Chapter 724 Temporary Adjustment
While East Africa was preparing for war, the Triple Alliance was also doing well, but at the critical moment, Earl Roberts suddenly changed his mind.
He had new plans. Although he accepted the command of the Allied forces in the entire South African region, he arrived relatively late after all, so he had his own views on the war.
Roberts convened an Allied military meeting and put forward his decision at the meeting: "As the main battlefield, we must strengthen Mozambique's military strength, because Mozambique faces the risk of fighting on three fronts, and East Africa has local combat advantages and a large population. If we want to quickly open up the situation on the battlefield, we must distribute our troops reasonably." Earl Roberts talked about his plan.
Mozambique's military commanders naturally agreed with this. After all, Mozambique is their own territory and they are more attentive in defense.
Earl Roberts was well aware of the subtle changes of the Portuguese, but as a military commander with rich war experience, he would not disrupt his deployment because of this. Any narrow-minded military commander would find it difficult to win on the battlefield.
From the very beginning, his goal was to defeat East Africa, not to haggle with this group of people for the sake of interests or worry about the gains and losses in details. Everything should be based on strategy as the first goal, even if it might cause some losses to the British Empire.
"Commander-in-Chief! I am against concentrating military forces in Mozambique. There is naturally no problem if it is to support a part of the troops, but there is no need to do so." Wilson, the military commander of the Natal colony, said.
"Hmm? What do you think differently?" He was not surprised that the first person to jump out against him was Britain's own commander.
Wilson: "The distance between the Natal Colony and Maputo is very short, with only one East African port city. We do not need to make large-scale military adjustments to disrupt the initial deployment. According to the plan, we can first take down the New Hamburg port city and open up the northward channel to connect Natal and Mozambique."
“And this is a strategy that has already been determined. Even if we strengthen Mozambique’s military strength, our next step is to cooperate on both sides and attack the New Hamburg port city.”
"At the same time, large-scale military mobilization will definitely attract the attention of East Africans. I think there are many East African intelligence spies in Maputo. They will definitely pass this information back to East Africa quickly, and then our strategic deployment may be exposed!"
Roberts waited until Wilson finished speaking, but did not immediately deny his words. Instead, he said, "Of course I have considered these, but I don't think New Hamburg Port is a city that can be taken at will. After all, the location of New Hamburg Port is too special, and the East Africans will not let us take it easily."
"And there is one thing we must understand. The location of the Natal Colony does not pose a threat to East Africa. If we cannot successfully capture the port city of New Hamburg, it is very likely that our army will be restricted. With the Tugela River and the Drakensberg Mountains, only a small number of troops are needed to block our army in the small area of the Natal Colony."
"If we can't break the deadlock, won't we be wasting so much military power? Will we have to cross the Drakensberg Mountains to the west to support the Boers? That will take a long time, and I'm afraid the battlefield will undergo several major changes!"
This is also Earl Roberts' view on the situation in South Africa. If it was just a unilateral war between Britain and East Africa, the importance of the Natal colony would indeed be very important, but with Mozambique, this gave Earl Roberts more options.
“As for military deployment, this has been exposed. We are only responsible for placing the main force in Mozambique, but in which direction they will take the initiative to attack is not something that East Africans can predict.”
The long border between Mozambique and East Africa gave Earl Roberts the confidence to mobilize military forces at risk.
They can choose to attack the port city of New Hamburg to the south, attack the central area of East Africa to the west, or threaten the core area of eastern East Africa to the north.
"Of course, all this requires the cooperation of the Mozambique colony, His Excellency Governor Bougival." Earl Roberts said, looking at Bougival.
Bougival said: "Commander-in-Chief, of course our Kingdom of Portugal will fully support your decision, but please give us your instructions on how to cooperate."
Earl Roberts was very satisfied with Bougival's attitude. Although the Portuguese were not very reliable, as long as they were obedient enough in front of the British, it would be fine.
He said to the high-ranking officials of the Portuguese colony of Mozambique: "First of all, there is the issue of East African spies that Wilson mentioned earlier. I think we really need to guard against this because it is really annoying. Our intelligence is not equal to that of East Africa. It is easy for East Africa to plant spies in our territory, but we cannot use the same means against East Africa."
"At present, only a few port cities on the east coast of East Africa can understand East Africa, but the information we get is fragmented and it is difficult to analyze anything useful. There is really no good way to solve this problem because East Africa is too closed."
"If we can't solve this problem, then we can only disrupt the East African intelligence system in South Africa, at least on our territory, especially the ports, and check on personnel. When the war starts, the army can basically take over. We must cut off the East Africans' eyes and ears."
This was Earl Roberts' intuition. He was not confident about the Portuguese, so he had to enforce it himself. Anyway, those Portuguese merchants doing business with East Africa did not have the ability to cause trouble for him, a British man.
"In addition to intelligence work, there is also the issue of receiving and settling the troops. I think you should be prepared?"
Bougival frowned and said, "That's no problem. Before we activate the black troops, we can let your people share the facilities and camps in Mozambique."
As for the black vassal army, it was just a number to Portugal. Obviously, the British Army was more reassuring, so it was reasonable to make those blacks suffer first.
"But the environment may not be very good. After all, we have limited conditions in Mozambique and it is very difficult to support an army."
Roberts didn't care about this because soldiers were not supposed to live a life of luxury. He had been in Abyssinia, and the conditions in Afghanistan were much more difficult than in Mozambique.
"So, the main force of the British Army, five brigades, will be mobilized from the Natal Colony to Mozambique. This short distance should be completed within a week, leaving only one brigade in Natal."
That's 20,000 British troops, and in Mozambique there were already more than 30,000 troops brought by Roberts from India, which made the main force of the British army in Mozambique reach more than 50,000.
With these 50,000 British troops, Earl Roberts felt that he would be invincible. Although the British Army was a joke, it was one of the armies of the world's top five powers (Britain, France, Germany, Austria and Russia), and was not on the same level as other countries.
As for the United States, just like East Africa, the world does not know too much about the war capabilities of the two countries. After all, they have a short history and no outstanding military achievements. Even after World War I and World War II, the capabilities of the U.S. Army could not convince the public. Instead, the Navy and Air Force did establish prestige after World War II.
(End of this chapter)
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