African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 735 Gurkha

While the port city of New Hamburg was actively preparing for war, Commander Wilson of the British Royal Navy in the Indian Ocean was helpless.

"The New Hamburg Port City is said to be a seaside city, but in fact it is still some distance away from the sea. If we really want to say that it is a lakeside city, there is only a narrow waterway less than a kilometer wide connecting the interior, and East Africans must have also arranged arrangements on both sides of the waterway. Without the fort, it is simply impossible to attack the city of New Hamburg from here."

"Not only that, the coastline around the New Hamburg Port in East Africa is too straight and has many reefs and shoals, which is not conducive to the passage of ships at all. This is similar to our Durban Port. It is difficult to attack this terrain from the sea." Adjutant added.

In fact, the British army cannot even approach the entrance to the narrow channel in New Hamburg Port. It is possible to send small ships to land in New Hamburg Port, but that would require a lot of ships and manpower, which the Cape Town Navy does not have. of.

“The navy of the New Hamburg Port City also avoided fighting. Wasn’t our trip in vain?”

The navy in the Port of New Hamburg only has five main battleships. Of course, it will not bite the bullet and fight the British. Now the navy is nestled in the internal waters of New Hamburg Bay (Richard Bay), and its defense work mainly relies on the artillery of the army.

The construction of the coastal defense artillery in the New Hamburg Port City is of the highest standard in the entire East Africa. It is composed of semi-bunkers made of reinforced concrete, mobile artillery, fixed forts and other coastal defense artillery systems. Naturally, the British are not just sending a few warships. It can be easily defeated, and it is not a British main battleship like the previous battle at Lamu Bay.

Of course, compared to the Navy of the New Hamburg City in East Africa, the British Cape Town Navy is still strong enough. After all, the New Hamburg City Navy is also equipped with two wooden sail warships. This kind of goods has long been out of date. .

 …

 Along the Tugela River.

 East Africa has deployed a large number of artillery, machine guns and other weapons along the Tugela River. The firepower density far exceeds the opponents encountered by the British in Southeast Asia and South Asia.

Therefore, although Natal has a large number of troops, its weapons advantage is not too great. Of course, even so, the number of British artillery in the Natal colony is about three times that of East Africa.

Although the British had an absolute advantage in terms of army numbers and firepower, the 9th Brigade of the 513th East African Division relying on the Tugela River for defense was not an easy bone to chew on.

 But now East Africa is on the defensive side, and its main purpose is to interfere with the British army's river crossing plan, so the conversion of firepower advantage is not significant.

It is worth mentioning that the current British army in the Natal colony is mainly composed of Indian soldiers. The main force of the British army has been transferred to Mozambique by the British commander-in-chief Earl Roberts. This also includes many heavy weapons that are also given priority to Mozambique.

East Africa is worried about the large number of British troops in the Natal colony, but the British have already begun to "swear".

"Reporting to the commander, our third river-crossing operation failed. The firepower in East Africa on the opposite side was too strong to achieve a breakthrough. Moreover, the water volume of the Tugela River was relatively large. Our army still lacked large-scale river-crossing ships. Each small-scale river crossing operation was simply impossible. success."

The number of East African troops has not increased significantly for so many years. A large amount of military expenditures have been used to upgrade weapons and equipment systems. Coupled with the improvement of East Africa's military industrial capabilities, this makes the weapons and equipment level of the East African National Defense Force not much worse than that of Europe.

 So the situation faced by the British was that it was the first time they encountered an army with the same level of weapons and equipment in the colonies.

"Pull all the artillery of our division, including the explosive ones of other Indian infantry divisions, to the river. We must suppress the firepower of the East Africans and provide fire support to the troops crossing the river."

"Also, a huge failure of the previous crossings was that the Indians disturbed the morale of the troops. This time, our people and the Gurkhas took the lead in crossing the river. If there are any more Indians who become deserters, they will be executed on the spot and their bodies thrown into Tugai. Pull the river!"

The British division commander Rossiter gritted his teeth and said that although East Africa is not weak, this is not the reason for his failure. After all, there is only one brigade on the opposite side, while Natal has one British division and three Indian divisions, several times more. Due to the enemy's firepower and military strength, they were unable to defeat the small East African Infantry Brigade, which simply brought shame to the empire. So Rost blamed this result on the Indian army, which was the cannon fodder for the charge. In Rost's view, it was the Indian soldiers' inherent lack of courage that led to the failure of the previous operations.

Of course, Rost's blame-shifting can be considered to be on the right point. The problem of the Indian servant army is indeed huge, as far as the most "excellent" third river crossing operation is concerned.

The Indian servant army collapsed before they had even crossed one-third of the river. This is unreasonable!

The average width of the Tugela River is only about 100 meters, and the narrowest places are only more than 20 meters. If you don't pay attention to this distance, the boat may pass by.

So the Indians' fighting will is too weak. Rost considered himself a person with a relatively peaceful personality, and was very angry at the Indians' performance.

Of course, the Indians did not acknowledge Rost's accusations, and several Indian officers blamed it on "East Africa's strong firepower."

 In fact, in terms of firepower, Rost's troops suppressed the East African artillery fire. Under this situation, the Indians' words were all "quibbles" in Rost's ears.

It's okay to use this excuse for the failure of the first river crossing, because Rost also didn't expect that the firepower of East Africa was not inferior to the European army. But for the second and third time he crossed the river, Rost increased the fire support to a considerable capacity. Basically suppress the army. After all, no matter how powerful the firepower is in East Africa, the opposite side is only equipped with a brigade.

With the issuance of Rost's order, the British and Gurkhas took the lead in crossing the river this time.

  The Gurkhas, also known as Gurkha mercenaries, can be said to be the most heroic and capable army in Britain in the 19th century. Their fighting will is more vigorous than that of the British army.

Moreover, Gurkha mercenaries are very loyal and the price is very low. Since most Gurkha soldiers are forced by life and have been soldiers for generations, the Gurkhas often say without concealment: "Being a soldier is just for money, not for money." Other purposes.”

 The British are naturally very satisfied with such an army, and it is also a favorable arm for the British to rule India.

The Gurkhas often suppressed Indian uprisings, so Rost used the Gorkhas to supervise the war, which was very consistent with the position of the Gurkhas. They often did this in India.

Of course, the main purpose this time was to use the Gurkha mercenaries’ fearless fighting spirit to break through the East Africans’ Tugela River defense line.

As long as they can seize the coastal position on the north bank of the Tugela River, even if it is a gap, Rost's goal will be achieved.

The fourth river-crossing operation was about to begin. In order to stimulate the enthusiasm of the Gurkhas, Rost specifically promised them large rewards, and the Gurkhas followed suit.

Everyone’s eyes were filled with blood, as if they wanted to tear the East Africans on the other side of the river into pieces. After all, poverty is the most terrifying thing for the Gurkhas. They sold their lives for pounds!

With the Gurkhas taking the lead, the "East African phobia" of the Indian servants seems to have been alleviated to a certain extent this time. The British soldiers are in better condition than the Indians, but their enthusiasm is obviously not as high as that of the Gurkhas. Compared to country bumpkins.

 (End of this chapter)