African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1181: Chapter 190: The French Frontline

The essence of the East African canal project lies in the application of Black ”laborers.” Of course, in front of this foreigner, Franz IV, no East African would mention this point.

Moreover, Franz IV himself did not realize that this country, developed from a colony, lacked something—yes, Black people.

In East Africa, a major African country, Black people have almost completely disappeared, and Franz IV, being in the midst, has not noticed this.

At least in most of East Africa now, Black people have become a rare race and crowd. Even those Black laborers who ”survived” have been organized into various labor groups by the East African Government, concentrated around East Africa for constructing large-scale projects.

Currently, eighty percent of the surviving Black people have been put into the canal projects by the East African Government. Unless one visits the canal construction site, they are hard to see, and these sites are typically in remote areas, rarely seen even by East Africans, let alone most foreigners who mainly gather in East African cities.

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Time quickly turned to 1915.

The smoke on the European battlefield has not dissipated, but instead intensified. On the Western Front, the Battle of the Marne River, which began in September last year, has become increasingly bloody.

”The German offensive has essentially been contained. However, England and France have suffered considerable losses. If they can’t withstand the strong German firepower support that follows, France will face total disaster,” said East African military observation group representative Rorward as he stepped on the scorched earth burned by artillery fire.

East African Army Colonel Cabriel also agreed: ”As it stands, although England and France have successfully thwarted Germany’s quick victory plan, this does not mean that the overall situation is settled. Instead, it has pushed the war into a more difficult phase of national power attrition, where casualties between the two groups will turn into cold statistics.”

Rorward agreed with the term ”cold statistics.” He added: ”Based on the previous statistics from various parties, in just a few months last year, the death and injury figures on both sides likely exceeded half a million. If the war’s time dimension continues to extend, it will be millions, even tens of millions of casualties, affecting a large number of civilians. The Western Front has become a meat grinder.”

In fact, during the Battle of the Marne River alone, more than half a million troops were lost on both sides last year. This does not include other Western Front battlefields. Rorward is too conservative after all. Of course, most of the lost troops are wounded. If it were only the number of deaths, that would be too horrifying.

Most of the wounded only temporarily lose their fighting ability. After recuperating at the rear for a period, they still have to pick up their weapons again until they die in battle.

The result was that East Africa made a fortune just watching the export of medicines to the two military groups. But as effective medicines increased, wounds healed faster, which further intensified the war.

In the trade of commodities between the Allies and Axis Powers, the medicines produced by East Africa have become necessities, because only East Africa’s pharmaceutical industry capacity can simultaneously meet the orders of the two military groups.

The pharmaceutical industry was an important element in East Africa’s three-five-year plan regarding the defense industry. In fact, it was about expanding the pharmaceutical industry in the name of developing the defense industry.

After all, at that time, the East African domestic market did not need such a large-scale pharmaceutical industry capacity to meet national needs. It was entirely for preparations for large-scale war.

Although Ernst could not predict the precise outbreak time of the war, he firmly believed that the European War was unavoidable, as conflicts could not be eliminated, and European countries had no fear of war. Therefore, early preparations never go wrong.

While Rorward, Cabriel, and others were analyzing the Western Front situation, a sudden loud explosion was heard less than a kilometer away from the East African observation group.

”German artillery has started again, quickly retreat to the shelter!” Cabriel yelled loudly to everyone.

Indeed, this East African military observation group was currently on the Anglo-French Allied Army’s side. After the war began, East Africa dispatched similar non-military organizations to multiple countries, and of course, France was no exception.

Although the French frontline troops were not welcoming to these neutral personnel from a third-party country speaking fluent German, they still had to provide protection for East Africans.

A French soldier ran to the observation group and spoke in German mixed with French vocabulary: ”Gentlemen, Germany has launched a new offensive, please quickly retreat to the rear.”

”Thanks, Bruno!” Cabriel said.

Although many French people had a poor attitude towards East Africans, they did not discriminate against the members of the East African military observation group due to their German identity.

So, the members of the East African military observation group were very polite to the services and security personnel arranged by the French Government. As for their dislike of Germans, the East African military observation group did not mind.

After all, it was indeed Germans fighting against France on the front line, albeit not East African citizens. But since both sides were of the same ethnicity, the East African personnel completely understood the mindset of French officers and soldiers.

A group of people awkwardly retreated to a bunker in the rear. Due to proximity to the front, the environment here was not good, but it was much better than being squeezed into a trench with French soldiers on the front line.

The dim light shook in the bunker due to the shock of the explosions, and the tables and beds were covered with dust, while various military maps and labels were posted on the walls.

This was the living environment of the East African military observation group. Rushing back into the bunker from the front line, the entire bunker looked even more chaotic.

Major General Kuymann calmly sat at a table and reprimanded them: ”Look at what you’ve become now. This isn’t the front line. Each of you is panicking; stand properly!”

No one dared to speak back to Major General Kuymann. After all, Major General Kuymann was a veteran of the South African war. Although he was not yet fifty, he had once, on the South African battlefield, engaged in serious combat against the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance.

”At your age, I had already fought many battles. At that time, the army was not like this. It seems that peace has lasted too long, which is ultimately not good for military development. You are the future of the Defense Army, so you should not fear war. Now at the frontline of the Germany-France war, you should take the initiative to learn from the military strong nations of the world.”

In fact, the South African War only ended less than thirty years ago, and there are still many battle-experienced veterans within the East African Army. Major General Kuymann brought this group of young people to experience the real battlefield environment to prevent them from being flustered when they do take over the army.

”The war between the two military groups is a rare opportunity. Even coming here to observe the combat forms and thinking of the world’s two leading armies in Germany and France will be valuable assets for you in the future. So cherish this opportunity. If you want to sponge off, submit an application, and I can let you return home ahead of time.”

Naturally, no fool spoke up. East Africa values martial spirit considerably. Peace only arrived in recent twenty-odd years, and influences from fathers still keep society’s atmosphere quite robust.

Additionally, the East African Army has always taken Germany as a model, having considerable knowledge in soldier education. The overall quality of the East African Defense Army has not seen significant decline, and with the guidance of the older generation, their performance on the current Western Front might not be any worse than German and French officers.

After the Franco-Prussian War ended, it is clear the German and French have not fought for decades, which means Germany and France have not fought major wars for half a century.

As for colonial wars, these can’t be counted, since East Africa has quite a few colonies, and East Africa has engaged in such small-scale colonial wars as much, if not more, than Germany.

Colonial wars provide very limited help to major country wars. For example, in the war between Germany and England and France, despite having many overseas opportunities, England and France were still left floundering when Germany started the war.