Chapter 724 Temporary Adjustment
While East Africa was preparing for war, the Three Kingdoms Alliance was not bad at all, but at the critical moment, Earl Roberts suddenly changed his mind.
He had a new plan. Although he accepted the command of the Allied forces in the entire South Africa region, he came relatively late after all, so he had his own views on the war.
Roberts convened an Allied military conference and presented his decision at the meeting: "As the main battlefield, we must strengthen Mozambique's military strength, because Mozambique faces the risk of three-front war, and East Africa has a mainland We have combat advantages and a large population. If we want to quickly open up the situation on the battlefield, we must distribute our troops reasonably," Earl Roberts said about his plan.
For this, Mozambique’s military commanders naturally support it with both hands. After all, Mozambique is their own territory and they are more attentive to defense.
Count Roberts is well aware of the subtle changes of the Portuguese, but as an experienced military commander, he will not disrupt his deployment because of this. It is difficult for any narrow-minded military commander to achieve success on the battlefield. victory.
From the beginning, his goal was to defeat East Africa, not to argue with this group of people for the sake of profit, and to care about the details of gains and losses. Everything was based on strategic goals, even if this might cause some damage to the British Empire. loss.
"Commander-in-Chief! I am opposed to the concentration of military forces in Mozambique. There is no problem if it is to support part of the troops, but there is no need to do so." Wilson, the military commander of the Natal colony, said.
"Huh? What do you think differently?" He was not surprised that the first person to jump out against him was Britain's own commander.
Wilson: "The distance between the Natal colony and Maputo is very short. There is only one East African port city. We do not need to disrupt the initial deployment through large-scale military adjustments. According to It is planned to open up the new port city of Hamburg first, then open up the northward channel and connect Natal and Mozambique.”
"And this has been a determined strategy before. Even if Mozambique's military strength is strengthened, our next step is still to cooperate on both sides at the same time to attack the New Hamburg Port City."
"Simultaneous large-scale military mobilization will definitely cause Attention of East Africans, I think there are many East African intelligence spies in Maputo. They will definitely put this information quickly. If we quickly pass it back to East Africa, our strategic deployment may be exposed."
Roberts waited until Wilson finished speaking, but did not deny his words immediately, but said: "Of course I have considered these, but I don’t think New Hamburg Port is a city that can be manipulated at will. After all, the location of New Hamburg Port is too special for East Africans to They will let us take it there casually.”
“And one thing we have to understand is that the location of the Natal colony is not a threat to East Africa. If we cannot successfully take the New Hamburg Port City, It is very likely to limit the performance of the army. With the Tugela River and the Drakensberg Mountains, only a small number of troops can be used to defeat our army. The troops are blocked in the small area of Natal Colony."
"If we can't open up the situation, won't we allow so much military power to be wasted? A human battlefield? That will take a long time. I’m afraid the battlefield has undergone several major changes!”
This is also Earl Roberts' view of the situation in South Africa. If it were just a unilateral war between Britain and East Africa, the importance of the Natal colony would indeed be very important, but with Mozambique, this gave Earl Roberts more choices.
"As for military mobilization, this is exposed. We are only responsible for putting the main force in Mozambique, but in which direction they will take the initiative to attack is not something East Africans can predict."
< br>The long border between Mozambique and East Africa gave Count Roberts the confidence to take risks and mobilize military forces.
You can choose to go south to attack the New Hamburg Port City, go west to attack the central area of East Africa, or go north to threaten the core area of eastern East Africa.
“Of course, all this requires the cooperation of the Mozambique Colony, His Excellency Governor Bougival.” Earl Roberts looked at Bougival and said. Bougival expressed his position: "Commander-in-Chief, of course we in the Kingdom of Portugal will fully support your decision, but please give us your instructions on how to cooperate."
Earl Roberts was very satisfied with Bougival's attitude. Although the Portuguese were not very reliable, they only needed to be obedient enough in front of the British.
He said to the senior officials of the Portuguese colony of Mozambique: "The first is the issue of East African spies that Wilson mentioned before. I think we really need to take precautions in this regard, because this matter is really annoying. Our intelligence and that of East Africa are not equal. East Africa can easily place spies in our territory, but we cannot use the same methods against East Africa."
"East Africa currently only has a few port cities on the east coast. Learn about East Africa , but the information we obtain is fragmented, and it is difficult to analyze anything that is truly useful. There is really no good way to solve this problem, because East Africa is too closed."
"It cannot solve this problem. Then we can only interrupt the East African intelligence system in South Africa, at least on our territory, especially the ports. For personnel investigation, when the war starts, it can basically be taken over by the army. We must cut off the East African people. ”
This was Earl Roberts's intuition. He was not at ease with the Portuguese, so he had to enforce it himself. Anyway, the Portuguese businessmen doing business in East Africa did not have the ability to cause trouble for him as a British person.
"In addition to intelligence work, there is also the issue of reception and placement of the troops. I think you should be prepared?"
Bougival frowned: "This is not a problem, in our case Before the black troops were activated, You can share various facilities and camps in Mozambique with your people.”
As for the black servant army, it is just a number for Portugal. Obviously the British Army is more reassuring, so we will suffer from those first. It makes sense for black people.
“But the environment may not be very good. After all, our conditions in Mozambique are limited, and it is very difficult to support an army.”
Roberts doesn't care about this, because soldiers are not blessed to begin with. He was once in Abyssinia, and the conditions in Afghanistan are much more difficult than in Mozambique.
"In this way, the main force of the British army from the five brigades in the Natal colony was mobilized to Mozambique. Such a small distance should be completed within a week, leaving only one brigade in Natal."
This is 20,000 British troops, and in Mozambique there are already more than 30,000 people brought by Roberts from India, which brings the main force of the British army in Mozambique to more than 50,000 people.
With these 50,000 British troops, Earl Roberts feels that he can be invincible. Although the British Army makes a lot of jokes, it is also one of the armies of the five top powers in the world (Britain, France, Germany, Austria, and Russia). First, it is not on the same level as other countries.
As for the United States, just like East Africa, the world does not know much about the war capabilities of the two countries. After all, the history is short and there is no effective record. Even after World War I and World War II, the capabilities of the U.S. Army It also failed to convince the public, but the navy and air force did establish prestige after World War II.
(End of this chapter)