Chapter 761 Angola Chicken Eating Contest
“Benguela must be won, but based on the lessons learned from the last East-Portugal War, Benguela may be even more difficult to defeat, so we cannot just focus on Benguela as a target.” Helmond analyzed.
Benguela was occupied by East Africa once, so the Portuguese must have a long memory, and this time they fought against the Benguela garrison, but there was no cooperation from the brothers. This was also a difficulty for the 421st Division.
As a mobile unit, the 421st Division is inferior to conventional infantry divisions in terms of firepower. After all, it is necessary to sacrifice a certain amount of firepower for mobility.
Of course, in the long-term war in Letania Province, the 421st Division has long since become less pure. In order to compete with the Portuguese army, the 421st Division also adopted many conventional infantry division tactics.
Although the firepower of the East African Cavalry Division is insufficient compared to other conventional infantry divisions, it can still crush the Portuguese army.
Portugal’s finances make it impossible for them to provide the army with a large number of advanced weapons. However, with the development of the military industry in East Africa, costs have dropped and output has increased, and they have been improving the firepower and weapon performance of the army over the years.
Of course, the more important thing is whether to fight "locally". For this premise, if East Africa is not located next to Angola and Mozambique, but Portugal itself, then the situation of the war may be very different.
Although Portugal itself has declined severely, it is not too weak in Europe as a whole, especially its local military industry and East Africa, which should be capable of fighting.
However, Portugal’s local military industry is definitely not as good as that of East Africa, because its military and civilian industries are affected by the military industries of external countries. For example, Portugal imports a lot of its army equipment from Germany and France, while its naval equipment is mainly imported from the United Kingdom.
Angola and Mozambique obviously cannot be compared with the Portuguese mainland. Even the Portuguese mainland is not afraid of East Africa, let alone the two colonies.
After all, East Africa’s opponents have almost no industrial presence in the region, there is no shortage of plantations in East Africa, and there is no shortage of black people in East Africa.
Just like the ancient nomads who moved south at every turn and continued to bleed the Far Eastern Empire, the Far Eastern Empire had no good solution for the grasslands.
East Africa also had this concern before the war began, so it adopted a conservative approach and stabilized the front line first. The overall strategy was to avoid the central industrial provinces from being affected by the war.
However, now that the offensive and defensive positions have become easier, East Africa has entered the counter-offensive stage, and the enemy has begun to have trouble keeping track of the enemy and is exhausted from dealing with them.
As for the colonies, Portugal is not afraid of war, but it is not too concerned about it. The biggest fear of war is that it will cause heavy damage to the development of the country, especially in the core areas.
Under such circumstances, the development of Portugal's military industry will inevitably be hindered, and East Africa's military industry develops in a systematic manner. Portugal is definitely not more systematic than East Africa in this regard.
Once the opponent penetrates into the central region, it will destroy the industry in East Africa. This is not cost-effective. Therefore, the early East African strategy was very conservative, using defense to consume the enemy's offensive momentum.
This may also be the source of the Portuguese's confidence. Fighting in the colonies is very different from that on the mainland. For example, if Spain invades Portugal, it will definitely trigger a struggle among the Portuguese people.
Helmond said: "We want to eat Benguela, and Luanda is also our target. Although Luanda is six to seven hundred kilometers away from our army. But as long as we are fast enough, it is still possible to arrive before the 331st Division. As for Luanda, even if we cannot win Luanda in a short time, the 331st Division will not be able to benefit our record."
Helmond: "Luanda and Benguela are the most elite places in the Portuguese colony of Angola. They are surrounded by many plantations. Although the Portuguese are not keen on growing food crops, they definitely have a certain amount of food reserves. This is important for That's enough for us." "We can just wait for the transport team later. Of course, if the war can end quickly, we may not have to wait until the logistics crisis breaks out before we can solve the problem. There will definitely be no traffic in Benguela and Luanda. Those who are short of food.”
In Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa, where conditions are slightly better, famine is unlikely to occur at all.
Especially in very underdeveloped areas like Angola and Mozambique, many of the various wild plants are edible as long as they are selected.
And Africa has the most wildlife resources. In many places in East Africa, wild animals have been greatly reduced due to over-exploitation.
This is not the case in the Portuguese territory, so even if there is a food crisis, the East African army can temporarily solve the problem by slaughtering animals.
After all, the East African army is not holding fire sticks, but rifles. This is a complete blow to Africa’s wild animals. Lions, hippos, zebras, and wildebeests can be used to satisfy their hunger.
Although many East Africans avoid it because of the day-to-day propaganda in East Africa, some can compromise in the case of war.
Furthermore, the large number of plantations built by the Portuguese in Angola can also contribute to the supply of materials in East Africa. The Portuguese built large plantations in Angola.
The scale of such plantations can range from tens of thousands of acres to as small as hundreds of acres. Although there are very few Portuguese people, the black people in these plantations all have to eat.
So in the event of an emergency, the rations of these black people can also cope with the problem. Of course, if the Portuguese are vulnerable as Helmond said, there will naturally be no food crisis.
Of course, this situation is a small probability event. The Portuguese must have put more effort into the management of Luanda and Benguela. It is a fortress city like Maputo, so it does take some effort to attack the two cities head-on.
Both the 331st Division and the 421st Division want to become fat in one go, and combine their own advantages to plot Luanda, the capital of the Portuguese colony.
The advantage of the 331 Division is its short distance, while the advantage of the 421 Division is its fast speed. However, the most important thing for the 421 Division is the city of Benguela.
If the city of Benguela is successfully captured, it will be equivalent to living on minimum living security. The achievements of the 421st Division in this war are indispensable. If the city of Luanda can be captured, it will be a complete surprise.
In fact, in addition to the 331st Division and the 421st Division, other brother units also have ideas about Luanda. For example, the 414th Division is currently fighting the main Portuguese force. Although it is currently delayed in the east, it is bound to win Luanda.
Although the 414th Division does not have the advantages of the 331st Division and the 421st Division, if there is enough time, it may be able to join the siege of "Luanda" midway.
What is delaying the 414th Division now is actually not the Portuguese army, but the complex terrain of the Danube Province. In addition, there are many troops around the 414th Division. It is completely possible to share more of the task of encircling and suppressing the Portuguese to friendly forces, and then advance towards Luanda.
In addition to a few veteran main combat units, the rest of the East African armies also had similar ideas. Even if they could not all participate, it was still possible to send small groups of troops to rush into the rear of the Portuguese.
All in all, everyone definitely wants to be the first to reach Luanda. It feels like the "Chicken Contest" in Berlin during World War II in the previous life.
(End of this chapter)