Chapter 648 Report on National Defense and Military Changes in 1883
Following Ernst's request, the Ministry of Defense and the Army General Staff formulated relevant military movements over the East African land in 1883.
Alman and Siweitt made a detailed report on this military change:
"Your Highness, for this troop mobilization, we have made the following deployment according to your request. The military forces in Gezira City, which borders the Nile Province of Egypt and Sudan, will be strengthened. If the British invade East Africa from the north, Gezira City will be the only passage," said Siewert.
The city of Gezira is located along the Nile River, very close to Khartoum, an important city in Sudan. To the east of Gezira is the Ethiopian Plateau, also known as the Abyssinian Empire, to the west is the Nuba Mountains, and further west is the Kordofan Plateau.
The plain terrain of Gezira City is particularly prominent. It is naturally an important military route, and it is a natural barrier to the Ethiopian Plateau to the east or the Nuba Mountains to the west.
The Kordofan Plateau is covered with desert, and the British army would not have the patience to launch a surprise attack on East Africa through the desert. Moreover, the Nile Province area bordering East Africa and the Kordofan Plateau has almost no population.
Most of them are concentrated near the eastern city of Gezira and the southeastern city of Juba, which means that even if the enemy ventures across the Kordofan Plateau into the Nile Province of East Africa, they will still face a barren savannah area, and the Nile Province is crisscrossed with rivers and full of swamps and wetlands.
The difficulty of suddenly entering the hot and humid western part of the Nile Province from the arid desert area was no less than the "Long March", and the conditions were even worse. Ernst himself could not imagine that such an army existed in the 19th century.
"In theory, it is feasible to borrow the passage from the Abyssinian Empire, but there are many factions within the Abyssinian Empire. We can quickly get news of any disturbance. In addition, we have troops deployed on the border with the Abyssinian Empire, so it is unlikely that we can raid East Africa from here."
And there is one thing Siwei has not mentioned yet, that is, the Abyssinian Empire may not dare to lend the road to the British.
I'm afraid the Abyssinian Empire is more afraid of the situation where the British use Yu as an excuse to attack it. The Abyssinian Empire was destroyed once by the British, which led to the change of dynasties in the Abyssinian Empire. Therefore, the Abyssinian Empire is much more vigilant against the British than East Africa.
"This is our military deployment in the area bordering Sudan. Overall, it is very reliable. If an accident really happens, we will be able to respond in time and build a second line of defense in Juba."
Juba is also an important military town in East Africa. The most important thing is that East Africa trains tropical multi-terrain combat troops here.
Of course, the infrastructure construction of the most important Nile River province only reaches Juba Province, and most of the northward transportation relies on water transportation.
The White Nile River basin covers almost the entire Nile Province, so the transportation in the Nile Province is extremely dependent on water transportation. The connection between Juba, the provincial capital, and Gezira, the largest economic city, depends on the White Nile River.
This makes Juba the only water and land transportation hub in the Nile Province. To enter the hinterland of East Africa from Gezira, one must pass through Juba, and then from Juba to the Great Lakes region in the core area of East Africa.
Entering the Great Lakes region means that you can reach other core areas of East Africa from here, because the Great Lake (Lake Victoria) shipping in the Great Lakes region connects the Northern Railway and Central Railway of East Africa.
"In the northeast, we need to pay attention to the Northern Province. The Northern Province is mostly desert, so it is not suitable for marching. Only Dire Dawa is close to the British colony of Somaliland. However, Dire Dawa itself is a military stronghold, and transportation to the inland is inconvenient, so we don't need to worry too much."
It is difficult for East Africa to transport supplies to Dire Dawa on its own, let alone enter East Africa from Dire Dawa. This is also an important reason why East Africa supports Dire Dawa in developing its own economy.
The existence of Dire Dawa city is more for strategic deterrence, and its secondary purpose is to serve as a border for military defense.
"The entire north will focus on the cities of Gezira and Dire Dawa. The rest of the country will not need much change, and the military operations along the eastern coast will not likely see major changes."
The east is the current economic core of East Africa and has always been the region with the strongest military strength in East Africa. Therefore, the General Staff and the Ministry of National Defense do not recommend major changes. In other words, if the eastern region is in hand, East Africa will have a chance to turn the tables.
Of course, in addition to the army, the navy's strength in the east cannot be ignored. The strength of the East African navy is currently in the forefront of the world, and it is considered a hegemon in the western Indian Ocean region. Therefore, the main means of defense along the East African coast has changed from relying on the near-shore defense system to relying on the navy and the Indian Ocean's offshore defense system.
In other words, East Africa has expanded its national defense system horizontally toward the ocean, greatly improving the security of the eastern coast of East Africa and establishing a security strategy to keep enemies out of the ocean.
“Our main focus at the moment is to strengthen the military defence system in the south, especially the core industrial province in the centre, Matabele Province.
Therefore, we plan to draw one main division from the north and northwest to the south and enter Matabele Province. On the one hand, we should be on guard against possible attacks on Matabele Province by Portuguese forces in the Mozambique region east of Matabele Province. On the other hand, we can use the Central Railway to maneuver into Hechingen Province (Republic of Transvaal) at any time to support the hypothetical war zone in the south. "
The south, especially Matabele Province, is the most important region in East Africa. Of course, Ernst himself has his eyes on Hechingen Province. The resources in Hechingen Province are one level higher than those in Matabele Province and it is a pool of raw materials for the future industrial development of East Africa.
It’s just that because of Ernst’s restrictive development of Hechingen, the potential of Hechingen was hidden, which led to the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff’s insufficient understanding of Hechingen.
This is a good thing. If our own people don't know the potential of Hechingen Province, then other forces will have no way of knowing it. If the Boers and the British only knew that there was the world's largest gold mine in Hechingen Province, I'm afraid Britain would have taken action long ago.
"The central and southern provinces, led by Matabele Province, were developed relatively late, so the immigrant composition is mainly new immigrants since 1873. The civilian military training and response capabilities to war are not as good as those in the east, so we plan to carry out reserve military training in the central and southern provinces in the near future."
The Central and Southern provinces are different from the Eastern Province of East Africa. The Eastern Province of East Africa developed completely from colonies, while the Central and Southern Provinces are very different.
Before the establishment of the Central and Southern Provinces, East Africa had already used conventional military forces to clear out the indigenous people and hostile forces in the Central and Southern Provinces.
The eastern provinces of East Africa even mobilized nearly hundreds of thousands of militia forces to crack down on indigenous forces in the country, so the east has always had a complete mobilization mechanism.
This means that when the people in the eastern provinces are faced with the threat of war, they can respond quickly to the war, as many of them have experienced fighting with indigenous tribes and kingdoms.
The people in the provinces in central and southern Africa that were later incorporated into East Africa obviously cannot do this because when they arrived in East Africa, most of the existing threats had already been eliminated by East Africa. Therefore, the reorganization and upgrading of the reserve and militia armed forces in central and southern East Africa becomes more urgent.
After all, the main threats to East Africa now are the Cape Town Colony and the Portuguese colonies in the south. In addition, the central and southern parts of East Africa have developed into important industrial bases, core areas of mineral resources, and areas with concentrated population distribution, so all this is necessary.
"Finally, we plan to establish two new mobile cavalry divisions, focusing on the Hechingen Province and the New Baden Province (Bechuanaland and parts of Botswana). One of the cavalry divisions will be deployed in the New Baden Province to respond to possible risks along the Orange River at any time."
The New Baden Province has a long border with the Cape Colony. In the east, it is very close to Kimberley, an important city in the British Cape Colony (Orange Free State), and in the south it is not far from Cape Town. Therefore, enhancing the military strength of the New Baden Province was the common opinion of the General Staff and the Ministry of National Defense after joint analysis.
(End of this chapter)
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