Chapter 432 Various Changes and Intense War
On December 25, 1915, after spending a happy Christmas with his family, Arthur began to visit several military factories and shipyards to inspect and comfort the current conditions of these military factories.
Compared with Europe, the impact of the war on Australasia was minimal, and even Australasia's various developments were still in a relatively stable growth range.
Because it was the end of the year, Arthur also got the development data of Australasia in 1915.
The first thing the Australasia government made public to the public was the number of casualties of soldiers so far.
So far, Australasia has sent more than 600,000 combat troops to Europe, with a death toll of 135,000 and a wounded number of 223,000.
There are only a little over 300,000 soldiers in Europe at present, and nearly 100,000 indigenous people have completed their military service obligations and have been sent to other regions with their families.
In the new year, that is, 1916, Australasia is expected to send 500,000 combat troops to Europe, including 484,000 indigenous soldiers and 16,000 regular soldiers.
Sending indigenous soldiers was not a pity for the Australasian government or Arthur, and it could also play a role in the war of attrition in Europe, which could be said to be a win-win situation.
The indigenous soldiers who survived the war did receive the treatment promised by Arthur, which led to these indigenous people not rejecting joining the army, because at least their families could be guaranteed to regain their freedom and go to other areas to live.
It has been more than a year since the outbreak of the war, and most of the weapons, equipment and ammunition that Arthur had stockpiled before the war have been consumed.
At present, the major military factories in Australasia have been working overtime to produce, but they still cannot meet the weapons and equipment needed on the European battlefield.
It can be expected that with the development of time and the continuation of the war, the European battlefield will only lack more and more weapons, equipment and ammunition, and the expansion speed of military factories in various countries will only become faster and faster.
Especially in the Russian region, there is a lack of at least millions of rifles, hundreds of millions of bullets, thousands of artillery pieces and millions of shells.
Australasia alone has exported at least 2 million rifles, which is enough to show how huge the consumption of this war is.
Of course, the war still has a certain impact on Australasia. If we have to say one of the most influential aspects, it must be the number of immigrants in Australasia.
So far, the total population of Australasia is more than 16.4549 million, an increase of about 1.084 million over the previous year.
Although it seems that the population growth is still at the million level, the number of newborns in the country has reached 457,000 among the newly added 1.08 million people.
Excluding the number of newborns, the number of immigrants in Australasia this year is only about 643,000, which is only a little more than half of last year's immigrants.
This proves a more serious problem. With the war in Europe, the number of immigrants in Europe has been greatly reduced.
Even the previously very reliable Russian immigrants have greatly reduced their number of immigrants due to the civil unrest in Russia. At present, they can only maintain the scale of 400,000 to 500,000 immigrants per year, and there is even a risk of further reduction.
There are even fewer immigrants in other countries. The number of immigrants in most European countries combined is only more than 100,000, which is enough to show how serious the impact of this war on Europe is.
It is not an exaggeration to say that countries such as Britain, France and Germany, which are severely affected by the war, have currently closed their immigration channels by default.
For civilians in these countries, it is not easy to flee the country during the war.
Once the number of immigrants from Russia continues to decrease, the annual population growth of Australasia is likely to drop below 1 million, breaking the new low in population growth in recent years.
Of course, there is no way to do this. We can only look forward to a short period of peace after the war, which will also be a period of immigration explosion.
In fact, in the final analysis, another major reason for the decline in Russian immigrants is the strict review of Russian immigrants by the Australasia immigration department.
At present, there are so many revolutionary elements among Russian immigrants. These people who may affect the stability of the country must be reviewed and have to undergo a long probation period before they can truly obtain Australasia nationality.
As for per capita income, Australasia's per capita income has now grown to 53.1 Australian dollars, and this is under the premise that the Australian dollar has not depreciated much.
In 1915, when the currencies of European countries generally depreciated and the per capita income of residents generally declined, Australasia's performance was still rare.
Of course, it is not just the per capita income that is growing steadily.
So far this year, Australasia's GDP has reached 1.812 billion US dollars, equivalent to 362.4 million pounds and 724.8 million Australian dollars. The growth rate is 2% higher than last year, reaching about 8%.
However, this is due to the excessive expansion of the military industry and the large-scale export of food and other resources by European countries.
Australasia has made a lot of profits and used these funds for domestic development and construction, which has led to such rapid economic growth.
Similarly, under the premise of negative economic growth in European countries, Australasia's economy can achieve a relatively good and substantial growth, which is absolutely unique to Scorpio.
This is also reflected in fiscal revenue.
In 1915, the total fiscal revenue of the Australasia government was about 124.5 million Australian dollars, an increase of nearly 16% over the previous year.
After all, a large amount of materials and resources were exported, so the substantial increase in fiscal revenue was justified.
You know, even Arthur's royal consortium paid more than 20 million Australian dollars in taxes to the government in 1915.
The income of the royal consortium was even more exaggerated, with a total income of about 107.5 million Australian dollars in 1915, and the fiscal revenue was not much different from that of the government.
Of course, for large-scale factories and enterprises, Australasia's taxes are still relatively heavy.
For civilians and low- and middle-income people, the government's taxes are relatively low, which is why Australasia people recognize the government very much.
This doesn't matter to Arthur. After all, whether it is the royal consortium or the government's finances, Arthur can mobilize them at will, which is actually just a transfer from left hand to right hand.
If Arthur wants, the government can even exempt the royal consortium from tax. But this is not necessary. On the contrary, the royal family has suffered some criticism because of the special status of the royal consortium.
Imagine that when the people get such reports, even the monarch and the royal family are unwilling to pay taxes to the government. How can the people willingly pay taxes to the government?
At that time, there will be a lot of tax avoidance, tax evasion, and tax evasion, which will cause trouble to the stability of the government and society.
Under the premise of high government fiscal revenue, the growth of fiscal expenditure is actually not small.
In 1915, the total government fiscal expenditure was about 112 million Australian dollars, and the fiscal surplus was as high as 12.5 million Australian dollars.
This year's fiscal expenditure has increased by nearly 15 million Australian dollars compared with last year. After all, a new round of warship construction plans have been launched, plus various expansions of armaments and the consumption of launching wars.
If the military expenditure was not borne by the British in half, I am afraid that fiscal expenditure would increase, and even face fiscal losses.
In addition to the military industry, the growth rate of other industries in Australasia is not slow.
At present, the best-selling industrial products of Australasia, in addition to weapons and ammunition of the military industry, include steel helmets, activated carbon gas masks, customized military uniforms, cotton clothes, military boots, mousetraps, etc.
Yes, mousetraps are also one of the most urgently needed materials for the European front-line troops. Because the war in Europe has entered a war of attrition, and the war of attrition is mainly trench warfare.
The trenches dug by the warring parties will hide a large number of rats and other animals, including fleas that give many soldiers headaches and annoyance.
It is precisely because of this that mousetraps and flea medicines have become one of the most scarce materials on the front battlefield, and even have a higher priority than weapons and ammunition.
Australasia also seized this opportunity to study rat poisons that can kill most rats, as well as special flea medicines, and obtained a part of the market.
Almost every batch of rat poison and flea medicine that arrives at the front will be immediately divided up by the combat troops.
In non-combat periods, what soldiers want to do most is to take a good bath and then deal with the fleas on their bodies.
Although most rats and fleas are not fatal, fleas jumping around on the body and biting the body will be extremely itchy.
Rats are even more terrible. If there are no protective measures and there are many rats, it is very likely that the ears will be bitten off by rats in sleep. Such cases happen from time to time.
Therefore, some soldiers in the trenches use barbed wire to surround themselves with a fence to prevent rats from approaching.
In any case, the existence of these rats and fleas not only caused great trouble to the soldiers fighting on the front line, but also made these soldiers physically and mentally exhausted, and even unwilling to fight.
It is precisely because of this that rat poison, flea medicine and other items are so popular and loved by front-line soldiers.
Arthur looked at the report on the whole year of 1915 in his hand, and his mood was still very good.
But at this time, the warring countries far away in Europe were not so happy.
It has been more than a month since the Battle of Verdun. The German and French armies have suffered heavy casualties, but no party dared to order a retreat.
In fact, in the early stage of the offensive and defensive battle of Verdun, Germany's progress was relatively smooth.
It took the German army only a few days to successfully complete the first task set by the German General Staff, which was to occupy the area around Verdun and capture the first defensive position on the periphery.
Through a large number of artillery bombardments, the Germans quickly advanced their positions two kilometers when the French were dizzy and did not react.
Even though the Germans had achieved a partial victory, the French General Staff at this time still did not understand Germany's true intentions, and there was no way to formulate the next battle plan based on this.
This also led to the French Commander-in-Chief Joffre only being able to maintain the average defensive strength of Verdun in all directions, so that when facing the attack of the main German forces in any direction, they could effectively resist.
Some French soldiers in the Verdun fortress area were natives recruited from the colonies. They had not experienced the severe cold weather in northern France, and their morale was already low, which made the combat effectiveness of some native troops fragile.
Some native soldiers even turned around and fled, but were directly killed by the French supervision team behind them.
No matter who escapes, at such a critical moment in the battle of Verdun, all escapees must be killed without hesitation.
Otherwise, these native soldiers will follow suit, and there will be more soldiers fleeing in the future, which will even directly affect the fighting desire of the main French army.
As the German army attacked step by step, Germany captured the main artillery on the east bank of the Verdun Fortress and several high ground near the artillery.
The commander of the French Central Army Group, Langer, had to order the Second Army to retreat to the Maas Heights, and the Wevre Valley where the Second Army was stationed before was occupied by the German army that followed the trend.
It was not until this time that Joffre realized that the main target of the Germans was Verdun, and decided to take emergency measures immediately.
In order to stabilize the morale of the Verdun Fortress, Joffre sent the French Chief of Staff Castelno to the Verdun Fortress to supervise the battle in person, and sent new reinforcements to the Verdun Fortress.
The 1st Army, the 13th Army, the 21st Army and several artillery divisions were mobilized by Joffre to the Verdun battlefield, and only then did they barely stabilize the situation in Verdun.
It is worth mentioning that when Verdun was in extreme danger, Joffre appointed General Henri Philippe Pétain, commander of the Second Army, as the commander of the Verdun theater.
Speaking of Pétain's great name, it is well known in the history of World War I.
But now, Pétain is just a powerful army commander, who has just been appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Verdun theater.
After receiving the appointment, Pétain immediately went to the Verdun Fortress Command.
General Pétain, who is now nearly 60 years old, graduated from the famous French Saint-Cyr Military Academy in his early years, but had never fought before this war and had only served as a military instructor and regiment commander.
However, because of his successful command several times in the war, he was appreciated by Joffre and Chief of Staff Castelno, and within two years, he was promoted from regiment commander to brigade commander, division commander, army commander, and now the commander-in-chief of the army.
After arriving at Verdun, General Pétain realized that two urgent problems must be solved as soon as possible. One was to prevent the disorganized collapse of the French army, and the other was to deliver reinforcements and supplies to the front-line positions as soon as possible to restore the combat effectiveness and morale of the troops in the front-line positions.
First, Pétain issued a death order, forcing all troops not to retreat across the prescribed red line.
According to Pétain's original words: "It is better to sacrifice the lives of all soldiers than to lose any inch of French land!"
Because the first and second positions had all been lost, the artillery on the outermost line had become the support point of the front-line positions.
Therefore, Pétain decisively ordered that the outer line artillery was the unified resistance position of the French army, and all defenders must use all existing means to hold this position and withstand the German offensive.
Each artillery was allowed to evacuate only when it was completely surrounded by the German army and could not fight.
Of course, Pétain was not a commander who only pressed but did not take any action. Then, Pétain divided the entire Verdun garrison into four groups, readjusted the defense of the Verdun area, and sent some reinforcements to some groups that were short of troops.
Under Pétain's operation, the French army barely held its position, but it was only temporary.
If the reserve troops and ammunition supplies urgently needed in the Verdun theater cannot be solved, such a situation will only be temporary, and the Germans may regain the upper hand at any time.
Verdun is located in a dead end, and its salient is divided into two by the Meuse River. A standard gauge railway and a narrow gauge railway are often cut off by German artillery fire.
Since the beginning of the war, the railways and roads leading to the Verdun area have been severely damaged by German artillery fire.
The railway from Aubervilliers to Verdun is the main railway line from the French mainland to here, but at that time it was completely within the range of the German large-caliber artillery attacking southward. The road from Verdun to Saint-Mihiel was cut off by the German army invading France two years ago.
General Pétain found that the only available transportation line at that time was a 7-meter-wide second-class road from Verdun to the city of Bar-le-Duc, about 65 kilometers southwest.
Since this road was 20 kilometers away from the front line and the range of most German artillery at that time was limited, General Pétain believed that it was feasible to repair and maintain transportation on this road.
He immediately ordered the 65-kilometer-long road in the war zone to be divided into 6 sections, and concentrated manpower to repair the road, so that it was quickly widened and reinforced and restored to smooth traffic.
In order to urgently call for supplies, General Pétain requisitioned nearly 4,000 vehicles and organized all the vehicles into 200 squads, with 20 vehicles in each squad.
At that time, there were as many as 9,000 French officers and soldiers performing transportation tasks and guard duty on this lifeline.
In the days and nights at the end of February, cars were constantly running on this second-class road day and night, and vehicles were shuttling back and forth.
Using cars to undertake such a large-scale logistics transportation task has never happened in the history of previous wars. This should be mainly attributed to General Pétain's innovation in logistics.
This road was later honored by the French as the Sacred Road. During the entire Battle of Verdun, about 500,000 troops and 170,000 towing animals were transported to the front along this sacred road, making an indelible contribution to France's victory.
It is precisely because of Pétain's timely adjustments and effective measures for logistics that the resistance of the French front-line troops has been significantly strengthened.
The batches of supplies and equipment transported on the Sacred Road, like the fruits that can restore blood in the game, allowed the French soldiers on the Verdun front to quickly restore their combat effectiveness.
Coupled with the French General Staff's emphasis on Verdun, the number of defenders in the Verdun area doubled in more than half a month, greatly reducing the pressure on the French defenders in the Verdun area.
At the same time, the German army only sent about one-tenth of its troops to this area, which also gave the French defenders more advantages in terms of manpower and laid a good foundation for the French to defend this fortress.
On December 20, the French army launched an attack on the outer artillery again, trying to regain the outer artillery in the Verdun area.
After a period of adjustment, the French army has restored a certain combat effectiveness and is full of fighting spirit.
After a fierce battle, the French army took the advantage and recaptured the Douaumont Battery in one go.
When the French flag was raised again on this battery, many French soldiers began to cheer sincerely: "France will win! Long live France!"
After regaining the Douaumont Battery, Pétain immediately strengthened the original garrison of the battery to prevent the battery from falling into the hands of the Germans again.
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