Chapter 1530 High-Latitude Combat Issues
Commander Cai's face changed. This intelligence from Consul Cruz revealed a lot of information. The most important thing was that it confirmed Japan's ambition towards Shencheng. He had no doubt about the intelligence acquisition capabilities of such a powerful country in East Africa.
"Why are you helping us?" Commander Cai asked in a low voice, leaning sideways. There is no free lunch in the world, and he does not think that East Africa wants nothing.
Consul Cruz explained calmly: "There is no need to think too much about the situation in the Far Eastern Empire, especially your department."
For a person who is about to starve to death, when there is an extra steamed bun in front of him, there is no need to consider whether the bun is poisonous or not. The right thing to do is to fill his stomach first.
Consul Cruz was unwilling to say more, and Commander Cai did not dare to ask too many questions, but they finally accepted the "military aid".
…
Ernst, the mastermind behind this targeted military aid, was at the Juba training base in the Nile Province watching the exercises of the East African Defense Seventh Army and the Sixth Armored Division.
With the development of the times, the organization of the East African Army was finally upgraded from the division level to the army level. The largest combat unit in East Africa used to be the division level. Except for the temporary army organized in wartime and the special existence of the Guards Division, there was no army in East Africa in peacetime.
With the development of the times, the improvement of military professionalism, the increase in arms and the need for coordinated operations, East Africa reorganized its original army into eleven armies, including the Guards Division, which can also be regarded as a separate army.
Then there are the First Army, the Second Army... until the Tenth Army. In addition, there are nine armored divisions in East Africa. In terms of the size of armored forces, it ranks first in the world. The second is Germany and France, with four armored divisions each.
On the banks of the Nile River, the 7th East African Defense Army is making various deployments against the 6th Armored Division. Today is a confrontation match to test the East African infantry's counter-attack capabilities against armored forces.
Ernst stood on a slope in the distance, holding up a telescope, looking at the confrontation between the two sides in the training ground. He was very satisfied with the results of the army's exercises.
However, he still asked the officers of the exercise command: "In the complex tropical terrain, our army has sufficient experience and is well prepared. There are not many problems with the response plans and emergency plans."
"But you say, if the imperial army enters mid- and high-latitude countries and regions to fight in the future, will there be problems? Especially in cold climate regions like Northern Europe and Russia."
In response to the Emperor's question, the East African generals could not give a definite answer.
Monte, commander of the Seventh National Defense Army, said: "Your Majesty, it is difficult for us to give an answer to the high-latitude combat capabilities of the Imperial Army. If it is in the mid-latitude temperate zone, there should be no problem. As for the low-latitude areas, tropical and subtropical areas, the Army is confident that it can deal with any scale of war."
"Although the empire is vast and covers many latitudes, the empire's homeland, including colonies, is basically concentrated in tropical areas. Only a small part of the territory is distributed outside the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. The only territory in the high-latitude cold zone is Alaska."
"Therefore, the climate distribution characteristics of the empire determine that the imperial army and military-industrial system tend to be located in mid- and low-latitude regions, with very few involvement in high latitudes."
"Although Alaska has a suitable climate and latitude, it is too far away from the mainland to meet the needs of the Imperial Army. The cost is too high."
As a tropical power, East Africa can barely simulate a temperate combat environment. For example, most of the land in the southern part of East Africa, south of the Limpopo River, is south of the Tropic of Capricorn. Coupled with the altitude of the South African plateau, the temperature is basically the same as that of the temperate zone, but the precipitation is relatively low.
Then there is the Ethiopian Plateau region in northern East Africa, which has an average altitude of more than two thousand meters, so it can also simulate a temperate combat environment. Parts of the inland plateau of East Africa can also do this.
Therefore, the East African Army will basically have no problems in operating in mid- and low-latitude areas.
The situation is completely different at high latitudes. Alaska, the only high-latitude land in East Africa, is more than 10,000 kilometers away from the mainland, not to mention that the transportation between the two is not smooth.
If you start from the west coast of East Africa, you need to pass through the Strait of Magellan or the Panama Canal to finally reach Alaska.
However, the Strait of Magellan has poor navigation capacity and great natural risks, and the Panama Canal is controlled by the Americans. Obviously, the United States will not agree to the East African Navy passing through the Panama Canal.
Starting from the east coast, one has to pass through the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, and in the middle one has to pass through the South China Sea, or take a detour through the Oceania waters, which is also quite difficult.
It would be almost impossible to build a training ground in Alaska to enhance the East African Army's high-latitude and cold-zone combat capabilities, unless East Africa only sends a small-scale army to Alaska for training.
Commander Monte said: "For the Imperial Army, especially the Army, high-latitude combat is difficult to experiment on home soil, and the demand for this is relatively small."
"The scope of our territory determines that the main opponents of the imperial army have little to do with those high-latitude countries, and will not easily enter the high-latitude areas."
"If we only consider homeland defense needs, then we have even less need to fight in high latitudes."
He is right. Under normal circumstances, it is basically impossible for East Africa to have a military conflict with high-latitude countries because the two are far apart and there is a temperate zone in between as a buffer.
Just like East Africa's sphere of influence in the Middle East borders the Soviet Union, even if the two countries really have a dispute over the Middle East and fight, the main battlefield will only be in the Middle East or Central Asia.
As for the East African Army pushing all the way to Moscow, that is really a fantasy. Similarly, even if the Soviet Union drove East Africa off the Asian continent into the sea, it would be impossible to bypass the Indian Ocean and launch an attack on the East African mainland.
Monte went on to say: "When it comes to high-latitude warfare, it is obvious that these are things that high-latitude military powers such as the Soviet Union, Germany, and Sweden should consider. We in East Africa occupy nearly half of the African continent, and there are no decent opponents around us."
Sweden's military strength is not weak. Although Sweden's presence in the international community is not high today, it was once a relatively powerful presence in Northern Europe and the Baltic region. Before Peter the Great, Sweden was even able to suppress Tsarist Russia and occasionally went to the Holy Roman Empire in Central Europe to show off its military power. The Baltic Sea is almost no different from its inland sea.
It was not until the time of Peter the Great that Russia gained access to the sea for St. Petersburg through the Northern War. At the same time, the war consumed Sweden's national strength, causing it to completely lose its hegemony over the Baltic Sea, and Sweden became a second-rate country in Europe.
Currently, Sweden has only 20,000 to 30,000 troops nationwide, but their cold-zone combat capabilities should not be underestimated. In addition to Sweden's own good industrial capabilities, its complex terrain and harsh climate are also important factors that enable Sweden to stay out of European disputes.
This can be seen from the war between Finland and the Soviet Union in the previous life. After all, the main supporters behind Finland are Germany and Sweden, and Sweden is obviously stronger than Finland.
At least in the Scandinavian Peninsula, Sweden is the most representative country with the most outstanding comprehensive strength. Even if it cannot resist foreign enemies in local warfare, it can still crush the enemy's good teeth.
Of course, in general, Sweden's strength is not enough among the world's military powers today, and the reason why Monte mentioned this is mainly because of the qualifier of high-latitude operations.
He said: "In terms of high-latitude operations, the Soviet Union is definitely the strongest among the cold-zone countries. Although northern Germany is also at high latitudes, its overall climate characteristics tend to be temperate."
"And the Nordic countries, Switzerland, Denmark, and Norway, are better at combat in related fields because they live there, are familiar with the complex local terrain, and have rich experience in wilderness survival."
"However, if they leave the comfort zone of Northern Europe and fight in the middle and low latitudes, they will be completely inadequate and can only bully some backward countries."
In fact, there are very limited countries in the high-latitude cold zone. Globally, the only countries that meet these two requirements are Canada, parts of Chile and Argentina, the Soviet Union, and the three Nordic countries.
Canada, Chile and Argentina have no relevant military achievements to back them up, and their geographical locations are generally safe, so they are less likely to encounter war and conflict.
So Monte said: "High-latitude and cold-zone warfare basically takes place in the northern part of Eurasia. We in East Africa have almost no chance to deal with these countries, unless countries such as Canada or the United States attack Alaska."
Japan, the Soviet Union, Canada, and the United States can all pose a threat to Alaska's security, but, at least for now, these countries will certainly not offend East Africa for Alaska.
Not to mention Canada, the United States rarely fights wars in this era, especially one-on-one with military powers. Japan has great ambitions, but its strength is not enough in the face of East Africa.
As for the Soviet Union, in fact, some people in the Soviet Union actually proposed that East Africa "return" Alaska to the Soviet Union. Their reason was that Alaska was sold privately to the Rhine royal family by the Tsar without the consent of the Soviet (Russian) people. This was an act of treason, and therefore the territorial transaction of Alaska was illegal.
However, this argument did not have much market in the Soviet Union. First of all, the Soviet Union itself did not have much historical grievances with East Africa, and the two countries had never even gone to war. On the other hand, let alone Alaska, even the Far East and Siberia were unfamiliar places for many Soviet people, not to mention Alaska, which was separated by the Bering Strait.
The reason why some people within the Soviet Union put forward such arguments was entirely due to ideological and political speculation.
After all, in the eyes of the Soviet Union, East Africa was a standard capitalist and feudal empire, similar to Britain. The only difference was that Britain had many grievances with Tsarist Russia in history. Therefore, the Soviet people's attitude towards Britain was even worse. Britain was basically "bad as fester."
This perception is not entirely related to ideology. After all, there are many countries in the world that hate Britain, including the Far East Empire, Germany, France, the United States, East Africa, India... Most countries and regions in the world have a not much better evaluation of Britain than the Soviet Union.
Only Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, which are Britain's own colonies, are one family with Britain.
Ernst could not find any loopholes in Monte's reasons, but he did not think that there would be no such opportunities in East Africa in the future. After all, World War II was not far away.
Today, Adolf of Germany is in the limelight and is very likely to become the new Prime Minister of Germany. However, there will inevitably be a war between Germany, the Soviet Union and France. There is also Benito in Italy, civil unrest in Spain, internal problems of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, etc. It is impossible for the whole of Europe to maintain the current peace situation. Outside Europe, Japan's war against the Far Eastern Empire has already begun.
Therefore, in the new round of world changes, East Africa must prepare in advance and even participate in the war. This requires East Africa to speed up its advance layout in the military field.
Ernst said to Monte and others: "In the future, the Empire will be a world power, not just a regional power. Therefore, the future activities of the Imperial Army may not be limited to low and medium latitudes, but may also involve high latitudes and cold regions."
"The army should prepare itself mentally in this regard. Although it is difficult to simulate high-latitude and cold-zone environments on the mainland, it should not be used as an excuse to not conduct targeted training."
"An important goal of our national defense force construction is to build a world-class strong army. What is world-class? It means to compare with other military powers."
"And the world's major military powers, except for the Empire, are all located in the temperate and frigid zones at mid- and high-latitudes."
"If we are only satisfied with fighting in low and medium latitudes, the Imperial Army can learn from the United States or the United Kingdom. This will save a lot of military expenses. After all, we in East Africa do not have much national defense and security needs on land. The colonial army can basically solve crises in various regions."
Monte and others listened to Ernst's lecture with frowns on their faces, but they could not find any reason to refute. As Ernst said, the budget of the Imperial Army was originally high. If it was only satisfied with self-defense, it would not need the current scale at all, and even most of the armored divisions could be cut.
Blainey, the commander of the 6th Armored Division, said: "Your Majesty is right. The Imperial Army should not rest on its laurels. If we want to build a world-class strong army, then we cannot limit ourselves to fighting in low- and medium-latitudes, but must be able to cope with all terrains and climates. But do we really want to build Alaska into a new training ground?"
The first thing Blainey thought of was Alaska. After all, Alaska currently belongs to the territory of East Africa. It is large enough, has complex terrain, and its climate is completely in line with the characteristics of the frigid zone. The only drawback is that it is too far away from the mainland of East Africa.
In response to this question, Ernst had an idea. He said, "If you want to find a place suitable for the Imperial Army to train, I have a good idea."
"That is South America. The southernmost tip of South America meets our needs very well. It is even in the Antarctic range, with diverse terrain and a cold climate. Moreover, it is not far from East Africa, and sea transportation is also very convenient."
Monte said: "However, it is not without problems. For example, after all, the country belongs to Argentina and Chile. For security reasons, they may have doubts about our training troops there."
This is normal. After all, which country would dare to allow a major military power to place its troops on its territory for training exercises? What if the exercise is fake?
Ernst was not too worried about this: "We can contact the two countries first. As long as one country agrees, our goal will be achieved. As for the security issue, we can also show sincerity."
(End of this chapter)
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