France and Britain faced a series of problems, and the middle of 1931 was not very quiet.

Of course, because the respective supporters behind Paraguay and Bolivia are in disarray, the war in South America has once again become a fair head-to-head between Paraguay and Bolivia.

In terms of land size and population, Bolivia has a great advantage. However, Bolivia's early purchases of weapons and equipment focused on tanks and aircraft, which did not play much of a role in the North Chaco region.

On the contrary, Paraguay, with the large number of light weapons purchased, has been able to maintain its superiority in firepower in the North Chak area.

In particular, all kinds of machine guns are like killing gods in the North Chaco area, and a few machine guns can hold a position and delay the enemy's attack outside the battle line.

At this time, Australasia, the only remaining theater watching, became very important. Australasia's attitude determined not only the speed at which Britain and France could resolve their domestic problems, but also who would gain the upper hand in the war in South America.

Having already agreed to work with the British, Arthur's goal was still to help Paraguay win the war and gain a share of Australasia's benefits.

As for who will be the first to solve the problem, whether Britain or France, it is not a matter for Arthur to consider.

Having said that, the problems facing Britain and France are certainly intractable, but they are by no means unsolvable.

It is nothing more than how long it takes Britain and France, and how much influence it has on the colonial rule (sphere of influence) of Britain and France.

For Arthur, perhaps this is still good news. If something goes wrong in India, the British will only perceive the seriousness of the problem.

In order for India not to break away from their control, they will reach a compromise with Australasia elsewhere.

Arthur was not interested in India anyway, and it was naturally better to get the land and benefits he wanted by helping the British stabilize Indian rule.

After successfully diverting the attention of the British to India, the French did not dare to be careless and sent a fleet to the south coast of the United States, and the threat was already self-evident.

In addition to threatening Mexico, the French government has contacted the government of the Lone Star Republic and agreed to conduct a naval exercise off the south coast of the United States, with the participation of both navies.

Second, France said that it would provide a batch of interest-free loans to the Lone Star Republic, and privately promised that if the war in South America was won, half of the oil in the Upper Chak region would be handed over to Mobil Oil Company for exploitation, which won the support of the Lone Star Republic, including Mobil Oil Company.

On the British side, the trouble is actually even greater. India is far larger and more populous than the Lone Star Republic, and it can cause more trouble than a tiny Mexico.

Prabhatti, after obtaining the weapons and equipment supported by the French, started an armed rebellion in India without Gandhi telling him.

Because the British were defenseless at first, Prabhatti's armed rebellion succeeded in attacking several small towns in India and seizing police stations and weapons depots in these small towns.

When the news of Prabhatti's armed rebellion reached higher levels, it immediately caused the wrath of a large number of British.

The British took decisive form of armed repression against Gandhi's nonviolent marches, not to mention armed rebellions like Prabhatti's.

With the order of the Governor General of India, the Indian garrison was dispatched one after another, and the target was directly aimed at Prabhati.

Because Prabhati was a prominent member of the Congress party, the Indian government outlawed the party and issued arrest warrants to many Congress members, including Gandhi.

To Gandhi's surprise, he promoted two nonviolent marches that attracted thousands of Indians to support his actions, but neither of them managed to make it to the Indian government's wanted list.

But it was only because of Prabhatti's armed rebellion that most members of the Congress party, including himself, were honored to be on the list.

The good news is that Prabhatti's armed forces are less than 10,000 strong, and the impact is only in a few small towns in India.

As long as it can be controlled in time, the armed rebellion in Prabhati can be contained within a certain range, and it will not cause harm to the rule of all India.

But the bad news is that Prabhatti's armed rebellion seems to have opened a new path for the rest of India.

Even if Prabhati's rebellion could be crushed, the British would have to worry about the rebellion of other forces in India.

Suffice it to say that after Prabhatti's armed rebellion, it would be more difficult for the British to rule India.

Even if nothing else, even India's independence will be a little earlier.

With the general mobilization of Bolivia, in terms of the number of land forces, Bolivia has gained an advantage.

In order to help Paraguay win the war, Australasia sent a military exchange group of less than 100 people, but all of them were outstanding young officers who had graduated or were about to graduate from the Australasian Military Academy.

In addition to helping Paraguay win the war, Arthur wanted to train young officers in Australasia.

Although after more than 30 years of hard work, the military school in Australasia has become world-renowned. Every year, countless outstanding officers are trained, and they are very famous at home and abroad.

But if an officer has not experienced actual combat, he can only be said to have the potential to become a good officer.

Only an officer who has been tempered by war can be called a good officer. With this in mind, the Ministry of Defence planned to hone young officers in Australasia for the war, and Arthur agreed.

If it weren't for the fact that the size of the armies on both sides of this war was not too large, Arthur would have even wanted to rotate the Australasian army to hone the will to fight and improve the combat effectiveness of the army in a real war.

You know, more than ten years have passed since the First World War, and most of the soldiers in the army have long since retired.

Coupled with the expansion of the previous army, there are many new soldiers who have not seen the real battlefield, and they do not know the cruelty of war.

Although Arthur had great faith in the army's training system, he also believed in the combat effectiveness of a well-trained army.

But having participated in a war and not having participated in a war are two levels for a soldier. Only by experiencing a real war, only by experiencing the test of death, will a soldier undergo a real transformation and become an excellent elite soldier.

After World War I, Australasia experienced very few wars. The larger war was the one that wiped out the United States, with more than 100,000 soldiers deployed in Australasia.

However, the reference of that war is relatively low. Most of the main armies of the Americans were dragged to the Eastern Front, and the Australasian Army on the Western Front was faced by the National Guard of the American states.

With the arrival of the Australasian Young Officers Corps in Paraguay, they immediately took over command of a portion of the Paraguayan army.

Under the creative command of these young officers, the Paraguayan army has exploded with Australasian weaponry that far exceeds its previous combat effectiveness.

It is true that this is also the gap between the great powers and the weak and the small. Even if both sides have the same weapons and equipment in their hands, the difference in tactical thinking and experience, as well as the degree of familiarity and application of weapons and equipment, also determines the difference in combat effectiveness between the two armies.

In order to compensate for the lack of the Paraguayan army in the air force, the Australasian side also exported several reconnaissance aircraft to Paraguay.

These reconnaissance planes were all obsolete products from Australasia before, carefully stored in warehouses, waiting for such a war opportunity to sell them.

At present, there are more than 2,000 such obsolete and backward aircraft in Australasia's armament warehouses.

Even according to the friendly price of Australasia to Paraguay for 25,000 Australian dollars each, this more than 2,000 aircraft can still generate more than 50 million Australian dollars in revenue for Australasia.

As for whether other countries will buy such an already outdated aircraft, Australasia does not have too many concerns.

Although it is a backward product for Australasia, for most countries of the world, such an aircraft is still an advanced product that they cannot afford to develop and manufacture on their own.

Even proudly, with the exception of the British, who may have the technology to build these aircraft, no other country, including France, the second power, may not be able to build the aircraft that Australasia has obsolete.

What's worse is that Australasia's first-generation jets are on the verge of obsolescence, and second-generation jets are about to hit the stage.

But jet engines from other countries are still under development, and the progress ahead of aircraft and jet engines is enough for Arthur to fight World War II with confidence.

Although it was only a few reconnaissance aircraft, it was far behind Bolivia in terms of numbers. However, the number of airplanes cannot be judged only by quantity, and whether or not they can be used well is very important to the role of war.

Coincidentally, many of these officers came from the Air Force Academy, which not only helped Paraguay train excellent air force soldiers, but also flew directly on these planes for reconnaissance missions.

It was also with the reconnaissance force from the air that Paraguay's disadvantage from the sky was compensated for in the war.

Taking advantage of the fact that Bolivia had just undergone a general mobilization and the army had not yet been trained, Paraguay launched a brazen all-out offensive and successfully drove the Bolivian army out of the previous border.

On July 3, 1931, the Paraguayan army, under the command of José Félix Estigarivia, recaptured Pitiantuta, a military stronghold on the front.

And that's not all, in less than four days, José Felix Estigaliva led less than 3,000 soldiers to attack the Bolivian front command Fortress of Arce, with the help of the officer corps in Australasia, and successfully annihilated more than 1,500 Bolivian soldiers.

It was also after this unexpected raid that the offensive in Bolivia and Paraguay on the front line was completely reversed.

Bolivia has gone from offensive to defensive, and Paraguay has gone from defensive to offensive.

In particular, after the raid on the front command Arce, the command of the Bolivian army at the front line fell into disarray.

Although the commander of the Bolivian army managed to withdraw to the rear, his personal guards and the chain of command at the front remained in Arce.

After the successful occupation of Arce, the fighting shifted from Paraguay to Bolivia.

This is good news for Paraguay. After all, Paraguay is a country with few land and few people, and the country cannot withstand the devastation of war.

At present, if the war is transferred to Bolivia, at least Paraguay's territory will be guaranteed, and the losses in the war will be much reduced.

But since then, Paraguay's offensive has not been so smooth. From 8 July, the offensive on both sides turned into a long war of attrition and tug-of-war.

The war has also become very fierce, with the daily casualties on both sides approaching the hundreds, with at least dozens of soldiers killed every day, and even more wounded.

On July 22, 1931, the Paraguayan army aimed its offensive at Saavedra. Because there was an open area called Seven Thousand Meters in front of Saavedra, the main battlefield of this offensive and defensive battle was also placed here.

The army commanding Bolivia at this time was the French commander Louis Williams Dadevi, a more traditional and old-school commander.

This battle is very important for both Bolivia and Paraguay. In order to win this war, both sides have invested a lot of troops.

Bolivia has committed about 13,000 troops, more than half of whom are newly recruited.

On the Paraguayan side, adhering to the principle that the number of attackers is greater than that of the defender in an offensive and defensive battle, the Paraguayan side has an army of nearly 20,000 people.

In this open area called 7,000 meters, the armies of both sides launched a fierce bloody battle.

Although the Bolivian army dug trenches in advance, most of their troops were new recruits, and the supreme commander was French, and the language barrier between them created a certain obstacle for the army to fight.

It's a different story in Paraguay. Lieutenant Colonel José Félix Estigarivia, who had previously led the army in the reconquest of Pitiantuta, had been successfully promoted to colonel and was appointed commander of the Saavedra offensive.

Although José Félix Estigalivia also had the help of officers from Australasia, the command of the Paraguayan army remained in José's hands.

The advantages of this are, first of all, that the language is more fluent, and the soldiers are able to better understand what orders their commanders are given.

Secondly, let José command the Paraguayan soldiers, and they still trust each other. These Paraguayans believed in their own people more than Australasian officers in command of the Paraguayans.

The historical Saavedra offensive and defensive battles are known as the South American version of the Verdun meat grinder.

From this name, it can be seen that the cruelty of this Saavedra offensive and defensive battle is even comparable to Verdun.

And that's exactly what happened. More than 30,000 troops were invested by both sides, which is actually not large.

But because they were in an open area, there was little cover for either side, except for the trenches that had been hastily dug during the night.

Because of this, this offensive and defensive battle was very cruel, and the number of people on both sides only lasted for three days.

In the end, the Paraguayan army paid more than 5,000 dead and nearly 10,000 wounded, winning this extremely brutal offensive and defensive battle.

On the Bolivian side, the 13,000-strong army was almost wiped out. Of these, about 10,000 were killed or wounded, and the remaining 3,000 were all captured by Paraguay.

In addition to the aforementioned language barrier between the commanders and the soldiers, Bolivia lost the war, and the French commander mistakenly overestimated the combat effectiveness of the Bolivian army.

If the Bolivian army had been all well-trained and regular, perhaps fighting the Paraguayan army, the French commander would not have made a mistake in command.

The problem was that half of the Bolivian army was recruits, and these recruits had only been trained for about two weeks of militarization.

It is better to expect these soldiers to perform as well as they should be, rather than to expect the Paraguayan soldiers on the opposite side to make mistakes in battle.

That's how cruel war is. Although the French officers were not at fault for anything else, they simply miscalculated the combat effectiveness of the Bolivian army.

But it was with such a mistake that the Paraguayan army gained the upper hand in the deployment of the front line and successfully conquered the Bolivian front.

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(End of chapter)

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