The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 1145 - 862: Mediterranean Strategic Plan

Although the British Army had no significant actions for the time being, this did not mean that the British would be indifferent during the early stages of the war.

George VI quickly took a significant step, the first of which was to reappoint Winston Churchill as Navy Secretary and put him in full charge of the navy's offensive operations.

This was a position with which Churchill was very familiar and also the first step in his return to the UK Cabinet Government.

The day after assuming the role of Navy Secretary, Churchill presented George VI and Prime Minister Baldwin with the naval operation plan "Mediterranean Strategy" plan.

The entire plan was actually quite straightforward: it involved implementing a comprehensive blockade of the Mediterranean Sea through a British and French United Fleet.

The blockade of the Mediterranean had two benefits: first, Britain and France's enemy Italy was a Mediterranean country, lacking in mineral resources, and had to import a large amount of mineral resources from abroad by sea.

Blocking Italy was a major blow to Italian industry and production and could potentially damage Italian morale.

Secondly, the Mediterranean was also very important for the German-Italian Axis Powers. Once the Mediterranean was blocked, the Axis Powers could only receive supplies from outside Europe through the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean routes.

As long as the British Empire once again used its military to block this route, Germany and Italy would end up in a disadvantageous position in the war, just like during World War I, relying on their native land's supplies to struggle on.

Currently, to achieve a comprehensive blockade of the Mediterranean, aside from requiring the help of the French navy, it was also essential to closely monitor and maintain a good relationship with Spain.

For Britain to achieve a blockade of the Mediterranean, the West's Gibraltar and the East's Suez Canal were very important.

Gibraltar was land snatched by the British from the hands of the Spanish, and it was no secret that the Spanish had always entertained the idea of reclaiming it.

If Germany used Gibraltar to entice the Spanish to join the war, Britain's efforts to blockade the Mediterranean would become much harder.

After all, Spain was not purely a Mediterranean country. Spain's West Coast was connected to the Atlantic Ocean, which also meant Spain could always obtain supplies from its colonies via transport fleets, even though their colonies were nearly gone. However, this was a potential way for Germany and Italy to obtain supplies.

In Churchill's plan, Spain was seen as a potential enemy of Britain. There was no choice; the treaties they signed with Germany could not be ignored, and Franco's aggressive attitude also had to be guarded against.

However, Spain had not yet declared war on Britain and France, which meant that things had not yet come to the worst pass.

As the British launched their plan to blockade the entire Mediterranean, the German Army also launched a fierce offensive within Austrian territory against the Austrian Empire.

Because the previous attack on Poland had gone smoothly, the Germans used the same method for attacking Poland and upgraded their double-pronged attack to a triple-pronged assault.

If the Italian army was added to this assault, the Austrian Empire faced being attacked from all sides, and how long they could hold on depended entirely on the pace of the German and Italian offenses.

From the map, it is clear that Austria's current territory is somewhat similar to the Chinese character "入." The upper half of "入" is actually the Czech Region, which the Germans have long coveted.

Not only is it the industrial center of the Austrian Empire, but it also has a large number of coal and iron mines, and the South German people, who share common origins with the Germanic people.

For Germany, annexing the Czech Republic would allow them to easily fully absorb its industry and population, making for an even more impactful expansion plan than in Poland.

The German focus on the Czech Region and then Austria, and lastly Slovakia can be seen in their offensive.

Being not only rich in mineral resources and advanced industry, the Czech Region as the protruding part of the Austrian Empire, naturally became Germany's first target of aggression.

The German government's goal was to fully annex the industry and population of the Czech Republic. Hence, in this offensive, they did not opt for large-scale bombing of Czech transportation hubs and industrial bases.

The German Army divided their forces into three routes: the first heading southward from Bavaria, directly attacking Austria, and tying up the Austrian Empire's main forces on the western front.

The second route's army also departed from Bavaria, but instead of heading south, they moved westward, slicing through the Czech Region. This force played a similar role to the First Army Group during the attack on Poland, aiming at rapidly cutting through the enemy's defenses.

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The third route departed from Poland, threatening the Czechoslovak Territory to the southwest. If successful, the second and third routes would efficiently partition the Czech Region and then quickly achieve the objective of swiftly annexing it.

Without the Czech Region, the Austrian Empire basically no longer had the strength of a superpower. More importantly, without the Czech Republic, the territory of the Austrian Empire would resemble a long "一," and this territorial shape was the most lethal.

Under attack from Germany and Italy from north and south, if the link between Austria and Slovakia was severed, even Austria alone could be dealt with by the Italians.

After defeating the Austrian Empire, not only would Germany gain a large population of Germanic people and a developed industry, but they would also clear the way to the Balkan region.