Chapter 933 The Munich Agreement in the Far East 2
And what about Russia? The Eastern Front is long and the density of troops is reduced, which is more conducive to offense than defense. At the same time, Russia has a huge population. To put it bluntly, it is possible for Russia to mobilize as many troops as Britain and France, but it lacks industry and weapons!
At present, the best way to break this deadlock is to re-open the connection between the two. Of course, it is impossible to get through from the Western European continent. If we could get through, the war would have ended long ago... So the only and most convenient option is naturally to do it on turkey, a broiler! As long as the Dardanelles Strait is opened and the strait is cleared, which is about 61 kilometers long, between 1.2 and 6 kilometers wide, with an average water depth of 55 meters and a maximum depth of 82 meters, then British and French equipment and equipment can be continuously shipped to Russia , the resource allocation of the Allied Powers will be more reasonable. This improvement in strategy can be described as earth-shaking.
Moreover, Constantinople is the capital of Turkey. It is surrounded by Turkey's most complete naval base, important arsenals and heavy industry bases. If this battle can solve this problem smoothly, it will not only restore the relationship between Britain, France and Russia. Because of the transportation problem between the two countries, the Allied Mediterranean Fleet was easily dealt with. And Turkey, which lost its capital, would probably choose to surrender immediately, right?
The reason why Britain and France did not start this action immediately was for two reasons. One was that the Allied Mediterranean Fleet was not easy to deal with. Four fast battleships equivalent to the Scharnhorst, four queens could not compete! The fundamental reason why the French Navy can barely maintain the situation is the huge pre-dreadnought cannon fodder and the two battleships provided by Italy. More than enough to defend, attack? Just save it.
Another reason is that Britain and France do not have enough soldiers. Conquering the Dardanelles and even Constantinople requires not only the navy, but also the army. The navy only provides a basis for victory, a necessary condition, but it is not sufficient! Hundreds of thousands of soldiers are still needed to fight tooth and nail!
Historically, why is the Battle for the Dardanelles called the largest battle in the world's history? This makes sense! This battle lasted ten months! Not counting the navy, the Allied forces had 480,000 landing troops alone! Among them, as many as 252,000 people were lost due to reasons such as being killed in battle, captured, injured, missing, etc.! 44,000 of them died! The 500,000 troops invested by Turkey also suffered 218,000 casualties, with as many as 66,000 deaths! And all of this is just for this 60-kilometer strait!
Of course, there are no time travelers among the British, so they naturally don’t know how much blood they will shed on this front in the future. However, thinking about the bad geographical environment of the Dardanelles Strait and the four super-dreadnoughts armed to the teeth, the British feel guilty. Although we don’t know how many people will die, a lot of people will definitely die. This has almost reached a certain consensus. So, how can 60,000 Japanese troops be enough? Isn't this sending beggars away? !
Thinking of this, Campbell's idea immediately became clear! "60,000 people? This is only the number of three divisions, and we are on the Western Front. Maybe within two days, we will lose so many people.
(The author vaguely remembers the day with the largest number of casualties in the first battle, the number of casualties seemed to be 50,000?!) And in order to implement this landing battle, we need absolute naval force suppression! " Campbell said.
"Holy shit?! It's done?" Katsura Taro was overjoyed at Campbell's statement! Don't be afraid that the other party won't negotiate terms. Negotiating terms means that the other party has agreed to the plan in principle! Besides, despite the fact that Katsura Taro is from the Army, the top brass of the Army really don't take the lives of ordinary soldiers seriously. Unless their son is in it….
"Every month, I mean, every month, the number of soldiers and workers sent by the Japanese government to Europe should not be less than 120,000. Your country is also a member of the Allied Powers. We consider Japan's difficulties as a Far Eastern country , so we did not ask your country to provide weapons and supplies. We just need troops! Your country has a population of 50 million, more people than the British Empire and the French Republic, and we have tried our best to support your country's actions in the Far East. If we lose, what will happen? Do you really think Japan can retain its victory?" Campbell said.
"120,000?! For Europe, which is thousands of miles away from the Japanese Empire, we have to pay so many people every month?" Katsura Taro's face was a little ugly. It has been several months since the Japanese Army participated in the battle on the European battlefield, although it is only now There are tens of thousands of troops, but the cruelty and bloodshed on the Western Front exceeded the imagination of the Japanese. After defeating the Russians, the Japanese Army, which considered itself to be a first-class army power, arrived in the European battlefield and was taught how to behave in minutes. !
Then the Japanese understood that this is how modern warfare is fought! While they understood that bayonets and meat bullets could not stop artillery shells, the Japanese casualties on the European front also skyrocketed. The highest record was when the French launched an attack. In one day, the casualties and captured personnel of all Japanese participating in the war exceeded five figures... What is this concept? During the Russo-Japanese War, although the attack on Highland 203 was bloody and resulted in tens of thousands of casualties, it was not like the European battlefield where tens of thousands of people were killed and injured in one day! Then the Japanese were frightened, frightened by the play of the European powers...
It's not that the Japanese couldn't bear such high casualties, but that they felt it wasn't worth it. A group of European countries go to war, and Japan casualties tens of thousands of people every month. Is it okay to do this? If it were history, it would certainly not be the case, but things are different now. Not to mention that Americans and Japanese have become mortal enemies. Without the Allied Powers as a tiger skin to hold up the banner, Japan's situation would be even more difficult. If Japan wants to continue to expand its sphere of influence, it needs the full support of the British. Moreover, Britain and France paid for these soldiers! Just think of them as mercenaries!
"We need to discuss this further. If you agree in principle, I think today's meeting is enough. As for the remaining details, we can leave it to other professionals to discuss, for example, how many troops and how many workers we will send. ." As Prime Minister, Katsura Taro cannot do anything personally. There is no need for him to participate in discussions on how many troops to deploy every month or how many workers to dispatch. So if we can set the tone today, we have accomplished the task, but the UK does not seem to intend to let it go like this.
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