible chaos in the Solomon Islands.

The third is to establish as complete a defense system as possible in the Solomon Islands. Coastal defense is also very important. After all, this is the actual northeastern border of Australasia.

Of course, these tasks are not difficult to complete in practice. At least judging from Mark MacOsland's ability, it is not difficult to accomplish this.

After all, the Solomon Islands also has more than 100,000 indigenous people who can be used. This is a labor resource that can be consumed at will, which can lay a solid foundation for various constructions in the Solomon Islands.

Taking advantage of this opportunity in the Solomon Islands, Arthur also modified the defense of all colonies.

The Solomon Islands and Australian Timor each have about 1,000 troops stationed there.

Australian New Guinea and the Crown Territory have a garrison of 3,000 troops.

These garrisons form separate armies and are directly affiliated with the Ministry of Defense. Colonies have the right to apply for transfer, but the salaries, weapons and equipment of the garrison are all provided by the Ministry of Defense.

Doing so can weaken the power of the colonial governor and minimize the possibility of the colonial governor's mercenaries becoming self-reliant.

However, the colonial governor still had the power to mobilize these garrisons. After all, certain policies regarding colonial security also require the cooperation of these garrisons.

After such mobilization, the troops stationed in the northern colonies and royal territories were greatly reduced, with only 8,000 troops at full strength.

However, with the cooperation of Australasia's navy, the security of these colonies can still be guaranteed.

As for the 15 colonial divisions that Australasia currently has, Arthur mobilized them to the Australasian mainland for unified and standardized training.

Before the war begins, they also have to undergo a period of training to ensure that they have certain combat capabilities.

Of course, more important is to cultivate the loyalty of these indigenous soldiers. At least there will be no chaos or defection during the war, which is also the most basic requirement.

But I guess not. After all, these troops will arrive on the European battlefield in the future. Who can they defect from? Defect to Germany?

You know, racism in Europe is much more serious than in Australasia. If they escape from the battlefield, they may not escape the danger of their lives.

It is better to fight for Australasia. After winning, they will also get the rewards promised by Arthur. new

Yes, in order to stimulate the motivation of these soldiers and ensure that these indigenous armies would not create chaos, Arthur promised that as long as these indigenous soldiers served in Australasia for ten years, they would receive a financial reward and fight with him Together with his family, he was sent to live in Southeast Asia.

This was the first time since Arthur had taken control of all of Australasia that he publicly promised to send Aboriginal peace to Southeast Asia.

This also gave some Aboriginal people who originally thought they would die a tragic fate in Australasia a hope of life. Even if it was just for their own families, they had to hold on to this life-saving straw.

In order to make these indigenous soldiers believe in their words, and to cultivate the combat effectiveness of these indigenous soldiers, ensure their loyalty.

With a wave of his hand, Arthur also provided meat for these indigenous soldiers, just one meal for two days.

But this is much better than the life these indigenous people had before. On the basis of daily obedience training, they can get enough food. One meal of beef, mutton and fruit every two days, even just a tomato or apple, is enough to excite these natives.

In addition, these colonial divisions have instructors established by Arthur, who are actually officials responsible for brainwashing.

Therefore, since the training of these 15 colonial divisions began, there has not been much chaos, and the training is proceeding in an orderly manner.

In fact, this is normal. After all, after these indigenous people join the army, the treatment for them and their families will be much better.

One of the many benefits for indigenous soldiers is that their family members can be exempted from forced labor and become regular workers under the government or colonial government, and the work will also be paid.

This also means that after these indigenous people join the army, the safety and life of their families are guaranteed.

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At the same time, more generous rewards and guarantees will be provided to some indigenous people who are promoted to serve as squad leaders and officers. With these indigenous people providing internal supervision, the control of the entire colonial division can be more secure.

The most critical one to ensure that the colonial divisions had a certain degree of loyalty, Arthur established a rule within the indigenous soldiers, which Arthur simply called the rule of whistleblowing.

As long as you can expose the disloyal behavior of your comrades and superiors, you can get generous rewards once verified.

The reward includes a certain amount of money and the freedom of the whistleblower and his family.

This also means that if the exposure is successful, it is very likely that you and your family will be freed directly.

Even if money is not affected by others, Arthur believes that no indigenous people will not yearn for freedom. The promulgation of this whistle-blowing rule will make some natives with ulterior motives fearful and create rifts between the natives even if they do not have the courage to expose their comrades and superiors.

At the same time, a colonial division would not have many indigenous soldiers from one region.

Such rules even extend to squad units. In the same combat squad, there will basically be no more than two indigenous people from the same area.

This also means that these indigenous soldiers are relatively unfamiliar with their comrades-in-arms, which also increases the possibility of indigenous soldiers exposing their comrades-in-arms, and increases the distrust and suspicion between indigenous soldiers.

The best way to manage these indigenous people is to differentiate between the indigenous people and the indigenous people, and use the indigenous people to manage the indigenous people.

Under various policies, even if the colonial division's loyalty is not too high, it can barely be used for combat.

Anyway, after these colonies were sent to Europe, their life and death was not important to Arthur.

Of course, Arthur will do what he says. After World War I, the vast majority of the indigenous people will be repatriated by Arthur, including even the indigenous people who did not join the army.

All native soldiers were uniformly equipped with Lee-Enfield rifles, which also consumed part of the Royal Ordnance Factory's rifle inventory.

But the good news is that the British Empire supported part of the funding for this batch of equipment, and the Australasian Ministry of Defense did not contribute much.

In addition to rifles, the colonial division was equipped with very few heavy weapons. Each colonial division was equipped with only a few machine guns and more than a dozen artillery pieces, and the heavy firepower weapons were only pretentious.

Compared with the luxuriously equipped conventional troops and Guards divisions, the colonial division's equipment seemed a bit shabby.

But after all, they are the troops that Arthur uses as cannon fodder. It is already quite good to be equipped with some machine guns and artillery.

In terms of training, the colonial division also has a relatively large gap with conventional troops.

The most important training for the colonial division is, first, discipline and discipline training, and second, simple English training.

This is to facilitate these soldiers to better communicate with Europeans after they go to Europe, and also to allow these soldiers to better obey the commands of Australasian officers.

As for target training, although the colonial division also has it, it is not as frequent as the regular troops.

Generally speaking, these indigenous soldiers can conduct target training once every five days. Each target training consumes about ten bullets per person, and an average of two bullets per person per day.

This also means that the number of bullets consumed by 300,000 indigenous soldiers every day is as high as the production capacity of the military factory, which is a test.

However, such consumption is also effective. At least these indigenous soldiers' marksmanship has improved a lot since joining the army.

Of course, the Ministry of National Defense does not expect these indigenous soldiers to be good at marksmanship. It can be seen from the target training every five days that the requirements of the Ministry of National Defense are actually just to let these indigenous soldiers master the use of firearms proficiently, so as to avoid getting injured. I don’t even know how to fire a gun on the battlefield.

Anyway, on the European battlefield, the consumption of these indigenous soldiers was basically provided by the British Empire.

As for whether these indigenous soldiers will waste a lot of bullets, it depends on whether the British Empire's logistics capabilities are strong and whether the production of the military factories is fast.

While the Colonial Division was undergoing extensive training, the training of Australasia's regular forces, two Guards Divisions and three Regular Divisions, also continued.

This has also led to the fact that the current Australasian soldiers' daily training consumption is a very huge number.

At present, ordinary soldiers consume about 20 rounds of bullets for each target practice. This also means that the total number of bullets consumed by all ordinary soldiers for each target practice is as high as 1.6 million rounds.

This does not include the training consumption of the colonial division, otherwise the number would be higher.

Of course, regular troops do not conduct target training every day. After all, there are many other trainings. But in theory, soldiers in the conventional army should conduct target training at least three times a week.

Calculated in this way, the annual bullet consumption of all Australasian armies is nearly 100 million rounds.

If Arthur had not ordered the Royal Ordnance Factory to expand wildly and increase the production speed of weapons and equipment in order to cope with the future world war, I am afraid that the domestic consumption in Australasia alone would be enough to give the Royal Ordnance Factory a headache.

The current Royal Ordnance Factory is one of the largest enterprises in Australasia.

The Royal Ordnance Factory has a total of 17,000 employees, one main factory and two branch factories.

The combined production capacity of the three factories means that the Royal Ordnance Factory can produce 500 Lee-Enfield rifles, GEWs, various artillery pieces, 110 submachine guns, and 400 grenades per day.

In terms of ammunition, the Royal Ordnance Factory has a daily production capacity of 500,000 rounds of various rifle bullets, 150,000 rounds of machine gun bullets, and 8,700 rounds of various artillery shells.

If we can concentrate on the production of certain weapons or ammunition, then the output value of that type of weapons and ammunition should be doubled several times, but the drawback is that the output value of other weapons and ammunition will be reduced.

However, the good news is that the Royal Ordnance Factory's production capacity is still increasing, almost every few months.

Moreover, in addition to the Royal Arms Factory, Australasia's current private arms factories, including those invested by the government and royal consortium, can also produce 100 rifles per day and more than 100,000 rounds of various types of ammunition per day. .

A sufficiently developed military industry gave Australasia the confidence to dare to participate in World War I, and also gave Arthur the confidence to obtain sufficient benefits in World War I.

You know, during World War I, all countries in the world were in severe shortage of weapons, ammunition and supplies.

During the war, problems caused by the lack of weapons and ammunition also made these countries miserable.

In particular, Russia, Australasia's current ally, is one of the hardest-hit countries that lacks weapons, ammunition and other supplies.

Only 3 million rifles, 2 billion rounds of ammunition, and 12 million rounds of artillery shells were ordered in 1 Allied and neutral countries, but only 8-15% of these arms actually arrived.

This also means that the arms market in World War I is infinite. Whether you can eat this cake depends not only on the strength of the country, but also on the development of the military industry.

With Arthur's preparations, the Royal Arsenal and the Australasian military industry, it was not difficult to obtain sufficient weapons orders during World War I.

For this reason, under Arthur's supervision, the Royal Arsenal has begun to stock weapons and equipment frantically, including various weapons and ammunition.

According to Arthur's understanding, the Royal Ordnance Factory currently stocks more than 500,000 rifles of various types, 250 million rounds of ammunition, 1,200 machine guns, 750 artillery pieces, 1.1 million rounds of artillery shells, 2 pieces of equipment, and is still growing. middle.

If he were not afraid of harming the normal development of Australasia, Arthur would even plan to wildly expand the Royal Arsenal and other arsenals, and frantically build production lines for various weapons and ammunition.

At least in World War I, there was no need to worry about selling weapons and ammunition. How much weapons and ammunition can be produced means how much funds and interests it has.

As a member of the Allied Powers, Australasia can sell weapons and ammunition to Britain, France and Russia. It can gain the favor of the three countries, so why not do it.

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