The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 1338: Chapter 967: Counterattack!_2 Chapter 1338: Chapter 967: Counterattack!_2 But these more than 9 million soldiers, scattered and fighting in various regions, whether it be Western Europe, Northern Europe, Eastern Europe, or Southern Europe, the German Army could not gain the upper hand.

After problems arose on the Eastern European Battlefield, the German government urgently redeployed a freshly trained Army Group from within the country to provide support.

This Army Group consisted of approximately 400,000 soldiers, with a diverse range of sources. The youngest soldiers were only 15 or 16 years old, while the oldest had already surpassed 50.

This also reflected the current predicament of the German government. Although it seemed that a sizable military was maintained, it was actually realized through the sacrifices of all Germans.

Even if Germany could eventually win the war, it wouldn’t necessarily be a victory for them.

The German government also knew that an army of 400,000 could no longer influence the situation on the Eastern European Battlefield. But there was no choice, as Northern Europe and Western Europe also required the support of the German government.

Let’s not even mention the battlefield in Northern Europe for now; the entirety of Norway has already been completely liberated, most of Sweden’s territory, including the Southern coastal areas of Finland, were also under the control of Britain-France-Australia.

The hundreds of thousands of German soldiers stationed in Northern Europe had long since evacuated from the Denmark region to reinforce the lower defenses.

The Army Group stationed to defend Paris was simply incapable of withstanding the onslaught of the French Army. After all, the offensive of the British-French-Australian Forces was coming from all directions, and a defense from just one direction was utterly insufficient to hold them back.

The Germans had originally relied on the Loire River to establish a solid defensive line that was supposed to ensure that the Frenchmen could not take the position in a short time.

But after a large contingent of the Anglo-French army chose to land in the Normandy region, the defensive line painstakingly built by the Germans essentially became a mere display.

Keep in mind that these defensive positions were designed to protect against an attack from the French Army coming from the south and naturally did not take much consideration of the northern areas.

After all, the northern area was still in the hands of the Germans; there was no need to actively defend against their own people, right?

But since the Anglo-French began landing in the Normandy region, these landing forces could potentially drive straight into the Normandy region and reach the German defensive positions.

With such a threat, if the German military could still securely hold their positions, that would indeed be strange.

To prevent the troops within the defensive positions from being surrounded by the Anglo-French, the Germans first sent all the garrisons in the Brittany region to defend Normandy and increased the deployment in the Benelux region.

This had one advantage: if the Anglo-French forces decided to cut through the Normandy region at all costs to the German positions, then the German forces on both sides could directly cut off the retreat of this army, achieving the goal of catching them in a pincer movement.

Even if the Anglo-French army steadily attacked Normandy, the garrisons on both sides could fortify the positions on both flanks, slowing the pace of the Anglo-French advance.

Originally, with such defensive deployments, along with domestic supplies and troop reinforcements from time to time, the Western Front of the German military could hold out for a very long time.

However, after the collapse of the German Army on the Eastern Front, this stable situation also changed.

The German forces that were originally supposed to reinforce the Western Front could only choose to support Eastern Europe, as, compared to the relatively stable Western Front, the battlefield in Eastern Europe was where the real danger lay.

But this also led to problems in the Western European battlefield, which had not been lacking supplies and troops. The continuous attacks of the French were relentless, not as ferocious as imagined, but the daily consumption of supplies and casualties among the German troops was not a small number.

It might hold for a short period, but once a long time passes without support from the German government, the troops within the defensive line could only choose to retreat.

After the Battle of Stalingrad ended, Britain-France-Australia also faced a new choice: to fight or not to fight.

Without much hesitation, the armies of the Three Countries chose to seize the opportunity to attack Germany.

After all, both Germany and Russia had already suffered substantial depletion, which largely met the strategic plans of Britain and Australasia.

If the war were dragged out any longer, it would also be a drain on Britain and France themselves.

This was not something the British wanted to see, as Australasia had not been impacted by the war at all, and this uncertainty made the British rather nervous.

If the war continued to stalemate at this pace, Germany and Russia could indeed be depleted even more, but the consumption of Britain and France would be equally significant.

This could lead to Australasia directly benefiting from the situation, something the British Government had seen, which was why they decided to end the war as quickly as possible.

At this time, Arthur also received news of the end of the Battle of Stalingrad. In line with the decision of Britain and France, Arthur also decided to end the war as quickly as possible.

The territory they aimed to acquire had essentially been taken, and the distribution of benefits after the war would have to wait for the peace conference.

Given this, it would be better to defeat Germany, the enemy, as early as possible and, by occupying a vast expanse of German territory, support more nations friendly to Australasia to gain the initiative and the right to speak during the post-war negotiations.

Under Arthur’s instructions, the Australasia Army split into two forces.

One continued to recapture Finnish territory in Northern Europe and to support Dmitry in rebuilding the Government of Finland as soon as possible.

The other set out from the Maginot Line, taking the lead in attacking Frankfurt and then advancing north to occupy the entire Ruhr District.

Indeed, in Arthur’s strategic plan, capturing the Ruhr District of Germany was of utmost importance.