All of this is understandable, given that sea power and land power countries have different priorities, and it is clear that East Africa is now placing much more emphasis on the army than on the navy.

Although the number of non-reserve armies in the East was not as large as that of the European army powers, it was not comparable to the reserves that Britain had temporarily recruited from within the country.

The British standing army has only a few hundred thousand, and the mainland and India account for the vast majority, and the standing army must not be put into the South African battlefield in large quantities, after all, it is necessary to be vigilant at any time for changes in the situation in Europe or to ensure the security of various colonies.

Therefore, the British army under Earl Roberts was not elite at all, and most of them were reservists or temporary conscripts from the country.

Although East Africa has also temporarily added about 100,000 reservists to serve in the army, many of the reservists in East Africa have military experience, although they have not fought any major battles, but they have not experienced a lot at all, and even some recruits have undergone long-term military training, which is embodied in the compulsory education system in East Africa.

……

Zambezi River Defence.

It did not take much effort to break through the Zambezi River in East Africa, because the number of coalition forces on the other side of the Zambezi River was very small and simply not enough to support the confrontation against the East African Army.

"At present, our army has a total of four divisions moving south, including the newly formed 221st Division, which is subordinate to the Northern Military Region, and the other three divisions are subordinate to the Eastern Military Region, including the 111th Division stationed in the Lake Malawi Industrial Zone, the 112th Division of the former Zambezi River Defense Line, and the 122nd Cavalry Division of Dodoma." Rosenwell, commander of the 112th Division, said.

The 112th Division was initially the main force in East Africa to establish the defense line on the Rufuma River, and later, after the First Portuguese War, the border between East Africa and the Portuguese colony of Mozambique advanced south to the line of the Zambezi River, so the 112th Division was also stationed south.

So this military operation against Mozambique was mainly presided over by the 112th Division, an old opponent of the Portuguese.

Douglas, commander of the 111th Division, said: "In fact, cavalry is not suitable for fighting in southern Mozambique, it is the rainy season in Mozambique at this time, although Mozambique has a large number of plains, but it is divided by rivers and forests, so cavalry is not as flexible as infantry." ”

Originally, the 221st Division and the 122nd Division, two cavalry divisions were ready to support the central battlefield, but the central battlefield is now in a stalemate, so the General Staff sent the two cavalry divisions to the north.

And you don't take the road conditions in East Africa to speculate on the road conditions in Mozambique, if you are stationed on the border between East Africa and Mozambique all the year round, you know that the road conditions in Mozambique are simply a piece of "", although this road condition is very unfavorable for the cavalry, but the infantry should not think about it, but the ships are very suitable as a means of passage. Rosenwell said.

"There are also many tributaries of the Zambezi River downstream, but we don't have enough boats, so even if we break through the Zambezi River defense line, it will be difficult to march in the area, these Portuguese are simply lazy, and they don't know how many roads to build for hundreds of years, even if they are the simplest dirt roads, it won't bother us."

The biggest obstacle hindering the East African Army from moving south is the road conditions in Mozambique, in fact, when there was no major infrastructure in East Africa, the road conditions were not necessarily very good.

However, East Africa is dominated by grasslands, and although Mozambique also has a savanna climate, the rainfall and vegetation are much stronger than in the East African highlands, and there are correspondingly more rivers.

Therefore, after the East African Defense Forces entered Mozambique, they clearly felt the pain of the German army entering the territory of the Soviet Union in the previous life, and this poor traffic environment relieved the pressure on Count Roberts to a certain extent.

Of course, this cannot be a reason for the stagnation of the East African Defense Forces, in fact, the German army also faced the problem of poor road conditions in the previous life, but the pace of their advance in the early stage was not slow at all.

"Our army should reach the line of the Ponwe River in Mozambique within a week, and at the moment the main force of the Mozambican coalition is mainly pinned down in the west, so it is a good time for us to move south." Rosenwell said.

Douglas: "If you want to completely annihilate the Mozambican army that blocked us before, you should push this time forward for a day or two, I think a daily march of 40 kilometers per day should be a more appropriate progress, the Zambezi River is about 200 kilometers away from the Ponwe River, so more than 30 kilometers a day is too slow, I am afraid that the enemy will run back to Antonio by then!" ”

Rosenwell once again advanced the time and said: "The Mozambican army is more familiar with the terrain than us, so we may have more delays on the road, so without affecting the combat effectiveness, it is best for us to control the line of the Pongwe River in four days, and after controlling the north bank of the Pongwe River, we can cut off the connection between the Portuguese and the north of the Pungwe River, realize the capture of turtles in the urn, and at the same time we can rest on the north bank of the Pungwe River." ”

"This is basically the limit of the general army's march, but it is only for the infantry that can indeed be considered in this way, and the more important thing is the whereabouts of our two cavalry divisions, and the cavalry divisions should play a greater role."

"So this time the 122nd Cavalry Division should play a role, their rapid mobility, maybe they can intercept the enemy in advance, and they can eliminate the risk in advance."

The reason why the 122nd Division was chosen as the vanguard was also deliberate, the 122nd Division is a veteran cavalry unit in East Africa, which has participated in many battles and has rich combat experience.

And this war is operating within the enemy's territory, and the East African Defense Forces lack knowledge of Mozambique, in fact, let alone East Africa, I am afraid that the Portuguese are not very familiar with the Mozambican colony.

In this case, the 122nd Division, an older unit with more experience, can deal with dangers in Mozambique more calmly, while the 221st Division of the Northern Military Region lacks relevant background.

In fact, the task of the 221st Division in Mozambique this time is to respond to the Eastern Military Region, not to undertake the main combat mission, after all, the 221st Division has been established for too short a time, and it must first run in on the battlefield for a period of time, like the 222nd Division, which was formed later in time, is still training in the Northern Military Region, and does not even have the opportunity to contact the battlefield.

After drawing up the battle plan, the East African Army demonstrated to the enemy for the first time the speed of a large-scale strategic march in East Africa, with the strength of four divisions rapidly advancing towards the rear of Mozambique.

The 122nd Division, as the vanguard, bit the Portuguese blocking force that had previously withdrawn from the south bank of the Zambezi River the next day, and inflicted heavy damage on it, and then the 2nd Brigade of the 112th Division joined the battle and completely annihilated the main force of the Portuguese army, only a small number of Portuguese troops fled.

But no matter how fast they ran, they could not match the four-legged horses, and the 122nd Division, which had completed the combat mission, reached the line of the Pengwe River in only two days and blockaded along the Penggui River.

Later, other East African troops began to hide and seek with the Portuguese army north of the Ponwe River, and these Portuguese remnants, even if they wanted to fight East Africa, were powerless, and more Portuguese troops voluntarily surrendered to East Africa.

By the end of June 1888, the 20,000 Portuguese troops (including blacks) on the north bank of the Ponqua River had been completely wiped out in East Africa.

These missing people are basically difficult to find, most of them are black people who took the opportunity to leave Portugal, and Mozambique is vast and sparsely populated, and it is impossible for East Africa to go deep into various places to search carefully, so we can only wait for the end of the war and the future development of Mozambique to find out these hidden people.

(End of chapter)