The Rise of Australia

Chapter 877 Brutal Landing Battle

There is nothing much to describe. The air battle between the island country air force and the Australasian air force at the airport of the Ryukyu Islands was like a massacre with a huge gap.

Only one plane crashed in Australasia, and it crashed because of engine failure, which was somewhat lucky.

Besides that, the island country planes never posed any threat to the Australasian Air Force again, not even seriously injured.

Of course, if the scratches caused by bullets rubbing against the metal frame and the damage to the paint are counted, there are indeed quite a few Australasian planes that were damaged, especially those pilots.

It's like getting a new car and getting scratched on the first official road. It's inevitable that you will feel distressed.

The Ryukyu Islands' army was not surprised by the failure of this air battle. The island country's air force is not large in scale, and it is divided into two factions by the army and the navy, so the impact is still relatively serious.

Although the Ryukyu Islands are the largest archipelago closest to Australasia, the importance of the Ryukyu Islands is still not as important as the island country's mainland.

In the plan of the island government, the Ryukyu Islands are naturally to be defended. But the main force to defend the Ryukyu Islands is the nearly 100,000 troops of the four divisions deployed in the Ryukyu Islands, rather than the air force of less than 100 aircraft, a considerable part of which are not the most advanced aircraft.

After all, in the beach landing battle on the island, the attacker has to bear several times the losses of the defender.

Even the extremely elite army cannot avoid large-scale damage when conducting beach landing battles.

Even around 1930, the population of Kalimantan dropped to the freezing point for the first time, almost falling below 30 million.

Because if you want to land on the beach, you must land on the tightly defended beach under the enemy's artillery fire and hail of bullets.

The United Sultanate of Kalimantan is even more special. The integration of the population of the entire Dutch East Indies has allowed the population of the United Sultanate of Kalimantan to exceed 30 million from the very beginning.

These populations are also very large, plus the original natives of Kalimantan, these populations are not included in the population figures.

So far, the official population of the Great Sultanate of Kalimantan is 37 million.

Although the Philippines and Kalimantan have changed a lot compared to history, the population has not been greatly affected.

This population size is just a rough estimate based on the population data reported by the small sultanates and a certain estimation.

As long as he knows a rough range, Arthur has met his expectations. Arthur is not interested in conducting a population census in Kalimantan, after all, these indigenous populations are not valuable.

At present, in the Ryukyu Islands, several areas that are more suitable for landing have been transformed by the islanders to ensure that the attacking Australasian army has no shelter and must be filled with human lives.

Because of the unrest, a considerable number of natives fled to the mountains and forests of Kalimantan and lived a life not much different from that of savages.

With sufficient food, the fertility rate of these natives is still very high. This also means that Australasian, which has two major vassal states of Kalimantan and the Philippines, is completely free of cannon fodder in a million-scale war.

The combined population of Kalimantan and the Philippines is close to 60 million, which means they can provide at least 6 million cannon fodder.

The enemy is not stupid either. For beaches that are more vulnerable to attack, they will definitely try to remove giant stones and trees that may serve as cover while deploying defensive positions.

Of course, because the development level of Kalimantan is far inferior to that of Java Island, Kalimantan can hardly bear such a large population in the first few years.

According to reasonable estimates, the total population of the Kalimantan Sultanate should be more than 40 million, but no more than 42 million at most.

But after that, the Kalimantan Sultanate gradually restored order, and Australasia also sold a large amount of food to Kalimantan, allowing the Sultanate to maintain its population size.

Speaking of filling with human lives, the Philippine and Kalimantan armies naturally have something to say.

Why is it an integer accurate to one million?

Because even Australasia cannot actually determine the population of the Kalimantan Sultanate.

In addition, the Great Sultanate had just been established, and the order between the small sultanates was not so stable, and there was still a period of unrest.

Famine and unrest caused the population of Kalimantan to not only not grow in the first few years of its establishment, but also to decline sharply.

By the beginning of 1936, the total population of the Philippines had exceeded 16 million, ranking among the top 30 countries and regions in the world.

Even in extreme conditions, the cannon fodder troops provided by these two countries could reach tens of millions, which was much more than the troops that the great powers without colonies could mobilize.

At 3 pm on June 26, after the Air Force gained absolute air superiority, the Navy protected many transport ships and landing ships and began to approach the Ryukyu Islands.

The Air Force also patrolled the sky to create opportunities for the landing troops as much as possible.

"Baga! Fire, repel these landing ships, don't let them get close to the coast!" The island army stationed on the coast naturally discovered the Australasian army that wanted to land. Under the order of the island commander, a large number of island troops began to show up, using machine guns and rifles to try to suppress the approach of the Australasian landing ship.

On the Australasian landing ship side, a large number of Philippine and Kalimantan troops also began to take action.

Although they are uniformly wearing Australasian military uniforms, the Philippine and Kalimantan armies are still very different from the weapons, equipment and mental outlook of both sides.

The Philippines has been colonized by Spain for hundreds of years, and due to its small population, Westernization is still relatively serious.

There are many Filipinos who believe in Catholicism. Some of them speak English, some speak Spanish, and there are even many mixed-race populations.

But the indigenous people of Kalimantan are different. Although there is also a small mixed-race population, because the indigenous population is so large, long-term colonization has hardly had a great impact on these indigenous people.

In terms of language and ethnic beliefs, it can also be seen that the Kalimantan army has not suffered much impact and has not been assimilated.

The specific reason is very simple when you think about it. During most of the period when Spain ruled the Philippines, Spain was relatively powerful.

The Philippines had a small population at that time, so it was natural for it to be influenced by the powerful Spain.

But the Dutch East Indies were different. By the time the Dutch took control of these lands, the Dutch power had weakened a lot.

In addition, the indigenous population of the Dutch East Indies far exceeded that of the Netherlands, and it was obviously impossible to assimilate such an area.

It is no exaggeration to say that if the Netherlands wants to assimilate the Dutch East Indies with its population of several million, it is very likely that it will be assimilated by the Dutch East Indies.

This is like a drop of muddy water mixed into a tank of clear water. After stirring evenly, the clear water is still clear to the naked eye.

In order to assimilate these indigenous people, they must at least have a matching population size. Even Australasia cannot do it now, because Australasia does not have much time and energy to assimilate such a large number of indigenous people.

However, it is obvious from the national policy of Australasia that at least during Arthur's reign, there was no plan to assimilate Kalimantan.

In Arthur's eyes, these Kalimantan natives are good cannon fodder, and their only role is to replace the Australasians in the war.

On the contrary, Filipinos who have been obviously affected can select a portion of the better population for assimilation.

It is obviously impossible for Australasia to become an all-white country, but other races who want to join Australasia must also make sufficient contributions to the country.

The various welfare policies formulated by Arthur are not enjoyed in vain. At least Arthur does not want the policies he formulated for Australasians to be enjoyed by those black-skinned monkeys.

In two lifetimes, Arthur has never been able to get rid of his aversion to chocolate. In other words, Australasia does not have much of a colony in Africa. Otherwise, Arthur might still be entitled to the title of Butcher King.

Christie, commander of the 9th Army, was watching the situation on the battlefield aboard the largest battleship.

If we look at this beach landing battle alone, Australasia is obviously at a disadvantage.

The Ryukyu Islands have many islands, and the many islands surrounding the main island have naturally become good terrain for the island country's troops to deploy defensive positions.

This also means that if you want to successfully land on the main island of the Ryukyu Islands, you must conquer these surrounding small islands one after another.

Every time a defensive position of the island country is conquered, it means a large number of casualties for the Australasian army.

Commander Christie used binoculars to pay close attention to the situation of the landing battle. Although Filipino and Kalimantan soldiers continued to die, Commander Christie did not show any panic on his face, but instead had a smile.

Not to mention, these indigenous armies still play a very important role.

Under the "fearless" charge of the indigenous troops, the defensive positions deployed by the island nation's troops on the Ryukyu Islands were exposed one after another.

At this time, the Australasian aircraft hovering in the sky will continue to visit these exposed island positions and bomb them.

In other words, the current beach landing battle is actually using the casualties of the indigenous population in exchange for hidden island positions one after another.

This beach landing battle lasted for more than four hours, and was finally called to a halt by Commander Christie just before eight o'clock in the evening.

"Let these young men have a hot meal." Christie expressed concern for these indigenous troops for the first time: "There will be a big battle tomorrow."

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