Chapter 497 Preparing for Mediation
Just as Ernst thought, the Portuguese army was dragged in three directions, and East Africa unbridledly engulfed Mozambique's territory in the north.
At this time, Portugal felt bad. This time, its troops were not small, and East Africa could still use its hands to deal with itself from different directions. Britain and France also thought so, so how many troops did East Africa have? ?
Due to the outbreak of the East-Portuguese War, East Africa has successively expanded its army to more than 300,000, of which more than 70,000 are black.
Because East Africa deliberately let the black legions die, the black legions were not very careful in fighting, and those with the same mentality were the blacks in the Mozambican army opposite them. In this way, the two bastard armies were evenly matched. .
Clement was quite irritable: "These fools, with weapons more advanced than East Africa, can't defeat East Africa?"
He also saw that black people were paddling. East Africa didn't care about black people paddling, but Clement couldn't. , because apart from the black army, Mozambique has no other force to rely on, unless Portugal draws troops from the mainland, but if Portugal has that ability, there will be nothing wrong with East Africa.
When Mozambique was gradually being encroached on by East Africa, the Western Front was not peaceful either. Like Mozambique, Angola also joined the war against East Africa.
Angola was not as lucky as Mozambique, because it encountered regular troops from East Africa, the 411th Division and the 412th Division.
So unlike the two sides on the Eastern Front who were just fighting each other, the two East African infantry divisions on the Western Front showed the Angolan colony what modern warfare is.
The Mauser rifles were more advanced than the rifles used by Britain and France to support Portugal, and the artillery, machine guns, and grenades could be arranged for the Portuguese, and the two infantry divisions were squandering them.
So after receiving support from Britain and France, the Angolan army was immediately stunned after entering East Africa. Is this the level that African countries should have? Don’t talk about martial ethics!
"How about we contact the locals? Have they responded?" the Angola governor said angrily.
"Your Majesty the Governor, as far as I know the Germans are probably coming to Luanda. It's too late for us to ask for help from the mainland now!"
"Asshole, only Mozambique is their biological son. ?Obviously Angola is much more important to our country than Mozambique.”
This is not to blame for the slow response of messages from Portugal, but rather that the west coast of Africa is too backward and still relies on ships to deliver letters. The east coast, because of the submarine cables laid in East Africa, can send messages directly back to Europe. Foreigners can also use this route. It is paid for use in Dar es Salaam and Mombasa, so although East Africa is at war with Mozambique, Mozambique can also use East Africa's telegraph to contact Portugal and report the war situation to Portugal at any time.
Mozambique is currently on the defensive, but most of the messages they send to the mainland are more showy and have an advantage in my taste. Maybe they have gradually regained their confidence after fighting many black legions. .
The East African Black Legion and the Mozambican Army are incompatible, but the East African Black Legion has a higher battle loss rate than the Mozambican Army.
When Angola came up, it encountered regular East African troops, so the treatment was different. The East African Army was like no one.
I don’t know why Britain and France paid more attention to Angola than Mozambique, but one thing is certain, that is, the British must have done it on purpose.
The French may feel that they are relatively strong in West Africa, and the core of East Africa is in eastern Africa, so weakening East Africa is France's purpose. As for Southwest Africa on the west coast, it is not attractive to the French. Of course, this is what East Africa used to be. The deceptiveness of country names.
The land area of East Africa actually breaks through the geographical restrictions of East Africa. South Africa, Central Africa, and Southwest Africa all have some. East Africa is not exclusive to East Africa. There are still several forces in the northeast. As for the southeast, only Mozambique is left. This eyesore exists.
In the past, Mozambique could help East Africa conceal its inland expansion, but since East Africa broke through to the west coast, the approximate size of East Africa is no longer a secret, so leaving Mozambique behind can be said to have no value at all. However, East Africa is very estranged from Mozambique, and the British naturally know this, so they want to keep Mozambique as a fishbone stuck in the throat of East Africa.
Britain and France are interested in Mozambique. In the final analysis, it is because Mozambique has a great containment effect on East Africa, but Angola in the west cannot. The economic centers of East Africa are located in the east, so Britain and France The two countries believe that even if Angola occupies the territory of western East Africa, it will not weaken East Africa's strength.
Therefore, East Africa is not polite to Angola at all, and the differential treatment is obvious. If the governor of Angola knew that he was targeted for this reason, he would probably be angry to death.
Just when the Governor of Angola was depressed, he suddenly heard gunfire outside the city. He hurriedly asked: "What's going on?"
"Report to the Governor that the Germans are coming. , what should we do now?”
“Hold Luanda first, don’t let the Germans enter the city, prepare ships, let’s go north!”
And the cooperation of the two army divisions in East Africa! Next, Luanda, the capital of Angola, was captured on the same day. In fact, Luanda, as the political center of Angola, should have good defense. However, as a coastal fortress, Luanda made a fatal mistake, that is, their enemies have long been from the Atlantic Ocean, so the artillery While they are concentrated on the western coast, the east of the city lacks defensive means. After all, the era of inland natives holding spears and bows and arrows has passed. Now the eastern part of Angola is German, not primitive.
The occupation of Luanda meant that the Angolan colony was basically destroyed, but the governor of Angola had fled to Cabinda by boat to continue the resistance.
The loss of the colony of Angola was a major blow to Portugal, and the situation in Mozambique was slightly better.
After East Africa occupied northern Mozambique, the Portuguese were flanked by the East African army between Lake Malawi and the Tete region.
However, Mozambique had already expected this, because they voluntarily gave up the northern area. Although Mozambique is not large compared to East Africa, it still has more than 600,000 square kilometers, while Portugal’s mainland is only about 90,000 square kilometers. .
So Mozambique is also vast and sparsely populated, with fewer white people, and the undeveloped northern area is basically white land. If it hadn’t been for the rise of East Africa, Mozambique would not even want to send more than 300 troops to the north. .
So now East Africa occupies the north. This was thought of by the Portuguese before the war started, and they didn't feel much about it.
However, the problem that worries the Mozambican government now is that the number of troops is too small. East Africa is exerting pressure on Mozambique from all directions. Even the troops in South Africa have begun to mobilize. This makes Governor Lyford very worried. worry.
Portugal will definitely not win, but the British are not worried at all. Instead, they begin to summarize the strength of East Africa.
“We still underestimate the strength of East Africa. So far, we can confirm that the number of people participating in the war in East Africa is at least 70,000. It is possible that East Africa mobilized close to 100,000 people for this war this time. This data is higher than The second East African invasion of South Africa was twice as long, and And we have observed that the East African Army is not all white and yellow, there are also many black people.”
“If you add the Western Front, they will definitely have to fight Angola, and the number of troops participating in the battle in East Africa will definitely be higher. Breaking through 100,000 people.”
"If we want Cape Town to expand northward, we will need at least 100,000 combat troops. This is not difficult, but we don't know which one has higher combat effectiveness, Indians or Africans."
"Let's start with that. Mediate the war! Portugal is destined to lose. We must maintain Portugal’s strength in Africa. If East Africa swallows up Angola and Mozambique, the price will be high if we try to make the Germans spit it out through negotiations.”
(End of this chapter)