Chapter 761 Angola Chicken Eating Contest
"Benguela must be taken, but with the lessons learned from the last East-Portuguese War, I'm afraid Benguela will be more difficult to conquer, so we can't just focus on Benguela," Helmond analyzed.
Benguela had been occupied once by East Africa, so the Portuguese must have learned their lesson. Moreover, there was no cooperation from their brother units in this battle against the Benguela defenders, which was also a difficulty for the 421st Division.
As a mobile unit, the 421st Division is actually inferior to the conventional infantry division in terms of firepower. After all, there are gains and losses, and a certain amount of firepower must be sacrificed for mobility.
Of course, in the long war in the province of Letania, the 421st Division has long become less pure. In order to compete with the Portuguese army, the 421st Division has also adopted many of the fighting methods of conventional infantry divisions.
Moreover, although the firepower of the East African Cavalry Division is inferior to that of other conventional infantry divisions, it is still able to crush the Portuguese army.
Portugal's finances make it impossible for them to provide the army with a large number of advanced weapons. However, with the development of East Africa's military industry, costs have decreased and output has increased, and the army's firepower and weapon performance have been improved over the years.
Of course, what is more important is whether the war is fought "locally". If the country next to East Africa is not Angola and Mozambique, but Portugal, the situation of the war would probably be very different.
Although Portugal has declined greatly, it is not too weak in Europe as a whole, especially its local military industry and East Africa, which should be able to fight.
However, Portugal's domestic military industry is definitely not as good as that of East Africa, because its military and civilian industries are influenced by the military industries of external countries. For example, much of Portugal's army equipment is imported from Germany and France, while its naval equipment is mainly imported from the United Kingdom.
Under such circumstances, the development of Portugal's military industry will inevitably be hindered. Moreover, the East African military industry develops in a systematic way, and Portugal is certainly not as systematic as East Africa in this respect.
Angola and Mozambique are obviously not comparable to the Portuguese mainland. Even if it were Portugal's mainland, East Africa would not be afraid, let alone the two colonies.
This may also be the reason why the Portuguese have confidence. Fighting in a colony is very different from fighting in their homeland. For example, if Spain invades Portugal, it will definitely trigger resistance from the entire Portuguese people.
As for the colonies, Portugal is not afraid of war, but it will not take it too seriously either. What it fears most about war is that it will cause severe damage to the country's development, especially the core areas.
Just like the ancient nomadic peoples who would frequently move south and continuously bleed the Far Eastern Empire, the Far Eastern Empire had no better way to deal with the grasslands.
East Africa also had this concern before the war, so it adopted a conservative approach, stabilizing the front line first. The overall strategy was to prevent the central industrial provinces from being affected by the war.
After all, East Africa's opponents have almost no industry in the region, but East Africa has no shortage of plantations, and there is no shortage of black people in the population.
Once the enemy penetrates the central region, the industry of East Africa will be destroyed, which is too unprofitable. Therefore, the early East African strategy was very conservative, relying entirely on defense to consume the enemy's offensive momentum.
However, the offensive and defensive situations have now changed, and East Africa has entered the counterattack phase. The enemy is beginning to be unable to take care of both ends and is struggling to cope.
Helmond said: "We have to take over Benguela, and Luanda is also our target, although Luanda is 600 to 700 kilometers away from our army. But as long as we are fast enough, it is still possible to reach Luanda before the 331st Division. Even if we cannot take Luanda in a short time, the 331st Division will not be able to share our achievements."
"Commander, this will make our task more difficult, especially the logistics problem. Although long-distance raids are possible, it is easy for our logistics to be cut off."
Helmond: "Luanda and Benguela are the most important places in Portugal's Angola colony. There are many plantations around them. Although the Portuguese are not keen on growing food crops, they must have a certain amount of food reserves, which is enough for us."
"We can just wait for the transport team later. Of course, if the war can end quickly, we may not even have to wait until the logistic crisis breaks out before we can solve the problem. There will definitely be no shortage of food in Benguela and Luanda."
In Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa, where conditions are slightly better, famine is impossible to occur at all.
Especially in underdeveloped areas such as Angola and Mozambique, many wild plants are edible as long as they are selected.
What is most abundant in Africa is wildlife resources. Due to over-exploitation in many places in East Africa, the number of wildlife has been greatly reduced.
This was not the case in the Portuguese territory, so even if there was a food crisis, the East African army could temporarily solve the problem by slaughtering animals.
After all, the East African army was holding rifles instead of fire sticks, which was a complete dimensionality reduction attack on African wild animals. Lions, hippos, zebras, and wildebeests could all be used to satisfy their hunger.
Although many East Africans stay away from it because of the propaganda in East Africa day after day, some people can compromise in the war situation.
Furthermore, the large number of plantations built by the Portuguese in Angola can also contribute to the supply of materials to East Africa. The Portuguese built large plantations in Angola.
The scale of these plantations can easily be tens of thousands of acres, and the smallest ones can be as large as a hundred acres. Although there are few Portuguese people, the black people in these plantations all need to eat.
Therefore, in the event of an emergency, the food rations of these blacks can be used to cope with the situation. Of course, if the Portuguese are vulnerable as Helmond said, then a food crisis will naturally not break out.
Of course, this situation is a low-probability event. The Portuguese must have put a lot of thought into their management of Luanda and Benguela, which are fortress cities like Maputo, so it does take some effort to attack the two cities head-on.
Both the 331st and 421st Divisions wanted to become powerful all at once, and combined with their own advantages, they planned to seize Luanda, the capital of the Portuguese colony.
The advantage of the 331st Division is its short distance, while the advantage of the 421st Division is its fast speed. However, the most important thing for the 421st Division is the city of Benguela.
If we succeed in capturing the city of Benguela, it would be equivalent to receiving a minimum living allowance. The contribution of the 421st Division in this war is indispensable. If we can capture the city of Luanda, it would be a complete surprise.
In fact, in addition to the 331st and 421st Divisions, other brother units also have ideas about Luanda. For example, the 414th Division, which is currently fighting against the main force of Portugal, is now delayed in the east, but is determined to take Luanda.
Although the 414th Division does not have the advantages of the 331st and 421st Divisions, if there is enough time, it may be able to join the siege of Luanda halfway.
What is delaying the 414th Division now is not the Portuguese army, but the complex terrain of the Danube Province. In addition, there are many troops around the 414th Division, so it can completely share more of the task of encircling the Portuguese with friendly forces, and then advance towards Luanda itself.
Except for a few veteran main combat units, the rest of the East African troops had similar ideas. Even if they could not all participate, they could still send a small force to advance into the rear of the Portuguese.
All in all, everyone must want to be the first to enter Luanda, which is quite similar to the "Chicken Eating Competition" in Berlin during World War II.
(End of this chapter)
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