Chapter 786: The Turn of Times
Colony of Natal.
British Commissioner Marshall arrived here by ship. Due to the deterioration of the South African War, the situation of the Mozambique Allied Forces was precarious, so in order to explore and question the South African War, Commissioner Marshall landed in the Natal Colony.
Seeing Marshall coming to South Africa empty-handed, the Natal defenders felt a little disappointed. What everyone needed most now was local support and reinforcements.
However, Marshall obviously did not think so, because before the war, the Allied forces had an absolute advantage on paper, and before the Battle of Angola, the Allied forces had more troops than East Africa.
Therefore, the reason for the failure of the South African War was ultimately due to the incompetence of the generals, and Earl Roberts was the first to bear the brunt of the blame. However, given that Earl Roberts is now besieged in Mozambique.
Marshall naturally could not fly over to cause trouble for Earl Roberts, but the general of the Natal colonial garrison, who was temporarily safe, suffered a terrible fate.
Instead of receiving aid, Marshall encountered a bad guy. The first thing he said after arriving in Durban was: "Why not attack East Africa!"
"The East Africans have recaptured and blocked the Tugela River. Our route to the north to support Earl Roberts has been cut off. The most critical thing now is how we deal with the enemy's threat. They will not stop at the Tugela River. So what we should be most concerned about now is our own safety, rather than thinking about rescuing Earl Roberts." The current highest military commander of the Natal colony, Biddes, said with a stiff upper lip.
"Has the situation in South Africa become so deteriorating now?" Marshall asked with a frown.
"It's much more serious than this. We have lost contact with Earl Roberts. The East Africans took over Maputo just three days ago. However, according to news from half a month ago, Earl Roberts and the Mozambique government have moved inland, so they may still be fighting against East Africa."
"Maputo is lost!" The news shocked Marshall.
"Yes, according to the intelligence we obtained from Portuguese merchants, East Africa had actually launched an operation around Maputo some time ago, but now we have received accurate information that Maputo has been occupied by East Africa."
The news of the fall of Maputo completely silenced Marshall. Because the distance from Britain to South Africa is not short, Marshall had been drifting on the sea for more than ten days. Before he set off, Maputo was still firmly controlled by the Allied forces.
"What's the current situation in the Natal colony? And Cape Town. On the way here, I saw that Natal had quite a few soldiers, but many of them were doing nothing. If the East Africans hadn't reached the north bank, I would have thought that Natal had already achieved peace!" Marshall asked angrily, "So why didn't you organize a counterattack?"
With a cold sweat dripping down his face, Bedes said, "Mr. Commissioner, although Natal seems to have a lot of troops, most of these soldiers are Indians, so their combat effectiveness is very worrying. Most of the British have been taken to Mozambique by Earl Roberts. The number of British troops in Natal is less than 4,000, only more than 3,700. This small number of troops is not enough to change the situation, so now we mainly focus on defense."
"Are East Africans gods of war? And what about Indian soldiers? Aren't they human beings? As long as they can pull the trigger and aim, they are qualified soldiers. Don't make excuses for your failure." Marshall didn't care about these problems. In his opinion, the failure of the war was entirely due to the incompetence of the generals headed by Roberts.
And Bids also had his grievances in silence. If the Indian soldiers' fighting effectiveness were to be boasted about, it would certainly be boasted loud enough. But if he really led this group of people, he would know how uncomfortable it was.
He had no doubt that if the Indians were left to guard the Tugela River line of defense, East Africans would be seen on the streets of Durban the next day, and they would be let in directly by the Indians.
However, Marshall did not believe such outrageous things. Although there were many jokes in Britain that insulted Indians, Indians were also human beings and had many advantages, such as they were better at cooking than the British.
So Marshall gave Biddes a direct order: "I don't care what kind of soldiers you have, even if they are a group of pigs, dogs, cows and sheep, you must rush to retake Maputo for me instead of hiding in Natal and doing nothing."
Faced with the "unreasonable" new boss, Bidace had no way to deal with it. Instead, he began to miss Earl Roberts. Although Earl Roberts was a strict person, he had a relatively good understanding of the military situation.
This commissioner who was airdropped from the local area was like a quarrelsome old hen, making Biddes uneasy. However, Biddes did not dare to disobey Marshall's orders. He could only bite the bullet and start organizing the group of "hopeless" Indian soldiers to prepare for a confrontation with East Africa on the Tugela River line.
As for crossing the river, it was not within the scope of Beedes' consideration at all. Now the Natal colony should pray that the East Africans would focus their energy on Mozambique rather than Natal. According to the current momentum of the East Africans, if they turned their spearheads towards Natal, I am afraid that the Tugela River defense line would not be able to be held for a day.
…
It can be said that Biddes' concerns were completely correct. The 9th East African Brigade had a deep understanding of how difficult it was to defend the Tugela River, even though East Africa had been operating the Tugela River defense line for many years before that.
However, it was captured by the British army after only one day of defense. Of course, the 9th East African Brigade took the initiative to withdraw to the port city of New Hamburg and did not try its best to stop the British army from crossing the river.
However, this also shows that the situation of the Tugela River is not conducive to defense. Now the situation has changed. The difficulties encountered by East Africa have now become the difficulties of the Natal colony.
After resolving Maputo, the East African army gathered in Mozambique. So now that the forces are concentrated, there is no longer a need for so many troops. The Southern Military Region also decided to attack in the direction of Natal and Cape Town.
It was impossible for East Africa to let the Natal Colony and the Cape Colony go unpunished until the war was over.
Previously, the main focus was on Angola and Mozambique, so East Africa had no energy to deal with the British. Now that the situation in Mozambique has been settled, the Southern Military Region has begun planning retaliation in the direction of Natal and Cape Town.
The two British colonies of Natal and Cape Town can be said to be the most "disgusting" southern military region because of the previous grand strategy of the General Staff.
The Southern Military Region could only cooperate with other military regions to encircle and suppress the Portuguese colonies, and at this time the British colonies often stabbed the Southern Military Region in the back.
Of course, as an enemy, there is nothing wrong with Britain's actions, but this kind of provocative behavior has long been hated by the Southern Military District, like a fly, disgusting.
Moreover, the main culprits of the South African War included the British. It can even be said that the war was dominated by Britain and East Africa. It was naturally impossible for East Africa to find problems within itself, so everything was the British's fault.
After resolving Maputo, most of the troops in the Southern Military Region began to withdraw, leaving only a small number of troops to follow the Guards Division. The Western Military Region went north to hunt down Earl Roberts.
As for the troops of the Southern Military Region, they gathered in the directions of the Orange River and the Tugela River.
December 23, 1888.
On the day before Christmas, the Southern Military District launched a counterattack against the southern British colonies, and on the same day other East African troops also arrived in Chokwe, surrounding Earl Roberts' troops.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
