Natal Colony.

British Commissioner Marshall arrived here by boat, and due to the erosion of the South African War, the situation of the Mozambican coalition was precarious, so in order to explore and question the South African War, Commissioner Marshall went ashore in the Natal colony.

Seeing Marshall come to South Africa empty-handed, the Natal defenders were a little disappointed, and now what everyone needs most is local support and reinforcements.

However, Marshall apparently did not think so, because before the start of the war, the coalition forces had an absolute advantage on paper, and the coalition forces outnumbered East Africa before the Angolan campaign.

So the reason for the defeat of the war in South Africa was, in the final analysis, the incompetence of the generals, and Count Roberts bore the brunt, but given that Count Roberts is now besieged in Mozambique.

Naturally, Marshall could not fly over to trouble Count Roberts, and the general of the defenders of the Natal colony, who was safe for the time being, fell into blood mold.

Instead of waiting for the aid, Marshall arrived in Durban with a bad star, and Marshall's first words after arriving in Durban were: "Why not attack East Africa!" ”

"The East Africans have recaptured and blocked the Tuguera River, and now our passage north to support Count Roberts has been cut off, and the most important thing now is how we deal with the threat of the enemy, they can't stop at the Tuguera River, so we should be most concerned about our own safety now, rather than thinking about rescuing Count Roberts." Bids, the current supreme military commander of the Natal colony, said stiffly.

"Is it now that the situation in South Africa is so rotten?" Marshall asked, frowning.

"It's much more serious than this, we have lost contact with Count Roberts, just three days ago the East Africans had taken Maputo, but according to the news half a month ago, Count Roberts and the Mozambican government have moved inland, so now they may still be fighting against East Africa."

"Maputo has been lost!" The news came as a surprise to Marshall.

"Yes, the information we got from the Portuguese merchants, in fact, East Africa has launched an operation around Maputo some time ago, but now we have accurate information that the city of Maputo has been occupied by East Africa."

The news of the fall of Maputo completely silenced Marshall, because the distance from Britain to South Africa was not too short, so Marshall had been floating at sea for more than ten days, and before he set off, Maputo was still firmly in the hands of the coalition forces.

"What is the situation in the Natal colony now? And Cape Town, on the way to Natal, I saw that there were not many troops in Natal, but many soldiers were idle, and if it weren't for the East Africans who had arrived on the north shore, they would have thought that Natal was at peace! Marshall angrily asked, "So why don't you organize a counterattack?" ”

Bides said in a cold sweat: "Your Excellency, don't look at Natal's troops, it seems that there are a lot of troops, but most of these soldiers are Indians, so the combat effectiveness is very worrying, and most of the British have been brought to Mozambique by Count Roberts, the number of British troops in Natal is less than 4,000, only more than 3,700 people, and it is not enough to change the situation of the war with such a small number of troops, so now we are mainly on defense." ”

"Are the East Africans the gods of war? And what happened to the Indian soldiers? Are they not human? As long as you can pull the trigger and aim, you are a qualified soldier, and don't make excuses for your failures. Marshall didn't care about these issues, and in his opinion the loss of the war was all due to the incompetence of the generals led by Roberts.

And Bids also can't say bitterly, the combat effectiveness of Indian soldiers, if it is louder than bragging, it must be loud enough, but if you really bring this group of people, you will know how uncomfortable it is.

He had no doubt that if the Indians had been allowed to defend the Tuguela River at all, he would have seen East Africans appear in the streets of Durban the next day, and that they would have been brought in directly by the Indians.

However, Marshall did not believe this outrageous thing, although Britain also had many bad jokes insulting Indians, but Indians are also human beings, and they also have many advantages, such as cooking is better than Britain.

So Marshall gave an order directly to Bids: "I don't care what kind of soldiers you have, even if it's a herd of pigs, dogs, cows and sheep, you have to rush to retake Maputo for me, instead of shrinking into Natal and doing nothing." ”

In the face of the "unreasonable" new boss, Bides had no choice, and now he began to miss Count Roberts, who, although harsh, knew a lot about the army.

And this local airborne commissioner, like a vindictive old hen, made Bides uneasy, but Bides did not dare to disobey Marshall's order, so he could only stubbornly start to organize that group of "hopeless" Indian soldiers to prepare for a confrontation with East Africa on the front line of the Tuguela River.

As for crossing the river, it was not at all on the minds of Bides, and now the Natal colony should pray that the East Africans would concentrate their energies on Mozambique, not Natal, and with the current momentum of the East Africans, if they take aim at Natal, I am afraid that the Tuguela River defense line will not be able to hold it for a day.

……

Bides's concerns were entirely correct, and the 9th East African Brigade knew how difficult it was to defend the Tuguela River, even though East Africa had been operating the Tuguela River defense line for several years.

However, it was only held for one day before it was conquered by the British army, of course, the 9th East African Brigade was withdrawn to the port of New Hamburg on its own initiative, and did not make every effort to block the British army's crossing of the river.

However, this also shows that the situation of the Tuguera River is not conducive to defense, and now that feng shui is turning, the predicament that East Africa encountered at the beginning has now become the predicament of the Natal colony.

After the settlement of Maputo, the East African army gathered in Mozambique, so now that the forces are concentrated, there is no longer a need for so many troops, and the Southern Military Region has begun to decide to attack in the direction of Natal and Cape Town.

Naturally, East Africa could not afford to leave the colonies of Natal and Cape Town at large until the war ended.

Previously, it was mainly aimed at Angola and Mozambique, so East Africa could not spare energy to deal with the British, but now that the overall situation in Mozambique has been decided, the Southern Military Region has begun to plan retaliation in the direction of Natal and Cape Town.

The two British colonies of Natal and Cape Town can be said to be the most "disgusting" existence of the Southern Military District, because of the previous Grand Strategy of the General Staff.

The Southern Military Region could only cooperate with other military districts to encircle and suppress the Portuguese colonies, and at this time, the British colonies often stabbed the Southern Military Region in the back.

Of course, as an enemy, Britain is justified in doing this, but this provocation has long been disgusted by the Southern Military District, like flies, disgusting people.

Moreover, the culprits of the South African war originally included the British, and it can even be said that Britain and East Africa were the leaders, and East Africa naturally could not find problems in itself, so everything was the fault of the British.

After the settlement of Maputo, most of the forces of the Southern Military District began to retreat, leaving only a small number of troops, following the Guards Division, and the Western Military District went north to hunt Count Roberts.

As for the Southern Military District, the army was massed in two directions, the Orange River and the Tuguera River.

December 23, 1888.

On the day before Christmas, the Southern Military Region began a counteroffensive against the British colonies in the south, and on the same day all other East African forces arrived in Shoquay, encircling Count Roberts' troops.

(End of chapter)