The changes in the East African Army are still relatively large compared to ten years ago, but the 1885 Wehrmacht steel helmet is more conspicuous, which suddenly raises the temperament of East African soldiers to a higher level, at least in Ernst's opinion, after all, there are a thousand Hamlets in the eyes of a thousand people, and there is no way for some people's aesthetics to be different from Ernst.

Aside from this helmet, there are other places worth mentioning, especially the Wehrmacht's clothing fabric quality and shoe materials have been greatly improved.

"The overall appearance of the military uniform has not changed much, but because of the technological progress of textile mills such as Nairobi and Mombasa, the use of new machines, and the expansion of East African cloth raw materials, we have more choices, such as the selection of socks is high-quality long-staple cotton from the Somali cotton producing area, which absorbs sweat and breathes, greatly improves the sense of experience, and the development of the leather industry in East Africa also provides sufficient raw materials for military boots."

When it comes to the raw materials of military boots, it is naturally based on leather, and the great development of animal husbandry in East Africa has provided a sufficient number of cowhides for East Africa, and other animal leathers in East Africa are also very rich, the most famous is the crocodile leather industry, but crocodile leather is mainly exported, and furthermore, East Africa is rich in rubber, so that the rubber sole of military boots can also be fully supplied.

In addition, the canvas desert boots supplied in the desert area are not small in East Africa, after all, East Africa itself is a high-quality hemp cotton production area, sisal, jute, and various varieties of cotton are cultivated.

"Military boots replace the previous cloth military shoes, which can better cope with bad road conditions, and at the same time are easier to clean and maintain, hygienic and clean, which is very suitable for use in wet and rainy areas."

Although East Africa has undergone major infrastructure construction and road conditions have been greatly improved, the construction of road surfaces in the past is still dominated by dirt roads and gravel roads.

And most of East Africa has a rainy season, so military boots can better adapt to muddy roads, of course, the disadvantage is also obvious, that is, easy to sweat, but this can not be avoided, even in the previous life, many military boots have a variety of drawbacks, there is no perfect existence.

"At present, the varieties of military boots are mainly divided into three categories, one is desert boots, the other is mountaineering boots, and finally the most widely used conventional military boots, because of the special reasons under the jurisdiction of our Guards Division, we basically do not equip the first two types of military boots."

The jurisdiction of the Guards Division is mainly in the eastern coastal plains, so there is no application scenario for the first two, while other military regions have to be selected according to the actual situation, for example, the Northern Military Region and the Southern Military Region have a large number of desert boots purchased, while the Northwest Military Region has mountaineering boots are very common.

"In addition to military boots, the Guards Division is also equipped with regular military shoes, which are mainly used in the dry season, because of the two rainy seasons in the east, so they are rotated twice a year, and they are also loafers for daily use, which are more popular when they do not need to train and go out on missions."

After all, long military boots are heavy, clumsy and stuffy, so they are not suitable for daily use, so they are popular with soldiers.

Ernst asked, "Isn't it still dry season?" How do you wear boots? ”

"Your Highness, as I said before, daily training is still based on conventional military boots, and the training intensity of our Guards Division is very high, and it is in a combat state at any time, so it is still dominated by conventional military boots during training."

After listening to Ledlis's explanation, Ernst was very satisfied, and he said: "This is the right thing to do, since you have joined the Wehrmacht, you must learn to endure hardships, after all, the battlefield environment is a hundred or a thousand times worse than reality, and the Guards Division, as an important part of the East African Army, should play a leading role." ”

There are still some differences between the Guards Division and the Defence Force, but they still belong to the Defence Force sequence, which is closely related to the national conditions of East Africa.

The East African Defence Force's mission is to defend national security, territorial integrity, and national security and interests, and this banner must be erected.

After all, East Africa is an absolute monarchy, and the fact that East Africa is now a "family of the world" should not be mistaken for the Wehrmacht as the army of the emperor of Europe.

If it becomes a war for the emperor or the king, how can the enthusiasm of the army be mobilized to defend the country and maintain the combat effectiveness of the East African army?

Therefore, the nominal attribution of the Guards Division to the Wehrmacht was a useful measure to cope with the changes in the international community in the 19th century.

As for loyalty to the royal family, there is no need to worry too much, after all, the king and the royal family themselves are part of the East African people.

Ernst continued: "Of course, as a country, we must not only rely on the contribution of soldiers, but also actively improve the living conditions of soldiers and improve the treatment of the army, which does not conflict with the mission of the Wehrmacht. ”

In fact, the improvement of the East African army's salary over the years is related to Ernst's suppression of army expansion, the army does not expand, but the East African army's funding is increasing, in this case, it is bound to spend more money on weapons and equipment.

Another point is that with the development of agriculture and industry, the price level in East Africa is also further reduced, and many items that need to be imported have been localized, which is typically reflected in the fact that the growth rate of exports is greater than the growth rate of imports.

The major items imported by East Africa are basically products that cannot be produced in the tropics, or are relatively lacking in East Africa, and the most typical is the import of East African medicines.

East African pharmaceutical exports mainly spread to other parts of neighboring Africa, but the number of imports is much greater than the number of exports, because many medicinal materials are produced in the Far Eastern Empire, and the popularity of traditional Chinese medicine in East Africa is relatively high.

At the same time, East Africa will also import a small amount of foreign fruits and vegetables, such as apples, a typical cold temperate crop, East Africa will not plant production, and wheat East Africa also imports, although East Africa itself is a large wheat producer, mainly in terms of quality can not be compared with the temperate zone, but this is for the current wheat producing areas in East Africa, in fact, the quality of wheat in the southern producing areas is still good, but the southern producing areas are in their infancy, and the output is limited.

However, these imported products are obviously not too many, at most they are to enrich the tables of the East African people, or the variety of goods.

Especially for fruits and vegetables, there are too many products that can be replaced in East Africa, after all, there are advantages in tropical areas with better rain and heat conditions than this aspect of cultivation, and East Africa also has the advantages of temperature difference and light.

Ernst then visited the daily drills of the Guards Division, and the training subjects were very similar to those of various countries, but now the training methods of the world's armies are based on Europe, and they are all learning from Europe, but in terms of implementation, the East African Guards Division performed well, which is the conclusion that Ernst came to through the overall mental outlook of the army.

In fact, the Guards Division is also the most vulnerable local unit to government supervision, and no one dares to take it lightly because of the security of the capital.

"Although the Guards Division is not on the border, the situation it faces is not much better than that of the south, because you are facing maritime threats at the same time, especially the cities of Dar es Salaam and Bagamoyo, these two important coastal cities in East Africa, Bagamoyo has a strong navy, and it may be a little better, and the city of Dar es Salaam cannot afford to be hit, one city of Dar es Salaam is more economically important than the three new ports of Hamburg, and the first town, Soga and other central provincial cities, are not far from the coastline, so the army must be on standby at all times, Mission must be achieved. Ernst emphasized.

(End of chapter)