Chapter 125: Chapter 125: Royal Security Intelligence Agency (Please subscribe!)

On June 6,1902, on this unremarkable day, Arthur and a mysterious-looking man quietly arrived at the Guards’ garrison, ostensibly to watch the training of the Guards’ soldiers, but actually to select personnel and form a new army.

It is a new army, but it is actually a new organization responsible for intelligence and espionage departments, the Royal Security Intelligence Agency.

Accompanying Arthur was Barty Crouch, the director of the Royal Security Intelligence Agency personally appointed by Arthur.

Barty Crouch’s background is quite special, different from Arthur’s previous subordinates.

Barty Crouch lost his parents at a young age and was adopted by Duke Arthur at a young age, trained to become one of his capable assistants.

Barty Crouch has a very friendly relationship with Arthur and is 100% loyal to Arthur because he respects Duke Old Arthur by heart, and is a die-hard follower.

Even Barty Crouch’s loyalty is on par with that of Old Hunter Butler, and their relationship can even be described as Duke Old Arthur’s adopted son.

“Barty, how is it? Are there any candidates you like among the Guards’ soldiers?” After watching the training of the Guards for a while, Arthur smiled and looked at Barty Crouch, asking.

“Some guys look good, Your Highness. If they are well trained, they should become promising talents in intelligence and espionage.” Barty Crouch nodded and said.

“That’s great, Barty. The soldiers of the Guards are at your disposal, as are those of the Australian Army. I hope the structure of the Royal Security Intelligence Agency can be set up as soon as possible, and at least in Oceania and Asia, we should have decent intelligence capabilities.” Arthur nodded and ordered.

As we enter the 20th century, espionage and intelligence departments have also become an important means to diplomacy between countries.

On the surface, European countries are currently engaged in an arms race, but behind the scenes, the exchanges and confrontations of the espionage and intelligence agencies have been countless, with no shortage of bloodshed in the dark.

“I understand, Your Highness. The physical fitness of these Guards’ soldiers is quite good. They only need a short period of training, their qualifications to become intelligence personnel,” Barty Crouch nodded and said.

The Australian Royal Intelligence Security Agency is Arthur’s most core intelligence organization, and its director Barty Crouch even holds the power to arrest cabinet ministers.

Besides the prime minister, who cannot be offended lightly, the Australian Royal Intelligence Security Agency has the power to arrest any government official or member of parliament at any time.

In other words, the Royal Security Intelligence Agency is a sharp sword hanging over the heads of all Australian officials, and an important means for Arthur to monitor and balance the government.

As members of the Royal Security Intelligence Agency, they are naturally not ordinary intelligence personnel.

After being selected into the Royal Security Intelligence Agency, the various identities of these soldiers will be hidden throughout Australia and trained to become senior special agents to carry out any possible tasks.

It’s harder than being a soldier, and even more dangerous.

Arthur believes in the loyalty of the Guards’ soldiers, but he also increases the welfare of the Royal Security Intelligence Agency personnel.

Not only are their salaries much higher than those of ordinary Guards’ soldiers, but if they die in battle, the pensions they receive are an unimaginable sum.

It must be said that Barty Crouch’s strictness in selecting personnel is impressive. The Australian Guards are a combination of the original British Empire Guards and the Australian Army training, their overall quality is much higher than that of ordinary soldiers.

However, out of more than 8,000 guards and 17,000 Australian Defense Forces, only just over 100 people were selected to be suitable for the Royal Security Intelligence Agency.

These soldiers all have one thing in common: while having excellent physical fitness, their minds are also quite flexible. They are just as developed in their mental abilities as they are in their physical ones.

These people are relatively scarce in the military. Although Barty Crouch tried to avoid choosing military officers when selecting candidates, there are still a considerable number of officers and potential officer candidates.

This has led to the current Australian Royal Intelligence Security Agency having only just over 100 people, but all of them have been painstakingly selected from the more than 20,000 strong Australian military, ensuring they would be excellent officer talents and reserves even within the military.

Arthur initially believed that the establishment of the Royal Security Intelligence Agency had been a preliminary success and was now just waiting for these soldiers to receive intelligence training.

Unexpectedly, Barty Crouch threw another problem at Arthur: the issue of firearms for intelligence personnel.

Although Australia currently has two famous gun systems known worldwide by the end of World War II, one is the British-made Lee-Enfield Rifle, arguably the strongest rifle in the world today.

The other is the German-made Gew98 rifle, the predecessor of the famous 98k rifle.

However, neither of these rifles is particularly suitable for intelligence personnel, as they are too long and inconvenient to carry.

Barty Crouch’s suggestion to Arthur was to have the military factory invent a semi-automatic or even fully automatic weapon that was shorter than a rifle but had a power equal to or greater than a handgun.

Honestly, when Arthur first heard Barty Crouch’s suggestion, a weapon immediately came to mind: the submachine gun.

The history of submachine gun shooting dates back to the middle of World War I when the war gradually turned into trench warfare. Countries’ armies found that the dense formation of charges, which used to be easily pushed forward, would only increase casualties in trench warfare.

To break the stalemate in trench warfare, Germany developed an automatic weapon using handgun bullets, which combined the fierce firepower of automatic rifles with the light and reliable advantages of handguns. It became the most powerful weapon for individual soldiers to carry on close-range output: the famous MP18 submachine gun.

The MP18 submachine gun uses the principle of free machine gun and adopts the same 9mm caliber Parabellum handgun bullets as used in the Luger pistol.

Due to its full-automatic firing feature, the MP18 submachine gun’s ammunition consumption is particularly huge, and German soldiers called it “Kugelspritz,” meaning a bullet sprayer.

As the world’s first true submachine gun, the MP18 combined the advantages of rifles and handguns while also exposing some shortcomings.

The MP18 submachine gun did not have a decisive impact on the war situation, but its potential potentials attracted the attention of the Allies.

Although the Treaty of Versailles, imposed after the defeat, prohibited Germany from continuing to manufacture and develop submachine guns, Germany still bypassed the ban through various means, and the secret research work continued.

After World War I, the MP28 II submachine gun was quickly born. As an improved version of the MP181 submachine gun, the MP28II solved one of the major shortcomings of the MP18, which was only capable of fully automatic firing.

With both single-shot and burst firing capabilities, the MP28 submachine gun officially ushered in the golden age of submachine guns. To avoid ban-related issues with the Treaty of Versailles, the MP28 submachine gun production was moved to Belgium, and multiple calibers were developed for export.

Island nation’s Type 100 submachine gun and Britain’s Lancaster submachine gun were both imitations of the MP28 submachine gun, which demonstrated the weapon’s performance and power after improvement.