The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 952: Chapter 711: Shocking Changes—MacArthur’s Ambition

The worst had befallen the American army.

In just a few hours, General Pan Xing received two pieces of bad news from the rear and the front lines, plunging the entire Northwest Army into a massive predicament.

And it wasn’t over yet. The intentions of the Australasian army were not so simple; apart from encircling the Northwest Army from behind, a portion of the Australasian forces had already moved south towards Minneapolis, intending to directly cut off the Northwest Army’s retreat.

Looking at the map, it was clear that there were only two routes for the Northwest Army to retreat. One was to move east towards Minneapolis and then head to the Great Lakes region, the other was to follow the river south to Kansas and then head straight for the Eastern Region.

If nothing out of the ordinary occurred, the first route was definitely the one the American Northwest Army would take.

They still had the task of defending the industrial area around the Great Lakes. If they ceded Minnesota to Australasia, then Wisconsin and Illinois would also become fish on the cutting board for Australasia.

But now, with the Australasian army having moved beforehand, the Northwest Army’s retreat route had been nearly cut off.

General Pan Xing was left with only two choices: to head south along the river to Kansas and reorganize the defense in Illinois,

Or to quickly retreat to Minnesota and engage in a grand battle with the Australasian forces there.

But with less than 70,000 troops at his disposal, breaking through Australasia’s encirclement to carry out a retreat via any route would be extremely difficult.

It wasn’t long before General Pan Xing realized that he didn’t need to make the decision himself.

Just a few hours later, the reserve troops located in Carrington urgently reported the discovery of a large Australasian force and had already begun engaging them.

The rear forces reported they could hold for at most two hours; without any support from the front lines, the enemy would likely breach Carrington’s defenses.

Support?

With a wry smile, General Pan Xing looked at the troop deployment map in his hands and had already made a tough decision.

After the loss of the seventh division, his available forces had significantly decreased. At most, he could only send 5,000 troops to support Carrington, and their weaponry and ammunition were limited.

Such support might stall the Australasian forces for some time, but for how long?

Carrington was less than 100 kilometers from Bismarck, and it was very possible that before support could arrive, the enemy would have already broken through Carrington’s defenses.

“Kid, order the soldiers to lay down their weapons and surrender,” General Pan Xing said, his face ashen, as he looked at his messenger. His tone, once rigid, was now filled with a benevolent command.

“Your Excellency the General, you…” said the messenger in disbelief, pausing for a moment, seemingly unable to believe the solemn decision-making General Pan Xing before him.

“I am a soldier, and soldiers can only accept dying on the battlefield, not being captured alive by the enemy.

Kid, after my suicide, please see to it that my body is buried. Tell all the soldiers of the Northwest Army to lay down their weapons and cease resistance, the Australasians will allow them to return to their homes.

If possible, please also convey to all Americans on my behalf, this defeat is my fault alone, and has nothing to do with the soldiers.

Tell that guy Barton, I don’t blame his decision, but he’d also better ensure the safety of all Northwest Army soldiers, tell him that’s my word,” said General Pan Xing, as he issued his final orders to the messenger, then waved him away to pass on the commands.

Afterward, looking at the now empty makeshift command room, General Pan Xing picked up his sidearm, disengaged the safety, and chambered a round.

Bang!

Simultaneously with the announcement of the Northwest Army’s surrender, General Pan Xing, a famous American military leader from the late 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, honorably died on the battlefield.

Barton received the news of General Pan Xing’s death the next day. The news of General Pan Xing’s suicide rather than being captured left Barton with tears welling in his eyes.

Arriving at the Northwest Army’s command room, he looked at the familiar setup and the freeze-dried blood on the table, nodded in silence, and said, “Old pal, rest assured, I will make sure all the soldiers can safely return to their homes.

At the same time, I promise that those who made mistakes will be punished. America should be governed by its people, not by those damn, capital-corrupted folks.”

Following the surrender of the Northwest Army, there was no more resistance in the Central and Northern parts of America.

Merely two days later, on the 15th of November, 1928, the fall of Minneapolis marked the spread of the war to the Great Lakes region.

And it didn’t end there. In less than ten days, large numbers of Russian, Philippine, and Kalimantan troops descended upon North and South Dakota and Nebraska, forcing the state governments of these three states to declare their withdrawal from the war.

The surrender of the Northwest Army was a severe blow to the American Government.

Also in November, France had successively captured the states of Louisiana and Oklahoma, clearly intending to meet the Australasia Army in Kansas.

From the map, it’s evident that the states of North Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas could be considered the dividing line between the eastern and western parts of the United States.

This means that as of now, nearly half of the United States’ territory has fallen.

The surrender of the Northwest Army was good news for the Allied Army, indicating that the United States had lost over one-fifth of its usable military forces.

While the United States continued to train troops tirelessly, the terrible war conditions had made many states realize the inevitable defeat, causing the rate of new military recruitment to slow increasingly, to the point where the average number of new recruits trained each month had fallen to less than 20,000.

On November 17, the United Kingdom finally received some good news.

Nearly a million troops were gathered in the Northeastern United States, and apart from the 300,000 American soldiers, the number of Allied soldiers had surpassed 500,000.

Where did the additional hundred thousand troops come from? Naturally, they were the second round of reinforcements from the British and French.

France had previously committed to deploying at least 250,000 troops to secure more regions. So far, they had only sent 100,000, which was still a far cry from fulfilling their promise.

The British, of course, would not miss an opportunity to place pressure on the French. At the behest of the British, the second batch of 100,000 French reinforcements arrived in mid-November and swiftly joined the operations against the United States.

Of course, the British wouldn’t sit idle either. With financial support from Britain, nearly 20,000 more troops were recruited from Canada and likewise committed to combat in the Northeastern United States.

Further bolstered by naval supremacy, after more than a month of advancing, the British had pushed the front line hundreds of kilometers south and had now fully occupied the states of Maine, Vermont, and Massachusetts.

These states’ names might seem unfamiliar, but one of them is indeed well-known.

Massachusetts, also referred to as the Commonwealth, houses the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Moreover, Massachusetts boasts a famous city named Boston, which is one of the largest cities in the Eastern United States, second only to New York in terms of city size.

The fall of Boston is indicative of the United States’ now desperate resistance.

The military force committed by the United States to the northeastern front has consistently been around 300,000, which was nearly at the government’s limit.

But the numbers of the Allied forces continued to grow, and the nearly twofold disparity in troops had already determined the entire warfront’s direction.

Specially since the Allied forces had an abundance of naval and air forces, not only were they able to support the army from the sea but they also held absolute superiority in the skies.

Compounding the issue, regions including Boston and New York, situated along the coastline, were within the firing range of warships, explaining the rapid fall of these cities to the Allied forces.

By now, the outcome of the war was becoming increasingly clear, and logic would dictate that the American government should have surrendered.

But for reasons unknown, even in the face of absolute disadvantage in land, sea, and air, President Hoover still showed no sign of surrendering.

Even at the recent government meeting, President Hoover rebuked an officer who suggested surrender and immediately dismissed him from his position.

This stirred waves within the American government and prompted more officials to consider finding a way out.

On November 23, several British individuals exited the Florida State government building with smiles on their faces.

The following day, Florida State announced its withdrawal from the war and declared that it would hold an independence referendum in the near future.

Florida’s actions served as the vanguard for the Southeastern United States, and within just one week, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama all declared their withdrawal from the war.

At this point, the territories under the American government’s control were limited to Washington D.C. and a few surrounding states.

Before President Hoover could react with anger, an even greater event occurred.

On the 29th of November, MacArthur, returning to Washington to report on his duties, led a coup. The rebels quickly seized the White House and enacted martial control over Washington.

MacArthur detained President Hoover, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, and some government upper echelons. That same day, he announced the abolition of Hoover’s rule and established a military government.

Such a major upheaval in the United States quickly caught the world’s attention. Surprisingly, merely a day later, MacArthur ordered all soldiers to surrender and published an “Open Letter to the American People.”

In this public statement, MacArthur declared that all previous disasters in Washington were caused by President Hoover’s direct involvement, including the influence of consortiums from Boston and New York in the economic crisis.

MacArthur affirmed that the military would no longer pledge allegiance to President Hoover. He vowed to represent the military in establishing a new government, abolishing the corrupted rule of the former American leaders.