The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 491: Chapter 389: 1915

Time passed swiftly, and soon it was the second year after the war, that is, 1915.

Although the Australasian Army arrived on the battlefield in October of last year, and although the British and French forces had achieved significant success in the Marne River Battle, and although Germany had just suffered a crushing defeat, the Western Front was still a war of attrition. Even though Germany had shown signs of weakness, defeating them would still not be easy.

War is a massive war of attrition in any era.

Although the Australasia Expeditionary Force had been in Europe for only two months so far, there had been more than 82,000 casualties among the colonial troops, over 3,000 of which were in the Fourth Division, which demonstrated the brutality of this war.

Thanks to the exaggerated equipment of the Australasian Army, the actual consumption of weapons and ammunition was even more exaggerated.

However, half of the expeditionary force's military expenditures were borne by Britain. Hence, the burden on Australasia was not too great, at least not for now.

According to public and semi-public reports from various regions, nearly eight million troops were involved in the European War.

The leading countries, France and Germany, had expanded their armies to over one million men.

The total number of land forces and casualties in each participating European country are as follow:

Germany has a total of 1.91 million men, with 114,000 killed and 227,000 wounded.

France has 1.75 million men, with 198,000 killed and 352,000 wounded.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire has 1.29 million men, with 78,000 killed and 115,000 wounded.

The Russian Empire has 1.938 million men, with 172,000 killed and 255,000 wounded.

The British Empire has 872,000 men, with 58,000 killed and 112,000 wounded.

Australasia has 478,000 men, with 33,000 killed and 52,000 wounded.

In just over four months in 1914 alone, more than 600,000 people were killed and nearly 1.1 million were wounded in the war.

More exaggeratedly, these numbers only include casualties as reported by each country's military and do not take into account the common people affected by the war.

If civilians were to be calculated, conservatively speaking, this casualty list would at least have to double.

Moreover, compared to the upcoming year, the four months in 1914 were not excessively brutal.

Although each country's army has multiplied several times over, they can still conscript more troops to join the war. This also means more casualties and consumption.

It can be predicted that in the coming year, the war will only become more brutal because all countries have no more room to retreat. They must either win the war or be destroyed in it.

No one will hope that the enemy will spare them after the defeat. The casualties of this war are already very severe, and under the cover of such hatred, the Allies and the Allied Nations have long been in a state where it is either you die or I die.

On January 1, 1915, the annual report meeting of the Australasian Cabinet Government was officially convened.

The reason the conference was postponed by one day was due to the delay in the front line's casualty statistics, which were not received until close to midnight from Europe.

At the meeting, Arthur turned his gaze to Defense Secretary Raul and asked solemnly, "Minister Raul, tell us about the casualties of our expeditionary force at the moment!"

Defense Minister Raul nodded and looked at everyone with a heavy face, saying, "Your Majesty, gentlemen, up to now, only 217,000 of our 316,000 expeditionary troops are viable for combat. The casualties of Division Four are also quite heavy, and only about 13,000 are currently capable of fighting."

The various department ministers looked at Defense Secretary Raul after hearing such tragic casualty news.

You must know that the total number of the Australasian Expeditionary Force is only 316,000, and nearly one-third were lost in just two months.

This means that in the new year, Australasia will need to dispatch a certain number of colonial troops to maintain the scale of its expeditionary forces in Europe.

Although most of the dead are natives and not so heartrending, it is not cheap to train a barely qualified soldier.

Therefore, the best situation is that the losses of the native troops would be less severe so that Australasia does not have to transport the natives frequently to the European battlefield.

"France is asking when we can dispatch the second batch of expeditionary forces to Europe," Minister Raul said after glancing at Arthur's reaction.

It's normal for the French to ask such questions. After all, according to the agreement at the time, Australasia must do its best to maintain more than 300,000 combat troops in Europe, including at least one main force division.

But if you don't run a household, you don't know how expensive firewood, rice, oil and salt can be. Arthur's current idea is simply that the later the troops are dispatched, the better.

"Reply to France, the training of our troops requires some time, and the journey to Europe is far. At least within three months, Australasia will not have any reinforcements, only providing some material support," Arthur said after some thought.

Although Australasia does need to make some contributions in the war to exchange for benefits in the distribution after the war.

However, shedding our own blood to support the French is not part of Arthur's plan. Your next chapter is on m_vl_em_p_yr

It may seem that the casualties of the colonial troops do not cause much damage to Australasia, but in reality, the cost of training these native soldiers and their weapons and equipment, also pose a significant burden on Australasia's military budget.