The Rise of Australasia

However, Brigadier General Martin had anticipated the Germans' reaction. The German flanking forces and the British-French forces met, and both parties started exchanging fire reflexively. In terms of consideration, the British and French forces had the upper hand.

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Hearing the gunfire from his own flank, the German commander felt a sense of foreboding and wanted to order a retreat.

However, facing such intense firepower from the Australasian Army head-on, it was impossible for the German Army to leave their rear exposed to the Australasian forces, as it could lead to even more brutal slaughter.

It should be noted that the Guard Division Two not only had four infantry regiments and an artillery regiment but also had two cavalry corps. Such a lineup was luxurious.

These two cavalry corps alone were enough to reap the rewards of a blind German retreat.

By the time the fighting on the flanks gradually subsided, it was already too late for the German commander to order a retreat. The flanking troops had arrived at the rear of the German forces, and the German troops had been encircled.

Bang!

Accompanied by a sharp gunshot, the German commander committed suicide in a forest, and the German Army was annihilated by the mixed forces, marking a complete victory in the flank defense battle.

Brigadier General Martin ordered his men to count the casualties and damage to equipment while directing a communications soldier to report the results of this small-scale battle to the Third Army Group.

As expected, the victory of the flank defense battle greatly delighted the commander of the Third Army Group. It also meant that the Third Army Group's flanks would be very safe in the short term, and Germany would not have too many troops available for a second flanking maneuver.

Of course, the mixed forces couldn't move yet. Nobody could guarantee that the German Army wouldn't receive reinforcements, but before completely annihilating the German forces, the flanks of the Third and Fourth Army Groups were crucial.

The achievements of the mixed forces were also reported to the Post-Law State Headquarters and the British Expeditionary Force Headquarters, earning high praise from France and Britain.

Arthur was delighted when he learned of this military report. In a way, it also proved that the Australasian Army's firepower was in no way inferior to that of the German Army.

The fact that the Guard Division and Division Three were able to gain the upper hand against the German Army in almost equal numbers showed that the fighting ability of the Australasian Army was not weak.

After ensuring the safety of the flanks, the attack of the French Third and Fourth Army Groups became more intense.

With nearly 450,000 men of the Australasian Indigenous Army, the offensive of the Central Army was nothing short of fearless in the face of death.

Within just two days, the front line had advanced more than ten kilometers, not far from the German-French border before the war began.

Although it cost nearly 150,000 casualties, including more than half of the Australasian Indigenous people, the number of deaths and injuries was still within an acceptable range.

As for the mixed forces, after over an hour of counting, the battle results were reported to the rear and Australasia.

The mixed forces had faced more than 30,000 German troops, and after suffering 10,000 casualties (over 2,000 Australasians, over 4,000 British, and over 3,000 French), they had wiped out 12,000 German soldiers, captured 18,000, and nearly 1,000 were missing. ṛäℕƟꞖÈȘ

Although more than 1,000 people had slipped away, the overall results obtained were quite satisfactory.

The scale of this German force with more than 30,000 people was not small, making up one-twentieth of the garrison in the Alsace and Lorraine area, and mostly consisting of seasoned elite German soldiers (those with many old injuries).

The offensive of the Central armies went smoothly, attracting the German Third Army Group to move south and significantly reducing the pressure on the northern armies.

Contrary to pre-war expectations, the Central armies' offensive was smoother, and it was assumed that the northern forces would ease the pressure for the Central forces instead.

With the aid of their stronghold on the French border and parts of Belgium, the German forces blocked the northern forces within ten kilometers of the border.

Despite the northern forces suffering numerous casualties, the front line could not advance a single step further.

If the northern forces were evenly matched, the southern forces' performance was somewhat disappointing.

The French Army's combat capability was just average, undertaking most of the battle tasks for the southern forces.

Keep in mind that, out of the more than 600,000 fighting forces in the southern forces, 500,000 were from the Italian Army.

The performance of the Italian Army in the battle was terrible. On the first day of the battle, the 500,000-strong Italian Army was blocked by barely more than 100,000 Austro-Hungarian forces on the border and could not advance a single step further.

An Italian detachment attempting a flanking maneuver was discovered and surrounded by Austro-Hungarian reinforcements and subsequently destroyed.

It also made Italy the only laughingstock of the battle, suffering nearly 50,000 casualties within three days of fighting, and its forces were still on Italian territory.

If it weren't for the severe defeat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire on the Eastern Front and the depletion of their forces,

Arthur would have reason to suspect that the Austro-Hungarian Empire would take the opportunity to invade Italy, occupy its core northern region, and force Italy to surrender.

It should be noted that while Italy's unification preceded Germany's, it was also a country unified in the mid-19th century.

Before Italy's unification, the country consisted of two large states and many regions. These two countries were the Kingdom of Sardinia in the north and the Two Sicily Kingdoms in the south.

Due to differences in development between the two countries, Italy's northern and southern regions had significant development disparities.

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