Chapter 717 South Africa's version of the "Triple Alliance"
When East Africa was purging its eastern defense line, Mozambique was not idle either. Unlike East Africa's strategy of defense as offense, Mozambique was more inclined to take the initiative to attack.
Because the values between the two are completely different. For East Africa, Matabele Province is an industrial base, while Mozambique is just a colony, so the territory in East Africa is more valuable to protect industry from war. Threats require more detailed defense.
The main economic structure of Mozambique is plantations and mines. The plasticity of these two economies is very high. Even if it is destroyed by war, it will not hurt. After all, the investment is very low. It only needs to repeatedly squeeze and exploit the indigenous people in the territory. Do it, so Mozambique has a lot of flexibility.
So Mozambique’s strategic purpose is to launch a “destructive” attack on East Africa’s territory to destroy East Africa’s war potential, weaken East Africa’s national strength, and pave the way for the three countries to carve up East Africa’s territory.
…
Maputo City.
At this time, Maputo can be described as a gathering of "yin" people. Representatives of the Portuguese, British and Transvaal people all gathered in this "ancient" African city with a long history.
“Why not establish the command center in Bloemfontein? Although Maputo is in a good location, it is also separated from our Boer Republic by East Africa and Cape Town. In this way, there is no middle ground at all. Unable to make contact!" Davidson asked, pointing to the map.
Bougival: "Although you Boers are also surrounded on three sides by East Africa, the pressure you bear cannot be compared with Mozambique. You must know that the most elite troops in East Africa must be deployed in the north of Mozambique, while the south of East Africa is only It’s just a frontier area in East Africa.”
"Even the Natal colony in the middle cannot communicate with each other and is divided by the New Hamburg Port City. Therefore, if we want to open up the connections between the three countries, we must spare no effort to win the New Hamburg Port City."
"There are 50,000 British troops and 80,000 Indian servants in the Natal colony. We have also deployed 40,000 troops in Mozambique. In addition to the 30,000 Portuguese troops in Mozambique, there are 70,000 blacks, which means 140,000, two The total number of troops is 270,000. The Boer Republic can temporarily expand its army to 30,000, and the number of troops will directly reach 300,000. "
This does not include the garrisons in Cape Town and Angola, so at present. The available troops of the entire Three Kingdoms Alliance amount to about half a million.
"Our military strength is comparable to that of only a few major powers in Europe, so this war will definitely kill East Africa with one blow and contribute to peace and stability in Africa." Earl Roberts said with great enthusiasm.
Although it is only theoretically possible to command more than 500,000 troops to fight against a large country with an area and a population of more than 10 million, I am afraid that few people in British history have achieved such an achievement. This is no less than that of "Crime". A remake of "Asian War".
However, Britain was not the main force in the Crimean War. The main force at that time was France. The Crimean War was also the pinnacle of France's foreign wars during the reign of Napoleon III.
So Earl Roberts can only enjoy this honor alone. If he can successfully command this war in East Africa, he will also be a famous figure in the history of the British Empire in the future.
Davidson and Bougival did not dare to refute these British earls, because Earl Roberts was previously the highest British military commander in India. He came from a British military family, his father was a British general, and he himself was the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Commander's position.
In his early years, he participated in the suppression of the Indian rebellion, the expedition against the Abyssinian Empire, and the second Afghan War (a war instigated in East Africa). Historically, he also commanded the second Boer War. He is also the last commander-in-chief in British history. All in all, his background and resume are among the top military talents in the UK. Roberts continued: "Of course, our enemy, East Africa, is not bad in strength. They maintain a standing army of hundreds of thousands of people all year round. At the same time, their weapons and equipment are all Germanized. This is also an important reason why East Africa has always maintained an advantage in African wars. They also have a powerful regional navy, so we must go all out to fight a big country of East Africa's size."
Although he tried his best to exaggerate the threat in East Africa, Earl Roberts's attitude towards East Africa did not change, that is, he never believed that East Africa had a huge advantage over the Allies.
First of all, in terms of military strength, the Allied forces currently have an absolute advantage, and although the weapons and equipment of the three-nation Allied forces after being armed by the British are mixed, they are at the same level as East Africa.
The second is command authority. Both the Transvaal and Portugal must obey the command of the British Commander-in-Chief. The Transvaal people are the younger brothers of the United Kingdom, and Portugal is even more loyal to the United Kingdom. This The same is true in Europe, so there will be no unclear command authority, which gives Earl Roberts greater confidence.
Finally, in terms of navy, Britain can simultaneously mobilize the Royal Navy forces of India and Cape Town to wage war in East Africa. The East African Navy was supported by the Austro-Hungarian Navy, so it was "weak" to a navy like the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The British Navy is confident that it can defeat the "country" as a learning object.
“Our main disadvantage is logistics. Once the war starts, we must quickly and accurately eliminate the main forces in East Africa. We cannot fight with the enemy in the area. At the same time, in order to prevent accidents, material reserves must be fully prepared. , this is also an important reason why I placed the main battlefield on the east coast, where supplies from India and our country can be received from the sea.”
The advantage of East Africa lies in land transportation. With the construction of railways, resources can be mobilized across the country. This is something that the United Kingdom and Portugal, which are native to Europe, cannot do, so they rely heavily on sea transportation.
This also means that the first battle between East Africa and the Three Kingdoms Alliance in the future is likely to be a naval battle, but this matter is not under the control of Earl Roberts, and there is no need to tell the two allies.
Because the Portuguese's naval power is basically zero, with only one ironclad imported from Britain, it is estimated that it will not leave the mainland. As for the Boer Republic of the Transvaal, it is a completely landlocked country and cannot even build a navy. There are no capabilities. Mongolia in the Far Eastern Empire still has large lakes, and only the Orange River tributaries can be used in the Boer Republic.
So the main force in the naval battle can only be the British Royal Navy. The two allies are not even qualified to fight, but the war on land requires the efforts of both countries.
Mozambique, in particular, has the most prominent location, which is why Earl Roberts placed the headquarters of the Three-Nation Allied Forces in Maputo, which was the main battlefield personally selected by Earl Roberts.
The establishment of the Allied General Command also means that the South African version of the Three Kingdoms Alliance, headed by the British, has been formally formed. The main purpose of this alliance is to dismantle the common threat in East Africa.
The Allied Forces are backed by Britain, the world hegemon, and assisted by the two major colonies of the "pseudo-power" Portugal. The military strength of the Transvaal cannot be underestimated on the African continent.
In a previous life, this alliance of military strength would have been enough to wipe out any other colonial power on the African continent.
In fact, it is similar. In the previous life, Britain and Portugal basically divided up the entire South Africa and East Africa after World War I. Together with the British colonies in Egypt (including North and South Sudan) and Somalia, the area of the British African colonies was also Reach the pinnacle.
(End of this chapter)