Chapter 788 The "Awakening" of the Prisoners
On the same day that the Southern East African Military District launched an attack on Cape Town and Natal, the British commander, Earl Roberts, also launched a round of military operations against East Africa.
Count Roberts concentrated nearly 50,000 troops from four divisions and launched an attack on the southeastern Guards Division and the 512th Division in an attempt to reopen the southeastern passage.
At this time, Earl Roberts is fighting with the Limpopo River as the boundary, so he only needs a small number of troops to delay the offensive of the East African army in the north. The remaining troops are mainly concentrated in the west, blocking the Western East African Military Region from attacking the Guards Division. and support from the 512th Division.
Count Roberts' plan is feasible, or it is the optimal solution under the current environment. East Africa has many and strong troops in the west and north, and only the southeast has less troops deployed. However, Count Roberts underestimated the near future. The combat effectiveness of the guards.
Cristiano, the commander of the 1st Brigade of the Guards Division, concentrated more than 70 heavy artillery pieces and hundreds of other types of artillery pieces to provide all-round fire coverage to the Mozambican coalition forces approaching from the front.
At the same time, with the cooperation of machine guns, grenades and other weapons, they not only firmly held the position, but also caused huge casualties to the coalition forces. Then, with the cooperation of the cavalry, the Guards Division cooperated with the 512th Division to launch a comprehensive counterattack, which took just one hour. That basically ended the battle.
After this battle, there were more than 5,000 enemy casualties and more than 6,000 prisoners, mainly Indians. It completely destroyed the coalition's ability to proactively attack, and at the same time captured several enemy artillery, firearms and other weapons.
At the same time, various troops in the Western Military Region also dealt a devastating blow to the blocking force sent by Earl Roberts, losing more than one-third.
Earl Roberts can only shrink the remaining troops and stick to the hinterland of Saukui Town. He is unable to confront East Africa anymore. At the same time, he abandons some peripheral areas. The defeated more than 50,000 remaining troops will continue to stick to a narrow area of less than 30 square kilometers.
...
“The firepower of one enemy division is almost equal to that of our entire army. This is a new situation that has almost never been encountered in British history. More than 50,000 people are suppressed by more than 20,000 East African troops. Fighting is simply one of the greatest humiliations in the history of the British Empire!"
Earl Roberts was quite indignant, and it was also the first time he realized the combat effectiveness of the East African Guards Division. As a garrison, the Guards Division defended the First Town! The city and the central province are safe, and the equipment level is unmatched in East Africa. If the number of people is not taken into account, it can be compared with a military region in East Africa.
Don’t talk nonsense, according to the equipment level of the Guards Division, it is fully capable of competing with the elite troops of Germany and France. However, this time the First Brigade of the Guards Division actually has nothing to do. Bring them all.
Due to cross-sea operations, many of the larger caliber artillery pieces of the Second Brigade were not brought, otherwise Earl Roberts would feel even more desperate.
Moreover, there are other troops in the same situation as the Guards Division. Because the front line advanced too fast during the counterattack, many of the heavy weapons of other troops failed to keep up with the large troops.
So the situation that Earl Roberts will face will only become more difficult, and even Earl Roberts may not be able to hold on until the follow-up artillery from East Africa arrives.
At this time, the Guards Division was troubled by a large number of British prisoners and wounded. They captured so many at one time that the rations alone were enough.
Cristiano: "These prisoners, first identify their identities. The officers are held in isolation. At the same time, priority is given to the injured and injured. As for the soldiers, the British and Portuguese soldiers are treated according to our treatment, and the Indians and Black people are also on the same page, but they cannot be white. To eat, let them build fortifications and find some physical work. They can’t be idle anyway. The food standards are according to the standards of the former East African Servant Army.”
The East African Servant Army is also a black army, but until now, No black troops were drafted into the war in East Africa. The first is that the military strength in East Africa is not that tense. The second is that the East African military is afraid that the black troops will hold them back. Just like this time, the British army was completely fooled by India. With this lesson learned, the British army will incorporate Indians into the army next time. The threshold for combat troops may be greatly increased.
Of course, black people in East Africa also made important contributions to the war, mainly by maintaining the stability of domestic production in East Africa, which was the greatest guarantee for the war.
However, Cristiano obviously underestimated the moral integrity of the enemy. The Indians and blacks who were holding rice buckets and fighting for food almost came to blows. Even the food standard of the servant army was much higher than that of the lowest-level soldiers of the coalition forces.
Cristiano believes that if the food in East Africa were not a bit "hot", these Indians could just reach into the bowl and eat it.
Of course, Indians eat with their hands, so they have no use for the tableware provided by the East African troops. Moreover, because there were too many prisoners this time, the tableware was simply not enough, so they had to make do. It can be shared by several people.
This was also the reason why the coalition prisoners had disputes. After sharing tableware, several people would eat around the same pot. If you eat more, he would eat less, and conflicts would arise.
The cooking soldiers in East Africa are also very annoyed. They already have enough troubles, but these "unqualified" coalition soldiers are adding to the trouble.
The sturdy cooking soldiers started to maintain order with big rice spoons. They were "a spoon" to the disruptive coalition soldiers. The nearly one-meter-long spoon stem was equipped with a metal "spoon head", one by one. Silent.
These Indians and blacks were also frightened by the East African cooking soldiers, which made them realize again that they were captives and regained the feeling of being dominated by the "British and Portuguese armies".
Unlike these "diners" who snatch food, the treatment of British and Portuguese soldiers is much better. They all have separate tableware. This is also related to their small number, and some of them carry Portable lunch boxes, so East Africa can use them evenly.
Like East Africa, the meal boxes in East Africa are of a unified standard, and British and Portuguese soldiers also have equipment, but a lot of it was damaged in this war, or they were not brought with them before the war.
It can be said that the Portuguese took advantage of the "Europeans" and were classified as the "second echelon" of prisoners. As far as their weapons, equipment and clothing are concerned, only individual armies in Eastern Europe can compare with them in Europe. , even a little worse than what Indian soldiers in the British army wore.
As the most powerful country in the world, Britain is considered "rich" even if it raises "dogs". In addition to wearing big turbans, even Indian soldiers look more energetic than ordinary Portuguese soldiers. However, he was a little too energetic and had no consciousness of being a prisoner at all, which made him look very "bad".
In contrast, the British and Portuguese soldiers were much "quiet". Although the food of the East African soldiers did not meet their taste and the reissued tableware was not used to them, it still tasted good, especially This is in contrast to the recent shortage of materials for the coalition forces.
These grassroots soldiers were very satisfied with their life as captives. After the meal, they were even more satisfied after watching Indians and black people being forced to work. After all, there were people who were worse off than themselves. In contrast, That would be much happier.
Compared with these easy-to-satisfy soldiers, the British and Portuguese officers are the "hard-to-serve" targets. They are used to being "big men" in the coalition forces, and the "preferential treatment" in East Africa seems very "shabby". Of course, some The officer was very resentful, so he deliberately showed his face to the soldiers of the East African Guards Division.
For these "uncle" enemy officer prisoners, the East African soldiers dared not speak out in anger, mainly because their superiors had repeatedly emphasized before that "these are treasures. They cannot be beaten or scolded, except to treat them to death." , it can be satisfied without violating the principles or conditions.”
(End of this chapter)