Chapter 382 Crossing the River

The East African Army was divided into three routes and marched southward. Among them, Merk's 411th Division and 412th Division advanced southward from Botswana, along the Limpopo River all the way to the Orange River line. This area was the former British Bechuanaland colony and is now also a "no man's land."

Felix's 512th Division and 331st Division advanced southward along the eastern side of the Drakensberg Mountains, with their destination being the Kingdom of Swaziland in the south.

The 111th, 123rd, 511th, 513th and 514th Divisions led by Ernst and Sweet were the main forces attacking the Transvaal Republic. They attacked the Transvaal Republic from two directions: the west side of the Drakensberg Mountains and the west bank of the upper reaches of the Limpopo River.

Under the cover of night, the East African Army began to cross the long Limpopo River. The Limpopo River was the dividing line between East Africa and the Transvaal Republic, and it was long enough, so the limited number of Boers only deployed a few sentries at some important crossings.

The East African Army bypassed these ferries and entered the territory of the Transvaal Republic from other river sections. Under the moonlight, Ernst, dressed in military uniform and riding a tall black horse, stood by the river, waiting for the large army to pass.

The army built several temporary pontoon bridges on the river, which greatly accelerated the crossing of the river, and men, horses and weapons passed along the banks of the Limpopo River.

However, the East African army was still relatively cautious. Everyone was concentrating on preventing themselves from falling into the river, because the Limpopo River is also known as the Crocodile River. Although it had been cleaned once before, who knows if there were any fish that slipped through the net.

Siwei Te: "Principal, it seems that the Boers really don't have much defense against us. Our scout cavalry reported that there was not even a ghost in the radius of more than ten miles."

Ernst: "Of course. You have to know that the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State are not small countries in the world, and their total population is only close to 400,000. This shows how sparsely populated this place is."

"Yes, if the Transvaal Republic launches an attack on our Matabele Plateau, they will actually encounter the same situation as our army."

The population of Zimbabwe in East Africa is smaller than that of the Transvaal Republic, but the proportion of its full-time military personnel is very large. In contrast, the Transvaal Republic mainly relies on militia forces, who are usually herdsmen and will only gather when war comes.

The East Africans attacked the port of the Transvaal Republic. It happened that the main force of the Boers was fighting the Zulu Kingdom on the east side. If the Boers wanted to resist the East Africans, they had to recruit militia again.

If troops were mobilized from the eastern front, it would not only be too late, but the Zulus might seize the opportunity and take advantage of the situation to counterattack into the Transvaal Republic.

The troops crossed the river smoothly and there were no casualties except for some unlucky people who fell into the water.

Ernst ordered: "Have the militia ready. When tomorrow day comes, have them cross the river, attack the enemy in the ferry area, take over the ferry, and open up a supply channel."

The militia had to deal with the Boer army in the ferry area. In fact, it would be more appropriate to describe them as border guards. The Boers on the south bank of the Limpopo River were organized in squads and posed no threat to the East African militia at all.

The reason why the main force of East Africa did not choose to attack the Transvaal Republic from the original ferry was to avoid alerting the enemy. Although the troops deployed by the Transvaal Republic on the Limpopo River were almost negligible, due to trade reasons, there were many Boer business personnel in the ferry area.

If East Africa had attacked the Transvaal Republic head-on, some of these people would have slipped through the net and returned to Pretoria to tip off.

The Transvaal merchants were generally equipped with cattle and horses, and they returned to the capital Pretoria very quickly. The Transvaal Republic, which had heard the news, would certainly organize a counterattack earlier, which was disadvantageous to East Africa. Therefore, the main force of East Africa crossed the river first, and the enemies along the river were handed over to the militia. In front of the East African militia, they could not make a big wave.

Siwei Te: "Your Highness, the troops have crossed the river. Please give us the next instructions!"

Ernst: "Continue to execute according to the plan, with Pretoria as the center. The 123rd Division will be the vanguard to control the Boer farms along the way. The 111th Division will move towards Pretoria. The 511th and 513th Divisions will move south to the Vaal River line to prevent the Orange Free State from supporting the Transvaal Republic. The 514th Division will move south along the Drakensberg Mountains and join Felix's troops in the south to prevent the main force of the Boers from returning to support."

In this way, the East African Army formed a cross-offensive posture, attacking a number of Boer settlements including Pretoria from the west and north.

There are not many cities in the Transvaal Republic, and it is even questionable whether it can be considered a city. Even the political center, Pretoria, is actually only at the level of a town in East Africa (some provincial capitals and administrative regional centers in East Africa are towns). It is much better than Harare that Ernst passed through, but much worse than Bulawayo.

Because they mainly engage in animal husbandry, the Boer population is mainly concentrated in farms in rural areas. There is no need to control all of East Africa. As long as their connection with Pretoria is cut off, the Boers can be turned into headless flies.

Of course, to be cautious, East Africa still needs to control some farms. Even if it is a headless fly, it can still hit people if it flies around randomly.

Controlling these farms is not a big problem in practice. The first step is to separate the Germans, Dutch and French among the Boers, and use the Germans, as well as the Dutch and French who are willing to obey East African rule, to temporarily take charge of the farms.

It is impossible for all the people on the Boer farms to be farmers. The hired hands and civilians are the targets of East Africa because their living conditions have not changed much under the rule of East Africa. In addition, although the Boers are a new ethnic group after integration, their main language is still Dutch. The difference between Dutch and German is like the difference between Mandarin in the Far East and Henan dialect, Shandong dialect... in the previous life, which is smaller than Cantonese, Wu dialect...

Most of northern Germany can communicate with the Netherlands without any obstacles. The Low German area (the language of the northern German region) does not end at the border between Germany and the Netherlands, but extends to the eastern part of the Netherlands. Therefore, as a dialect of Germany, Low German is also used by many people in the eastern part of the Netherlands close to Germany. Even the southern German dialect has many common words with the Dutch. The Habsburgs also ruled the Netherlands.

East Africa's unique political and economic structure can guarantee them some privileges, but it cannot be said to be privileges because all citizens of East Africa enjoy these rights equally.

On the one hand, East Africa was increasing its efforts to keep slaves and striving to bring more indigenous people under management. On the other hand, East Africa was actively abolishing slavery and exporting domestic black slaves.

The entire East African Kingdom was built on the oppression of slaves, so all the citizens of East Africa are actually a privileged class. If this country did not have the burden of 20 million black people, it would have disbanded long ago. After East Africa incorporates the lands of the Boers and Zulus into its territory, it is foreseeable that the number of blacks in East Africa will increase again.

Therefore, there is no problem in East Africa to recruit those Boers who know the times, but this does not include large farmers. From the moment the East African Army stepped into the Transvaal Republic, it was digging out their roots. If the British invaded, the Boers could still bargain with the British. The biggest advantage of the British is that they are good at using blunt knives. They can guarantee your interests at the moment, but in the end they will take them back through various means. Once this method fails, the British will break through the defense and tear off their hypocritical faces.

This is a common trait of Britain, the United States and Australia. They are all good at laying mines for their "allies", "collaborators" and "friends" without their knowledge, and detonating them when they need them. As for the original promises, just treat them as bullshit. When did the Anglo-Saxons become synonymous with integrity?

East Africa is different now. It shows the style of Prussian barbarians everywhere. What cooperation? Are you qualified? Get out of here! Of course, East Africa also admits that it is bullying the weak and fearing the strong, provided that there are tough people on the African continent.

(End of this chapter)