Chapter 497: Preparing for Mediation
As Ernst had thought, the Portuguese army was being dragged in three directions, with East Africa unscrupulously devouring the territory of Mozambique in the north.
At this time, Portugal felt something was wrong. This time, its own military force was not small, and East Africa could still spare some time to deal with it from different directions. Britain and France thought so too, so how many troops did East Africa have?
Because of the outbreak of the Portuguese-Eastern War, East Africa has gradually expanded its army to more than 300,000, of which more than 70,000 are black.
Because the East Africans deliberately sent the black army to their deaths, the black army did not fight very hard. The blacks in the Mozambique army on the opposite side had the same mentality as them, and the two mixed armies ended up being evenly matched.
Clement was quite angry: "These idiots, with weapons more advanced than East Africa, can't beat East Africa?"
He also saw that the blacks were slacking off. East Africa didn't care about the blacks slacking off, but Clement couldn't do that because apart from the black army, Mozambique had no other force to rely on, unless Portugal transferred troops from its homeland. But if Portugal had that ability, there would be no problem in East Africa.
As Mozambique was gradually eroded by East Africa, the western front was also not peaceful. Like Mozambique, Angola also joined the war against East Africa.
Angola was not as lucky as Mozambique because it encountered regular East African troops, the 411th Division and the 412th Division.
So unlike the Eastern Front where both sides just fought with guns, the two East African infantry divisions on the Western Front showed the Angolan colony what modern warfare was.
Mauser rifles were more advanced than the rifles provided by Britain and France to Portugal, and the Portuguese were able to arrange artillery, machine guns, and grenades, which they squandered at will in two infantry divisions.
So after the Angolan army entered East Africa with the support of Britain and France, they were stunned. Is this the level that African countries should have? They don't follow the ethics of war!
"How about we contact the mainland? Have they responded?" the Governor of Angola said angrily.
"Governor, as far as I know, the Germans are probably heading towards Luanda. It's too late for us to seek help from our own country now!"
"Asshole, only Mozambique is their biological son? Obviously, Angola is much more important to the mainland than Mozambique."
It is not the fault of Portugal that the mainland is slow to reply to messages, but the west coast of Africa is too backward and still relies on ships to deliver letters. The east coast can send messages directly back to Europe because of the submarine cables laid in East Africa. Foreigners can also pay to use this line in Dar es Salaam and Mombasa. Therefore, although East Africa is at war with Mozambique, Mozambique can also use the telegram from East Africa to contact the mainland of Portugal and report the war situation to Portugal at any time.
Mozambique is now in a defensive state, but the messages they send to their homeland are mostly bravado, with a sense of superiority. It may be that after fighting too many battles with the black army, they have gradually regained their confidence.
The East African Black Legion and the Mozambique Army are considered to be the dragon and the phoenix, but the East African Black Legion's casualty rate is higher than that of the Mozambique Army.
Angola encountered the regular East African troops right from the start, so the treatment was different. The East African Army was like a fish in water.
It is not known for some reason why Britain and France paid more attention to Angola than Mozambique, but one thing is certain, the British did it on purpose.
The French may feel that they are stronger in West Africa, and the core of East Africa is in East Africa, so weakening East Africa is France's goal. As for Southwest Africa on the west coast, it has no appeal to the French. Of course, this is the deceptive nature of the previous name of East Africa.
The land area of East Africa has actually broken through the regional limitations of East Africa. South Africa, Central Africa and Southwest Africa all have some of it. East Africa is not exclusive to East Africa. There are several forces in the northeast. As for the southeast, there is only the annoying existence of Mozambique.
In the past, Mozambique could help East Africa conceal its inland expansion, but since East Africa broke through to the west coast, the approximate territory of East Africa is no longer a secret, so keeping Mozambique can be said to have no value at all.
However, the British are naturally aware of how alienated East Africa is from Mozambique, so they want to keep Mozambique, which is the fishbone stuck in East Africa's throat.
The reason why Britain and France are interested in Mozambique is that it has a great restraining effect on East Africa, while Angola in the west cannot. The economic center of East Africa is in the east, so Britain and France believe that even if Angola occupies the western part of East Africa, it will not weaken the strength of East Africa.
Therefore, East Africa is not polite to Angola at all, and the difference in treatment is obvious. If the Governor of Angola knew that he was being targeted for this reason, he would probably be furious.
Just when the Governor of Angola was feeling depressed, he suddenly heard gunshots coming from outside the city. He hurriedly asked, "What's going on?"
"Report to the Governor, the Germans are attacking, what should we do now?"
"Defend Luanda first, don't let the Germans enter the city, prepare the ships, and we will go north!"
With the cooperation of two East African army divisions, Luanda, the capital of Angola, was captured on the same day. In fact, as the political center of Angola, Luanda should have had good defense. However, as a coastal fortress, Luanda made a fatal mistake. That is, their enemies have long been from the Atlantic Ocean, so artillery and other weapons are concentrated in the western coastal areas, while the east of the city lacks defensive means. After all, the era when inland natives held spears and bows and arrows is over. Now the eastern part of Angola is inhabited by Germans, not primitive people.
The occupation of Luanda meant that the Angolan colony was basically destroyed, but the Governor of Angola had fled to Cabinda by boat to continue resisting.
The loss of the colony of Angola was a major blow to Portugal, although the situation in Mozambique was slightly better.
After occupying northern Mozambique in East Africa, the Portuguese were sandwiched between Lake Malawi and the Tete region by East African forces.
However, Mozambique had anticipated this, because they voluntarily gave up the northern region. Although Mozambique is not large in area compared to East Africa, it has more than 600,000 square kilometers, while Portugal's mainland is only about 90,000 square kilometers.
Therefore, Mozambique is a vast country with a sparse population, even fewer white people, and the undeveloped northern region is basically a white land. If it were not for the rise of East Africa back then, Mozambique would not even want to send its 300-plus troops to the north.
So now East Africa occupies the North. The Portuguese had thought of this before the war, and they didn't feel much about it.
However, the problem that worries the Mozambique government now is that the number of troops is too small. East Africa is putting pressure on Mozambique from all directions, and even the troops in South Africa have begun to mobilize. This makes Governor Lyford very worried.
Portugal was sure to not win, but the British were not worried at all. Instead, they began to summarize the strength of East Africa.
"We still underestimated the strength of East Africa. So far, we can confirm that the number of East Africans participating in the war is at least 70,000. It is possible that East Africa has mobilized nearly 100,000 people for this war. This number is twice as many as the last time East Africa invaded South Africa. Moreover, we have observed that the East African Army is not entirely white and yellow, but also has many blacks."
"If we include the Western Front, they will definitely have to fight Angola, so the number of troops participating in the battle in East Africa will definitely exceed 100,000."
"If we want Cape Town to expand northward, we need at least 100,000 combat troops. This is not difficult, but I don't know which one has higher combat effectiveness, Indians or Africans."
"Let's mediate the war first! Portugal is doomed to fail. We must maintain Portugal's power in Africa. If East Africa really swallows up Angola and Mozambique, and then we want to force the Germans to spit them out through negotiations, the price we pay will be high."
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
