The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 1208 - 902
Chapter 1208: 902
Chapter 1208: 902
Although the industries of these nations lagged far behind the Powers, they were still relatively strong militarily in Europe and naturally possessed a certain number of tanks and Air Forces.
Among them, South Slavia, Albania, and Greece, supported by the Britain-France-Australia Three Nations, clearly had more Air Forces.
Particularly, South Slavia, due to facing a Three-Line Battle, had amassed over 700 airplanes with the help from the United Kingdom and Australasia.
Of course, this figure of 700 airplanes was somewhat inflated, as only one-third were relatively mainstream airplanes, the rest being phased out products from the United Kingdom and Australasia.
But still, it was 700 airplanes, and the stability of these airplanes had been tested, though they were merely outdated in terms of firepower and speed.
In battle, particularly against countries like Bulgaria and Romania which had fewer airplanes, a large-scale Air Force was still very effective.
The first campaign in which South Slavia deployed airplanes was indeed an air raid against Bulgaria. Naturally, the first target was Sofia, the capital, which was very close to the border and highly important for Bulgaria.
Capitals being dozens of kilometers from the borders isn’t rare in the Balkan States.
After all, the land area of the Balkan States is not large, with South Slavia being the largest as it was formed from the merger of several countries.
Even so, South Slavia’s Capital City Belgrade is only dozens of kilometers away from Romania, and Romania’s Capital City Bucharest is similarly distant from Bulgaria.
Similarly, the Capital City of Albania, Tirana, is only dozens of kilometers away from South Slavia.
The only exception might be Greece, as its Capital City is located in the Southern Region of the country, which itself is the southernmost state of the Balkan Peninsula, distancing Capital City Athens from the other Balkan Nations.
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But conversely, Athens is a coastal Urban City and faces Turkey across the sea. Among the capitals of the Balkan Nations, Athens is not the safest.
In the Three Balkan Countries, South Slavia, with over 700 aircraft, had the highest number.
Greece was next to South Slavia, also possessing over 500 airplanes, with a great many coming from the United Kingdom, as the relations between Greece and Britain were rather friendly.
The least was Albania. There was no helping it since Albania was a small country, bordered by the sea or surrounded by South Slavia and Greece, eliminating the necessity to equip too many Air Forces.
South Slavia’s Air Force had fewer than 100 airplanes, which was the absolute lowest among the Balkan states.
But combining the three, the Three Balkan Countries still possessed over 1300 airplanes, a rather considerable number.
Next, looking at Romania and Bulgaria.
Bulgaria’s Military Industry faced severe restrictions; as a defeated nation of World War I, Bulgaria always had the lowest number of airplanes among the Balkan Nations, even now barely having over 100.
Romania was slightly better, but not by much. Altogether, Romania, with aid from Germany, could just barely muster 400 airplanes, far fewer than what South Slavia had.
But the good news was that joining this war, apart from the Balkan states, was also Italy, a superpower.
Currently, Italy’s total number of airplanes had surpassed 3000, and although a considerable portion needed to be used elsewhere, fielding nearly 1000 airplanes for this war was still feasible.
However, Britain and France were not without countermeasures. To aid the Three Balkan Countries, the United Kingdom had specifically bolstered its patrols over the Mediterranean Sea, even frequently visiting the Adriatic Sea.
Initially, Britain and France were relieved when the Three Balkan Countries joined the war, but what they hadn’t anticipated was that Austria, after holding out for several months, ultimately couldn’t resist the combined invasion of Germany and Italy.
On November 15th, 1936, Vienna, the Capital City of Austria, was breached by the German Army, capturing over 200,000 Austrian soldiers.
After a prolonged war, the Austrian government controlled only two cities, both located in the Southern Region of Austria, namely Klagenfurt and Graz.
The reason these two cities survived was that they were located along the borders with South Slavia, where part of the South Slavic Military was stationed and could provide immediate assistance to Austria.
On November 16th, hundreds of thousands of German soldiers headed south, completely surrounding Graz.
On November 17th, Klagenfurt too did not escape the clutches of the Germans and was surrounded by a large German Army presence, with virtually all of Austria’s territory, except these two cities, being occupied by the German Army.
On November 21st, 1936, after several days of negotiations and in the presence of German media, the Austrian government announced its surrender to Germany and dissolved all its armed forces.
On November 23rd, 1936, Germany declared the unification with Austria, establishing the true Empire of Germania.
The surrender of Austria was absolute bad news for Britain and France and even impacted the situation in the Balkan Region.
With Austria no longer blocking their path, a vast number of German soldiers could easily move southwards, dealing a fatal blow to South Slavia.
