Chapter 734: New Hamburg Port City in War Readiness
April 3, 1888.
New Hamburg Port City.
Since the entire East African country was at war, the port city of New Hamburgo had become a solid fortress sandwiched between Portugal and Britain.
All enterprises in the city gave priority to ensuring supplies for the army, and the municipal and provincial governments actively organized the urban and surrounding areas to support the war on the front lines.
Under the cover of night, one could even faintly hear the rumbling sounds of artillery fire from the north and south fronts from the port city of New Hamburg. In fact, less than seventy kilometers south of the port city of New Hamburg was the front line of the war between East Africa and Britain. In this tense and depressing atmosphere.
"The blocks must be sealed off. Currently, the surrounding areas are transporting as much food as possible to the city. We need to store enough drinking water and food to fight for the survival of the port city of New Hamburg." Hans, the administrator of Renwell Street, issued the city government's orders to the citizens in his jurisdiction.
"Director Hans, what is the current situation on the front line? Many people from our street have gone to support the front line."
Hans sighed and said, "The situation is not optimistic. As we all know, Britain is the world's most powerful country. We in East Africa have never fought against such an opponent. Moreover, I heard from my superiors that the British Natal colony bordering our New Hamburg Port City is already quite powerful. Now a large part of the British army is concentrated in Natal. The number of troops alone is more than ten times that of our National Defense Force. Moreover, the Portuguese in the north have also intervened. Our New Hamburg Port City is under attack from both sides."
"With such a huge gap, can we defeat the British and Portuguese? These two countries are both ranked among the best in the world!"
Hans: "The front line has not collapsed yet, but we must be prepared for failure on the front line in a two-front war, or even a three-front war and being completely surrounded. The enemy's naval forces have not yet been dispatched, otherwise we might see enemy artillery fire into the New Hamburg Port area today."
I don’t know if it was Hans’s bad luck that worked, but just as he finished speaking, he heard the rumbling sound of artillery coming from the direction of the Indian Ocean in the east.
The New Hamburg Port Navy and ground forces have engaged the British Cape Town Navy.
This caused the citizens of the Lenwell neighborhood to panic, and the scene instantly began to show signs of being out of control.
"The British are attacking?"
"What should we do? Run for our lives!"
Those who left had instinctively prepared to go home or flee. Many East African immigrants came from war-torn areas (Germany and the Far East), so the fear of war was awakened from the bone marrow by the sound of artillery fire, as if they had returned to an era of chaos and war.
"Quiet, everyone, be quiet!" Hans tried to calm these people down, but many people couldn't hear what he said at all.
At this moment, a gunshot rang out, instantly drowning out all the noise.
Anderson, a Renwell neighborhood policeman, fired two more shots into the air with his pistol.
After seeing the citizens calm down, he stood on the street and said in an unquestionable voice: "Be quiet, the situation is not that bad. It is our troops at the seaport that are driving away the British warships. It will take a long time for the enemy to reach our Renwell Street. At least before the north and south lines are breached, the enemy cannot directly attack the city from the sea."
The Port City of New Hamburg has two urban areas built around the port, including commercial and military ports all squeezed into the New Hamburg Bay.
The topography of New Hamburger Bay (Richard Bay) is very peculiar, with a small mouth and a large belly, so the British navy alone could not even pass the East African artillery batteries. As long as they entered the waterway, they would become sitting ducks.
So Anderson was sure that the British Navy was definitely exchanging fire with the East African coastal defense artillery in the Indian Ocean, but he didn't know whether the navy had been dispatched yet.
Anderson is a retired member of the East African Defense Force. Since he now belongs to the police department, there is no need for him to go to the front line. Of course, this is related to the fact that the New Hamburg Port City needs people who understand military affairs to deploy the city’s defense. The New Hamburg Port City already has measures to deal with possible street fighting, and these all require guidance from professionals.
Of course, war will bring about social disorder, so police officers like Anderson who are former soldiers can serve as a deterrent to negative elements and at the same time calm people's hearts.
Just like now, the citizens of the Renwell district have been convinced by Anderson. After all, Anderson has fought in wars and has seen the world. What he says is enough to convince people. Of course, the pistol in his hand is also very convincing.
"Now continue to work. If war really comes, there is no place safer than the city. The food outside the city has been collected in advance and brought into the city. Here we have all the daily necessities for us to use, and the villagers in the countryside have already evacuated to the city."
Generally speaking, in war situations, urban residents flee to rural areas to avoid the threat of war.
However, the reason why the Port City of New Hamburg did the opposite is that the Port City of New Hamburg and the entire Southern Frontier Province are not the main grain-producing areas in East Africa. Instead, the population is concentrated in towns or mines in the west.
When East Africa was originally designed, it was not intended to develop industry and agriculture on a large scale in the south. The New Port of Hamburg is a special example because of its port.
The industry here is relatively sound, but food is mainly transported from eastern or central East Africa, and compared with Hechingen Province, the industrial and agricultural foundation of Southern Frontier Province is not bad.
Therefore, the rural population in the Southern Frontier Province is relatively small, and it can be completely taken over by the New Hamburg Port City, and then the surrounding villages and farmlands can be destroyed, implementing a policy of clearing the countryside.
Of course, in order to ensure the food security of the Port City of New Hamburg, the East African Railway has begun to fully transport food and other supplies to this port city. Combined with the city’s own reserves, it can at least guarantee the needs of the Port City of New Hamburg for three years.
However, the population of New Hamburg Port is now mainly composed of women and children. Men in the eastern part of the province have been assigned to various places where they are needed to receive military training or to build outer positions for New Hamburg Port.
The East African government attempted to use the port city of New Hamburg as a large military fortress and continue to station it behind the British and Portuguese troops in Southeast Africa to make them hesitant.
Of course, the condition for doing so is that the New Hamburg Port City can be self-sufficient. Basically, except for food, the essence of the Southern Frontier Province is concentrated here, so East Africa will definitely not give up the New Hamburg Port City easily.
The port city of New Hamburg will not be isolated and helpless. Even if the surrounding areas fall, the East African army can launch a counterattack at any time in the Drakensberg Mountains controlled by the war. It's just that the army in the west is now being held back by the Boer Republic. Otherwise, the defense pressure on the port city of New Hamburg would not be so great.
This is also the situation in the entire southern region of East Africa, bounded by the Limpopo River, which mainly serves the mining industry and the military.
The war was taken into consideration from the very beginning. Although the grain output of the New Hamburg Port City was small, it had a lot of stored grain. In addition, the southern border province was rich in coal, and the New Hamburg Port City was the only outlet to the sea, so there would be no shortage of energy here in the short term.
The most important thing is that the port conditions of New Hamburg are relatively special. If it is directly facing the Indian Ocean like Dar es Salaam, there is no need to defend the Port of New Hamburg. The cost is too high and the effect is not good. It is better to retreat directly to the west of the Drakensberg Mountains and use the natural barrier of the Drakensberg to resist the coalition attack.
(End of this chapter)
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