Chapter 1036: Chapter 45: Russian Navy Comes Ashore

"Since that’s the case, first provide the Southern German Kingdom with two thousand rifles and ammunition. That’ll already be enough for them to sweep the entire Komidugu Yobe River basin!" Ernst said.

So far, the Southern German Kingdom has already formed a five‑thousand‑man force, which is fairly easy to manage for a country of a million people.

And it is precisely by relying on this army, which looks very weak by East African standards, that the Southern German Kingdom has basically gained an overwhelming advantage over the surrounding native forces. After all, to the north of the Southern German Kingdom is Libya, to the east is the Sultanate of Egypt, and its core territory is essentially cut off by the Sahara Desert.

Even if Egypt appears much stronger than the Southern German Kingdom, it is impossible for them to cross the Sahara Desert to launch an attack on the Southern German Kingdom, not to mention that behind the Southern German Kingdom stands the giant that is East Africa.

In other words, apart from East Africa to the south, in every other direction the Southern German Kingdom faces either desert or extremely backward nomadic peoples. The west is somewhat special: there are colonies of the United Kingdom and Germany, but even there, what actually borders it are still native forces.

...

October 4th, 1904.

Luanda.

Because of the Japanese military’s continuous victories in the Far East, Russia, which had held an extremely contemptuous attitude toward Japan before the war, now developed a tendency to overinflate Japan’s strength.

And the Second Pacific Squadron, newly formed from the Baltic Fleet that had been preparing since the previous year, finally arrived in East Africa.

Escorted by East African warships, the Russian Navy’s ships entered Luanda Port in East Africa in an orderly fashion and enjoyed a rare period of rest.

"God, we’ve finally reached Luanda! I don’t know what those idiots in the government were thinking. They should have negotiated with the East African Government to make Cabinda our port of call—then we could’ve suffered a bit less." the Russian commander Kurovsky complained.

"When I first saw Cabinda, I honestly thought we had already reached our destination, and I was happy for nothing. Still, it’s fortunate that Luanda looks just as prosperous as Cabinda. We can finally have a proper rest."

Kurovsky wasn’t dissatisfied with Luanda’s conditions, nor did he think Luanda was inferior to Cabinda. It was simply that if they had been allowed to disembark earlier at Cabinda, for these Russian sailors who had been tormented at sea, even a few hours’ gain would have been a great comfort to the soul.

For the Russian sailors, the past few days of the voyage had been nothing short of a disaster. Apart from the relatively comfortable stretch in German waters, the rest of the journey inflicted indelible damage on everyone’s minds and bodies.

Starting from the English Channel, many countries—including France—and most colonial ports refused entry to Russian warships.

At the same time, Royal Navy warships kept the Russian fleet under long‑term surveillance, shadowing them all the way to the waters off Morocco.

On top of that, British ships frequently provoked the Russians, and under this kind of pressure, the psychological strain on the Russian Navy was even worse.

Along the way, because of combined pressure from the Japanese Government and the British Government, most colonies also refused to open their ports to the Russian Navy. This situation continued all the way until the German colony in Cameroon, but conditions in Cameroon were so poor that it was simply incapable of providing quality service to the Russian fleet.

So the Russian Navy carried large quantities of coal to ensure that their long‑distance voyage would not be cut short by a lack of fuel. Although the East African Government had reached an agreement with Russia allowing them to resupply at East African ports, the Russian Government still worried that East Africa might change its mind at the last moment, so bringing enough fuel themselves was essential.

In fact, if William II hadn’t stepped in, not a single shipping line would have been willing to help Russia transport coal. Coal carriers from Germany were trailing behind the Russian fleet, but even with William II speaking on their behalf, those German shipping companies only promised to escort them as far as the Malacca Strait, since they too feared that Japan might "forget the rules" and strike the Russian fleet ahead of time.

If William II hadn’t applied pressure, those German shipping companies’ vessels likely wouldn’t have wanted to enter the Indian Ocean at all.

In reality, the Russian Navy had split into two groups: one took the Mediterranean route, and the other chose the West African coast, with both parts scheduled to rendezvous at Mombasa, then proceed to the Malacca Strait, and after a final rest at Kundian Port, sail straight for the East Asian waters.

The squadron Kurovsky belonged to was the one that took the West African coast. Compared with the Second Squadron that was still being watched by the British in the Mediterranean, the Russians who chose the West Coast route were undoubtedly much more fortunate.

In the Mediterranean they had to stay constantly alert against the Japanese Navy and the Royal Navy, whereas along the West Coast of Africa, starting from the Cameroon segment, they no longer needed to worry about being ambushed; what’s more, upon reaching Luanda Port, the Russian Navy received ample rest and resupply.

Many Russian sailors went ashore at Luanda, and after unloading the supplies, their commanders deliberately gave the exhausted men half a day off, while the officers of the fleet went out looking for places to spend money.

Kurovsky and several of his colleagues headed to a fairly luxurious state‑owned hotel in Luanda. Compared with the lower‑rank sailors, whose incomes were quite low, Kurovsky and the other officers obviously had much greater spending power.

Russian sailors could only go to cheap taverns that catered specifically to seamen, whereas Kurovsky and his peers naturally went to elegant hotels with first‑rate service, where they could feast on meat and fish.

Stuffing Argentine imported steak into his mouth and washing it down with high‑end East African red wine, all to the sound of refined music,

Kurovsky said, "This is what life is supposed to be. Out on the sea I felt like I was about to grow fur all over. If we’d arrived any later, we might have been stuck gnawing that lousy black bread along with the common soldiers."

Ankalev said, "There’s nothing to be done. At sea it’s almost impossible to resupply, so every bit of material has to be carefully rationed. If we hadn’t reached an agreement with the East African Government, we’d probably still be suffering for another two or three thousand miles of sailing."

"If not for East Africa, our only option would have been to use the French overseas territory on Madagascar Island as a stopover, but I’m sure conditions on Madagascar Island are probably even worse than those colonial ports we passed through in West Africa."

Kurovsky said, "Exactly. The conditions at those ports were terrible. Put them next to the East African coast and it’s like two different worlds. I really want to know why the gap is so big when it’s all Africa. The other colonies on the West African coast are basically undeveloped barbaric backwaters, while Cabinda and Luanda on the East African coast probably wouldn’t be considered bad even if you dropped them in Europe."

Ankalev said, "Who knows! Maybe it’s a racial difference? Anyway, I’ve hardly seen any Black people in Luanda—that’s the most fundamental difference between East Africa and those colonies in West Africa. Maybe Black people’s level of civilization is just too low: even when they come into contact with the civilized world, it’s hard to enlighten them."

Kurovsky said, "Could be! The closer we got to East Africa on this journey, the more prosperous it became. It may not match the level of the Western European coastline, but it’s definitely better than many places in Russia. East Africans have a huge advantage: they face the ocean, something we Russians can only dream of. Those colonies in West Africa are simply squandering a magnificent resource."

For the Russian Navy, East Africa was an extremely unfamiliar country; previously they’d only been able to see its rough outline on a map. Only after actually coming here—especially in stark contrast with the backward regions of West Africa—did they realize just how different this country of East Africa really was.

In fact, ever since they entered the South Atlantic, this feeling had grown stronger: along the East African coastline there were more towns, farms, and plantations, and the infrastructure was better. The cities were not only larger, the buildings were clearly superior to those elsewhere, rural waterworks were more complete, and livestock were more plentiful than in West Africa.

Cabinda and Luanda’s port facilities in particular were clearly more modern, with more large‑scale equipment, and the number of ships in port was obviously much higher than in West Africa. This was a sign of flourishing trade. Many ships flew the East African flag, and there were even the rare sight of fishing vessels—things that gave a very direct impression of the difference.