Chapter 766 Gathering

Folklust.

This very unpronounceable name was inherited from the Boers in East Africa. Strictly speaking, Folklust was not the territory of the original Transvaal Republic.

It is the intersection area between the Boers and the Zulu Kingdom, or the "battlefield" where the two clash, which is firmly controlled by East Africa.

At the same time, Folklust is a transportation hub in the region and an important passage to the new port city of Hamburg. The Central Railway of East Africa passes through here.

With the military mobilization of the Southern Military District, a total of more than 27,000 troops are preparing to cooperate with the defenders of the New Hamburg Port City to regain the Southern Frontier Province.

This also made Folkes Luster Station a busy place, where troops from the Southern Military District were assembled before passing through the various passes of the Drakensberg Mountains.

East Africa controls large and small passages. Although occasionally British troops will break out to open up the westward route, East Africa can be recaptured quickly.

Of course, although the Drakensberg Mountains have certain defensive functions, they are not foolproof. As long as the British army uses their full strength, there is still a chance to break through the natural dangers of the Drakensberg Mountains.

However, even so, it was a difficult task for the British army, first of all because of the lack of detailed understanding of the Drakensberg Mountains.

After all, the British arrived too late. By the time the British wanted to show their strength in South Africa, both the Transvaal Republic and the Zulu Kingdom had been destroyed by East Africa.

East Africa does not open up trade to the outside world, and even restricts the entry and exit of the population, so it is very difficult to obtain intelligence in East Africa.

Most of the intelligence that the British army can obtain comes from expedition teams. "Explorers" were arguably the most notorious existence in the 19th century. This term corresponds to "navigators", who were all pioneers of colonialism.

Of course, there used to be similar official organizations in East Africa, but now they have been replaced by various types of scientific expedition teams or professional foreign spy agencies.

The Drakensberg Mountains are so big, and East Africa is vast and sparsely populated, so even if East Africa wants to "close itself off", it can't completely prevent "explorers" from all over the world from entering East Africa. Generally, as long as they don't accidentally break into East Africa The towns and villages are hard to find in East Africa.

This is especially true for the southern provinces of East Africa. The combined area of ​​the southern provinces is more than one million square kilometers, and the military population is less than one million. In this case, the population density of southern East Africa is actually much higher than that of the Boer Republic. There is no difference between the Cape Town colonies. They are all typical of vast land and sparsely populated areas.

The only difference is that the number of East African troops in the south is almost one-eighth of the population of the Boer Republic.

Of course, with the outbreak of the South African War, the number of coalition troops in South Africa also increased rapidly and exceeded the number of East African troops. However, most of the contribution to the advantage in contact numbers came from Indian soldiers.

If we only take the original population of the Boer Republic and Cape Town, even if we add the two Portuguese colonies in the east and west, without local support, it is not difficult at all for East Africa to challenge four, and it can even be pushed equally.

…

In Falkeslust, the military commanders of the 511th Division, the 513th Division, and the 514th Division, who had just ended the war in the Boer Republic, met to discuss how to regain the lost territory in the Southern Frontier Province.

In addition to these three troops, there is also the 512th Division, which is now the garrison of the New Hamburg Port City. The main force of the 512th Division is besieged in the New Hamburg Port City, but the division headquarters of the 512th Division is in Dejar near the Drakensberg Mountains. area.

Therefore, there are a total of four troops participating in the war in East Africa this time, which is basically the majority of the Southern Military Region.

"The British army currently has more than 20,000 troops outside the city of New Hamburg, which is twice the number of troops in the city of New Hamburg. The number of coalition troops in the entire Southern Frontier Province should be more than 40,000, and most of the remaining troops Confront us on the east side of the Drakensberg Mountains." Keilar said to the friendly commanders who came to support.

Pripyat, commander of the 511th Division, said: "Does this mean that the British troops currently in Southern Frontier Province are not the main force?"

Kelal: "The main force of the British army is now in the north, that is, in Mozambique. As for the British army in the southern border province, they did try to break through our division's deployment in the Drakensberg Mountains in the first month of the war, but they were all defeated by us. The army retreated, and later the enemy and we fell into a tug-of-war near the Drakensberg Mountains, which has been delayed until now."

As the former top military commander in the eastern part of the Southern Frontier Province, the 512th Division led by Kelal and several times the British army fought many battles in the past few months, including the very famous Battle of Tugela River in the early days of the war.

It's just that the 512th Division has been divided into two parts by the enemy. Now the troops in the east centered on the city of New Hamburg are mainly under the command of Aridotus.

Aridotus was the commander of the Battle of the Tugela River in East Africa. He used to be a subordinate of Kelal. Later, after the city of New Hamburg was besieged, in order to unify the command of the garrison of the city of New Hamburg, the Southern Military District commanded Aridotus. Dodd's Ninth Brigade and the heavy elements of the Third Brigade that had been withdrawn from the northern line were temporarily reorganized into the New Hamburg Port Mixed Division.

Therefore, the number of troops that Kelal can actually command now is only one-third of the original 512th Division. However, even so, the strength of the four and a half divisions in East Africa in the eastern battlefield of Southern Frontier Province can reach more than 40,000. This level is already equivalent to The British army was more than twice that size.

Keilar continued: "Our railways with the New Hamburg Port City have been completely cut off, as have the telegraph lines. The communication with the new mixed division can only be transferred through the General Staff Headquarters."

This is an important reason why Aridotus obtained independent command authority. Although Aridotus's department is nominally affiliated with the Southern Military District, it is actually directly under the orders of the General Staff.

Of course, the one who suffers the most is Keilar. His former subordinates have now come ahead of him and command more troops than him. How can this be justified?

Of course, this was a special situation during the war. When faced with the British army that was several times larger than the 512th Division, even other East African troops could not be said to have done better than Kelal in this situation.

Although Aridotus shone brightly in the war, it cannot be denied that the military deployment and commander of the entire Southern Frontier Province in the early stages of the war was Kelal.

Therefore, after the war, Keilar's contribution is indispensable, but it is even more enviable when he has been divided among his colleagues.

Several other main forces in the Southern Frontier Province all participated in the war against the Boer Republic. Although East Africa is suspected of bullying the minority with its large number, after the war, the war against the Boer Republic will definitely be regarded as another war to destroy the country.

Keilar was quite envious of this. Although the Boer Republic was small in area, small in population, and weak in national power, its war to destroy the country sounded impressive.

Of course, Kelal actually participated in such a battle to destroy a country, that is when East Africa destroyed the Transvaal Republic.

With the exception of the Transvaal Republic, countless countries in East Africa perished, but with the exception of Zanzibar, most of them had little value.

After all, the African chiefs who wielded outdated weapons and dominated Africa were not worth mentioning in the history of wars in East Africa. At least hundreds of such kingdoms were wiped out in East Africa, and probably thousands if even large tribes were counted.

The commanders of the other divisions had no feelings for the little Jiujiu in Kailar's heart. Although the 512th Division was now divided into two units, there was no difference in their eyes. After all, did the strength of the mixed division exist out of thin air? The increase is still the same old team of the original 512th Division.

As for bullying the "Boers", it may not be more exciting to confront the British army head-on. Unlike Ernst, Ernst valued the Boers, but the target of most officers in East Africa is definitely not the "mere" Boers, but the "mere" Boers. One of the "most" powerful armies in the world - the British Army.