Chapter 754 East African Navy Dilemma
New Hamburg Port City.
As the East African Defense Force retreated here, with the urban area as the center, East Africa established multiple lines of defense to fight against the coalition forces after the merger of the Natal Colony and Mozambique.
“At present, with the material reserves in the New Hamburg Port City, we can still persist for more than two months. At the same time, maintaining the production in the New Hamburg Port City is the main problem facing our army, especially the steel reserves. Insufficient. The only thing that is not lacking in the New Hamburg Port City now is coal. Before the British army blocked the New Hamburg Port City, the New Hamburg Port City was East African coal. One of the coal export centers, a large amount of coal is stored at the dock and in the city. "
"But coal alone can only maintain the operation of the city's factories and electricity. There is a lack of iron ore and other raw materials. The arsenal is unable to maintain the production of weapons, and now our weapons and equipment can only be maintained with a small number of spare parts.”
In layman's terms, it means tinkering to barely maintain the losses incurred during the war. However, the New Hamburg Port City is not a key military industry deployment area in East Africa, so production capacity is very limited.
Moreover, the military pressure faced by the New Hamburg Port City is greater than any city in East Africa. The war has never stopped, so even the supply of parts has been stretched.
“Now we can obtain some supplies from the enemy by seizing them, but it is only a drop in the bucket. The raw materials in the arsenal have even begun to dismantle some equipment to obtain raw materials. I am afraid that this kind of loss cannot last even half a month, unless we Relying only on rifles as weapons, and having to endure a shortage of ammunition.”
This is a situation that has never been encountered by the East African Defense Forces, which is used to fighting rich wars.
"But there is also good news. The General Staff has decided to open up sea transportation channels. The details will depend on the performance of the navy. What are Major General Bruce and your navy going to do about this?"
Until now, the New Hamburg Navy has not made any major moves during the war. As the top military officer of the New Hamburg Squadron, Major General Bruce has adopted the strategy of "avoiding war".
“The Navy has indeed received news from the headquarters. Next week, the Navy will take action against the coalition navy in the Mozambique Strait. By then, our New Hamburg Port City Fleet will definitely cooperate. If nothing happens, New Hamburg will The port city and the eastern sea channel will be reopened soon," Major General Bruce said to Aridotus.
Major General Bruce's words have relieved the pressure on the Army. Before the war, the Army relied most on the railway and highway systems, but currently the railways and highways connecting New Hamburg Port City to the outside world have been cut off by the coalition forces.
As a port city, the shipping conditions of the New Hamburg Port City are among the best in East Africa, and it is also the key point where it is easiest to break through the enemy's blockade.
Although the East African Navy is under great defense pressure, it is also the strongest in the Western Indian Ocean. It only needs to spread its power a little, and the problem can be solved quickly.
In the final analysis, East Africa currently lacks a stable military base in the Indian Ocean, so it has fallen into this characteristic of being strong but having nowhere to exert force.
The islands in the Indian Ocean are mainly concentrated in the east. There are very few islands available in the center and east. The most critical ones for East Africa are the Seychelles Islands and Socotra Island.
Both islands are under the control of the British, which puts the East African Navy directly under pressure from the north and east.
Using these two islands as a starting point, they can directly approach the coast of East Africa. This is very similar to the United States, but the United States is far away from other continents, making it difficult for military intervention.
However, East Africa is very close to the traditional major powers in Eurasia. If the military levels of various countries are ignored, there is actually no security in the East African waters.
Of course, as a late-developing country, East Africa's current ocean management strategy is already very advanced. It is a pity that East Africa was founded too late and did not have time to control the islands closest to East Africa.
For example, Socotra Island controls the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and also controls the East African routes. The British intervened in the local political power as early as the mid-18th century, and even included Socotra Island in the 1970s. within the scope of one's own protection. There is nothing much to say about the Seychelles. It is a trophy obtained by the British from the French. It is also one of the important pillars of British Indian Ocean security.
The only strategic pillar island in East Africa is the Comoros Islands, but the main role of the Comoros Islands is to contain the Mozambique Channel and Madagascar Island.
But there are no serious threats to the south of East Africa, unless regional powers appear in South Africa and Madagascar.
This is basically impossible. Madagascar is, to put it bluntly, an isolated island in a corner. It has nothing to covet except its rich mineral resources.
Only countries with global naval strategies, such as Britain and France, have some interest in Madagascar. South Africa, now Cape Town, is famous for controlling the Cape of Good Hope.
But since the opening of the Suez Canal, its strategic position in the world has been severely weakened. In its previous life, Cape Town occupied an important position in world shipping. The main reason was that some large ocean-going ships, mainly oil tankers, were unable to pass through. The narrow Suez Canal.
But in the 19th century, when the oil industry was just getting started, there was no big guy to support Cape Town's economic value.
Of course, the British will definitely not let go of Cape Town. After all, the Suez Canal is only the best option, but it is not the only option. Powers in the Red Sea, the Mediterranean and even the Indian Ocean may threaten the security of the Red Sea routes. , at this time, the value of Cape Town’s spare tire became apparent.
Of course, this shipping value is for maritime transportation between the Eurasian continent. If the perspective is transformed to the east and west sides of the African continent, Cape Town's strategic positioning is different.
In the early days, there was only one sea channel for cross-strait communication on the African continent, and that was Cape Town. After the opening of the Suez Canal, there were two.
But the shape of the African continent is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. Not to mention other things, the East African coast alone gradually extends from south to north. This can be intuitively reflected from the topography of Somalia. The Somali coastline is towards the northeast. An extended straight line, so even from East Africa to the port of Trieste in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the distance is actually very far, almost equivalent to the western coast of India.
So you can take a detour from the north and take sea transport, but the cost is too high and the mileage will be doubled or tripled.
The south is a good example of Cape Town's importance to African shipping. For example, the distance from New Hamburg to Orangemond in East Africa is only more than 2,000 kilometers.
More than two thousand kilometers may seem like a lot, but in the north it is only the distance from Mogadishu to Djibouti. The Red Sea itself is more than two thousand kilometers, and to the Austro-Hungarian Empire it is six thousand kilometers upwards.
But Mogadishu is also a northerly port for East Africa. The distance to the Austro-Hungarian Empire from Mombasa or Dar es Salaam is longer.
This is only the Austro-Hungarian Empire. If you go to a further area, the detour will be even more exaggerated. For the African continent itself, Cape Town's status is evident.
Of course, if East Africa builds a "road bridge" connecting east and west in the future, the situation may be very different. The only pity is that the water transportation conditions in East Africa are too poor. Otherwise, through the networking of inland rivers, It can completely replace most of Cape Town’s economic value.
(End of this chapter)