Chapter 779 Landing Successfully
Schwall's luck could only be described as mediocre, because the actions of the East African Navy were still discovered by the Portuguese. As a veteran soldier, Earl Roberts could not possibly relax his attention on the enemies on the sea.
For a period of time, the East African Navy's bombardment of the Mozambique port further strengthened the ideas of Allied commanders such as Earl Roberts.
So the East African Navy and the Allied scouts ran into each other head-on, and the Navy reported the situation to Schwall.
"Lieutenant Schwal, our observation soldiers discovered a small coalition team while on the lookout. They should have discovered our traces. Do you want to give up this mission?"
Although the naval ships in the New Hamburg Port are not large, there is still a high possibility that they will be identified in the near sea. Moreover, there are very few merchant ships taking the East African route at this time, and there are even fewer large-scale fleets like this. Commercial fleets with this strength generally do not lack the tolls of the Suez Canal, so there is no need to take the risk of taking a detour through the East African route.
Of course, there are actually quite a few ships sailing through the East African route. Except for British ships, which East Africa will focus on checking for "contraband", East Africa will mostly let go of ships from other countries.
Currently, the countries with the most ships traveling through East Africa are France and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. France has ships from Madagascar Island. At the same time, Britain may have also placed orders with France to transport "goods" that are inconvenient for them to send to Mozambique. East Africa is well aware of this, but it is impossible for East Africa to offend Britain and then offend the French.
As for the Austro-Hungarian merchant ships, many of them were actually East African ships in disguise, operated by the Hechingen Ocean Trading Company, and some of the merchant ships were transformed. In addition, there were also many Arab merchant ships, mainly for trade.
East Africa is truly a country with abundant resources. Moreover, due to the development of East Africa, the productivity of the original region has been greatly improved. Therefore, this piece of "fat meat" is difficult to give up, or it is impossible to give up at all, especially for Omani businessmen.
Now that "Zanzibar" has completely become a territory of East Africa, the Arabs in Zanzibar have also chosen to "return to their roots" and return to the embrace of the Sultanate of Oman.
However, the trade relations between East Africa and them are becoming increasingly solid, which has also boosted the current Omani economy.
The Zanzibaris who regained their Omani nationality were either nobles, merchants or craftsmen, because they were originally the ruling class in Zanzibar. So when they returned to Oman, in addition to increasing the Omani talent, they also had a lot of money and, most importantly, business channels.
Now Oman has become an economic transit point for East Africa, and Omani businessmen actively promote East African products in all Arab countries.
Moreover, East Africa can adjust its domestic production status according to the import demand of the Omanis. For example, camel breeding has reappeared in the northern pastures of East Africa, and the city of Mombasa has become the center of camel exports in East Africa.
There is also the spice crop of cloves, which is very popular in Europe and the Arab region. The East African coast and Zanzibar Island have always been the best quality production areas, and this is the traditional clove growing area in the Arab region.
East Africa's "occupying the magpie's nest" behavior did not encounter much resistance because of East Africa's "magnanimity", so the two sides have a cooperative relationship.
Of course, the most important thing for Schwall now is not to think about trade issues, but whether to continue with the landing plan.
But after just a little thought, Schwall firmly said, "Major General Bruce, thank you for your help! I have decided to land the troops here."
Bruce kindly reminded, "They are different systems, but I still want to persuade you. We are likely to be discovered by the coalition forces, and there are still hundreds of meters from here to the coast. Even if you don't carry heavy equipment, it will probably take at least three round trips to get all the troops ashore.
It will take so long, I am afraid that the Football League reinforcements will arrive, and then there is a high risk of annihilation. Your mission is already high-risk, so there is no need to risk your life to carry it out. You can completely give up this mission. "
Schwall was very clear about what Major General Bruce said. If there was a better option, he would definitely not take the risk.
He asked, "Major General Bruce, how far is this place from the coast of Manguchi, where the Allied Forces are stationed?"
Manguchi is the defense line set up by the coalition forces south of Maputo to prevent the invasion of East Africa. There is actually no terrain obstacle from the port city of New Hamburgo to Maputo.
There are large areas of water that can be used around Mangkhut, which is similar to the lakes on the Crimean Peninsula. There are large lakes and rivers near Mangkhut, so Mangkhut can effectively hinder the attack from East Africa.
In response to Schwall's question, Major General Bruce answered very clearly: "It is about 35 kilometers, and it is about 70 kilometers to Maputo."
The East African Navy was naturally very familiar with the research on the Mozambique coastline, so Major General Bruce easily gave an approximate distance.
Moreover, this landing site had been chosen long ago by the navy and the army. The water conditions near Maputo were most suitable for landing operations. As for the reason, Schwall's next words could naturally explain it.
"That's right. The distance from here to Mangkuchi is not that long. But even if the Portuguese and British are as well-trained as our army, they can only travel forty kilometers in a day. So it will take them at least half a day to get the reinforcements from Mangkuchi to here. This time is enough for us to go ashore."
"Of course this is not the most important thing. The most important thing is that on the map, there is a forest less than a hundred meters from this coastline. We can now see the lush greenery on the opposite side, which is very suitable for my small-scale troops to hide."
Schwalbe's confidence comes from the large tracts of virgin forest near the coast. The precipitation on the east side of the Drakensberg Mountains is very abundant, and there are a large number of forest resources.
In this environment, as long as Schwal is fast enough, they can take advantage of this loophole and sneak into the enemy's rear.
"Of course, the premise is that the coalition forces have no ambush, but I think the possibility is very small. After all, it is impossible for the coalition forces to obtain intelligence on our landing operation this time." Schwall said.
After all, the dense forest is very suitable for the coalition forces to ambush, and this cannot be confirmed from the ship in East Africa. The reason why the coalition forces' scouts were able to be discovered is due to the contrast of the coastal beaches.
After hearing what Schwal said, Major General Bruce also felt that the feasibility of this was very high. He said, "If you think so, then let's get started! The coalition scouts just now may have tipped off the enemy. You'd better pray that there are no coalition troops stationed nearby."
"No problem." Schwall said. This was another gamble, but Schwall thought the chances of success were very high.
Soon with the cooperation of the navy, Schwall's regiment began to land. The navy lowered lifeboats and small boats into the sea, and the army boarded the ships, first personnel and then equipment.
After an hour's effort, all of Schwall's troops reached the shore. They were lucky and did not find any trace of the enemy for the time being, which meant that there were no Allied forces nearby.
Of course, the footprints of the Allied scouts were still left on the coast. According to Schwall's observation, they usually patrolled along the coastal beaches, but today there was a set of footprints in the same dense forest. This showed that before Schwall's troops went ashore, these scouts chose to escape from the forest. After all, there was no cover on the coast, and they dared not bet on the physical strength and marksmanship of the East Africans.
(End of this chapter)
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