When Arthur received the news of the Battle of Verdun, it was already a day later on November 28.

Arthur could not have been unaware of what the Battle of Verdun represented, one of the most brutal battles of the First World War in history, with 700,000 casualties on both sides of France and France, second only to the Battle of the Somme, which had already been planned by Britain and France.

Yes, although Verdun was already under siege, neither the British side nor the French commander-in-chief, Chauffeur, gave up on waging the Battle of the Somme.

The Battle of the Somme would be the largest counteroffensive on the Western Front, and could even dominate the course of the war on the Western Front.

The Battle of the Somme and the Battle of Verdun were also the two most brutal battles of World War I, with a combined casualty of more than 2 million, which could also directly determine the direction of the war on the Western Front and even the entire First World War.

Because the situation at Verdun was crucial, Arthur asked the Royal Security Intelligence Service to keep an eye on the direction of the Battle of Verdun and notify them of any changes.

Of course, the German campaign of Verdun was also a good thing for Australasia, after all, Britain and France were busy dealing with the German attack, so Australasia had better room for expansion and would be more important in the war.

The only remaining direction of expansion in Australasia is the Dutch East Indies in the north.

Compared to Australasia, the Netherlands is an absolutely soft persimmon that can be manipulated by Arthur.

The Battle of Verdun was underway in Europe, and the Battle of the Somme was still being planned, and attention outside of Europe had been greatly reduced.

Even if the Netherlands was an ally of Britain and France, it would be absolutely impossible for Britain and France to offend Australasia for the Netherlands, not to mention that the Netherlands was a neutral country and had good relations with Wilhelm II's German Empire.

The Netherlands, as a second- or third-rate country, still held such a large colony in the Dutch East Indies, Arthur felt the need to relieve the pressure on the Dutch when they focused on their own homeland.

On 29 November 1915, the third day of the Battle of Verdun, the Australasian Ministry of Defence urgently approved a proposal that Arthur named Operation Clearance.

As the name suggests, this is an operation to combat anti-Australian forces in German New Guinea, and the scope also includes areas where anti-Australian forces have fled, such as Dutch-controlled New Guinea, Sulawesi, Kalimantan and other areas.

A total of 72,000 people participated in the clean-up operation, including the 1st Division, the 2nd Division, and the two colonial divisions.

After a long period of preparation for about a week, in early December 1915, Australasia officially announced that in order to eliminate the anti-Australian forces that had absconded from German New Guinea, a more severe crackdown would be launched, and the entire Dutch East Indies were required to cooperate, because the Australasian government suspected that the Dutch East Indies were involved in harboring anti-Australian forces and plotting to subvert Australasia's rule in New Guinea.

The Australasian government has abundant evidence not only on the absconding routes of some anti-Australian forces, but also on the circumstances of these anti-Australian forces after they fled to Dutch-controlled areas.

In any case, the Dutch government and the Dutch East Indies are like mud falling in the crotch of their pants, and it is not but.

No matter how much the Dutch East Indies government argues, there are indeed many anti-Australian forces in the Dutch East Indies, and these anti-Australian forces have obtained a lot of weapons and equipment from the Dutch East Indies.

The Dutch government wants to negotiate, but Australasia's condition is that either all anti-Australian forces are found out, and the islands of Western New Guinea, Sula Islands, Bru Island, Seran Island, Misuo Island, Obi Island and other islands are ceded, otherwise Australasia's anger will not subside.

But the Dutch could not have agreed to such harsh conditions, which was almost equivalent to dividing the Dutch East Indies into two halves, and the Dutch ruled only the four major islands of Sumatra, Kalimantan, Java and Sulawesi.

No matter how slow the Dutch government was to react, it was already clear that Australasia's purpose was not those anti-Australian forces, but the real goal was New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies.

This is something that the Dutch cannot agree to at present, and the Dutch East Indies is one of the few large colonies of the Dutch, and it is also the guarantee that the Netherlands can maintain the second and third rate countries in Europe.

Without the Dutch East Indies, the Netherlands would be even lower than Belgium, not even a third-rate country in Europe, let alone the Dutch people's desire to unify the lowlands.

Even if the Dutch government were to accede to Australasia's request, the Dutch people would never agree.

If the Dutch government surrenders before the war, I am afraid that the angry Dutch people will be enough to overthrow the government and give it a makeover.

Therefore, even if the Dutch government is no longer willing, it can only refuse the Australasian government's request with righteous words, and angrily criticize Australasia as shameful blackmail.

It is a pity that the national struggle in this era is like this, the weak eat the strong, the strong will still have rights and status, and the weak are only the target of the strong to carve up.

Even though the Netherlands sent a plea to England, France, Germany, and even Russia, no country was willing to help the Netherlands.

Needless to say, Germany was already in a state of war with Australasia, and the Germans did not have any strength to break through the British and French fleet blockade and go to Australia and Australasia to fight.

Not to mention whether Germany has the ability to do this, even if Germany has sufficient fleet and strength, it will not offend Australasia for the sake of a close Netherlands.

Britain, France, and Russia naturally needless to say, they and Australasia are the four major powers of the Entente, and their relationship is naturally much better than that of the Netherlands, which is outside the Entente.

Although the Netherlands was a European country, the Netherlands did not help in any way for the war, and even the Netherlands and Germany had better relations.

Under such circumstances, Britain, France and Russia naturally would not offend Australasia for the sake of the Netherlands, and would even only support Australasia's expansion in exchange for more Australasian support to Europe.

There were still two European powers, but they were even less likely to help the Netherlands against Australasia.

As for the United States, another great power other than Europe, although the United States currently has the strength to confront Australasia alone, Australasia belongs to the Entente, and the four major powers of the Entente have mutual aid agreements, and it is impossible for the United States to go to war for the Netherlands and the Entente.

So, after a long round of begging for help, the Dutch found that no country was willing to help them, not even the slightest aid.

Arthur didn't care about that, and on December 7, 1915, the Australasian offensive officially began.

Before the war, Australasia had already expelled the Dutch ambassador and declared a state of war with the Netherlands.

The entire purge plan was divided into two routes, the western route included the first division and a colonial division, a total of 36,000 men, from the royal territory to the west, directly landing on the core of the Dutch East Indies, Java Island.

The eastern route runs westward from Australasia-controlled New Guinea, and after occupying the entire island of New Guinea, it then occupies the islands of the Banda Sea and the Suvira West Sea.

The entire Dutch East Indies was home to more than 40 million natives, making it extremely difficult to rule. Therefore, Arthur's initial goal was not to completely annex this land, but to find its important strategic areas to annex, and other areas could be controlled indirectly.

In particular, the core of the Dutch East Indies, the island of Java. This area of Java was the most populous region in the Dutch East Indies, and this status quo continued into later generations.

Even in later generations, the entire Indonesia population was only more than 200 million, but a small island of Java was responsible for about 150 million, which is not an exaggeration.

At least 20 million indigenous people live on the island of Java, which is larger than the total population of Australasia, but the total area is less than 140,000 square kilometers, which is far more dense than that of Australasia.

It is very difficult to manage such a region, not to mention the fact that it has a large number of ethnic groups, various types of religions, languages and cultures, and it is very difficult to assimilate.

The Dutch controlled the land for hundreds of years and were still unable to assimilate these natives.

Although there is a problem of population size, the assimilation of the indigenous people of the Dutch East Indies is also far more difficult than usual.

In addition to Java, which has an indigenous population of nearly 20 million, the other three major islands of the Dutch East Indies, Sumatra, with a population of nearly 8 million, Sulawesi with a population of 5 million, and Kalimantan with a population of 2 million, are also one of the most indigenous areas.

Compared to the entire 786,000 square kilometres of New Guinea, which is home to less than 4 million indigenous people, these areas are too widespread and have too many indigenous bases to govern.

Of course, in addition to administrative control, economic domination over these regions can also be achieved.

At the moment these natives are not useless, at least in times of war, they are qualified cannon fodder.

And both World War I and World War II required a lot of cannon fodder to fill it, and the natives of the Dutch East Indies were very suitable.

The war in Australasia followed Arthur's rule, preferring to spend more money than cause more casualties.

First, the fleet bombed the island of Java and Dutch-controlled New Guinea, bombing the coastal defenses and cities in these areas, and then it was the turn of the army to land on the beach.

At the same time as the landing on the island of Java, Australasia also dispatched hundreds of planes to continue the bombing of the island of Java and Batavia, so that the Dutch army was tired of dodging the bombing and did not have any opportunity to attack the landing Australasian army.

While the fleet and aircraft were bombing in turn, led by the colonial division, the army soon succeeded in landing on the island of Java and launched an attack on several major cities on the island.

The largest city on the island of Java was Batavia, later Jakarta. It was the capital of the Dutch East Indies and the seat of the entire Dutch East Indies colonial government.

The primary goal of the army on the Western Front was to quickly capture Batavia and control the Dutch East Indies colonial government, so as to achieve the goal of capturing the thief and capturing the king first, and fighting a quick battle.

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(End of chapter)