The Rise Of Australasia
Chapter 498: Chapter 393: The Eastern Front Incident Begins

The large-scale production of penicillin is an urgent research project, and it is conservatively estimated that it will take one to two years to achieve.

Of course, if Fleming's luck is not very good, the production time of penicillin may be delayed until after World War I.

However, the discovery of penicillin is a good thing for both Arthur and Australasia.

Penicillin, a miraculous drug during wartime, can bring a lot of benefits to Arthur and Australasia if controlled in advance.

It can not only reduce casualties for Australasia during the war but also be used to exchange for more benefits, such as land, technology, talent, etc.

Imagine that if during the intense moments of the European War, Australasia suddenly brings out penicillin, a strategic medical supply, both the Allies and the Central Powers would scramble for it, as whoever lacks it will be at a disadvantage.

The real reason for the heavy losses and casualties so far is that some severely injured soldiers still have a risk of wound infection even after treatment.

And in this age without antibiotics, wound infection is deadly and even more cruel than direct death in battle.

Many soldiers did not die under the enemy's guns but succumbed to wound infections and lack of timely treatment.

If enough penicillin is available, either side can ensure that the wounded will receive adequate treatment and be reintegrated into the war.

This not only saves the lives of thousands of soldiers and families, but also rescues countries that have fallen into decline due to a large number of injured soldiers.

Arthur entrusted the task of purifying and mass-producing penicillin to Fleming and instructed Butler Kent to provide Fleming's laboratory with 3 million Australian dollars in funds.

Of these, 1.5 million Australian dollars will be used for research, accelerating the purification and mass production of penicillin.

The remaining 1.5 million Australian dollars serve as rewards for Fleming and all his assistants, as well as all research staff and workers in the laboratory.

Fleming will receive the largest share of 500,000 Australian dollars, and all researchers will also receive an average reward of over 50,000 Australian dollars.

As for the most basic workers, their rewards ranged from hundreds to thousands of Australian dollars, depending on their contributions.

Arthur, who keeps his promises, vowed to transport reinforcements to Europe by April, and is now widely selecting soldiers among all natives even before National Day arrives.

Of course, the selection of the natives could not be too perfunctory. Therefore, Arthur decided to train at least 400,000 native troops at once. After sending reinforcements, 200,000 would be left to continue training in Australasia.

For the selection of native soldiers, their physical condition must not be too poor, and they must be able to withstand a two-week basic training course.

Yes, the basic training for native soldiers only lasts two weeks. One week is spent learning military discipline and understanding how to become an obedient soldier.

The remaining week is spent practicing marksmanship so that every native soldier can proficiently use firearms, whether they can hit the target is another matter.

Thanks to the short training period, the second round of Australasia's expeditionary force is expected to complete training by the end of January or early February and arrive in France before the end of March.

To gather 400,000 rifles at once, Arthur has put in great efforts. Equipping all these native soldiers with new rifles is too extravagant, so Arthur deliberately phased out all the rifles currently in use by the Australasian Army, handed them over to the native soldiers who had served for some time, and equipped the regular army with new rifles.

Furthermore, to allow the native soldiers to adapt to the lack of logistical support on the European battlefield, Arthur equipped the native troops with a large quantity of outdated firearms, even decades-old rifles, from Australasia's inventory.

These troops will be sent to fight on the European battlefield after training, their logistical support will be provided by Britain and France, and Australasia just needs to transport the supplies.

Barely equipping these native troops in time, the day quickly arrived at January 10th, 1915, National Day of Australasia.

As one of the most important national holidays, the whole country is in a festive state during the seven days of Australasia's National Day.

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The war has not greatly affected Australasia, but it still makes many people worry.

To alleviate some people's inner anxiety, Arthur decided to hold a military parade for the first time in many years.

This parade is relatively brief, but all three branches of Australasia's armed forces are involved. The guards, regular army, dreadnoughts and super dreadnoughts, as well as airships, all make an appearance, showcasing Australasia's impressive military strength to the outside world and the people.

Of course, Australasia's real trump card, airplanes and tanks, will not be publicly displayed during the parade.

It will be necessary to wait until they are recognized by everyone in warfare before Australasia will openly display its weapons system.

However, such a large-scale military parade does indeed alleviate many people's doubts.

Given Australasia's unique geographical location and the military power it has demonstrated, discussing hegemony is premature, but maintaining territorial stability is not a problem.

Even if Australasia's navy becomes stronger, dominating the Southern Hemisphere will not be an issue.

With such military strength, protecting their country and people is naturally not a problem.

Moreover, since their lives have not been too disrupted by the war, after the parade, it was evident that many Australasians were no longer troubled by the conflict and could enjoy their lives in peace.

During the National Day holiday, it was customary for the royal financial group to purchase many supplies and distribute them to the people for free.

Meat, grain, milk, and medical supplies were given out in large quantities, putting smiles on the faces of the Australasian people.

After the National Day holiday, while all the indigenous armies were still in training, several large-scale battles began on the European front, specifically in Eastern Europe.

The biggest difference in this war from history is that Russia did not launch a large-scale offensive at the beginning. The main battles between Russia and the Allies were concentrated on the border with the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Previously, in order to divert German attention, France had paid a heavy price and organized an offensive for Russian forces in the East Prussian region.

However, the scale of this offensive was small, and the Russian army was quickly repelled by the German army due to a mix of equipment and poor training, with heavy casualties on both sides.

With all three of his allies at war, Tsar Nicholas II was naturally dissatisfied with Russia's poor performance.

As a monarch who considered himself to have great vision, Nicholas II believed that this war was an opportunity for Russia to expand and for the Russian Empire to regain its glory.

However, it was unacceptable to Nicholas II that the Russian army, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, was blocked by fewer than 100,000 German soldiers in East Prussia, and several army group commanders were subsequently dismissed.

In order to save face, Russia decided to organize a regular, large-scale offensive to restore the dignity of the European Steamroller and to reassert Russia's strength.

It should be noted that if Russia reveals too many shortcomings in this war, it will not be respected by Britain and France in the post-war distribution of interests, no matter how high its casualties are.

Even if a country suffered terrible casualties in the war, it is doomed to fail to get its deserved rewards if it is not strong enough.

Although Russia's army had more than one million soldiers before the outbreak of the war, the total number of Russian troops had not exceeded two million since the mobilization order was issued.

Of course, one of the main reasons for this is Russia's severe casualties. In fact, if the number of Russian casualties is taken into account, the total number of Russian troops involved in the war is approaching 2.5 million.

In order to avenge their previous humiliations, the Russian Commander-in-Chief, Archduke Nicholas, organized an army of 800,000 soldiers at the order of Nicholas II, planning to launch a new attack on the East Prussian region.

Speaking of this Archduke who shares the same name as Nicholas II, there are some unavoidable stories between the two.

According to Russian regulations, the Tsar, Nicholas II, should be the commander-in-chief of the Russian army during the war.

However, due to his lack of military experience, the command was transferred to Archduke Nicholas, with the support of numerous generals.

Archduke Nicholas's full name is Nikolai Nicholayevich Romanoff Nicholas, and by lineage, he is Nicholas II's uncle.

Although they are close in blood relation and members of the royal family, they are commonly referred to as Tall Nicholas and Short Nicholas to differentiate between them, due to their similar names.

Naturally, the shorter Nicholas II was referred to as Short Nicholas.

This made Nicholas II quite uncomfortable, even expressing dissatisfaction with his uncle.

Of course, there was another significant reason.

Archduke Nicholas graduated from the Military Engineering Academy and the Imperial Military Academy, and served as an officer in the Russo-Turkish War, leading by example and enjoying a high level of prestige and position in the army.

Such a powerful and prestigious figure with royal blood naturally aroused Nicholas II's suspicion.

Before the outbreak of the war, Archduke Nicholas was even excluded from the decision-making circle in the General Staff and held only the position of Commander of the Saint Petersburgh Military District.

Although Archduke Nicholas naturally became the commander-in-chief of the Russian army, with the support of the officers, Nicholas II weakened his command in various ways, such as not allowing changes in General Staff personnel appointments and system, in order to ensure that his loyalists could keep an eye on the Archduke at all times.

Although this limited Archduke Nicholas's power, it did give Nicholas II peace of mind.

However, the short-sighted Nicholas II failed to see the harm of such actions, and even the impact it would have on the strategic deployment of the entire Russian army.