African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1037: Chapter 46: Surveillance

Luanda Police Station.

Director Finelka: ”Let our people keep a close watch, especially in areas with a high concentration of Russian soldiers, deploy more personnel to prevent any incidents!”

As Russian sailors landed and entered Luanda, the East African Government naturally sent people to keep an eye on them, as the Russian navy is not exactly known for strict discipline. Departments such as the Luanda City Police and the National Defense Security Bureau began to be more vigilant.

The situation was somewhat better than the Luanda City Government had anticipated; except for a few drunkards, not much happened. After dragging a few unconscious drunks found on Luanda’s streets to Russian military personnel.

Director Finelka said to the Russian naval officer who came to liaise: ”These should be your people; they must have drunk too much during the day, so they ended up sleeping on Luanda’s streets. Luckily, our police found them, or they’d probably wake up dead if this had been Saint Petersburg.”

The Russian officer’s face turned green with embarrassment, for such disgrace abroad is uncomfortable for anyone.

”Thank you all; these men might have been bored out at sea, so they couldn’t hold back their drinking. I imagine they’ll have learned a lesson from this,” said the Russian officer.

Finelka merely chuckled and handed over the Russian drunken sailors to the Russians.

On the way back, Finelka told his subordinates: ”Today’s behavior from the Russians lacked any sense of discipline or organization. They were like a swarm of flies entering our beautiful city, making me seriously doubt the combat effectiveness of these Russian soldiers.”

Deputy Director Boda nodded in agreement: ”Today, I chatted with a Russian sailor, who said corruption within the Russian army is severe, with lower-ranked soldiers often having their pay and food deducted. With war imminent, they were eating spoiled bread back in Saint Petersburg.”

”Moreover, many lower-ranking Russian officers are overweight and lavishly dressed, yet their faces and hands are delicate, showing no signs of training. I don’t know how the Japanese Navy is, but otherwise, the Russian Navy might face trouble on this overseas trip.”

Finelka sighed: ”All that glitters is not gold. But the Russian navy is massive, so even if they face defeats, they might recover. This might not be a bad thing for Russia, as they haven’t fought a decent war in a long time. If the Baltic Fleet is in such shape, other Russian naval units might not be much better.”

Boda: ”Now, Russia only has the Baltic Fleet and the Black Sea Fleet. Recently, the newspapers said that Russia’s Pacific Fleet is nearly wiped out, which is a considerable blow to the Russian navy, even though the Pacific Fleet was the weakest among Russia’s three major fleets.”

The East African Government closely monitors the Russo-Japanese War, both on land and sea, for it is a modern large-scale war. The Spanish-American War was recent, but Spain’s forces were weak, especially colonial troops whose equipment lagged behind the United States significantly, so it lacks reference value.

But the Russo-Japanese War is different; naval battles involved top-tier ships, and land battles resembled the South African War with concrete bunkers, trenches, machine guns, barbed wire, and other modern warfare tactics appearing on the battlefield.

The scale of the war is even larger than the South African War, as both sides have mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops. Though the total combatants in the South African War reached a million, many of England and Portugal’s troops were Indians, Blacks, or Boers for the numbers.

In contrast, the Russo-Japanese War involves both nations’ own citizens in combat; the number of troops committed is approaching a million and is still growing.

According to the East African military’s assessment, the intensity of the Russo-Japanese War has already surpassed the South African War, mainly because neither side can tolerate the consequences of losing.

The South African War, at its core, was a colonial conflict; Britain’s and Portugal’s commitment was substantial, but their fighting zeal was lacking.

Whereas for Japan and Russia, Japan views this war as a matter of national destiny, and Russia cannot bear the shame of losing to Japan, a ”small country” in East Asia, as it would severely impact Russia’s national pride.

Currently, pessimism regarding the war dominates within Russia, with few achievements to show in recent months, so the Pacific Second Fleet is Russia’s last hope in this war.

Finelka: ”The Russians will stay another day, so tomorrow the surveillance must continue without any slip-ups.”

According to the agreement between the two countries, the Russian navy can only stay at Luanda Port for two days, as they need to hurry to Mombasa for that is their ultimate bliss before heading off.

Although they have Kundian Port later for temporary rest, Kundian lacks the basic amenities compared to East African mainland cities.

The two days for the Russian navy would pass in the blink of an eye, and many Russian naval personnel would be reluctant to leave Luanda before departing.

However, the war situation doesn’t allow the Russian fleet to linger in Luanda, this comfort zone too long; they must rendezvous with Russian naval forces taking the Mediterranean route.

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Rhein City.

”Russia’s current situation is dire; the original Pacific Fleet is nearly annihilated. According to our observation vessels in the Far East, no Russian naval vessels have been detected in the Far East seas. Coupling this with intelligence coming from Lushun, both sides are engaged in intense land battles at Lushun, with Russian ground forces exchanging fire with Japanese troops.”

”As for the hastily formed Pacific Second Fleet, it left Luanda City only yesterday. Those taking the Mediterranean route haven’t reached Mogadishu yet, suggesting trouble for the Russian navy in the Mediterranean. Our intelligence point in the Austria-Hungary Empire reports that Russian naval vessels entering the Mediterranean are constantly being tailed and provoked by British ships. It’s likely that the British will give the Russians a hard time at the Suez Canal.”

Ernst listened to the reports from the military and intelligence departments, then said: ”This closely matches our previous assessments. Had the Russian navy chosen the West Coast route entirely, the result might have been vastly improved. Unfortunately, they did not, but it’s their decision, and naturally, they must bear the consequences.”

”The Russo-Japanese War is an extremely beneficial real-case scene for us predicting future warfare directions. Japan is an emerging power in East Asia, while Russia represents the old powerful nation, both in the Far East Empire with comparable strength far beyond the Spanish-American War.”

”Thus, the military must prioritize details in this war to discern differences between foreign military developments compared to ours, actively adjust and optimize our military development path, especially regarding how to resolve modern warfare, tactics, and military equipment enhancements.”

”Both Russian and Japanese forces use top-tier global weaponry, with unprecedented commitment scale, making the Russo-Japanese War a great prediction of future warfare trends.”

East Africa’s military reform is ongoing, but because of that, East Africa must pay closer attention to foreign military developments.

Moreover, barring unexpected changes, the Russo-Japanese War might be the last large-scale modern war before World War I, given that historically, the Russo-Japanese War was referred to as a ’quasi-world war,’ with many weapons and tactics used later in World War I.

”Especially in the naval sector, while our naval development path closely aligns with other countries, the Russo-Japanese War features cutting-edge navies from both nations. Particular attention must be given to the naval details in this war to summarize pros and cons and guide our naval tactics, equipment, and ships on future development paths.” Ernst emphasized to the naval department.

The pre-dreadnought era was essentially spurred by the Russo-Japanese War; the Bajamojo built in East Africa already bears characteristics of the dreadnought. However, what truly defines dreadnoughts needs guidance from the Russo-Japanese War. If this opportunity is missed, East Africa can only reverse-engineer dreadnoughts when the British finally build them.