Chapter 786 Things are changing
The colony of Natal.
British Commissioner Marshall arrived here after taking a boat. Due to the corruption of the South African War, the situation of the Mozambique coalition forces was in danger, so in order to explore and question the South African War, Commissioner Marshall landed in the Natal Colony.
Watching Marshall come to South Africa empty-handed, the Natal garrison felt a little disappointed. What everyone needs most now is local support and reinforcements.
However, Marshall obviously did not think so, because before the war began, the coalition forces had an absolute advantage on paper. Before the Battle of Angola, the coalition forces exceeded those in East Africa.
So the reason for the failure of the South African War was ultimately due to the incompetence of the generals, and Count Roberts was the first to bear the brunt, but given that Count Roberts is now besieged in Mozambique.
Naturally, Marshall could not fly over to cause trouble for Earl Roberts, but the general of the garrison of the Natal Colony, who was still safe for the time being, was in bad luck.
Help did not wait, but instead came a bad guy. Marshall's first words after arriving in Durban were: "Why not attack East Africa!"
"The East Africans recaptured and blocked the Tugela River. Currently, our route north to support Earl Roberts is blocked. And the most important thing now is how we deal with the enemy's threat. They cannot stop at the Tugela River, so He said that what we should be most concerned about now is our own safety, rather than trying to rescue Earl Roberts." Biedes, the current top military commander of the Natal colony, said bravely.
“Is the situation in South Africa so corrupt now?” Marshall asked with a frown.
“Yes, according to the intelligence we obtained from Portuguese businessmen, East Africa actually launched operations around Maputo some time ago, but now we have obtained accurate information that the city of Maputo has been occupied by East Africa.”
And Bidez also had troubles that he couldn't tell. If you were to brag about the combat effectiveness of the Indian soldiers, you would definitely brag loudly enough, but if you really lead this group of people, you will know how uncomfortable it is.
The news of the fall of Maputo completely silenced Marshall. Because the distance from Britain to South Africa was not short, Marshall had been floating at sea for more than ten days, and before he set off, Maputo was still firmly Control is in the hands of the coalition.
"It's much more serious than this. We have lost contact with Count Roberts. Just three days ago, the East Africans took Maputo. However, according to the news half a month ago, Count Roberts and the Mozambican government have moved to the interior. So now they may still be fighting against East Africa."
Biedes was sweating coldly and said: "Your Excellency, Commissioner, it seems that Natal has a lot of troops, but most of these soldiers are Indians, so their combat effectiveness is very worrying, and most of the British have been taken to Mozambique by Count Roberts. The number of British troops in Natal is less than 4,000, only more than 3,700, and such a small number of troops is not enough to change the situation of the war, so now we mainly focus on defense."
“Maputo has been lost!” This news shocked Marshall.
"What is the current situation in the Natal colony? There is also Cape Town. On the way here, I saw that there are not many soldiers in Natal, but many soldiers are idle. If the East Africans had not arrived on the north coast, I would have thought that Natal has been There is peace!" Marshall asked angrily: "So why don't you organize a counterattack?"
"Are the East Africans gods of war? And what happened to the Indian soldiers? Are they not human beings? As long as you can pull the trigger and aim, you are a qualified soldier. Don't make excuses for your failure." Marshall didn't care about these issues. , in his opinion, the failure of the war was all caused by the incompetence of the generals led by Roberts.
He has no doubt that if the Indians are completely allowed to guard the Tugela River defense line, I am afraid that East Africans will appear on the streets of Durban city the next day, and they will be let in directly by the Indians.
So Marshall directly ordered Biedes: "I don't care what kind of soldiers you have, even if they are a group of pigs, dogs, cattle and sheep, you must rush to recapture Maputo for me instead of sitting in Natal doing nothing." Biedes had no way to deal with his "unreasonable" new boss. Now he began to miss Earl Roberts. Although Earl Roberts was strict, he still knew the situation in the army relatively well.
And this local airborne commissioner was like a vindictive old hen, making Bedes uneasy. However, Bedes did not dare to disobey Marshall's order, so he could only bite the bullet and start organizing the group of "hopeless" people. Indian soldiers are preparing to confront East Africa along the Tugela River.
As for crossing the river, it is completely out of the scope of Biedes' consideration. Now the Natal colony should pray that the East Africans focus on Mozambique instead of Natal. According to the current momentum of the East Africans, if they target Natal Well, I'm afraid the Tugela River defense line won't be able to hold for a day.
…
Bedes' concerns can be said to be completely correct. The Ninth East African Brigade was well aware of how difficult it was to defend the Tugela River, even though East Africa had operated the Tugela River defense line for several years before that.
However, it only defended for one day before it was captured by the British army. Of course, the 9th East African Brigade took the initiative to withdraw to the port city of New Hamburg and did not fully prevent the British army from crossing the river.
However, this also shows that the situation of the Tugela River is not conducive to defense, and now the situation has changed. The difficulties encountered in East Africa have now become the difficulties of the Natal colony.
After solving Maputo, the East African troops gathered in Mozambique, so with the concentration of troops now, so many troops are no longer needed, and the Southern Military District began to decide to attack in the direction of Natal and Cape Town.
Until the war is over, it is naturally impossible for East Africa to let the Natal and Cape Town colonies go unpunished.
Previously, it was mainly aimed at Angola and Mozambique, so East Africa could not spare the energy to deal with the British. Now that the overall situation in Mozambique has been decided, the Southern Military District has begun to plan retaliation in the direction of Natal and Cape Town.
The two British colonies of Natal and Cape Town can be said to be the most "disgusting" existence of the Southern Military District, due to the previous grand strategy of the General Staff.
The Southern Military Region could only cooperate with other military regions to encircle and suppress the Portuguese colonies. At this time, the British colonies often stabbed the Southern Military Region in the back.
Of course, as an enemy, it is understandable for Britain to do this, but this kind of provocative behavior has long been disgusted by the Southern Military District, just like flies, disgusting.
Furthermore, the culprits of the South African War originally included the British, and it can even be said to be led by the United Kingdom and East Africa. East Africa naturally cannot find problems on its own, so everything is the fault of the British.
After solving Maputo, most of the troops in the Southern Military Region began to retreat, leaving only a small number of troops to follow the Guards Division. The Western Military Region went north to hunt Earl Roberts.
As for the southern military region troops, they gathered in two directions: the Orange River and the Tugela River.
December 23, 1888.
On the day before Christmas, the Southern Military District began a counterattack against the southern British colonies. On the same day, all other East African troops arrived at Chaukwe, tightly surrounding Earl Roberts's troops.
(End of this chapter)