African Entrepreneurship Record-Chapter 756 - 60: First Stage

While Ross was having a headache, the Ninth Brigade successfully retreated to New Hamburg Port City, even the Second Battalion of the Second Regiment, which was responsible for the rear guard, returned safely to New Hamburg Port City.

As for the enemy's pursuers, they simply didn't exist; just the piles of Indian soldier corpses on the front line were enough to keep the British busy for a while.

The only regrettable thing is that this victory cannot be statistically confirmed; the Ninth Brigade is also unaware of the specific British casualties, but it can be determined that the Kranskop Blocking Battle and the previous Tugela River Blocking Battle both achieved outstanding results, effectively damaging the enemy's living forces and striking the enemy's arrogance.

...

First Town City.

The war had been ongoing for a week, and intelligence from various fronts was rapidly converging on First Town City.

Sivert reported to Ernst: "The overall situation at the front is currently good, our army has resisted the first wave of the Allies' offensive, except for the western region, the other major fronts effectively delayed the enemy's military actions, the most stable being the Southern Military District. The only pity is that the British forces are too numerous in the southeast, causing the Tugela River line of defense to be breached.

Currently, the Ninth Brigade has already retreated to New Hamburg Port City to prepare for the next British offensive. However, the Ninth Brigade has exceeded its mission. According to their battle report, they have at least annihilated thousands of British soldiers, with the greatest impact on Indian troops,

while machine guns played a great role in the war, the only downside is the large consumption of ammunition."

"The Eastern Front is also facing a similar situation to the Ninth Brigade. However, due to proximity to Matebel Province, ammunition can be resupplied in a timely manner. Currently, there is a fierce artillery battle on the Eastern Front, with the British and Portuguese forces not losing to our army in firepower. However, in most cases, our forces are in higher terrain, providing a visual advantage and greater lethality over the enemy."

"The only lapse occurred in the western region; our troops are too few in number, just as predicted before the war, and the Portuguese forces launched a relatively fierce offensive and have already broken into our territory on some fronts. However, the day before yesterday, this offensive suddenly slowed down, and our army is currently organizing a counterattack."

The Portuguese main force is in the Angola colony, and at the start of the war, Portugal was in an advantageous position in all respects, with a significant disparity in strength between the two sides. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Therefore, the East Africa General Staff mainly adopted a strategy of trading space for time in the west. The key reason for the Portuguese offensive slowing down is also precisely as the East Africa General Staff had judged.

That is, the logistical system cannot keep up with the pace of war. The Portuguese army in Angola advanced triumphantly, seemingly achieving brilliant results, but in reality, they stretched the front line.

Additionally, East Africa implemented the same "scorched earth" strategy in the west as in the Southern Border Province. The enemy could not obtain supplies on the spot, not even basic foodstuffs.

Moreover, the construction in East Africa's west is not much stronger than that in the Angola colony. Angola, at least, has a considerable population in coastal regions and a relatively developed economy. East Africa's western provinces, by comparison, are sparsely populated, with inconvenient transportation, and many areas still inhabited by a significant number of Black people.

Of course, the Portuguese army isn't entirely unable to solve the issue of military food. Africa's natural resources are relatively abundant, particularly in meat and fruits. However, the Portuguese army mainly lacks grains and other basic living materials.

Even drinking water is a major problem. However, many Western countries at this time did not pay attention to water source issues. They weren't as "fussy" as the East African Defense Army.

"Currently, there are two major issues reported by various Defense Army units: one is manpower problems. Our army has achieved advantages on multiple fronts but is unable to organize effective counterattacks due to a shortage of personnel. For instance, the Ninth Brigade stationed at the Tugela River; Brigadier General Alydot said that if he had double the reinforcements, he could double the results of the Kranskop Blocking Battle."

"The second issue is weapons and ammunition. While our army matches the British forces in artillery numbers, frequent artillery battles result in enormous ammunition consumption. Additionally, the machine guns assigned to the troops play a major role in the war, but they consume bullets rapidly, and many units have run out of machine gun ammunition. The frontline units urgently need more machine guns and weapons ammunition."

"In the first phase, our army can basically maintain stable front lines, but this defensive posture does not fully exploit East Africa's advantages. Especially with the enemy attacking from three facets, our forces are dispersed, making it impossible to engage in large-scale battles with the enemy. The Central Industrial Zone is under significant threat, and the pressure on other defensive lines has also suddenly increased."

"To get out of this situation, we must disrupt the enemy's strategic deployment and achieve breakthroughs in key areas to threaten the enemy's hinterland and disrupt their overall strategy."

"Currently, there are two main areas capable of achieving this: the Zambezi River line and the southern front. These two areas are where our forces have an advantage. The enemy has adopted similar defensive measures in areas where both sides have weaker forces. So now it's a matter of who can first break through the opponent's weak spots and thus gain strategic initiative."

In this regard, Sivert's war intentions are clear: East Africa is currently in an extremely passive state, while Britain and Portugal are on the offensive, and East Africa is on the defensive.

Due to the dispersion of its forces, East Africa is unable to effectively strike the Allied forces. Although tactically, East Africa has achieved advantages multiple times on the battlefield, due to various reasons, these tactical advantages cannot be expanded into strategic advantages.

To break the deadlock, East Africa must quickly gain advantages in local areas to mobilize more troops for deployment to the most urgently needed eastern region in East Africa.

The focus here is on the Boer Republic and northern Mozambique, where East Africa has a personnel advantage. If progress can be made in these two places, it would threaten the enemy's rear, and simultaneously liberate relatively redundant forces to the eastern main battlefield.

Currently, the reason enormous forces are amassed in these two locations is primarily due to geographical factors. Like how the Boer Republic borders East Africa on three sides, if East Africa can eliminate this point, then East Africa would only need to deploy on one side, and the forces on the other two sides could be used elsewhere.

Moreover, the location of the Boer Republic is very poor as it threatens the heartland of the British core colony Cape Town. If East Africa gains the upper hand here, the British would have to devote more energy to deploying forces here.

But the areas near Cape Town close to East Africa have very poor transportation conditions, being situated in the central plateau. Transporting supplies and forces here is not an easy task, which could further drain British resources.

As for the Zambezi River line, it's primarily the responsibility of the Eastern Military District. Currently, there's not much fighting in the Eastern Military District, as the Allies' main attack targets the central and western regions of East Africa.

Thus, the southward movement of the Eastern Military District forces can effectively relieve the current military pressure in the central and western regions. Of course, there's a certain risk in doing so, as the Eastern Military District is responsible for the security of the more developed regions of eastern East Africa, including the Central Province.

If moving south, it might cause security issues for the current economic and political center of East Africa. However, since the main threat to the east comes from the sea, as long as the East African Navy isn't completely wiped out, the east can be secured in the short term.

Additionally, the Central Province has the Guard Division responsible for land security, but it cannot cover all of the east. However, as long as the strategic security of First Town City is ensured, the military and political stability of East Africa as a whole can be maintained.