Chapter 747: Battle of Fetter River
Merk's statement was not an exaggeration, because the Boers had no power system and were unable to coordinate and organize counterattacks on various battlefields in a timely manner.
East Africa's telegraph line construction is second to none in the whole of Africa, and there is only one professional telegraph line in the Boer Republic, which runs from Cape Town to the Kimberley mining area.
The Boer Republic is no longer like it was in the past, when it controlled the gold mines in South Africa, so its construction in all aspects is very backward. Moreover, they also have to maintain a huge military force, and their infrastructure construction is basically zero.
As for the telegraph lines in the Kimberley region, they were built by British businessmen in the diamond producing area, the only important mineral in the Boer Republic under British control.
All of these were reported to the East African government by the East African Defense and Security Agency. Therefore, the Boer Republic was not only small in size and population, but was actually very backward. This backward state was undoubtedly very detrimental to the progress of the war in the Boer Republic.
…
midnight.
It is quiet on both sides of the Fet River. Although it is the rainy season in South Africa, it does not rain very often on both sides of the Fet River deep in the interior, which brings some convenience to East Africa.
East Africa was very well prepared for crossing the river. From the day it eliminated the Transvaal Republic, the East African government was clearly aware of the bad relationship between it and the Boers, so the two sides would definitely fight again.
So unlike the British troops on the Tugela River before, who were not even fully prepared with ships, the East African side had prepared countless plans to attack the Orange Free State in peacetime, and ships for breaking through the Orange River were indispensable equipment, and almost every stronghold had a certain amount of reserves.
This time, East Africa directly dispatched 30,000 troops, and under the cover of darkness, they began to cross the Fette River. Although located in the heart of the South African plateau and the rainfall here was not very sufficient, the abundant rainfall from the Drakensberg Mountains replenished the various tributaries of the Orange River.
This is very similar to the Shabelle River and the Juba River in Somalia. There is little rain in Somalia, but the abundant rainfall in the Ethiopian plateau makes these two rivers large rivers with considerable flow all year round.
The large-scale movement in East Africa was still discovered by the Boers, but at this time, it should have been time for rest. Many Boer soldiers did not even come out of the camp, and the East African army had already rushed ashore.
The East African army was not so easy to deal with after it landed. This was caused by the Boers' laziness. In the previous three months, East Africa had been on the defensive and had not launched any attack.
Under such circumstances, it was easy for the Boer front-line soldiers to become paralyzed, and in fact this was the case. The East African Defense Force attached great importance to discipline building because of Ernst.
However, the people of Transvaal, as Britain's brethren, did not have this awareness. They could be said to have imitated the British army in terms of military construction. It would be more appropriate to describe them as "bandits".
The only pity is that East Africa did not give these "bandit armies" the opportunity to rob East Africa. This can be seen from the industrial layout of East Africa. East Africa's industrial zones are all located in the rear, and even the agriculture on the southern border has not been developed much.
"The East Africans are attacking!"
The first person to discover the East Africans was a Boer drunkard named Lawrence. As a logistician, Lawrence could often get a lot of good things, such as whiskey imported from Britain today. He got drunk with several Boer soldiers during the day, but ended up waking up at midnight and going to the river to solve a physiological problem.
Then, in his blurry vision, he seemed to see a faint light in the river, which was the light reflected by the East African helmet.
Lawrence woke up instantly, but faced with the increasingly approaching East African army, he was a little overwhelmed. It took him three seconds to react and he began to run towards the position.
As Lawrence shouted, more and more Boer soldiers began to be awakened and hurriedly organized a resistance.
Faced with the bustling Boers, they were responded to with artillery fire from East Africa.
As the East African Army landed, the artillery began to organize attacks on the Boer bunkers. Of course, the artillery that crossed the river this time actually used grenade launchers, a lightweight, portable, small-caliber artillery that was widely used in the East African Army.
Although the small boats could bear the weight of East African heavy artillery, they were unstable and inefficient, and were not convenient to carry during night raids.
But it should be enough to deal with the Boers, whose equipment can be said to be the worst among the coalition forces, especially the lack of heavy weapons.
Moreover, their heavy weapons were useless at this time because it was night time and they had no idea of the exact location of the East African army. They just felt that there were people everywhere.
It's hard to believe, but the Boers' fortifications were very crude and even worse than before the war. You have to know that this was not done by the East Africans.
The real reason was that the rainy season caused the Boer defense line to collapse to a certain extent, and the East African offensive was delayed, which resulted in the Boers gradually paying less attention to the maintenance of fortifications over the past three months.
The Boers' defense line was originally built very crudely, with most of it consisting of civil structures. Although rain is scarce in South Africa, it can still have a certain destructive effect on such crude fortifications.
But the main reason was that the Boers did not maintain these fortifications properly, and now the Boers have to pay the price for their carelessness.
As the grenade launcher shells fell, these fortifications were completely vulnerable. The East African artillery rarely made mistakes by locating the "fire".
Most of these fires were bonfires used for lighting or heating at night, but now they have become the death warrant of the Boers.
Even if a smart person starts running into the darkness, it is easy to get hurt by mistake. The darkness itself also has certain dangers, such as being tripped by debris or being pushed by other people.
The entire Boer position was in chaos. After all, it was the first time they had faced such a scene, and it happened in the dark, so it was difficult to calm them down.
The Boer officers watched helplessly as their own soldiers fell into chaos. Even if they wanted to organize a counterattack, it would be impossible.
Because of the darkness, the Boers' soldiers did not recognize their generals, and their generals did not recognize their soldiers. In addition, the huge noise from the East African artillery fire and bullets made command more difficult, or in other words, the Boer army's command system was completely paralyzed.
After a round of artillery fire, the Boers had completely collapsed, and the East African Army began to reap them. Of course, because of the night, many Boers chose to flee and did not confront the East African Army.
It was very difficult for the East Africans to pursue these deserters at this time, but as long as they captured the Boers' riverside positions, the Boer Republic in the rear would have no defenses, and the Boer Republic government would not be able to gather these troops together in a short period of time.
The three-front offensive in East Africa went very smoothly, with only the western front encountering some minor troubles. The British troops there were clearly more experienced than the Boers, but they only managed to hold out a little longer than the Boers.
Although the Boer front-line troops are large in number at present, the expansion of the army in a short period of time has also made the Boer army's internal troops mixed, especially some Orange people have no intention of fighting at all.
Under their leadership, the people of Transvaal also chose to flee for their lives. Only many of the original landlords of the Transvaal Republic were staunch resistance elements. After all, East Africa had actually harmed their interests before. More of the lower-class Boers, on the contrary, collapsed without a fight.
(End of this chapter)
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