Chapter 763 Threatening Benguela
Although the Angolan colonial government has various complaints, if the colony is lost, everyone will certainly be blamed, including Portugal, which may also trigger a new round of political turmoil.
The 331st and 421st Divisions, regardless of whether the Angolan government was in a stable mood or not, had already begun to march rapidly towards Luanda.
As for the army's return support mentioned by General Madrid, it may be very difficult because the East African army and the Portuguese army are already in chaos on the front line.
At this time, everyone was already mixed up, and some East African troops were even advancing faster than the Portuguese army was fleeing.
The newly formed 416th Division in East Africa encountered this situation. The 416th Division was formed in less than two months, but it performed very well on the battlefield in Angola.
As soon as they entered the battlefield, they defeated one or two Portuguese brigades. Afterwards, the 416th Division was engaged in a race against time pursuit and escape with the Portuguese army.
The commander of the 416th Division, Major General Capucci, was originally the brigade commander of the 112th Division of the Eastern Military Region of East Africa. During this expansion, he was promoted to the commander of the newly established 416th Division.
Capucci asked the staff officer Hans: "What is the current situation of our army?"
"The Second Brigade advanced too fast. According to the news they sent back yesterday, the vanguard of the Second Brigade has already arrived in the Mutonbo area. The First Brigade is still exchanging fire with the enemy on the east bank of the Kwanza River. This enemy is a black vassal unit of the Portuguese army. Because they did not cross the river in time, they were besieged by our army on the east bank of the Kwanza River."
The Kwanza River is a north-south river. Most of the rivers in Africa are natural, undeveloped primitive river channels, so they are very tortuous and surrounded by many lakes and forests.
So even the natives of Angola, the Portuguese army, in a panic, ran astray. According to their original intention, they should have evacuated to the northwest, but they ran to the southwest and collided with the 1st Brigade of the 416th Division that was coming towards them. The 1st Brigade then seized the opportunity to annihilate the enemy.
This slowed down the advance of the 416th Division. Of course, this kind of unexpected situation is rare, and most of the Portuguese troops managed to escape successfully.
For a Portuguese brigade like the one it encountered, the only options were to be annihilated or surrender to East Africa.
"Let the first brigade speed up. If they go too slow, they may not even be able to get a sip of soup." said Capucci.
Hans: "I think the First Brigade should have almost wiped out this Portuguese army. After all, the battle report was seven hours ago."
And just as Hans said, the 1st Brigade had wiped out this Portuguese army more than an hour ago, but the news had not yet been reported to the division headquarters, mainly because the facilities in Angola were too backward.
There was neither a telegraph nor any decent roads, and the jungle near the Kwanza River was dense, so it took the entire brigade a lot of time just to clean up the battlefield.
And this is not the most troublesome thing. The total number of enemies captured by a brigade is more than 1,700. The custody of these prisoners is also a big problem. This matter can only be left to the follow-up troops to solve.
In addition to the regular army, East Africa also organized a number of militia forces, which were the people who had previously evacuated from the Danube Province.
If nothing unexpected happens, these prisoners will most likely be handed over to them, and the militia will also be responsible for the supply and transportation of the East African army.
Angola is too backward, so the main mode of transportation is still human and animal power. Fortunately, there are enough livestock in East Africa, but they also need to be dispatched.
The supplies for the west were mainly provided by the provinces of Hohenzollern and Swabia, while the supplies for the eastern battlefield were mainly provided by the province of Matabele.
Of course, supplies from the east and north were also transported to the three central provinces via railway lines, mainly food and equipment.
…
August 24, 1888.
"Benguela is ahead. It seems that the Portuguese are seriously short of troops. We have basically not encountered any troops along the way." said the commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 421st Division.
As a cavalry unit, the 421st Division marched very quickly and reached the outskirts of Benguela in just a few days.
Along the way, the 421st Division did not encounter any Portuguese troops, only sparse small forces. The reason for this result was that the Portuguese had already withdrawn all their troops back to the city of Benguela.
The Portuguese had few troops in southern Angola, and the 421st Division was a tough nut to crack, or it was very difficult to crack. In addition, there was Southwest Africa, which was of no value to the south.
Therefore, the focus of the Portuguese army was not on the south. Although Benguela was important and was an important city second only to Luanda, not too many troops were allocated to it.
After learning the news from Luanda, the military commander of Benguela decisively abandoned southern Angola and withdrew his troops back to Benguela.
The small forces encountered by the 2nd Brigade of the 421st Division along the way were actually Portuguese troops that did not have time to withdraw to Benguela.
Currently, the 421st Division, like the 331st Division, has been divided into two routes. The destination of the 2nd Brigade of the 421st Division is Benguela, while the other troops, led by the division commander Helmond, are heading towards Luanda.
This means that the next war against Benguela will be entirely the responsibility of the Second Brigade. This is indeed bad news, after all, the Second Brigade has a total strength of less than 4,000 people.
Of course, as cavalry, their numbers are relatively small, so it would be very difficult for the Second Brigade to take over the city of Benguela on its own.
Currently, the garrison of Benguela has reached more than 14,000 people, which is almost 70% of the military strength in southern Angola before the war.
"Commander, we have inspected the defenses of Benguela. The defenders of Benguela are well prepared and have basically no loopholes. I'm afraid this battle will be difficult to fight."
The commander of the Second Brigade said, "Don't worry. We can slowly consume Benguela. There will always be a time when they will show their weakness. Now the division headquarters has gone north, which means that we are the only main force in the entire southern part of Angola. We have more than enough time to consume the defenders of Benguela."
Of course, having said that, he was actually still thinking about how to break through this fortified Portuguese city.
The Second Brigade is also equipped with a lot of artillery, but the caliber is not large. The artillery of Benguela is first-class in the whole of Angola. After all, it has been operated by Portugal for hundreds of years.
It’s just that the Portuguese artillery was mainly used to deal with threats from the sea, and they probably never thought that one day a hostile force would pose a threat to Benguela from land.
While the Second Brigade was thinking about how to break through Benguela, the Portuguese defenders in Benguela were extremely frightened. The arrival of the Second Brigade meant to Benguela that East Africa had invaded the heart of Angola!
Of course, this was an illusion created for them by Benguela's location. Benguela was on the westernmost side of Angola, while the Second Brigade was actually coming from the southeast.
Most areas of Angola are still controlled by Portugal. Divisions like the 331st and 421st are actually isolated and deep in the enemy's territory.
If the Portuguese could seize the opportunity, they might be able to inflict heavy damage on these two East African forces. Unfortunately, the Portuguese were too backward.
Due to the lack of an up-to-date military communication system, the Luanda government cannot fully grasp the intelligence of East Africa, or even the military information of its own people. Now many Portuguese troops on the front line are actually fighting on their own. If they cannot deal with the 331st and 421st Divisions in time, Luanda and the front-line troops will probably lose contact completely.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
