"Benguela must be won, but with the lessons of the last East Portuguese War, I'm afraid Benguela will be more difficult to fight, so we can't just focus on Benguela one goal." Helmond analyzed.

Benguela was occupied by East Africa once, so the Portuguese must have a long memory, and this time against the Benguela defenders, there was no brother troops to cooperate, which was also a difficult point for the 421st Division.

As a mobile unit, the 421st Division is inferior to the conventional infantry division in terms of firepower, after all, there is a give-and-take, and a certain amount of firepower must be sacrificed for the sake of mobility.

Of course, in the long war in the province of Letania, the 421st Division has long become less pure, and in order to compete with the Portuguese army, the 421st Division has also adopted a lot of conventional infantry divisions.

Moreover, although the firepower of the East African cavalry division is insufficient compared to other conventional infantry divisions, it can still crush the Portuguese army.

Portugal's finances have made it impossible for them to provide the army with a large number of advanced weapons, while East Africa has been improving the army's firepower and weapon performance over the years with the development of the military industry, the cost has fallen, and the production has increased.

Of course, the more important thing is whether to fight "locally", and this premise, if East Africa is not next to Angola and Mozambique, but Portugal itself, then the situation of the war may be very different.

Although Portugal itself is in great decline, it is not too weak in Europe as a whole, especially the local military industry and East Africa should have the strength to fight.

However, Portugal's domestic military industry is certainly inferior to that of East Africa, because its military and civilian industries are affected by the military industries of external countries, just like many of Portugal's army equipment is imported from Germany and France, while naval equipment is mainly imported from Britain.

In this case, the development of the Portuguese military industry was inevitably hindered, and the military industry in East Africa was developed systematically, which was certainly not as systematic as in East Africa.

And Angola and Mozambique obviously cannot be compared with Portugal itself, even if Portugal itself, East Africa is not afraid, let alone two colonies.

And this may also be where the Portuguese have the confidence, fighting in the colony is very different from the mainland, for example, if Spain invades Portugal, it will definitely trigger a national protest in Portugal.

As for the colonies, Portugal is not afraid of war, but it is not too concerned about it, and what war is most afraid of is that it will cause heavy damage to the development of the country, especially the core areas.

Just like the ancient nomads went south at every turn and continued to bleed the Far Eastern Empire, but the Far Eastern Empire did not have a very good way to deal with the steppe.

East Africa also had this concern before the war, so it adopted a conservative approach, first stabilizing the front, and the overall strategy was to avoid the central industrial provinces from being affected by the war.

After all, East Africa's opponents have almost no industry in the region, and there is no shortage of plantations in East Africa, and there is no shortage of blacks in East Africa.

Once the opponent enters the central region, it will destroy the industry of East Africa, which is too cost-effective, so the early East African strategy was very conservative, completely using defense to consume the enemy's offensive momentum.

However, now that the offensive and defensive forces have changed, East Africa has entered the counteroffensive phase, and the enemy has begun to be overwhelmed and exhausted.

Helmond said: "Benguela we are going to eat, and Luanda is also our target, although Luanda is six or seven hundred kilometers away from our army. However, as long as we are fast enough, it is still possible to reach Luanda before the 331st Division, and even if we can't win Luanda in a short time, the 331st Division will not be able to share our achievements. ”

"Division commander, in this way, our task is heavy, especially the logistics problem, although the long-distance attack can be achieved, but it is easy to cut off our logistics."

Helmond: "Luanda and Benguela are the best places in the Portuguese Angolan colony, and there are many plantations scattered around them, and although the Portuguese are not keen on growing food crops, they must have a certain amount of food reserves, and that is enough for us. ”

"Of course, if the war can end quickly, we may not have to wait for the logistical crisis to break out, and there will definitely be no shortage of food in Benguela and Luanda."

In Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa, where conditions are slightly better, famine is unlikely at all.

Especially in areas like Angola and Mozambique, which are very underdeveloped, there are many wild plants that can be eaten as long as they are selected.

Moreover, the most abundant wildlife resources in Africa have been greatly reduced due to overexploitation in many parts of East Africa.

This was not the case with the Portuguese, so even in the event of a food crisis, the East African army could temporarily solve the problem by slaughtering animals.

After all, the East African army is not holding a burning stick, but a rifle, which is completely dimensionally reducing for African wildlife, and any lions, hippos, zebras, and wildebeest can be used to satisfy hunger.

Although many East Africans have shunned it because of the daily propaganda in East Africa, some can be compromised in the event of war.

In addition, the large number of plantations built by the Portuguese in Angola can also contribute to the supply of goods in East Africa, and the Portuguese have built large plantations in Angola.

The size of such plantations was often thousands of acres, and the small ones were hundreds and tens, and although there were few Portuguese people, the blacks on these plantations were all required to eat.

So in case of an emergency, these black people's rations can also cope with things, of course, if the Portuguese are vulnerable to what Helmond said, then naturally there will be no food crisis.

Of course, this situation is a small probability event, and the Portuguese must have put a lot of effort into the operation of Luanda and Benguela, which is a fortress city like Maputo, so it does take some effort to attack the two cities head-on.

Both the 331st and 421st Divisions wanted to become fat in one go, combining their own advantages and plotting against Luanda, the capital of the Portuguese colony.

The advantage of the 331st Division is its proximity, while the advantage of the 421st Division is its speed, but the most important thing for the 421st Division is the city of Benguela.

If the city of Benguela is successfully captured, it is equivalent to eating a subsistence, and the exploits of the 421st Division in this war are indispensable, and if the city of Luanda can be captured, it will be a complete surprise.

In fact, in addition to the 331st Division and the 421st Division, other fraternal units also have ideas about Luanda, such as the 414th Division, which is now fighting the main Portuguese force, although it is now delayed in the east, but it is also imperative for Luanda.

Although the 414th Division did not have the advantage of the 331st and 421st Divisions, if it had time, it might be able to join the siege of "Luanda" halfway.

Now it is not the Portuguese army that is delaying the 414th Division, but the complex terrain of the Danube Province, coupled with the large number of troops around the 414th Division, it is completely possible to share part of the task of encircling and suppressing the Portuguese to friendly forces, and then advance in the direction of Luanda by itself.

With the exception of a few veteran main combat units, the rest of the East African armies had similar ideas, and even if they could not all of them, it would be possible to send small forces to break through to the rear of the Portuguese.

All in all, everyone must want to be the first to enter Luanda, quite a feeling of the "chicken contest" in Berlin in the previous World War II.

(End of chapter)