Chapter 792 Conditions
"this……"
Ledeen's purpose caught Earl Roberts off guard, and he felt embarrassed and even annoyed. According to his psychological expectations, the main force in the west should have been wiped out by the East Africans.
After all, from the very beginning, Earl Roberts determined that East Africa would first eliminate the main force of the British army in the west, and then continue to move eastward to besiege Chokwe.
This is not without basis, because from the very beginning, Earl Roberts believed that East Africa had a large number of troops, but the exact number was not too clear. Intelligence on the East African country was too difficult to obtain, and the lack of intelligence was also an important reason for the repeated defeats of the British army.
Moreover, the main force in the west had lost contact with the Shaokwe Headquarters for a long time. This was an important basis for Earl Roberts to determine that the main force in the west had been eliminated in East Africa.
In fact, the main force of the coalition forces in the west was surrounded by East Africans, and there were cavalry units patrolling the periphery to prevent the main force of the British army in the west from escaping to the east. Even if they really avoided the numerous checkpoints and arrived in Chaukou, they would not be able to contact Earl Roberts. Before the war, Chaukou was also surrounded by East African troops. It was almost impossible to enter the city of Chaukou from so many troops.
Seeing that Count Roberts was in a dilemma, Ledeen said, "Your Excellency, do not feel guilty. Although your troops in the west have not been completely wiped out by our army, they have been trapped by our army with equal forces. As long as our troops in Shaokui move westward, it will be easy to wipe them out. We don't even need to do anything. In a short time, they will be forced to surrender due to insufficient supplies. We just want to end this war as soon as possible."
Reiden directly revealed the flaw in contacting the main force in the west. As East Africa moved westward, the Western Military District of the Coalition lost cities and territories. A large amount of supplies could not be brought to São Jorge due to time constraints. In addition, the east's access to supplies was cut off by East Africa, so ultimately it could not escape the clutches of East Africa.
After listening to what Laiden said, Earl Roberts said helplessly: "Okay, your reasoning has convinced me, but I want to know if there are any other places where our troops are besides the west?"
Although it was unlikely, Earl Roberts still hoped from the bottom of his heart that there would be more resolute "patriotic" troops like the main force of the Western Alliance.
Ledeen said regretfully: "No, your western troops were not annihilated by our army in the first place only because of special reasons. Because they have too many people and strong combat effectiveness, and the importance of São Jorge is far less than Chokwe and Maputo in the rear, so I just left enough troops to trap them."
After a pause, Laiden continued, "As for the coalition forces in other directions, to be frank, they did not pose much of a threat to East Africa, so they were either annihilated or surrendered voluntarily."
I knew this would be the result! Earl Roberts thought to himself that the main force of the coalition forces in the west was Roberts's hard work. From the beginning, the west was the main offensive direction set by Earl Roberts, so Earl Roberts deployed a large number of troops and elite troops of the coalition forces in the west.
At the same time, the Western Alliance has been fighting with the Western Military Region in Matabele Province and Hechingen Province in East Africa and on the border with Mozambique since the beginning of the war.
This was also the coalition force that Reden hated the most. At the beginning, it put great pressure on the eastern defense line of East Africa. Later, with the support of the rear-line troops, it switched from offense to defense.
Therefore, the person who knows the Western Alliance best in East Africa happens to be Ledeen, the highest military commander of the Western Military Region of East Africa.
As for other directions, especially the northern coalition forces, they were completely secondary forces of the coalition. Their purpose from the very beginning was to slow down the attack launched from the north by East Africa. This was proved to be the case. When the two cavalry divisions of the Eastern Military Region and the Northern Military Region appeared on the banks of the Limpopo River north of Chokwe City, it meant that the northern forces of the coalition forces were completely lost.
The southern coalition army was slightly better off and was able to evacuate to Maputo or the Natal colony at the beginning. It was second only to the main force of the western coalition and its strength was almost the same as that of the Chokwe garrison. Therefore, many of them fled to Cape Town to avoid the limelight in the later stages of the war.
As for those who ran towards Maputo, they had already been dealt with by the East African Defense Force along with the city of Maputo.
After completely losing confidence in the war, Earl Roberts said to Ledden dejectedly: "I can write a letter to ask the Western Army to surrender to your army, but you must also ensure their safety. It is best to provide sufficient food and medicine. Malaria is rampant in the coalition army now. I hope it will not cause you any trouble."
Roberts had a very uncomfortable time in South Africa. Disease was one of his biggest problems. Of course, the British army was not too panicked when dealing with diseases like malaria.
Especially British people like Earl Roberts who had lived in India for a long time were very familiar with malaria. This was also the main reason why Britain focused on drawing troops from India to the South African battlefield.
Of course, the value of Africa is obviously not comparable to that of India. Although both are severely affected by malaria, India is a cultivated land that has been developed for thousands of years and gave birth to ancient Indian civilization. As for the African continent, except for the Gold Coast, it is really difficult to attract the attention of other countries.
In response to Earl Roberts's request, Ledeen readily agreed: "Of course. We in East Africa still value the lives of your soldiers very much, and we will naturally not let them die in vain on the battlefield."
Now every British soldier in Mozambique is an important hostage for East Africa to "blackmail" the British government in the future, so East Africa attaches great importance to the life safety of British soldiers.
Although this would increase the cost a lot, East Africa could still afford it. However, Laiden also emphasized: "Of course, you'd better seek help from China at the same time. After all, we can't guarantee whether the medicines in East Africa will be effective."
East Africa certainly would not be a sucker. Although the production of quinine is not small, it can basically only meet the domestic demand in East Africa. After all, East Africa did not consider the possibility of capturing a large number of Allied soldiers at the beginning. As for other drugs, their effects are far inferior to quinine, but they are cheap and have large production.
In fact, the malaria within the coalition forces is not too serious. The coalition soldiers who have managed to stay in Africa until now probably already have developed resistance to it.
Therefore, some Chinese medicines that can enhance immunity can solve most of the British army's problems. The most important ones are hygiene and environment. There is no need for East Africa to correct this. Anyway, the prisoner-of-war camps have strict rules and regulations that can help the Allied prisoners get rid of bad habits.
Of course, these conditions apply almost exclusively to the British army and some Portuguese prisoners. Indians, Portuguese mixed-race people, and blacks certainly do not receive this treatment, otherwise the cost in East Africa would be too high.
The British and Portuguese governments will not pay for these "wastes", so East Africa mainly treats these people the same way it treats local black people. Simply put, there are no human rights.
Earl Roberts had no business caring about Redon's little tricks. He only had to take care of the safety of his own people, and that was enough. Even the abuse of British soldiers was not a problem. As long as he could return to his homeland alive, he would feel more "at ease".
As for the Indian troops he brought this time, to be honest, he wouldn't feel bad even if all of them died. Of course, he couldn't just ignore some of the Indians.
(End of this chapter)
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