African Entrepreneurship Record-Chapter 801 - 105: The "Awakening" of Prisoners

On the same day when the southern military district of East Africa launched an attack on Cape Town and Natal, the British Army commander Count Roberts also initiated a round of military operations targeting East Africa.

Count Roberts concentrated four divisions with nearly fifty thousand troops, launching an attack on the Guard Division and the 512th Division stationed in the southeast direction, attempting to reopen the southeast passage.

At this time, Count Roberts was fighting a decisive battle, using the Limpopo River as the boundary, so only a small amount of forces were needed to delay the northern East African Army's offensive, while the remaining forces mainly focused on the west to hinder the western military district of East Africa from supporting the Guard Division and the 512th Division.

Count Roberts's plan was feasible, or rather the optimal solution in the current environment; the forces in the west and north of East Africa were numerous and strong, but there were fewer deployments in the southeast direction. However, Count Roberts underestimated the fighting capability of the Guard Division.

The commander of the First Brigade of the Guard Division, Cristiano, concentrated the entire army's more than seventy heavy artillery pieces and several hundred of other types of artillery to comprehensively cover the Mozambique Allied Forces coming towards them.

Meanwhile, with the cooperation of machine guns, grenades, and other weapons, they not only firmly held their ground but also inflicted huge casualties on the Allied Forces. Subsequently, with the coordination of cavalry, the Guard Division, in conjunction with the 512th Division, launched a full counterattack, ending the battle in just one hour.

As a result of this battle, they inflicted over five thousand enemy casualties, captured over six thousand prisoners, mainly Indians, completely destroying the Allied Forces' ability to initiate attacks, and seized various types of artillery and firearms from the enemy.

At the same time, various units in the western military district also inflicted a devastating blow on the blocking units sent by Count Roberts, resulting in losses exceeding one-third.

Count Roberts could only withdraw the remaining forces, stubbornly defending the heartland of Shao Kui Town, lacking the strength to continue fighting against East Africa, while abandoning some peripheral areas. Over fifty thousand defeated remnants continued to hold a narrow area of less than thirty square kilometers.

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"The firepower of a single division of the enemy is almost equivalent to our entire army; this is an unprecedented situation in British history, with over fifty thousand people being suppressed by over twenty thousand East African troops, which is practically one of the greatest humiliations in the history of the British Empire!"

Count Roberts was quite indignant and, for the first time, realized the combat strength of the East African Guard Division. The Guard Division, as the garrison unit, protects the safety of First Town and the Central Province, and its equipment level is unmatched in East Africa. If not considering numbers, it could completely compare to an East African military district.

Not to boast, but according to the Guard Division's equipment level, it is entirely capable of competing with the elite units of Germany and France, and this time the First Brigade of the Guard Division was actually not even fully equipped.

Due to the reason for overseas operations, many larger caliber artillery pieces from the Second Brigade were not brought along, otherwise, Count Roberts would feel even more desperate.

Moreover, other units in the same situation as the Guard Division had many heavy weapons that couldn't keep up with the main forces due to the counterattack being too swift.

So the situation faced by Count Roberts afterward would be more difficult, and he might not hold out until the subsequent artillery from East Africa arrived.

At this moment, the Guard Division, however, was troubled by a large number of British prisoners and wounded. Capturing so many at once, just the rations alone were quite a burden.

Cristiano: "These prisoners, first identify their status, officers are to be detained separately, while those with injuries are prioritized for rescue. As for the soldiers, treat the British and Portuguese soldiers according to our standards, while the Indians and Black people are also considered the same. However, they can't eat for free, have them build defensive works, and find some physical labor for them. In short, they can't be idle. The food standards are just like the previous East African auxiliary forces."

The East African auxiliary forces, which are Black troops, have not been recruited to participate in the war up until now in East Africa.

Firstly, the East African forces have not reached the point of urgency where they would need such a measure, and secondly, the East African Military fears the auxiliary forces might be a hindrance, just like the British Army, which was severely affected by the Indian troops this time. With this lesson, the threshold for the British Army to incorporate Indian troops into combat units will likely be significantly raised in the future.

Of course, the East African Black people have also made significant contributions to the war, mainly by maintaining the stability of East African domestic production, which is the greatest assurance for the war.

However, Cristiano clearly underestimated the scruples of the enemy. The Indians and Black people holding onto food bins almost got into a fight, even when the auxiliary army's meal standards were much higher than those of the Allied Forces' lowest-tier soldiers.

Cristiano believed that if it weren't for the East African food being somewhat "hot," these Indians would directly reach into the bowl to grab and eat.

Of course, Indians have originally eaten by hand, so the East African troops' utensils are practically useless to them, and due to the excessive number of prisoners this time, there were simply not enough utensils, so they had to make do and share among several people.

This was a cause for dispute among Allied prisoners; after sharing utensils, several people would eat around a single pot, so if one ate a bit more, someone else would eat less, thereby causing conflict.

The East African cooks were also annoyed by this; it was already troublesome enough, and these "undisciplined" Allied soldiers were making more trouble.

With a broad back and bear-like waist, the cook wielded a large ladle to maintain order, with one swing of the ladle towards the disruptive Allied soldiers, and those nearly one-meter-long handle combined with the metal "ladle head" meant one hit and no noise.

The Indians and Black people were frightened by the East African cooks, reminding them anew of their captive status, starting to feel the sense of being "dominated by the British Army and Portuguese army" once again.

Unlike these food-snatching "rice buckets", the treatment of British and Portuguese soldiers was much better; they each had their utensils, which was also related to their smaller numbers, plus some of them originally carried portable meal boxes, so East Africa could allocate a bit for their use.

Just like East Africa, the meal boxes in East Africa have a standardized system, and the British and Portuguese soldiers also have equipment, although many were damaged during this war, or not carried at the start of the battle.

It could be said that the Portuguese benefited from being considered "Europeans" and were listed in the second tier of prisoners. Just their weapons, equipment, and attire, when placed in Europe, only a few Eastern European troops could compare, even poorer than what the Indian soldiers within the British Army wore.

The United Kingdom, as the world's greatest power, even the "dogs" it raises are considerably "well-fed"; apart from wearing large turbans, the Indian soldiers even appeared more spirited than average Portuguese soldiers, although occasionally, their spirit went overboard, showing little awareness as captives, and seemed quite like a "husky".

In contrast, the British and Portuguese soldiers were much more "quiet"; although East African soldiers' meals were not to their tastes, and the supplementary provided utensils were not comfortable to use, the taste was still good, especially compared to the recent frequent shortages in Allied Forces' military supplies.

These grassroots soldiers found their captivity quite satisfactory; whenever meal time ended, seeing the Indians and Black people forced into labor made them even more content, after all, seeing those worse off made their own situations much more favorable.

Compared to these easily satisfied soldiers, British and Portuguese officers were the "hardest to please" individuals, accustomed to playing the "master" role within the Allied Forces, thus finding East Africa's "hospitality" quite "stingy". Of course, a portion of officers harbored great resentment, intentionally showing discontent to the soldiers of the East African Guard Division.

Regarding these captured officer "VIPs" from the enemy forces, the soldiers of East Africa held back their anger, following repeated emphasis from higher-ups: "These are treasures, do not beat, do not scold, outside of keeping a strict watch over them, they should be given any possible satisfaction, without violating principles or conditions."