Chapter 387 First encounter
Before the arrival of the East African army, Wiggins, who took over Pretoria, made some major changes to Pretoria's city defense system within three days, not only temporarily heightening and strengthening the city walls, but also excavating around Pretoria. trench.
Although the Boer population in the Transvaal Republic was small, there were quite a lot of black slaves, so Wiggins didn't care about the life and death of the black slaves. Wiggins organized a large number of slaves and solved Pretoria in a short time. Leah’s military construction issues.
At this time, there were less than 10,000 Boers in the whole of Pretoria, because Pretorius the Younger took away quite a few of them, and then some residents saw that the president had fled, so they followed suit.
Fortunately, Wiggins launched "patriotism" education in time and forced the remaining people to stay. Facing the huge army in East Africa, Wiggins only had 2,000 white soldiers, so it was very difficult to add black slaves to the army. Although it was necessary and risky, Wiggins still selected more than 10,000 black people to join the army, temporarily issued them guns, and promised to grant them freedom after the war.
Benefiting from the last experience of assisting the Ndebele people, the Boers saved a batch of arms, which were distributed to black slaves by Wiggins.
Black slaves and Boers were mixed together, and the Boers were mainly responsible for command. In order to give these patriotic young people some war experience, Wiggins gave them all an official position, and assigned several slaves to every three people. This was indeed a great improvement. The fighting enthusiasm of the Boers.
Playing the patriotism card, so Wiggins calls his troops the "Young Patriot Army", which is very consistent with the personality of his army. It is impossible for those old fritters to join Wiggins's army. Many of them have long since fled. The Orange Free State even returned directly to Cape Town.
"The East Africans are not to be feared. Don't look at their large numbers and their exquisite clothes. In fact, they are just superficial. As long as we don't make big mistakes, it won't be a problem to defend Pretoria." Wiggins worked hard to give his troops an example. Work on enlightenment.
This matter is necessary. Previously, the East African Kingdom's army was reduced to worthless by Wiggins, but when the East African army came to the city, the sense of oppression increased, so Wiggins had to stabilize the mood of the troops first.
Fortunately, black slaves were filled into the army before, otherwise the gap between the two sides would be too big. Now it seems that the gap between the two sides is not big in terms of numbers. Although there are more soldiers in East Africa, the Boers are the defenders, so it is 50-50 with East Africa. Yes, Wiggins thought in his mind.
At this time, the East African 514th Division had already been dispatched, heading in the direction of Pretoria in a swaggering manner. As a second-line force, the 514th Division did not have much advantage over the Boers in terms of equipment.
"The East Africans don't seem to have made much progress. Everyone, be careful, don't shoot yet. Wait until the East Africans are still 300 meters away from the trench before you start shooting. When the East Africans are only 200 meters away from the trench, the people on the wall will open fire again." Wei Wei. Kings methodical conductor.
Based on the experience of the last Ndebele uprising, Wiggins decided not to confront East Africa head-on this time, but to rely on trenches and cities to hold on.
The Boers and a small number of black slaves were distributed on the second level, which was the city wall. This way they could be condescending and cover their own people in the trenches, and at the same time supervise the battle and prevent the soldiers in the trenches from escaping. Standing on the city wall, Wiggins had a clear view of the battlefield situation. When the forward troops of the 514th Division had entered the range specified by Wiggins, they began to fire on the East African army.
“Crawl forward, find cover nearby, and attack Pretoria!”
Facing the fire suppression of the Boers, the 514th Division could only fire passively. Although it was equipped with a Dreiser rifle, the enemy was supported by bunkers and city walls. This made it difficult for the 514th Division on the ground to launch an effective counterattack. Instead, it was restricted everywhere and its formation was also inconsistent. was disrupted, but overall the offensive posture was maintained.
To be honest, the performance of the 514th Division was unsatisfactory. In addition to being full of mistakes and rigid command, it can also be commended for its courage.
Ernst looked at the twisted 514th Division troops and said: "This does not meet my expectations!"
Sweet responded from the side: "Principal, if the 514th Division cooperates with the brothers to fight, there is no problem, but if they are allowed to attack the city alone, it will be a bit difficult. First of all, their military commander is not professional, because the priority is to protect the First Military Region. The reason is that the students from the Hechingen Military Academy who participated in the Franco-Prussian War last time have all been added to the kingdom's elite troops. However, in the other five military regions, except for the mountain troops of the Third Military Region that have been improved due to their special characteristics, the other troops are not that big. Changes. The commander of the 514th Division used to be a company commander in the Kingdom of Württemberg. It was indeed difficult for him to command a division of troops.
Secondly, the 514th Division used to fight against the indigenous people. The indigenous people rarely built cities, let alone trenches and other defensive fortifications. Therefore, in a European-style fortress-type city like Pretoria, the 514th Division’s soldiers almost Never faced it.
Finally, and most importantly, the 514th Division lacks heavy weapons and professional siege equipment. It is difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without rice, so this situation is also expected. "
"Okay, no need to find excuses. The 514th Division just doesn't have good military literacy. In the past, our troops always fought with unskilled black people. Although our troops fought very well, they did not have the effect of training. But when encountering the same type of troops, it is very likely that there will be no progress like today." Ernst continued: "The one who is close to the vermillion is red, and the one who is close to the ink is black. The situation of the 514th Division definitely represents that in addition to the First Military Region, The situation in several other military regions, even if those troops have some strength, I am afraid they are not much stronger than the 514th Division as a whole."
Sweite: "Principal, you are right, but it is difficult for us to find some strong opponents in Africa to use as a reference standard."
Ernst: "Then take the whole world as the standard. Let's not limit our sights to Europe and Africa. Any valuable case is worthy of our reference, such as the battle between Afghanistan and the British. Why can Afghanistan be so successful?" The weak defeated the strong, why the performance of the Far East army was uneven, etc. These are all things that our army needs to study.
East Africa is likely to be in long-term peace in the future. Could it be that because of peace, the army cannot make progress? You must learn to take the initiative to improve your military literacy in order to become a warrior in all battles. "
The East African Army is based on Germany, so it has a strong German style. However, if it always fights with the indigenous people, its capabilities are destined to not be tempered. And Prussia has become the world's most recognized army power in a place like Europe where monsters are everywhere. As a result of the fighting, the situation around East Africa is that there is a lack of strong land enemies, so it is impossible to have endless battles like Prussia, and the opponents are pretty good.
(End of this chapter)