Chapter 773 Passive British Army

Maputo.

Earl Roberts looked at the military map in the command post with a dejected face. Now the war situation is increasingly developing in a direction that is unfavorable to the coalition forces.

"The current situation is very unfavorable to us. Just last month, Angola was completely defeated by East Africa. Portugal's military capabilities in Angola were completely destroyed, which means that now we are the only one left to fight against East Africa." Roberts said weakly .

"Your Excellency, the war strength shown by East Africa is amazing. Now we are surrounded by East Africa. The only place where we can break the situation is the ocean. Only by reopening the Indian Ocean channel can we turn defeat into victory!"

The consoling words of his subordinates could not cheer up Earl Roberts. He said: "Even if we regain control of the sea, it will not change the situation of the war. Our scope of activities has been reduced by the East Africans to an area of ​​less than 150,000 square kilometers. , and the defeat of the Boers and Angola also means that two strategic pivots have been destroyed, and we in Mozambique are the most difficult to support."

If the main battlefield had been in Angola, Britain might have been able to effectively assist Earl Roberts' troops, because the presence of the East African navy in the waters of Angola and even the entire Atlantic region was basically zero.

But Earl Roberts's main idea at the time was to attack the central and eastern parts of East Africa, the two core areas of East Africa, so Mozambique, located in the heart of East Africa, seemed to have better conditions.

This requires a premise, that is, the coalition has always maintained its advantage, but now the so-called coalition has actually existed in name only, and only the United Kingdom is still struggling to support it.

"Moreover, no amount of support is meaningful to the South African battlefield. The East Africans have complete military industrial capabilities, which makes them fully capable of replenishing the losses in the war, and the cost we need to pay is indeed the East Africans' Several times.”

"And the main problem now is that the crisis in the New Hamburg Port has been resolved. East Africa has blocked our passage south or the British army's passage north in the Natal colony. Our supplies have entered a state of pure consumption and cannot be effectively replenished at all."

So now, Earl Roberts can already conclude the outcome of this war. As long as East Africa does not make mistakes, it is basically impossible for Britain to win.

Of course, the biggest reason why Roberts is so pessimistic is actually the current state of the British army. If it were just a disadvantage in the situation, then Earl Roberts would naturally not be so negative. For a nobleman from a military family like Earl Roberts, even with the It doesn't matter if you die for your country.

However, the current combat effectiveness of the British army is not caused by the British army's own problems at all, but by the terrible disease-malaria.

Yes, as the war progressed, Mozambique experienced serious outbreaks of infectious diseases, the most serious of which was malaria.

Unlike "indigenous" people like East Africa, in order to deal with diseases such as malaria, East Africa attaches great importance to military hygiene and mosquito control. It can be said that it has reached a crazy attitude.

The British army is obviously not aware of this problem, so the health status of the British army is very bad. After the British material supply channels were cut off in East Africa, there was a lack of supplementary medicine and alcohol, which made the British army even more negative.

In addition to anesthetizing the mental state of soldiers, improving combat morale and medical value, alcohol also has an important role in preventing drinking from unclean water sources and being infected by parasites or bacterial viruses.

The East African army does not drink raw water, and the British army obviously does not have such a "weird" rule. However, this also caused the British army to pay a heavy price for this. In addition, the corpses on the battlefield were not cleaned up in time. With the current temperature in Africa, the problem can be serious. It's just too big.

In fact, battlefield cleanup is also a headache in East Africa. However, in the long years of fighting in Africa, East Africa has formed norms and various experiences, so it can minimize risks, while the coalition forces are much worse.

There is also the mosquito problem, which is the main culprit of malaria. The Portuguese and local indigenous people are better off, but the British Army has never suffered like this!

Of course, if the British Army came from India, the situation would be much better, because India is also a country where malaria is rampant.

But with the knowledge of this era, it was impossible for the British army to effectively deal with this problem. After all, they did not know the vector of malaria transmission.

This has to mention the British Ronald Ross. He was born in northwest India. He studied at St. Bartholomew's Medical College in London in 1874. In 1881, Ross was assigned to India to treat malaria for soldiers. Ross was mentored by an expert - British tropical medicine pioneer Manson. Manson introduced to Ross the malaria specimens discovered by Laveran in 1880 and the hypothesis that malaria is transmitted by mosquitoes. Through unremitting efforts, Ross finally found the malaria-transmitting mosquito - "Anopheles" on August 20, 1897.

If history does not change much, it will take ten years for this hypothesis to be proven in India.

At the same time, Ross's experience also fully demonstrates that even in India, the core British colony, the British are now very troubled by malaria. After all, Ross's job is to treat malaria for the British army in India.

In this regard, under Ernst's guidance, East Africa has indeed effectively avoided mosquitoes as the vector for transmitting malaria. As a major producer of pyrethrum, East Africa is among the best in the world in mosquito repellent products.

However, there is currently no good way to deal with malaria in East Africa. The only way is to reduce the infection rate to the lowest limit. The local combat advantages of East Africa can allow the East African army to obtain sufficient supplies of quinine and other drugs. Coupled with good living habits, it can Non-combat attrition is reduced to a minimum.

Earl Roberts frowned and said: "Quinine and other special drugs cannot be effectively replenished. This is one of the biggest difficulties faced by the current army. Before this, our army could suppress the malaria outbreak, but now the spread of malaria is too great. , even I can't avoid it, and I'm afraid the soldiers below are even more so."

Earl Roberts was also hit half a month ago. However, as the top military commander, Earl Roberts will definitely not be short of quinine and other special medicines. However, Earl Roberts also had an important impact on the South African War during his recovery.

Of course, the most deadly point for the British army is that malaria can be infected repeatedly. After all, malaria is neither a bacterium nor a virus, but a parasitic disease that is difficult to prevent by human immunity alone.

This doubled the number of malaria infections. The British army was unable to effectively solve the mosquito problem, and the British now did not know that mosquitoes were the main culprit in spreading malaria, so this fell into an endless cycle.

All kinds of unfavorable factors have been added together, and now the morale of the British army has naturally reached its lowest point. Moreover, there is no alcohol and tobacco to numb the nerves, and death is always around them, causing the negative attitude to spread throughout the military camp.

Even the East Africans don't need to take action. If they surround the British for a few months, I'm afraid the British army will collapse without a fight.

Of course, the British also thought about getting solutions from East Africa, but unfortunately nothing was gained, because East Africa only strictly implemented the "weird" regulations set by Ernst in the army. At most, everyone felt that the crown prince was more particular about hygiene.

As for the spread of malaria, Ernst had never made it public. After all, he was not a medical scientist like Ronald Ross and could not prove it.

However, after East Africa's medical capabilities reached the standard, East African medical staff were instructed to take this direction as a research goal. However, East African medical staff have not yet obtained effective evidence. However, with the correct direction, East Africa's scientific understanding of malaria transmission should be would be here long before Ronald Rose.