Chapter 700 Dragoon

Province of South Prussia.

The city of Nyeri was a town in southwestern Kenya in the previous life. It was the capital of Kenya's Central Province and a distribution center for regional coffee, tea, sisal, grains, and livestock products. Like in the previous life, the city of Nyeri was also a relatively agriculturally developed region in East Africa.

The largest military horse farm in East Africa is built on the vast grassland 35 kilometers southeast of Nyeri City, breeding more than 30,000 horses.

Hermann, director of Nyeri Military Horse Farm, met with personnel from the East African military.

Major General Mars: "According to the government's order, two new cavalry divisions were established on the spot. We will start a six-month military training here."

The Province of South Prussia enjoys a geographical advantage. To the north is the largest livestock base in East Africa. The Province of South Prussia is located on the northern edge of the suddenly rising East African Plateau. It has Nairobi as its capital and also has the prosperous city of Kisumu on the shores of the large lake (Lake Victoria). The economy of the province is also very developed in the whole of East Africa. Together with the Eastern Province to the east (with its capital Mombasa), it forms the core of the northern industrial belt.

Horses selected from northern pastures can receive plateau training nearby. After all, the plateau climate is somewhat different from that of the plains, so the South Prussian province has always been an excellent training place for East African cavalry.

In fact, the province of South Prussia also had its own highland military horse farm, but the plantation industry in South Prussia was more developed, so it was not very famous.

The tropical plateau terrain of South Prussia is very suitable for the breeding of military horses. The temperature here remains around 10 degrees all year round, which is relatively cool and is an environment that war horses prefer.

Just like in the previous life, Kenya has the best marathon training ground in the world. I don’t know if this environment has any impact on the horses, but the conditions at the Nyeri Military Horse Farm are indeed much better than those at the northern ranches.

"The two newly established divisions are assigned to the Northern Military Region. Their new numbers are the 221st and 222nd Divisions. They are mounted infantry formed in imitation of European dragoons. They are new mobile units formed in accordance with infantry training methods combined with the mobility of cavalry."

In fact, the 221st and 222nd Divisions are the "Dragoons" of Europe, or more generally speaking, mounted infantry.

There were four cavalry divisions in East Africa before, three in the Eastern Military Region and one in the Western Military Region. The Guards Division also had a separate cavalry brigade, which was actually no different from the cavalry division in the general sense. So before 1887, there were actually five cavalry divisions in East Africa.

The previous East African cavalry still belonged to the category of traditional cavalry, while this time the 221st and 222nd Divisions belonged to mobile infantry. There is a fundamental difference between the two.

Before this, the purpose of the existence of the East African Cavalry Division was to deal with the indigenous people who were still in the era of cold weapons. Now the enemies in East Africa have changed from cold weapons to modern armies with hot weapons, so the East African military must also make adjustments.

There are also great differences in weapons and equipment between the two. The most obvious difference is that the East African Dragoons are equipped with engineer shovels. When they advance to a strategic location and switch to defense, they can use the engineer shovels to build fortifications.

The mattock is a traditional tool of European dragoons. It originated in ancient Rome and is still mainstream in Europe, where tradition is highly valued.

The engineering shovel was not taken seriously until 1869, when the Dane Mads Linamann invented an ordnance shovel, which was then used on a large scale in the Tsarist Russian army.

Influenced by its previous life, the design of the East African engineer shovel is quite "bold". According to the needs of the army, various "improvements" have been made to adapt to the needs of different troops.

The new battlefield environment requires every soldier to carry digging tools with them, so that they can quickly build shelters to save their lives. However, this new way of fighting still requires an adaptation process, and in those armies with a long tradition, the resistance to building trenches is particularly strong.

The East African Defense Force, however, did not have such a "conservative" concept. As a new army formed by the "grassroots", it actively absorbed the pragmatism of the Prussian Army, so East Africa also paid attention to practicality and convenience in its weapons and equipment.

Herman: "General, rest assured, we will cooperate with you. However, we can only provide training grounds. The relevant infrastructure is not perfect, especially providing living and training facilities for two divisions at one time. This is very difficult for us."

"You don't have to worry about that. We have plenty of manpower to handle these issues ourselves. We just need the cooperation and guidance of the people at the horse farm. Otherwise, if we make a mess here, you will have a hard time explaining it." said Major General Mars.

Major General Mars brought with him more than 8,000 new recruits, who would serve as the main force of the labor force, as well as 2,000 veterans drawn from the 123rd Division and the Guards Division. They would become the backbone of the two new cavalry divisions and lead these new recruits to grow rapidly.

With the cooperation of Neri Military Horse Farm and Neri Municipal Government, the housing problem was basically solved in just one week. Because the northern part of Neri City is a forest area, it is convenient to obtain local materials. At the same time, other missing materials and equipment can be supplemented through the northern railway.

The "taming" of these new recruits began.

Major General Mars: "With the development of military technology, the improvement of rifle performance, and the vigorous development of machine guns and artillery, the role of traditional cavalry is actually being greatly weakened. The five cavalry units currently in our country are actually semi-transitional cavalry units, and the two cavalry units formed this time are officially developing towards the European cavalry model."

"Although dragoons are different from traditional cavalry, their role on the European battlefield has become increasingly prominent and they are more adaptable to the development of the times. This is an important reason why the five cavalry units were not built according to European cavalry standards."

After all, the East African Defense Force had never seen any other cavalry units except the Transvaal people. In fact, the Boer cavalry was not regular, and the Zulus they faced were also powerful infantry.

“So you should not think that the status of dragoons is lower than that of traditional cavalry. At least that is not the case in East Africa. Of course, you should also take care of your horses and pay attention to hygiene like traditional cavalry.

War horses are your partners, your partners in life and death. Horse management must be strictly carried out in accordance with regulations and procedures. The stables must be cleaned on time every day, the hay and water troughs must be filled, the saddles must be regularly maintained, the storage room must be kept dry and ventilated, and the place where the horses live must be kept clean and hygienic to prevent the spread of diseases. Horse excrement must be cleaned up in a timely manner to ensure the cleanliness of the stables. "

In Europe, the status of dragoons varies from country to country. However, in mainstream European countries such as Germany and France, the status of dragoons is not as high as that of cuirassiers, lancers, hussars, etc.

In Britain, the status of dragoons has been greatly improved and they are classified as heavy cavalry. However, it is easy to understand that Britain is an island country and is different from the European continent. The Swedish dragoons are also quite special. In actual use, the Swedish dragoons are used according to the tactical purposes of light cavalry and musketeers.

In general, dragoons are in a rather awkward situation, similar to when the paratroopers and marines were first formed.

However, at the end of the 19th century, dragoons finally began to be taken seriously by various countries and were vigorously developed. This situation would continue until after the First World War.

However, the development of cavalry is a "sunset". With the development of vehicle technology in the future, various weapons and tactics that can restrain cavalry will no longer be needed. But this is not a problem that countries are considering in the current era. For example, the East African Defense Force wants to use cars to replace horses, but this is impossible to achieve in terms of current technology, quality and output.

(End of this chapter)