The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 461: Chapter 367: The Indigenous Peoples Problem

Thanks to the 14.6-ton weight of the T-14 tank, it can accommodate five crew members while carrying 2800 machine gun bullets, 42 shells and some supplies, as well as enough fuel to travel over 400 kilometers.

Of course, the personal weapons of the five crew members are also included. These are to be used for self-defense and combat when the tank is scrapped or breaks down.

The T-14 tank also has a significant improvement in speed. Although it has also gained much in weight, the T-14 tank can still maintain an average speed of at least 26 kilometers per hour on flat ground, with a maximum speed of around 30 kilometers per hour.

But data taken only on flat surfaces can't illustrate much, since tanks are designed to adapt to various road conditions, even against trenches and gullies dug by the enemy.

Unfortunately, even with enhanced power, the T-14 tank is not fast on non-flat terrain.

Considering a variety of road conditions, under non-flat and obstacle-filled surfaces, the T-14 tank can maintain an average speed of 15 kilometers per hour, without exceeding the maximum speed of 20 kilometers per hour.

If the speed exceeds 20 kilometers per hour on obstacle-laden surfaces, there will soon be problems like stalling, turning the powerful weapon into a pile of scrap iron.

This issue is not something that can be resolved in the short term, as even in the history of World War II, tanks would occasionally encounter problems.

At present, the capability of Australasia's tanks has already taken a significant lead in the world's tank research and development.

Although the occasional issue of the T-14 stalling cannot be solved, overall, as long as the tank can be quickly repaired, the T-14 tank is still a massive weapon on the battlefield.

With robust armor and a 75mm semi-automatic cannon, and a Maxim heavy machine gun, this combination of an impenetrable shield and a sharp spear on the battlefield ensures that unless the enemy has anti-tank weapons or uses large caliber bombardments, the tank will pose no danger.

The T-14 tank is known as the basic improved version of the first-generation tank because there are such killers as the T-14A heavy tank.

If you look at the weight of the T-14A tank, you'll know there are many differences between it and the T-14 tank.

The T-14A tank weighs 21.7 tons, a whole 7.1 tons more than the T-14 tank.

In terms of firepower, the T-14A tank is equipped with a GA1906 Model 105mm semi-automatic cannon, a CA-1 37mm machine gun and an MA-107 Maxim heavy machine gun.

Because it has significantly improved firepower, the T-14A tank has a main gun turret and a forward gun turret.

The only heavy machine gun is mounted on the forward gun turret, along with a CA-1 37mm machine gun, to ensure effective damage to the enemy's ground troops.

The 105mm semi-automatic cannon in the main turret is used specifically to capture enemy positions and fortresses, making it a top weapon for charging and breaking through defenses.

In terms of armor protection, the T-14A tank has a steel armor thickness of up to 35mm and is a whole size larger than the T-14 tank in physical dimensions.

This makes the protective capability of the T-14A tank greatly enhanced, at least rendering the enemy's light weapons no threat to this heavy tank.

Even some large-caliber guns do not pose much of a threat to this massive guy. Because of the overall design of the T-14A tank, unless the shell directly hits and explodes, it will be deflected by the sturdy steel armor, significantly reducing its destructive power.

As long as Australasia has tanks and airplanes, the Allies' comprehensive military strength would far exceed the Central Powers'.

As for Britain, France, and Russia not having tanks and airplanes, Australasia could sell them to them. The prices would definitely be fair and honest.

Having second-generation tanks before World War I broke out is good news for Arthur.

Even if the second-generation tank's production rate isn't high and they only have a few dozen of them at most if war breaks out, they would play a crucial role in the war.

Looking at the T-14A tank's performance data, without a doubt, this is a powerful weapon that could ignore the enemy's firepower and easily destroy the enemy's position and fortress.

If such a weapon appeared in the trench warfare in Europe, could it speed up the progression of the war?

That's an unknown, but one thing for sure is that the emergence of second-generation tanks will significantly reduce the Australasia Army's casualties, at least the casualties of the regular army.

As for the hundreds of thousands of indigenous soldiers, no one would care about their casualties.

Even if some indigenous soldiers safely returned, they would ultimately be dispatched by Arthur to other regions or secretly killed in places unknown to the public.

If the reason must be given, it might be because the majority of Australasian colonies in one of the three major islands of Oceania, where most Melanesians live, are inhabited by black people.

The territories of Melanesia include New Guinea, Royal Territory, Australian Timor, Australian Solomon Islands, Australian New Caledonia, Australian Fiji, etc., which occupy the vast majority of Australasia's overseas territories.

And the name "Melanesia" comes from the Greek language, implying "Negro Islands".

According to the Australasian Government's preliminary statistics, about a million indigenous people live on these lands, most of whom are Melanesians, with a small number being New Guinea people.

Among Melanesians, pure bloodlines are maintained. Only blacks marry blacks, which also leads to the most pure black bloodline on this land.

It's this reason that they will never be accepted by Australasia. Australasians' strong racism will not accept such a population, and Arthur's strong personal will would also definitely not accept such a population.

In fact, after Australasia took over these colonies in the Melanesia region, the fate of these natives only had two outcomes. Apart from serving Australasia to their deaths, their best outcome was being sent to the Dutch East Indies in Southeast Asia.

But up to now, the recorded actions of sending indigenous people by Australasia didn't exceed three times, with no more than 2000 people each time.

This suggests that among the hundreds of thousands of indigenous people in Australasia, at most 6000 have safely left Australasia so far.

Meanwhile, nearly 1.5 million people have been hastily buried en masse on this land.

Their sacrifices were worth it. They built a powerful nation in about ten years.

Arthur and Australasia haven't forgotten these indigenous people's contribution, and the action of sending indigenous people away is still ongoing and has even increased from before.