African Entrepreneurship Record-Chapter 779 - 83: Gathering

Vorster.

This rather convoluted name was inherited by East Africa from the Boers. Strictly speaking, Vorster was not originally the territory of the Transvaal Republic.

It was instead a junction between the Boers and the Zulu Kingdom, or you could say a "battlefield" of their clashes, now firmly under East African control.

At the same time, Vorster is a transportation hub in the area, an important gateway to the New Hamburg Port City, with East Africa's Central Railway passing through here.

With the military mobilization of the Southern Military District, a total of more than 27,000 troops are ready to cooperate with the garrison of New Hamburg Port City to reclaim the Southern Border Province.

This also made the Vorster station busy, as the troops of the Southern Military District first gathered here to pass through the various passes of the Drakensberg Mountains.

East Africa controls all kinds of passes, although occasionally the British army would break through to open a westward road, East Africa quickly retakes it.

Of course, the Drakensberg Mountains have certain defensive functions, but they don't guarantee absolute security; if the British troops exert themselves fully, there is still a chance to break through the formidable Drakensberg Mountains.

However, even so, for the British army this is a difficult task, primarily due to the lack of detailed knowledge of the Drakensberg Mountains.

After all, the British arrived too late, and by the time they wanted to make a mark in South Africa, both the Transvaal Republic and the Zulu Kingdom had been wiped out by East Africa.

And East Africa does not open trade externally, even restricting population entry and exit, making it extremely difficult to gather intelligence from East Africa.

The intelligence the British army can obtain mostly comes from expeditions; "explorers" in the 19th century were known as the most notorious entities, akin to "mariners," both the vanguard of colonialism.

Previously, East Africa also had similar official organizations, which have now been replaced by various types of scientific research teams or professional espionage agencies worldwide.

The Drakensberg Mountains are vast, and East Africa is sparsely populated, so even if East Africa wants to adopt a "closed country" policy, it can't completely stop "explorers" from around the world from entering East African territory. Unless they stray into towns and villages, it's hard to be discovered by East Africa.

This is particularly true for several provinces in southern East Africa. The southern provinces together cover over a million square kilometers, with a population including military forces of less than one million. Thus, the population density in southern East Africa is similar to that of the Boer Republic and the Cape Colony, characterized by vast lands and sparse populations.

The only difference is that East Africa's troop numbers in the south are close to an eighth of the Boer Republic's population.

Of course, with the outbreak of the South African war, the numbers of the allied forces in South Africa have sharply risen, surpassing the numbers of East African troops. However, much of the numerical advantage comes from Indian soldiers.

Based solely on the original populations of the Boer Republic and Cape Town, even adding the two Portuguese colonies, East Africa could manage one on four without domestic support, possibly even steamroll through.

...

At Vorster, the military commanders of the 511th, 513th, and 514th Divisions, fresh from the Boer Republic campaign, held a meeting to discuss how to recover the lost territory of the Southern Border Province.

Apart from these three units, there's also the 512th Division, which is currently the garrison of New Hamburg Port City, with its main forces besieged in New Hamburg Port City but its headquarters near the Deyar region of the Drakensberg Mountains.

Thus, a total of four East African units are participating in this campaign, which comprises most of the Southern Military District's resources.

"The total British force around New Hamburg Port City is more than 20,000, which is twice that of the city. Across the Southern Border Province, the allied troops number over 40,000, with most facing us on the eastern side of the Drakensberg Mountains," Kaelar informed the supporting allied force commanders.

Commander Pripyat of the 511th Division said, "So the British troops in the Southern Border Province are not their main force?"

Kaelar replied, "The British main force is currently in the north, within Mozambique. As for the British troops in the Southern Border Province, they did attempt to breach our positions in the Drakensberg Mountains during the first month of the war, but they were repelled by our forces. This led to a prolonged standoff around the Drakensberg Mountains."

As the highest military commander of the original eastern Southern Border Province, Kaelar, led the 512th Division in several battles against disproportionately large British forces over recent months, including the renowned early-war Tugela River Battle.

However, now the 512th Division has been split into two parts, with the eastern forces centered around New Hamburg Port City primarily under the command of Alydot.

Alydot, the commander of East Africa during the Tugela River Battle, was previously Kaelar's subordinate. After New Hamburg Port City was besieged, to unify the city garrison's command, the Southern Military District temporarily restructured Alydot's 9th Brigade and portions of the 3rd Brigade withdrawn from the northern front into a mixed brigade for New Hamburg Port.

Thus, Kaelar can now actually command only a third of the original 512th Division. Yet even so, East Africa's force on the eastern front of the Southern Border Province still amounts to more than 40,000 troops, more than double that of the British.

Kaelar continued, "Our railway connection with New Hamburg Port City has been completely severed, as has our telegraph line, leaving communications with the mixed brigade to rely on the General Staff as a relay."

This is a key reason why Alydot has been given independent command; although nominally still under the Southern Military District, Alydot reports directly to and receives orders from the General Staff.

Of course, the one most frustrated by this is Kaelar, as his former subordinate is now ahead of him, commanding more troops. Where could he possibly complain about this?

However, the circumstances are special due to the war. In the initial stages of facing multiple times the number of British troops, no other East African units could have done better than Kaelar.

Though Alydot has risen to prominence during the war, the initial military deployment and command in the early stages of the Southern Border Province conflict were undeniably Kaelar's hand.

So after the war, Kaelar's contributions certainly wouldn't be forgotten, but seeing colleagues advance further naturally invoked envy.

The other main forces in the Southern Border Province all participated in the war against the Boer Republic, which might be seen as bullying due to their superior numbers. Yet post-war, the campaign against the Boer Republic is likely classified as another "war of annihilation."

Regarding this, Kaelar was honestly envious. Though the Boer Republic was small in size, with a sparse population and weak national power, a "war of annihilation" resonates with grandeur.

Indeed, Kaelar had participated in such a war when East Africa destroyed the Transvaal Republic.

Other than the Transvaal Republic, the countries East Africa has eradicated are beyond count, though only Zanzibar had real value; the rest mattered little.

After all, ruling African chieftains with outdated weapons isn't noteworthy in East Africa's military history—at least a hundred such kingdoms have been defeated by East Africa, likely thousands if large tribes are included.

For Kaelar's little schemes, other division commanders felt little; even split into two parts, the 512th Division doesn't differ much to them, since the mixed brigade's numbers didn't magically increase, relying instead on the existing core of the 512th Division.

As for bullying the "Boers," direct confrontation with the British army may actually be more thrilling. Unlike Ernst, who values the Boers, most East African officers don't consider mere "Boers" their ultimate challenge, but rather one of the world's most powerful armies—the British Army.