Chapter 767 Occupation of Angola
September 20, 1888.
The main force of the Southern East African Military Region assembled in Folklust began to rely on the strongholds and passes of the original 512th Division in the Drakensberg Mountains to launch an attack on the British troops in the eastern part of the Southern Frontier Province.
At the same time, under the dispatch of the General Staff, the defenders of the New Hamburg Port City also began to attack the British troops outside the city.
With the reopening of the new Hamburg Port to navigation, the new mixed division at this time has actually completed the expansion of personnel and the supply of equipment and materials.
The British troops launched offensives from east and west in East Africa, but the already exhausted British troops were unable to resist, and the worst thing was that they were completely defenseless.
The only city that can serve as a barrier, the Port of New Hamburg has been unable to be conquered, and the direction of the Drakensberg Mountains is also firmly blocked by East Africa.
At this time, unless the British army in Mozambique provides the main support, the entire Southern Frontier Province may return to the hands of the East Africans.
However, although the British army in the Southern Frontier Province waited for the support of Earl Roberts, it was a drop in the bucket and could not change the situation of the war at all.
Because at the same time as the battle to recapture the Southern Frontier Province began, East Africa also began a new round of large-scale attacks from the north and west. Count Roberts had to withstand the pressure to prevent the entire defense line from collapsing. , and in this case, there is no excess troops to support the south.
This was after the Mozambican coalition tightened its defense lines again a month ago and the British army's defense pressure was reduced.
As for the East African armies, they are constantly marching eastward from the Drakensberg Mountains. The more than 10,000 British troops in the west cannot compete with East Africa in terms of numbers and morale.
Coupled with the attack on the New Hamburg Port City, the British army did not dare to detach part of the 20,000 British troops in the east to support the western front.
At this time, if the New Hamburg Port City is also completely liberated, then the British army will really face the disadvantage of being attacked from the east and west in East Africa. After all, after several months of war, the British Army will not be able to defend the New Hamburg Port City. The military's perception is that it is a "tiger in a cage". Once it is opened, this powerful force can cause huge trouble to the British army.
The Southern East African Military Region now does not care what the British army thinks. In order to completely wipe out the remaining British troops in the Southern Frontier Province, the 513th Division marched along the railway line towards the New Hamburg Port City.
The 514th Division followed the Tugela River to block the British army's retreat to the Natal Colony. The 511th Division marched from the plains and faced off against the main force of the British army on the western front with the 512th Division.
With the multi-pronged approach, the British army was unable to fully resist the offensive in East Africa, and the worst thing was that the Western East African Military Region seized the opportunity to increase reinforcements from the northwest, holding back the British troops from Mozambique who were moving south to support them.
The Western Military Region controls the southernmost end of the Eastern Defense Line, which is the territory of the former Kingdom of Swaziland. It has geographical advantages for the entire Southeast and South Africa. A regiment of the 412th Division directly inserted diagonally into Maputo from the northwest. The only place where reinforcements must pass.
Although it did not stop the British reinforcements from moving south, it greatly delayed the march of the troops and bought valuable time for the Southern Military District to eliminate the local British troops.
Taking advantage of this gap, the 513th Division and the new mixed division of the New Hamburg Port City successfully reunited and launched a comprehensive counterattack against the 20,000 British troops outside the New Hamburg Port City.
On September 27, 1888, by the time British reinforcements arrived, the crisis in the port city of New Hamburg had been completely resolved.
The British army went south with more than 20,000 troops, which were transferred from Mozambique by Earl Roberts frugally.
But they had to face the 30,000 East African main force who had just won the victory and whose morale was high. And the worst thing was that the British army was now completely in danger and could not do anything. The British commander decisively gave up. Mission to rescue British troops in Southern Frontier Province and flee towards Mozambique.
September 30th.
Dongfang informally regained the entire Southern Frontier Province. In the two battles, a total of more than 18,000 British troops were captured, including more than 3,000 British, and the rest were mainly Indians. When East Africa launched the battle to recapture the Southern Frontier Province, the battlefield on the Western Front also underwent tremendous changes. At this time, most of Angola's forces were basically completely defeated by East Africa.
The 414th Division and the rest of the troops broke through the Portuguese defense line head-on, and then began to move towards Luanda and other important Angolan military towns.
After a series of military victories, a large number of Portuguese soldiers were captured, totaling more than 40,000. At the same time, a large number of black servants were captured in East Africa or escaped.
However, these black people fleeing with "advanced" weapons were considered quite dangerous in East Africa, so the entire Western Front began to encircle and suppress black deserters.
After all, these weapons are very likely to become "trouble" in East Africa's expansion of the Angola region in the future, and in the current Angola colony of more than 300,000 square kilometers, it is indeed not easy to find tens of thousands of black deserters.
In addition to the collapse of the frontal battlefield, Cabinda, an important city in northern Angola, was also captured by East Africa. As a result, only Luanda and Benguela were left in the entire Angola, and several coastal military strongholds were still under the control of the Portuguese.
Luanda has persisted in this war until now. Because of the maritime superiority of the Portuguese and British governments in the South Atlantic, Luanda was able to obtain sufficient supplies of materials and troops.
A Portuguese mainland brigade had arrived in Luanda a week ago, but morale in Luanda was declining.
East Africa’s troops in Luanda have been increasing, and various artillery reinforcements have been sent here. The fall of Luanda is only a matter of time.
Benguela has the same problem, but Benguela has slightly better luck than Luanda. The 2nd Brigade of the 421st Division lacks siege equipment and heavy firepower, allowing the city to survive, but the new East African army The 419th Division is coming towards Benguela. By the time the 419th Division is in position, it is basically certain that the Benguela defenders will be unable to recover.
Now the main resources in the mainland are mainly tilted towards Luanda, so Benguela receives a very small share of supplies. The second brigade alone has already stretched Benguela’s firepower. When the 419th Division arrives, Benguela will not be able to deal with a reorganized division in East Africa. fire suppression.
October 7, 1888.
With the cooperation of the 419th Division and the 421st Division, Portugal's second largest city, Benguela, fell. Benguela's top brass fled from the sea to Luanda. The troops in the city who had no time to escape surrendered to East Africa.
At this time, the western battlefield is also coming to an end. The entire Angola, except for the isolated island of Luanda, is controlled by East Africa.
East Africa's new army in the western battlefield has also grown rapidly through the tempering of this period of war and has developed combat effectiveness.
The end of October 1888.
After basically clearing Angola, East Africa began to launch an all-out attack on Luanda.
East Africa concentrated one hundred and three artillery pieces and roared at Luanda, the coastal fortress in the South Atlantic second only to Cape Town.
The Portuguese would never have thought that they would enjoy treatment in backward Africa that was only available on the European battlefield. This was also the first time in sub-Saharan Africa that a single battle had a scale of hundreds of artillery pieces. Artillery battle.
Although Luanda has been built by the Portuguese for hundreds of years, the Portuguese certainly did not imagine that Luanda would one day suffer such treatment.
At four o'clock in the afternoon on the last day of October 1888, after more than an hour of artillery fire in East Africa, a white flag was raised in the ruins of Luanda, announcing the end of hundreds of years of Portuguese rule in Angola.
(End of this chapter)