African Entrepreneurship Record

When Howell finally made the decision, Schwar had already led his men out of the forest. The forest was indeed unsuitable for marching, which was probably why the Portuguese were dragging their feet; otherwise, Schwar felt he would have been trapped here.

Looking at the familiar grassland, Schwar finally felt relieved. However, the crisis was far from over, as they were deep behind enemy lines alone, so it was best to find a safe place first.

”Commander, which direction should we go?”

Schwar: ”Westward, but we must find a resting place today. There’s no time to dawdle here. The enemy has already discovered our tracks, so for now, we can only get through the immediate difficulty.”

At this point, Schwar couldn’t think much either, as East Africa wasn’t too familiar with this area. Even with the map provided by the Military Intelligence Department, it wasn’t very detailed.

Regardless of heading south or north, they might run into the main Allied forces, so to Schwar, the west seemed the safest.

Of course, Schwar also had plans to meet up with the main force of this flanking operation. East Africa had two units deep behind enemy lines; besides his regiment, there was a brigade entering from the western mountains into the enemy’s rear.

However, their speed would definitely be much slower than Schwar’s unit, which moved by sea and land, so Schwar had to find ways to endure these few days.

The most important thing was solving the supply issue, which was the biggest survival challenge for Schwar’s unit. Once isolated behind enemy lines, the East African Defense Army lost all logistical support, and everything depended on exploiting the enemy.

However, Schwar believed this shouldn’t be too big a problem, since the material needs of the British and Portuguese at the front were surely enormous, and these supplies could only be transported from Maputo to the front lines.

This meant Schwar’s unit was positioned right on the enemy’s supply line. As long as they found a good hiding spot, they could launch attacks from all directions, raiding the enemy’s transport convoys.

They also had to face the risk of enemy encirclement, but on this point, Schwar was rather confident, as the East African frontline forces should tie down most of the enemy’s troops.

Thus, there’s a seventy percent likelihood that the troops the enemy could deploy would be the garrison from the direction of Maputo.

But all we need is to hold out for two or three days for the situation to change significantly. By then, the enemy would also have to deal with an East African main brigade interfering from the west, and the East African troops at the front would continuously pressure the Allies.

This will greatly reduce Schwar’s pressure, giving them more maneuvering space. Of course, dismantling the enemy’s supply line is only a secondary part of this mission.

The more important goal is to ambush the frontline enemy troops, causing chaos among the Allied forces, while the main combat mission is certainly up to other units to complete.

With this in mind, Schwar said, ”We need to march at least thirty kilometers west before nightfall to shake off any tails behind us.”

It’s almost dark now, and marching at night is safer and more effective for evading enemy threats. This is a required lesson for the East African army.

Moreover, based on Schwar’s years of experience, the British and Portuguese certainly wouldn’t be able to sustain a pursuit of Schwar’s unit.

Reaching the East African landing site requires a considerable amount of time, and if they were to pursue the East African troops, it would take even longer.

This is further evidenced by the fact that no significant enemy forces have appeared yet, indicating that the nearest enemy troops are not close to Schwar’s landing point. It’s already been two hours, so even if the enemy’s speed is 40 kilometers per hour, they could have covered 80 kilometers by now.

Of course, the enemy’s speed is unlikely to be this fast. According to most of the Portuguese troops’ marching speed, reaching 30 or 40 kilometers in a day is quite elite, while the Indian troops are even more sluggish, covering at most 10 or 20 kilometers a day.

Among the Allies, the British are the most consistent in this regard, but Britain can’t spare troops right now. Count Roberts applies the principle of using the best steel on the blade’s edge.

Dividing the forces into four main groups, the British army is the absolute main force of the war, so they are deployed in the most intense areas, such as the front line or critical cities like Maputo, bases, fortresses, etc.

Next are the Portuguese, whose main role is to support the British in military operations, generally deployed on the British army’s flanks, assisting the main British force in combat.

Then there are the Black troops, typically used as cannon fodder, which the Allies have found extremely useful. The Black troops are even braver than the Indian or some Portuguese forces.

Finally, the Indians, who are primarily responsible for logistics and such work. Because the Indians’ fighting capabilities are subpar, they easily cause adverse results at the front, leading to greater vulnerabilities.

After several ”educational” experiences at the early stages of the war, Count Roberts and the British military high command no longer dared to challenge the ”limits” of the Indian troops, which proved to have no limits at all.

This implies that if Schwar’s unit targets the Allies’ logistics, they might achieve success easily, as the Indians are responsible for this section.

It’s just that the Allies hadn’t anticipated East Africa would infiltrate behind enemy lines and target their logistics, though it’s not that they never considered it.

It’s just that East Africa had been fighting the Allies for over half a year without ever penetrating deep into enemy lines, which made the Allies lower their guard.

Moreover, the Allies had deployed ”heavy troops” on the coastline, which Roberts believed was ”foolproof,” but Count Roberts miscalculated again.

The troops responsible for the coastline were primarily ”Portuguese,” and though the Portuguese aren’t regularly as unconventional as Indian soldiers, they can still bring unexpected ”shocks.”

It’s as Schwar’s unit was able to enter the rear of Mozambique, relying entirely on the laxity of the Portuguese troops, though the Portuguese were not entirely inactive.

At least, they maintained routine patrols. If Indians were tasked with guarding the coastline, there’s a high probability they wouldn’t have noticed the East Africans’ presence.

After all, patrolling the coastline is something that can easily be ”faked,” much like signing in. As long as the officer can’t see it, who knows if the task was completed seriously once out of the camp, and it’s all done according to one’s own thoughts.

…

As Schwar’s unit landed successfully and penetrated the enemy’s rear, a much larger fleet was sailing towards Maputo under the cover of night on the Indian Ocean.

This joint fleet comprised the East African Navy and the Guard Division. The Guard Division also had its own small navy and, as a ground main force, aimed at the north of Maputo this time.

This way, East Africa’s encirclement and division of the enemies around Maputo was being completed, and a smaller encirclement circle had already taken shape.

The larger encirclement would be completed with the cooperation of the Guard Division with the western and southern military districts. The Guard Division carried a considerable amount of heavy weaponry, and both the navy and the Guard Division’s small navy would collaborate on a new round of attacks on Maputo.

This way, Maputo and its surrounding forces would be divided into two parts, forming a strategic structure of a large ring surrounding a small ring.

Under these circumstances, Maputo could truly become an isolated city, thereby severing communication and command between the Allies and other regional troops.

What East Africa didn’t anticipate, however, was that half a month ago, the British army’s commander-in-chief, Count Roberts, and Mozambique’s Governor, Bugival, had already moved the Allied command headquarters to the Shao Kui region of the Limpopo River, effectively preemptively retreating.