Chapter 494 False Information
"The British and French navies have not made any unusual moves, but judging by their momentum, they are indeed concerned about the development of East Africa and are willing to join forces to support Portugal."
"There is no way our navy can intervene in this regard. The final result will still depend on how the land war in East Africa is fought. But with Portugal supported by Britain and France, can East Africa really be settled?"
Faced with the questions from his colleagues, Archduke Ferdinand smiled but said nothing. He did not answer the question. You have to know that the strongest force in East Africa should be the army.
…
The strongest army that Archduke Ferdinand believed in finally joined forces with the Mozambique Army in Songo. The sit-in war did not last long because the large East African force arrived ahead of schedule.
Just a day ago, the large East African force arrived at Songo Fortress ahead of the large Mozambique colonial army. The sudden arrival of tens of thousands of troops at the front line caused quite a stir.
This scared the Portuguese vanguard who still wanted to delay. Kerry originally thought that his own army should arrive first, but the East Africans completed the assembly first, which made him very puzzled.
He frowned and said, "Why did East Africa react so quickly? Or did they already have a large-scale army nearby that could come to support them in time?"
Portugal had been carefully planning this war for several months, hoping to gain an advantage in the central region by taking advantage of the situation by surprise. However, with the arrival of a large force from East Africa, this plan may have failed.
However, why the East African reinforcements arrived at the front line so quickly was a question that puzzled Kerry. After all, Kerry could not see the central railway operating in the rear of East Africa.
Seeing the sudden arrival of the East African French Army, Rhodes said nervously: "The enemy reinforcements have arrived, we must retreat quickly, otherwise Colonel Clement will arrive later and will have no choice but to collect our bodies!"
The situation was stronger than the person, so Kerry had to change his previous style and ordered the troops to retreat eastward towards the city of Tete.
His stern face seemed to be able to squeeze out water, and he said: "We should not stay here for long. Let's meet up with the main force first and see what Colonel Clement has planned!"
Although Rod's troops moved at a snail's pace when they arrived, they were actually good at running away. They retreated more than 40 kilometers in one day and collided head-on with the large force led by Clement.
"Why are you back? Did you take the Songo stronghold? I didn't order you to retreat, did I? Chris, can you explain what happened?" Clement asked sternly.
There is only one possible scenario for the vanguard to retreat, and that is failure due to unfavorable war situation. However, Clement still had hope. After all, Songo was just a small stronghold and it should not be impossible to take it!
Kerry looked at Clement awkwardly and said, "Sir! Songo stronghold is not a small stronghold at all. Its area is not much smaller than that of Tete City, and its defense facilities are obviously more complete than those of Tete City. The most hateful thing is that Songo stronghold does not have only two or three hundred people as the Portuguese merchants said, but at least more than five hundred people. It is impossible to break through Songo stronghold without heavy firepower weapons. We have been deceived by false intelligence."
Kerry was telling the truth, but Clement didn't completely believe it. He continued to ask, "What does this have to do with your sudden retreat? I won't blame you for not being able to capture Songo stronghold in a short time, but you can just stay where you are and solve the problem when we arrive. Why did you run away? And judging from the situation of your troops, there haven't been many casualties."
Rhodes complained, "General Clement, if we don't run away now, I'm afraid all of our brothers will be killed in the Songo stronghold."
Clement was a little unconvinced: "According to what you said, there are at least 500 East Africans in Songo stronghold, so they won't let you retreat, right?"
Kerry: "Sir, the large East African force arrived at Songo stronghold ahead of time, so I had to withdraw the troops."
"Reinforcements?" Hearing this news, Clement was a little uneasy. He asked anxiously, "How many troops have come from East Africa? Are they all gathered in Songo Fortress?"
Like Kerry, Clement immediately thought of how the reinforcements from East Africa arrived at the front so quickly.
Then Kerry said, "According to the news, the East African reinforcements are at least 10,000 in number. The Songo stronghold may not be able to accommodate them. So I am incompetent and can only run away with the troops."
Seeing that what Clement said did not seem to be a lie, he said, "Well, if what you said is true, then it is understandable. I will forgive your punishment this time, but next time you are not allowed to move without my order. Before I give the order, you are not allowed to surrender or retreat even if you fight to the last man."
…
Portugal was in trouble, and East Africa was also in a state of panic. The carrying capacity of the Songo stronghold was not strong, and it could accommodate at most a thousand people. As a result, East Africa directly transported more than 30,000 people from the rear, which far exceeded the limit of the Songo stronghold.
Merk: "We have just arrived, so we should be cautious. After all, the majority of the troops are black. I am afraid they will not be able to keep up with the pace, so we need to let them adapt to the unfamiliar environment first and not let them drag us down."
This is also one of the reasons why the East African army did not immediately annihilate the Portuguese vanguard after arriving at the front line. After several months of training, East Africa also knew the strengths and weaknesses of the black army and its organizational ability was far inferior to that of the East African mainland, especially when tens of thousands of blacks gathered together, it would be even more difficult to coordinate, or to be more precise, it would be a disaster.
In fact, before the battle broke out, the black army was in chaos. The entire camp had turned into a vegetable market just like the area outside Tete before. If a war broke out, there would be no order at all. Some black army members might even turn against their own side and flee.
However, the efficiency of East African blacks was still higher than that of Portugal's black troops. After all, East Africa often organized black slaves to participate in production activities and engineering construction. Therefore, even if it was not necessary to strictly enforce orders by incorporating them into the army, the overall formation could be maintained.
As for why these blacks, who were usually somewhat orderly, showed a tendency to collapse when they arrived at the Songo stronghold, like the Portuguese troops, the East African black army had not undergone large-scale forced march training, so the black army that had just arrived at the Songo stronghold looked to be in a state of disarray, in all kinds of postures, and very tired.
Therefore, the black army, which has consumed a lot of physical strength and energy, is naturally not as comfortable as the usual low-intensity training. This also shows that East Africa has no intention of training them into qualified soldiers. Look at the East African regular army, which also arrived at the Songo stronghold with these blacks. They still appear to be very energetic and disciplined. After all, long-distance training is a necessary training subject.
Merk went on to say, "Get the machine guns ready first. If there are any black soldiers who dare to retreat during the battle, let them know the consequences."
Machine guns are indeed a good thing, but this war is mainly a fight of attrition between the blacks and Mozambique, so the main function of East Africa's machine guns is to deal with the black army in their own hands. They only need to rush forward mindlessly after receiving the order from the front-line commander. If they retreat, they will be shot by the East African Army. As for casualties, that is not within East Africa's consideration. For East Africa, it is just a string of cold numbers.
(End of this chapter)
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