Chapter 501: Expanding the Army (please vote for me!)

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

“The British Empire has an absolute advantage in its navy, and with our good relationship with the British Empire, this can also be turned into our advantage.

At present, we have mastered the technology of aircraft carriers, but we are not sure 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 leadership in battleship technology before aircraft carriers completely replace battleships.

In addition, we should continue to increase investment in aircraft and tank technologies where we have achieved obvious advantages to stay ahead.

The battlefield has proven that these two weapons have a huge effect, and they are also the guarantee for our absolute advantage in future wars. Prime Minister Kent said firmly.

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

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

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

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

The current civil strife in Russia has also damaged Russia's strength. Czarist Russia and Soviet Russia alone may not necessarily be able to defeat Australasia.

In addition, perhaps the only threats to Australasia are island countries and the United States.

After all, the island country has a population of more than 50 million and can form an army of millions. It is also a trouble 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 will pose a threat to Australasia by relying solely on its army advantage.

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

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

The U.S. Navy is not bad in terms of scale, but compared with the British main warships, there are still certain differences in the naval guns carried by the U.S.'s main warships.

The United States is now definitely among the top three in the world in terms of industry and economy. It can even stabilize the injured Britain and France and declare itself to be the world's number one industrial and economic power.

However, in terms of comprehensive strength, the military strength of the United States 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 threats from Britain and France, especially the threats from the World Alliance under British rule.

This also made the stimulated American man-made ships very fast, building battleships as fast as dumplings, comparable to a new naval arms race.

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

Under the watchful eyes of the cabinet ministers, Prime Minister Kent took out a military expansion plan that had been prepared and handed it into Arthur's hands.

The current size of the regular army in Australasia is actually very small, far less exaggerated than the millions of expeditionary forces during World War I.

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

Because all those indigenous troops were demobilized, Australasia also lost nearly 100,000 troops than before.

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

Australasia's period of greatest population shortage has passed, and a population of 20 million can arm millions of troops at any time.

What's more, Australasia's population will maintain a growth rate of at least one million per year, which also means that a conventional army of only 100,000 is no longer enough for this country.

The battlefields of World War I have proven that the number of participants in this kind of world war is definitely in the millions. What can a hundred thousand troops do? That's just two days of a huge battle.

In Prime Minister Kent's army expansion plan, the existing 4 conventional divisions will be comprehensively upgraded to 12 infantry divisions, 4 artillery divisions, 2 cavalry divisions and 1 tank division, a total of 19 divisions with more than 250,000 troops. A fighting army of men.

Even though the weapons on the battlefield have undergone earth-shaking changes, infantry is still the mainstream of current wars and one of the most important armies among the major services.

In addition to the largest infantry division, the expansion of the four artillery divisions can 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 formed 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 participated 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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