The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 106: Brigadier General, Deputy Division Commander, and Instructor (Please Subscribe!)

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Australia’s expansion plan has achieved initial success.

Just within a week, from February 21st to February 27th, there have been tens of thousands of people who went to various recruitment offices to sign up.

Due to the limitation of recruitment numbers, a large number of these applicants might be screened out, and only some of them with quick minds and strong bodies will be selected to join the military.

Those who successfully sign up will receive one week of training in local urban cities.

During this week’s training, those truly suitable for joining the military will be selected, and the rest will be given a demobilization fee.

Each city will have a certain recruitment quota based on its population. Even in Australia’s capital, Sydney, the quota for this recruitment is only 4,000 people.

In just over three weeks, nearly thirty thousand people have already signed up for the military.

The Ministry of Defense took the opportunity to suspend the recruitment plan, as it should be no problem to select 15,000 new recruits from these thirty thousand people.

For those who were not selected, the Ministry of Defense also distributed a demobilization fee of one pound each.

This made those who were not selected not too disappointed. After all, considering Australia’s current per capita income level, one pound is equivalent to one month’s income for most Australians.

One month later, on March 20th, 1902, two thousand veteran soldiers and fifteen thousand new recruits were integrated together, forming Australia’s first regular division, the Australian 1st Defense Division.

Arthur personally attended the establishment ceremony of the 1st Defense Division and appointed the Commander of the Division himself.

As the preparation of the expansion of the future military, the number of officers in the 1st Defense Division is quite large.

The senior officers of the First Division are Brigadier General John McLean, Deputy Division Commander Jurgen Schulz, and Instructor Bernhard Lange.

Brigadier General John McLean is one of the senior leaders in Arthur’s Guards. Both his military quality and loyalty are trustworthy, making him the natural choice for the commander of the First Division.

Deputy Division Commander Jurgen Schulz was a senior officer in the Australian garrison forces before and showed great potential after the reorganization. His position as deputy division commander is the perfect training ground for him. If he proves his ability and loyalty during his tenure, he will likely become the division commander of the Second Division in the future.

Bernhard Lange has a unique identity. Duke Arthur left him as part of the foundation for Arthur, but his abilities are somewhat special.

In terms of civil and military capabilities, that is, the ability to handle government affairs and lead the military, Bernhard Lange can only be considered marginally qualified.

However, Bernhard Lange has a special advantage: he is good at delivering speeches and is extremely bewitching in his speeches.

This characteristic is somewhat similar to the Fiihrer of later generations. When Bernhard Lange delivers a speech, he can always arouse the emotions and resonance of the majority of the audience.

This kind of ability seems insignificant in some aspects, but is extremely important in some other special aspects.

Arthur decisively made him the person in charge of ideological education in the military and allowed him to choose talents and form his ideological education team.

As a result, it is evident that Bernhard Lange successfully completed his task and made the previously trained veteran soldiers understand the importance of loyalty and patriotism.

Now that the military has been reorganized, Arthur has allowed him to continue to serve as the instructor of the First Division. The position of instructor is specially established by Arthur, and as one of the senior officers of a troop, the instructor is mainly responsible for the ideological education of all soldiers and officers, and secondary responsibilities include logistics issues of the military.

Although on the surface, the position of instructor seems to have the least influence among the three senior officers, it is precisely the opposite in reality.

Arthur has given the instructor great power. In addition to being unable to directly command the troops in combat, the object of daily ideological work even includes the division commander and deputy division commander.

This move directly makes the position of the instructor the second most important person in the First Division, with authority surpassing that of the deputy division commander.

The three senior officers of the First Division are like a tripod, each responsible for their respective areas, and they can supervise each other without interference, ensuring that there are no problems within the military.

The First Division is stationed in the mountainous region, where they will undergo at least one year of training before being divided into smaller units consisting of battalions and stationed around Australia and New Guinea.

To ensure the logistical supply of these soldiers and the various ammunition and supplies needed for their training, the Ministry of Transportation directly built a highway that leads directly to the military district under Arthur’s suggestion. More than three thousand indigenous people were employed, and the construction of the twenty-kilometer highway was completed before the soldiers arrived.

This mountain area will also be the training site for the Australian military in the future, producing batches of outstanding military personnel for Australia.

In terms of material supply, the Ministry of Defense is very generous. Just like the previous military training, they ensure that at least two of the soldiers’ daily meals have meat, and they eat at least one pound of meat a day.

Food supplies have a wide variety, with at least five dishes to choose from in each meal, and they change daily.

Arthur is very generous with the soldiers’ food supply, but has only one requirement – there must be no waste.

With a daily supply of at least one pound of meat and a lot of physical training, these new recruits are growing in physique, and in just one month, they have gained some weight.

Arthur is satisfied with this progress. To a certain extent, the strength of soldiers also represents their combat effectiveness.

No one would like to see the soldiers of their country thin and weak, easily blown over by the wind, let alone think about going into battle.

Under Arthur’s concept, the Australian military should be a strong and powerful force that not only looks powerful but is even more formidable in reality.

Even if training these soldiers requires a large amount of funds and supplies, Arthur would spare no expense.

Therefore, the military factories are working overtime to produce weapons, equipment, and ammunition. Whether it’s the Lee-Enfield Rifle, CA-i Machine Gun, or the MA-96 Maxim Machine Gun, all need to be massively equipped.

With round after round of target practice and weapon training, the consumption of ammunition for these weapons is also a huge number.

Arthur’s arms factory is in a state of overtime production during this time, even hiring rounds of workers for the purpose.

Rifles, machine guns, and other weapons are continuously shipped to the military camps and handed to the soldiers for use.

This makes the First Division more like a regular army and moving towards becoming an elite force.