On December 25, 1915, after a merry Christmas with his family, Arthur began to visit several munitions factories and shipyards to inspect and contemplate their current condition.

Compared with Europe, the impact of the war on Australasia was negligible, and even the development of Australasia remained in a relatively stable growth range.

Because it was already the end of the year, Arthur also got the development data of Australasia in 1915.

The first thing the Australasian government has made public is the number of casualties among soldiers so far.

So far, Australasia has sent more than 600,000 combat troops to Europe, with 135,000 killed and 223,000 wounded.

There are only about 300,000 soldiers still in Europe, and nearly 100,000 indigenous people have completed their obligations to join the army and have been repatriated to other regions along with their families.

In the new year, 1916, Australasia was expected to send 500,000 combat troops to Europe, including 484,000 indigenous soldiers and 16,000 regular soldiers.

Sending indigenous soldiers would not be distressing for either the Australasian government or Arthur, and would also play some role in Europe's war of attrition, which could be said to be a win-win situation.

The indigenous soldiers who survived the war did receive the treatment that Arthur had promised, which led to the fact that these natives were not reluctant to join the army, because at least they could ensure that their families could be freed to live elsewhere.

More than a year has passed since the outbreak of the war, and it has also consumed most of Arthur's pre-war stockpiles of weaponry and ammunition.

At present, the major military factories in Australasia have been working overtime to produce, but they still cannot meet the needs of weapons and equipment in the European theater.

It can be expected that with the development of time and the continuation of the war, the European theater will only become more and more short of weapons and ammunition, and the expansion rate of military factories in various countries will only get faster and faster.

In particular, the Russian region lacked at least a million rifles, hundreds of millions of rounds of ammunition, thousands of artillery pieces and millions of shells.

Australasia alone has exported at least 2 million rifles, which is enough to see how enormous the cost of this war was.

Of course, the war still had an impact on Australasia. If I had to say one of the most influential aspects, it would have to be the number of immigrants in Australasia.

So far, the total population of Australasia is more than 16,454,900, an increase of about 1,084,000 over the previous year.

Although it seems that the population growth is still in the millions, the number of newborns in the country has reached 457,000 of the 1.08 million people who have been added.

Minus the number of newborn babies, the number of immigrants in Australasia this year is only about 643,000, just over half of last year's arrivals.

This proves a more serious problem, as the number of European immigrants has been drastically reduced with the war in Europe.

Even the Russian immigrants, who were very reliable in the past, have been greatly reduced due to the civil strife in Russia, and can only maintain the scale of four or five hundred thousand immigrants a year, and there is even a risk of further reduction.

The number of immigrants from other countries is even less, and the vast majority of European countries combined have only about 100,000 immigrants, which is enough to see how serious the impact of this war is on Europe.

It is no exaggeration to say that countries such as Britain, France and Germany, which were more severely affected by the war, have now closed their immigration channels by default.

It is not an easy task for civilians in these countries to want to flee their countries during the war.

Once the number of immigrants from Russia continues to decline, Australasia's annual population growth is likely to fall below 1 million, breaking the lowest population growth level in recent years.

Of course, there is no way around it. One can only hope for a brief period of peace after the war, which will also be a period of exploding immigration.

In fact, in the final analysis, another major reason for the decline in Russian immigration is the strict scrutiny of Russian immigrants by the Australasian immigration department.

There are now a frightening number of revolutionaries among Russian immigrants, and these people who have the potential to affect the stability of the country must be vetted and subjected to a long examination period before they can truly acquire Australasian citizenship.

In terms of per capita income, Australasia's per capita income has now grown to $53.1, and this is still on the premise that the Australian dollar has not depreciated much.

In 1915, when the currencies of European countries generally depreciated and the per capita income of residents generally declined, Australasia still had such a performance.

Of course, it's not just per capita income that's growing steadily.

So far, Australasia's GDP has reached US$1.812 billion, equivalent to 362.4 million pounds, or 724.8 million Australian dollars, and the growth rate is 2% higher than last year, reaching about 8%.

However, this is due to the excessive expansion of the military industry and the large export of grain and other resources by European countries.

As a result, Australasia made a lot of profits, and these funds were used for domestic development, which led to such rapid economic growth in the country.

In the same way, under the premise of negative economic growth in European countries, the economy of Australasia can achieve relatively good substantial growth, which is definitely the only one in the scorpion.

This is also reflected in fiscal revenues.

In 1915, the Australasian government's total revenue was approximately $124.5 million, an increase of almost 16% over the previous year.

After all, a large amount of materials and resources have been exported, and a sharp increase in fiscal revenue is a matter of course.

You know, even Arthur's royal consortium paid more than $20 million in taxes to the government in 1915.

The income of the royal consortium is even more exaggerated, with a total income of about $107.5 million in 1915, which is not much different from the government's.

Of course, for large-scale factories and enterprises, Australasia's taxes are still relatively heavy.

For civilians and low- and middle-income people, government taxes are relatively low, which is why Australasian people are very supportive of the government.

It didn't matter to Arthur either. After all, whether it is the royal consortium or the government's finances, Arthur can transfer them at will, in fact, he is only left hand to right hand.

The government could even exempt the royal consortium from taxes if Arthur wanted to. But this is not too necessary, but because of the special status of the royal consortium, the royal family suffers some criticism.

Just imagine, when the people get such reports, even the monarch and the royal family are unwilling to pay taxes to the government, how can the people willingly pay taxes to the government?

At that time, there will be a lot of tax avoidance, tax evasion, and tax evasion, which will cause trouble to the stability of the government and society.

Under the premise of high government fiscal revenue, the increase in fiscal expenditure is actually quite a lot.

In 1915, total government expenditure was approximately $112 million, with a fiscal surplus of $12.5 million.

This year's fiscal expenditure has increased by nearly $15 million compared to last year, after all, a new round of warship construction plans has begun, coupled with various military expansions and the consumption of waging war.

If it weren't for the fact that half of the military spending was borne by the British, I am afraid that the fiscal expenditure would have increased, and it might even face a financial loss.

In addition to the military industry, other industries in Australasia are not growing slowly.

At present, the best-selling Australasian industrial products, in addition to weapons and ammunition for the military industry, include steel helmets, activated carbon gas masks, custom military uniforms, cotton clothing, military boots, mouse traps, etc.

Yes, the rat trap is also one of the most urgently needed supplies for front-line armies in Europe. Because the war in Europe has entered a war of attrition, and the war of attrition is dominated by trench warfare.

The trenches dug by each of the warring sides would harbor a large number of rats and other animals, including fleas that gave many soldiers headaches and annoyance.

Because of this, rat traps and flea medicine have become one of the most scarce materials on the frontline battlefield, and even have a higher priority than weapons and ammunition.

Australasia has seized this opportunity to gain a part of the market by researching rat poison that can kill most rats, as well as special flea medicine.

Almost every shipment of rat poison and flea poison that arrives at the front line is immediately divided among the fighting armies.

In non-combat periods, the most important thing soldiers want to do is to take a good bath and then dispose of these fleas on their bodies.

While the vast majority of rats and fleas are not fatal, fleas can hop around and itch when they bite on their bodies.

Rats are even more terrifying, if there are no protective measures, and there are more rats, it is very likely that they will be bitten off by rats in their sleep, and such cases occur from time to time.

Therefore, some of the soldiers in the trenches used barbed wire to fence themselves to prevent rats from approaching.

In any case, the presence of these rats and fleas not only caused great distress to the soldiers fighting on the front line, but also made these soldiers physically and mentally exhausted, and even had no intention of fighting.

It is also because of this that items such as rat poison and flea medicine will sell so well and are loved by front-line soldiers.

Arthur looked at the report on the whole year of 1915 in his hand, and was still in a very good mood.

But at this time, the belligerents who were far away in Europe were not in such a beautiful mood.

More than a month had passed since the Battle of Verdun, and both German and French troops had suffered heavy casualties, but neither side dared to give the order to retreat.

In fact, in the early stage of the Verdun offensive and defensive battle, Germany's progress was relatively smooth.

In just a few days, the German army successfully completed the first task set by the German General Staff, which was to occupy the area around Verdun and capture the first line of defensive positions on the periphery.

Through the bombardment of a large number of artillery, when the French were dazed by the artillery fire and did not react, the Germans quickly advanced their positions by two kilometers.

Even if the Germans had already achieved a partial victory, the French staff at this time still did not understand the true intentions of Germany, and there was no way to formulate the next battle plan based on this.

As a result, the French commander-in-chief, Chauffeur, could only maintain Verdun's average defensive strength in all directions, so that he could effectively resist the main German attack in either direction.

Some of the French soldiers in the Verdun fortress area were natives recruited from the colonies, and they did not experience the cold weather in northern France, and the already low morale of some of the indigenous troops made the fighting capacity of some of the indigenous troops vulnerable.

Some of the indigenous soldiers even turned around and fled, but were directly killed by the French Warlords behind them.

No matter who escaped, at such an important moment in the battle of Verdun, it was necessary not to hesitate to kill all those who escaped.

Otherwise, these indigenous soldiers would follow the same example, and there would only be more soldiers who would flee in the future, and even directly affect the desire of the main French army to fight.

As the German army attacked step by step, the Germans captured the main battery on the east bank of the Verdun fortress, as well as several high ground near the fort.

The commander of the French Army Group Center, Langle, had to order the Second Army to retreat to the heights of Maas, while the Vale de Vevre, where the Second Army had previously been stationed, was occupied by the German troops who had come along with the situation.

It was only at this time that Xia Fei realized that the main target of the Germans was Verdun and decided to take immediate and urgent measures.

In order to stabilize the morale of the Verdun fortress, Xia Fei sent the French chief of the general staff, Castelno, to personally supervise the battle at the Verdun fortress, and sent new reinforcements to the Verdun fortress.

The 1st Army, the 13th Army, the 21st Army and several artillery divisions were mobilized by Xia Fei to the Verdun battlefield, and only then did they barely stabilize the situation in Verdun.

It is worth mentioning that at the time of Verdun's extreme crisis, Xia Fei appointed General Henri Philippe Pétain, commander of the Second Army, as the commander of the Verdun theater of operations.

Speaking of Petain's great name, it can be said that everyone knows it in the history of World War I in later generations.

But now, Pétain was only a rather powerful commander of the army, having just been appointed commander-in-chief of the Verdun theater of operations.

Immediately after receiving his appointment, Petain went to the command of the Verdun fortress.

General Petain, who is now nearly 60 years old, graduated from the famous Saint-Cyr Military Academy in France in his early years, but had never fought before this war, and only served as a military instructor and regimental commander.

However, because of his several successful commands in the war, he was appreciated by Xia Fei and Chief of Staff Castelno, and within two years, he rose from regiment commander to brigade commander, division commander, army commander, and now commander-in-chief of the group army.

Upon arriving at Verdun, General Petain realized that two pressing problems had to be resolved as soon as possible, one was to stop the disorganized rout of the French army, and the other was to send reinforcements and supplies to the front-line positions as soon as possible to restore the combat effectiveness and morale of the front-line troops.

First, Bey issued a death order, forcing all troops not to cross the prescribed red line.

In Petain's words: "It is better to sacrifice the lives of all the soldiers than to lose an inch of French land!" ”

Because the first and second positions have all been lost, the batteries on the outermost line have become the support points of the forward positions.

Therefore, Petain decisively ordered that the batteries on the outer line should be the unified resistance position of the French army, and all the defenders must hold this position by all means available to them and withstand the German offensive.

The batteries were allowed to evacuate only when they were completely surrounded by German troops and could not fight.

Of course, Petain was not a commander who only pressed but did nothing. Immediately afterwards, Petain divided the entire Verdun garrison into four clusters, readjusted the defense of the Verdun area, and sent some reinforcements to some of the clusters that lacked troops.

Under Petain's operation, the French army barely held their positions, but only temporarily.

If the reserves and ammunition supplies that were urgently needed in the Verdun theater could not be resolved, the situation would only be temporary, and the Germans could regain the upper hand at any time.

Verdun was located in a cul-de-sac, its salient was bisected by the Maas River, and a standard gauge railway and a narrow gauge railway were often cut off by German artillery fire.

Since the beginning of the war, the railways and roads leading to the Verdun area have been severely damaged by German artillery fire.

The Obervière railway to Verdun was the main railway line from the interior of France, but it was completely within the range of the German large-caliber artillery attacking south, and the road from Verdun to Saint-Miel had been cut off by the German invasion of France two years earlier.

General Petain discovered that the only transport line available at that time was a second-class highway 7 meters wide from Verdun to the city of Baleduque, about 65 kilometers south-west.

Since the road was 20 kilometers from the forward position, and most of the German artillery at that time had a limited range, General Pétain thought it feasible to repair and maintain the transportation of the road.

He immediately ordered the 65-kilometer-long highway in the theater to be divided into six sections, and concentrated manpower to repair the highway so that it could be quickly widened and reinforced, and that it should be restored to unimpeded traffic.

In order to urgently mobilize supplies, General Pétain collected nearly 4,000 cars and organized all the cars into 200 squads of 20 cars each.

At that time, there were as many as 9,000 French officers and soldiers on transport and alert duty on this lifeline.

At the end of February, day and night, cars on this second-class highway were constantly moving day and night.

The use of automobiles to undertake such large-scale logistics transportation tasks has never been done before in the history of warfare. This is largely due to General Petain's logistical innovations.

This road, which was later revered by the French as the Sacred Road, was transported to the front along this sacred road by about 500,000 troops and 170,000 towed livestock throughout the Battle of Verdun, making an indelible contribution to the French victory.

It was precisely because of Petain's timely adjustment and effective measures for logistics that the resistance of the French front-line troops was significantly strengthened.

The batches of supplies and equipment transported on the Sacred Road were like fruits that could be regenerated in the game, allowing the French soldiers on the Verdun front to quickly regain their combat effectiveness.

Coupled with the importance that the French General Staff attached to Verdun, the strength of the defenders in the Verdun area doubled in more than half a month, greatly reducing the pressure on the French defenders in the Verdun area.

At the same time, the German army sent only about a tenth of its troops to the area, which also gave the French defenders an advantage in terms of numbers, and laid a good foundation for the French to hold the fortress.

On 20 December, the French army renewed its offensive on the outlying batteries, attempting to return to the outlying batteries in the Verdun area.

After a period of adjustment, the French army has regained a certain combat effectiveness and is full of fighting spirit.

After a fierce engagement, the French forces gained the upper hand and recaptured the Fort Douaumont in one fell swoop.

When the French flag was raised again at this fort, many French soldiers began to cheer from the bottom of their hearts: "France will win!" Long live France! ”

Immediately after retaking the fort Douaumont, Petain reinforced the fort's original defenders to prevent it from falling back into German hands.

5200 words, this is a chapter today!

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(End of chapter)