African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1525 Inspecting the Army
Of course, in the early 20th century, the international community's mindset was still relatively barbaric and primitive. For countries around the world today, per capita figures are not a data point worth valuing; strength is strength, and strength means being able to stand taller.

Compared to improving people's livelihoods, it is more effective to plunder foreign countries by force. The reason why the international community in the 21st century had a relatively high level of morality was partly due to the balance of power.

From the modern era until the 19th century, the Western world, with its technological and industrial advantages, led the world in the military field and could therefore do whatever it wanted.

However, with the formation of the world market, technology will also spread to other parts of the world. This spread is not initiated by Western countries, but is an inevitable choice for building the world market and expanding their own trade advantages.

Just like East Africa's export of industrial equipment to the Soviet Union, this objectively contributed to the progress of Soviet industry and promoted the pace of Soviet industrialization, but it was by no means East Africa's way of helping the Soviet Union build industry.

This was still the case with a large country like the Soviet Union. If it were a weaker country, they would have been forced into this role, becoming the lifeblood of the powerful nation's economy.

In other words, these countries were essentially "slaves" in the eyes of powerful nations like those in East Africa. But even slaves were still fed by their masters; otherwise, how could they work for their masters and create more wealth? If slaves themselves were to forgive and be grateful for the food provided by their masters, then the plight of such slave countries would be completely unworthy of sympathy or pity.

A nation with even a modicum of ambition should at least strive to become a "free nation." Those with greater ambition should become "dragons" like Germany, Japan, and East Africa. And those aspiring to even greater heights are like the Soviet Union, which, in its early stages, had to consider other regions in addition to its own interests and wanted to plant its red flag all over the world.

Unfortunately, while the Soviet Labour Party may have been relatively pure in its early days, as the Soviet Union has developed over time, much of its ideology and ideals have been eroded, and there is now a lot of scheming and corruption within it.

It is possible for an individual to remain pure, but a country like the Soviet Union, even from its inception, has always had its share of opportunists, let alone now.

……

Now Ernst has largely handed over the country's economic affairs to Friedrich, while Ernst himself is inspecting naval developments off the coast of East Africa.

Pemba Port, Nyasaland Province.

The port of Pemba, located in the Bay of Pemba along the coast of Cabo Delgado, has long been one of the most important naval bases on the east coast of East Africa.

The Gulf of Pemba has multiple submarine bases and an aircraft carrier base. The deep-water areas within the bay are extremely suitable for submarines to operate stealthily, making the Gulf of Pemba the most important submarine force deployment base in the Indian Ocean of East Africa.

The low mountains and hills surrounding Pemba Bay provide natural barriers to block radar and high-altitude reconnaissance. At the same time, these mountains, hills, and dense forests can be used to set up relatively concealed camouflage positions and radar stations.

In summary, the Bay of Pemba and its port facilities are among the best in East Africa, and its basic natural conditions would rank in the upper-middle range among naval ports worldwide.

"After more than 20 years of development, Pemba Bay has now been transformed into one of the world's most powerful military bay areas, capable of providing berthing, maintenance, and resupply services for various warships," Rembrandt, commander of the East African Naval Base at Pemba, proudly told Ernst.

He pointed eastward to the Indian Ocean and said, "The Pemba Bay and the Comoros naval bases, along with Madagascar and the port of Nacala in the south, form a triangular network, making it the area most strongly controlled by the Imperial Navy."

"The security of the surrounding waters is more prominent than that of the north. At the same time, it can block the entire Mozambique Channel or launch an attack on most of the Indian Ocean, thereby deterring the countries along the entire Indian Ocean coast and other forces."

The northern seas that Commander Rembrandt referred to were the vast Indian Ocean waters north of Cape Delgado, including the Gulf of Aden, eastern Somalia, eastern Kenya and Tanzania, and extending all the way to the Seychelles in the UK.

The main East African naval deployments in the above areas include five regions: Bosaso, Lamu, Mombasa, Bagamoyo, and Dar es Salaam.

The port of Bosaso is located in the Gulf of Aden and is the northernmost military port in East Africa. This allows the East African Navy to react quickly and monitor and warn of enemies in the direction of Europe in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.

Lamu is the most important military port in the northern waters of eastern East Africa, undertaking most of the maritime tasks in the north, such as supporting operations in the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, and the Strait of Hormuz, and guarding against the British Navy from the Seychelles and India.

Bosaso and Lamu are purely military ports, while Bagamoyo, Mombasa, and Dar es Salaam are mixed military and civilian ports, especially Mombasa and Dar es Salaam, where only a small number of military facilities and bases are deployed.

The northern waters off the east coast of East Africa have a straight coastline and lack natural barriers. Therefore, while this area is convenient for the East African Navy to launch offensive operations, it is inherently inadequate in terms of defense.

In particular, the British navy in places like India and the Seychelles, if operated properly, could potentially pose a threat to the northern coastal area of ​​the east coast of East Africa.

The situation is quite different south of Cape Delgado. Cape Delgado is the landmass where Tanzania and Mozambique once met. As those familiar with African maps know, the land here juts out towards the sea like a triangle, though not as prominently as the Somali region.

Both Pemba and Nacala are located northeast of Cape Delgado, facing the Comoros Islands and Madagascar.

Pemba, Lamu, and Nakara are the three major military ports on the east coast of East Africa, which are most relied upon by the East African Navy. They can all accommodate warships such as aircraft carriers and battleships.

This demonstrates the significant military importance of Cape Delgado to the East African Navy. It is essentially the nerve center of the East African Indian Ocean Fleet and the location of its main force.

In the past, East Africa relied more on northern ports such as Bagamoyo, since the former capital of East Africa, First Town, was nearby. However, since the capital of East Africa was moved, Rhine City is located deep inland and no longer needs the protection of the coast.

Therefore, the status of southern naval ports such as Pemba and Nacala has risen rapidly, after all, these two places have better basic conditions and more important strategic positions.

Commander Rembrandt said, “To the east, we and the Nacala naval forces can blockade the entire Mozambique Channel, or we can bypass Madagascar, pass through the central ocean, the Sunda Strait and other places to enter the Pacific Ocean. To the north, we can go to the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea and other waters to carry out combat missions. Pemba port can also deal with the British navy in Seychelles.”

"To the south, our navy can also reach the Cape of Good Hope and deter the British navy in South Africa and Cape Town."

Cape Delgado is located almost in the middle of the east coast of East Africa, which allows the main East African fleet in the Indian Ocean to easily support various areas of the Indian Ocean and even enter the Pacific Ocean to assist the Pacific Fleet in its operations.

Ernst was well aware of this, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to come here so often to inspect the development of the East African Navy.

For example, East Africa's first submarine force and first aircraft carrier battle group were both inspected by Ernst in Pemba port.

The reason is simple: the area offers greater security and concealment due to its military status. Furthermore, the terrain of the Pemba Bay made it virtually impossible for foreign countries to obtain intelligence there before the advent of satellites. While aircraft could indeed fly over the Pemba Bay, it remains a military restricted area. Even the nearest point to the Bay of Delgado, Seychelles, is nearly 2,000 kilometers away, not to mention the presence of East African air defenses and radar stations along the Pemba Bay coast.

Therefore, even Britain dared not take the risk of conducting aerial reconnaissance over the ports of Pemba and Nacala at Cape Delduga.

Not to mention that in this era, there was no British air force stationed in Seychelles at all. In the previous life, Britain did not deploy air force in Seychelles until after the 20s.

Currently, Seychelles appears to be strategically important to Britain, but given the presence of an adversary like East Africa, Britain is unlikely to increase its investment in Seychelles.

After all, if Britain were to go to war with East Africa, its primary concern would be the security of regions such as India, the Strait of Malacca, the Suez Canal, and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Even without considering the possibility of war between the two countries, there is only one outcome: the entire aforementioned region will be swallowed up by East Africa.

Therefore, Britain's strategy toward East Africa has always been singular: to avoid large-scale conflict and war with East Africa.

This is also why East Africa has been able to expand its sphere of influence in Somalia, the Persian Gulf, North Africa, and South America in recent years.

These areas were originally on the periphery of British interests. For example, northern Somalia was once part of the British colony of Somaliland, and Qatar, which was destroyed by East Africa, was located on the Persian Gulf coast. The Pirate Coast was also once a British protectorate.

Britain's willingness to tolerate this was all to avoid war with East Africa. After all, if war broke out, East Africa wouldn't be eyeing Darfur, the Pirate Coast, or Qatar, but rather Egypt, South Africa, and India—plenty of land right on East Africa's doorstep.

Ernst was quite satisfied with the construction of Pemba Port. He said, "The entire Pemba Bay, with Pemba Port as its core, is one of the most fortified fortresses in the eastern Indian Ocean of the Empire. It is also a core node of the Empire's Indian Ocean strategy, an important maritime hub, and a logistics base."

"The Empire paid a heavy price to build the military system in Pembawan, so the comprehensive military system in Pembawan was hard-won and you should cherish it even more."

The Pemba Bay Integrated Military Base includes a naval aircraft carrier base, a submarine base, a newly built military airfield, as well as supporting transportation such as railways and highways, air defense systems, radar, shipyards, and more.

This whole setup required a considerable amount of money, and it took East Africa nearly thirty years to fully develop the Pemba Bay Integrated Military Base.

Moreover, infrastructure construction in the Pemba Bay is inherently challenging. For instance, when building the submarine base, a significant amount of explosives from East Africa were used to construct various underground facilities.

Commander Rembrandt replied, "Your Majesty, rest assured that the maintenance of all facilities at our Pemba Bay base is carried out in strict accordance with regulations, and the daily training and exercises of our soldiers and units are maintained at a high standard."

"This ensures that in the event of a sudden war, the entire base can react quickly and launch an attack to annihilate any invading enemy or provide rapid support for other wars."

He pointed to the distant mountain peaks and said, "In Pemba Bay, those low-altitude mountains conceal large and small anti-aircraft firepower, including anti-aircraft guns, anti-aircraft machine guns, and reconnaissance equipment such as radar stations. It is very difficult for reconnaissance aircraft to get close to this place."

"In addition, air force can also actively drive away or annihilate the enemy. Pemba Bay Airport is now in use."

"At sea, it would be tantamount to suicide for the enemy to invade Pemba Port. In addition to surface ships, our submarine force is also patrolling the area, making it impossible for enemy ships to get close."

As for the land front, it goes without saying that East Africa is right behind them. The East African Army is not the best in the world, but it is definitely among the top five.

This actually seriously underestimates the combat capabilities of the East African Army, but there is no other way, because the East African Army lacks a combat record to back it up. Since the South African War, East Africa has no record of fighting against the armies of other powerful countries.

Currently, Germany is widely recognized as the world's leading land power. Even the East African Army itself has no dispute about this, because the performance of the German Army in World War I truly astonished the world.

France remains the world's second-largest army. During World War I, the French army was the only one that performed no worse than Germany's. As for now, it's hard to say.

Then there's the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In this timeline, although the Austro-Hungarian Empire performed poorly in the early stages, it not only pushed back against Russia in the later stages but also opened up a southern front, which greatly improved its reputation.

As for other countries, such as Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union, the evaluations are not very high. The British army was never highly regarded, so it didn't generate much discussion. The Soviet Union, being viewed with hostility by the international community, naturally did not receive good reviews.

Not to mention the Soviet army, which did indeed lag behind other countries in terms of equipment, logistics, and training intensity.

As for the United States, although it participated in World War I, it did not have any outstanding achievements. Many countries' evaluation of the U.S. Army was that it had a bunch of advanced weapons but fought a mediocre and worthless war.

The performance of the U.S. Army in World War I also led other countries to view the East African Army with prejudice, because East Africa was very similar to the United States.

One major reason for the U.S. Army's poor performance in World War I was that many U.S. troops were brought in at the last minute. Prior to this, the U.S. Army had always been small in size and had very little training or combat experience.

Therefore, other countries also believe that the East African Army is like this. However, although the international community believes that the East African Army's combat effectiveness is average, no one dares to underestimate it. After all, East Africa is the world's largest industrial country and the third most populous country in the world.

Therefore, many European military experts believe that even if the East African Army has low combat effectiveness, it can still build a large army by relying on its strong defense industry, industrial production capacity, and weaponry, and overwhelm the enemy.

This is completely biased. Human wave tactics were an important option for countries like the Soviet Union with low levels of industrialization, but how could a major industrial country like East Africa possibly use human wave tactics?

Not to mention, East Africa is different from the United States. East Africa's support for its army is not as perfunctory as that of the United States. Its military spending and troop numbers have always been among the world's top tier.

Of course, without actual combat experience, East Africans can't really be tough. However, as far as the East African Army is concerned, they consider themselves to be at least among the top three in the world.

(End of this chapter)