African Entrepreneurship Record

On September 1, 1888, the 421st Division arrived in Luanda first, but faced with the well-prepared defenders of Luanda, the 421st Division had difficulty making progress.

However, on September 3, the 421st Division, having shaken off the local indigenous obstacles, also arrived in Luanda. Both sides celebrated their victory in Luanda, which basically signified the destabilization of Portuguese rule in Angola.

After assessing the current situation, the 331st and 421st Divisions expressed the desire to collaborate. The 331st Division was responsible for the main assault, while the 421st Division was tasked with intercepting the Portuguese army attempting to reinforce Luanda, allowing both sides to make full use of their advantages to achieve victory over Luanda.

The 331st Division had a significant advantage over the 421st Division in terms of heavy weaponry, which was one of the main reasons why the 331st Division arrived in Luanda later than the 421st.

The 421st Division, with its numerous cavalry units, could ambush and annihilate the reinforcing Portuguese troops, fully utilizing its mobility advantage. Even if East Africa couldn’t capture Luanda quickly, they could employ the strategy of ”encircle and intercept reinforcements” using Luanda.

Of course, the 421st Division itself had considerable firepower, so after Helmund consulted with Kaster, both armies concentrated their artillery together, allowing them to match the firepower of Luanda.

Meanwhile, other East African troops also exerted pressure on the frontline Portuguese forces, effectively reversing the encirclement situation and surrounding the Portuguese main forces.

The important ports in Angola—Luanda, Benguela, and Cabinda—are already surrounded by East Africa. This means the retreat routes for the Portuguese army are blocked, with East Africa’s large army close on their heels. The current situation is extremely difficult for Portugal to change.

The key point lies in Luanda, which still has external connections and can receive supplies and personnel support from the homeland, making Luanda Portugal’s only hope at present.

If Luanda falls, it would essentially signal the inevitable military defeat of Portugal in Angola, highlighting its importance as the colonial political, military, economic, and international trade center.

The besieged Luanda region resembles a hostage being strangled by a bandit; if the East African forces ”twist” off Luanda’s head, the remaining Angolan troops would be at East Africa’s mercy.

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Things were progressing smoothly on the Western front currently, but not quite reaching the General Staff’s objectives; primarily, the time-consuming nature of the Western front had caught East Africa off guard.

Last time, East Africa’s advance into Angola was nimble with each unit moving freely, as Portugal’s military presence in Angola was extremely weak, making it easy to succeed.

But now things have changed, with East Africa experiencing a qualitative improvement in numbers and equipment while the Portuguese have also made significant progress. Although the Portuguese human wave tactics haven’t altered the battlefield situation, they have significantly delayed East Africa’s timing.

Sivert commented: ”Currently, although the progress on the Western front is steady, excessive time has been wasted. The larger forces haven’t demonstrated the advantage of swift, decisive action like during the last East-Portuguese War, but have instead complicated the entire warfare system. Certainly, such tactics have their advantages, mainly ensuring the war doesn’t affect my nation’s inland regions.”

East Africa’s greatest concern regarding this conflict has always been the allied forces invading East Africa’s industrial areas. However, with considerable reinforcements on both the Western and Eastern fronts, this issue was temporarily resolved.

Particularly on the Eastern front, East Africa, like on the West, has received significant reinforcements but faces the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance, preventing an all-out counterattack on Mozambique as they did on the Western front.

Thus, East Africa’s industrial investment in the Matebel Province, at the forefront among the central three provinces, has ironically become the reason why East Africa was hesitant during this South African war.

Of course, even with the advantage of hindsight, Ernst would still choose to build an industrial system in the central three provinces because East Africa’s development is highly unbalanced.

Before industrial development in the Matebel Province, East Africa’s economy was dominated by the eastern region, whose only natural advantage was its port.

Moreover, early investment sees early returns; if the central region were developed only after East Africa’s industries are fully established, it might be irretrievable. Historical experience tells Ernst that the greater the early advantage, the harder it is for successors to catch up and surpass.

Furthermore, according to Ernst’s overall plan, he hoped for balanced development across East Africa, focusing primarily on all the highland areas in East Africa.

As a tropical country, the highlands are paradoxically more livable, which East Africa cannot change. East Africa’s highlands are distributed quite evenly from south to north, east to west, facilitating risk dispersion across East Africa.

”General Staff Chief, the Western front has disrupted our deployment plans, but our results on the Southern front have been favorable. Just last month on the 20th, our forces captured Bloemfontein; now the Southern front has completely transitioned into a security operation, mainly addressing small-scale Boer attacks.”

Sivert inquired: ”Have we secured the entire line along the Orange River?”

”According to frontline reports, five days ago, the Southern Military District neared the northern bank of the Orange River. Currently, Boers and English troops are retreating east into Cape Town territory.”

Sivert: ”Signal the Southern Military District to control the northern bank of the Orange River as soon as possible. I’m only giving them a week’s time.”

The changes on the Southern front made Sivert realize this as an opportunity to advance the Southern Military District’s main forces eastward ahead of schedule, reclaiming the eastern part of the Southern Border Province and collaborating with the New Hamburg Port City’s garrison to restore the Central Railway.

The Southern Military District’s combat capabilities are quite formidable among the various East African military districts, persistently maintaining military readiness due to longstanding confrontation with the Transvaal people, who are enemies with a vendetta against them.

The Southern Military District’s warfare against the Boers also demonstrates that this blade of the Southern Military District remains sharp, considering the Boers’ combat spirit surpassing even that of the English army.

In terms of individual combat capabilities, they rank only second to the Gurkha mercenaries among the allies; the only shortcoming is their lack of solid foundation compared not just to the English, but even to the financially stronger Portuguese forces.

No matter how poor the Portuguese finances are, they have some industries, whereas the Boers subsist only on agriculture and animal husbandry; the conditions of the former Orange Free State were indeed inferior to the former Transvaal Republic, and they were also crowded with a large population and experienced a civil war.

Therefore, the Boers’ resistance against East Africa is driven by ”pure passion,” but sadly, under East Africa’s overwhelming strength and weaponry superiority, the Boers didn’t fulfill their mission of ”defending the homeland.”

East Africa’s vigilance towards the Boers has never dissipated, considering the people of the Transvaal Republic always chant the ”restoration of the nation” slogan, which is also why the Southern Military District’s average military expenditure per person remains at the highest level outside of the Guard Division.

Currently, although the Boers still primarily choose resistance, if their main forces are driven south of the Orange River,

The Boer population in the native Orange Free State can only be at East Africa’s disposal, allowing the Southern Military District to divert forces to recapture the Southern Border Province.

Of course, for the sake of caution, Sivert’s objective is merely to recapture the entire Southern Border Province first, with the decisive battle against the allied main forces requiring long-term planning.

After all, the border between East Africa and Cape Town is exceedingly lengthy, necessitating the Southern Military District to retain a certain degree of manpower to prevent English troops from Cape Town racing to assist the Eastern front.

Although capturing the Orange River has significantly reduced East Africa’s defensive pressure, it doesn’t guarantee an entirely carefree situation. As per pre-war predictions by the East African military, even considering the Orange River defense, East Africa requires retaining at least 20,000 troops to defend against Cape Town.

Moreover, annexing the Orange Free State doesn’t mean the end of warfare in that region; addressing Boer guerrilla forces requires reserving at least over ten thousand additional troops. Adding up the numbers from other regions, the entire Southern Military District must retain a force of over forty thousand troops to handle emergency situations.