Maputo.

Count Roberts looked at the military map in the command post with a dejected face, and now the war situation is developing more and more in the direction of the unfavorable coalition forces.

"The situation is very unfavorable for us now, just last month, Angola has been completely defeated by East Africa, and Portugal's military capabilities in Angola have been completely destroyed, which means that now only we are left to fight in East Africa." Roberts said weakly.

"Your Excellency, the war strength shown in East Africa is amazing, now we are surrounded by East Africa, the only place that can break the situation is the ocean, only by reopening the Indian Ocean channel, can we turn defeat into victory!"

The reassuring words of his subordinates could not regain the cheers of Count Roberts, and he said: "Even if we regain control of the sea, it will not change the situation of the war, our sphere of activity has been reduced by the East Africans to less than 150,000 square kilometers, and the defeat of the Boers and Angola also means that two strategic fulcrums have been destroyed, and we in Mozambique are the most difficult to support." ”

If the main battlefield had been chosen in Angola, Britain might have been able to effectively come to the aid of Count Roberts' troops, because the presence of the East African Navy in the waters of Angola and even in the entire Atlantic region is basically zero.

But Count Roberts' main idea at the time was to attack the central and eastern parts of East Africa, the two core areas of East Africa, so Mozambique, which is in the heart of East Africa, seemed to be in better condition.

And this requires a premise, that is, the coalition has always maintained its superiority, but now the so-called coalition army has actually existed in name only, and only Britain is still struggling to support it.

"And no amount of support is of any significance to the South African battlefield, because the East Africans have a well-established military industrial capacity, which makes them fully capable of replenishing the losses of the war, and the cost we need to pay is indeed several times that of the East Africans."

"And the main problem now is that the crisis in the port of New Hamburg has been resolved, East Africa has cut off our passage to the south or the British army in the Natal colony to the north, and our supplies have entered a state of pure consumption, and we cannot be effectively replenished at all."

So by now, Count Roberts could already conclude the outcome of the war, and as long as East Africa did not make a stupid move, it was basically impossible for Britain to win.

Of course, the biggest reason why Roberts is so pessimistic is actually the current state of the British army, if it is only a disadvantage in the situation, then Count Roberts will naturally not be so negative, for a nobleman like Count Roberts, a military family, it doesn't matter if he is martyred.

However, now the combat effectiveness of the British army is not at all caused by the problems of the British army itself, but by the terrible disease - malaria.

Yes, as the war progressed, there was an outbreak of serious infectious diseases in Mozambique, the most serious of which was malaria.

Unlike the "natives" of East Africa, in order to deal with malaria and other diseases, East Africa attaches great importance to the hygiene of the army and mosquito control, etc., and it can be said that it has reached a frenzied attitude.

The British army was obviously unaware of this problem, so the British army's hygiene was very bad, and after East Africa cut off the British supply channel, there was a lack of medicine and alcohol, which made the British army even more negative.

In addition to anesthetizing the mental state of soldiers, improving morale and medical value, alcohol also plays an important role, that is, to prevent drinking unclean water and being infected by parasites or bacteria and viruses.

The East African army does not drink raw water, and the British army obviously does not have this "strange" rule, but this also caused the British army to pay a heavy price for this, plus the corpses on the battlefield were not cleaned up in time, with the current temperature in Africa, the problem is too big.

In fact, the cleaning of the battlefield is also a headache in East Africa, but in the perennial fighting in Africa, East Africa has formed norms and various experiences, so the risk can be minimized, and the coalition forces are much worse.

There is also the problem of mosquitoes, which is the main culprit of malaria, the Portuguese and the local natives are a little better, and the British Army has suffered from this!

Of course, if it was the British Army from India, the situation would be much better, because India is also a country where malaria is rampant.

But with the perception of this era, it is impossible for the British army to deal effectively with this problem, after all, they do not know the vector of malaria transmission.

This has to mention the Englishman Ronald Roth, who was born in northwestern India, studied at St. Bartholomew's Medical School in London, England in 1874, and was assigned to India in 1881 to treat malaria in the military. Ross was instructed by a British pioneer of tropical medicine, Manson, who introduced Ross to the discovery of malaria specimens by Laveran in 1880 and the hypothesis that malaria was transmitted by mosquitoes. Through his tireless efforts, Ross finally found the malaria-transmitting mosquito, Anopheles mosquito, on August 20, 1897.

If history had not changed much, it would be a decade before this hypothesis could be proven in India.

At the same time, Ross's experience also fully shows that even in India, the core British colony, the British people now have a lot of trouble with malaria, after all, Ross's job is to treat malaria for the British army in India.

Under the guidance of Ernst, East Africa has indeed effectively avoided the vector of malaria transmitted by mosquitoes, and as a major producer of pyrethrum, it is among the world's leading mosquito repellent products.

However, there is no good way to deal with malaria in East Africa at present, and the infection rate can only be compressed within the minimum limit, and the local combat advantage in East Africa can allow the East African army to get sufficient supplies of quinine and other medicines, coupled with good living habits, to reduce non-combat attrition to a minimum.

Count Roberts frowned and said: "Quinine and other special drugs cannot be effectively supplemented, this is one of the biggest difficulties facing the current army, before that, our army can still suppress the outbreak of malaria, but now the spread of malaria is too fearful, even I can't avoid it, and the soldiers below are afraid that it is even more so." ”

Count Roberts was also hit half a month ago, but as the supreme military commander, Count Roberts will definitely not lack special drugs such as quinine, but Count Roberts' recovery period also had an important impact on the South African War.

Of course, the most lethal point for the British army is that malaria can be repeatedly infected, after all, malaria is not a bacterium or a virus, but a parasitic disease, which is difficult to prevent by human immunity alone.

This multiplied the number of malaria infections, and when the British army could not effectively solve the mosquito problem, and the British people did not now know that mosquitoes were the main culprit in spreading malaria, so it was stuck in an endless cycle.

All these unfavorable factors were combined, and now the morale of the British army naturally fell to the lowest point, and there was no alcohol and tobacco to numb the nerves, and death was all around us all the time, so that the negative attitude spread throughout the barracks.

Even, the East Africans did not need to take action, and surrounded the British for several months, I am afraid that the British army would collapse without a fight.

Of course, the British also thought about getting a solution from East Africa, but unfortunately there was nothing to gain, because East Africa was only strictly enforced in the army according to the "strange" regulations formulated by Ernst at the beginning, and everyone felt that the crown prince was more hygienic.

As for the spread of malaria, Ernst never made it public, after all, he was not a medical scientist like Ronald Roth to prove it.

However, after the medical capacity of East Africa reached the standard, it was pointed out that the medical personnel in East Africa took this direction as the research goal, but now the medical personnel in East Africa have not obtained effective evidence, but with the right direction, the scientific understanding of malaria transmission in East Africa should appear earlier than Ronald Ross.

(End of chapter)