The Rise Of A Billionaire 1943-Chapter 163 - 175: From the Mediterranean to the Pacific

Chapter 163: Chapter 175: From the Mediterranean to the Pacific

In the following days, SM.73 transport planes shuttled daily between Switzerland and Tunisia. As special passengers arrived, special cargo was also delivered to Tunisia. The amount wasn’t large—just over ten million pounds—but all of it was of the perfect grade, meaning no one could tell it was counterfeit.

Within a few days, the special passengers set off from Tunisia for Australia.

They weren’t the only ones heading to Australia; the entire Borneo Garrison was on the move. Tens of thousands of officers and soldiers boarded 137 County-class tank landing ships, and, escorted by the US Navy, passed through the Mediterranean, entered the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, and then into the Indian Ocean.

As the convoy entered the Indian Ocean, rough seas caused the Welin davits carrying LCVP landing craft on the tank landing ships to sway from side to side. Many of the soldiers in the troop compartments were lying on their bunks, vomiting heavily. Even though they already had some experience with long voyages, seasickness was inevitable.

"Go ahead and puke, you’ll get used to it after a while!" Kong Guowei said to his comrades with a grin.

"Once you’ve thrown everything up, you won’t have anything left to puke."

As he spoke, Lin Tai looked at him with a resentful gaze, because he knew this was a lie. When they first came to North Africa, they had all been just as seasick. Some people adapted quickly—like Kong Guowei, who only needed a day to get used to the motion of the sea.

Soon, the soldiers realized that their squad leader—no, battalion commander—was tricking them!

Once their stomachs were empty, all that came up was stomach acid and bile.

After two days of this, the convoy finally passed through the rough seas, and the ocean returned to its usual calm. After two good meals, the soldiers, who had been dizzy and nauseous, finally regained their spirits.

Training resumed. The soldiers exercised in the gaps between the trucks parked on the deck, stretching their muscles, while some practiced shooting at floating objects tossed into the sea with M1 carbines along the ship’s rails.

The reason for using M1 carbines for training was to save ammunition. Even though before departure, the search teams had seized tens of millions of rounds from German factories—and even dismantled and packed up the factories themselves—conserving ammunition was always wise. After all, the STG44 was a notorious ammo guzzler. The M1 carbine, on the other hand, was different—with American supplies, there was always enough ammo. That’s why all non-frontline soldiers were equipped with carbines.

While the infantry companies trained on the crowded decks, the armored troops simulated drills inside their tanks. In short, there was no—

Who has time to be idle? After all, their time is limited, and they must seize every moment for training.

While the officers and soldiers were training, Pierre was also engaged in training—wargaming. Along the way, he would often conduct wargames with officers of various ranks and operations staff.

However, the results of these wargames were far from ideal.

Once again, after successfully crushing the resistance of the 37th Army by relying on superior firepower and armor, Pierre walked onto the deck, his expression as calm as ever, neither pleased nor displeased. Sun Delin followed closely behind him.

"Experience,"

Passing over a cigarette, Sun Delin continued,

"What our officers lack is experience commanding units at the regimental level and above. Actually, it’s not just a lack—they simply have none at all. Even at the battalion level, there are many coordination issues. In a sense, our officers are just too green, and most of them haven’t even attended military academies. Those who have were mostly expelled. Basically, they were thrown into their positions with no real preparation. Frankly, most of our officers are not qualified for their roles."

Although Sun Delin’s words were harsh, Pierre knew he was speaking the truth.

"Officers are the soul of any unit. Without competent officers, a unit’s combat effectiveness simply can’t improve. Even though we’ve brought in a number of German officers to serve as staff at the regimental and headquarters levels, there are still shortcomings."

After thinking for a moment, Pierre asked,

"Do you have any good suggestions?"

"Recruit from back home." 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Sun Delin replied bluntly.

"Last year, a million troops were demobilized back home. They said it was to keep the strong and cut the weak, but some non-loyalist units were also disbanded. There must be plenty of experienced officers among them. We can bring a group over to serve as staff, advisors, or even as frontline officers. Although their quality varies, they’ve all seen combat. Their field and command experience is extremely valuable."

Sun Delin’s suggestion made Pierre frown. He took a drag on his cigarette and said,

"If we bring those people in, won’t it corrupt the unit’s ethos? After all, things like drawing pay for ghost soldiers and bleeding the troops dry—they’re no strangers to that."

"As long as we enforce strict discipline, the ’bleeding the troops’ issue can be managed. As for ghost soldiers, they’d need the opportunity to do it first."

Pierre didn’t reply. In truth, he was also worried about loyalty—how loyal would those people be to him?

Seeing that his boss was silent, Sun Delin continued,

"Also, when recruiting from home, if possible, we should prioritize those with military experience, especially the cadets discharged last year. Over 50,000 were dismissed from the military academies last year. They were labeled ’unqualified,’ but they all passed entrance exams to get in. Their dismissal was less about being unqualified and more about the fact that, with the downsizing, there was no need for so many officers. Many of them were close to graduating. In fact, right now, there are more than 3,000 such officers in our ranks. If it weren’t for them shoring up the grassroots, how could we have built such a large organization?"

The fact that so many former cadets ended up among the recruits was entirely due to Zhu Yihai’s inadvertent decision—since new hires had to undergo basic military training, the discharged cadets naturally made the best instructors. Though labeled ’unqualified,’ they were more than competent at training recruits and leading squads.

Thanks to these former cadets, Pierre was able to smoothly form the Borneo Garrison, without the shortage of officers hampering the unit’s establishment. Plus, with over a hundred captured German officers serving as "advisors," the unit finally achieved basic combat effectiveness.

Pierre nodded slightly and said,

"Alright, let’s recruit from home. If you suspect someone, don’t use them; if you use them, don’t suspect them. Once they’re with us, even a stubborn stone can be reforged into steel!"

Where do officers—especially senior officers—come from?

This matter would certainly require the help of the imperial uncle. After all, he had once assembled the Tax Police Corps from scratch. If he could forge an elite unit out of nothing back then, he could surely help solve the officer problem now.

Still, officers ultimately need to be trained in-house. Back in North Africa, they had already established a training division, with German officers teaching and training a batch of officers. But in the end, these officers would have to grow through the crucible of war before they could shoulder real responsibilities. Until then... they could only seek help from home.

Fortunately, the distinctions between "loyalist" and "non-loyalist" had divided the military back home into various tiers. As long as enough silver was offered, help could always be found.

Before the ship even reached Australia, Pierre received a reply from the imperial uncle. The telegram was brief: "Message received. Arrangements are being made. Just prepare planes and ships as needed."

It had to be said, the imperial uncle was indeed highly efficient—whether it was procuring tungsten ore or recruiting talent, not only was he quick, but also very reliable.

In fact, this wasn’t the first time Pierre had asked him for personnel. After purchasing warships in Italy, even though a batch of Italian officers and sailors were hired to operate the ships, outsiders could never be as trustworthy as one’s own people.

But the task force had no one with naval training. Even if they were sent to military academies, that would take years—surely they couldn’t leave the warships in Italian hands forever.

So naturally, Pierre turned to the imperial uncle for help, asking him to find some naval talent. Soon, over 300 retired naval officers and sailors—demobilized not just from the army, but also from the now-defunct navy—were sent to Zhu Yihai. They flew to India, then traveled from India to Tunisia.

Now, they were the ones piloting those destroyers, escorting the convoy alongside the US Navy. There was even a detachment that had already sailed to the Pac...

Pacific Ocean. Carrying out missions alongside the U.S. Navy in the vast Pacific, though for them, these missions were more like training exercises.

After all, they had only just taken delivery of those few submarines.

"This is only the beginning," Pierre murmured to himself. The current security forces, too, were just the beginning.

In the end, he would grow through the fires of war...