African Nationhood

(Thanks to book friend Hua Xiaoyun for the tip, thank you puppet!)

When the Boers issued an ultimatum on October 10, Nanhua Company immediately transferred back all employees of Nanhua Company who were on the front line of the war.

Due to the strategic location of Mafeking (now the town of Mefogen, South Africa), the Orange Grove Garrison Division confirmed the order with the military headquarters and directly handed over the defense here to the British who had been waiting here for a long time.

British Colonel Robert Stevenson Smith Baden-Powell led 1213 British troops to take over the defense of Mafeking. As a result, the South China Company directly withdrew from the forefront of the war.

On October 10, Shi Jintang ordered all places to sound the alarm.

The alarm bells rang, marking the formal implementation of the Wartime Management Regulations in Southwest Africa.

……

The South China Company's reconciliation with the British caught the Boers off guard, but the South China Company did not declare war on the Boers immediately.

The top Boers understood this quite well, but did not relax their vigilance.

The Boer commander-in-chief Piet Joubert ordered General Delray, known as the "Lion of the Western Transvaal", to lead the Western Allied Forces to Mafeking via the main railway line, intending to block the railway between the South China Company and the Cape Colony. Main line connection.

The Boer Western Route Alliance took the lead in attacking Mafeking in order to better receive the supplies previously ordered from Nanhua Company. Large quantities of food and bullets needed to be transported by rail.

At the same time, General Delray did not forget to send Louis Botha to lead an army into the diamond town of Kimberley. Cecil Rhodes was blocked and urgently asked for help from all parties.

The Anglo-Boer War officially begins!

……

The Eastern Route Army of the Boer Alliance, led by Commander-in-Chief Joubert, crossed the Draken Mountains from the East Orange River and attacked the Zulu Kingdom under the control of the Natal Colony.

The President of the Neway Republic, Lucas Meyer, also led soldiers to attack from the Neway Republic.

The blacks and a small number of whites in the Zulu Kingdom were unable to withstand the onslaught of the main force of the Boers. The Zulu Kingdom fell and a large number of blacks became servants of the Boers.

Then the Boer coalition attacked Ladysmith (place name), where the main force of the British army in Natal was located.

In the early morning of October 10, the pursuing cloth army fought on Mount Tarana with a group of British troops stationed here to defend Ladysmith's outer defense line.

The commander of the cloth army, Lucas Meyer, took advantage of the favorable terrain and the cover of morning fog to launch a surprise attack on the British army.

In this battle, the British army lost 465 people and the Cloth army lost 145 people.

……

The third Boer coalition crossed the Orange River and went south, absorbing a small group of Boer armed forces in the British Cape Colony, operating in the northeastern region of the Cape Colony, and threatening the East-West Cape Railway line.

The British army had to tightly defend the Orange River Railway Bridge to guard against the Boers' attempts to blow up the bridge.

De Aar, the most important railway junction and military supplies distribution center on the Western Cape railway line, was also harassed by the Boers.

Suddenly the Boer coalition forces were deployed in three directions, and the British were passive at every turn.

The arrival of "Black Week" in December has completely ruined the reputation of the British.

……

On October 1899, 10, Ladysmith's 30 British troops, under the command of Lieutenant General George White, launched a counterattack against the Boer Army and encountered the main force of the Eastern Route Army of the Boer Alliance commanded by Joubert in Nicholson Canyon.

The British army was defeated, losing 1272 people. The remaining troops returned to Ladysmith and were immediately surrounded by the Boer coalition.

Due to Ladysmith's tight defense, Joubert was unable to attack the city several times, so he sent a reconnaissance force deep into the British hinterland, as far as the Estcourt line, to scout for locations that could be used to fortify.

The rest of the main force camped and rested around Ladysmith, waiting for the arrival of the British Overseas Corps. At the end of October, 10 British troops led by General Redvers Buller, commander-in-chief of the British reinforcements (South African Expeditionary Force) and who had suppressed local uprisings in Ireland, finally arrived in Cape Town.

Beginning in mid-November, the British army commanded by Buller launched a counterattack against the cloth army on three fronts: eastern, central and western.

Lieutenant General Methuen lifted the siege of Kimberley on the western front, Lieutenant General French attacked the Orange Free State on the central line, and Admiral Buller led the main force to relieve the siege of Ladysmith on the eastern front.

In the early morning of December 12, General Buller launched an attack on the Boer coalition forces at Colenso, a small station southwest of Ladysmith, in an attempt to forcefully cross the Tugela River and head for Ladysmith.

The forces under Buller's command included the British 16000nd, th, th, and th brigades, totaling men.

In addition there were four regiments of hussars and three squadrons of lancers composed of colonial cavalry.

The artillery has 5 artillery batteries and 30 cannons. In addition, there are 16 naval 12-pounders and 4.7-inch guns. Including cavalry and artillery, Admiral Buller's total strength is 22000 people.

The Boer coalition troops that participated in the Battle of Colenso included militia groups from eight regions including Landfortress, Heidelberg, Krugersdorp, Freiheide, and Utrecht, as well as troops from the Orange Free State, There are also white police forces in Landfort City and Swaziland, totaling 3500 people.

此外布尔联军还有一门120毫米德制克虏伯榴弹炮，1门75毫米克虏伯野战炮，2门75毫米法制施耐德-克鲁索加农炮，1门37毫米马克沁速射炮（砰砰炮）。

Comparing the two, the British have an overall advantage.

But in such a comprehensively dominant battle situation, it was because of the British arrogance and rigidity that the British pride was completely destroyed.

General Buller became the sinner of history. It was he who caused the British soldiers to line up and charge with guns during the battle, directly giving the lives of the British soldiers to the Boer artillery.

The British army suffered a disastrous defeat in this battle, with 1139 killed, 250 missing, and 10 cannons lost. The Boer army only suffered 8 killed and 30 wounded.

During the same period of the Battle of Ladysmith, the British army also suffered defeats in the town of Kimberley on the western front and Stormberg on the central line, losing more than 2800 people. It was called a "dark week" in the history of the British Army.

Admiral Buller resigned as commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force due to the defeat in this battle.

……

Such a tragic battle loss ratio made the British shocked and numb, and at the same time they had to start to pay attention to the true combat power of the Boers.

At the same time, public opinion in London began to become more and more turbulent. Liberal politicians began to lash out at the Conservative cabinet for its incompetence and the selection of generals that brought shame to the British Empire.

European countries celebrated vigorously, criticized the shameless weakness of the British, praised the bravery and justice of the Boers, and firmly believed that the Boers would win the final victory and defeat the shameless invaders...

Suddenly, material discussions were raging, and the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, the Marquess of Salisbury, felt tremendous pressure.

The Marquis of Salisbury had no choice but to speak publicly, telling the people that the cabinet's policy towards the war was to "carry the war through to the end."

Then the Marquess of Salisbury held an emergency cabinet meeting in Whitehall to discuss how to clean up the mess in the South African war.

After discussion, the cabinet ministers present at the meeting decided to select Lord Roberts, Baron of Kandahar, as the commander-in-chief of the South African Expeditionary Force, replacing General Buller.

As for Colonel Horatio Herbert Kitchener, who was still unable to escape from the entanglement of the "Senussi Order", these two legendary generals in the "Second Boer War" could no longer work together.

……

At the same time, the South China Company received an order from the Cabinet Secretary for the Colonies, Joseph Chamberlain, ordering the South China Company to supply packhorses and food supplies to the South African Expeditionary Force.

Shi Jintang held the telegram from the cabinet in his hand, but what he was thinking about was how to help the Boers get rid of Lord Roberts. (End of chapter)