The Rise of Australia - Chapter 993

c973 The obedient king

While looking forward to and paying attention to the direction of the German-Russian war, the Australasian army stepped up its attack on Estonia.

Originally an army formed by a puppet government, the Estonian army was like a pile of loose sand when facing the well-equipped and powerful Australasian army.

In less than two and a half weeks, the Australasian army captured Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, and occupied important cities in Estonia such as Rakvere, Narva, Pernu and Kuressaare.

Except for Vuru where the German army was stationed and Tartu not far from Vuru, a large area of ​​Estonia has been recovered by Australasian.

It has only been 16 years since Estonia’s independence, and the king of Estonia was forcibly supported and did not have much reputation in Estonia.

This also facilitated Australasian’s actions in Estonia. Although the rulers of Estonia and Latvia were supported by Britain and France, Arthur would not be polite.

As long as these two countries are occupied by Australasia, the monarchs of these two countries must be Australasia’s decision.

On May 27, 1939, when the Australasia army marched towards Tartu and Vru in southeastern Estonia, they were surprised to find that a German division originally stationed here had withdrawn, leaving only a very small number of Estonian puppet troops.

The result was also obvious. The two cities were recovered on the same day, Estonia also declared independence from the German puppet rule, and the Kingdom of Estonia was re-established.

However, there was a small episode before the establishment of the Kingdom of Estonia. The King of the Kingdom of Estonia first asked to see the Australasia ambassador to the UK in London, and then asked to see the generals of the Australasia army in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, and expressed a firm attitude, that is, to ask for support.

Yes, it is a simple attitude of asking for support.

When the King of Estonia met with the Australasian ambassador, he was very humble and even said that Estonia would become the most loyal subordinate of Australasian.

Arthur originally planned to replace the King of Estonia, but after seeing that the King of Estonia was so sensible, he was no longer in a hurry.

However, in order to prevent Estonia from being a fence-sitter, Arthur also asked the Australasian ambassador to the UK to warn the King of Estonia righteously, saying that Australasian was willing to cooperate with Estonian side, but the premise was that Australasian must be Estonian’s only ally.

The King of Estonia agreed to this very straightforwardly.

In order to gain the trust of Australasian side, the King of Estonia even expressed his willingness to lease any area of ​​Estonia to Australasian side to establish a military base.

At this point, Arthur had to admit that the King of Estonia was a smart man.

It would be good for both countries for Australasian side to establish a military base in Estonia.

First of all, for Australasia, it can ensure that even if this younger brother is not loyal, it has the means to deal with this younger brother.

For Estonia, this is not only a token of its surrender to Australasia, but also a way to use Australasia’s army to protect its own safety.

After all, Estonia’s neighbor is Russia, and the three Baltic countries once belonged to Russia’s territory.

If there were no Australasia garrison, if Russia suddenly sent troops to occupy Estonia, who could guarantee the safety of the Estonian king?

After all, Russia’s political system is not a monarchy, and their ideas are even hostile to the monarchy in certain aspects.

And compared with the second- and third-rate monarchies in Europe, countries like Estonia are too weak and do not even have the qualifications to be fence-sitters.

Estonia’s current population is only about 1 million, especially after this war, the population has dropped below 1 million.

What can such a population do? It is very difficult for Estonia to arm an army of 100,000, and this is not even enough for a group army of the powerful countries.

So for a country like Estonia, they can only choose loyalty after they have embraced the thigh, because the country’s strength is simply unable to bear the anger of a powerful country.

After taking Estonia, the Australasian army immediately went south to Latvia.

Latvia is sandwiched between Estonia and Lithuania. Although its geographical location is not important, it is also the only way to Lithuania and Poland.

In the offensive plan of Australasian, the capture of St. Petersburg has been completely abandoned, and it has been changed to completely occupy the three Baltic countries and Poland.

In this way, it is necessary to occupy the three Baltic countries as soon as possible, and liberate Poland first while Russia is busy rescuing the 1.5 million besieged troops.

As long as there is Poland, a barrier between Germany and Russia, it will become difficult for the Russian army to enter German territory again.

Although there is no Russian army to attack Germany together, the German-Russian War has consumed a considerable part of Germany’s army and manpower, and the Germans are just trapped at this time.

There is a river in Latvia called the Daugava River. This river divides the entire Latvia into two parts, north and south. Riga, the capital of Latvia, is also located on the north side of this river.

Why do we emphasize this river? Because according to the latest intelligence from the front, the Germans have this river in their strategic contraction in Eastern Europe.

Of course, it’s not just this river. The German defense line is mainly concentrated on the Daugava River and the Dnieper River. These two rivers are not only natural defense lines that hinder the offensive of the Russian and Australasian armies, but also the dividing line of Germany’s fate.

Once any army crosses the defense line formed by these two rivers, Germany’s fate will be completely in the hands of the enemy.

In order to thoroughly defend this defense line, the Germans deployed a large number of artillery and infantry positions and dug a large number of trenches in the gaps between the two rivers, that is, in the Smolensk and Vitebsk regions.

Judging from the defense line built by the Germans, the German government has a great intention to fight to the death with Australasian and Russia on this defense line.

Anyway, this place is no longer far from the German mainland, and the logistical conditions are not as bad as deep into the hinterland of Russia.

If fighting here, the logistics of the German army can be fully guaranteed.

After learning that the German army had retreated to the south of the Daugava River, the Australasian army marched into cities such as Valmiera, Rezekne and Riga in northern Latvia.

The population of Latvia is obviously much larger than that of Estonia.

Although the area north of the Daugava River is only about half of Latvia’s land area, the population here is still more than 1.4 million, which is more than the population of the entire Estonia.

The area occupied by Germany in the south also has at least 500,000 Latvians, which also means that the entire Latvia has a population of at least 2 million.

And Lithuania, which is further south, also has a population of more than 2 million, which to a certain extent reflects the gap in development between the three Mediterranean countries.

But this is also normal. After all, these three countries are like stacked vertically. Estonia is already very close to the Nordic region, with a relatively cold climate, and the population will naturally be smaller.

The area where Lithuania is located is still in the temperate zone, and the population and economic development of the Scania region of Sweden and Denmark, which are parallel to Lithuania, are quite good.

After occupying Riga, the capital of Latvia, the government of Latvia has actually been liberated.

However, compared with the King of Estonia, the King of Latvia is obviously not so sensible.

But it doesn’t matter. Anyway, the King of Latvia is also a puppet supported by Britain and France. He is not very capable and his status in Latvia is not strong.

The first thing the Australasian army did when it entered Riga was to declare the liberation of the Latvian government. The second thing was to signal the Latvian government to depose the king and elect a new king of Latvia.

Where will the new king come from? Of course, it depends on who is more pleasing to the eye, more obedient and more discerning.

Anna and Prince Gustav also have several sons. If it doesn’t work, it’s not impossible to choose one of Anna’s sons who looks honest and decent to become the King of Latvia.

As for the so-called defense line formed by the Germans in the south of the Daugava River, the Australasian army actually doesn’t care.

Although it is still difficult to break through this line of defense from the front, the Australasian army does not have only this option.