Chapter 78 Military Reform (Please Subscribe!)

March 3, 1901, outside Sydney.

This was originally a desolate valley, but after a simple transformation, it became a large-scale simple military camp.

After more than a month of transfer, most of the Australian garrison has arrived here, and they will start a long period of reorganization and training.

Arthur had already decided to reorganize the existing army, but due to various delays, it has been postponed to now.

The current Australian army is composed of the original colonial army and Arthur's guards.

Arthur's guards have a total of 4,000 people, all from the Royal Guards of the British Empire, well-equipped and strong in combat capability.

The remaining colonial troops are the garrisons of Australia during the colonial period. After Australia's independence, they were handed over to Arthur for management, and Arthur assigned them to the Ministry of Defense.

These colonial troops have a total of 6,000 people, and are recruited from Australia.

There is a feature of this army, that is, except for the more senior officers, all other non-commissioned officers and soldiers are composed of Australians.

It is also for this reason that the weapons and equipment and salaries of this army are jointly funded by the original six colonies, and the corresponding weapons and equipment will naturally be a little worse.

In fact, it is not just the weapons and equipment. Whether it is the combat quality of the soldiers or the military discipline, they are inferior to the regular army of the British Empire, not to mention Arthur's Guards.

These soldiers are barely qualified to guard Australia, but if they really want them to participate in the war, they may only become cannon fodder and send their heads.

Therefore, it is necessary to carry out a reform in the army. Select soldiers who really have the potential to become elites, equip them with new weapons, train military discipline, and build a new and powerful army.

After all, the Guards are Arthur's last trump card. Under normal circumstances, it is unlikely to let the Guards go to the battlefield.

In order to better promote the reform of this army, the commander of the Guards, Chris Perry, will work with Defense Minister Kent to supervise and train these soldiers.

As for the soldiers' instructors, they are naturally composed of elite soldiers and officers in the Guards.

These guards were selected from the best soldiers in the British Empire's native army, and Arthur was confident of their abilities and loyalty.

The first training plan was to select soldiers with strong bodies and flexible minds.

Because Australia did not have an officer training system and institution, and there was no war to strengthen the abilities of these officers.

Then there was only a stupid way to solve it, that is, to select people with flexible minds and strong bodies, and train them to train the future commanders of this army.

Because the commander of the Australian army had returned to the UK, the army was currently under the control of Minister Kent.

And Minister Kent was Arthur's loyal subordinate, so naturally no one would oppose this military reform.

As for the fact that this reform might cause some military officers to lose their positions, Arthur would not care.

If you don't have the ability, wouldn't commanding a unit harm everyone?

As the saying goes, a general is a bear. Whether it is a general or an officer in the new army, they must go through strict selection and training to ensure that they are loyal enough and have enough ability before they can officially take office.

So, under the watchful eyes of Arthur, Minister Kent and General Chris Perry, the army of 6,000 people began the first round of training, physical training.

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The training plan of Minister Kent and General Chris was to train and cultivate these 6,000 soldiers as new recruits. During the entire training process, outstanding soldiers with potential were selected and trained. These people were the future officer reserves of the army.

And the remaining soldiers, after rounds of physical and discipline training, received a few days of ideological education, and they could officially become new Australian soldiers.

These trained soldiers will be reorganized into the First Australian Defense Division.

The future First Defense Division will be the template and instructor for Australia's future military expansion, as well as the most powerful representative in the standing army.

Although the various trainings are relatively harsh, Arthur is not stingy in logistics supply.

In this era, a large number of soldiers can't eat meat a few times a year. That is, in relatively developed European countries, their soldiers can eat a relatively rich meal every meal.

The Australian army has beef and mutton for three meals a day. Although each person is limited to 200 grams, which is less than half a pound, the lunch and dinner together are more than one pound.

There is no way. As a major animal husbandry country, Australia is indeed not short of meat.

Although animal husbandry has not developed to the scale of later generations, it already has a large number of herders and animal husbandry areas. The export of beef and mutton alone can bring tens of thousands of pounds of income to Australia every year.

While the army was training hard, Minister Kent also contacted Butler Hunter and ordered a batch of new weapons and equipment from the military factory.

Because the weapons of the Australian army were all made in Britain, but they were varied. The most powerful Lee Enfield rifles were not even one-fifth of the equipment, which was a bit shabby in front of the Guards.

After the military reorganization is completed, all Australian troops will be uniformly equipped with Lee Enfield rifles, and Australia's own military factories will be responsible for logistics management, instead of importing from the UK as before.

And the army will also be equipped with the most powerful MA-96 Maxim machine guns and CA-1 machine guns. Even after the arrival of German artillery technical assistance, when the military factories can start producing large-caliber artillery, the army will order some large-caliber artillery for installation.

Arthur's goal is very simple, that is, to build Australia into a military power with the three services of the navy, army and air force developing in parallel.

Although the air force has not yet been born, the navy has only maintained a small scale for various reasons.

But it does not hinder the pace of building the army now. After all the troops are armed to the teeth, the Australian army will also become a world power.

In terms of training, Minister Kent is not careless. In addition to ordering 6,000 Lee Enfield rifles, more than 10 million rounds of ammunition were also ordered.

In addition to physical and disciplinary training, these soldiers also have to undergo frequent target shooting training that only industrially powerful countries are eligible to enjoy.

Sharpshooters are made by feeding bullets one by one. Minister Kent has the same idea. He uses such a clumsy but effective method to quickly improve the accuracy of these soldiers' shooting.

The third update, please support! I feel a little uncomfortable today, with a sore throat and phlegm. I don't know what's going on, but it really affects my typing state. There are two more updates. I will try my best to finish them tonight. Please support me!