African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1556 General Staff Tropical Rainforest and Island Operations Team
The uses and applications of helicopters are far more diverse than Lieutenant Helmut and Paul had imagined. In the military field, the emergence of helicopters is no less significant than that of tanks.

In the civilian sector, helicopters have a wide range of uses and markets, such as firefighting in grasslands, forests, and high-rise buildings; medical rescue and disaster relief; border patrol, anti-smuggling, and counter-terrorism.

There is a great demand for helicopters in East Africa. As a country with a predominantly tropical savanna climate, East Africa is generally arid, and wildfires occur in the savanna areas every year.

Helicopters can quickly detect fires, and with special equipment, they can also participate in personnel evacuation and firefighting operations.

However, helicopter manufacturing has not yet been widely adopted in East Africa, and its promotion in the military field is relatively lagging behind, let alone in civilian use.

Otherwise, Lieutenant Helmut wouldn't have been so surprised upon seeing the helicopter.

Paul said, "This latest model helicopter is probably still classified. Even our people at the test site have a hard time getting close to it. There is a special team in charge."

"So, Lieutenant Helmut, please remember not to say anything after you leave."

As a soldier, Lieutenant Helmut knew this principle. He said, "Of course, I won't cause trouble for myself. If I get invited for tea, it will be too late."

After finishing that topic, Paul finally asked, "Lieutenant Helmut, what did you send to our testing range this time?"

Lieutenant Helmut chuckled as he lifted the tarpaulin on the boat, revealing something resembling a backpack pesticide sprayer.

Paul recognized the item at a glance and exclaimed in realization, "It's a flamethrower!"

Flamethrowers, also known as "flame jets," were developed in East Africa. Of course, flamethrowers have existed in human history for a long time. For example, in the Far Eastern Empire, there was a "flame-breathing" device during the Northern and Southern Dynasties and it was used in war. In the Song Dynasty, a very mature "fierce fire oil tank" appeared. In the West, there was also "Greek fire," which was used by the Eastern Roman Empire.

During World War I, flamethrowers played a significant role on the battlefield, especially in combat against the numerous trenches and tunnels used in the war.

The British even developed four two-ton flamethrowers during this period and deployed them on the Somme battlefield. However, it is clear that this far-fetched design did not achieve any practical results and was easily destroyed by German artillery.

Since flamethrowers played an important role on the European battlefield, it was natural that this weapon was studied and improved by other countries after World War I.

East Africa places great importance on this type of weapon. In fact, flamethrowers are an important type of weapon that Paul's institute, 3207, focuses on developing.

Lieutenant Helmut said, "These are your unit's latest improved Type 29 flamethrowers. I think you're familiar with them. We brought four of them with us this time."

Paul was certainly familiar with the Type 29 flamethrower. He had conducted countless experiments on it at the Carls Proving Ground over the past month.

There are several areas around the Karls test site where charred marks can be seen, all the work of the Type 29 flamethrower. Outside the test site, there are also specially constructed trenches, tunnels and fortifications to simulate the destructive and lethal power of the Type 29 flamethrower in a tropical environment.

The Karls Test Site, as a test site under Institute 3207, then relayed the experimental results to the Institute 3207 branch in Sanmalinda via telegram for improvement.

At the same time, the test site also needs to explore ways to deal with flamethrowers, such as how to build firewalls and set up tunnels to prevent harm from enemy weapons of the same type.

All of this data will eventually be compiled by the Tropical Rainforest and Island Operations Research Group under the General Staff of the East African Defence Force, providing reference data for the East African Defence Force's operations in the South Pacific region.

The so-called tropical rainforest island combat team was a relatively independent unit under the General Staff.

The reason for this is that there are too many differences between East Africa and Southeast Asia, such as climate, transportation, and topography.

However, the East African National Defence Force's organizational structure, tactics, and weaponry are basically similar to those of European and American countries, with a greater emphasis on large-scale troop operations and homeland defense.

This is easy to understand. The primary goal of any country's military is to ensure national security and defend the country. Only then do they undertake tasks such as aggression and expansion, colonization, external intervention, and overseas peacekeeping.

Therefore, the primary objective of the East African Defence Force is to safeguard the national defense and security of East Africa. Consequently, the organization, tactics, and weaponry of the East African Defence Force are naturally deployed based on the actual situation on the ground.

East Africa has a vast territory, almost the size of Europe. It is mostly plateau terrain with flat land and vegetation consisting mainly of savanna. The population is relatively dense and transportation is well-developed. In terms of climate, thanks to the high plateau, most of East Africa is more similar to temperate countries and regions.

This can be seen from the precipitation and temperature. Precipitation in most parts of East Africa is maintained at around 600 to 1200 millimeters, and the average temperature inland is around 20 to 30 degrees Celsius.

The situation is completely different in Southeast Asia. Rainfall in most areas can reach more than 2,000 millimeters, and it is not uncommon for it to exceed 3,000 millimeters. Some mountainous areas even exceed 5,000 millimeters, such as northern Myanmar, where Cherrapunji, the world's rainiest place, receives more than 10,000 millimeters.

Overall, the average rainfall in the South Pacific region is at least twice that of East Africa, and the temperature is also much hotter.

In terms of topography, the South Pacific region is more complex than East Africa. The East African Plateau is more prominent, and apart from the relatively large topographical undulations around the plateau, most of the country is relatively open and flat.

The South Pacific is characterized by its mountains and rivers, rugged terrain, and highly fragmented landscape. Coupled with its dense forests, volcanoes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters, the situation is even more complex.

In other words, people from East Africa, Europe and America, or other temperate countries will find it difficult to adapt to the Southeast Asian region, and the same applies to military matters, as they will experience acclimatization problems.

In the past, the Southeast Asian region was far removed from European civilization, such as using cold weapons to fight against firearms. As a result, European colonists could swagger around in Southeast Asia. However, with the development of the countries in Southeast Asia, the gap between them and the rest of the world is actually narrowing. Combined with the terrain and environment, they may be able to give external forces a good thrashing in the future.

East Africa considers the South Pacific region as part of its territory and naturally cannot relinquish its interests there. Therefore, on the military level, in order to address the unique circumstances of the South Pacific region, the General Staff's Tropical Rainforest and Island Operations Group was established. This group wields immense power, allowing them to intervene in most military issues in the South Pacific region, including but not limited to troop deployment, base site selection and construction, weapons and equipment improvement and procurement, etc.

The previously mentioned Institute 3207 can be seen as a special research and development department under the management of the Tropical Rainforest Island Combat Team.

These messages reveal that East Africa has a grand strategy in the South Pacific region, and has been making preparations for war in the region on a military level.

The establishment of the Tropical Rainforest Island Operations Group was similar to Germany's creation of a special department to counter the Soviet Union, which was tasked with investigating the Soviet Union's climate, terrain, transportation, and other related aspects.

Of course, in reality, Germany obviously does not have such a department. Otherwise, Germany would not have been defeated by the Soviet Union in World War II, and some German soldiers did not even have proper cotton clothing and froze to death in the Soviet Union's freezing weather.

Ultimately, it was because they underestimated their enemy. Ernst dared not underestimate Southeast Asia, a region far more backward than the Soviet Union. The reason for this was that the United States had suffered too many losses in Southeast Asia in its previous life.

In its previous life, the United States was the most powerful country in the world, but it was taught a lesson by Japan in Southeast Asia. The British suffered a similar fate in Southeast Asia, and later, the United States suffered a major setback in the Vietnam War.

A similar example is the war between the Far Eastern Empire and Vietnam, which, although more beneficial to the Far Eastern Empire, lasted for a full ten years.

Time speaks volumes; for most wars, dragging on too long is never a good thing.

Ernst did not want the East African Defence Force to encounter the same situation in the South Pacific in the future, so it was necessary to identify all unfavorable factors in advance and find solutions. The General Staff Tropical Rainforest and Island Operations Group was established under Ernst's leadership.

Returning to the Type 29 flamethrower, Paul said, "The latest improved Type 29 flamethrower, I heard that the institute has optimized its fuel ratio this time, I wonder how effective it is."

"However, the Type 29 flamethrower is also indispensable in the Southeast Asia region. While trench warfare like that of World War II is unlikely to occur in Southeast Asia, the Type 29 flamethrower is still very useful in dealing with the local rainforest."

While trench and tunnel warfare will certainly occur in Southeast Asia, this is a future scenario, not a present one. At least for now, East African forces have not encountered such opponents in the Southeast Asian region.

In the past, during the expansion of East Africa into Southeast Asia, the indigenous people preferred guerrilla warfare, wandering in the rainforest rather than building fortifications and using the terrain to their advantage to fight against East Africa.

However, the indigenous people's combat strategy is undoubtedly correct at this stage, because even if they build fortifications to take advantage of the terrain and fight against the East African army, the East Africans are not lacking in heavy firepower to suppress the enemy. On the contrary, they are more afraid of the indigenous people's hit-and-run tactics.

Building fortifications to confront a modern army like those in East Africa is unlikely to be effective unless the enemy's weaponry is not significantly outdated.

Lieutenant Helmut said, "You know the specific effects of the Type 29 flamethrower. Our army is still equipped with the Type 21 flamethrower."

“In the past, I liked to use the Type 21 flamethrower to burn down forests, but the Type 21 flamethrower was too bulky and not durable. The Type 29 flamethrower was much lighter.”

Paul said, "That's the point of our work: with continuous advancements in materials, structure, and formulation, flamethrowers will only become lighter and more powerful in the future."

"Of course, what interests me most is the power of the Type 29 flamethrower. Since they say they have improved the fuel ratio, there should be improvements in range and single-target area."

Lieutenant Helmut said, "I brought quite a lot of new dye this time, all in oil drums, which are placed at the stern of the ship."

Afterwards, the Karls Proving Grounds and Lieutenant Helmut's men unloaded the cargo from the ship one by one. In addition to the Type 29 flamethrowers, Lieutenant Helmut also brought a large amount of food, medicine, and insect repellent.

In East Kalimantan, there are far more mosquitoes than in the rest of East Africa, where mosquitoes are particularly rampant, especially in the lake regions. In East Kalimantan, however, the entire country is plagued by them.

Therefore, the demand for mosquito repellent products and some medications is much higher here than in East Africa itself.

However, the East Kalimantan immigrants were fortunate because their mother country was East Africa, the only tropical superpower with unparalleled methods for dealing with tropical mosquitoes and diseases.

In the last century, when East Africa was colonizing from the East African plateau inland, it did not have the support of a powerful country, and various supplies, especially medicines, were extremely scarce.

By the time East Africa was completely occupied and preparations were made to develop East Kalimantan, World War I was almost over. At the same time, East Africa had become a so-called "primary industrial power." "Primary" is more of a joke; the key is that it later became an industrial power.

The Far Eastern Empire of the past could perhaps have called itself that way, such as a developing manufacturing powerhouse. Being both a developing country and a manufacturing powerhouse is inherently contradictory, but neither of these is entirely wrong.

However, in the early 20th century, the concept of a so-called primary industrial power in East Africa had virtually no international recognition, since developing countries in the past had concrete standards.

In the early 20th century, a powerful nation was a powerful nation. Some issues concerning people's livelihoods and economic quality were simply not taken seriously by the international community. Just as Japan was later jokingly referred to as an impoverished imperialist nation, this term simply did not exist at that time. Not only in Asia, but even in Europe and America, Japan was regarded as an opponent of the same level.

Another typical example is the Soviet Union. After completing its two industrial programs, the Soviet Union became a so-called "industrialized country." However, as later generations have clearly seen, the Soviet Union's industrialization had a major problem of being lame. While its heavy industry and military industry were at a first-class level, its light industry and civilian industry were relatively backward compared with other major powers, and even barely reached the second-class level.

The fact that the Soviet Union reached a second-rate level in light industry and civilian industry was not due to the Soviet Union's excellence, but rather because many countries and regions in the world were too backward and still in an agricultural society. Therefore, even though the Soviet Union's light industry and civilian industry were far less developed than its heavy industry and military industry, they were still very advanced compared to its neighboring countries.

This surrounding region also includes Eastern Europe, such as Poland, western Ukraine, Bulgaria, and Romania. Their development level is very low, with only a small amount of industry. Moreover, these industries are not necessarily in their own hands, but are invested in by businessmen from countries such as Germany and Austria-Hungary. However, once external capital withdraws its funds, technology, and personnel, the already meager industry is at risk of collapse.

(End of this chapter)