Chapter 897: Pro-German Countries and the New Balkan Alliance

After watching the specific test of the Pigeon helicopter test machine, Arthur still has high expectations for the development of helicopters.

Even in a short period of time, the development of helicopters in Australasia can play a considerable role, and helicopters can also be used in the rescue and strategic transportation fields of Australasia.

After praising Douglas's research, Arthur returned to the palace.

Douglas has been very busy recently. Not only does he have to produce the Sop-34 transport aircraft, but he also has to improve it and take time to develop helicopters. It can be said that he has three things in one mind.

Fortunately, the Sop-34 transport aircraft has entered the assembly line production mode. Large-scale production can not only effectively reduce the cost of the Sop-34 transport aircraft, but also increase the construction speed of the aircraft.

Only more than half a month has passed since the Ryukyu Islands air raid, and the number of Sop-34 transport aircraft in Australasia has increased by more than ten.

If the development continues at this speed, by the time the island nation is attacked, the number of Sop-34 transport aircraft owned by Australasia will easily exceed hundreds, and the number of paratroopers transported at one time will be as high as tens of thousands.

If Arthur did not want to end the war against the island nation too early, in fact, according to the current technological and industrial gap between the two sides, the island nation would not be able to hold on for too long in the hands of Australasia.

Even if Australasia did not try its best, the current situation of the island nation is very bad. After losing the Ryukyu Islands, the Australasia Air Force would harass the cities of the island nation from time to time and carry out air strikes on the more important areas of the island nation.

Coupled with the blockade from the navy, the current situation in the island nation is very chaotic and the economic situation is very bad.

According to the forecasts of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff, even if Australasia does not launch a full-scale offensive, the poor situation in the island nation will force them to launch an attack on Australasia.

Australasia is waiting for that time. If the island nation wants to attack, the first step must be to launch an attack on the Australasia Navy.

As long as the island nation's navy is dispatched, it will be a naval decisive battle. If the island nation wins this naval decisive battle, it has actually failed.

The next step is that Australasia tortures the island nation in various ways, and slowly entertains the island nation with war.

In other words, in the preparation stage before the war, Arthur felt that he was still quite busy.

But after the outbreak of the war, Arthur was not so busy.

After all, Australasia has a complete Ministry of Defense, a General Staff and various military headquarters for the handling of war, and Arthur only needs to coordinate the overall situation.

Arthur also knows a truth. If you are not so proficient in military command, then the best way is not to interfere with the dispatch of various departments.

This also makes Arthur very free at present. Apart from occasionally caring about the production status of armaments and the domestic economy, there is nothing to do.

It is worth mentioning that in order to train William, Arthur has sent him to the Persian Gulf to experience military training in the Persian Gulf.

As an officer who graduated from the Royal Military Academy, William still has his own military command ability, but he has not experienced the baptism of war.

In order to train William, Arthur specially prepared a position of regiment commander for him and let him participate in the war in the East African battlefield.

Why was William assured to participate in the war?

First of all, the East African battlefield faced Italy and Italy's colonial army. Whether it was Italy or Italy's colonial army, the combat effectiveness was only mediocre compared to the German army.

In this case, William's own safety could be guaranteed by participating in the battle.

What's more, William was the position of regiment commander and did not need to charge in the front. He only needed to do his job as a commander and lead the army to complete military tasks.

Under the joint efforts of Britain, France and Australia, the East African battlefield was quickly opened up, and a large number of Allied troops arrived in the Italian colonies and launched a fierce attack on the Italian colonial army.

The first to be attacked was naturally the Abyssinian Empire, which Italy had just captured a few years ago.

It can also be seen from the map that Italy's East African colonies, including the Abyssinian Empire, are relatively far away from Italy.

If Italy wants to go to the East African colonies from its homeland, it can either go through the Suez Canal or go around Africa.

Currently, the Suez Canal is firmly controlled by the British, which means that Italy has no choice but to go around Africa.

But it is not easy to go around Africa. Gibraltar is controlled by the British, which means that the Strait of Gibraltar is filled with a large number of British fleets.

Once the Italian fleet is discovered by the British fleet, the only outcome waiting for them is sinking.

Without the support of Italy, the East African colonies did not last for a few days under the joint attack of the British, French and Australian coalition forces.

On August 11, 1936, the Italian East African colonies were jointly divided by Britain, France and Australia.

Among them, the French obtained Eritrea and Afar, plus the previous French Somaliland, to establish the French Eritrean colony.

The British obtained the entire Abyssinian Empire and established the British Abyssinian colony.

Australasia gained Jubaland and Somaliland from Italy, as well as British-controlled British Somaliland, establishing the Australian Somaliland colony.

The news of the division of the Italian East African colonies was like a bolt from the blue for Italy.

The East African colonies are one of Italy's most important colonies, and also one of the few two colonies of Italy in Africa and even the whole world.

After losing the East African colonies, the only large colony left in Italy was the Libyan colonies.

Libya is located on the Mediterranean coast, across the sea from the Italian mainland.

Compared with the Italian East African colonies, Italy attaches more importance to these colonies in the Mediterranean Sea.

In order to defend the Libyan colonies, Italy announced that it would increase its troops to the Libyan colonies by 300,000, and dispatched some aircraft and tanks to Libya.

Although the defense of the Libyan colonies has been strengthened, Italy has obviously underestimated the ambitions of Britain, France and Australia to occupy Libya.

In terms of offense, Britain and Australia are obviously the main forces. Relying on the armies of India, South Africa and Egypt, the British easily formed an army of nearly 700,000.

Although all these people are natives and their combat effectiveness is difficult to guarantee, there are still 700,000 people, so they still have a certain combat effectiveness.

As for Australasia, although the troops sent out are only 300,000, 50,000 of them are the main force, which is equivalent to hundreds of thousands of colonial troops.

In addition to the more than 100,000 troops from France, the total number of troops of Britain, France and Australia has exceeded one million. Facing the Italian army with a total of only 500,000 defenders, the advantage is still great.

There are only two directions for attacking Libya, namely the east and the west.

The attack on the western front is mainly led by the British and French troops, advancing from the direction of Gabes to Tripoli, one of the few cities in Libya.

The eastern front is mainly led by the British and Australian troops, advancing from the direction of Sidi Barrani to Tobruk and Benghazi in the Libyan colonies.

Because the Libyan colony is located in the Mediterranean and is surrounded by the colonies of Britain and France, Australasia has no interest in Libya.

Even though Arthur knew that Libya had oil reserves, he still chose to give up because of Libya's relatively remote geographical location.

Of course, the abandonment of Libya was not in vain. Australasia will not participate in the division of Libya in exchange for the British territory of Oman in the Middle East.

Although Oman is not as valuable as the colonies along the Persian Gulf, it can effectively expand Australasia's colonies in the Persian Gulf, which is a good exchange of interests.

Without the participation of Australasia, the Libyan colony will naturally be divided by Britain and France.

Arthur is not interested in the results of the division of Britain and France, but it is expected that the British will not let France obtain too many colonies.

In order to relieve the pressure on the French, Britain used the navy and a large number of air forces in this attack, and even a considerable number of tanks.

Millions of British, French and Australian coalition forces quickly entered Italy's Libyan colonies at lightning speed and launched a fierce offensive against the colonial cities.

At the cost of hundreds of thousands of casualties, Britain and France successfully captured the Libyan colonies in just half a month, reducing Italy's sphere of influence to Italy itself.

Although Italy tried to support the Libyan colonies during this period, most of the resources were repelled by the British fleet.

Italy had no choice but to watch its last large colony being divided up by Britain and France.

With the failure of the African colonies, the offensive of Germany and Italy in Europe became more urgent.

On August 29, 1936, Germany and Bulgaria signed an alliance, and Bulgaria officially stepped onto the German battlefield.

Bulgaria's surrender to Germany made the situation in the Balkans even more tense. You know, Bulgaria was also a loser in the last world war.

Although the defeat of Turkey gave Bulgaria a lot of souls, it was defeated by the Balkan countries, and the territory obtained from Turkey was also divided up by the countries.

It is precisely because of this history that Bulgaria hates several of its neighbors, which is why they chose to join Germany.

After Bulgaria and Germany signed an alliance, Bulgaria's northern neighbor Romania also changed.

With the support of Germany, Romanian Chief of Staff Ion Antonescu vigorously promoted pro-German theory and received support from a considerable number of Romanians.

Germany also promised Bulgaria that as long as Romania was forced to join its camp, Germany would notify Romania and ask Romania to return the Bulgarian territory occupied since the Balkan War.

This statement was welcomed by the Bulgarians, and Bulgaria also joined the camp to coerce Romania.

Facing the north-south attack from Germany and Bulgaria, the Romanian government felt pressure, and the Romanian people also felt the threat from Germany.

Under such circumstances, the pro-Germanist Ion Antonescu received support from a large number of Romanians and became an important figure in Romania.

The successive changes in Bulgaria and Romania terrified other Balkan countries. Once Germany's hand reached the Balkans, these Balkan countries would have no ability to resist.

In order to protect their territorial security, the Balkan countries, led by Yugoslavia, had to focus on Britain and France.

In Europe, the only alliance that can fight against Germany is the four-nation alliance of Britain, France, Austria and Australia.

More importantly, Yugoslavia and Italy have territorial conflicts, and Yugoslavia will never join the German camp.

This also means that Yugoslavia actually has only one choice, that is, to join the British and French camps and help Britain and France defeat Germany.

On September 3, 1936, representatives of the Yugoslav state, the Greek government, the Albanian government and the British and French government met in Athens, Greece, to formally discuss issues related to the Balkan situation.

During the talks, the Yugoslav national representative mentioned the most recent Bulgarian and Romanian movements, and requested support from Britain and France.

Naturally, the British and French diplomatic representatives were happy to see Yugoslavia, a Balkan power, approach them, so they expressed their willingness to support Yugoslavia and other countries.

Due to the pressure from Germany, the talks among the countries were quickly completed, and a new Balkan Alliance Treaty was concluded.

The alliance treaty stipulates that Yugoslavia, Albania and the Kingdom of Greece, which signed the treaty, are allies and are under the independent protection of Britain and France.

If any of the three countries is attacked by other countries, it will be regarded as an attack on the entire alliance. At the same time, Britain and France will give strong support to the three countries and open up a new Balkan battlefield if necessary, just like the previous war.

As the British and French representatives signed the Balkan Alliance Treaty. The three Balkan countries finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Although this treaty cannot completely guarantee their safety, it can at least ensure that they have a certain backing when facing the attack of the military group led by Germany.

In fact, from the map, we can understand why the three Balkan countries became so panicked after learning about the movements of Bulgaria and Romania.

If Bulgaria and Romania surrender to Germany, they will realize the encirclement of the Balkans with Germany and Italy.

Yugoslavia, Albania and Greece are all in this huge encirclement.

This also means that without external support, it is difficult for the three countries to fight against the entire German-Italian military group, and it is very likely that they will be quickly broken by the German army.

With the support of Britain and France, at least the Royal Fleet will guarantee their safety. Even if they face the risk of national destruction, they can go to London by sea and form a government in exile to continue to resist Germany.

4000 words first update, please vote for me, please support!

10,000 words per day, 4000/10000 words have been updated today, please vote for me, please support!