African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 764 Plan Adjustments

On September 1, 1888, the 421st Division arrived in Luanda first. However, facing the well-prepared Luanda garrison, it was difficult for the 421st Division to open up the situation.

However, on September 3, the 421st Division, which got rid of the obstruction of the local indigenous people, also arrived in Luanda. The successful meeting of the two sides in Luanda basically meant that the Portuguese rule in Angola was shaken.

After combining the current situation, the 331st Division and the 421st Division reached a willingness to cooperate. The 331st Division was responsible for the main attack, while the 421st Division was responsible for intercepting the Portuguese army trying to return to Luanda. Both sides gave full play to their own advantages to seek victory over Luanda.

  The 331st Division has a much greater advantage than the 421st Division in terms of heavy weapons, which is one of the important reasons why the 331st Division arrived in Luanda later than the 421st Division.

The large number of cavalry units of the 421st Division can ambush and encircle the returning Portuguese troops, giving full play to their mobility advantages. Even if East Africa cannot capture Luanda in a short time, they can still use Luanda to achieve "encirclement and reinforcements".

Of course, the 421st Division's own firepower is still very impressive. After discussing with Custer, all the artillery of the two armies were concentrated and utilized by Helmond, so that it could be compared with Luanda's firepower.

At the same time, other forces in East Africa are also exerting pressure on the frontline Portuguese army. Now the main Portuguese force is actually "surrounded" by East Africa.

Angola's important ports, Luanda, Benguela, and Cabinda, have all been surrounded by East Africa. This means that the Portuguese army's retreat has been blocked, and there is an East African army chasing after them. The current situation is facing Portugal. It has been difficult to change.

 The key point is Luanda. Luanda can also contact the outside world, including obtaining local material and personnel support, so Luanda is Portugal's only hope now.

If Luanda falls, it will basically declare that Portugal's military defeat in Angola is inevitable, as the political, military, economic and foreign trade center of the Angola colony.

 Hence, East Africa’s industrial investment in the three central provinces, including Matabele Province, actually became the reason why East Africa turned its back on the enemy during the South African War.

Sweet: "Although the implementation of the Western Front is progressing smoothly, too much time was wasted. More troops did not take advantage of our army's ability to cut through the mess quickly during the last East-Portuguese War. Instead, it made the entire war system more complicated. Of course, , Such tactics also have their advantages, mainly that they can more safely avoid the impact of war on the inland areas of our country."

 …

The last time East Africa attacked Angola, they were lightly armed and all the troops were free to use their hands and feet. At that time, Portugal's military strength in Angola was very weak, so it was easy to succeed.

Especially on the eastern battlefield, East Africa added a large amount of troops like the western front. However, the eastern front faced the British-Portuguese coalition, so it was unable to launch a comprehensive counterattack on Mosangak like the western front battlefield.

East Africa's biggest worry about this war has actually always been the coalition's invasion of the industrial belt in East Africa. However, this problem has been temporarily solved after receiving a large number of additional troops on the east and west battlefields.

The besieged Luanda area is like a hostage strangled by gangsters. As long as the two East African troops "twist" Luanda's head off, the remaining Angolan troops will be at the mercy of East Africa.

 But now the situation has changed. East Africa has experienced qualitative improvements in terms of numbers and equipment, but the Portuguese have also made great progress. Moreover, although the Portuguese's human sea tactics did not change the battlefield situation, they greatly delayed East Africa's time.

 Everything is going well in the western battlefield, but it has not fully achieved the goals of the General Staff. The main reason is that the time consumed in the western battlefield was beyond East Africa's expectations.

Of course, even if he had to start over, Ernst would still choose to build the industrial system in the three central provinces, because the development of East Africa is too uneven.

Before the industrial development of Matabele Province, the East African economy was dominated by the eastern region, and the only natural advantage of the east was the port.

 And early investment will yield early results. If you wait until the East African industry is completely established before developing the central region, you may not be able to correct it. Historical experience tells Ernst that the greater the first-mover advantage, the harder it will be for latecomers to catch up and surpass. And according to Ernst's overall thinking, he still hopes for balanced development in all parts of East Africa. Of course, according to the national conditions of East Africa, this whole mainly refers to all the plateau areas in East Africa.

As a tropical country, plateaus are more livable. This cannot be changed in East Africa. The plateau distribution in East Africa is relatively balanced, from south to north and from east to west, which is conducive to risk sharing in East Africa.

"Chief of General Staff, the current western battlefield has disrupted our implementation and deployment, but our army's results in the southern battlefield are pretty good. Just on the 20th of last month, our army captured Bloemfontein. Now the southern battlefield It has completely entered a state of public security warfare, mainly dealing with small-scale Boer attacks."

Sweet asked: "Has the entire line along the Orange River been captured?"

“According to frontline battle reports, the Southern Military District had approached the north bank of the Orange River five days ago, and now the Boers and British troops are evacuating towards the Eastern Cape.”

Whitt: "Send a report to the Southern Military District and ask them to control the north bank of the Orange River as soon as possible. I only give them one week."

The changes in the southern battlefield made Sweet realize that this was an opportunity, that is, to send the main force of the Southern Military District eastward in advance, retake the eastern part of the Southern Frontier Province, and cooperate with the defenders of the New Hamburg Port City to restore the Central Railway.

The combat effectiveness of the Southern Military District is relatively strong among the military districts in East Africa. Because it has been facing the Transvaal people, an enemy who has the hatred of destroying the country, it maintains a state of armament all year round.

The war against the Boers in the Southern Military District also illustrates this battle. The knife in the Southern Military District is still very sharp. After all, the Boers have a stronger will to fight than the British army.

  Individual combat effectiveness can be said to be second only to the Gurkha mercenaries in the coalition. The only thing is that their background is too weak. Not to mention compared with the British army, even the Portuguese army is richer than the Boers.

No matter how bad Portugal's finances are, there are still some industries, but the Boers can only live in agriculture and animal husbandry. The conditions of the original Orange Free State are actually far worse than those of the original Transvaal Republic, and they have squeezed in so many people, and experienced one civil war.

So the Boers fought with "enthusiasm" against East Africa. Unfortunately, due to East Africa's absolute superiority in military strength and weapons and equipment, the Boers failed to complete the task of "defending their homeland".

East Africa's vigilance against the Boers has never dissipated. After all, the people of the Transvaal Republic have been shouting the slogan of "restoration". This is also the reason why the annual per capita military expenditure in the Southern East African Military Region has remained at the highest level except for the Guards Division.

At present, although the Boers still choose to resist, they only need to drive the main force of the Boers to the south bank of the Orange River.

The native Boers of the Orange Free State would have to be at the mercy of East Africa, so that the Southern Military District could mobilize troops to regain the Southern Frontier Province.

Of course, for the sake of safety, Sweet's goal is only to recover the entire southern border province first, and the decisive battle against the main force of the coalition forces needs to be considered in the long term.

After all, the national border between East Africa and Cape Town is too long, and the Southern Military District must maintain a certain strength to prevent the British troops in Cape Town from rushing to the eastern battlefield.

Although the defense pressure in East Africa has been greatly reduced after seizing the Orange River, it does not mean that we can rest easy. According to the predictions of the East African military before the war, even if it relies on the Orange River, East Africa needs to retain at least 20,000 troops for defense. Cape Town.

The annexation of the Orange Free State does not mean the end of the war in the region. At least 10,000 people must be reserved to deal with the Boer guerrillas. Including other areas, the entire southern military region must retain at least 40,000 people. A multi-person army responds to emergencies.

 (End of this chapter)