Although the landing war delayed the Kalimantan and Philippine troops for more than 20 days, the momentum of the more than 100,000 indigenous troops landed on the Ryukyu Islands.

With these indigenous armies, order in the Ryukyu Islands can be completely guaranteed. What's more, some island soldiers who hide in the cities and villages can also be cleared with these indigenous soldiers.

After landing on the island on July 24, it took only two days for the Australasian side to basically and completely clean up the order of the Ryukyu Islands and eliminate all the islands' troops on the Ryukyu Islands.

As of 6:30 p.m. on July 26, a telegram sent to Arthur by Christie, the commander of the Ninth Army, contained the following message: "Your Majesty, the Ninth Army has been ordered to complete the task of clearing and can ensure that there is not a single enemy army on the Ryukyu Islands.

At present, the task of building the navy and air base is in full swing, and the 9th Army can be ready to enter the next battle. ”

In this telegram, Commander Christie also attached a report on the casualties of the 9th Army.

Because the main landing battles were due to the participation of Philippine and Kalimantan troops, the casualties of the 9th Army were actually not high.

The 9th Army, consisting of 4 infantry divisions, 1 cavalry division and 1 artillery division, really suffered heavy casualties only among the 12,000 paratroopers who participated in the airborne.

These paratroopers consisted of four infantry divisions, with an average of just over 2,000 casualties per division, and each division was still sufficiently combat-ready.

In his reply to Division Commander Christie, Arthur praised the 9th Army's combat performance and ordered the government to prepare more supplies and funds to go to the Ryukyu Islands.

Of course, the most important job is to count and report the credit. The merits of these wars are not only about the rewards of soldiers and officers, but also about whether they can rely on this war to directly become the middle and upper classes of the country.

Arthur also deliberately instructed many times that when counting and counting the merits of the soldiers, they must be realistically counted and strictly put an end to fraud.

In addition to preventing people from maliciously exaggerating their own merits, it is also to prevent the possibility of officers preempting the merits of soldiers.

For the specific merits of the soldiers, in addition to the list reported by each army, the general staff will also conduct specific war simulations to prevent false phenomena.

At the same time, the General Staff also issued the next combat mission to the 9th Army.

The combat mission is simple, and it can be summed up in one sentence, that is, the full occupation of the Ryukyu Islands.

Although the main island of the Ryukyu Islands is currently under control, there are still a large number of affiliated islands and other large islands under the control of the islanders.

These islands, which are still under the control of the island nation, are the next tasks for the 9th Army and more than 100,000 Filipino and Kalimantan troops.

After the full occupation of the Ryukyu Islands, the General Staff's plan for the 1936 battle plan was almost completed.

The island nation is to be defeated, and even to be fully occupied.

But the problem is that the time to defeat the island nation must not be now, at least not 1936.

Because in Europe, the war at this time was quite intense. Once Australasia defeated the island nation, it had to send troops to Europe to fight a super-war with the Germans.

It was significantly more difficult to fight Germany than it was to fight the island nation, and it would inflict greater casualties on the Australasian army.

Since both the island country and Germany are to complete the task, it is natural to choose a simpler one, such as the soft persimmon of the island country.

This may not be in line with the impression of later generations, but it is so natural in this era. The island nation is strong for the industrially backward country, and for an industrial power like Australasia, the island country has nothing strong but the population.

The problem is that Australasia has mastered nuclear weapons technology, and the gap between the populations is not so deadly.

If Arthur didn't want to expose his nuclear weapons too soon, Australasia could easily use nuclear weapons to close the demographic gap between Australasia and the island nation.

Due to the large population of island countries, the population of a large city is often as high as hundreds of thousands or even millions.

Not to mention, the atomic bombing of 20 cities could easily erase the population gap between the island nation and Australasia.

As for whether the dropping of 20 atomic bombs would be a bit of a tragedy, this is not something that Arthur should consider. Whether it is out of his own heart or out of interests, this kind of thing should be done and must be done for Arthur.

Speaking of the European battlefield, at this time, nearly ten days have passed since the Dunkirk retreat, and the situation in the European theater has become more anxious.

As the saddest power, Austria was left with only Austria proper, and even Vienna was in danger.

The Czech Republic and Slovakia had already been occupied by German troops, and Italian troops were also eyeing areas such as Innsbruck and Klagenfurt.

If it weren't for the various weapons and equipment from Britain and Australasia that were transported to Austria by various means, I am afraid that the Austrians would have surrendered by now.

But this still does not change the bad situation in Austria. Once Vienna is breached, the Austrians will most likely be the first great powers to surrender, and it will completely change the situation on the European battlefield.

Without Austria's troubles, Germany and Italy could concentrate on attacking France. Even once the European pattern of Britain, France and Austria changes, Spain is likely to decisively enter the war and carve up the huge cake of France.

You know, in addition to the vast French mainland, Spain was also attracted by the large African colonies occupied by France.

As an old colonial power, France's colonies can be said to be second only to the British Empire and ranked second in the world.

For Spain, most of France's colonies in Africa, were what they wanted.

Northwest Africa, in particular, was a fatal temptation for Spain. If it can acquire a large area of Northwest Africa, Spain's comprehensive national power will be greatly strengthened, and it will be possible to become a super-empire that spans two states like the Ottoman Turkish Empire.

Coincidentally, the Ottoman Empire occupied the Strait of Constantinople, which was quite important, and the Strait of Gibraltar, which was also separated by the very important Spanish territories in Europe and Africa.

This also means that for Spain at this time, they are naturally on the opposite side of Britain and France.

If Spain wants to become stronger, it will have to find more territory in Northwest Africa. But these lands were the sphere of influence of the French, and Spain had to compete head-on with the French if they wanted to get more territory from the French.

And once Spain is strong, it is very likely to control the Strait of Gibraltar and even recover Gibraltar.

This was intolerable to the British Empire. The emergence of a superpower in the western part of the Mediterranean, beyond the control of the British Empire, was no less threatening to the British than Germany is now.

Therefore, in the case that Spain naturally stood on the opposite side of France and England, it was very likely that Spain would enter the war in the event that Britain and France were at a disadvantage in a war in Europe.

If Spain could not be prevented from entering the war, France would have to face the X-factor of Spain in addition to Germany and Italy.

Although Spain's comprehensive national strength is far inferior to that of Italy, the combat effectiveness of the Spanish army is not bad. Especially after the baptism of civil war, most of the soldiers in Spain are now qualified soldiers.

These soldiers are put into the battlefield, and naturally have a certain advantage over those recruits who have not experienced large-scale wars.

Coupled with Spain's strategic position, Spain's participation in the war became a factor affecting the balance between Britain and France and Germany and Italy.

So the question arises, does Spain want to enter this war?

If it was before the outbreak of the war, Franco, the commander of the Spanish state, actually held a negative attitude.

The reason is also very simple, Spain at this time has experienced the baptism of civil war, coupled with the Carlos War that has lasted until the present in the last century and all kinds of chaos, which has exhausted Spain.

In terms of land area, Spain is not inferior to France in terms of land area, and even far exceeds that of England. But 50 years ago, Spain had completely lost its status as a great power.

Long before the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, before Spain had a certain number of colonies, Spain was no longer a great power in the hearts of the European people.

The Spanish Empire was once at its peak, and even established the Spanish Empire, which was one of the earliest colonial empires.

However, compared with other European countries' emphasis on industrial and technological development, Spain is obviously more in pursuit of a luxurious and erosive life from top to bottom.

From the royal family to the common people, people enjoyed the wealth and goods brought by the Age of Discovery and colonial empires, but never thought of making themselves stronger to protect these possessions.

Such a fall of Spain was inevitable and the reason why Spain did not become one of the great powers of Europe until later generations.

For what is now Spain, this country is very famous as one of the European countries with a glorious history.

But in terms of comprehensive national strength, population, military strength and economy, Spain cannot enter the top five in Europe, no matter how it ranks.

Even up-and-comers like Yugoslavia and Romania have surpassed Spain in terms of population and economy.

If it weren't for Poland's annexation by Germany, I'm afraid that Spain's current comprehensive strength ranking would not be able to enter the top eight in Europe.

What is this concept? More than half of the new countries that emerged after the breakup of the United States are equal to or even surpass Spain in terms of overall strength.

Combined with the comprehensive strength of various countries, Spain can only barely enter the top 15 in the world, which seems to be not much better than the former colony of Argentina.

This is also the reason why Franco is bent on stability and peaceful development. There is no way, if Spain continues to be chaotic, it is very likely that it will be overtaken by more countries in the future.

In this way, Spain's glorious history becomes a joke and a testament to the incompetence of the modern Spanish state.

But with the development of the war, Franco's mind did change to a certain extent.

Judging from the current trend of the war, Britain and France were obviously at a disadvantage in this war, and were even tired of dealing with Germany.

Britain and France had not yet achieved relatively effective results for the whole war, and it seemed difficult for them to stop the German army from galloping on the European continent.

After the successive annexations of Poland, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Belgium and Slovakia, Germany became the second largest power in Europe in terms of territory after Russia.

What's more, the combined population of all the lands under German control was about the same as that of Russia, and more than the population of England and France combined.

Coupled with the help of Italy, it seemed that it was only a matter of time before this war was won.

As a result, Franco, who was in charge of the Spanish state, had to think about the future of Spain.

If Germany and Italy had won the war, Spain would have been in an awkward position.

Although it had signed an alliance with Germany, Spain did not join the war and was naturally not a friend of Germany and Italy.

Once Germany fully annexes France, it is quite possible to point the finger at Spain, or even the whole of Europe.

This is a great feat that Napoleon did not do in the past, and once it is possible for the Germans to achieve it, I believe that the German government will never let Spain go.

Franco was clearly more interested in the benefits of joining the war than the disadvantages of not joining it.

First of all, to help Germany and Italy win the war, Spain is naturally a member of the German-Italian alliance and can also obtain territorial allocation rights.

Second, with the help of Spain, Germany and Italy naturally had a greater certainty of winning the war.

Finally, for Frange himself, joining and winning this war would greatly increase his prestige in Spain and stabilize his dominance over Spain.

If Spain could gain a large colony in Northwest Africa, Franco would be a hero to all Spaniards, and the civil war he started would become a just war for Spain, to overthrow the evil and rotten government.

Of course, there is another point that attracts Franco, that is, after winning this war, Spain has a high probability of recovering the Gibraltar area.

Needless to say, how important Gibraltar is to Spain. It is no exaggeration to say that anyone who can help Spain recover Gibraltar will immediately become a hero to the Spaniards, admired and adored by all Spaniards.

Even in later generations, there were still certain contradictions and quarrels between the Spanish government and the British government over Gibraltar, which proved that the Spanish people's desire for Gibraltar had always existed.

Faced with the possibility of recovering Gibraltar, even Franco had to admit that he was indeed moved.

A 4,000-word update was delivered.

(End of chapter)