Chapter 1248 Phuket Island
September 7, 1916.
Port of Lamu.
East Africa's Indian Ocean Fleet was officially preparing to take over the area ceded by Siam, and the East African government named the area independent from Siam the Kra Isthmus Territory.
Vice Admiral Kolets of the East African Navy said to a group of officers and soldiers: "The Port of Phuket should become the strategic fulcrum of our navy in the East Indian waters. The overseas base of the Indian Ocean Fleet should be built here, so that the sphere of influence of our navy can truly influence to the entire Indian Ocean.”
Although East Africa's Indian Ocean Fleet has a great reputation and is known as the strongest navy in the entire Indian Ocean, East Africa's influence on the Indian Ocean is not the same.
The main reason for this is that East Africa lacks territory in the East Indian Ocean region.
In the past, East Africa also faced this situation in the northern Indian Ocean, roughly the Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf. However, with the establishment of the Beibu Gulf territory, East Africa has truly established a foothold in the northern Indian Ocean. In addition, The northern Indian Ocean is not far from the East African mainland, so even if the environmental carrying capacity of the Beibu Gulf territory is poor, there will not be much of a problem.
This is not the case in the East Indian Ocean. East Africa did not have a territory or naval base in the East Indian Ocean in the past. This made the East African navy's local influence far less than that of the United Kingdom and France.
The emergence of the Kra Isthmus territory has greatly solved the problem of the Indian Ocean Fleet's lack of strategic fulcrum in the eastern Indian Ocean.
East Africa's division of the East Indian Ocean is also very simple, that is, taking the southernmost tip of India as the dividing line, the vast sea area east of India, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java Island and west of Australia is the general scope of the East Indian Ocean.
Important sea areas or maritime traffic arteries such as the Bay of Bengal, Sea of Myanmar, Strait of Malacca, Timor Sea, and Great Australian Bay all belong to this sea area.
Although East Africa has many overseas territories in the Southeast Asia region, these overseas territories belong to the Pacific Ocean, not the Indian Ocean region.
Therefore, Kolets, a veteran general from the East African Navy, was very excited about East Africa's acquisition of the Kra Isthmus territory.
He said: "The location of Phuket Port is right between the Strait of Malacca and the Sea of Myanmar. Building it into a naval port and stationing a fleet can effectively deter the east-west trade routes."
In fact, what the East African Navy originally hoped to obtain was Ling Jiawei Island southeast of Phuket Port. However, this island has long been occupied by the British, so it can only settle for the second best and choose Phuket Port.
After all, for the navy, although the conditions of Phuket Port are superior, it is backed by the mainland part of the Indochina Peninsula, and Lingjiawei Island is a large island in the west of the Strait of Malacca.
The defensive nature of the island is generally easier to defend and harder to attack, and there is a strait between Ling Jiawei Island and the Malay Peninsula, which makes it safer. The conditions on the island are also good, with abundant freshwater resources and a considerable land area. It can accommodate a lot of people, and it is relatively easy to station at least a squadron.
However, Phuket Port has almost no shortcomings except that it is not as good as Ling Jiawei Island in the first point. The threats on land are nothing more than Myanmar and Siam. As long as East Africa does not decline, their threats can basically be ignored.
In fact, Phuket Island, where Phuket Port is located, is itself an island. It was the largest island in Siam in its previous life and a world-renowned tourist attraction. However, because it is too close to the mainland, it cannot be reflected on large-scale maps. come out with its island character.
If you choose a more professional map, you can see that there is a strait between the north and Siam, but the narrowest point of the strait is only a few hundred meters away. This distance can be reached from the mainland with a slider board.
"This action is probably similar to the central government's arrangements for Lanfang Overseas Province and East Kalimantan Colony."
Lanfang Overseas Province and East Kalimantan can actually be regarded as a whole, but the East African government has no plans to merge the two places together after acquiring East Kalimantan. After all, generally speaking, when many countries colonize overseas, they like to merge several colonies to save colonial administration and management costs.
For example, the British Indian colony even included many countries in the previous life, and the same was true for the Dutch East Indies colony. In fact, without the force of two colonists, it would have been impossible to have unified India and Indonesia in the previous life. Big Mac country.
The most typical example of this is the French Indochina colony in the previous life. After Vietnam defeated France in the previous life, it wanted to inherit other areas of the French Indochina colony, such as Laos and Cambodia. This caused Vietnam to make waves in Southeast Asia in the previous life.
It can be seen from this that colonial activities had a profound impact on world politics in previous lives. After all, according to normal development logic, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and other regions should have been divided into many small countries, but the colonists integrated them together, thus the emergence of A group of large unified countries.
The East African government and navy separated Phuket from the Kra Isthmus territory, which also had this influence.
In Ernst's view, it is impossible for East Africa to localize the Kra Isthmus territory in the future. After all, East Africa is not here to alleviate poverty in the past, just like the United States is unwilling to absorb Mexico, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico.
Therefore, with the exception of Lan Fong Overseas Province, the colonial activities in East Africa in recent decades have no longer classified areas far away from the mainland as provinces.
The purpose of East Africa's plot to seize the Kra Isthmus is quite diverse, including supporting a pro-East African country in the Kra Isthmus in the future, building a new "Rhineland" homeland, expanding East Africa's influence in the region, etc.
And since it does not plan to incorporate the Kra Isthmus territory into the East African governance system, East Africa also does not plan to invest in the comprehensive development of the Kra Isthmus area.
After all, the Kra Isthmus territory covers an area of 50,000 square kilometers, which is almost equivalent to half the province of the Far Eastern Empire in the previous life.
The independence of Phuket Island is completely different. The area of Phuket Island is only more than 500 square kilometers, and East Africa's demands for the local area are more military and strategic.
This will become the regional center of the East African Indian Ocean Fleet in the East Indian Sea, and will be built into a large-scale comprehensive land, sea and air multi-purpose military fortress.
Construction of military ports, airports, military camps and other facilities will form a huge deterrent to the Southeast Asian countries, India, Myanmar, etc. in the region.
On land, it can directly threaten Siam and Myanmar; on the sea, it can threaten the Strait of Malacca and surrounding waters; in the sky, the scope is even greater. Of course, the premise is that after the air force officially rises.
After taking control of Phuket Island, and after the construction of the military fortress on Phuket Island is completed, East Africa's voice in the Indian Ocean will be unprecedentedly strengthened, and the security of East Africa's territories in the Southeast Asia region can be ensured.
For example, the Strait of Malacca was once an important tool used by the British to contain the two major fleets in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean in East Africa. Once the construction of the Phuket military fortress was completed, it became the case for East Africa to contain the British colonies in the Strait of Malacca from both sides. .
The importance of Phuket goes far beyond that. Although it is not as important as the Strait of Malacca, especially the Strait of Singapore, it can ensure that East Africa screens and attacks all ships passing through the Strait of Malacca and maintains the safety of East African merchant ships.
This is similar to the city of Dire Dawa in East Africa. As long as Dire Dawa is in East African hands, East Africa can threaten the security of British Somaliland, French Djibouti, and even Italy's Red Sea colonies.
This is a strategic check and balance method commonly used in East Africa. After all, the history of East African countries is too short, so that in the post-colonial era, they can only choose those "terrain" as their strategic fulcrum.
In fact, this method was often used by the Far Eastern Empire in previous generations. For example, when important waterways such as the Strait of Malacca and the Suez Canal were controlled by Western forces, the Far Eastern Empire retreated and chose some secondary strategic locations for deployment.
(End of chapter)