Chapter 388 Division Change
Without heavy fire cover, the 514th Division could only advance forward slowly, as if at a turtle's pace, looking for bunkers while firing back. The East African Army and Pretoria The defenders entered garbage time.
This made Wiggins very proud. He said to the "Young Patriot Army": "I just say that the Germans are not good. Who do they think their opponent is this time? The Ndebele people. Primitive people!”
The patriotic young people in Pretoria also became calmer. After all, they were facing Germans. , the German region was the site of the Four World Wars in Europe, and with the image blessing of Prussia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, no one doubted the combat effectiveness of the Germans, and the opponent had a large number of people. We only had more than 2,000 people on our side (not counting the natives). Before the war started It was inevitable that I was a little nervous, but now I feel better. Seeing that the strength of the 514th Division is only this, I suddenly feel like I can do it again.
Ernst concluded from the rear: "Units like the 514th Division are better at bullying the natives who use cold weapons in the open areas of the grassland. They deal with fortifications, fortresses and cities without any military appearance. Fortunately, the Boers Help us test the shortcomings of our army!”
Of course, the natives are not incompetent in building cities, but their cities are quite primitive. Apart from the Ndebele people who gave up their choice of cities and fought in the fields in East Africa, and the Sultanate of Zanzibar, which gave East Africa a bargain due to internal strife, the East African kingdom has never been encountered in Africa. The most difficult thing to defeat is the original city wall built by several indigenous kingdoms in the Great Lakes region.
To put it bluntly, these cities are just randomly piled up with stones, without any sense of beauty. It is possible to use them to defend against wild beasts and surrounding tribes, but it is impossible to deal with slightly civilized forces. The entire Black Africa (Sub-Saharan Africa) The only large-scale city building built independently by black people is the ruins of Great Zimbabwe.
The city wall of Pretoria was temporarily built before the war. Wiggins used a wall made of bricks and soil to connect the houses and buildings on the periphery of Pretoria. Fortunately, It hasn't rained in Pretoria these days, otherwise this temporary city wall is likely to fall apart. Although it is a temporary structure, it has shooting holes, forts, and machine gun fortresses, and is thick enough to withstand two or three rounds of shelling. .
However, so far, Wiggins has not used advanced weapons such as artillery and machine guns, because he knows that the East Africans also have artillery. The East Africans' small-caliber artillery during the last Ndebele uprising It played a big role.
The Boer artillery is not large in number, but its caliber and power are much larger than the small-caliber artillery in East Africa. The only drawback is that it has poor mobility and cannot be moved at will. It can only be used for defense and siege.
It stands to reason that the Boers would not be able to use this kind of weapon against the Boers. It is self-evident what the Boers have to deal with when purchasing this kind of artillery, and that is the British Cape Town Colony.
"Commander, let's give the Germans under the city a few shells to try!" A Boer soldier suggested.
Wiggins waved his hand and said: "You don't understand. The Germans are only attacking tentatively now. Although there are many troops in front of them, they are not their main force. They have not used artillery yet, which means that they have not used artillery yet. They didn't pay attention to us from the beginning. Now that their forward troops can't make progress, the troops behind them will definitely have no time to spare. Come on, that's when the power of our artillery comes into play."
"Commander, since the enemy also has artillery, how powerful is their artillery?"
Wiggins: "Don't worry. , the artillery equipped by the Germans in East Africa was very powerful and not many in number.”
This is normal. In the past, except for the emphasis on coastal defense artillery in East Africa, the artillery equipped by the army was more like a symbolic weapon. Rifles were enough to deal with the indigenous people, while artillery could only deal with the kind of African indigenous people who were not afraid of death. It is used to destroy its morale, so the number of artillery equipped by the East African Army is not large. The entire Southern Route Army has only a dozen artillery pieces combined. The bottom troops such as the 514th and 514th Division do not even have one. Only the 511th Division and Only the 512th Division is equipped with artillery.
The 514th Division without artillery is naturally unable to bombard Pretoria and open up the situation. Of course, the war does not mean that it will win with stronger firepower. The 514th Division is obviously not suitable for siege operations. , so I was not prepared enough to face the city for the first time, so I was at a loss.
So Ernst ordered: "Let the 514th Division withdraw, and it's time to test the capabilities of the new 111th Division."
As Ernst's order was issued, the 514th Division began The retreat made the Boers very happy, and some even ridiculed that the Germans were nothing more than that. Only Wiggins felt a little heavy. The East African Kingdom withdrew its troops without even launching a large-scale attack. Although Pretoria After his own transformation, it can fight, but it is not at all as indestructible as he said in order to stabilize the morale of the army. Instead, it has flaws everywhere. After all, what was the quality of the defenses built in just a few days? Wiggins knew clearly that as long as the East African army just charged regardless of the cost, they would definitely be able to break through and reach Biji with the loss of at most a hundred people. Edge of Pretoria. . Obviously the East African army doesn't even want to pay such a small price, which shows that they have better means and ways to attack.
The newly formed 111th Division, one of the main forces in East Africa, was formed after being formed by students from the Hechingen Military Academy who participated in the Franco-Prussian War as officers. These officers are typical academics and are not trained in the crash course like before. Hechingen students are comparable.
For example, Sweet, the Chief of General Staff of the East African Army, came from a crash course. If he was asked to compare theory with these students from Hechingen who had studied for three years, he would be incomparable.
The most commendable thing is that these students have all seen blood. They fought against the French Army, the world's number one army, more than a year ago, and won the victory. They have a record close to them, so in Tanganyi They are also confident when reorganizing the 111th Division in the Kabul region.
The equipment of the 111th Division has also been greatly improved. Except for the artillery, which is far behind the Prussian army, there are almost no shortcomings.
As the 111th Division came on stage, the commander of the 111th Division, Chris, began to direct the operations of the troops. Compared with the 514th Division, the 111th Division's command was significantly smoother. After each unit divided their respective areas of responsibility, they began to operate in an orderly manner.
The 111th Division did not use artillery as soon as they came up. Instead, they used a small force to advance into the Pretoria defenses after estimating a safe distance. This distance was about 450 meters because the Boer weapons were mixed and had a limited range. One, but the 111th Division calculated based on the Dresser rifle it used that it would have almost no impact at about 450 meters.
After constructing a preliminary defensive position at a position of 450 meters, the engineers began to work. They used engineer shovels and hoes to dig tunnels and move forward.
Standing on the wall of Pretoria, Wiggins also saw the movements of the East African Army. As dust was thrown from both sides of the tunnel, the East African engineers soon disappeared.
“The Germans want to use trenches to push forward!”
At this time, Wiggins hesitated a little. At this distance, the rifle would definitely not be able to attack the East African Army. If artillery was used, it would be The forward positions in East Africa can be bombed, but the East African artillery has not yet taken action. Wiggins still has to keep the limited artillery shells to restrain the East African Army. Then he can only send people out of the position to actively attack the forward positions in East Africa!
"Pass my order. The third battalion will leave the trenches and actively attack the East African positions and interrupt their construction operations! We cannot let the East African conspiracy succeed."
Then the Transvaal army, which was 90% black, was attacked by the Boer commander. Under pressure, they had to get out of the trenches and launch an attack on East Africa.
"Come on, charge me, bastard, why are you standing still? Do you want to die!" The Boer officer kicked the hesitant black man in the butt, and the black man had to pick up his rifle and charge towards the East African position. .
Although the blacks had weapons, they did not dare to resist the Boers because before the war, Wiggins deliberately concealed their Gatling-like shock. The black machine gun muzzle was now Just point at them.
(End of this chapter)