Chapter 777 Christmas Offensive

Eastern Line of Defense.

The Eastern Line of Defense is the area in Matabele Province in East Africa and part of Hechingen Province that borders Mozambique.

However, with the operations of the Eastern Military Region, the space for activities of the British and Portuguese troops in Mozambique has been compressed in northern East Africa. The loss of northern land has also made the eastern defense line continuously shorter.

The forces of the Western Military District of East Africa were also more concentrated in Hechingen Province. After the fall of Angola, the main forces of the Western Military District in Angola and the Nile Military District also successively sent support to the Eastern Defense Line.

At present, the total strength of the entire Eastern Defense Line has reached 130,000, but the Eastern Defense Line is nearly one-third shorter than before the war began. East Africa has begun to gain a strength advantage against the British and Portuguese coalition forces on the Eastern Defense Line.

Of course, the strength advantage does not include absolute superiority in quantity, but in terms of quality. The combat effectiveness of the East African National Defense Force is naturally not comparable to that of the Portuguese, so when calculating the strength of the coalition forces in East Africa, they tend to use the British The army is used as a reference, while the Portuguese, blacks and Indians are all bonuses.

It's not that East Africa looks down on the Portuguese, it's mainly that the Portuguese's combat effectiveness level is very uneven, but overall they still belong to the relatively poor ranks and are only suitable for fighting with the wind.

It's just that compared to the Portuguese, Indian soldiers will hold back their allies even when fighting against the wind, which is comparable to a replica of Italy during World War II.

And what is similar to Italy is that Indians are also "foodies" in the coalition forces. Now most of the food in the coalition forces has been taken care of by Indian cooks. Indians are indeed much better than Portugal and the United Kingdom in the field of cooking.

As for the British who are good at dark cuisine, they are not at the bottom of the coalition. Although British dark cuisine is unpalatable, there are also representative dishes such as fish and chips. The Mozambican natives have no concept of "food culture" at all, and they only know the most. Basic roasting and boiling, if the aboriginal cooking is basically a pot of rotten stew.

Apart from the "cooking skills" of Indians who are far ahead in the coalition forces, the biggest role of Indian soldiers in the army now is to maintain service work. As for combat tasks, Earl Roberts is afraid that he will be angered to death.

The total number of British troops currently in Mozambique is close to one hundred thousand, so the strength of the Eastern Defense Line in East Africa has a numerical advantage for the British army.

This does not include the Eastern and Southern Military Regions. The Eastern Military Region, the Southern Military Region and other troops together have nearly more than 100,000 people. This is almost the majority of the East African Army.

Except for the Northern Military District and the Nile Military District, all the main forces in East Africa participated in the South African War. The reason why the Nile Military District and the Northern Military District did not go all out was to prevent the British troops in Egypt and British Somaliland, and to prevent the British Invading the interior of East Africa from the northern seas.

…

Giani.

On the border of Hechingen Province, it is an important town on the Eastern Defense Line of East Africa, on the right side of the Limpopo River. In the past, the East African Defense Force was mainly located in Matabele Province on the left bank of the Limpopo River.

However, as the Mozambique colony continued to be eroded, the garrison of Matabele Province in East Africa continued to move to the southern Province of Hechingen.

Originally Giyani was just a wilderness, but it was forcibly built into a "military city" by the East African Defense Forces, and at the same time became the wartime headquarters of the Eastern Defense Line of the Western Military Region.

There are nearly 60,000 East African troops stationed in Giyani and surrounding areas alone, while the current number of troops in Matabele Province has dropped to less than 30,000.

Opposite Matabele Province is the southern part of the 221st Division's river crossing point, which is a large area of ​​primitive grassland. The degree of development is too low and there is a lack of water sources, so the coalition forces are not many. Correspondingly, the number of troops deployed on the border in East Africa is much smaller.

To the south of Giani is the Drakensberg Mountains, which is why Giani has become the new center of the Eastern Defense Line in East Africa. Going south is not suitable for large-scale operations.

As the Eastern Military District fired its first shot, the Western Military District, as the main force in the Mozambique war, was naturally not to be outdone and began to attack the coalition forces at 8 pm on the 12th.

"The 331st Division and the 421st Division were the main forces that participated in the Angola War. The 331st Division once participated in the war in the Transvaal. This return to South Africa can be said to be a return to the old place." Commander-in-chief of the Eastern Defense Line, Lederne, told Karls, commander of the 331st Division, said.

As a mountain division, the 331st Division originally attacked the Boers and Zulu southward along the Drakensberg Mountains, and Giyani happened to be the place where the 331st Division participated in the battle. If you are an old man of the 331st Division, you will be familiar with this place. Of course I feel some intimacy.

The reason why Lederne attaches great importance to the 331st Division is not only because of its "long history" and strong combat effectiveness, but also because it belongs to the Nile Military Region. The Nile Military Region belongs to the guest army, and the rest of the troops are from the Western Military Region.

Karls: "Your Excellency, Commander-in-Chief, our division will definitely live up to expectations in this war, especially in the former Kingdom of Swaziland, where our division has fought before, so I hope you will allow our division to participate in the Battle of Maputo."

Naturally, there is Karls’ little calculation here. Everyone knows that the sun is setting in Mozambique now, so in order to gain military exploits, there is naturally no more valuable battle than conquering Maputo first. If the British army’s highest military commander, Earl Roberts, can be captured alive, then Better.

Lederne is not a petty person and has no prejudice. He said to Karls: "Of course there is no problem, but in this case, you will have to act together with the 411th Division. The main defender in Mbabane now is the 411th Division. Division, just like you worked with the 421st Division to capture Luanda, I hope you can cooperate sincerely this time and be the first to capture Maputo."

The 411th Division is the main division of the Western Military Region. As for the 331st Division's old partner, the 421st Division, Lederne has other plans. The 421st Division is a cavalry unit, so it is naturally impossible to go to the mountains of Swaziland to cooperate with the 331st Division.

Lederne planned to put the 421st Division in charge of the northern plains battlefield, which was the home field of the cavalry. Moreover, as the only cavalry unit in the Western Military Region, the 421st Division was regarded by Lederne as the "big killer" of the Western Military Region.

At the beginning, Lederne placed the 421st Division in Angola in order to interfere with the Portuguese's eastward advance with the minimum force to the maximum extent. Later, the 421st Division completed the task brilliantly. Although the siege methods were somewhat inferior, it was completely able to defeat the Portuguese on the plains. It is the god of death that harvests the enemy. Thinking of his deployment, Delian thought in his mind, what will Merk compare with him this time!

…

Merk, the commander-in-chief of the Southern Military Region, naturally does not know what his old friend is thinking. Now he is thinking about how to conquer Maputo.

The Southern Military Region has a very obvious geographical advantage. Among the various armies in East Africa, it is closest to Maputo. However, it is a pity that Maputo is the most fearful of the New Hamburg Port City and the surrounding East African armies.

"The terrain between New Hamburg Port and Maputo is narrow, so if we forcefully break through, we will definitely pay huge casualties. This is beyond our ability to bear. In this case, we can only take a detour from the mountainous area in the west, or use the navy to bypass the crossing. Maputo garrison in the centre."

Merk ultimately planned to adopt roundabout tactics. Of course, the advantage of the new Hamburg port city was the deployment of a naval squadron, but even if the navy cooperated, it might not be able to transport too many troops, so Merk planned to divide the troops into three parts, all the way from The Swaziland area will be detoured, part of it will be detoured from the sea, and finally it will be a frontal offensive force. The three-pronged approach will definitely break through Portugal's defense line.

Various troops and military districts in East Africa launched a large-scale military operation against Mozambique on December 12. According to the plan of the General Staff Headquarters, this battle was to eliminate the main force of Mozambique before Christmas, so it was called the Christmas Offensive.