African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1333: Chapter 342: East Africa’s Military Reform

The fundamental purpose of East Africa’s military expansion is to respond to the great changes in the world. Now, we are at a critical period of these great changes, which is also the fundamental reason why the East African Government wants to expand the military to over a million troops.

Pripyat said, ”Regardless of whether we eventually join the war, we need to prepare in advance in the military field to respond to any risks that may arise.”

”Although the European countries are fighting fiercely, this simultaneously means that they already hold large military power in their hands, and after the baptism of the battlefield, when this power is deployed to areas outside Europe after the war, no force can compete with it in the short term.”

”Therefore, the navy is a critical issue. By defending our maritime borders well, our military can maintain strategic initiative, able to go on the offensive or defensive. On one hand, we must increase the scale of the navy, and on the other hand, we must be ready to convert production capacity to a wartime economy at any time.”

”The same goes for the army; the management of the reserve forces and logistics system must be strengthened so that if war breaks out, the Empire could promptly raise a large military force comparable in scale to that of the European countries.”

If East Africa ultimately gets drawn into the war, there is only one possibility, which is joining the Allied camp. This is a consensus of the East African Government and also the fundamental reason the United Kingdom and France are working hard to entice East Africa.

East Africa cannot join the Allies camp; this is determined by comprehensive factors such as East Africa’s ethnic, cultural, and interests connections.

However, not joining the Allies doesn’t necessarily mean we must join the Allies, especially now, as the East African Government is still waiting to see the performance of the European war situation after the United States joins the Allies camp. If the addition of the U.S. still cannot change the situation in Europe, then the East African Government will most likely make a political pivot.

Therefore, the East African Government’s discussion on the topic of military expansion this round has received Ernst’s approval, and he brought out the military expansion plan he had long prepared.

Ernst said, ”According to the current base of the East African Army, and factors such as the military composition, the expansion target is set at 400,000, to be completed within two years.”

”In terms of the army, expand domestic armored units, mobile units, information units, biochemical units, and army aviation and other important arms.”

”For the navy, strengthen the construction of carrier formations. By the end of 1920, form three new carrier battle groups, adding new navy aviation missions abroad, focusing on constructing combat readiness airports in the Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and Nanyang regions.”

”Vigorously develop the air force to achieve an air force size exceeding 50,000 by 1920 while fully developing military aircraft development and perfecting the domestic pilot training system. After this military expansion is completed, the Defense Army’s total strength will reach more than 1.2 million.”

It seems like a lot of people, but we must consider the existence of a large number of colonial troops in East Africa currently; most of these colonial troops are poorly equipped, mainly infantry, bullying local natives, basically.

When compared to the national armies of European countries that have been tested by long-term large-scale wars, combat effectiveness is highly questionable.

Therefore, Ernst emphasized: ”From this year to next year, the military and overseas governments must accelerate the clearing activity in the colonies, fundamentally addressing the current population structure issues in the colonies before 1920, and achieving overall stability of overseas territories after 1920.”

”Units fighting overseas must also expedite returning home, especially those from already stabilized areas. After reserving sufficient personnel, return home for reorganization and reassembly.”

”Returning troops will be reorganized into new combat units combined with European war experience, comprehensively enhancing weapon and equipment levels according to modern army standards to form large unit combat experience.”

Why say this? Mainly because the past East African army can actually be categorized into two types: new-style troops composed of armored units, mobile units, information units, etc., and old-style troops still configured according to European countries’ armies of the last century, unmodified. The latter mainly comprises traditional cavalry and light infantry in East Africa.

The reason for retaining a large number of old-style troops in the past in East Africa is quite simple: to save money.

Since the South African War, East Africa has basically fallen into a state of long-term peaceful development. Even though wars have become frequent again in recent years, they are all security wars in overseas colonies.

For colonial security wars, the cost-effectiveness of old-style military uniforms is higher. After all, deploying armored units or the air force with new arms and weapons to fight natives is truly not worthwhile.

However, now the overseas security war in East Africa is actually nearing its end. Except for the Kra Strait Territory, clearing activities in most colonies are basically complete.

Thus, at this time, many of the East African troops on Togoland, East Kalimantan, and Mindanao Island can return to the country, and about less than 200,000 troops stationed overseas can basically ensure peace of mind in East Africa’s overseas colonies.

This way, the three parts of returning troops, together with the expansion and new army units, will basically maintain over 500,000 at home.

And Ernst plans to reorganize this army of at least 500,000 entirely into new-style infantry, phasing out traditional cavalry, infantry, and other old-style armies.

In other words, in the future, except for a small number of garrison troops in overseas colonies, the national military will all enhance weapon and equipment levels and form new combat units.

For instance, light infantry will be reorganized into mobile units, fully equipped with numerous motor vehicles, motorcycles, etc., and artillery will be fully implemented with automotive and railway power traction, changing the mode of human and horse pulling... This is a major military reform in East Africa.

Therefore, Ernst said, ”The military expansion and military reform should be carried out simultaneously, comprehensively improving the army’s combat capability to cope with any risks that may emerge in the future, incorporating mechanization and informatization development in the military.”

”This military reform should fully absorb experiences from the European battlefield, especially the application of various new weapons and equipment such as tanks, vehicles, and airplanes that have appeared on the European Continent.”

”Study the application models of large-unit warfare by European countries to ensure that our country’s new-style infantry can quickly form combat effectiveness after reform completion to deal with various war situations and emergencies.”

”Finally, strengthen the cooperation between the army, navy, and air force, such as how the air force will coordinate with the army in suppressing local firepower on the ground battlefield, supporting, and helping the army clear hostile targets ahead, or how the air force can assist the navy, thus achieving blockage of places like straits and bays from the air, etc.”

With various strange and peculiar weapons appearing on the European battlefield, the East African Defense Army doesn’t need to be as secretive as it used to be but should study how to further perfect the combat system and tactics to achieve a comprehensive superiority over other countries’ armies.

At present, the East African army has already reached the world’s top level in terms of weapon and equipment, but precisely because of this, the development of the East African Defense Army now and in the future can only be explored independently, with no reference or comparison worldwide.

Even though new weapons like airplanes and tanks have already appeared on the European battlefield, the gap between these weapons and those of the East African Defense Army, which has been exploring since the last century, is quite significant.

Through this round of military expansion, if placed before the war, East Africa’s army scale could also rank in the world’s top two.

At that time, only Russia maintained a standing army of over a million, with specific numbers at about 1.42 million, which means that after East Africa’s military expansion, the army quantity is only about 200,000 less than pre-war Russia.

Considering the population size of the two countries, although the East African army numbers are not many, East Africa’s economic and industrial levels surpass those of Russia, and the East African naval power, through these years of development, also surpasses pre-Russo-Japanese War Russia.

Therefore, though the post-expansion East African army’s quantity is still not as large as pre-war Russia, the military expenditure is probably multiple times that of the Russian army, mainly because East Africa’s economy and industrial development has advanced, otherwise, this round of military reform would indeed be impossible to achieve.