The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 480: Chapter 380: Taking Over the German Colony

After Brigadier Fritz officially took over the City of HerbertsHera, he realized the truth of Mayor HerbertsHera's words.

At least within the scope of HerbertsHera, the number of German garrison troops was pitifully small, totaling less than twenty people.

The reason these twenty remained in the area was to protect the HerbertsHera City Council.

After all, this colony had a population of millions of indigenous people who harbored great hatred towards European colonists.

If a certain number of soldiers were not left to protect the city council, the indigenous people would discover that the German garrison had been reduced, and the HerbertsHera City Council and all German residents in the city would be in danger.

The Germans' transfer was swift, not only withdrawing most of the colonial garrison but also transporting some of the population away.

According to the explanation given by the Mayor of HerbertsHera, the population that was transported back to Germany in advance were mostly die-hard loyalists who did not want to join the rule of Australasia.

Most of the remaining German immigrants and European immigrants had their own property in German New Guinea.

Their property was here, their families were here, and they had settled down here.

For these people, it was not important who ruled this area; what was important was whether their property and safety could be protected.

Following Arthur's instructions, after taking control of HerbertsHera, Brigadier Fritz urgently posted notices outside to announce the implementation of temporary military control in HerbertsHera.

However, the announcement also specifically mentioned that the Australasian Government recognized the property of these people in the New Guinea area.

If these people were willing to join Australasian nationality, their personal safety and property security would also be protected by the Australasia Army.

For Australasia, Germany's early withdrawal of some immigrants from German New Guinea was tantamount to helping Australasia screen immigrants.

Those who left might not all be unwilling to join Australia, but most of those who remained should be willing to join Australasia.

With Australasia so close, there was no resistance to incorporating German New Guinea into their rule.

Therefore, for the citizens of HerbertsHera to ensure their lives and property security, throwing their support behind Australasia, the strongest country in the region, was a good choice.

It was also because most of those who stayed were willing to follow Australasian rule that the militarization management of HerbertsHera proceeded smoothly.

On the second day of Division Two's arrival in HerbertsHera, August 20, 1914, the first batch of supplies shipped by Australasia arrived at the port of HerbertsHera and were distributed to the citizens by Brigadier Fritz.

The types of supplies in this batch were actually quite simple, mostly consisting of grain, weaponry ammunition, medical supplies, and clothing.

Most immigrants accept Australasia's military control. As for the immigrants who do not accept Australasia's rule, they are either forced to submit, or receive enough travel expenses from the military and then abandon all their properties and board the ship back to Germany.

However, the problem is that since the European War is currently raging, the ships that Australasia uses to repatriate these immigrants will only send them to Germany's African Colonies.

As for their lives in Africa, it is beyond the Australasian government's ability to guarantee.

Luckily, after the previous round of screening by Germany, most of the remaining immigrants are more submissive.

Almost no one chooses the second option of being repatriated because their life in the African colonies may not be as good as it is now, at least the current supplies are guaranteed.

All of Germany's Pacific colonies together have a population of more than 300,000, which has truly pushed Australasia's population to exceed 15 million.

However, population growth is still ongoing, so to find out the exact number of population growth this year, one has to wait for the annual report meeting at the end of the year.

After the successful completion of Australasia's battle mission, Arthur's focus successfully returned to Europe.

Compared to Australasia's skirmishes in the Pacific battlefield, the Allied Nations and the Axis Powers in the European battlefield are really putting up a fight.

According to the intelligence from the Royal Security Intelligence Agency, by late August, the number of troops invested by the Axis Powers and Allies in Europe had exceeded 2 million, of which Russia had 610,000, Germany had 730,000, France had 550,000, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had 390,000, and Serbia had 150,000.

At present, the number of people on the Westline and Eastern Front battlefields is about the same, both maintaining a size of just over 1 million.

But this is only a short-term situation. With the progress of the military mobilization of European countries and the transfer of troops from other regions, the number of soldiers in the European battlefield will only increase, even with the expectation of breaking through 3 million in a short period of time.

Speaking of the current war situation between the Axis Powers and the Allies, it is necessary to mention the most important country in the European War, Germany's strategic choice.

Decades before the outbreak of the war, Germany had already drawn up a war plan for fighting France and Russia.

During the period from 1871 to 1879, Germany's military power dominated the whole of Europe. At that time, Marshal Moltke (Old Moltke), the then German Chief of Staff, believed that due to the convergence of France and Russia, Germany would have to face the crisis of fighting on two fronts, which would be a difficult and protracted war.

But due to the development of railway transportation, Old Marshal Moltke keenly recognized that using railway lines could quickly mobilize most of the troops, first dealing with the enemy who was ready to attack at any time, and then dealing with the slow-mobilizing enemy.

For Germany, the enemy that was always ready to attack was naturally France. The slow-mobilizing enemy was naturally the crumbling Tsardom of Russia.

Because of France's increasing military strength and the strong fortress on the German-French border, the Germans believed that among the two countries of France and Russia, France was the most dangerous enemy.

Furthermore, Germany's third Chief of Staff, General Sherwood, devised a more detailed plan for fighting France and Russia.

General Sherwood believed that Germany must avoid fighting France and Russia at the same time, because the combined strength of these two countries had already surpassed Germany.

"Germany must throw its full strength onto the strongest, most powerful, and most dangerous enemy, and that enemy can only be France." This was the theory put forward by General Sherwood in the 1905 "Memorandum on the War against France" and was also the strategic crystallization of General Sherwood.