Chapter 608 Meeting
The Fite River is the natural border between East Africa and the Orange Free State. In addition to the important transportation hub of Winburg, there are many military strongholds along the entire Fite River, and Fort Tenissen is one of them.
Fort Tenisen is located on the north bank of the Fetter River. It was originally a farm called Tenisen in the Transvaal. After the East African Defense Forces built fortifications here, it was renamed Fort Tenisen. This place is only 70 meters away from Bloemfontein. Nine kilometers away, the strategic position is quite prominent.
East Africa is so close to the capital of the Orange Free State. This was one of the important reasons why the Orange people were wary of East Africa. However, the Orange Free State is not very large, and Bloemfontein is located in The location is almost in the center of the country, so there is no need to move the capital.
Because no matter the four directions, southeast, northwest, are not good places to go, there is Kimberley to the west. Kimberley occupies an important position in the economy of the Orange Free State, and the income from diamonds alone is quite generous.
But the control of this important financial resource is in the hands of the British, who only give the Orange government a nominal rent every year.
Furthermore, the west side of Kimberley is the Fal River, which is very close to New Baden Province (British Bechuanaland) in East Africa, so it is subject to dual threats from Britain and East Africa to the west.
As for the east, it is the land of the original Lesotho, which is now an important part of the Southern Frontier Province of East Africa. It is also a place heavily garrisoned in East Africa. The terrain of the South African plateau is flat, and mountainous areas like Lesotho are placed in many places as important military areas.
To the south is the Cape Colony. The Orange people had already surrendered to the British before, so naturally they would not go up.
Because the original intention of the Orange people was to use British tiger skins to ensure their own interests and avoid the tragedy of the destruction of the Transvaal Republic from happening again.
However, it turns out that the Orange people took it for granted. The main reason was that they misjudged the brotherhood with the Transvaal people, and the Transvaal people's complaints against the Orange people were more about the Orange people. Not supporting the Transvaal's Northern Expedition.
The contradiction between the two was exploited by the British, and the Transvaal needed the help of the British if they wanted to make the Northern Expedition. At the same time, the Transvaal, like the British, was an outsider compared to the Orange people, so the two The two have the basis for cooperation, and if they flirt with each other, it will naturally lead to adultery.
Ernst was naturally very interested in this ungrateful plot. Of course, the main reason was that it was beneficial to East Africa. The division of the Orangemen and the Transvaal people was very beneficial to East Africa's plan to form the Orange Free State. No harm done.
And Fort Tenissen became a point of contact between East Africa and the Orange people. The Fet River was only a dozen meters wide. With the East African Defense Force turning a blind eye, the Orange people could easily take them with them. The goods are coming.
In fact, even if there was no civil strife in the Orange Free State, Orange businessmen would not give up cooperation with East Africa.
Not to mention that Orange merchants have a good impression of East Africa, even the Transvaal people and the British, who have different relations with East Africa, and their merchant groups will not shut out such a large raw material supplier and market in East Africa. .
As for the conflict between the Transvaal and Britain over East Africa, it has nothing to do with them. If you have breasts, you are a mother. As long as East Africa can make them rich, they will not hesitate to sell out their national interests.
In mid-March, the East African National Defense Forces on the border received orders to show goodwill to the Orange people, but preparations were carried out until April. After all, the Orange uprising was an unexpected event, and East Africa had no relevant plans.
So the relevant assistance was delayed for some time, but East Africa did not do nothing. After the government meeting, the East African Defense Force provided some conveniences to the Orangemen in terms of ammunition and artillery shells.
Orange people's weapons come from mixed sources and have no related military industry, so they rely on imports, including some weapons and equipment imported from the German region. Therefore, East Africa can provide some German-style weapons and ammunition. Although it cannot meet the needs of the Orange people, it can meet their urgent needs.
These ammunitions are mainly used by the East African Defense Forces on the front line from their own ammunition stocks for use by the Orangemen.
"General Herbart, thanks to East Africa's help this time, we can deal with the British and traitors. However, the ammunition provided by your country last time was only enough for one-sixth of our troops. This is still quite economical. Under the circumstances, and we don’t have many German-made weapons in Orange, and the losses are quite high, can your country provide more guns?” Orange representative Udley asked Herbart, the military commander of Fort Tenisen.
"Don't be impatient, Mr. Udeley. We understand your difficulties, but you must also understand our difficulties in East Africa. It's not that we in East Africa don't like to help you Orange people, but that this happened too suddenly. , we had to report to the government again before, and it took a lot of time to go back and forth.
The government just sent a telegram earlier, agreeing to help you, but you also know that this is the border, and the core of our East Africa is in the east, so preparations are not enough at all.
In the end, the Ministry of Defense ordered that some weapons and ammunition be allocated from the inventories of our defenders to support the Orangemen's cause of freedom. These weapons and ammunition are all used by our active troops. This shows that we have made s hard work. ” Herbart explained to Udry.
Udley said with a sad face: "It's not that I want to embarrass your country, but the war has now entered a very difficult situation. Although we Orange people are brave and good at fighting, we are still very difficult to face the continuous firepower superiority of the British and German coalition forces. It is difficult to change the situation of the war in one fell swoop. We don’t have much supplies in our hands. The war has been going on for a month now. Even with your previous support, there is not much left. The preparations before this will probably be in vain. .”
Herbart had foreseen this, because the Orange uprising was too trivial. Of course, this was also related to the national conditions of the Boer country.
None of the Boer countries had strong state organs, especially the Orange Free State. The reason why this uprising was launched was the result of the connection between large landowners in various places.
They all have an equal relationship, not a subordinate relationship, so on the whole they still fight on their own. Fortunately, the number of opponents of the Orange people is not large, otherwise the uprising would have been suppressed long ago, instead of developing into the Orange people. All of the Free State.
However, the Transvaal people still have advantages over the Orange people. First of all, there is the representative figure of Pretorius the Younger, who can unite the old ministers of the original Transvaal Republic and form the Transvaal Republic. The provisional government also had a standing armed force such as the Transvaal Restoration Army.
The central government of the Orange Free State was ousted by the British and the Transvaal. Most of the officials of the original Orange Free State government were under house arrest in Bloemfontein under the Provisional Government of the Transvaal Republic and became Decoration.
So the Orange resistance force could only be composed of local Orange forces who were dissatisfied with the British and the Transvaal people. However, after all, the local forces had limitations and could not control the overall situation and confront the Anglo-German coalition.
The Orange local armed forces in the north are better off. With East Africa at their back, they can more easily obtain material support, while many forces in the south are simply still in the wait-and-see stage.
This is also the reason why the Orange people are eager to seek help from East Africa. If they want to open up the situation, East Africa's support is indispensable, otherwise they will definitely be liquidated by the British and the Transvaal later.
(End of this chapter)