African Entrepreneurship Record-Chapter 786 - 90: The Passive British Army

Maputo.

Count Roberts looked dejectedly at the military map in the command center. The war situation was increasingly unfavorable for the Allied forces.

"The situation is very unfavorable for us now. Just last month, Angola was completely defeated by East Africa. The Portuguese military capability in Angola has been utterly destroyed. This means that we are now only fighting against East Africa," said Roberts powerlessly.

"Your Excellency, the war strength displayed by East Africa is astonishing. We are now surrounded by East Africa. The only place to break the deadlock is still the ocean. Only by reopening the Indian Ocean route can we turn the tide of defeat!"

The comforting words from his subordinate could not revitalize Count Roberts. He said, "Even retaking control of the sea cannot change the war situation. Our operational range has been compressed by the East Africans to an area of less than 150,000 square kilometers. Moreover, the defeats of the Boers and in Angola mean that two strategic strongholds have been destroyed, and our Mozambique is the most difficult to support."

If the main battlefield had initially been chosen in Angola, Britain might have been able to effectively reinforc.e Count Roberts' troops, because in the waters of Angola and throughout the Atlantic region, the presence of the East African navy is practically nonexistent.

However, Count Roberts' main idea at the time was to attack central and eastern East Africa, which were core areas of East Africa, so Mozambique, located in the heartland of East Africa, seemed to be a more advantageous condition.

But this required a premise, which was that the Allies maintained the advantage. However, the so-called Allies now, in reality, no longer truly exist, only Britain is struggling to hold on.

"Moreover, no amount of reinforcements is of much significance to the South African battlefield now. The East Africans have a complete military industrial capability, which makes them fully capable of replenishing the losses in war, while the cost we have to pay is several times that of the East Africans."

"And now the most significant issue is that the crisis at New Hamburg Port City has been resolved. East Africa has cut off our southern or Natal colony British troops' northward passage. Our supplies are now only in a state of depletion, unable to be effectively replenished."

So by now, Count Roberts could already conclude the outcome of this war. As long as East Africa does not make any blunders, it is basically impossible for Britain to achieve victory.

Of course, the reason Count Roberts was so pessimistic was primarily due to the current state of the British army. If it were just a disadvantage in the situation, Count Roberts would naturally not be so negative. For noblemen like Count Roberts from a military family, even dying for one's country would be of no consequence.

However, the current lack of combat power of the British army is not caused by the army's own problems but by the terrible disease—malaria.

That's right, as the war progressed, a severe outbreak of infectious disease occurred in Mozambique, with malaria being the most serious.

Unlike these East African "natives," who pay great attention to hygiene and mosquito prevention to combat malaria and other diseases, East Africa's attitude can be described as insanely scrupulous.

Meanwhile, the British army clearly did not realize this problem, so their hygiene conditions were very poor. And after East Africa cut off Britain's supply routes, there was even less replenishment of medicine and alcohol, making the British army even more dispirited.

Alcohol, besides anesthetizing soldiers' mental states and boosting combat morale and medical value, has an important role in preventing drinking unclean water, thereby avoiding infections from parasites or bacteria and viruses.

The East African troops do not drink raw water, but the British army obviously does not have this "quirky" regulation, leading to heavy tolls for them. Coupled with a failure to promptly clean up battlefield corpses in the current African temperatures, the problem becomes too severe.

In fact, battlefield cleanup is also relatively thorny for East Africa. Over the years of constant warfare in Africa, East Africa has developed norms and various experiences, minimizing the risks, while the Allies are significantly lacking.

And the mosquito problem, that is the main culprit for the rampant malaria. The Portuguese and local natives are somewhat better off, but how could the British army have suffered this kind of hardship!

Of course, if the British troops had come from India, the situation would be much better since India is also a country rampant with malaria.

However, given the understanding of this era, the British army is simply impossible to effectively deal with this problem; after all, they do not know the medium through which malaria is transmitted.

This brings up the British man Ronald Ross. Born in northwestern India, in 1874 he studied at St. Bartholomew's Medical College, London, UK. In 1881, Ross was assigned to India to treat soldiers with malaria. Under the guidance of a wise mentor—the pioneer of British tropical medicine, Manson, Manson introduced Laveran's 1880 malaria specimen and the hypothesis of malaria transmission by mosquitoes to Ross. Through relentless efforts, Ross finally found the mosquito that transmits malaria—the "Anopheles"—on August 20, 1897.

If history does not undergo significant change, this hypothesis will be proven in India only a decade later.

Ross's experience also fully illustrates that even in India, this core British colony, the British are currently very troubled by the malaria issue, as Ross's work is to treat malaria for the British troops in India.

In this regard, East Africa, under Ernst's guidance, indeed effectively avoided the medium of mosquito-borne malaria and ranks among the world's top in mosquito-repellent products, being a major producer of pyrethrum.

However, East Africa does not have a good solution for malaria at present, and can only compress the infection rate to the lowest limit. The advantage of domestic warfare allows the East African troops to get ample supply of quinine and other medicines; coupled with good living habits, they minimize non-combat attrition.

Count Roberts frowned and said, "The lack of effective replenishment of quinine and other special medicines is one of the greatest difficulties facing the current army. Previously, our army was able to suppress the large outbreak of malaria, but now the spread of malaria is terrifying, even I cannot avoid it, let alone the soldiers below."

Count Roberts also fell victim half a month ago. However, as the highest military commander, Count Roberts definitely did not lack quinine and other special medicines, but his recovery period still had an important impact on the South African war.

Of course, for the British army, the most fatal point is that malaria can be repeatedly contracted, after all, malaria is neither bacterial nor viral, but a parasitic disease, and is very difficult to prevent solely by human immunity.

This leads to the number of malaria infections multiplying. While the British army cannot effectively address the mosquito issue, and since the British are currently uninformed about mosquitoes being the culprits of malaria transmission, it leads to a vicious cycle.

With all these unfavorable factors combined, the morale of the British troops naturally fell to the lowest point. Moreover, the absence of alcohol and tobacco to numb their nerves, with death looming constantly, spread a pessimistic attitude throughout the camp.

In fact, East Africans do not even need to take action. By surrounding the British for a few months, it's likely the British army would collapse without a fight.

The British naturally thought about getting a solution from East Africa, but unfortunately, nothing has been gained because East Africa strictly enforces the "quirky" regulations established by Ernst in the army. At most, people feel that the Crown Prince is more concerned about hygiene.

As for the issue of malaria transmission, Ernst has never disclosed it externally, after all, he's not a medical scientist like Ronald Ross, unable to prove this point.

However, after East Africa's medical capabilities reached the standard, direction was given to East African medical personnel to research this goal. However, East African medical staff have not yet obtained effective evidence, but with the correct direction, scientific understanding of malaria transmission in East Africa should emerge earlier than Ronald Ross.