The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 1050 - 784: Verdun Meat Grinder South American Edition_2
Chapter 1050: Chapter 784: Verdun Meat Grinder South American Edition_2
But an officer who has never experienced real combat can only be said to have the potential to become an excellent officer.
Only those who have been tempered by war can be called excellent officers. In light of this, the Ministry of Defense planned to train young Australasian officers in this war, and Arthur agreed with this idea.
If it weren’t for the fact that the military forces on both sides of the war were not very large, Arthur would have even wanted the Australasian Army to rotate combat duties and hone their fighting spirit in real combat, thereby improving the army’s combat capabilities.
Keep in mind that more than ten years have passed since World War I, and most of the soldiers from that time have already retired.
Furthermore, with the army’s recent expansion, many new soldiers have not witnessed the realities of the battlefield and are unaware of the cruelty of war.
Although Arthur had great trust in the military’s training system and believed in the combat strength of the rigorously trained forces,
having fought in a war versus not having fought in one represent two different levels for a soldier. Only by experiencing real combat and the trial of death can a soldier truly transform and become an elite combatant.
After World War I, Australasia was involved in very few wars. The largest one was the war to suppress the United States, deploying over 100,000 soldiers.
However, that war is of limited relevance. Most of the main American forces were delayed to the Eastern Front, and what the Australasian Army faced on the Westline Battlefield were primarily the National Guard from various American states.
As the young Australasian officer corps arrived in Paraguay, they immediately took over some of the Paraguayan army’s command.
Under the creative command of these young officers, the Paraguayan army, with the support of Australasian weapons and equipment, demonstrated combat power far exceeding their previous capabilities.
This truly demonstrates the gap between powerful nations and weaker ones. Even if both parties have the same weapons and equipment, differences in tactical thought, experience, and the degree of familiarity and application with these materiél can determine the resulting combat effectiveness.
To compensate for Paraguay’s shortcomings in the air force, Australasia also exported several reconnaissance aircraft to Paraguay.
These reconnaissance aircraft were outdated models that Australasia had decommissioned and carefully stored, waiting for such a war opportunity to sell them.
In Australasia’s military storage, there are still over 2,000 of these outdated planes.
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Even at the friendly price of 25,000 Australian dollars each offered to Paraguay, these planes could still generate over 50 million Australian dollars in revenue for Australasia.
As for whether other countries would buy such outdated airplanes, Australasia had little concern.
Although considered behind the times by Australasian standards, for most countries in the world, such aircraft still represented advanced technology they could neither develop nor manufacture on their own.
Even proudly speaking, besides the British potentially having the technology to manufacture comparably advanced aircraft, other nations, including the second major power France, might not be able to produce the models Australasia had already phased out.
Even more decisive was the fact that Australasia’s first-generation jet planes were about to be phased out, and the second-generation jet planes were soon to take center stage.
Yet other nations were still in the process of developing jet engines, and with the lead in aircraft and jet engine technology, Arthur was brimming with the confidence to finish World War II.
Although there were only a few reconnaissance aircraft, far behind Bolivia in terms of quantity, the effectiveness of planes in war cannot be assessed by numbers alone. The ability to properly utilize these aircraft is profoundly important.
Coincidentally, many from this group of officers were from the Air Force Academy, capable of not only assisting Paraguay in training quality air force soldiers but also directly partaking in reconnaissance missions aboard these aircraft.
It was also thanks to the aerial reconnaissance capabilities that Paraguay could compensate for its disadvantage in the skies during the war.
Seizing the moment when Bolivia had just begun mobilization, and its troops were not yet fully trained, Paraguay boldly launched a comprehensive offensive and successfully pushed the Bolivian army back beyond the previous border.
On July 3, 1931, under the command of José Félix Estigarribia, the Paraguayan army recaptured the strategic military town of Pitiantuta at the frontline.
And that was not all. In fewer than four days, with the help of the Australasian officer corps, José Félix Estigarribia led less than 3,000 soldiers in a surprise attack on the Bolivian frontline headquarters at Fort Arce, successfully annihilating over 1,500 Bolivian soldiers.
It was after this unexpected raid that the offensive momentum on the front lines between Bolivia and Paraguay was completely reversed.
Bolivia went from being the attacker to being on the defensive, while Paraguay shifted from defense to offense.
Specially after the surprise assault on Fort Arce, the Bolivian military’s command at the front fell into disarray.
Although the Bolivian military commander managed to escape to the rear, his guard and the frontline command system were left at Arce.
Having successfully taken Fort Arce, the battleground moved from Paraguayan territory to Bolivian land.
