African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1731 The West African "Blitzkrieg"

The Habsburg monarchy and the new Austrian kingdom acted quickly, and after Archduke Ferdinand returned to his own territory, Charles I also began to expand his army.

Besides the standing army as the main force, the rest of the kingdom also had their own tasks. The standing army was used to fight against the French army in the French colonies, while France also had a vassal army composed of natives.

To ensure absolute safety, the Habsburg Monarchy and the New Austrian Kingdom had no choice but to mobilize the entire population for war.

Soon, East Africa also received telegrams from the two countries, and gave corresponding instructions regarding the ideas of the Habsburg Monarchy and the New Austrian Kingdom.

First, the two countries can launch this war, but they absolutely cannot do so under the banner of East Africa. The Habsburg family has no objection to this requirement.

East Africa is currently a "neutral country" and does not want to break ties with France. Moreover, the expansion of the Habsburg Monarchy and the new Austrian Kingdom is not directly related to East Africa's interests.

Secondly, both countries should end the war as soon as possible and stop at the right time. The area demarcated by this war is the Upper Walter and Dahomey colonies.

The East African authorities were well aware of France's military strength in West Africa. To put it bluntly, the French colonial army, though larger in number than the Habsburg Monarchy and the new Austrian Kingdom, was still a formidable force.

However, if the two sides actually fight, the final outcome is hard to predict.

Although the Habsburg Monarchy and the Kingdom of New Austria were outnumbered, their armies were entirely equipped with "East African-made" weapons, giving them a weaponry advantage that French West Africa could not match.

Meanwhile, the supplies consumed in French West Africa, especially weapons and ammunition, required support from mainland France, while the Habsburg Monarchy and the New Austrian Kingdom could easily obtain them from Togoland in East Africa.

With France facing a life-or-death crisis on its own soil, it is even more difficult to provide substantial support to French West Africa.

Without support from the homeland, let alone Walter and Dahomey, the entire French West Africa might not be a match for the two Habsburg kingdoms.

……

1939 4 Month 17 Day.

After some preparation, the Habsburg Monarchy and the Kingdom of New Austria, having assembled an army of nearly seven thousand, split into two groups and officially began their war against Upper Wörther and Dahomey.

Karl I personally led over two thousand elite troops from the Habsburg Monarchy straight to Porto Novo, the capital of French Dahomey.

At the same time, the Habsburg Monarchy also deployed a force of about 1,500 men, who marched toward several major French strongholds in French Dahomey.

Zhugu Town.

This is a village on the border between the French Dahomey colony and the Habsburg monarchy, and an important border outpost used by the French to monitor the Habsburg monarchy and the Togolan colony in East Africa.

The local military commander was a Frenchman named Lafleur, and apart from that, there were only two white men at the outpost who assisted in managing it.

The three of them also had a patrol team of more than a dozen people under their command, composed entirely of local natives.

At eight o'clock in the morning, Laflesh was sleeping in as usual, not yet getting up, when suddenly there was a loud knocking on the door, which startled him awake.

"Who is it! Which bastard is disturbing my sleep so early in the morning!" Laflesh got out of bed and calmly put on his pants, scolding the person outside the door as he did so.

A panicked sound came from outside the door.

"Captain Laflesh, something bad has happened! Our men have spotted East African troops entering Jugu!"

Laflesh recognized the voice outside the door; it was his vice-captain, Arthur.

He suddenly came to his senses, hurriedly fastened his belt, put on his military overcoat, and opened the door without even buttoning it up, still wearing his slippers.

"What did you say? East African troops suddenly appeared in Jugu Town?"

When ASICS saw Laflesh, he felt like he had found a pillar of support. He was panting heavily, clearly having run all the way there.

He grabbed Laflesh's sleeve, trying to get him to come with him, saying, "Captain, that's how it should be. You should go and check it out right now."

Laflesh remained unmoved, and with a slight tug, broke free from ASICS's grasp.

With a frown and a grave expression, he said, "What do you mean, 'go check it out immediately'? Explain the situation to me clearly first. Are you sure it's East African troops coming?"

ASICS explained, "There's no mistake. My men reported that they came from the northwest, which is the Togoland colony in East Africa. Moreover, according to the black soldiers' reports, their uniforms are also in line with German characteristics."

Laflesh asked, "How many of them came, and what are they doing here?"

Laflesh didn't immediately think of the word "invasion," so even after hearing that East African troops had appeared in Jugu, he wasn't too anxious now that he had calmed down.

But his question stumped ASICS, who stammered, "There must be quite a few people. The natives said there's a large group of them, and they even have cars and weapons. They don't seem like they're here with good intentions."

Laflesh was very dissatisfied with his answer: "How much is 'a large area'? Dozens of people, hundreds, or even more! And didn't you go and check on their situation?"

After being reprimanded by Laflesh, ASICS temporarily forgot his panic and said somewhat embarrassedly.

"Captain, how dare I go and see for myself! What if it really is an invasion from East Africa? If I go there, wouldn't I just be sending myself to my death? Besides, the natives have a rather vague concept of numbers, but they can describe it as a large area. I think there must be quite a few East Africans coming this time."

Hearing his incompetent subordinate's sophistry, Laflesh was furious and smacked ASICS hard on the head.

ASICS hissed, shrank back, and asked, "Captain, why did you hit me?"

"You useless piece of trash, you good-for-nothing," Laflesh scolded. "You can't even get any information right, yet you come here to report to me. How am I supposed to understand what happened and how to make decisions?"

"Then Captain, what do you think we should do now?" ASICS asked, sounding somewhat aggrieved.

After venting his anger, Laflesh calmed down, his expression shifting between anger and uncertainty. After a moment of contemplation, he said, "We'll meet force with force, and we'll gather our men and go see what's going on. We'll also call over the people who discovered the East African army."

A few moments later, a dozen or so foreigners gathered in the square of Jugu Town, and the soldiers who had discovered the East African army were also called over by Laflesh.

"Gmarulu, you're the one who found the East African army, where are they?" Gmarulu was also a black soldier under Laflesh, and it was he who reported the situation to ASICS.

Gemarulu said, “Reporting to the captain, it was my uncle and his men who discovered the East African army. Just ten minutes ago, they suddenly returned to Zhugu Town and said that they had discovered a large number of East African troops not far from our Zhugu Town.”

Laflesh stared at him and asked, "Your uncle?"

Seeing Laflesh's question, Gmarululu explained, "Captain, my uncle is a member of the caravan in town. They were planning to do business in the north today, but they encountered an unfamiliar army shortly after leaving town."

“Those people came in a menacing manner. My uncle’s caravan saw them from afar and sensed something was wrong, so they ran back ahead of time.”

Laflesh began to panic upon hearing this. Although he didn't know how far the East African army was—after all, these black people didn't have an accurate concept of distance—according to Gemarululu's description, it was probably too late to run now.

Just as he was at a loss, Laflesh suddenly seemed to hear the sound of horses' hooves.

"They're here!" Laflesh thought to himself, "This is bad."

He still tried to remain calm and said to his subordinates, "It seems that we have guests visiting Zhugu Town. Come with me to see them."

Soon, before they even left the town, Laflesh ran head-on into a small cavalry unit from the Habsburg Monarchy.

This cavalry squad consisted of only about twenty men, but it put Laflesh under tremendous pressure.

He braced himself and asked, "I wonder what brings your esteemed ministry to Zhugu Town? Are you from the Rhineland?"

When Laflesh saw their appearance, he immediately assumed they were East Africans, since only East Africans have so many people with yellow skin.

However, his question received no answer. A cavalry officer dressed as a military officer asked two natives beside him a few questions before speaking to Laflesh: "We are the army of the Habsburg Monarchy. You are the military commander of Jugu Town?"

The two natives were the translators for this cavalry unit. The reason there were two translators was that German and French were obviously difficult to communicate with each other. So, one native spoke French and the other spoke German. At the same time, they also understood the local native language of Dahomey, which was how they managed to translate Laflesh's words to the cavalry officer.

After much trouble, Laflesh finally figured out the identity of this army.

The Habsburg Monarchy! Habsburg Laflesh knew about this so-called Habsburg Monarchy; he had heard of it, but in his mind, it was just a tiny country established by the Habsburg family in West Africa.

He knew of the existence of this country because Jugu was not far from the Habsburg monarchy.

However, he never imagined that after the decline of the Habsburg family, the country they created would dare to invade Dahomey. Although Dahomey itself was not much better, it was backed by "France"! How dare they do that!

The Habsburg officer didn't care what Laflesh thought. He gave Laflesh an ultimatum: "Now the Habsburg Empire is taking over this place. Make your men lay down their weapons and cooperate with us, or you'll suffer the consequences!"

Faced with the threat from the Habsburg Monarchy, Laflesh gritted his teeth and said, "Does your country really intend to offend France?"

The officer said, "You only have one choice: to surrender to us unconditionally."

Laflesh stared at the cavalry for a while, then said helplessly, "You'll regret this."

Then he turned to his subordinates and said, "What are you all standing there for? Put down your weapons!"

Thus, Jugu Town fell into the hands of the Habsburg Monarchy without any resistance.

After completely disarming Laflesh and his men, the Habsburg cavalry officer made arrangements for the three Frenchmen, including Laflesh.

"Next, the three of you will first visit Nattigingu, the capital of our Habsburg Monarchy!"

With these Frenchmen taken away, there was basically no chance of turning things around, and the entire town of Zhugu lost its original order.

Of course, Laflesh and his two companions were also hostages in the hands of the Habsburg monarchy, which became one of the bargaining chips in the subsequent negotiations between the Habsburg monarchy and the French government.

Three cavalry officers from the Habsburg Monarchy were assigned to escort Laflesh back to his country, while the rest of the Habsburgs left Jugur to catch up with the main force.

They had no interest in the remaining natives, nor were they afraid of them causing any trouble. For the current Habsburg monarchy, once the French were driven away, governing and dealing with the local natives would be simple.

Meanwhile, the main force led by Charles I continued to advance southeast.

Except for a very few important towns and military outposts, the main force of the Habsburg Monarchy basically did not stop along the way. Instead, they would send out a small number of troops to take over the local areas and capture French officials and white people.

Faced with the invasion of the Habsburg monarchy, French officials and white people generally did not resist, not to mention that their numbers were extremely small and they dared not clash with the Habsburg monarchy.

This led to a very smooth advance for Charles I and the Habsburg army, and the French basically surrendered at the mere sight of them.

As for the local indigenous forces in the Dahomey colony, they dared not get involved at all, and many of them were quite gloating over France's setback.

In less than four days, the Habsburg army arrived at Porto Novo, the capital of the Dahomey colony.

Even with the delayed news, the French governor of Portonovo already knew that the Habsburg Monarchy had launched an invasion of Dahomey. He hastily assembled an army of 15,000 men in an attempt to resist the Habsburg army.

The numbers seem exaggerated, but in reality, only a little over four hundred men in this army were equipped with modern weapons, while the vast majority of the rest were conscripts temporarily recruited from the indigenous civilian population of Porto Novo.

Then the two armies clashed in a decisive battle on the outskirts of Porto Novo. The result was self-evident: the ragtag army hastily assembled by the French governor of Dahomey collapsed at the first sign of trouble on the battlefield. After all, how could the vast majority of people armed with spears possibly withstand the rifles and machine guns of the enemy?

Seeing that the natives were no longer of any use, the French in Porto Novo could only try to use the strong fortifications of Porto Novo to resist the Habsburg invasion.

However, this was clearly not going to work, because Charles I's troops had come with artillery this time. So, after holding out for less than two days and being isolated and without support, the French Dahomey colonial government in Porto Novo raised the white flag and surrendered to Charles I.

With the fall of Porto Novo, French troops in other parts of the Dahomey colony also laid down their arms, such as the French troops in Cotonou.

This also means that the Habsburg Monarchy completely turned this area of ​​approximately 100,000 square kilometers into its own territory in just one week.

The war between the New Austrian Kingdom and Upper Wörth also went smoothly. However, because Upper Wörth was connected to other French colonies, the remaining French forces there continued to resist, hoping to wait for reinforcements to arrive.

(End of this chapter)