African Nationhood

The quagmire of the Anglo-Boer War was getting bigger and bigger, and hundreds of thousands of troops were unable to open up the situation on the South African battlefield.

Lieutenant General Methuen's strategy of "fighting wherever there is trouble" was played around by the Boers who were good at mobile guerrilla warfare.

In addition, in March, there was a typhoid fever epidemic in the British army, and the number of soldiers was very serious.

By the end of November, the number of British soldier casualties had exceeded 11, and Major General John French was captured. This poor answer was not worthy of the cabinet's trust.

The pressure on the London cabinet wore away its last patience, so Lieutenant General Methuen was dismissed, and General Buller once again took up his post with honor.

The reason why General Buller was able to gain trust again was that he once again proved himself.

His "Steady Flow" finally achieved success and had completely stabilized the decline on the Eastern Front, and the British army gained a firm foothold.

……

And gold always shines. After the commander was captured, Douglas Haig took the initiative to assume the responsibility and became the new cavalry commander.

His tactical style was sharp and cold, and he led the cavalry troops to come and go like the wind.

They brutally destroyed the Boer farms they encountered along the way and began to hunt and kill Boer civilians.

This strategy effectively curbed the Boers' attack momentum, and also allowed the Boers to begin to evaluate the dangers of this destructive tactics.

The Boer high command had to decide to evacuate the Boer civilians on the front line to the rear.

If the war situation worsens, they will allow Boer civilians to take refuge in Southwest Africa.

Douglas Haig's "brutal sweep" tactics aroused strong protests from the Boers, which caused greater controversy in his reputation in Europe. Lieutenant General Methuen criticized him many times for this.

But he still insisted on himself and ignored Lieutenant General Methuen who was like a good old man.

……

After several months of fighting against the Boers, General Buller figured out the weaknesses of the Boers. The Boers lacked heavy artillery and were not good at fighting large battles.

These regular army generals are the best at this method of warfare. General Buller himself highly recommends cluster operations and the tactics of joint advancement of multiple arms.

Therefore, in his reply to the cabinet, he asked the cabinet to give him enough time so that he could force the Boers to engage in a decisive battle.

The Prime Minister of the Cabinet, the Marquess of Salisbury, was an elegant and stubborn gentleman who trusted his men very much.

Since he selected General Buller to take up the post again, he felt that he should give absolute trust to the generals.

So he made the decision and agreed to General Buller's request, but asked that the Boer's trouble be solved as quickly as possible.

The members of the House of Commons almost quarreled with him. Not only did he have to debate with his political opponents in the House of Commons, he also had to deal with cynicism in the media and banter from the Germans.

Over the past year, German media have frequently published cartoons that insult Britain, and the British Empire has almost become a joke throughout Europe.

Naturally, the French, Britain's feud, would not miss this good opportunity. When it comes to mocking Britain, these French noobs are almost as good as wearing the same pants as the Germans.

……

Admiral Buller formulated a detailed battle plan. He decided to launch an offensive in the early morning of January 1901, 1, and hold a major battle in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Orange Free State.

On the eastern front, Ladysmith remained stationary. Lieutenant General George White and Lieutenant General French stayed on the eastern front, and then after the decisive day arrived, they circled back to Bloemfontein to launch an attack.

He wanted to pile up his multi-service groups to the Orange Free State side of the center line and steadily advance to squeeze the Boers' space for movement.

I have to say that people who can become generals usually have good military qualities, and their vision is also very unique.

Although months late, he finally noticed that the Orange Free State in the center was a weak point in the Boer defense.

The Western Front wanted to pass through the Nanhua Company's defense area and jointly send troops to occupy the town of Kimberley held by the Boers.

And before the date of the battle, the participating Boer guerrillas on the western front were cleared. The main force advanced along the railway line between Kimberley Town and Bloemfontein to directly participate in the battle.

So he negotiated with Shi Jintang and wanted to send a 50,000-strong British army into Southwest Africa, cross the Orange River from the ferry in the Orange Grove area, and attack the town of Kimberley where the Boers were stationed.

This move was sternly rejected by Shi Jintang. The core area asked you to send troops in. Are you kidding me?

Admiral Buller did not give up. He directly promised Boss Shi that if the strategic goal was achieved, he could give Nanhua Company 200 million pounds in military expenses.

Shi Jintang ignored him at all and directly told General Buller: You have the guts to send troops here!

General Buller couldn't make sense with Shi Jintang, so he wanted to put pressure on Shi Jintang through the cabinet.

Joseph Chamberlain, the colonial secretary in the cabinet, sent a telegram to Shi Jintang asking for the reason.

Shi Jintang simply ignored Minister Chamberlain's telegram and kept saying the same thing: If you have the guts, let him send troops!

Minister Chamberlain had no choice but to ask Shi Jintang his thoughts, and at the same time sternly warned him that he must assist General Buller in completing this strategic goal.

After Shi Jintang thought about it for a while, he put forward conditions to the cabinet.

"Nanhua Company can accomplish General Buller's strategic goals independently, but the military expenditure must be sufficient."

Minister Chamberlain had no choice but to ask Boss Shi how much he wanted this time.

Shi Jintang directly responded with 200 million pounds, and could give 100 million pounds first, and then give the balance after reaching the goal.

Minister Chamberlain was so angry that his teeth were itching, but he really didn't dare to anger the Nanhua Company at this time, otherwise the decline of the Western Front would really be over as soon as they gave up their provocation.

They had to agree to make an initial payment of 100 million pounds. After receiving the money, Shi Jintang immediately contacted the Boer headquarters, told the British plan in full, and hoped that the Boers could cooperate with the Nanhua Company to regain Kimberley Town.

After consideration, the Boer High Command agreed.

However, they expressed that they were in urgent need of artillery shells and hoped that Nanhua Company could transfer the supplies as soon as possible.

The Boers were not stupid either. After checking accounts with the Germans, they discovered the deductions committed by Nanhua Company. Boss Shi immediately said that this was nothing.

That night, a batch of artillery shells was delivered from Mafeking (now the town of Mefogen, South Africa).

……

Shi Jintang defeated the Boers and then informed General Buller that Nanhua Company would attack the Boer troops as agreed.

General Buller sent the unemployed Lieutenant General Methuen to lead a team to Nanhua Company to supervise the war.

Shi Jintang informed the Boer headquarters about this situation, and then the two sides discussed how to fight the "tacit understanding battle".

……

On December 12, Ma Fuking's Nanhua Company garrison sent a regiment along the Orange River to the Fourteenth Creek Ferry.

On December 12, the remaining two brigades of Nanhua Company's Orange Grove Garrison Division took advantage of the darkness to cross the Orange River from the 11th Ferry between East and West Griqualand, and joined forces with the defenders who had arrived earlier to head towards Kimberley. Go to town.

In the early morning of December 12, Nanhua Company set up its position and began to attack the city.

The battle between the two sides was very realistic. The 12 artillery pieces obtained by the Nanhua Company from the British opened fire in unison, with deadly force, but the accuracy was just a little bit off.

After all, Nanhua Company does not have artillery, so it is understandable for novices who are just starting to practice.

Lieutenant General Methuen shook his head when he saw the low quality of the soldiers of South China Company, but he could not influence General Buller's decision.

The Boers coerced a large number of black people to serve as defenders, and many of them were killed by the South China Company's artillery shells.

After one day of fighting, both sides stopped and rested.

In the evening, Ye Shilong took Lieutenant General Methuen and drank heavily in the military camp.

The supervising team who followed them were also persuaded to drink a lot of wine. The drunken Ye Shilong could not be supported. Lieutenant General Methuen and others were also helped to rest.

The supervising team, who were sleeping soundly in the middle of the night, were awakened by the sound of gunfire, and then saw the Boers bursting into their camp with guns in hand.

……

In this battle, all members of the supervising team died in the battle, and the leader of the Nanhua Company, Ye Shilong, was also "seriously injured." A large number of Chinese soldiers died in the battle, and the number of soldiers was more than 1000.

The battle report reported to Cape Town mainly described that the supervising team headed by Lieutenant General Methuen came to the Nanhua Company barracks and bossed around and was extremely arrogant.

Not only did they criticize the war, but they also forced the general Ye Shilong to drink with them during dinner.

As a result, when the Boers attacked the camp, Nanhua Company rushed to meet the enemy and suffered heavy losses, and all members of the supervisory team died.

……

In order to avenge the soldiers who died in the battle, Ye Shilong, the leader of the expedition force, went into battle even though he was injured, and commanded the soldiers to launch a violent bombardment of Kimberley's city defenses.

After two days of hard work, Nanhua Company finally "conquered" the important town of Kimberley and completed the military goals set by General Buller.

In order to avenge their dead comrades, the Nanhua Company's troops massacred the city directly.

To avoid the plague, the dead bodies were piled together and burned to ashes.

The bodies of Lieutenant General Methuen and other supervising troops were sent back to Cape Town by train.

Admiral Buller was full of doubts about this battle report. Lieutenant General Methuen was a good old man. How could he bully the friendly army's general?

Moreover, the bodies of more than a thousand Boers claimed by Nanhua Company were not seen. He thought there might be something fishy here.

Therefore, he decided to suspend the previously formulated battle plan and let the cabinet send an investigation team to thoroughly investigate the matter.

But before he could communicate with the cabinet, bad news came from the Eastern Front: Ladysmith had fallen again.

I learned from Shi Jintang that Admiral Buller had gathered all the heavy troops on the center line. It would take time for reinforcements from the eastern front to reach Ladysmith. Ladysmith must be very empty at this time.

So the Boers gathered heavy troops and artillery to attack Ladysmith from both directions, the Zulu Kingdom and the Orange Free State.

Ladysmith was lost and Lieutenant General George White and Lieutenant General French were captured.

The disastrous defeat in the South African battlefield directly made the London cabinet the target of public criticism. The public's anger could no longer be suppressed, and the calls for the cabinet to step down became louder and louder than ever.

The frail Queen Victoria endured the pain and summoned the equally elderly Marquis of Salisbury to the Isle of Wight to ask for his opinion.

The old prime minister looked withered and ashamed, and admitted his failure with difficulty.

So the Marquis of Salisbury announced his resignation, and the war in South Africa was temporarily frozen until a new cabinet was formed.

Admiral Buller had just been on the job for less than a month, and he was unemployed again. (End of chapter)