Province of South Prussia.

Neri City is a town in the southwest of Kenya in the past life, the capital of the Central Province of Kenya, and a regional distribution center for coffee, tea, sisal, cereals, and livestock products.

The largest military horse farm in East Africa is built on the vast grasslands 35 kilometers southeast of the city of Neri, and has more than 30,000 horses.

Herman, the head of the Neri Military Horse Farm, receives personnel from the East African military.

Major General Mars: "According to the government's order, two new cavalry divisions will be formed on the spot, and we will start military training here for half a year. ”

South Prussia Province is located on the northern edge of the suddenly uplifted East African Plateau, with Nairobi as the provincial capital, and Kisumu is a prosperous city on the shore of the Great Lake (Lake Victoria), the province's economy is also very developed in the whole East Africa, and the Eastern Province (provincial capital Mombasa) in the east jointly forms the core of the northern industrial belt.

Horses selected from the northern pastures could be trained in the nearby highlands, and the highland climate was still somewhat different from the plains, so South Prussia was an excellent training ground for the East African cavalry.

In fact, South Prussia also has its own highland military horse farm, but South Prussia has a more developed plantation industry, so it is not well-known.

The tropical plateau terrain of South Prussia Province is very suitable for the breeding of military horses, and the temperature here is maintained at about ten degrees all year round, which is relatively cool, and it is a favorite environment for war horses.

Just like in the past, Kenya has the best marathon training ground in the world, and I don't know if this environment has any effect on the horses, but the conditions of the Neri Military Horse Farm are much better than the northern pastures.

"The two newly established divisions are assigned to the Northern Military Region, the new numbers are the 221st Division and the 222nd Division, which are a new type of mobile unit formed in imitation of the mounted infantry formed by the European dragoons and combined with the mobility of the cavalry in accordance with the infantry training method."

In fact, the 221st and 222nd Divisions are the "dragoons" of Europe, and generally speaking, the infantry on horseback.

There were four cavalry divisions in East Africa, three in the Eastern Military Region, one in the Western Military Region, and separate cavalry brigades in the Guards Division, which was actually no different from a cavalry division in the general sense, so before 1887, there were actually five cavalry divisions in East Africa.

The previous East African cavalry still belonged to the category of traditional cavalry, but this time the 221st and 222nd divisions belonged to motorized infantry, and there was a fundamental difference between the two.

Prior to this, the meaning of the existence of the East African Cavalry Division was to deal with the natives in the era of cold weapons, and now the enemy in East Africa has changed from cold weapons to a modern army with hot weapons, so the East African military must also make adjustments.

There is also a big difference in weaponry between the two, most notably the East African dragoons are equipped with sapper shovels, which can be used to build fortifications when they break through to a strategic location and go on defense.

The pickaxe is a traditional tool of European dragoons, which originated in ancient Rome and is still the mainstream in Europe, which attaches more importance to tradition.

The sapper shovel was taken seriously in 1869, when the Dane Mads Linaman invented an ordnance shovel and then used it on a large scale in the Russian army.

Influenced by previous lives, the East African engineer shovel design was quite "bold", and various "improvements" were made to suit the needs of different troops according to the needs of the army.

The new battlefield environment requires each soldier to carry trench digging tools with them, so that they can quickly build cover to save their lives. However, this new way of fighting still requires a process of adaptation, and resistance to trenching is particularly strong in those armies with long traditions.

However, the East African Defense Force does not have this "conservative" concept, as a new army formed from the "bottom", and at the same time actively absorbs the pragmatism of the Prussian Army, so East Africa also pays attention to practicality and convenience in weapons and equipment.

Herman: "General rest assured, we will definitely cooperate with your work, but we can only provide training venues, and the relevant infrastructure is not perfect, especially to provide the living and training facilities of two divisions at one time, which is very difficult for us." ”

"You don't have to worry about this, we have the manpower to solve these things by ourselves, but we need the cooperation and guidance of the people in the racecourse, otherwise it will be a mess here, and you will not be able to explain it." Maj. Gen. Mars said.

Major General Mars led more than 8,000 recruits, who served as the main force of the labor force, and 2,000 veterans, who were drawn from the 123rd Division and the Guards Division, who would become the skeleton of the two new cavalry divisions and lead these recruits to grow rapidly.

With the cooperation of the Neri Military Horse Farm and the Neri Municipal Government, it took only one week to basically solve the housing problem, because the northern part of Neri City is a forest area, so it is convenient to obtain local materials, and at the same time, through the Northern Railway, other lacking materials and equipment can be supplemented.

The "domestication" of these recruits also began.

Major General Mars: "With the development of military science and technology, the improvement of rifle performance, and the vigorous development of machine guns and artillery, in fact, the role of traditional cavalry is being greatly weakened. ”

"Although the dragoon is different from the cavalry in the traditional sense, its role in the European battlefield is becoming more and more prominent and more suitable for the development of the times, which is an important reason why the five cavalry units in the middle are not built according to the European cavalry standards."

After all, the previous opponents in East Africa, except for the Transvaals, the East African Defense Forces had not seen any other cavalry units, in fact, the cavalry of the Boers was not regular, and the Zulus they faced were also strong infantry.

"So don't think that dragoons are inferior to traditional cavalry, at least not in East Africa, and of course, you should take care of your horses and pay attention to hygiene, just like traditional cavalry troops.

War horses are your partners, partners in life and death, horse management should be strictly implemented in accordance with the regulations and procedures, clean the stables on time every day, fill the grass and water troughs, and maintain the saddles regularly to ensure that the storage room is dry and ventilated, and the places where the horses live should be kept clean and hygienic to prevent the spread of diseases. Horse manure should be cleaned up in time to ensure the cleanliness and hygiene of the horse farm. ”

In Europe, the status of dragoons varies from country to country, but in mainstream European countries such as Germany and France, dragoons are not as important as cuirassiers, lancers, hussars, etc.

The status of the British dragoons has been greatly improved, and it is the category of heavy cavalry, but it is easy to understand that Britain is an island country and different from the European continent, and the Swedish dragoons are also relatively special, and the Swedish dragoons are used in practice according to the tactical use of light cavalry and musketeers.

In general, dragoons are in an awkward state, similar to when paratroopers and marines were first formed.

However, at the end of the 19th century, dragoons finally began to be valued and vigorously developed, and this situation continued until after the First World War.

However, the development of cavalry belongs to the "sunset afterglow", in the future, with the development of vehicle technology, there are various weapons and tactics to restrain cavalry, etc., which are no longer needed by the times, but this is not a problem considered by countries in the current era, such as the East African Defense Force, but it is impossible to replace horses with cars, but it is impossible to achieve it from the current technology, quality and output.

(End of chapter)