Chapter 736 The Ninth Brigade
The East African National Defense Force has built many bunkers on the banks of the Turkana River. Some bunkers are built directly near the river beach, with machine gun ports set up to intercept the river, especially at the bends of the river.
South Africa has not yet entered the rainy season in April, so the water in the Tugela River is not rich, but it will not dry up. Because the west is affected by the Drakensberg Mountains, the terrain is relatively rainy, and the dry season is not as obvious as in other parts of East Africa. This makes The amount of water in the Tugela River is considerable.
This is also an important reason why Lesotho became South Africa's "water tower" in the past. The water diversion project of the Republic of South Africa in the previous life was to buy water from Lesotho and then supplement the water demand in the northern industrial zone.
Generally speaking, the time chosen by the British army to cross the river was good. It was the dry season of the Tugela River, but it was also difficult. However, for East Africa, the defense of the Tugela River was not easy to do.
Affected by the terrain, the Tugela River is very winding and has many large inlets, which lengthens the river channel and the defense line must be designed to be very long.
The total number of the ninth brigade in East Africa is more than 5,700. This number was previously larger than some divisions in East Africa. This is the result of the expansion of the East African army.
However, the Ninth Brigade's defense area directly exceeds 200 kilometers. With less than 6,000 troops, it has to defend such a long border. Therefore, facing the British army in the Natal Colony, the Ninth East African Brigade will definitely not be able to hold on for a long time.
As long as the British continue to attack, they can always find a suitable place to cross the river. The main problem for the British army now is that the number of boats crossing the river is limited.
After all, the development of the entire East African region is very weak. So far, East Africa, as the only infrastructure powerhouse in Africa, is still building various infrastructure projects across the country. However, roads, canals, bridges, etc. are far behind the countries in Eurasia. Overall, It is stronger than South America.
Especially in Argentina, the railway growth rate is not slower than that in East Africa. With the support of British capital, Argentina is developing rapidly.
And the Tugela River is the border area between Britain and East Africa, with zero commercial exchanges. Neither side develops the Tugela River Basin. Naturally, the shipping industry cannot develop, and the insufficient number of ships is understandable.
As far as the Tugela River Basin is concerned, the Zulu people lived here before. The Zulu people were "de facto" barbarians, and their development of the Tugela River Basin was basically zero.
However, large-scale projects in South America are not strong, and regional small-scale infrastructure should be built in East Africa, especially in Argentina and Brazil, where the conditions are good in areas where the population is concentrated.
After all, no country has the guts to take the initiative to conflict with the United Kingdom. As for Germany, its national strength has not yet reached the capital that can compete with the United Kingdom. The United States is excluded from the center of the world by Europe and can only show off its power in the Americas.
The Tugela River Basin in East Africa and the British took over has not changed much. The main reason is that East Africa has built a large number of military facilities in the region.
The level of infrastructure in East Africa ranks first in Africa. You can imagine the level of other colonies or African countries.
Of course, the Tugela River itself has no potential to develop the shipping industry. The Tugela Falls alone is enough to cut off local shipping conditions.
The UK has no such demands. As the world’s most powerful country, the UK is often on the offensive side and does not need to put much effort into defense.
The current situation facing East Africa is that the coalition forces are attacking simultaneously from three major directions, and from countless smaller directions. At the same time, they have to beware of the Egyptian British army in the north.
All in all, the Ninth Brigade endured huge pressure that it should not have endured. Being able to block the British army's three river crossings was beyond its capabilities. In this regard, the Ninth Brigade has to thank the British commander for his command, and the eagerness for success has caused the current situation.
This has a lot to do with the fact that the British commander underestimated the enemy. After all, the main force of the British army this time came from the British Royal Indian Army. There were many downwind battles, which means that Africa is still the same as South Asia. However, the current military strength of East Africa has surpassed that of Europe. Small and medium-sized countries can rank high even in Europe.
Ninth Brigade forward headquarters.
“Brigadier Commander, we have observed that the enemy is about to launch a new round of offensive, and their river-crossing troops have regrouped again!”
Brigadier Aridotus did not give instructions immediately, but asked: "What time is it now?"
“It’s already 5:23 pm, and there’s still more than an hour left until dark.”
Aridotus analyzed: "Now the British commanders only know how to act recklessly. During the day, they have organized and launched three large-scale landing operations, but they were all repelled by our army with superior firepower. However, our ammunition consumption is huge, especially It is a machine gun, which is very effective at attacking such small river-crossing ships, and can even directly smash the hull of the ship, causing the British army's entire river-crossing assault force to be directly scrapped."
"Alas, it's a pity. Although the Maxim machine gun is easy to use, our production capacity in East Africa is very limited. In just one day, one-fifth of the inventory was consumed."
“The Maxim machine gun is very useful for the enemy’s small landing ships. The British troops on the river have become living targets. It only takes one round of strafing to directly exhaust the opponent’s war patience and cause a serious blow to the enemy’s morale.”
The frontline troops of the 9th Brigade have very good feedback on the experience of machine guns, but the consumption of ammunition by machine guns is also alarming.
This made Brigadier Aridotus think about the use mode of machine guns. Machine guns are very powerful. If they are gathered together, what effect will they have in dealing with a large-scale enemy attack?
The most important thing is that the efficiency of the use of machine guns has not met Aristotle's expectations. This demand for mass destruction should be applied to large-scale land frontal battlefields.
It is a bit excessive and wasteful to use it to intercept the British troops crossing the river. Many soldiers feel happy to fight, but it is easy to ignore the usage of ammunition.
So Aridotus said: "If we use machine guns as firepower output points, we can effectively intercept the British crossing troops. But if we organize the machine guns and arrange them as a shooting belt, what will be the lethality to the enemy?" "
After all, the British army's combat mode is mainly based on queuing to kill tactics. If East Africa can organize machine guns at the same time to shoot at the enemy, it may be very efficient if you think about it.
Now that the Ninth Brigade uses machine guns as defensive weapons, the effect of the machine guns cannot be maximized against enemy landing operations. After all, the British troops for landing operations are dispersed.
Aridotus's idea triggered the thinking of everyone in the brigade. This approach seemed very feasible, but before seeing the actual combat effect, everyone was not completely sure of its feasibility.
Seeing that no one made meaningful suggestions, Aridotus had no choice but to keep this idea in mind. The most important thing now was to repel the enemy's fourth river-crossing operation and buy more time for the entire New Hamburg port city.
Therefore, Aridotus ordered: "Before dark, repel the enemy's fourth attack. When dark, it will be much more difficult for the British army to cross the river. Now the volunteers from the New Hamburg Port City supported by the front line are evacuated. We have to hold off the British troops for at least two days before evacuating towards New Hamburg. During this period we must save bullets, especially machine gun ammunition, and reserve at least half of them."
(End of this chapter)