Chapter 1549: The Defeated Soldiers
Previously, if Italy wanted to carry out such a large-scale genocide in North Africa, it would inevitably be condemned by the international community. The North African region is too close to the so-called "civilized world", and any disturbance would be easily detected.
But Italy's position in the international community is now very delicate. The initially unified Italy is the sixth most powerful country in Europe, and its value in winning over has greatly increased, especially for Britain and France, who are most reluctant to see Italy join the former Allied camp.
In North Africa, the only countries that could stop Italy were Britain, France and East African countries. France's colonies were concentrated in Northwest Africa, such as Morocco, Alberia, and Western Libya (Tripoli), while Britain was mainly in Northeast Africa, including Egypt (including Sudan) and British Somaliland. The Italian colonies were right between the British and French colonies.
Finally, there is East Africa. East Africa will not only not condemn Italy's actions, but will support them instead, because East Africa does not want to be neighbors with Arabs.
The growth of Italy's Red Sea colony was due to East Africa's tacit approval. If Christianity had not been the state religion of the Abyssinian Empire, East Africa might have allowed Italy to annex the Abyssinian Empire.
…
Kalanshu outpost.
This is the closest area to East Africa and the Italian Libyan colony, just over 100 kilometers away from the Italian-controlled town of Jalu, and is also the area through which the future Libyan railway will pass.
This outpost was able to be established entirely based on the water source. The Kalanshu Outpost is located in the Kalanshu Gravel Desert, which is extremely dry and has no surface water source, so it can only be replenished through groundwater.
In 1931, East Africa dug a deep well at the location of the Kalanshu outpost, and thus this place was officially upgraded by East Africa into a military stronghold.
The Kalanshu outpost is permanently garrisoned by 15 soldiers, who are rotated regularly.
At this moment, in the desert between Jallu Town and Kalanshu Outpost, a group of cavalry were moving quickly. They were wearing turbans and had a loose formation. There were about a hundred of them.
"Chief, we should have escaped the Italians' pursuit. We haven't seen any trace of the Italians for half a day." An armed man drove his horse to the leader's side and shouted loudly.
Their leader was called Abyad, who was once the chief of a Berber tribe. After the Italians came to Libya, Abyad formed a resistance army and fought guerrilla warfare against the Italians.
However, the Italians were too powerful militarily, so Abyad's troops were chased by the Italians from the northern coastal mountains to the south.
A few days ago, they arrived at the town of Jalu and wanted to occupy it as a new base. However, they failed due to the stubborn resistance of the local Italian garrison. Then the Italian reinforcements in Augila rushed to Jalu Town to provide assistance.
Abyad's troops could only flee in a panic, leaving behind more than a hundred corpses.
"This damn group of Italian wolfhounds, next time we will definitely tear them into pieces. This time, nearly half of our brothers were killed. We will never forget this new blood debt!" Abyad said cursingly.
"Zaigut, let the brothers rest for a while. They have been chased by the Italians for so long. They need to replenish their strength first."
Following Abyad's order, his subordinate Zagut asked everyone to dismount and stop to rest.
The scorching sun overhead was scorching the earth, and the air in the desert was distorted. The defeated soldiers could only hide in the shade behind their horses and have half a day of leisure.
Zagut and Abyad were busy as they had to discuss their next destination.
"Chief, it won't be a problem if we keep running. Our brothers are exhausted now, our dry food is running low, and we need to replenish drinking water urgently. Our war horses are also almost at their limit."
"If we delay any further, even our survival will be in jeopardy, let alone fighting Italy and driving the Italians out."
Abyad took a sip from the water bag. At this time, the water bag in his hand had dried up a lot, and this was his last drinking water. The situation of others was not much better.
He frowned and asked, "Zaigut, where are we now?"
Zaigut said, "It should be at least 60 or 70 kilometers away from Jallu Town. There are no reference points here, so it's hard to judge the distance."
After being chased by the Italians for so long, it was difficult for Abyad's team to judge how far they had traveled from yesterday to now. They only knew that they had been fleeing south.
The whole way is basically a vast desert, even vegetation has become extremely rare, and there is only sand and gravel as far as the eye can see.
Abyad said, "Bring me the map!"
Zagut took out a crumpled paper map from his pocket, spread it on the ground, and pressed down the four corners with stones.
Abyad found the location of Jallu Town with his hand and said, "This is Jallu Town. We left yesterday evening and ran all night, stopping and starting, for about 70 to 80 kilometers. So our location should be in this area."
His finger pressed on a blank area dotted with dense spots. These spots actually represented the desert area, and on it was marked with a string of Arabic letters in small letters: Kalanshuli Desert.
Abyad sighed and said, "We're in trouble now. From Jallu Town to the south, it's almost no one's land, and we've run so far. It won't be easy to turn back."
"It's all the fault of these Italians. If they hadn't deliberately surrounded us, we wouldn't have been able to escape south. Instead, we would have followed our previous plan and went around the west of Jallu Town, heading towards Mohammedquan Village, and then to the area controlled by the French."
Over the years, after suffering major defeats, many resistance organizations in the Italian-controlled areas would go to French Libya to regroup, because the environment in French Libya was much more relaxed than that in Italian Libya.
After all, there are essential differences between the French and the Italians. When the French colonized Libya, they were really engaging in colonial activities, while the Italians wanted to completely devour the colony and finally make room for living for local immigrants.
In comparison, French Libya is in a completely semi-autonomous state. The French only control major cities such as Tripoli, while more areas are completely ruled by local tribes.
Those tribal-controlled areas were also Abyad's alternative destinations. The reason why they were alternatives was that he had not expected to fail in Jallu, the southernmost stronghold of Italian Libya.
Italy's colonization of Libya was from north to south, so the further south it went, the weaker Italy's control was. This was what Abyad had thought before, and then he chose the town of Jallu as his target.
However, the development of the situation exceeded Abyad's expectations. Although Italy had weak control over southern Libya, it was not something Abyad's troops could challenge. In the town of Jallu, the Italian garrison had more than 50 people, and with the advantages of fortresses and weapons, they managed to hold out until the arrival of reinforcements.
Although Abyad's troops at the time were close to 300, nearly six times that of the Italians, the Italians had strong defenses, and the machine guns alone were enough to suppress Abyad's troops.
"The Italians are like mad dogs in Libya, while the French next door are not like that. They will not extend their influence into the countryside at all. We underestimated the Italians' ambitions for Libya," said Zagut.
Abyad said, "It's too late to discuss this issue now. We can only take one step at a time and see what happens. What do you think about us returning now?"
Zaigut shook his head and said, "Chief, I don't recommend this. First of all, our dry food and drinking water are barely enough to sustain us in turning back. If we want to turn back, I'm afraid we'll have to kill a few horses to replenish our food and water, but this will also reduce our combat effectiveness and mobility."
"Besides, even if we turn back, the Italians will definitely be prepared. By then, our troops will be exhausted, and the Italians will be well-rested and can deal with us better. Besides, we consumed a lot of ammunition yesterday and didn't get any effective replenishment. We can't expect to fight the Italians with scimitars at this time."
In short, the situation faced by Abyad's troops was very bad. It could be said that they were in a dilemma. They could not win the fight, and they didn't know where to run.
After all, they are now in the desert, and it is very difficult to replenish drinking water. It can even be said that there is no water source at all.
Abyad stared at the map, trying to find a breakthrough point. Finally, he set his sights on a small hollow dot formed by a red circle in the south. He said, "What is this place? Is it a village?"
Zagut looked at the place Abyad pointed and said, "I'm not sure. This is because we actually got this map from a caravan. They are actually living maps in the desert, so some of the information on this map doesn't need to be marked."
The caravan's map is relatively simple. After all, because of their business, they are familiar with the local terrain and conditions, such as where to get water, where there are villages, etc. The map is just an auxiliary tool.
But the same could not be said for Abyad's team. They actually came from the north and were very unfamiliar with the local conditions. They relied entirely on maps and compasses to find directions and strongholds along the way.
Abyad said: "This is our only hope now. Call everyone over. Next, remember the location and divide into several groups to find this place. Then, we will meet here before dark."
Abyad could only disperse his people. After all, there were no roads or trees in the desert for them to refer to. If they wanted to find the small dots on the map, they could only divide into several groups and search south.
However, even so, it is not easy to find the small dot on the map, but they have no choice now. There are no locals in Abyad's team, and even the locals may not be familiar with the desert here. Only some caravans may know some routes.
So Abyad could only wait there for his soldiers to pass the message back. After an unknown amount of time, when the sun moved to the south, a team of scouts finally brought back the news.
"Chief, we came across traces of a caravan. It should be a camel caravan. There's camel dung and hoof prints on the ground. It should be a trade route heading south. Perhaps we can find the place on the map."
Abyad was overjoyed and said to everyone, "Let's wait for a while. When everyone else returns, we will head south along the trade route to find a place to stay."
It was not until about two o'clock in the afternoon that almost all the people sent out by Abyad returned, and Abyad immediately asked the person who had brought back the news to lead the way.
After that, they walked about ten kilometers in the southeast direction of five o'clock, and finally came to the place where the caravan was suspected to have passed. There were indeed some camel footprints and feces there.
After confirming the news, Abyad ordered the team to move south in the direction of the footprints.
Along the way, the traces of camel footprints were intermittent, but fortunately they were not completely buried by the yellow sand. In a place with north wind, Abyad was surprised to find that there were traces of fire and some residual coffee grounds on the ground.
Zagut said, "Chief, it seems we are heading in the right direction. There must be a stronghold nearby that we don't know about. It may be a village, a water source, or even a supply point for this caravan."
"I estimate it won't be long before we find the place marked on the map."
Abyad also said, "Looking at the map, this place can't be more than 200 kilometers away from Jallu. We've deviated quite a bit from our route before. Otherwise, we might have arrived here by noon today. Now, everyone, full speed ahead."
After walking another 30 kilometers, a fortress finally appeared before everyone's eyes. Abyad suppressed his joy and asked with some concern, "That place up ahead should be the place marked on the map, but why does it look like a bunker? Could it be Italian?"
It is no wonder that Abyad is so worried. After all, the Italians will not report their colonial activities in Libya to them. Who knows whether the place ahead is a military stronghold built by the Italians.
Zagut said calmly, "Now, who cares if it's an Italian military base? We've gone to such great lengths and have no other choice. If it's the Italians, the worst that can happen is another battle."
Abyad said: "In that case, let's send someone to investigate first. Since there are caravans passing through here, it might be a safe place."
Soon, Abyad sent a dozen of his men, disguised as a caravan, to gather information.
After a while, one of the men came back and reported, "Chief, we have already found out that there is an East African outpost ahead. After passing this outpost, the territory behind is all East African."
"There are only a dozen East African soldiers at this outpost, and they have a well. We may be able to replenish drinking water locally."
The military stronghold that Abyad encountered was actually the Kalanshu outpost in East Africa. As for the people Abyad sent out to disguise themselves as a caravan, the East African soldiers did not recognize them and just thought they were a caravan. After all, there is indeed a trade route passing through here and going to Al Jawf to resell supplies.
Although Abyad is just a Libyan chief who has never seen the world, he is not unfamiliar with this East African country, especially the "Libyan Railway" has been very popular in Italian Libya recently.
Abyad said, "Oh! It's East Africa. I've heard of this country. They are also one of the great powers. They were the ones who collaborated with Italy to build the Libyan Railway."
Italy is not considered a great power in the international community, but to a Libyan native like Abyad, Italy is obviously a great power. This is similar to how the East Indies regards the small European country of the Netherlands as a great power. Therefore, Abyad would say this.
(End of this chapter)
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