African Entrepreneurship Record-Chapter 748 - 52 Gurkha

As New Hamburg Port City was actively preparing for battle, Commander Wilson of the British Royal Navy on the Indian Ocean found himself at a loss.

"Although New Hamburg Port City is said to be a coastal city, it's actually quite some distance from the sea. If anything, it should be considered more of a lakeside city, with only a narrow channel less than a kilometer wide connecting the interior. The East Africans have surely set up artillery on both sides of the channel, making it impossible to launch an attack on New Hamburg Port City's urban area from here."

"Moreover, the coastline around East Africa's New Hamburg Port is too straight and is filled with reefs and shoals, making it unsuitable for ship navigation. It's similar to our situation at Durban Port; attacking such terrain from the sea is very difficult," the adjutant added.

In fact, the British forces couldn't even approach the entrance to the narrow channel at New Hamburg Port City. There was a possibility of landing small boats to attack New Hamburg Port City, but that would require a large number of ships and manpower, which Cape Town's navy simply couldn't provide.

"New Hamburg Port City's navy is also avoiding combat; didn't we come here for nothing?"

The main combat fleet of New Hamburg Port City's navy consists of only five ships. They obviously wouldn't engage the British heedlessly. The navy is now nestled within the internal waters of New Hamburg Bay (Richard Bay), relying mainly on army artillery for defense.

The coastal defense artillery construction of New Hamburg Port City is of the highest standard in East Africa, with bunkers made of reinforced concrete, mobile artillery, and various fixed artillery systems in place. Naturally, it couldn't be easily broken by a few British warships, unlike the previous Lamu Bay naval battle which involved the main British combat ships.

Of course, compared to East Africa's New Hamburg Port City's navy, the British Cape Town Navy is still formidable. After all, New Hamburg Port City's navy still has two wooden sailing ships that are quite outdated.

...

Along the Tugela River.

"Report, sir, our third river-crossing attempt has failed. The East African forces have too strong a firepower on the other side, making a breakthrough impossible. Moreover, the Tugela River has a heavy flow, and our forces lack large ferry boats. Every small-scale crossing attempt has failed."

While East Africa is concerned about the large number of British troops in the Natal colony, the British are already cursing.

Even though the British have an absolute advantage in terms of troop numbers and firepower, the East African 9th Brigade of the 513th Division, defending the Tugela River, is a tough nut to crack.

For years, the number of East African troops hasn't significantly increased. Large amounts of military funds have been used to improve weaponry systems, along with improvements in East Africa's military industrial capacity. This means the weaponry level of the East African Defense Army isn't far behind Europe.

So the British are facing, for the first time in the colonies, an army with similar levels of weaponry and equipment.

The East Africans have deployed a large number of artillery, machine guns, and other weapons along the Tugela River line, with a firepower density far exceeding that faced by the British in Southeast and South Asia.

It's worth noting that the current British forces in the Natal colony mainly consist of Indian troops. The main British forces had already been transferred, along with many heavy weapons, to the Mozambique area by the British commander-in-chief, Count Roberts.

Therefore, although Natal has a large number of troops, their weaponry advantage is not outstanding. Even so, the number of cannons in the British colonial forces in Natal is still about three times more than East Africa's.

But now East Africa is on the defensive, primarily aiming to disrupt the British river-crossing plans, so the firepower advantage isn't as apparent.

"Deploy all the artillery from our division, including anything explosive from other Indian infantry divisions, to the riverbank. We need to suppress East African firepower and provide fire support to our crossing forces."

"Moreover, the biggest failure in our previous crossings was the disruption of morale by Indian soldiers. This time, let our men and the Gurkhas lead the crossing. If any Indian soldiers desert again, they will be executed on the spot, and their bodies thrown into the Tugela River!"

British division commander Rost gritted his teeth as he spoke. Although East Africa isn't weak, it's no excuse for failure. After all, the other side only has one brigade, while Natal has a British division and three Indian divisions, several times the enemy's firepower and manpower, yet they can't even defeat a small East African infantry brigade. It was a complete disgrace to the Empire.

So Rost blamed this outcome on the Indian army used as cannon fodder. In Rost's view, it was the natural cowardice of the Indian soldiers that led to the failure of the previous operations.

Of course, Rost's blaming hit the right point; the issues with the Indian auxiliary army were quite significant. Just consider the most "outstanding" third river-crossing operation.

Less than one-third of the Indian auxiliary army made it across before collapsing, which was simply unacceptable!

The Tugela River is only about a hundred meters wide on average, and in narrow places, it's just over twenty meters. With a little carelessness, a boat could easily cross.

So the Indian soldiers' fighting spirit was too weak. Rost considered himself to have a rather mild temperament but was infuriated by the Indians' performance.

Of course, the Indians didn't agree with Rost's accusations. Several Indian officers defended themselves, citing "East African strong firepower."

In fact, Rost's forces did suppress the East African artillery. Under these circumstances, the Indians' remarks sounded like "excuses" to Rost.

Using this excuse for the first crossing failure was understandable, as Rost hadn't expected the East African firepower to be comparable to European forces. However, for the second and third crossings, Rost had increased the fire support to a considerable level, achieving basic suppression. Even if the East African firepower was strong, the other side only had a brigade configuration.

With Rost's orders, this time the vanguard of the crossing became the British and the Gurkhas.

The Gurkhas, essentially Gurkha mercenaries, could be said to be Britain's bravest and most battle-hardened troops in the 19th century, with a fighting spirit even stronger than the British homeland troops.

Moreover, Gurkha mercenaries are very loyal and cheaply priced. Since most Gurkha soldiers fight due to poverty, with military service being their way of life, they often candidly say, "We fight for money, nothing else."

For such a force, the British were naturally very satisfied. They were also a powerful arm for British control in India.

Gurkhas frequently suppressed Indian uprisings, so Rost using Gurkhas for supervision was very appropriate to their role; they often did this in India.

Of course, the main purpose this time was still to exploit the fearless fighting spirit of the Gurkha mercenaries to break through the East African defenses at the Tugela River.

As long as they could seize a beachhead on the north bank of the Tugela River, even a small breach, Rost's objective would be achieved.

The fourth river-crossing operation was about to begin. To incentivize the Gurkhas, Rost promised them a substantial reward, which the Gurkhas were always eager for.

Each person had a glint of bloodlust in their eyes, as if ready to tear the East Africans on the opposite shore apart. After all, for the Gurkhas, poverty was the most fearsome enemy, and they would sell their lives for British Pounds!

With the Gurkhas leading the charge, the "East Africa-phobia" of the Indian auxiliary troops seemed to have eased to some degree. The British soldiers were in a better state than the Indians, although their enthusiasm was clearly not on par with the rustic Gurkhas.