At this time, there were only 4 states left in the Australian Federation, due to the strength of the Xia Empire, the rich migrated a lot, leaving a much smaller population than the historical population, on the contrary, the number of Chinese increased a lot, so far, the total population of the entire Australian Federation has dropped to about 2 million. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

With the help of the British, the Australian Commonwealth organized an army of 100,000 people, divided into 8 infantry divisions and 1 heavy artillery brigade, with a little self-preservation.

The Australian Theater has two armies, namely the 14th Army and the 15th Army, which are adapted from the original 14th and 15th Divisions of the Praetorian Guard; Each corps had 72,000 men, and the General Staff also had a mixed fleet of battlecruisers and destroyers and a heavy artillery brigade of 5,000 men.

In each province there is also a police force of 16,000 men and a cavalry force of 1,000 troops.

In order to occupy the whole of Oceania, the General Staff also emphasized that the Governor of the South-West Dominion assisted the Australian Military Region in the operation.

After communicating with the chief of staff of the Australian Theater and the commander of the Pacific Fleet, Gan Pinghai, it was decided that the Australian Theater Navy would only occupy New Zealand, New Caledonia and Vanuatu, which were relatively close to the mainland, Fiji, and east and north, and that all the islands would be occupied by the Pacific Fleet, except for the territory occupied by the Germans.

After the battle plan was reported to the General Staff, Lu Weimin felt that it was feasible, and in mid-August, he urgently transferred a national defense division from the Luzon Military Region to support the Pacific Fleet.

Through the efforts of intelligence officers, the deployment of the Australian Federal Army was obtained, with 5 divisions and 1 heavy artillery brigade deployed in Victoria, 2 divisions in Sydney, and only 1 division around Brisbane.

The focus of the occupation of the Australian Federation was in the city of Melbourne, which at this time did not have the city of Canberra, with the capital Melbourne and the largest city being Sydney.

For this reason, Zong Jun, chief of staff of the Australian Theater of Operations, decided to leave 1 division of the Wehrmacht in Zhongzhou to hold on, and all the troops were transported by train to Zhennan City (the original name was Adelaide.

After the rest of the war had begun, on 1 September, the Australian Military Region and the Pacific Fleet were ready for war and began to attack.

The 20,000 cavalry movement and the 14th Army were already waiting in the border town of Adelaide, more than 270 kilometres east of Adelaide, preparing to move south along the railway line, and after seizing the railway line, they would use the rail to transport the infantry and equipment behind.

The train distance from Border Town to Melbourne is 460 kilometres, passing through the towns of Enchil, Timbura, Horsham, Ararat and Ballarat.

On the railway line along the way, the Australian Federation has arranged a lot of officers and soldiers, and if the Xia Imperial army wants to advance along the railway, they will inevitably destroy the railway facilities and prevent the Xia Imperial army from advancing.

In the face of the powerful Xia Empire, as long as the war has not started, as long as these Chinese do not take the initiative to make trouble, the local police and garrisons will not dare to provoke the Chinese, so as not to bring fatal harm to the Federation.

The chief of staff of the Zongjun army was also fully prepared and mobilized a large number of railway materials and railway construction and maintenance personnel to the border town, so that if the railway was damaged, he could organize personnel and materials to carry out emergency repairs in a timely manner.

So the order given to the cavalry was to move forward as soon as possible without scruples, and to seize the territory along the railway as soon as possible.

In the early morning of September 2, 20,000 cavalry crossed the provincial boundary line into Victoria Province in two parts, and tens of thousands of war horses ran together, and the horses' hooves hit the earth, making a loud rumbling sound, and the ground position could be felt more than ten miles away.

At 6 o'clock, before dawn, the 1st Cavalry advanced 70 kilometers into the town of Enhill, and with the assistance of local intelligence officers, a company of Australian federal officers and soldiers stationed there was surrounded in the barracks before they could get up; The successful capture of the first town along the railway line made the cavalry officers and soldiers very excited.

The tasks of the next cavalry division were completed very well, the local defenders did not destroy the railway, but obediently surrendered, although they received the order to destroy the railway line, but they knew the cruelty of the Xia Imperial army, if they really destroyed the railway line, and could not escape, they would definitely have no chance of survival.

When the cavalry captured the town of Enhill, news of the Xia Empire's attack was passed to the Australian Federal General Staff and quickly reported to Governor William Wade, the 2nd Earl of Dudley, and Prime Minister Deakin.

They didn't panic, since the Xia Empire entered western Australia, the Xia Empire's army was a knife on their heads, but they didn't know when the Xia Empire came, and now that they know the exact news, a stone in their hearts has fallen to the ground; A few days ago, both the British Straits Settlements and British Burma were attacked by the Xia Empire, and the Australian Commonwealth could not exist alone.

The governor immediately reported the news of the invasion of the Xia Empire to the British Prime Minister and the king, but the news he was waiting for was to resolutely fight the attack of the Xia Empire and wait for the support of the Empire. Even an important place as the Straits Settlements did not receive the support of the Empire, let alone the already self-governing Commonwealth of Australia.

Melbourne is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and one side is the mouth of the sea, which is very defensible; In order not to destroy the city of Melbourne, the Prime Minister ordered all the infantry to go to the city of Ballarat, garrison the permanent fortifications that had been built long ago for defense, and organize the local population to evacuate.

The Governor organised the federal government and Melbourne's masses to move to Sydney; If they can delay a breath, they will have to fight hard, in case the British government and the Xia Empire reach an agreement, they will be saved, and they still have illusions about the British government.

The northeast and southwest of the city of Ballarat are mountainous, the city is built in the mountains, and the railway also passes through the mountains, on the mountains on both sides, the Australian Commonwealth has long built a lot of permanent fortifications, two mountains and a canyon, easy to defend and difficult to attack, as a barrier to protect Melbourne; If the Xia Empire's army wanted to pass through the canyon, it would not be able to occupy these two mountains without paying a heavy price.

The Australian Federal General Staff has also strengthened the railway defense of more than 100 kilometers from Melbourne to the city of Ballarat to ensure the supply of baggage on the front line.

The intelligence officers in Ballarat City reported the deployment of the Australian Federal Army to the Australian Theater Staff in a timely manner, and the Zong Army decided to fight a war of annihilation in Ballarat City to eliminate all the officers and soldiers stationed in Melbourne.

On the afternoon of 7 September, the cavalry unit reached the town of Beaufort, which was still 50 kilometers from the city of Ballarat, where the cavalry division decided to wait for the arrival of the large force and sent out a large number of reconnaissance cavalry.

On 8 September, with the arrival of the infantry, mercenaries took over the cavalry line; Zongjun ordered the cavalry to raid the city of Geelong to the southeast, and then march to Melbourne to cut off the supply lines of the enemy's army; The Praetorian Divisions and mercenaries of the 14th Army were to bypass the mountains in the south and outflank the city of Ballarat in a roundabout way; He also ordered the airships to prepare for the encirclement of the enemy and begin to bombard the Australian fortifications to assist the infantry in the attack.

On the 10th, 20,000 cavalry successfully occupied Melbourne, and the Governor and Prime Minister fled in panic on warships.

On the 11th, the 14th Janissary Division and mercenaries achieved the siege of the city of Ballarat.

At this time, the mixed fleet of battle cruisers and ships in the Australian theater occupied the main island of Tasmania and returned to prepare to blockade the waters off Melbourne.

The fleeing Australian federal warship was encountered off the coast of Melbourne, and after the battle cruiser fired a warning shot, the Commonwealth Governor and Prime Minister of Australia ordered the white flag to be raised and announced the surrender.

In front of the battle cruisers, the old British cruisers could not escape the blow of the Xia Empire battle cruisers, whether it was the caliber of the main guns, the rate of fire, the range or the speed of the warship's sailing, they were not the opponents of the Xia Empire battle cruisers, if they did not surrender, only the fate of being sunk, they did not dare to risk their own lives, even if the Australian Federation was destroyed, they could still live a good life when they returned to the UK.

The Zong Army learned that the Governor and Prime Minister of the Australian Commonwealth had been captured by the Navy, which was a bombshell news, if this was the case, the future war would be much easier, let them surrender first, if they did not surrender, then deal a devastating blow to the defenders of Ballarat City, believing that even if they were in the permanent fortifications, they could not withstand the high temperature of the incendiary bombs, or suffocation due to lack of oxygen.

The Xia Empire threatened them that if they did not surrender, they would not accept their surrender after the war, and the mercenaries were very fond of stubborn opponents, so that they would gain more success.

The governor and the prime minister had long known the murderous nature of the mercenaries of the Xia Empire, and Melbourne had been lost, and the defenders of the city of Ballarat were surrounded and became alone, and they could not escape the pursuit of the Xia Imperial cavalry, and there were no foreign reinforcements, so in order to save the lives of these white people, the governor and the prime minister agreed to the surrender of the front-line officers and soldiers, and sent telegrams respectively.

For the British army in this era, surrounded and there was no possibility of breaking through, defeat was not a crime of war, and there was an order from the commander, surrender was not a shameful act, surrender could save a small life, after weighing the pros and cons, the chief of the general staff on the front line announced that all officers and soldiers laid down their arms and surrendered to the Xia Imperial army.

For the defenders of Sydney and Brisbane, in the face of the powerful army of the Xia Empire, resistance is impossible, and they will not do the stupid thing of hitting a stone with an egg, surrender is their only option; Moreover, the Governor and the Prime Minister have surrendered, the Chief of the General Staff and the main forces have surrendered, and there will be no shame in their surrender.

Now that the Australian Commonwealth had surrendered, the 15th Army quickly reached Sydney and Brisbane along convenient rail lines, and sent troops to quickly occupy the surrounding small towns.

The mixed fleet of battlecruisers protected a defense division of the 14th Army and advanced into New Zealand, where the army was even worse, and it took less than five days to occupy the entire territory of New Zealand.

By the end of September, the troops of the Southwestern Dominion occupied the two islands of New Caledonia and Vanuatu in northeastern Australia, and sent troops to land in the north of Queensland to occupy Cairns and other towns in the northern coastal area.

On the island of New Caledonia was stationed 1 battalion of French troops of less than 500 men; Vanuatu Island is an island jointly administered by Britain and France, with no more than 1,000 British and French troops on it; The two islands were easily occupied by the Dominion of the Southwest, and the British and French troops and local British and French people were escorted to Melbourne to await notice from the Empire. (To be continued.) )

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