African Entrepreneurship Record-Chapter 703 - 7 Western Military Deployment

There are countless "minor conflicts" on the East African border, with the most frequent being with the Portuguese. This is particularly evident along the border between Mozambique and East Africa.

As for Angola, it is considered a secondary direction in East Africa's strategy. Despite Angola occupying fertile land along the Atlantic coast and having excellent ports, which East Africa "covets," the Indian Ocean coast remains East Africa's core focus.

The areas controlled by Mozambique are precisely the focus of East Africa's attention, as evidenced by East Africa's deployment strategy. Mozambique is almost entirely surrounded by East Africa.

Despite the Indian Ocean being vast, East Africa has a naval base on the Comoros Islands, making Mozambique's level of danger far greater than Angola's. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

In contrast, Portugal's strategic focus on Angola is significantly higher than on Mozambique, as demonstrated by its deployment of three local brigades to Angola versus just one in Mozambique.

However, with the support of the British for Mozambique, and considering the main battlefield was within Mozambique last time, Mozambique has now formed an army of around twenty thousand troops, organized into two divisions according to European military standards, or rather, British standards.

Additionally, there is an auxiliary force of over ten thousand Black servants, which could be more numerous but has been designated as reserves by the Mozambique Governor's Mansion, making the main military personnel in Mozambique about thirty thousand. In wartime, expansion should reach tens of thousands, with the primary sources being Black people.

Angola's military strength is neither weak nor inferior, with its power more pronounced in the direct leadership of the kingdom, focusing on two infantry brigades and one cavalry brigade locally.

Angola itself has over thirteen thousand Portuguese troops, along with more than forty thousand troops raised by the colony, under the leadership of the Portuguese army.

Therefore, there is a significant difference in army models between Angola and Mozambique, with Mozambique possessing a stronger autonomy, while Angola's army is mainly under the jurisdiction of Portugal, nearly indistinguishable from the Portuguese mainland except in name.

Bronzino said, "Avoid conflict with the East Africans; here, Black people are unreliable. We three alone cannot pose a threat to the East Africans opposite us, and we cannot bear the consequences. If the East Africans do not act extremely, we should turn a blind eye."

What would be considered extreme actions? Illegal border crossings or active aggression from East Africa, placing the initiative entirely in their hands. This thought brought Vexation to Bronzino's heart.

In fact, East Africa is also vexed, especially the Western Military Region, where at present only two divisions are practically deployable, with the rest ready in the central three provinces.

This places the most pressure on the Western Military Region nationwide. The Western Military Region has a total of five divisions, with two in the central area, one in Southwest Africa, and only the 414th and 412th divisions on the Angola border.

Before the East-Portuguese War, these two divisions had a combined strength of only thirteen thousand, now expanded to more than twenty thousand, while opposite them, Angola has over fifty thousand military personnel.

Moreover, the West African border is long, and its development lags behind the East, with only the western segment of the Central Railway extending to Manggu City.

Thus, East Africa's transportation and logistics do not show much advantage over Angola. There are several main roads crisscrossing the West, serving as vital arteries, yet these are not necessarily superior to Angola's.

This situation is largely caused by the greater pressure faced by the Southern Military Region, involving the forces of Transvaal, the British, and the Portuguese.

Therefore, to be able to support the southern battlefield at any time, East Africa has deployed the forces of four divisions in the central three provinces, which can provide support in the eastern, western, and southern directions as needed by the battlefield.

Thus, Hans is wise to avoid over-provoking the Portuguese, telling his underlings, "Continue the patrols. There's no need to stare down these Portuguese here. Karl, you three stay here on duty. If anything unexpected happens, fire a warning shot."

"Yes, Sergeant!"

As the East African patrol dispersed, Bronzino could do nothing but lead a group of dispirited Black soldiers away, pretending as if nothing had happened.

It's worth mentioning that the division of military regions in East Africa is already significantly different from the administrative division due to territorial expansion, particularly in the developmental efforts in the central and western regions, rendering the original military division somewhat outdated.

Take the central three provinces, which now count as one of East Africa's core areas in terms of economic strength and population scale.

However, they still fall within the scope of the Western Military Region, while the area of military activity has expanded, as seen in the Nile River Military Region, controlling East Africa's northwest, including areas from the former Sultanate and Central African Republic, which initially had only two divisions.

Later, as East Africa's activity range stretched to Bangui, along with incorporating the main Congo River channel into the East African military jurisdiction, the scope of the Nile River Military Region expanded greatly.

Two divisions were no longer enough, so the 312th Division was added to handle the defense of the Ubangi River and Congo River basin.

This assignment means the Nile River Division carries not just the defense against northern powers like Egypt (Sultanate) but also the responsibility of supporting the Western Military Region as needed.

Using the Ubangi and Congo Rivers, the 312th Division can rapidly reach Kinshasa City, using it as a base to deter and strike Portuguese forces along the Congo River's lower reaches.

Regarding the actual borders of the 312th Division, they are with the Belgian colonies and Sigmaringen, between which there is almost no conflict, so temporarily using the 312th Division's strength is a feasible plan.

The Western Military Region's area expanded by nearly a million square kilometers due to the incorporation of Southwest Africa (including southern Angola).

Factors influencing East Africa's Western defense include major developments in the central and western areas, particularly the construction of industrial provinces in the central region, along with development of Hesse Province in the Congo River basin.

Another factor is the expanded western area, including the Congo rainforest and Southwest Africa, brought under East Africa's influence.

Given the economic strength of several central provinces, they should ideally split from the Western Military Region, creating a new Central Military Region, although East Africa currently has a Central District.

If, in the future, East Africa changes its capital, the Central Military Region may relocate to the central area, with the former Central Military Region being renamed the "Eastern Military Region."

However, the current division of military regions, despite being somewhat unreasonable, remains usable and primarily meets East Africa's national needs because development in the entire West was initially too low. In recent years, besides constructing more roads, East Africa has seen little change.

Moreover, East Africa's transportation development makes military mobilization more convenient, especially with the opening of Hesse Province's railway, the East African railway network centered on New Frankfurt, which will basically take shape.

New Frankfurt's status as the national railway hub will remain unaltered in the future, making it truly accessible from all directions.

According to the East African railway network, one can easily reach any place within East Africa from New Frankfurt, being the most convenient corridor.