The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 920 - 686: Browning Automatic Rifle

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Extreme chaos naturally breeds ambitious individuals, especially since Germany’s turmoil had persisted for far too long.

On April 17, 1928, the infamous Adolf Hitler published a speech in the People’s Observer.

In the speech, he harshly criticized the government’s incompetence and stated that it was indeed because of the government’s acceptance of the Versailles Treaty’s war compensation and various post-war measures that Germany had experienced all this.

Hitler directly claimed that the military government had destroyed everything in Germany, subjecting the great Germanic tribes to humiliations they should not have borne.

At the end of the speech, Hitler also declared his intention to establish an order that would ensure every German household had milk and bread on their table and restore Germans to the pinnacle of the world.

If this had been said right after the end of World War I, Hitler’s statements would have been undoubtedly dismissed by most and even regarded as those of a lunatic or fool.

But now, with Germany suffering from an economic crisis and post-war hardships, Hitler’s pronouncements immediately attracted many Germans, and these people took his words as gospel.

In fact, by this time, Hitler was no longer the insignificant corporal of World War I. The political party he led had become one of the largest in Germany, with his Stormtroopers comprising a paramilitary force of several hundred thousand members.

If one had to choose the individual most likely to overturn the German government’s rule at this moment, then Hitler would be the only viable candidate. Enjoy new tales from novelhall.Côm

Whether it was William II or President Hindenburg, this rising figure in German politics was definitely under scrutiny.

However, William II was no longer in contention for power, and governmental authority naturally fell into the hands of President Hindenburg.

President Hindenburg, once a corporal himself, held no affection for Hitler and had even quietly remarked that Hitler was at best fit to be a Postmaster General.

This was actually quite normal, for compared to President Hindenburg’s noble Junker origins, Hitler’s background was that of a commoner and his highest military rank was merely a corporal.

Moreover, Hitler’s actions in politics were too extreme, more radical than those of the military government, which might not be a good thing for Germany.

Hitler’s extremism was outwardly visible, and naturally, the other political parties and officers in German politics could sense it.

To prevent such an extreme individual from gaining control of Germany’s power, many government officials and political parties joined forces to oppose Hitler’s entry into the government and his party’s control over the Parliament’s discourse.

Before the economic crisis, this coalition of parties and officials was quite effective. Because Hitler was unable to bewitch the majority of the German population, the German government still had significant control over areas other than the federal states.

But when the economic crisis began, everything changed. Not only the federal states, but even regions distant from the imperial government’s reach were gradually slipping from its rule.

This detachment didn’t mean they sought independence, but rather that the government had relatively less influence, and these regions had a greater say.

In fact, the world’s first rifle capable of automatic firing was already developed in 1860, but for various reasons it was not given due emphasis and reuse at the time.

Even on the battlefields of World War II, semi-automatic rifles were the most used. The utilization of fully automatic rifles had to wait until after World War II, given that the battlefields of World War I and World War II required more cannon fodder than the ability to achieve effective point-target firepower.

If it was a matter of comparing firepower, the firepower of various light and heavy machine guns and artillery was certainly far ahead of full automatic rifles.

With light and heavy machine guns available, there was naturally no need for the firepower of full automatic rifles on the battlefield.

Even the Lee-Enfield rifle could be made to "fire automatically" when operated at high speeds, after all, the fastest-firing semi-automatic rifle was not famous for nothing.

The reason Arthur had Browning develop fully automatic rifles was not to completely replace the Lee-Enfield rifle but to give soldiers more options in firearms when needed.

For normal large-scale combat, using the Lee-Enfield rifle would certainly be more cost-effective, since fully automatic rifles represent a greater bullet consumption.

Arthur wasn’t oblivious to the realities of the battlefield; how many soldiers could really aim before shooting?

More than half the bullets were wasted on the battlefield, mostly firing at either the ground or the sky.

If semi-automatic rifles were replaced with fully automatic rifles, the military budget during wars would definitely increase several times over.

This isn’t feasible in the short term, and it’s impossible to equip the entire army with fully automatic rifles on a large scale.

The greatest use of fully automatic rifles is actually to arm certain special military units with powerful weapons.

Submachine guns lack power, and heavy machine guns aren’t easily carried. If equally powerful full automatic rifles could be used for certain tasks, they could have unexpectedly effective results.

Arthur immediately thought of the special forces of later generations. With the current conditions being sufficient, he could at least start to train some special forces.

Equipping the special forces entirely with full automatic rifles wouldn’t be too outrageous since their numbers weren’t too large, and the added military budget wouldn’t be excessively exaggerated.

A team armed with full automatic rifles and other elite weaponry would definitely have as significant an impact in a war as a large-scale army.

Coupled with a powerful air force, it could even effectively decapitate the enemy from behind and cut off the enemy’s supply lines.

Its impact on warfare is immeasurable. Eliminating the enemy’s commanders early in the war could naturally lead to the enemy’s forces falling into chaos.

Exaggerating a bit, an elite special force that could be air-dropped anywhere would undoubtedly become the nightmare of Australasia’s future enemies, disturbing their sleep.

However, special forces can’t be trained just by talking about it. Arthur also needed to gather more elite soldiers, to carry out the first round of selection, picking out the kings of the military forces.