The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 931 - 696: The Canada-America Border Battle

Now, the system in the United States is vastly different from that of later generations. Due to its limited involvement in World War I, the United States had not yet abolished the segregation laws between the states.

In layman’s terms, the U.S. army had no power to enter any state without the state’s permission, otherwise the states had the right to consider the actions of the U.S. army as an invasion.

All states also had their own troops, and the strength of the National Guard was not necessarily weaker than that of the U.S. army.

Especially in some of the more powerful states, if a governor took a dislike to the President, they could even put the President on the state’s blacklist and forbid the President from entering the state’s land.

Yes, it sounds that incredible.

Although the federal system allowed America to quickly acquire a large amount of territory and it took just over 100 years to connect the East and West Coasts of America.

The great price paid was the lack of unity between the states, each still holding enormous power and even blatantly refusing to obey orders and proclamations.

One of the concerns of the American Secretary of State, aside from the inability to fully deploy over a hundred thousand troops in all the states, was the combined strength of the various opposing state National Guard units, which could exceed the number of the U.S. Army.

In the U.S. military’s strategic development, the army had always been treated like a stepchild, and it was not necessarily a match for the National Guard units of the states.

If all the states manage to successfully start a civil war, America could be torn apart by the rebellions of the states even before the enemy arrives.

It wouldn’t even need the Allied Army for America to naturally split into three or four countries, which would then await the blessings of the Allied Army.

As for the current American government, it would be good enough if it could hold on to the basic platform of the original 13 states without fantasizing about other territories.

"Damn it! Where are those consortiums? It’s time for them to step up, right? Tell those damned capitalists that if we are defeated, they will be the culprits of both the influenza and the economic crisis. The British will not spare us, nor will they spare them, these fat cats," President Hoover asked furiously.

Most of America’s wealth was in the hands of consortiums, which held a large part of the government’s say.

If the American government did not have the support of the consortiums, the hope of winning this war was very slim, and one might even say doomed to failure. Read latest stories on novelhall.Côm

"Mr. President, I’m afraid that’s going to be difficult," the Secretary of State said with a wry smile, explaining, "As soon as the economic crisis broke out, there was already a part of the capital that flew out to Europe or Australasia.

Although we cannot ensure that all consortiums have relocated, the vast majority have already planned their retreat and cannot recklessly help us.

Mr. President, you should understand, we no longer have any outside support. To the capitalists, the existence of the United States is irrelevant; as long as their consortiums and assets exist, that’s enough for them.

Compared to the troubled United States, it is Australasia, unaffected by the economic crisis, that they prioritize."

If you cannot find us more support, I suggest you consider the meaning of this war.

On July 18, over ten thousand troops of the Dominion of Canada engaged in fierce combat with the United States army along the southern border.

At that time, Canada had not yet received the right to diplomatic independence; hence, when Britain declared war on America, Canada also automatically entered a state of war with the United States.

However, Canada did not rush to action, understanding that its power alone was insufficient to challenge the United States.

It wasn’t until the first wave of tens of thousands of Allied troops had arrived in Canada that the Canadian army began to move.

The location of the skirmish, said to be the border, had actually penetrated deep into American territory.

This was an inevitable situation. The border between the United States and Canada was so vast that even after deploying about ten thousand soldiers, it was impossible to guard the entire borderline.

As a result, a long stretch of the border remained undefended with only a handful of border outposts and local police for protection.

Such defense was clearly insufficient to stop the Canadian army, which swiftly entered the state of Maine.

Had it not been for the local police who detected and reported the movements of the Canadian army, the Canadians might have captured Augusta, the capital of Maine, without the United States army even realizing it.

Of course, it was far too late now. The battleground where the United States army clashed with the Canadian forces was perilously close to Augusta, indicating that much of Maine had already fallen.

The situation worsened as Maine, being in the northeastern part of the United States, was quite close to New York, America’s largest city, signaling immense danger for New York as well.

Even though the United States army deployed nearly thirty thousand men, they could only barely manage to keep the Canadian forces from advancing beyond Augusta.

This was because, compared to the well-prepared Allied Army, the United States Army faced significant challenges.

It wasn’t a problem of manpower. With a population of over a hundred million, the United States could afford tens of thousands of soldiers, if not more.

But the real issue lay in the shortage of junior officers. Even during World War I, when the military expanded to several hundred thousand men, the war ended before their training did.

Even just before the outbreak of the World War, the highest-ranking active general in the United States Army was only a Brigadier General, which speaks to the lack of reserve officers within the army.

The most significant problem that emerged was the severe shortage of lower and middle-ranking officers when expanding the army’s size by several times within a short period.

Upper-echelon officers were not as significantly affected since military academies in the United States still produced a fair number of mid to high-level officers each year.

However, the vacancy in the lowest-ranking officer positions was quite severe. These positions usually depended on the accumulation of extensive experience or combat merit, and it was not easy to train such officers quickly.

Now, it was too late to establish schools specifically for training these junior officers, as the war could very well end before the schools were even completed.

This issue also highlighted an even more severe problem: the actual combat proficiency of America’s junior officers was not as high as it should have been.