Quote:
Originally Posted by dragoon500ly
I'd have to say way too large.
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Well, yes and no.
Major Equipment wise, yes, you're probably right ... unless it is produced locally, or can be produced locally, which was unlikely back then and probably close to impossible now without a major lead time.
Manpower wise, no, you're probably wrong.
With a population a quarter of what it is now (or less) Australia raised around 14 Division Equivalents in WW2, AIF and Militia. The issue then, as it would have been in TW: 2000 and would be here and now is in the Major Equipment area, mentioned above.
At a guess, I'd say those Armoured Divisions would have, at best, been Mechanised (with wheeled APCs mainly, some tracked) with, maybe, one Indpendent Armoured Brigade (1-2 Tank Regiments [Battalions] and Mech Infantry).
The Army in SWPAC would be almost entirely Leg Infantry and almost certainly Reserves, with probably a single Motorised Brigade (where relevant ... obviously not on small islands!) and in Oz itself, Leg Infantry with Motorised elements (also almost exclusively Reserves).
Note: There would be enough motor transport in Corps and Army level units to Motorise most of the Leg Infantry (Reserve) Units most of the time, at the expense of some logistics support ... that's pretty much how things were, AIUI, back then and probably still are.
The big problem would be with the Reserve units ... artillery would be in short supply, and probably any weapons heavier or more sophisticated than Mortars. Ammo production would be an issue as well (as it would be for all smaller armies).
There used to be huge reserve stocks of everything from Rifles (millions of SMLEs till, AIUI, around the mid-70's or early 80s when they were all scrapped), MGs (Vickers HMGs, ditto scrapped), Tanks (Centurions, then Leopards, most of which were literally never used) and some Artillery ... but I don't believe that is the case any more. So it would take time to either purchase (against competing producer country army demands) or ramp up to produce locally for heavier weapons ... and I don't think either TW: 2000 timeline allows enough time.
YMMV.
(Oh, as for New Zealand, their numbers seem about right, maybe a bit less than they could manage ... but they have, AIUI, an even worse problem with 'Major Equipment')
Phil McGregor