Chapter 1556 General Staff Tropical Rainforest Island Operations Group
The uses and application scenarios of helicopters are far more diverse than Lieutenant Helmut and Paul imagined. In the military field, the emergence of helicopters is even not inferior to tanks.
In the civilian field, helicopters have a wide range of uses and markets, such as firefighting in grasslands, forests, and high-rise buildings; medical rescue and disaster relief; border patrols, smuggling inspections, counter-terrorism, and so on.
There is a great demand for helicopters in East Africa. As a country with a tropical savanna climate, East Africa's overall climate is relatively dry, and wildfires occur in the savanna areas every year.
Helicopters can quickly detect fires and, when equipped with special equipment, can also participate in personnel transfers and firefighting operations.
However, the manufacture of helicopters in East Africa has not yet been popularized. Not to mention civilian use, even the promotion in the military field is relatively lagging behind.
Otherwise, Lieutenant Helmut would not have been so surprised after seeing the helicopter.
Paul said: "This latest model of helicopter is probably still confidential. Even for those of us at the test site, it is difficult to get close to it. There is a special team in charge."
"So, Lieutenant Helmut, please remember not to talk too much after you leave."
As a soldier, Lieutenant Helmut also understood this. He said, "Of course. I won't cause trouble for myself. If I'm invited to tea, it will be too late for anything."
After finishing the discussion, Paul finally asked, "Lieutenant Helmut, what did you send to our test site this time?"
Lieutenant Helmut smiled and lifted the tarpaulin on the boat, and something similar to a backpack-portable pesticide spray barrel appeared in front of him.
Paul recognized the object immediately and said in sudden realization, "It's a flamethrower."
Flamethrower, also known as "flamethrower", is also an equipment developed in East Africa. Of course, flamethrowers have appeared in human history a long time ago. For example, in the Far Eastern Empire, there was a "fire-breathing" device during the ancient Southern and Northern Dynasties, and it was used in wars. In the Song Dynasty, a very mature "fierce oil tank" appeared. In the West, there was also "Greek fire", which was equipped by the Eastern Roman Empire.
During World War I, flamethrowers played a huge role on the battlefield, especially in combating the large number of trenches and tunnels on the battlefields of World War I. Flamethrowers were very effective.
During this period, the British even developed four two-ton flamethrowers and deployed them on the Somme battlefield. However, it is obvious that this fantastic design did not achieve any practical effect and was easily destroyed by German artillery.
Since flamethrowers played an important role on the European battlefield, it was natural that this weapon was learned and improved by other countries after World War I.
East Africa attaches great importance to this type of weapon. In fact, among the types of weapons and equipment that Paul's 3207 Institute focuses on developing, flamethrowers are an important one.
Lieutenant Helmut said, "This is your unit's latest improved Type 29 flamethrower. I believe you are familiar with it. This time we brought four of them at once."
Paul was certainly no stranger to the Type 29 flamethrower. He had conducted countless experiments on the Type 29 flamethrower at the Kars test site over the past month.
There are many areas around the Kars test site where traces of burning can be seen. Those are the masterpieces of the Type 29 flamethrower. Outside the test site, there are also specially built trenches, tunnels and fortresses to simulate the destructive and lethality of the Type 29 flamethrower in a tropical environment.
The Kars Proving Ground served as a testing ground under the 3207th Institute, and the experimental results were fed back to the 3207th Institute branch in Samarinda City via telegram for improvement.
At the same time, the test site also needs to explore ways to deal with flamethrowers, such as how to build firewalls and lay out tunnels to prevent the harm of similar weapons from the enemy.
These data will eventually be summarized in the Tropical Rainforest Island Combat Research Group under the East African National Defense Force General Staff to provide reference data for the East African National Defense Force's operations in the South Pacific region.
The so-called tropical rainforest island combat group is a relatively independent unit under the General Staff.
The reason for its occurrence is that the differences between East Africa and the South Pacific region are too great. For example, there are great differences between the climate, transportation, terrain, etc. in South Pacific and East Africa.
However, the main organizational form, tactics, and weapons and equipment of the East African National Defense Force are basically similar to those of European and American countries, and it pays more attention to large-scale troop operations and local defense.
This is easy to understand. The primary goal of any country's military is to ensure national security and defend the country, followed by invasion and expansion, colonization, external intervention, overseas peacekeeping and other tasks.
Therefore, the primary goal of the East African National Defense Force is to maintain the national defense security of East Africa. As a result, the organization, tactics, weapons and equipment of the East African National Defense Force must naturally be arranged based on the actual situation of the local area.
East Africa has a vast area, almost the same size as Europe, with mostly plateau terrain, flat land, and vegetation mainly consisting of savanna. The population is relatively dense, and transportation is developed. In terms of climate, thanks to the large number of plateaus, most areas of East Africa are more similar to those in temperate countries and regions.
This can be seen from the precipitation and temperature. The precipitation in most areas of East Africa remains at around 600 to 1,200 mm, and the average temperature in the inland area is around 20 to 30 degrees Celsius.
The situation in the South Pacific region is completely different. The precipitation in most areas can reach more than 2,000 mm, and it is not surprising to exceed 3,000 mm. Some mountainous areas even exceed 5,000 mm. For example, in northern Myanmar, the precipitation in Cherrapunji, the world's rainiest place, directly exceeds 10,000 mm.
Overall, the average precipitation in the Southeast Asian region is at least twice that of East Africa, and the temperature is also hotter than in East Africa.
In terms of topography, the South Pacific region is more complex than East Africa. The East African Plateau is more prominent. Except for the relatively undulating terrain outside the plateau, most parts of the country are relatively open and flat.
The South China Sea has mountains and rivers, rugged terrain, and a very fragmented topography. Coupled with the dense forest environment, volcanoes and earthquakes, the situation is even more complicated.
In other words, it is difficult for East Africans, European and American countries, or other temperate countries to adapt to the South Pacific region. The same is true in the military, as they will suffer from acclimatization problems.
In the past, the gap between Nanyang and European civilization was too great, for example, using cold weapons against hot weapons, so European colonists could show off their power in Nanyang. However, with the development of countries in Nanyang, the gap between them and the world is actually shrinking. Combined with the terrain and environment, it is possible that external forces will give them a severe setback in the future.
East Africa regards the South Pacific region as half of its own territory, so it is naturally impossible for it to give up its interests in the South Pacific. Therefore, at the military level, in order to deal with the special situation in the South Pacific region.
The Tropical Rainforest Island Combat Group of the General Staff came into being. This group has great power and can intervene in most military issues in the South China Sea, including but not limited to troop deployment, base site selection and construction, weapons and equipment improvement and procurement, etc.
The 3207 Institute mentioned earlier can be seen as a special research and development department under the management of the Tropical Rainforest Island Combat Team.
Through these news, we can actually see that East Africa has made a big move in the South Pacific region. At the military level, it has been preparing for war in the South Pacific region.
The establishment of the tropical rainforest island combat team is like Germany setting up a special department to deal with the Soviet Union, so as to survey the Soviet Union's climate, terrain, transportation and other areas.
Of course, in reality, Germany obviously does not have such a department. Otherwise, Germany would not have been defeated by the Soviet Union in World War II. Some German soldiers did not even have qualified cotton clothes and froze to death in the ice and rain of the Soviet Union.
Ultimately, it was because they underestimated the enemy. Ernst did not dare to underestimate Southeast Asia, a region that was much more backward than the Soviet Union. The reason was that the United States had suffered too much in Southeast Asia in its previous life.
In its past life, the United States was the most powerful country in the world, but it was taught a lesson by Japan in the Southeast Asia region. The same was true for the British, who were even defeated in the Southeast Asia region. Later, the United States suffered a major setback in the Vietnam War.
A similar example is the war between the Far Eastern Empire and Vietnam. Although the Far Eastern Empire gained more from this war, it still lasted for ten years.
Time speaks volumes. For most wars, dragging on for too long is not a good thing.
Ernst did not want the East African National Defense Force to encounter this situation in the Southeast Asia in the future. Therefore, all unfavorable factors must be identified in advance and solutions must be found. Ernst presided over the establishment of the General Staff Tropical Rainforest Island Operations Group.
Returning to the Type 29 flamethrower, Paul said, "This is the latest improved Type 29 flamethrower. I heard that the institute has optimized its fuel ratio this time. I don't know how effective it is."
"However, in the Nanyang region, the Type 29 flamethrower is also indispensable. Trench warfare like the World War is unlikely to occur in the Nanyang region, but the Type 29 flamethrower is also very useful in dealing with the local rainforest."
Of course, trench and tunnel warfare will occur in the South Pacific, but this will happen in the future, not now. At least until now, the East African army has not encountered such an opponent in the South Pacific region.
In the past, during the expansion of East Africa in the South Pacific, the indigenous people were more inclined to engage in guerrilla warfare and wander in the rainforest, rather than building fortifications and using terrain advantages to confront East Africa.
However, the indigenous combat mode is undoubtedly correct at this stage, because even if they build fortifications and use the terrain advantage to fight against the East African army, the East Africans have no shortage of heavy firepower to suppress the other side. Instead, they are more afraid that they will move to another place after firing a shot.
If you want to build fortifications to fight against a modern army like the East African one, it will be difficult to be effective unless the enemy's weapons are of a similar generation to those of the East Africans.
Lieutenant Helmut said: "You are more familiar with the specific effects of the Type 29 flamethrower. Our army is still equipped with the Type 21 flamethrower."
"In the past, I loved using the Type 21 flamethrower to burn the forest, but the Type 21 flamethrower was too heavy and not durable. The Type 29 flamethrower is much lighter."
Paul said: "This is also the significance of our work. Through continuous progress in materials, structure and formulation, flamethrowers will only become lighter and more powerful in the future."
"Of course, what I'm most interested in is the power of this Type 29 flamethrower. Since they said they've improved the fuel ratio, it should have improved its range and single-target range."
Lieutenant Helmut said, "I brought a lot of new dyes this time. They are all in oil drums and placed at the back of the ship."
Afterwards, the Karls Proving Ground and Lieutenant Helmut's men unloaded the cargo one by one. In addition to the Type 29 flamethrower, Lieutenant Helmut also brought a large amount of food, medicine and mosquito repellent.
In East Kalimantan, there are far more mosquitoes than in East Africa. Mosquitoes in East Africa are rampant, especially in the lake area, while the entire East Kalimantan is deeply affected by them.
Therefore, the demand for mosquito repellent products and some medicines here is even greater than in East Africa.
However, the immigrants from East Kalimantan are lucky in that their sovereign country is East Africa, the only tropical power that has unparalleled means of dealing with tropical mosquitoes and diseases.
In the last century, when East Africa was colonizing inland from the East African Plateau, there was no strong country to support it, and various supplies, especially medicines, were extremely scarce.
By the time East Africa completely occupied and prepared to develop East Kalimantan, World War I was almost over. At the same time, East Africa had become a so-called "primary industrial power." Primary was more like a joke, and the subsequent industrial power was the key.
The Far Eastern Empire in the previous life might have called itself this, for example, a developing manufacturing power. It was both a developing country and a manufacturing power. There was a certain conflict between the two, but neither was wrong.
However, in the early 20th century, East Africa's concept of a so-called primary industrial power had basically no international recognition. After all, developing countries in the past had real standards.
In the early 20th century, a strong country was just a strong country. The international community did not pay attention to some issues concerning people's livelihood and economic quality. Just like Japan was jokingly called poor imperialism in later generations, there was no such saying at that time. Not to mention in Asia, even European and American countries would regard Japan as an opponent of the same level.
Another typical case is the Soviet Union. After completing two industrial plans, the Soviet Union became a so-called "industrialized country." However, people in later generations knew very well that the Soviet Union's industrialization had a big lame problem. Its heavy industry and military industry were both first-class, but its light industry and civilian industry were relatively backward compared with other powers, and even barely reached the second-rate level.
The fact that the Soviet Union reached the world's second-rate level in light industry and civilian industry was not due to the Soviet Union's excellence to a certain extent, but because there were too many countries and regions in the world that were too backward and still in agricultural societies. Therefore, even though the Soviet Union's light industry and civilian industry were far less developed than its heavy industry and military industry, they were still very advanced compared with its neighboring countries.
This surrounding area also includes Eastern Europe, such as Poland, Western Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, etc. Their development level is very low, with only a small amount of industry, and these industries are not necessarily in their own hands, but are invested by businessmen from countries such as Germany and Austria-Hungary. However, once external capital withdraws funds, technology and personnel, the already pitifully small industry is at risk of collapse.
(End of this chapter)
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