Chapter 608 Meeting
The Fet River is the natural border between East Africa and the Orange Free State. In addition to Winburg, an important transportation hub, there are many military outposts along the entire Fet River, Fort Tenison being one of them.
Fort Tenisen is located on the north bank of the Fetter River. It was originally a farm called Tenisen in Transvaal. After the East African Defense Force built fortifications here, it was renamed Fort Tenisen. It is only 79 kilometers away from Bloemfontein and has a very prominent strategic position.
East Africa is so close to the capital of the Orange Free State, which was one of the important reasons why the Orange people were wary of East Africa. However, the Orange Free State is not very large, and Bloemfontein is located almost in the center of the country, so there is no need to move the capital.
Because no matter the four directions of east, south, west or north, they are not good places to go. To the west is Kimberley, which occupies an important position in the economy of the Orange Free State. The income from diamonds alone is quite lucrative.
However, the control of this important source of wealth is in the hands of the British, who only pay a symbolic rent to the Orange government every year.
Moreover, the Vaal River is to the west of Kimberley, which is very close to the New Baden Province (British Bechuanaland) in East Africa, so to the west it faces a double threat from both Britain and East Africa.
As for the east, it is the former territory of Lesotho, now an important part of the Southern Frontier Province of East Africa, and also a place where heavy troops are stationed in East Africa. The South African plateau has a flat terrain, while mountains like Lesotho are military strongholds in many places.
To the south is the Cape Colony. The Orangemen had already defected to Britain, so naturally they would not move in.
Because the Orangemen's original intention was to use Britain's tiger skin to safeguard their own interests and avoid the tragedy of the demise of the Transvaal Republic from happening to themselves.
However, it turned out that the Orangemen were somewhat taken for granted. The main reason was that they underestimated the brotherhood between them and the Transvaal people. The Transvaal people's complaints about the Orangemen were more about the Orangemen's lack of support for the Transvaal people's Northern Expedition.
The contradiction between the two was exploited by the British, and if the Transvaal people wanted to march north, they had to rely on the power of the British. At the same time, the Transvaal people, like the British, were outsiders compared to the Orange people, so the two had a basis for cooperation, and they naturally became enemies with each other.
Ernst was naturally quite interested in this ungrateful plot. Of course, the main reason was that it was beneficial to East Africa. Dividing the Orange people and the Transvaal people would be beneficial to East Africa's planning of the Orange Free State.
Fort Tenisen became a place of communication between East Africa and the Orange people. The Fette River was only a dozen meters wide, and with the East African Defense Force turning a blind eye, the Orange people could easily bring goods over.
In fact, even if there had not been this civil unrest in the Orange Free State, Orange merchants would not have given up cooperation with East Africa.
Not to mention that the Orange merchants had a good impression of East Africa, even the Transvaal people and the British, who had bad relations with East Africa, their merchant groups would not shut out such a large raw material supplier and market in East Africa.
As for the conflict between the Transvaal people and Britain over East Africa, it has nothing to do with them. Whoever feeds them is the mother. As long as East Africa can make them rich, they will not hesitate to sell out national interests.
It's just that civil unrest has broken out in the Orange Free State, and trade with East Africa used to be secretive, but now they can take advantage of the chaotic situation to be more unscrupulous.
In mid-March, the East African Defense Force on the border received an order to show goodwill to the Orangemen, but the preparatory work was not carried out until April. After all, the Orangemen uprising was an emergency, and East Africa had no relevant plans for this.
Therefore, the relevant assistance was delayed for some time, but East Africa did not do nothing. After the government meeting, the East African Defense Force provided some conveniences to the Orange people in terms of ammunition and artillery shells.
The Orangemen's weapons came from a variety of sources and they had no relevant military industry, so they relied on imports, including some weapons and equipment imported from Germany.
Therefore, East Africa can provide some German-style weapons and ammunition. Although they cannot meet the needs of the Orangemen, they can solve urgent problems.
These ammunitions were mainly allocated by the East African Defense Force on the front line from its own ammunition stocks for use by the Orangemen.
"General Herbart, thanks to the help of East Africa this time, we were able to deal with the British and the traitors. However, the ammunition your country provided last time was only enough for one-sixth of our troops, and this was with considerable economy. Moreover, we in Orange do not have many German-made weapons, and the loss is quite high. Can your country provide more guns?" Orange representative Judley asked Herbart, the military governor of Tenisenberg.
"Please be patient, Mr. Judley. We know your difficulties, but you also have to understand our difficulties in East Africa. It's not that we in East Africa don't want to help you Orangemen, but this incident happened too suddenly. We had to report it to the government, and it took a lot of time to go back and forth.
The government just sent a telegram agreeing to help you, but you also know that this is the border, and the core of our East Africa is in the east, so the preparations are not sufficient.
Finally, the Ministry of Defense ordered that some weapons and ammunition from our garrison's inventory be used to support the Orangemen's struggle for freedom. These weapons and ammunition were all used by our active troops, which shows the efforts we made. "Herbart explained to Judli.
Judley said with a worried look on his face, "It's not that I want to embarrass your country, but now the war has entered a very difficult situation. Although we Orangemen are brave and good at fighting, it is difficult to change the situation in one fell swoop in the face of the continuous firepower advantage of the British and German coalition forces. We don't have much supplies in our hands. Now the war has been going on for a month. Even with your country's previous support, there is not much left. If this happens, I'm afraid that our previous preparations will be in vain."
Herbart had foreseen this, because the Orange uprising was too frivolous, and of course, this was also related to the national conditions of the Boer country.
None of the Boer states had strong state organs, and this was even less true for the Orange Free State. The reason why this uprising was launched was the result of collusion among local landowners.
The relationship between them was one of equality rather than subordination, so overall they were fighting each other. Fortunately, the number of the Orangemen's opponents was not large, otherwise the uprising would have been suppressed long ago instead of spreading to the entire Orange Free State.
However, the Transvaal people still have advantages over the Orange people. First of all, they have the representative figure of Pretorius the Younger, who can unite the former ministers of the Transvaal Republic and form the Provisional Government of the Transvaal Republic. They also have a standing armed force such as the Transvaal Restoration Army.
The central government of the Orange Free State was hollowed out by the British and the Transvaal people. Most of the officials of the former Orange Free State government were placed under house arrest in Bloemfontein by the Provisional Government of the Transvaal Republic and became mere decorations.
Therefore, the Orange resistance force can only be composed of local Orange forces that are dissatisfied with the British and the Transvaal people. However, local forces have limitations after all and are unable to control the overall situation and confront the Anglo-German coalition forces.
The Orange local armed forces in the north are in a better situation. With East Africa behind them, they can more easily obtain material support, while many forces in the south are simply still in a wait-and-see stage.
This is also the reason why the Orangemen are eager to seek help from East Africa. If they want to break the situation, they cannot do without the support of East Africa, otherwise they will definitely be liquidated by the British and the Transvaal people.
(End of this chapter)
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