I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 649: 300 More Troops
If the British can occupy uninhabited islands, why can't Russia?

The way Britain occupied Socotra Island was child's play in George's eyes. Did Britain plant a flag in St. Petersburg and make St. Petersburg British?
It's okay for the British to bully the local indigenous chiefs in this way.

This approach won't work with Russia.

George said that he would not carry out large-scale construction, but at the end of June, an engineering team arrived at Little Rock Island from East India and began to expand the port on Little Rock Island.

Although Xiaoshi Island is called "small", it actually has an area of ​​more than 130 square kilometers, which is quite large.

Although it cannot be compared with Socotra Island with a total area of ​​more than 3400 square kilometers, it is enough to build a port.

The British were also not idle. While the engineering team was expanding the port on Little Rock Island, the British army stationed a small team on each of the other two islands in the Socotra Islands.

The reason why the Russians were able to steal Xiaoshi Island successfully was that the British army had no troops stationed on Xiaoshi Island.

This is not because the British are slacking off. After all, no one has dared to challenge this for so many years, and this kind of thing has never happened.

Since the Russian Empire fired the first shot at Britain, if Britain does not do something, there is no guarantee that other countries will not follow suit.

Lloyd George knew that allowing the Russian Empire to occupy Little Rock Island would have serious consequences, but he had no way to expel the Russians, and the whole world was watching the performance of the British army in the Somme.

Since the outbreak of the World War, the British army has been carefully hiding behind the French, waving flags and cheering, and never actively launching an attack on the German positions. This has made it difficult for countries around the world to judge the true strength of the British army.

Before the Battle of the Somme, Haig had been preparing for half a year. Not only had the British army stockpiled a huge amount of supplies, but the total strength of the British army under Haig had reached 50.

It should be noted here that after mobilization, the training time for new recruits in various countries is generally 3 to 6 months, but the training time for new recruits in the UK is as long as 18 months.

In Amur, soldiers' service in peacetime is only 24 months.

When the war broke out, Kitchener announced that he would mobilize a million troops.

From 1914 to 1916, two full years had passed, Kitchener had already been buried at the bottom of the sea, and his plan was still not completed.

The British attack was truly an eye-opener.

Before the attack, the British army carried out a week-long artillery bombardment. Due to their extreme confidence in the artillery, before the British army set off, the officers told the soldiers: There would not be even a living rat on the German position.

The British troops who participated in the attack carried equipment weighing a total of 70 pounds, or about 32 kilograms.

The British Army had strict regulations on the speed at which soldiers could advance: one hundred yards (91.44 meters) every two minutes, no more and no less, accurate to the second.

“The distance between people should be close enough so that they can give each other confidence.”

It's hard to believe that these words came from a British army commander.

The German army had never experienced such a battle.

A German machine gunner told reporters: We keep loading and shooting. We don't need to aim, just pull the trigger.

As a result, the British army lost 6 men on the first day of the battle.

Such a British army could never gain the respect of its opponents and allies.

George had no time to laugh at the British at the moment. The situation of the Russian army on the northern front was more dangerous than that of the British army.

After the abolition of the death penalty, deserters inevitably appeared, and the first to start deserting were precisely those soldiers who demanded the abolition of the death penalty.

Yanuszkiewicz finally realized that the soldiers who demanded the abolition of the death penalty were setting themselves up for disaster.

Soon after, the situation began to spread to the front line, and some front-line troops began to flee.

Frontline generals such as Ruzysky and Alexeev called Yanushkevich to ask what should be done.

Yanuszkiewicz's response was to send more priests to the front line, hoping to use the power of religion to strengthen the officers and soldiers' fighting will.

George could only be thankful that Hindenburg did not take the opportunity to launch an attack, otherwise the Russian army on the northern front would have completely collapsed.

This was not because Hindenburg had a change of heart, but because the fight between Hindenburg and Falkenhayn had reached a stage where the outcome was about to be decided, and Hindenburg had no time to formulate a battle plan.

Last winter, Falkenhayn insisted on changing the main attack direction from the Eastern Front to the Western Front, which led to the Battle of Verdun.

The Somme was a unilateral massacre of British troops by the German army.

Verdun was a meat grinder, constantly devouring the lives of soldiers on both sides.

From February to June, German casualties reached 2, including 6 killed.

The French army suffered losses of 35 and the number of casualties was also around 10.

It seems that there is no winner, but don't forget that the German army was the attacking party, and the French army was well-rested and used the advantage of position to inflict casualties on the attacking German army. The German army's losses should have been more serious than those of the French army.

About half of the French troops participating in the war came from the colonies.

The German army was composed entirely of Germans.

William II did not care about the losses of the German army. As long as the German army could occupy Paris, everything would be worth it.

But if the German army failed to achieve its campaign objectives, then Falkenhayn would be responsible for the German losses.

Although the Hindenburgs were in Warsaw, they kept their eyes on Verdun, ready to receive a call from Berlin at any time.

George was in Constantinople, but his heart was in St. Petersburg. Mikhail's "action to overthrow the queen" was not smooth. Although Alex was unpopular, she had the support of the Grand Duchess from Germany and those officials promoted by Alex. There was great resistance to deposing the queen.

Among the heads of the empire's nine important departments, four were related to Alex, including Interior Minister Protopopov, who was equivalent to Prime Minister.

Because of his good relationship with Rasputin, Protopopov was recommended to Nicholas by Alex and was appointed as Minister of the Interior by Nicholas. This was the direct reason why the grand dukes hated Alex.

In the eyes of the grand dukes, the empire was not the empire of the Tsar alone, but an empire belonging to the Romanov family.

Although Alex was the queen, how could a woman have the right to interfere in the appointment of such a key position as the Home Secretary?

The key was successful!

The news from Alexander indicated that, because Nicholas' trust in Alex was unshakable, the Grand Dukes of St. Petersburg now began to consider forcing Nicholas to abdicate.

As soon as Nicholas was no longer Tsar, Alex's power would naturally disappear.

George sent a telegram to Mikhail, asking if Mikhail's promise was still valid.

Mikhail called George back and his promise stood forever.

George has been very busy lately, and his energy is inevitably dispersed.

After the war broke out, the East India Company quickly attacked and took over all of Germany's colonies in the Pacific, including Germany's colonies on the island of New Guinea, before the Australians could react.

The total area of ​​New Guinea Island is 785753 square kilometers. It was previously divided among Britain, Germany and the Netherlands, with each occupying a part. The specific distribution ratio was approximately half for the Netherlands, and the other half for Britain and Germany.

After the outbreak of war, the quarter belonging to Germany was occupied by East India, and Australia continued to occupy the remaining quarter.

Then the problem arises.

Compared with the East Indies, Australia's strength on the island of New Guinea is very weak and not enough to fully control it. It only has a few strongholds along the coast, and most of the inland areas are weak.

During the East Indian occupation of New Guinea Island, sporadic small-scale battles broke out with the Germans. The Germans did not resist firmly, and some of them fled into the Australian-controlled area.

This part of the Germans was not only not expelled by the Australians, but was accepted by the Australians.

Since the end of last year, Germans who fled into Australian territory have frequently crossed the border and launched attacks on East India.

The German attacks were mainly destructive, cutting a telephone line today and burying a bomb on the road tomorrow. Although the damage caused to East India was not great, the trouble was considerable.

DeYoung initially asked the Australians to restrain the Germans in their territory.

The Australian's reaction was indifferent and he did not respond to Dejan at all.

So in May this year, Australia's stronghold on the island of New Guinea was attacked by unknown forces.

The Australians finally got anxious and took the initiative to contact Dejan.

Dejan’s response was: My Phuket—it has nothing to do with me.

At this time, he can still act cute and be sarcastic to the fullest.

After the outbreak of World War II, Australia and New Zealand actively responded to the call of their sovereign country and mobilized 40 Australian and New Zealand Army Corps to go to Europe to participate in the war.

Australia has a total population of only 550 million, which is as sparsely populated as Siberia in the Russian Empire.

There are still about 10 troops receiving training in Australia, and they were originally scheduled to go to the European battlefield this summer.

Because Australia's territory on New Guinea Island was attacked by "unknown forces", Australia used this as an excuse not to send this batch of reinforcements to Europe.

This made Haig, who had suffered heavy losses in the Battle of the Somme and was in urgent need of reinforcements, particularly anxious.

East India was George's private territory. After the Russians occupied Little Rock Island, Lloyd George sent a telegram to George, hoping that George would control East India.

George was puzzled.

When the East Indies were attacked, the Australians ignored De Young's demands.

Now that Australia is being attacked, how can we be sure that the people who launched the attack are from East India?
What if they are the same group of people?
It's not a just in case, it's a certainty.

Therefore, there must be remnants of the German army hiding on the island of New Guinea, and they are trying to stir up conflicts between Australia and East India.

George's suggestion was that the East Indies and Australia should send troops together to completely strangle the remnants of the German troops on the island of New Guinea.

Lloyd George was speechless for a moment.

The island of New Guinea covers an area of ​​hundreds of thousands of square kilometers. Because it has not been fully developed, it is covered with uninhabited virgin forests.

How many people would it take to search the island?

Even sending all 50 Australian and New Zealand Army Corps would not be enough.

Since Lloyd George did not agree with George's suggestion, George had no choice but to hope for the best.

On July 7, Australia's largest stronghold on New Guinea Island, Morebiz, was attacked again.

This time the attackers used artillery, causing severe damage to Morbius.

Australian Governor Ronald Ferguson was very angry and sent 300 more troops to New Guinea.
(End of this chapter)