The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 1146 - 862: Mediterranean Strategic Plan_2

Although the Balkan Region is a well-known powder keg of Europe, it is also quite rich in resources. Particularly the petroleum of Romania, at this time, is an essential energy source for the German Empire and Kingdom of Italy's military operations and a critical supply for their offensive efforts.

At this time, the area surrounding the Austrian Empire was amassing a gigantic military force of over 3 million.

Among them, the German Army contributed the most, deploying over 1.5 million soldiers, including 12 tank divisions, 17 artillery divisions, and 2200 aircraft.

These tanks and aircraft were urgently produced during the war preparation phase, with some also being captured from Polish weapons and equipment.

Not to mention, Polish aircraft manufacturing technology was quite decent, and the related blueprints and design data were of great benefit to the Germans.

Furthermore, the Polish storehouses contained a large number of weapons from Britain and France, which not only allowed the Germans to extensively study British and French weapons data but also to enhance their own weapons design experience considerably.

On the Italian front, nearly 700,000 troops were deployed. Because of France's involvement in the war, Italy had to allocate more than half of its troops to guard against French invasion.

Despite Mussolini's great ambition, he had a relatively clear understanding of the combat efficacy of the Italian Army.

Moreover, for this offensive, the nearly 700,000 Italian troops were already more than sufficient. After all, the main force was the Germans, and the greatest role of Italy was to tie down an equivalent number of Austrian troops.

The Austrian forces at this point also exceeded one million.

However, it's evident that compared to the Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War I, the Austrian Empire now was substantially less powerful.

In the population aspect, the Austrian Empire had just surpassed 22 million, about half of Italy's population, clearly below the population level for major powers.

Italy's population had reached over 42.44 million, which is the standard for a powerful nation's population.

Germany, of course, needs no further mention. After the demise of the United States, Germany's native population already ranks firmly among the top three powers.

And after annexing most areas of Poland, Germany's total population was nearing 94 million, steadily moving toward the 100 million mark.

As long as Germany absorbed the Czech Region, reaching a population of over 100 million wouldn't be a big issue. That number would be firmly second only to that of Russia Country among all the native populations of the powerful nations.

Thanks to such a vast population, Germany could easily recruit millions of soldiers and, in extreme cases, the military might swell to around 10 to 20 million.

Italy could also recruit 3 to 5 million troops, which is something the Austrian Empire simply could not compete with. With only just over 20 million in population, even under extreme conditions, the Austrian Empire could only recruit 2 to 3 million soldiers.

If the military incurred massive casualties, it would be a significant blow to the Austrian Empire, almost like a generational gap for the young population.

Moreover, the support for the government among the people of Austria wasn't too high. Since World War I, not only had the Austro-Hungarian Empire regressed to the Austrian Empire, but they had also successively lost territories like Hungary, Bosnia, Croatia, and Slovenia.

What's more fatal is that although the country's name was the Austrian Empire, it was a federal state composed of Austria, Czech Republic, and Slovakia.

As Austria weakened, it did not hold an absolute dominance in the Empire's rule; the governments of Czech and Slovakia also possessed a high degree of say.

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This led to a rather dire situation, where the governments of Austria, Czech, and Slovakia were dissatisfied with the conscription plans introduced by other governments.

Each government wanted the others to contribute more, which at the national level, made it difficult for the country to exhibit a unified coordination effort.

As a result, conscription within the Austrian Empire was quite sluggish. Aside from the Austrian government decisively implementing the conscription orders, the regions of Czech and Slovakia were not too willing to follow.

This was also partly due to the voices of the German people within the Czech territory. These German people obviously preferred to join Germany's embrace, adopting an oppositional stance to the Austrian government and passively resisting the conscription regulations issued by the Imperial Government.

A manpower shortage should be considered the most acute problem facing the Austrian Empire at present. Under the support of Britain and France, the Austrian Empire was not short of weapons and equipment for the time being.

Besides tanks and aircraft, which required time to manufacture, Britain and France transported a large number of weapons and equipment, including artillery, to the Austrian Empire.

But the price was that the Austrian Empire needed to survive on its own for the first month, a severe test for the insufficiently numbered Austrian military forces.

April 22, 1936, the Austrian Empire border.

Just half a month ago, this place was a green forest hill. Occasionally, wild animals would dart out of the forest to drink from the freshwater of a nearby lake, then leap back into the dense jungle.

But now, after more than ten days of fighting, this border area had long become a charred-black battlefield.

The entire battlefield was shrouded in gunpowder smoke; even the small lake seemed to don a layer of plain cloth.

The battlefield was a mess. Above in the sky, fighter aircraft and bombers from both parties kept up a relentless attack.

The humming sound of an abundance of airplane engines, mixed with the explosion of shells and the screams and wails of soldiers, turned into the assaulting rhythm for the troops of both parties.

Whenever such a rhythm played, a large number of soldiers from both Germany and Austria would fall. Some soldiers were lucky, merely hit by stray bullets in their limbs—a minor injury on the battlefield.

Others were not so fortunate. Shells falling from the sky hit the bullseye without fail, and with a blast, even their clothes vanished along with them.

Both the German Army and the Austrian Army had long been numb to such gruesome scenes.

War had broken out on April 8th, and it had been about half a month since. But in this time, the casualties for both military forces had already exceeded six figures, with hospitals in the Austrian rear overflowing with the wounded.

In the past half a month, the Austrian Third Army Group had nearly been defeated; of the more than 250,000-strong force, less than half remained at full strength.

Of course, this was not because the Austrian Army was particularly brave or adept at fighting; with less than half their strength, they still managed to exchange blows with the enemy.

Actually, it was bad luck for this Army Group, as they first endured an intensive bombardment by the German Air Force, followed by an encirclement by the German Army Group, with almost all their elites perishing in the breakout.

In the end, less than half the soldiers of the Third Army Group, with the aid of the Fourth Army Group, managed to retreat to the Austrian rear for rest and reorganization.

From the encounter between the German and Austrian armies, it was clear that their combat abilities were not on the same level.

In theory, since Germans are Germanic people, and so are the Austrians, the actual combat strength of both armies shouldn't differ much.

But the reality was that the casualty ratio between the German Army and Austrian Army reached a dreadful 1 to 3. This meant that for every three Austrian soldiers killed, only one German soldier was taken down.

Although such a casualty ratio wasn't entirely accurate—after all, the collapse of the Third Army Group was somewhat sudden and didn't happen frequently on the battlefield—

achieving such a ratio was already proof of the actual gap between the German and Austrian armies.

The fundamental reason for this gap was the result of the mixed composition of the Austrian Army.

The Austrian Army was formed by Austrian, Czech, and Slovak soldiers, but the majority of the officers commanding the army were Austrian.

Such unfair treatment caused many Czech and Slovak soldiers to harbor discontent towards Austrian officers, even outright disobeying orders covertly.

The encirclement of the Third Army Group occurred precisely because the Second Army Group did not withstand the firepower of the German military at the front.

Even a Czech infantry division within the Second Army Group retreated prematurely, which led to the Third Army Group's flank becoming threatened and facing encirclement.

The reason for the premature retreat of the Czech infantry division was that the Czech Brigadier General believed the Second Army Group's deployment was treating the Czechs as cannon fodder.

Under these circumstances, it was impossible for the various ethnic groups within the Austrian Empire to unite against the German invasion.

If left to Austria's efforts alone, being quickly consumed by Germany was only a matter of time. After all, Austria had an even smaller population compared to Poland, which had lasted only a month.

Once one of the three governments could no longer bear the high casualties, internal collapse within the Austro-Hungarian Empire was a foreseeable problem.