Chapter 754: East African Naval Dilemma
New Hamburg Port City.
As the East African Defense Force retreated here, East Africa set up several defense lines centered on the urban area to fight against the coalition forces after the merger of the Natal Colony and Mozambique.
"For now, with the material reserves of New Hamburg Port, we can still hold out for more than two months. At the same time, maintaining the production of New Hamburg Port is the main problem facing our army, especially the insufficient steel reserves. The only thing New Hamburg Port lacks now is coal. Before the British army blockaded New Hamburg Port, New Hamburg Port was one of the export centers of East African coal, and a large amount of coal was stored at the docks and in the city."
"But coal alone can only keep factories and electricity running in the city. The lack of iron ore and other raw materials makes it impossible for the arsenal to maintain the production of weapons. Now our weapons and equipment can only be maintained by a small number of spare parts."
In layman's terms, it is just repairing and patching up to barely maintain the losses in the war, but the port city of New Hamburg is not an area in East Africa where military industry is deployed mainly, so the production capacity is very limited.
Moreover, the military pressure faced by the port city of New Hamburg is greater than any other city in East Africa. The war has never stopped, so even the supply of spare parts is already stretched.
"We can now obtain some supplies from the enemy through seizure, but it is still a drop in the bucket. The arsenal has even started to dismantle some equipment to obtain raw materials. I am afraid that this loss will not last even half a month, unless we only rely on rifles as weapons and endure the shortage of ammunition."
This was a situation that the East African National Defense Force, which was used to fighting wars of abundance, had never encountered before.
"But there is good news. The General Staff has decided to open up the sea transport channel. It depends on the performance of the navy. Regarding this, Major General Bruce, what is your navy going to do?"
Up to now, the New Hamburger Navy has not made any major moves in the war. As the highest military commander of the New Hamburger Fleet, Major General Bruce has adopted the strategy of "avoiding war".
"The navy has indeed received news from headquarters that the navy will take action against the coalition navy in the Mozambique Channel next week. At that time, our New Hamburg Port City fleet will definitely have to cooperate. If nothing unexpected happens, the New Hamburg Port City and the eastern sea lanes will soon be reopened." Major General Bruce said to Aristotle.
Major General Bruce's words relieved the pressure on the army. Before the war, the army relied most on the railway and road systems, but now the railways and roads connecting the port of New Hamburg to the outside world have been cut off by the coalition forces.
As a port city, New Hamburg's shipping conditions are among the best in East Africa, and it is also the key point that is most likely to break through the enemy's blockade.
Although the East African Navy is under great defense pressure, it is also the strongest in the western Indian Ocean. If we just disperse our forces a little, the problem can be solved quickly.
Ultimately, it is because East Africa currently lacks a stable military base in the Indian Ocean, so it is caught in this situation of being strong but unable to exert its strength.
The islands in the Indian Ocean are mainly concentrated in the east. There are very few usable islands in the central area and the east. Among them, the most critical to East Africa are the Seychelles Islands and Socotra Island.
Both islands were under British control, which put the East African Navy under direct pressure from the north and east.
Taking these two islands as starting points, we can directly approach the coast of East Africa, which is very similar to the United States. However, the United States is far away from other continents and it is difficult to intervene militarily.
However, East Africa is located very close to the traditional major powers in Eurasia. If we ignore the military capabilities of various countries, the waters of East Africa are actually not safe at all.
Of course, as a late-developing country, East Africa’s current ocean strategy is already very advanced. It’s just a pity that East Africa was established too late, and there is no time to gain control over the few islands closest to East Africa.
Socotra Island controls the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, and also blocks the East African shipping routes. Britain intervened in the local regime as early as the mid-18th century, and in the 1970s it brought Socotra Island under its own protection.
There is even less to say about Seychelles. It was a trophy that Britain won from the French and is also one of the important pillars of Britain's security in the Indian Ocean.
The only strategic pillar island in East Africa is the Comoros Islands, but the main function of the Comoros Islands is to contain the Mozambique Channel and Madagascar Island.
However, there is no major force posing a serious threat south of East Africa, unless a regional power emerges in South Africa and the island of Madagascar.
This is basically impossible. To put it bluntly, Madagascar is just an isolated island in a remote corner. Apart from its rich mineral resources, there is nothing to covet of its own value.
Only countries like Britain and France, which have global naval strategies, have any interest in Madagascar, while South Africa, which is now Cape Town, is famous for controlling the Cape of Good Hope.
However, since the opening of the Suez Canal, its strategic position in the world has been severely weakened. In the past, Cape Town occupied an important position in world shipping. The main reason was that some large ocean-going ships, mainly oil tankers, could not pass through the narrow Suez Canal.
But in the 19th century, when the oil industry was just starting out, there were no big players to support Cape Town's economic value.
Of course, the British will definitely not let go of Cape Town. After all, the Suez Canal is only the best option, but not the only option. The forces in the Red Sea, the Mediterranean and even the Indian Ocean may threaten the safety of the Red Sea shipping routes. At this time, the value of Cape Town as a spare tire is reflected.
Of course, this shipping value refers to maritime transportation between Europe and Asia. If the perspective is shifted to the east and west coasts of the African continent, Cape Town’s strategic positioning will be different.
In the early days, there was only one sea route connecting the two sides of the African continent, which was Cape Town. After the opening of the Suez Canal, there were two sea routes.
However, the shape of the African continent is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. Apart from other things, the East African coast alone extends gradually from south to north. This can be intuitively reflected in the topography of Somalia. The Somali coastline is a straight line extending to the northeast. Therefore, even from East Africa to the Port of Trieste in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the distance is actually very far, almost equivalent to the western coast of India.
So it is possible to take a detour from the north and transport it by sea, but the cost is too high and the mileage will double or triple.
The south well demonstrates the importance of Cape Town to African shipping. For example, the distance from the port of New Hamburg to Oranjemund in East Africa is only more than 2,000 kilometers.
More than 2,000 kilometers may seem like a lot, but if you go north, it is only the distance from Mogadishu to Djibouti. The Red Sea itself is more than 2,000 kilometers, and to the Austro-Hungarian Empire it is more than 6,000 kilometers.
But Mogadishu is also a northern port in East Africa, and it is even farther to reach the Austro-Hungarian Empire from Mombasa or Dar es Salaam.
This is just the Austro-Hungarian Empire. If you go to more distant areas, the detour will be even more exaggerated. This shows the status of Cape Town to the African continent itself.
Of course, if East Africa builds a "road and bridge" connecting the east and the west in the future, the situation may be very different. The only pity is that the water transportation conditions in East Africa are too poor. Otherwise, by connecting the inland rivers, most of the economic value of Cape Town can be completely replaced.
(End of this chapter)
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