Chapter 1320 East African Military Reform

The fundamental purpose of East Africa's military expansion is to cope with the great changes in the world. Now is the critical period of the great changes in the world. This is also the fundamental reason why the East African government wants to expand the army to more than one million.

Pripyat said: "Whether we join the war or not, we need to prepare for the military field in advance to deal with any risks."

"Although the European countries are fighting fiercely, this also means that they already have a huge military force in their hands, and after the baptism of the battlefield, when this force is deployed outside Europe after the war, there will be no force that can compete with it in the short term."

"Therefore, the navy is the key issue. Only by guarding the sea borders can our army maintain the strategic initiative and be able to attack and defend. On the one hand, we must strengthen the size of the navy, and on the other hand, we must be ready to transform production capacity into a wartime economy at any time."

"The same is true for the army. We must strengthen the management of the reserve and logistics systems, so that after the outbreak of the war, the empire can always pull up a huge army base that is no less than that of European countries."

Assuming that East Africa is eventually involved in the war, there is only one possibility, that is, to join the Allied camp. This is the consensus of the East African government, and it is also the fundamental reason why Britain and France are trying their best to throw chips to win over East Africa.

It is impossible for East Africa to join the Allied camp, which is determined by East Africa's ethnicity, culture, interests and other comprehensive factors.

However, not joining the Allied Powers does not mean that it must join the Central Powers, especially at the moment, the East African government still has to see how the European war situation will perform after the United States joins the Allied camp. If the United States' joining still cannot change the situation in Europe, then the East African government is likely to make a political shift.

Therefore, the East African government's discussion on the topic of military expansion this time was finally recognized by Ernst, and he took out the military expansion plan that he had prepared long ago.

Ernst said: "Based on the current base of the East African army and various factors such as the army composition, the goal of expanding the army is 400,000 and it will be completed within two years."

"Among them, in terms of the army, we will expand the local armored forces, mobile forces, information forces, biochemical forces, army aviation and other important military branches."

"In terms of the navy, we will strengthen the construction of aircraft carrier formations. By the end of 1920, three new aircraft carrier battle formations will be formed. In addition to the new naval aviation external combat missions, we will focus on the construction of combat-ready airports in the Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Red Sea, Persian Gulf and South China Sea."

"Vigorously develop the air force to achieve a scale of more than 50,000 air force personnel before 1920. At the same time, we will fully develop military aircraft research and development, improve the local pilot training system, etc. After this round of expansion, the total strength of the National Defense Force will reach more than 1.2 million."

It seems that there are many people, but this must take into account the large number of colonial garrisons in East Africa. Most of these colonial garrisons are poorly equipped and mainly infantry, that is, they bully the local indigenous people.

If compared with the armies of various countries in Europe that have been tested by long-term large-scale wars, the combat effectiveness is very questionable.

Therefore, Ernst emphasized: "From this year to next year, the military and overseas governments should speed up the cleanup of colonies. Before 1920, the current population structure problem of colonies should be basically solved, and after 1920, the overall stability of overseas territories should be achieved."

"The troops fighting overseas should also speed up the withdrawal to the country, especially the troops in the already stable areas, and return to the country for rest and reorganization after reserving enough personnel."

"The troops returning to the country will be organized into new combat troops in combination with the experience of European wars. According to the standards of modernized armies, the level of weapons and equipment will be comprehensively improved to form the combat experience of large corps."

Why do I say this? The main reason is that the army in East Africa in the past can actually be regarded as two types. One is a new army composed of armored forces, mobile forces, information forces, etc., and the other is an old-style army that is still configured according to the armies of European countries in the last century and has not been transformed. The latter is mainly East Africa's traditional cavalry and light infantry.

The reason why East Africa retained a large number of old-style troops in the past is actually very simple, that is, saving money.

Since the South African War, East Africa has basically fallen into a state of long-term peaceful development. Even if wars have become frequent again in recent years, they are all security wars in overseas colonies.

In response to the security war in the colonies, the old military uniforms are more cost-effective. After all, it is not worthwhile to dispatch new arms and new weapons such as armored forces or air forces to deal with the natives.

However, now the overseas security war in East Africa has actually come to an end. Except for the territory of the Isthmus of Kra, the cleanup activities in most colonies have been basically completed.

So during this period of time, many East African troops in Togoland, East Kalimantan, and Mindanao can return home, and the East African overseas colonies can reserve less than 200,000 troops, which can basically ensure peace of mind.

In this way, the three parts of East Africa, the returning troops, and the newly formed troops after the expansion can basically maintain more than 500,000.

And Ernst intends to reorganize all of these at least 500,000 troops into a new army, eliminating traditional cavalry, infantry and other old troops.

In other words, in the future, except for a small number of overseas colonial garrisons in East Africa, the entire country's army will improve its weapons and equipment and form new combat units.

For example, the light infantry will be reorganized into a mobile force, fully equipped with a large number of motor vehicles such as cars and motorcycles. The artillery will also be fully powered by cars and railways, changing the mode of people pulling and horses pulling... This is a large-scale military reform in East Africa.

Therefore, Ernst said: "The expansion of the army and the military reform will be carried out simultaneously to comprehensively improve the combat capability of the army to cope with any risks that may arise in the future and join the mechanization and information development of the army."

"This military reform should fully absorb the experience of the European battlefield, especially the application of various new weapons and equipment such as tanks, vehicles, and aircraft that have appeared on the European continent."

"Study the application mode of large-scale combat in European countries to ensure that after the reform of our new infantry is completed, we can quickly form combat effectiveness and respond to various war situations and emergencies."

"Finally, it is to strengthen the cooperation between the navy, army, and air force, such as how the air force cooperates with the army to suppress local firepower on the ground battlefield, support, and help the army clear the enemy targets ahead, or the air force assists the navy to achieve the blockade of the strait, the bay, and other places in the air."

With the appearance of various strange weapons on the European battlefield, the East African National Defense Force no longer needs to be secretive as in the past, but should study how to further improve the combat system and tactics, so as to achieve the dimensionality reduction strike of the East African army against the armies of other countries.

At present, the East African army has achieved the world's first level in terms of weapons and equipment, but it is precisely because of this that the East African National Defense Force can only explore its own development now and in the future, and there is no reference in the world.

Even though new weapons such as aircraft and tanks have appeared on the European battlefield today, there is a huge gap between these weapons and the East African National Defense Force, which has been exploring since the last century.

Through this round of military expansion, if the size of the East African army was placed before the war, it would also be ranked among the top two in the world.

At that time, only Russia's standing army maintained more than one million, with a specific number of about 1.42 million. This means that after the expansion of the East African army, the number of troops was only about 200,000 less than the Russian army before the war.

Referring to the population size of the two countries, although the number of East African troops is still small, the economic and industrial level of East Africa is higher than that of Russia, and the strength of the East African navy has also exceeded that of Russia before the Russo-Japanese War through the development of these years.

Therefore, after the military expansion, the number of East African troops is still less than that of pre-war Russia, but the military expenditure may be several times that of the Russian army. This is because the economy and industry of East Africa have developed now, otherwise it would be impossible to realize this round of military reform.