African Entrepreneurship Record-Chapter 752 - 56: The Defense Line Falls

Three days later, at 6 a.m. East Africa time on April 7th, the well-prepared British army commenced a full-scale attack under the morning light.

The British forces crossed the Tugela River simultaneously at five different points, creating significant gaps in the Ninth Brigade's defensive line.

This had already been anticipated by Alydot, as the Ninth Brigade was limited in manpower, making it impossible to effectively defend against the British forces leveraging the Tugela River.

The Tugela River defensive line in East Africa was like a "long snake formation," while the British multi-front assault was akin to "striking at the snake's vital spots," leaving the sparsely distributed units of the Ninth Brigade unable to effectively coordinate and support each other.

Moreover, the British found, to their surprise, that East African firepower seemed weaker than it had three days ago.

This observation was not surprising, as it was due to two reasons, which the East African Brigade had already provided an answer.

Alydot's adjutant said, "Our fifteen heavy artillery pieces withdrew to New Hamburg Port City a day in advance, and a third of the light artillery was also pulled back, weakening fire support and making it easier for the British to cross."

Alydot waved his hand and said, "Even if we left these heavy weapons here, they wouldn't be of much use to us. Now, with the British launching attacks from several places, over a line more than a hundred kilometers long, even the mobile light artillery can't provide timely support.

So I've already issued orders to the front-line units to break up into smaller groups and respond independently to the British forces in their respective areas."

Moving artillery is no easy task, especially along the more than two-hundred-kilometer winding Tugela River defensive line.

By the time we concentrate these artillery pieces at the necessary points, the war might already be over. Therefore, a day earlier, Alydot started organizing the artillery to evacuate to New Hamburg Port City.

At New Hamburg Port City, these artillery pieces could be concentrated to counter enemy attacks, while at the Tugela River, they would likely only benefit the river-crossing British forces.

"Our goal is to eliminate as many river-crossing British forces as possible. The Tugela River defensive line cannot play to our firepower advantage, so it is best for lower-ranked units to carry light weapons."

...

While Alydot was speaking, East African forces had already engaged with the British at various crossing points within the Ninth Brigade's area. Without fire support, even in mid-crossing engagements, Ninth Brigade soldiers managed to achieve good exchange ratios, but the British seemed endless, like the tide.

Seventh Battalion, Second Company position.

"Company commander, we're running low on ammunition, but there are too many British forces. We didn't expect them to choose our area as a breakthrough point; we can't hold on for much longer!"

"Send a telegram to the brigade command, report our situation, Twenty-third Position is about to fall, retreat is allowed!" said Second Company Commander Hans.

Soon after the fall of the Twenty-third Position, the East African Ninth Brigade's Tugela River defensive line was also about to be abandoned.

The brigade command ordered all units to retreat to the rear as planned, through telegraph and courier.

This order was also received by the Second Company, after which the Second Company began demolishing the defense position they had built with their own hands, loading weapons, ammunition, telegraphs, and other important military supplies onto vehicles.

Apart from the buried telegraph lines, the Ninth Brigade left the British only the corpses on the riverbank and a pile of ruins, as the Tugela River defensive line, which had taken three months to build, was destroyed less than a week after the war began.

This was a last resort for the Ninth Brigade; even if they tried desperately to hold the Tugela River defensive line, it would ultimately be futile, as the British could still launch a seaborne attack.

Currently, the control of the Indian Ocean waters around New Hamburg Port City is essentially in British hands, so the Tugela River defensive line can only be used as a temporary position.

...

Ninth Brigade Headquarters.

"The Fifth Battalion of the Second Regiment will remain to block the enemy's advance, while other units withdraw to the rear. Wilder, how is the task I've assigned you proceeding?" Alydot asked.

"Report to the brigade commander, we have concentrated nearly half of the entire brigade, seventeen machine guns, and deployed them as per your instructions at the midsection of the Kranskop Village highway."

Kranskop Village serves as a transit point from the Tugela River defensive line to New Hamburg Port City and is the only route that the connecting highway must pass through.

Alydot plans to concentrate the machine guns there, testing their power in Kranskop Village, which is expected to have significant results against the British who are adept in formation-based warfare.

"Very good, next, gather the troops in Kranskop Village first. If the machine guns can exert their intended power, I believe this is a great opportunity to strike the British forces," Alydot stated.

...

At three in the afternoon, British Commander Rost also crossed the floating bridge. Seeing the ruins of the Tugela River defensive line finally taken, Rost felt a sense of joy.

"Where are the East Africans? Why are there so few of their bodies?"

"Report to the Commander, the East Africans had no intention of fighting to the death. After trying and failing to block our river crossing, they voluntarily retreated northward. Additionally, it seems their numbers are even smaller than we anticipated, so they simply couldn't stop our advance. If we had fought like this on the first day, we might already be at New Hamburg Port City!" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"How many East African troops are there likely to be?" Rost inquired.

"Based on the position and our pursuit, it seems East Africa deployed only a brigade's worth of troops at the Tugela River."

Rost: "Damn it, so we wasted four days here because of a single brigade?"

"Yes..."

Rost pondered for a moment and said, "Are you sure it was a brigade? Did you see it with your own eyes?"

"Uh, it was just deduced from on-site traces."

"Very well, since it's a deduction, it means the data is inaccurate. From my perspective, East Africa must have deployed at least a main division's worth of troops at the Tugela River front, otherwise how could they have held us off for so long, especially with strong firepower support!" Rost asserted confidently.

Understanding Rost's intent, his subordinate quickly said, "It was my judgment error; it was indeed East Africa's main division."

Rost, pleased with the response, added, "On April 7, 1888, my unit achieved a major victory at the Tugela River, successfully repelling a division's worth of East African guards."

However, as he continued, Rost found himself unable to fabricate further, suddenly realizing the issue of not knowing the East African army's unit designation.

"Bring over the East African captives, I want to interrogate them!" Rost commanded.

"Report to the Commander, we haven't captured any East African prisoners. Once we landed, the East African forces voluntarily retreated, and besides the corpses they couldn't deal with, our only discovery was a group of Indian prisoners." His subordinate admitted awkwardly.

"Indian prisoners?"

"They were Indian soldiers captured during the river crossing battle four days ago. These bastards didn't fight to the death but instead surrendered to the East Africans immediately. However, as the East African forces retreated hastily, they didn't have time to handle them, so we found them."

Rost's face turned almost green with anger upon hearing this! These deserters should all be executed.

"Were there any British soldiers or Gurkha mercenaries among them?"

"Not a single one; all our soldiers and Gurkha mercenaries perished."

"Hmph!" Rost was truly furious.

It wasn't a big deal for Indian soldiers to surrender, but having none of the British soldiers or Gurkha mercenaries survive was indicative of a significant problem.

"Execute them all to serve as a warning to others!" Rost ordered fiercely.