Chapter 891 Gibraltar's Desire

Although the landing battle delayed the Kalimantan and Philippine armies for more than 20 days, the momentum of these more than 100,000 indigenous troops landing on the Ryukyu Islands was still very huge.

With these indigenous troops, the order of the Ryukyu Islands can be fully guaranteed. More importantly, some island soldiers hiding in cities and villages can also be eliminated by these indigenous soldiers.

Since landing on the island on July 24, it took only two days for Australasia to basically clear the order of the Ryukyu Islands and eliminate all island troops on the Ryukyu Islands.

As of 6:30 p.m. on July 26, a telegram sent by the commander of the Ninth Army, Christie, to Arthur contained the following information: "Your Majesty, the 9th Army has been ordered to complete the clearing mission and can ensure that there is no enemy on the Ryukyu Islands.

At present, the construction of naval and air force bases has been fully launched, and the 9th Army can be deployed to the next battle at any time."

In this telegram, Commander Christie also attached a list of casualties of the 9th Army.

Because the main landing battles were participated by the Philippine and Kalimantan armies, the casualties of the 9th Army were not high.

The 9th Army, which consisted of 4 infantry divisions, 1 cavalry division and 1 artillery division, had only 12,000 paratroopers who participated in the airborne landing.

These paratroopers were composed of 4 infantry divisions, and the average casualties of each infantry division were only over 2,000, and each division still had sufficient combat effectiveness.

In his reply to Division Commander Christie, Arthur praised the combat performance of the 9th Army and ordered the government to prepare more supplies and funds to go to the Ryukyu Islands.

Of course, the most important work is to count and report the merits. The merits in these wars not only concern the rewards of soldiers and officers, but also whether they can directly become the upper-middle class of the country through this war.

Arthur also specifically instructed many times that when counting and counting the merits of the soldiers, it is necessary to be realistic and strictly prevent fraud.

In addition to preventing someone from maliciously exaggerating their own merits, it also prevents officers from taking the merits of soldiers.

For the specific merits of the soldiers, in addition to the lists reported by the various armies, the General Staff will also conduct specific war simulations to prevent false phenomena.

At the same time, the General Staff also issued the next combat mission to the 9th Army.

The combat mission is very simple. In summary, it is to fully occupy the Ryukyu Islands.

Although the main island of the Ryukyu Islands has been controlled, there are still a large number of affiliated islands and other large islands under the control of the islanders.

These islands that are still under the control of the island countries are the next tasks of the 9th Army and more than 100,000 Philippine and Kalimantan troops.

After fully occupying the Ryukyu Islands, the General Staff's plan for the 1936 combat plan has almost been completed.

The island countries must be defeated, and even fully occupied.

But the problem is that the time to defeat the island countries must not be now, at least not in 1936.

Because in Europe, the war at this time is quite fierce. Once Australasia defeated the island nation, it would have to dispatch troops to Europe to fight a super war with the Germans.

Compared with fighting the island nation, fighting Germany is obviously more difficult and will cause greater casualties to the Australasia army.

Since both fighting the island nation and fighting Germany are to complete the task, it is natural to choose the easier one, such as the island nation, which is a soft persimmon.

This may not be in line with the impression of later generations, but it is so natural in this era. The strength of the island nation is for industrially backward countries. For industrial powers like Australasia, the island nation has no strong place except population.

The problem is that Australasia has mastered nuclear weapons technology, and the gap between populations is not so fatal.

If Arthur did not want to expose nuclear weapons too early, Australasia could easily use nuclear weapons to eliminate the population gap between it and the island nation.

Because of the large population of the island nation, the population of a large city is often as high as hundreds of thousands or even millions.

Not to mention, as long as 20 cities are bombed with atomic bombs, the population gap between the island nation and Australasia can be easily eliminated.

As for whether dropping 20 atomic bombs would be a bit cruel, this is not something Arthur should consider. Whether it is out of his heart or out of consideration of interests, this kind of thing should be done for Arthur, and it must be done.

Speaking of the battlefield in Europe, it has been nearly ten days since the Dunkirk evacuation, and the situation on the European battlefield has become more tense.

As the most miserable power, Austria, at this time, only Austria itself is left, and even Vienna is in danger.

Czech and Slovakia have been occupied by German troops, and the Italian army is also eyeing Innsbruck and Klagenfurt.

If it were not for the various weapons and equipment from Britain and Australasia to be transported to Austria through various channels, I am afraid that the Austrians would have surrendered by now.

But this still cannot change Austria's bad situation. Once Vienna is breached, the Austrians will most likely be the first powerful country to surrender, and will completely change the situation on the European battlefield.

Without the trouble of Austria, Germany and Italy can concentrate on attacking France. Even if the European pattern of Britain, France and Austria changes, Spain is likely to decisively join the war and divide the huge cake of France.

You know, in addition to the vast French mainland, what attracts Spain is the large African colonies occupied by France.

As an old colonial power, France's colonies can be said to be second only to the British Empire in the world.

For Spain, most of France's colonies in Africa are what they want.

Especially Northwest Africa, which is a fatal temptation for Spain. If a large area of ​​Northwest Africa can be obtained, Spain's comprehensive national strength will be greatly enhanced, and it will be possible to become a super empire with two states on its homeland like the Ottoman Empire.

Coincidentally, the Ottoman Empire occupies the very important Strait of Constantinople, and the Spanish European and African territories are also separated by the very important Strait of Gibraltar.

This also means that for Spain at this time, they are naturally standing on the opposite side of Britain and France.

If Spain wants to become stronger, it must find more territory in Northwest Africa. But these lands are the sphere of influence of the French. If Spain wants to gain more territory from the French, it must have a head-on battle with the French.

Once Spain becomes strong, it is very likely to control the Strait of Gibraltar and even recapture Gibraltar.

This is intolerable for the British Empire. The emergence of a superpower that the British Empire cannot control in the western Mediterranean is no less threatening to the British than Germany is now.

Therefore, with Spain naturally standing on the opposite side of France and Britain, once Britain and France are at a disadvantage in the European war, Spain is likely to join the war.

Once it is impossible to prevent Spain from joining the war, France will face, in addition to Germany and Italy, the x factor of Spain.

Although Spain's comprehensive national strength is far inferior to that of Italy, the combat effectiveness of the Spanish army is still good. Especially after experiencing the baptism of the civil war, most of the current Spanish soldiers are qualified soldiers.

These soldiers are naturally superior to those recruits who have not experienced large-scale wars when they are put on the battlefield.

Coupled with Spain's strategic position, for a time, Spain's participation in the war became a factor affecting the balance between Britain, France, Germany and Italy.

So the question is, does Spain want to participate in this war?

If it was before the outbreak of the war, Franco, the commander of Spain, actually held a negative attitude.

The reason is also very simple. At this time, Spain has experienced the baptism of civil war, coupled with the Carlist War and various chaos that have continued from the last century to the present, which has made Spain exhausted.

In terms of land area, Spain's land area is not inferior to France, and even far exceeds that of Britain. But Spain had completely lost its status as a great power 50 years ago.

Long before the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, before Spain still had a certain number of colonies, in the hearts of European people, Spain was no longer a great power.

The Spanish Empire was once prosperous, and even established the Spanish Empire, which was one of the earliest colonial empires.

But compared with other European countries' emphasis on industrial and technological development, Spain obviously pursues a more luxurious and decadent life from top to bottom.

From the royal family to the common people, people are enjoying the wealth and materials brought by the Age of Exploration and the colonial empire, but they have never thought about making themselves stronger to protect these properties.

Such the fall of Spain is inevitable, and it is also the reason why Spain has not become one of the major powers in Europe until later generations.

For Spain now, this country is very famous and is one of the European countries with a brilliant history.

But in terms of comprehensive national strength, population, military strength and economy, Spain cannot enter the top five in Europe no matter how it is ranked.

Even rising stars such as Yugoslavia and Romania have surpassed Spain in population and economy.

If Poland had not been annexed by Germany, I am afraid that Spain’s comprehensive strength ranking would not be able to enter the top eight in Europe.

What is the concept? More than half of the new countries born after the United States broke up have comprehensive strengths comparable to or even exceeding Spain.

Combining the comprehensive strength of various countries, Spain can only barely enter the top 15 in the world, which seems not much better than Argentina, a former colony.

This is also the reason why Franco is dedicated to stability and peaceful development. There is no way. If Spain continues to be in chaos, it is very likely to be surpassed by more countries in the future.

In this way, Spain's brilliant history has become a joke, and it can also prove the incompetence of the modern Spanish state.

But with the development of the war, Franco's mind has indeed changed to a certain extent.

Judging from the current trend of the war, Britain and France are obviously at a disadvantage in this war, and are even exhausted from dealing with Germany.

For the entire war, Britain and France have not achieved relatively effective results, and it seems difficult for them to stop the German army from galloping on the European continent.

After Germany annexed Poland, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Belgium and Slovakia in succession, it has become the second largest power in Europe in terms of land area, second only to Russia.

More importantly, the population of all the lands controlled by Germany is almost the same as that of Russia, which is more than the total population of Britain and France.

With the help of Italy, it seems that winning this war is only a matter of time.

In this way, Franco, who commands Spain, has to consider the future of Spain.

If Germany and Italy win this war, Spain will be in an awkward position.

Although it has signed an alliance with Germany, Spain did not join this war, so it is not a friend of Germany and Italy.

Once Germany completely annexed France, it is very likely to point the spearhead at Spain, and even swallow up the whole of Europe.

This is a great achievement that Napoleon did not achieve. Once the Germans are able to achieve it, I believe the German government will never let Spain go.

Compared with the disadvantages of not joining this war, Franco is obviously more tempted by the benefits of joining this war.

First of all, if Spain helps Germany and Italy win this war, it will naturally become a member of the German-Italian alliance and can also obtain the right to distribute territory.

Secondly, with the help of Spain, Germany and Italy will naturally have a greater chance of winning the war.

Finally, for Franco himself, joining this war and winning it can greatly enhance his prestige in Spain and stabilize his dominance over Spain.

If Spain can obtain a large number of colonies in Northwest Africa, Franco will become a hero of all Spaniards, and the civil war he launched will become a just war in Spain to overthrow the evil and corrupt government.

Of course, there is another point that attracts Franco, that is, after winning this war, Spain has a great probability of regaining the Gibraltar region.

Needless to say, how important Gibraltar is to Spain. It is no exaggeration to say that anyone who can help Spain regain Gibraltar will immediately become a hero of the Spanish and be respected and worshipped by all Spaniards.

Even in later generations, the Spanish government still had certain conflicts and quarrels with the British government over Gibraltar, which can also prove that the Spanish people's desire for Gibraltar has always existed.

Faced with the possibility of retaking Gibraltar, even Franco had to admit that he was indeed tempted.

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