Chapter 426: Australian-Dutch War

When Arthur received the news of the Battle of Verdun, it was already November 28, one day later.

Arthur couldn't have been unaware of what the Battle of Verdun represented. It was one of the most brutal battles in the First World War. The number of casualties on both sides of France and Germany reached 700,000, second only to the Battle of the Somme, which Britain and France had already planned to launch.

Yes, although Verdun had been besieged, neither the British nor the French commander-in-chief Joffre gave up launching the Battle of the Somme.

The Battle of the Somme would be the largest counterattack on the Western Front, and could even dominate the direction of the war on the Western Front.

The Battle of the Somme and the Battle of Verdun were also the two most brutal battles in World War I. The combined casualties of the two battles reached more than 2 million, which could directly determine the war on the Western Front and even the direction of the entire World War I.

Because the situation of the Battle of Verdun was crucial, Arthur asked the Royal Security Intelligence Agency to keep an eye on the direction of the Battle of Verdun and notify immediately if there was any change.

Of course, Germany's launching of the Battle of Verdun was also a good thing for Australasia. After all, Britain and France were busy dealing with the German attack, so Australasia had better room for expansion and would be more important in the war.

The only expansion direction left for Australasia was the Dutch East Indies in the north.

Compared with Australasia, the Netherlands was an absolute soft persimmon that could be manipulated by Arthur.

Europe was in the process of the Battle of Verdun and was still planning the Battle of the Somme, and its attention outside Europe had been greatly reduced.

Even if the Netherlands was an ally of Britain and France, Britain and France would never offend Australasia for the Netherlands, not to mention that the Netherlands was a neutral country and had a good relationship with William II's German Empire.

As a second- or third-rate country, the Netherlands still controlled such a large-scale colony in the Dutch East Indies. Arthur felt it necessary to reduce the pressure on the Netherlands when they focused their attention on their own homeland.

On November 29, 1915, the third day of the Battle of Verdun, the Australasian Ministry of Defense urgently passed a proposal, which was named Operation Clearance by Arthur.

As the name suggests, this is an operation to combat anti-Australian forces in German New Guinea, and the scope also includes areas where anti-Australian forces have fled, such as New Guinea controlled by the Netherlands, Sulawesi Island, Kalimantan Island and other areas.

The first division, the second division and two colonial divisions participated in the clearing operation, totaling 72,000 people.

After a long preparation of about a week, in early December 1915, Australasian officially announced that in order to clear out the anti-Australian forces that had fled from German New Guinea to various places, a more severe strike would be launched, and the entire Dutch East Indies would be required to cooperate, because the Australasian government suspected that the Dutch East Indies was involved in harboring anti-Australian forces and conspiring to subvert Australasian rule in New Guinea.

The evidence of the Australasia government is very sufficient, including not only the escape routes of some anti-Australian forces, but also the situation after these anti-Australian forces fled to the Dutch-controlled area.

In any case, the Dutch government and the Dutch East Indies are like mud in the crotch, which is shit if not shit.

No matter how much the Dutch East Indies government defends itself, there are indeed many anti-Australian forces in the Dutch East Indies, and these anti-Australian forces have obtained a lot of weapons and equipment from the Dutch East Indies.

The Dutch government wants to negotiate, but the conditions given by Australasia are that either all anti-Australian forces are found and islands such as West New Guinea, Sula Islands, Buru Island, Ceram Island, Misou Island, and Obi Island are ceded, otherwise the anger of Australasia will not subside.

But the Dutch naturally cannot agree to such harsh conditions, which is almost equivalent to dividing the Dutch East Indies into two halves. The Dutch rule only has four major islands: Sumatra, Kalimantan, Java and Sulawesi.

The Dutch government, which was slow to react, had already understood that Australasia's goal was not those anti-Australian forces, but the land of New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies.

This was something the Dutch could not agree to at the moment. The Dutch East Indies was one of the few large colonies of the Dutch, and it was also the guarantee for the Netherlands to remain a second- or third-rate country in Europe.

If the Dutch East Indies were lost, the Netherlands' status would be even lower than Belgium, and it would not even be considered a third-rate country in Europe, not to mention the Dutch people's expectation of unifying the Low Countries.

Even if the Dutch government could agree to Australasia's request, the Dutch people would never agree.

If the Dutch government surrendered before the battle, I'm afraid the angry Dutch people would be enough to overthrow the government and change the government's face.

Therefore, no matter how unwilling the Dutch government was, it could only righteously reject the Australasia government's request and angrily criticize Australasia for being a shameful blackmail.

Unfortunately, the national struggle of this era was like this, the strong preyed on the weak, the strong would still have rights and status, and the weak were just the target of the strong to divide.

Even though the Netherlands sent requests to Britain, France, Germany and even Russia, no country was willing to help the Netherlands.

Needless to say, Germany was already at war with Australasia, and the Germans had no strength to break through the British and French fleet blockade and go to Australia and Australasia to fight.

Let’s not talk about whether Germany has the ability to do so. Even if Germany has sufficient fleets and strength, it will not offend Australasia for the Netherlands, which is so close.

Needless to say, Britain, France and Russia are the four major powers of the Allied Powers, and their relationship with Australasia is naturally much better than that of the Netherlands outside the Allied Powers.

Although the Netherlands is a European country, the Netherlands has no help in the war, and the Netherlands even has a better relationship with Germany.

In this case, Britain, France and Russia will naturally not offend Australasia for the Netherlands, and will even support the expansion of Australasia in exchange for more support from Australasia to Europe.

There are still two major powers in Europe, but these two major powers are even less likely to help the Netherlands to fight against Australasia.

As for the United States, another major power outside Europe, although the United States currently has the strength to fight against Australasia alone, Australasia belongs to the Allied Powers, and the four major powers of the Allied Powers have mutual assistance agreements. It is impossible for the United States to go to war with the Allied Powers for the Netherlands.

Therefore, after the Dutch worked hard to seek help, they found that no country was willing to help them, not even a little bit of help.

Arthur didn't care so much. On December 7, 1915, the attack on Australasia officially began.

Before the war, Australasia had already expelled the Dutch ambassador and declared a state of war with the Netherlands.

The entire clearing plan was divided into two routes. The western route included the First Division and a Colonial Division with a total of 36,000 people, crossing the west from the royal territory and directly landing on Java Island, the core of the Dutch East Indies.

The eastern route went west from the New Guinea region controlled by Australasia. After occupying the entire New Guinea Island, it successively occupied the islands in the Banda Sea and the Suvera Sea.

The entire Dutch East Indies had more than 40 million indigenous people, which was extremely difficult to rule. Therefore, Arthur's initial goal was not to completely annex this land, but to find its important strategic areas for annexation, and other areas could be indirectly controlled.

Especially the core of the Dutch East Indies, Java Island. This area of ​​Java Island is the most populous area in the Dutch East Indies, and this situation has continued to later generations.

Even in later generations, the entire Indonesia has only more than 200 million people, but a small Java Island has about 150 million people, which is not an exaggeration.

According to the current population ratio, Java Island is home to at least 20 million indigenous people, which is larger than the total population of Australasia, but the total area is less than 140,000 square kilometers, and the population density is far higher than Australasia.

It is very difficult to manage such a region, not to mention that there are a large number of ethnic groups, various types of religions, different languages ​​and cultures, and it is very difficult to assimilate.

The Dutch controlled this land for hundreds of years and still could not assimilate these indigenous people.

Although there is a problem of population size, the difficulty of assimilating indigenous people in the Dutch East Indies is also far beyond the ordinary.

In addition to Java Island, which has a population of nearly 20 million indigenous people, the other three major islands in the Dutch East Indies, Sumatra Island has a population of nearly 8 million, Sulawesi Island has a population of 5 million, and Kalimantan Island has a population of 2 million, which is also one of the areas with the largest distribution of indigenous people.

Compared with the 786,000 square kilometers of New Guinea, which has less than 4 million natives, the natives in these areas are too widely distributed and too many native bases to be suitable for ruling.

Of course, in addition to administrative control, economic rule over these areas can also be achieved.

At present, these natives are not completely useless. At least in wartime, they are qualified cannon fodder.

Both World War I and World War II required a large number of cannon fodder to fill the gap, and the natives in the Dutch East Indies are very suitable.

The war in Australasia implemented the principles set by Arthur, preferring to spend more money rather than cause more casualties.

First, the fleet carried out a large-scale bombing of Java Island and New Guinea controlled by the Netherlands, bombing the coastal defenses and cities in these areas, and then it was the turn of the army to land on the beach.

While landing on Java Island, Australasia also dispatched hundreds of aircraft to continue to bomb Java Island and Batavia, making the Dutch army tired of avoiding the bombing and without any opportunity to attack the landing Australasia army.

While the fleet and aircraft were bombing in turn, the army, led by the colonial division, quickly landed on Java Island and launched an attack on several major cities on Java Island.

The largest city on Java Island is Batavia, which later became Jakarta. It is the capital of the Dutch East Indies and the seat of the entire Dutch East Indies colonial government.

The primary goal of the Western Front Army is to quickly capture Batavia and control the Dutch East Indies colonial government to achieve the goal of capturing the king first and fighting quickly.

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