Chapter 1125 Breaking the Limits of Naval Development

"At present, the penetration rate of our army's armored units and motorized units is as high as 40%, but it still retains a large number of traditional infantry and cavalry, which saves a lot of expenses for our army." Merk said.

Without defense pressure, it would be difficult for East Africa to achieve comprehensive military reform. After all, relying on traditional military forms, East Africa can suppress the surrounding small countries or colonies.

East Africa's military operations in the Persian Gulf the year before last were accomplished by relying on traditional armies. However, the Arabs in the Beibu Gulf territory even lacked rifle bullets. Therefore, unless they were dealing with a military power like Germany, East Africa had to use its own State-of-the-art military response.

"Our army is currently equipped with about 4,300 artillery pieces, covering a variety of calibers and uses. In the world, it is second only to Germany and Russia, about the same as France, and more than the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Among them, Seventy-five millimeter artillery is the main force, accounting for about 47%.”

The East African army once equipped the 75mm artillery on a large scale. This situation lasted until the end of the last century. The main reason was that the performance of this artillery was indeed excellent and it was easy to move. After entering the 20th century, with the development of the East African automobile industry, the 75mm artillery The 15mm artillery is still favored by the army. As a light field gun, the 75mm artillery is moderate in weight and is more convenient to be towed by cars.

Of course, compared to the French army's superstition of 75mm artillery, East Africa is still much worse. France's main artillery is almost all 75mm artillery, and the number of artillery larger than 75mm artillery is less than 300. There are more than 1,400 large-caliber artillery guns in East Africa.

With the implementation of the first two five-year plans, East Africa's defense industry has been qualitatively improved. The difficulty of manufacturing larger-caliber artillery has been greatly reduced, and artillery research and development has also reached a higher level. As a major metal and mineral country, East Africa is able to obtain many products that are lacking in Europe. of rare metals, which provide high-quality conditions for the research and development of East African artillery.

If we look at the penetration rate of artillery among East African troops, East Africa is even higher than that of European countries. Take Germany for example. The number of German artillery pieces is second only to Russia, with nearly 7,000 pieces. However, the number of German troops is more than ten dozen more than that of East Africa. Ten thousand, and there are armored forces in East Africa. The tanks in East Africa are actually a mobile artillery support force, but they are not included in the East African artillery ranks.

Overall, the artillery penetration rate in East Africa is comparable to that of Germany and greater than that of other countries. Although Russia has the largest number of artillery, its penetration rate and artillery quality are far behind those of Germany and East Africa, and even not as good as France and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

"Our country's artillery quantity ranks in the second echelon in the world, and its quality is between Germany and France. The concept adopted by artillery also focuses on the characteristics of Germany, France, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire to deal with both traditional warfare and trench warfare. Combat concept.”

Among the world's artillery forces, Europe as a whole ranks first in the world, and among them Germany, France, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire are the most prominent. The armies of other countries generally use the artillery of these three countries as a reference standard. This is also the case for the East African Army. The main reason for the large-scale equipment of 75mm artillery and the equipment of a large number of large-caliber heavy artillery.

Because at the beginning of the construction of artillery power in East Africa, two combat modes were considered. During the South African War in East Africa, both sides had already switched to relatively primitive trench warfare, but this does not mean that the 75mm artillery is aimed at the line. Infantry mode artillery has no place in East Africa. After all, Egypt has the strongest military strength among the countries surrounding East Africa. To deal with a country like Egypt, using large-caliber heavy artillery feels like killing a chicken with a sledgehammer.

Needless to say, in other countries and colonies, artillery is considered a rarity. For example, the Abyssinian Empire only has more than 20 artillery pieces in the whole country.

Merk continued: "Our army, especially the non-armored forces, implements the concept of firepower superiority, which enables our basic infantry to be equipped with a large number of easy-to-carry mortars and grenades, and the entire army has formed a multi-level artillery strike coverage. strength and can adapt to a variety of battlefield situations.”

"In addition to artillery, we also equip a large number of other small weapons such as rifles, machine guns, grenades, and landmines."

"In addition to weapons, another highlight of the army's construction is informatization. It is currently actively promoting the popularization of radio equipment throughout the army, and at the same time promoting the miniaturization of radio equipment, as well as telephones, wired telegraphs, etc., which have also made great progress in recent years. A strong information network has been formed in our country to specifically serve the military.”

Sometimes wars are about intelligence, so the militaries of various countries attach great importance to information collection. East Africa, with its advantages as a world power in the power field, is also considered a top-notch presence in this regard, especially with the popularity of radio, it can be said that East Africa will be included. takes the world's armies to a new level.

"At the naval level, the total tonnage of our country's navy has now reached 680,000 tons, which can be considered to have made great progress. In the past three years, it has increased by more than 100,000 tons."

The total tonnage of the East African Navy still exceeds the minimum standard of 650,000 tons originally agreed with the United Kingdom, and now exceeds 30,000 tons.

Of course, this is also in line with the agreement between the two countries. After all, the East African navy is based on the French navy, and France has never stopped military competition in the navy. Now the total tonnage of the French navy is close to 900,000 tons. Therefore, according to the original relationship between East Africa and the United Kingdom, With the agreement reached, East Africa can naturally increase the corresponding size of its navy.

In addition, there is another unstable factor that interferes with the construction of the East African Navy, that is, the Japanese Navy. In the original agreement between East Africa and Britain, it was clearly stated that the Japanese Navy could not exceed the East African Navy, otherwise the East African Navy had the right to change its plan on its own.

Today, the total tonnage of the Japanese Navy has reached more than 600,000 tons, so the British have no reason to interfere with the expansion of the East African Navy, unless the British settle Japan and persuade the Japanese Navy not to expand.

However, Japan has long been a different person. If it was before the Russo-Japanese War, Japan might still obey Britain's orders due to the gap in strength, but now Japan has become one of the world's recognized powers, replacing Spain as the goalkeeper of the powers, and naturally will not be obedient.

In fact, if it is only from a military perspective, Japan should be above Spain. Even if it is considered economically, Japan and Spain are on par, and even because of the population advantage, it is slightly better than Spain now. Therefore, saying that Japan is the goalkeeper of the powers is a bit of an underestimation of Japan.

However, this is the view of most Western countries. As an Asian country, it is rare for Japan to be regarded as an equal by the powers, and it is difficult for them to further recognize Japan's international status.

Japan now defines itself as the boss of East Asia, so it is not obedient to Britain, its former master. If Britain declines further, Japan is likely to try every means to kick Britain out of East Asia. After all, it is Japan's traditional skill to rebel against the superior. In fact, Japan did the same in its previous life and taught Britain a lesson in Southeast Asia.

So Britain asked the Japanese government to stop the expansion of the navy, but the Japanese government completely adopted an attitude of lip service and insincere disobedience.

If Japan does not stop the naval military competition, East Africa will naturally not fall behind. Therefore, although East Africa's naval development stagnated for a period of time due to the influence of the East-Anglo Reconciliation Treaty, it is now catching up again.

This is actually the trap set by Ernst at the beginning. Due to his understanding of Japan, Ernst knew that Japan would not act according to Britain's instructions, so he included the total tonnage of the Japanese navy as a condition in the treaty.

Even if Britain is unhappy now, there is no way. This hatred can only be transferred to the "disobedient" Japanese government, and East Africa, with the help of Japan's ambitions, has avoided the naval development restrictions of the East-Anglo Reconciliation Treaty.