Although the Angolan colonial government has complained in various ways, if the colony is lost, everyone will definitely not be able to share the pot, including Portugal, which may also cause a new round of political turmoil.

The 331st and 421st Divisions, regardless of the current mood of the Angolan government, have begun to march rapidly in the direction of Luanda.

As for General Madrid's remark that the army will be able to return to the army, it may also be very difficult, because the East African army and the Portuguese army are already in chaos on the front line.

By this time, everyone was already in a mixed group, and even some East African troops advanced faster than the Portuguese army could escape.

This was the case with the newly formed 416th Division in East Africa, which had been formed for less than two months in total, but had performed very well on the battlefield in Angola.

On the first battlefield, one or two Portuguese brigades were routed, and then the 416th Division fell into a race against time with the Portuguese army to pursue and escape.

Major General Kapucci, commander of the 416th Division, was originally a brigade commander under the 112th Division of the Eastern Military Region of East Africa, but in this expansion, he was promoted to the commander of the newly built 416th Division.

Kapucci asked Hans, the chief officer, "How is the movement of our army now?" ”

"The 2nd Brigade advanced too quickly, and according to the news they sent back yesterday, the vanguard of the 2nd Brigade has now reached the area of Mutunbo, while the 1st Brigade is still engaged in an exchange of fire with the enemy on the east bank of the Kwanza River, a black servant unit of the Portuguese army, and because it did not cross the river in time, it was besieged by our troops on the east bank of the Kwanza River."

The Kwanza River is a north-south river, and most of the rivers in Africa are naturally unexplored and pristine channels, so they are very meandering, and there are many lakes and forests around it.

So even the natives of Angola, this Portuguese army in a panic, also deviated, according to their intentions, should have withdrawn to the northwest, but ran to the southwest, and then collided with the first brigade of the 416th division that met at the head, and then the first brigade seized the opportunity to prepare to annihilate this enemy army.

So much so that it slowed down the march of the 416th Division, of course, this unexpected situation was unavoidable, and most of the Portuguese troops still managed to escape.

The only choice faced by this unfortunate Portuguese force like the one encountered by the 1st Brigade was to be annihilated, or to surrender to East Africa.

"Let the first brigade speed up, if the time is too slow, I'm afraid I won't even be able to drink the soup." Capucci said.

Hans: "I think the 1st Brigade is almost annihilating the Portuguese army, after all, the battle report was seven hours ago. ”

And as Hans said, the 1st Brigade had completely annihilated this Portuguese army more than an hour earlier, but the news had not yet reached the division headquarters, mainly because the facilities in Angola were too backward.

There were no telegraphs, no decent roads, and the jungle near the Kwanza River meant that it took a brigade a lot of time to clean up the battlefield.

And this is not the most troublesome, the total number of enemies captured by the brigade is more than 1,700 people, and the detention of this group of prisoners is also a big problem, this kind of matter can only be left to the follow-up troops to solve.

In addition to the regular army, a number of militias have also been organized in East Africa, that is, people who have been evacuated from the Danube provinces before.

If nothing else, it is likely that these captives will be handed over to them, and the militia will also take care of the supply and transportation of supplies for the East African army.

Angola is too backward, so the main mode of transportation is still manpower and animal power, fortunately there are enough livestock in East Africa, but it also needs to be dispatched.

The provinces of Hohenzollern and Swabia were responsible for supplies in the west, while the provinces of Matabele were responsible for supplies in the east.

Of course, supplies from the east and north are also transported to the three central provinces by rail lines, mainly food and equipment.

……

August 24, 1888.

"Benguela is ahead, it seems that the Portuguese are now very short of troops, and we have basically not encountered any troops along the way." The commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 421st Division said.

As a cavalry unit, the 421st Division marched very fast and reached the outskirts of Benguela in only a few days.

The 421st Division did not encounter any Portuguese troops along the way, only a small force, and the reason for this result was that the Portuguese had already withdrawn all their troops to the city of Benguela.

The Portuguese troops in southern Angola were already small, and the 421st Division could not be gnawed at the beginning, or it was difficult to gnaw, plus southwest Africa, which had little value to the south.

Therefore, the center of gravity of the Portuguese army was not placed in the south, and although Benguela was an important city after Luanda, it did not have much troops.

After learning about Luanda, the military commander of the city of Benguela decisively abandoned the south of Angola and withdrew his forces back to the city of Benguela.

The small force encountered by the 2nd Brigade of the 421st Division along the way was actually the Portuguese army that did not come and withdrew to Benguela.

At present, the 421st Division, like the 331st Division, is divided into two routes, the destination of the 2nd Brigade of the 421st Division is Benguela, and the other units are headed in the direction of Luanda under the leadership of the division commander Helmond.

In other words, the next war against Benguela will be completely responsible for the Second Brigade, which is indeed bad news, after all, the total strength of the Second Brigade is less than 4,000 people.

Of course, as a cavalry, the number of people is relatively small, so it is very difficult for the 2nd Brigade to solve the city of Benguela on its own.

At present, the Benguela garrison has more than 14,000 men, which is almost 70% of the strength of southern Angola before the war.

"Brigade commander, Benguela's city defense, we have already inspected it, the defenders of Benguela City are very well prepared, there are basically no loopholes, I am afraid this battle will not be easy to fight."

The commander of the second brigade said: "There is no hurry, we can slowly consume Benguela, there will always be a time when they will show their flaws, and now the division headquarters has gone to the north, that is to say, there is only one main force in the south of Angola, and we have more time to consume the defenders of Benguela City." ”

Of course, having said that, he was still thinking about how to break through this fortified city of the Portuguese.

The 2nd Brigade is also equipped with a lot of artillery, but the caliber is not large, and Benguela's artillery is first-class in the whole of Angola, after all, it has been operated by the Portuguese for hundreds of years.

It's just that the artillery of the Portuguese was used mainly to deal with threats from the sea, and they probably did not think that one day a hostile force would threaten Benguela from land.

While the 2nd Brigade was thinking about how to break through Benguela, the Portuguese defenders in Benguela were extremely frightened, and the arrival of the 2nd Brigade meant that East Africa had invaded the heart of Angola for Benguela!

Of course, this was the illusion created by Benguela's position, which was on the westernmost side of Angola, while the 2nd Brigade was actually coming from the southeast.

And most of Angola, which is still actually controlled by Portugal, like the 331st and 421st Divisions, is actually alone.

If the Portuguese had taken advantage of the opportunity, they might have been able to inflict heavy damage on these two East African forces, but unfortunately the Portuguese were too far behind.

Lack of a military liaison system to keep up with the times, so the Luanda government can not fully grasp the intelligence of East Africa, and even the military information of its own people, and now many Portuguese troops on the front line have actually fought on their own, if they can't solve the 331st and 421st divisions in time, then Luanda and the front-line troops may also be completely lost.

(End of chapter)