Chapter 1501: The Gulf of Aden Garrison
It is obvious that industrial countries have a stronger ability to cope with risks than agricultural countries, and Argentina is a relatively special one among agricultural countries. It is an export-oriented agricultural country, and therefore, it is more vulnerable to economic crises. At the same time, the Far Eastern Empire did not even have a unified national government, but its economy was still doing well.
This also gives the East African government an important inspiration, that is, agriculture must also be corrected at the national level to offset the barbarity and disorder of agricultural capital.
Hans Layton said: "In the agricultural crisis, strengthening market intervention is an important measure to get rid of the economic crisis. The empire should also further strengthen the supervision and constraints on agricultural development during special periods to avoid ineffective investment and waste of resources."
Agriculture also requires initial investment, including seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and farm machinery maintenance. In the current economic environment, if agriculture is allowed to be completely market-oriented, East African agriculture will most likely fall into the same predicament as European and American agriculture. Not only will it fail to generate profits, but it will also suffer heavy losses.
Crown Prince Friedrich said: "Therefore, we must further strengthen the implementation of the Ecological Environment Protection Act to further reduce the supply of the domestic agricultural market and maintain the healthy development of agriculture."
…
1930 was a special year. According to convention, a military parade should have been organized in the capital of East Africa. However, this year's parade was cancelled due to the economic crisis. Instead, Ernst went to the army in person to inspect it.
Bender Town.
This coastal town is located in the northeast of East Africa, on the coast of the Gulf of Aden. It is the northernmost integrated naval and air force military base in East Africa. It was previously the seat of the city of Bosaso in Somalia.
Bender is an important outpost for East Africa to monitor the Gulf of Aden. It further expands East Africa's military sphere of influence to the waters of the Gulf of Aden, normalizing East Africa's military activities in the Gulf of Aden, which is of great strategic significance to East Africa.
Ernst's trip was to this almost deserted place to comfort the local East African grassroots officers and soldiers.
The naval commander of Bender, Chauvin, is briefing Ernst on the local situation.
"Your Majesty, the current population of our Bender town is about 2,000 people, most of whom are military personnel. Both the navy and the air force have military deployments here."
"Bender Town is currently the empire's best port in the Gulf of Aden. It can berth some small surface ships. If the renovation efforts are intensified, it can also be expanded into a deep-water port to berth large warships of more than 10,000 tons."
"However, our town of Bender does not have the ability to independently transform such a large port. Population and funding are the main limitations."
Bender is the Bosaso of Somalia in the previous life. As the main port of the former Somalia, its basic conditions are actually quite good. In the previous life, it could accommodate ships of 50,000 tons.
The geographical location here is also good. In the past, the UAE intended to cooperate with the Somali government to expand the port of Bosaso, thereby expanding the UAE's influence in the Gulf of Aden. It can be seen that this remote place has certain military significance.
However, for a superpower like East Africa, Bender is not good enough. First of all, there is the population problem mentioned by Chauvin.
The population of Bendel under East Africa is just over 2,000 people, mostly military personnel, whereas the population of Bosaso in the previous world was over 500,000, making it a medium-sized to large city in the whole of Somalia and one of the country’s largest port cities, with relatively developed fisheries and freight.
As for why the population of Bender is so small, this is obviously related to the previous "anti-bandit" activities carried out by East Africa here. To put it nicely, it was anti-banditism, but in fact it was East Africa's genocide in the Horn of Africa. Including Bender, there is now not even a single indigenous person to be seen in the tens of thousands of square kilometers of land.
There may be survivors, but after several rounds of encirclement and suppression in East Africa, most of them fled to British Somaliland.
Ernst is quite interested in this East African naval port. After all, it is the only reliable naval port in East Africa in the Gulf of Aden area.
He said to Shavan, "Bender Port has almost no presence among the many ports of the Empire, but it maintains the Empire's military presence in the Gulf of Aden. I now have a certain understanding of your difficulties."
"This port may play a role in the future and become an important cornerstone of the empire's commercial security in the Gulf of Aden."
“As for the renovation of Bendel Port, you will submit a detailed research report later, and I will organize personnel to conduct follow-up inspections and evaluations.”
Shavan said with a happy face: "Thank you, Your Majesty. In fact, the Navy also attaches great importance to Bender. Before this, a preliminary assessment was conducted. According to the calculations of our professionals, if preliminary renovations can be carried out, it can even accommodate large warships of more than 50,000 tons."
"In this way, the Empire can even deploy an aircraft carrier fleet in the Gulf of Aden, and then control the entire Gulf of Aden to ensure the safety of the Empire's merchant ships in the area during wartime, and also deter the countries and forces surrounding the Gulf of Aden."
From a commercial perspective, Bender is certainly not a good port. On the one hand, Bender is geographically remote, sparsely populated, and has almost no transportable goods. On the other hand, the port conditions of Bender Port may seem good now, but they will not be so in the future.
In the 20th century, 10,000-ton ocean-going cargo ships seemed large, but merchant ships of later generations are often over 10,000 tons, and even 10,000 tons can only be considered a small merchant ship. For example, many small coastal cargo ships, fishing boats, and tugboats can reach this level.
Therefore, even if the transformation of Bendel Port is completed, it will still be a small port in East Africa in the future, and even medium-sized ships of around 50,000 tons will not be of much significance.
Of course, if calculated according to military ports, it would be another situation. Even the largest aircraft carrier in the past had a displacement of only 100,000 tons. An aircraft carrier exceeding 50,000 tons could be called a large aircraft carrier.
Of course, in this era, even a country like East Africa, which attaches the most importance to aircraft carriers, does not have an aircraft carrier of 50,000 tons. At present, the largest aircraft carrier of the East African Navy is the Turkana with a displacement of 43,000 tons.
The Turkana is already the world's largest and most technologically advanced aircraft carrier, while the largest aircraft carriers of other countries are only about 30,000 tons.
Therefore, it is not an exaggeration for Shawin to say that after the renovation of Bendel Port, it will be able to berth an aircraft carrier fleet. Of course, if such an aircraft carrier fleet is docked, it is basically the limit of Bendel Port, unless the commercial value of Bendel Port is abandoned.
However, East Africa has never attached importance to the commercial value of Bendel Port. The nearest railway to East Africa is more than 600 kilometers away in a straight line. Not to mention that there are almost no population and economic activities along the line. Therefore, even if a railway is built, it will not be of much value.
This is different from the Libyan Railway. For East Africa, the Libyan Railway is an important link in opening up trade with Europe and an alternative backup option in case the Suez Canal and the Strait of Gibraltar are blocked in times of war.
The port of Bendar, which is located on the Gulf of Aden, can only strengthen East Africa's control over the Gulf of Aden, but it cannot play a decisive role in East Africa's control of the Red Sea shipping routes.
The most important part of the Red Sea route is the Suez Canal, followed by the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, then a series of ports along the Red Sea route, and finally the Gulf of Aden area.
Of course, it cannot be said that the existence of Bender is completely useless. It plays a big role in East Africa's blockade of the Asia-Europe route. In addition, it can also play a role in ensuring the safety of East African merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden.
Today, the waters of the Gulf of Aden are just like in the past, a region where pirates are rampant, especially pirates from Yemen are more active. They can make a fortune by robbing a cargo ship, so many people choose to take risks.
In the last century, there were cases of East African merchant ships being hijacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden, and there were more than one such cases. This situation did not change until the East African navy became strong. After entering the 20th century, no one was so foolish as to touch East Africa.
Even other colonizers in the former Gulf of Aden, such as Britain and France, would restrict their sphere of influence to prevent them from crossing the line and prevent East Africa from finding an excuse to further expand in the Gulf of Aden.
This is even more true after Bendel Port became a military port in East Africa. When pirates see East African merchant ships, they will basically run away to avoid retaliation.
Of course, it is basically impossible to completely wipe out this kind of pirates. Most pirate families are very poor, and they dare to risk their lives on the sea with only a small sampan.
Especially in Yemen, the political instability, frequent wars and conflicts, harsh natural conditions, and British colonization have made Yemen comparable to hell on earth.
Under such circumstances, many local residents find it difficult to maintain basic survival, so any industry that can make a living, even if it involves criminal activities, does not pose any psychological burden to them.
Therefore, if the problem of piracy in the Gulf of Aden is to be completely solved, the poverty problem in the surrounding areas must be solved. Yemen is obviously unable to achieve this, which has made Yemen the most pirate-prone area around the Gulf of Aden.
However, as long as the pirates do not cause any trouble, the East African government will not bother to pay attention to them. For East Africa, there is only one opponent in the Gulf of Aden that deserves its attention, and that is the British.
As for France, which controls Djibouti on the west bank of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, it is not that East Africa is arrogant. East Africa does not even need the navy and air force to take action. It can wipe out France's only stronghold on the Red Sea route from the map by land.
But it is different with Britain. From Egypt to the Red Sea coast, to Yemen and British Somaliland, the British control most areas of the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea coast. Therefore, it is still difficult to eliminate British influence.
But for East Africa, it is only somewhat difficult and requires a large-scale war to achieve this goal. Otherwise, destroying a single British colony cannot completely solve the British presence in the entire Red Sea route.
Against the backdrop of today's diversified international political landscape, it is impossible for East Africa to easily engage in direct large-scale military conflict with any of the great powers. The same applies to Britain. Therefore, even during World War I, Britain did not dare to directly block the Suez Canal and refuse passage to East African merchant ships.
Ernst said to Chauvin: "The Empire's military presence in the Gulf of Aden is still somewhat behind that of Britain and France, especially the Empire's lack of important strategic fulcrums, which makes Bender the most dependent military base of the Empire's navy and air force in the Gulf of Aden."
"Bender is far away from the economically developed areas of the empire and its geographical location is remote. Therefore, the reasonable demands of the base's grassroots soldiers should be met. At the same time, we should eliminate some unfair incidents or bullying behaviors. You and the Air Force should pay close attention to this."
"Of course, the soldiers' training should not be relaxed. After all, this is the Empire's gateway to the Gulf of Aden and the first line of defense for the Empire's navy and air force in the Gulf of Aden. If we are faced with a potential hostile country suddenly launching a war, it could lead to a disaster if we relax."
Although there are almost no nations that dare to provoke East Africa in the waters of the Gulf of Aden, even the relatively powerful Britain, it does not mean that Ernst's words are without basis. Even Japan dared to attack Pearl Harbor in the past. Therefore, it is not ruled out that there are stupid people with dull brains who make some bold moves. Otherwise, there would not be the term "Yerlang arrogance".
Ensuring the army's vigilance and combat effectiveness also needs to be normalized, even for border troops in remote areas such as Bendel, which do not have much military pressure and tasks.
This is what relaxation of military preparedness refers to. This was proven by Ukraine's successful sneak attack on a Russian military airport in the past. It allowed Ukraine to reach the rear without the intelligence department noticing it at all. In addition, the airport personnel in the rear did not respond at all in the first time after the attack. Some personnel were not even present, and the fire department was slow to arrive at the scene. This does not look like the performance of a military unit at all.
This is the concrete manifestation of the so-called "relaxation of military preparations" in the last years of a dynasty in history. If the Russians had made some progress in one link, they would not have suffered such great losses in the end and would not have been embarrassed in the international community.
This is not just a situation that Russia will encounter. The military development of any country should be monitored at all times, and problems should be discovered and rectified.
Therefore, Ernst specially emphasized this point. As for whether the garrison in Bender Port would suffer because of this, that was not what Ernst wanted to consider. The army is not a group that enjoys life because of their duties. Since they have entered the army, they must be mentally prepared. Of course, while strictly requiring grassroots officers and soldiers, the East African government must also do a good job in logistics and other work.
Therefore, Ernst said: "Military affairs and training should be serious, while soldiers' lives should be lively. The two should be clearly distinguished. Therefore, the soldiers' training intensity should be strengthened in normal times, and no fraud should be done. At the same time, they should always remain vigilant to face various possible emergencies."
"At the same time, you should pay more attention to the food in the barracks, the mental health of the soldiers, and the cultural and entertainment activities of the troops to maintain the spiritual vitality of the garrison in Bendel Port. Of course, you should also be wary of the spread of some bad habits in the barracks, such as gambling, alcoholism, etc."
The East African National Defense Force has long worked out a detailed set of procedures for military management, but whether it can be perfectly implemented is inseparable from management and supervision, especially in remote areas such as Bender, where such problems are most likely to occur. Therefore, since Ernst rarely comes here, he naturally has to give instructions on relevant matters.
(End of this chapter)
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