The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 954: Chapter 713: Army Reforms

Once the issue of population was temporarily settled, the Army Department swiftly reported a new issue concerning the current army organization reform.

When it comes to the organization of the Australasia Army, it was initially determined over 20 years ago, during a period when relations with Germany were particularly close.

The organization of the army was developed in collaboration with German experts, featuring certain modifications over the German model, but overall it remained quite similar to the German structure.

Such an army organization has evolved over more than two decades and has become somewhat ill-suited to the current situation.

First of all, the emergence of tanks has changed the way wars are fought, with mobility becoming increasingly important for the military.

One of the purposes of the Australasia Army’s reform is to mechanize the forces, or at a minimum, to significantly enhance their mobility.

Next is the evolution of airplanes, which now possess formidable combat capabilities. The current Air Force can pose a significant threat to ground troops, just as the Australasia Air Force’s bombing of American forces illustrated.

A powerful army unit must have sufficient anti-aircraft capabilities, to at least put up some resistance against the enemy’s airplanes.

In the Army Department’s recommendations, each division should add at least one anti-aircraft battalion, with each battalion equipped with a minimum of twelve 27mm anti-aircraft guns and eight improved MA-107 Maxim Heavy Machine Guns.

In order to properly transport these anti-aircraft weapons, just the anti-aircraft battalion would need at least 27 military transport trucks, with 20 designated for carrying the guns and machine guns, and the remaining 7 for transporting the soldiers from the anti-aircraft battalion and other equipment.

Thankfully, the generals in the army did not recklessly arrange for anti-aircraft units to be part of the formations below the regiment level. Otherwise, the sweeping changes to the organization and the vast amount of weapons and equipment required would be enough to give Arthur a headache.

Of course, with anti-aircraft battalions, there must also be anti-tank battalions. The anti-tank battalions would be equipped with 22 50mm Type II anti-tank guns, escalating the number of military transport trucks needed to 40.

As for the Artillery Regiments directly under the division, all firearms with calibers smaller than 75mm would be handed down to the infantry, with the Artillery Regiments only retaining large artillery pieces of 75mm or larger.

In the revised plan, the equipment of the Artillery Regiments would become 24 75mm semi-automatic artillery pieces, 12 105mm semi-automatic artillery pieces, 8 127mm Howitzers, and 5 155mm Howitzers.

The highest firepower within a division’s Artillery Regiment would be the 5 155mm Howitzers. As for even larger calibers, the logistical transport capacity they require is beyond what a division’s Artillery Regiment can handle.

Besides the Artillery Regiments, the division’s subunits also include Cavalry Corps. Of course, if the changes detailed in the reform plan are implemented, the new Cavalry Corps should be renamed as the Division Mobility Corps.

The Mobility Corps will transition from a complete cavalry organization to a mixed organization of cavalry and mechanized troops.

The cavalry organization will be scaled down to a single cavalry company, with the Mobility Corps also possessing a mechanized transport company and a tank company.

This aspect alone reveals the ambition of the army. If such military reform is completed, all the regular divisions will become mixed divisions, significantly boosting the combat firepower of each division.

Naturally, this will extensively test Australasia’s logistical capacity and also its ability to stockpile various strategic resources.

With the massive equipping of tanks, transport vehicles, and other machinery in the forces, the consumption of fuel alone will be astronomical.

If it weren’t for Australasia’s control over the Persian Gulf Territory and abundant petroleum reserves in other regions, such a structure would be a burden for Australasia.

This military reform plan not only restructures the divisions’ direct subunits, but it also introduces certain changes to each Infantry Regiment.

According to the previous organization of Australasia, each infantry division had three Infantry Regiments, one Artillery Regiment, and one Cavalry Corps.

This systematic structure is not going to change, but there will still be significant modifications within the Infantry Regiments.

The battalion artillery company will be upgraded to a mixed Artillery Battalion. Since the division Artillery Regiment has handed down all small-caliber firearms to the infantry, the Infantry Regiment’s artillery company can now add more artillery pieces to expand its organization.

Although it is an Artillery Battalion, the Infantry Regiment’s Artillery Battalion mostly consists of small-caliber firearms. Among them, the most notable is the CA-1 37mm Machine Gun, one of the most outstanding designs in Australasia artillery development, currently irreplaceable by any other small-caliber firearm.

The gun’s nearly 80 rounds per minute of frightening firing rate alone ensures its significant impact on the battlefield.

Even if its lethality is not as strong as that of large-caliber artillery, the overwhelming artillery coverage is enough to terrify any army unit.

Compared to the Artillery Company, the Cavalry Company has not changed much, since in certain areas cavalry are still more important than tanks and trucks.

After all, it’s only the end of 1928 now, and it will be a long time before various mechanized devices can completely replace cavalry.

In many mountainous regions, cavalry’s combat capability still exceeds that of tanks, because tanks in this era are not all-powerful, and their failure rates are quite high.

Moreover, the division combat units already have increased numbers of tanks and trucks, hence the regiment level cavalry companies will naturally remain unchanged.

Concerning the more fundamental army organization, after revisions, it is as follows:

Squad leaders, three to four-person machine gun teams, assistant squad leaders, and five ordinary soldiers form an infantry squad of ten to eleven members.