Chapter 1157: Crossroads
Chapter 1135 – Crossroads
The Cape of Good Hope, as the trigger for this World War, the battle was at this moment in the end.
Witnessing a line of defense constantly being broken through by the enemy, yet unable to do anything about it, the tormented Lieutenant General Stade’s entire body was emaciated.
Unlike the last war in South Africa, where the British had naval fire support, the Cape of Good Hope was now an island.
Every time the Royal Navy came over, the enemy’s air force took over, leaving no room for maneuver.
In order to reinforce the Cape of Good Hope, in just two months, Britain had already paid a heavy price of 3 warships and 18 merchant ships sunk.
It was not that the enemy’s air force was so powerful, but the key was that the enemy was so powerful in assisting it. Not one of the many ships sunk by Britain was sunk directly by the enemy.
Including the three sunken warships, all were wounded by the enemy and died under the waves.
There is no way, the Cape of Despair is always more than two meters of wind and waves, six or seven meters of waves are also commonplace, and from time to time there are more than eleven typhoons.
It was dangerous for a ship to travel with its hull intact, and if the hull was injured, it was even more so, and whether or not it could recover a life depended on God’s blessing.
In order to avoid the attack of the Shenluo Air Force, the logistic supply was forced to shift to the night time, the sea waves during the daytime were dangerous, not to mention the night time.
Fortunately, the southern hemisphere is now in the summer, if it were winter, the Bofa monsoon coupled with the mysterious “murderous waves”, the scene is breathtaking to think about.
Rubbing his forehead, the tired Lt. General Stade instructed his guards, “Send another telegram to the country to ask when the reinforcements will arrive?”
Up to now, the Cape of Good Hope has received three waves of reinforcements, totaling more than 200,000 troops at one point.
Unfortunately, most of these reinforcements are Indian colonial troops, which can be used as cannon fodder to make up the number of soldiers, but the combat effectiveness is not mentioned.
The only thing that has some fighting power is the two Australian and New Zealand divisions, but unfortunately this fighting power is also very limited.
In any case, are a bunch of noble private army pressure to fight, the colonial troops Stade Lieutenant General has been completely desperate, and now the only expectation is that the local send reinforcements.
Telegrams for help have been sent many times, but they have all been rejected by the country under the pretext of “expanding the army”.
Lieutenant General Stade understood the difficulties of the country. The army is only a little bit of establishment, after the expansion of the army directly expanded by more than ten times, the basic officers are seriously short of officers, basically the veterans have become officers.
Basically, the veterans have all become officers. All of them are newly formed troops, and there is no way to put them into the battlefield without training and bonding.
However, time waits for no one on the battlefield. Relying only on a bunch of colonial troops and the enemy against the enemy, there is simply no power to fight back.
Although the domestic newly formed troops have the same worrying fighting ability, but at least the officers are veterans, no matter how to say it is also better than the temporary pulled out of the colonial cannon fodder.
There is no way, most of Britain’s colonial troops are from India, but now India is also the front line.
A little bit of fighting strength of the colonial army, are left by the Governor General of India in the local, sent out to reinforce the other regions are temporarily pulled out to make up the number.
These troops used to engage in miscellaneous, must be watched, into the battlefield is to give the enemy head.
Staad Lieutenant General is not a moral fiber of the Lord, if the light to send rely on the head to be able to save the Cape of Good Hope, he also does not mind to take the cannon fodder troops to fill the pit.
Can’t say it was completely ineffective, the cannon fodder troops still slowed down the enemy’s attack, but unfortunately didn’t manage to stop the enemy’s pace of attack.
Looking at the ever-shrinking defense line, Lieutenant General Stade was “looking in his eyes, anxious in his heart”, fearing that in his own hands to lose this strategic location, become the sinner of Britain.
The only consolation is that there is not only one unlucky person, there is a worse back.
Far East Fleet lost Malacca, Cam Ranh Bay is also in danger; next door to the British East Africa is also trapped in a lonely city, reinforcements can not get in, it is estimated that the fall is also the matter of these days.
Everyone is defeating the war, the people’s ability to withstand the heart has been tempered, as long as the performance is better than their peers, I guess the possibility of escaping is very high.
Especially since London was still trembling under the enemy’s bombardment, it had attracted the public’s attention, and the firepower had been drawn by the gang of bigwigs at home.
Without the cooperation of his fellow officers, and in accordance with past practice, Lieutenant-General Stade, who had fought a series of losing battles, would at this moment be either on a court-martial or on his way to one.
Not so now; unless the Cape of Good Hope fell, there was no chance of a change in the London government.
On the one hand, there was a shortage of British officers, and on the other hand, no one was willing to jump into the huge pit.
The absolute disparity of power was not something that could be changed by individual strength. Even if Jeffrey Amherst was replaced, the result still could not be changed.
Moments of tranquility were always short-lived. Along with the sound of the alarm, the Cape of Good Hope once again entered the state of “airplanes hanging in the air, artillery roaring”.
The fire was burning again, and without waiting for an answer from home, Lt. Gen. Stade turned around and headed for the command post.
A series of defeats down, the morale of the defenders has fallen to the bottom. As for the Indian colonial army from which it came, it had never been demoralized, so naturally it could not be talked about as falling.
Panic, hostility, hatred, pessimism …… and various other negative emotions are spreading among the defenders.
At this moment the Cape of Good Hope, as if it were a dynamite packet, only need a little spark, will “boom” will explode.
The high level is not good, the front-line officers and soldiers are even worse. Days of fighting have long since exhausted them physically and mentally.
War is full of dangers, but also full of opportunities. For example, Berlant, after the outbreak of the war, he went from being a big-headed soldier to a captain company commander.
Although he hadn’t been officially commissioned, the appointment had already been announced. Rules are made to be broken, special times are handled specially, and in times of war everything is kept simple.
Burrant was not an isolated case in the British Army, and there were many other similar firebrand promotions. It is not that the British Army’s promotion system has changed, but mainly because the death rate of company and platoon officers is too high.
Join the urgent expansion of the cause of the lack of grass-roots officers, only from the veterans in the promotion of “talent”.
Only this kind of promotion, Berlant did not want at all. There is no way, when the officer has to lead the charge, the supervisory team is staring at the back, there is no place to hide.
In just two months, Berlant’s company has changed five company commanders, as the sixth without pressure is impossible.
Perhaps cursed, of the five predecessors before him, one had been promoted in the expansion, two were still lying in the rear hospital, and the other two had met God.
With such a horrible casualty rate, they were simply “dead company commanders”. Unfortunately, the appointment was mandatory and Berlant could not refuse.
Against the rain of bullets, continue to defend the position, Captain Berlant has no panic, the only thing left is numbness.
To the east, there were extremely violent explosions, to the south, bullets were flying, and at the zenith, there were rows of opening bullets, like a volcano with no bottom foot.
Lying on his back in a makeshift dug-out trench, Captain Berlant buried his head so deeply that he had not the slightest intention of probing to see what was going on.
The earth had begun to tremble, and from his own experience Captain Berlant knew that the enemy tank force was coming up.
“The enemy is coming up soon, prepare for battle!”
No matter what, duty was still to be performed. Even though he didn’t think that the rabble he had brought with him would be able to play much of a role against the enemy’s tanks, resistance still had to be there.
……
Compared to the tension of the defending troops, being on the attacking side was much easier. Shen Luo had implemented a universal reserve system, and the private armies of the nobles had already returned to the army according to the reserve establishment.
The battle has come to a head, and not only the nobles’ private army, but also the regular army stationed in Africa have appeared on the battlefield.
The tank unit that launched the attack in front of us is one of the best. Since the war, that is “God block kill God, Buddha block kill Buddha”, across the battlefield to match.
Bullying is the British army lack of anti-tank weapons, and not enough armored troops. Tanks with the enemy’s infantry, want not to go well are difficult.
After all, it is a colony, no matter how important the strategic position, the British can not put two tank divisions in the Cape of Good Hope, but the Holy Roman Empire can.
The large African continent, let alone put two tank divisions, even if it is a few more, there will be no objection.
The British army is different, a pocket version of the army, armored units naturally more than where.
The same is a tank division, the establishment of each country is also very different, a Shinra tank division can almost top two British tank divisions.
However, the British Army does not have a few tank divisions in such a scaled-down version. It’s not that they don’t want to do it, it’s that they can’t afford to play with this kind of expensive toys because of their limited military spending.
Although the armored force also belongs to the army, but when it comes to expenses, it is directly to the navy, air force.
If the infantry, a battleship expenses can support a division; but to the armored department, even now the most advanced battleship, daily expenses can not catch up with a tank regiment. (Calculated according to the three-three-four system, a regiment of 108 tanks)
Are forced out by the reality, if the British Army does not save, how the Royal Navy can dominate the world.
If the land, sea and air together to play an arms race, no matter how rich the British Empire, it is impossible to top.
This is the economic volume of the decision, the British Isles ceiling is stuck there, want to burst the liver can not burst up.
Command can’t keep up, equipment can’t keep up, training can’t keep up, morale can’t keep up, it is an asymmetrical war, the battlefield does not fall side by side is a problem.
Enemy front command headquarters, as the highest commander of the front line Baron von Reuter, at this moment the mind is no longer on the battlefield.
British South Africa is too small, although the Cape of Good Hope is famous, but for the Holy Roman Empire sitting on the Suez Canal, it’s just that.
The economic value was mediocre, and the strategic value was also mediocre. “Important” is only for the British, control of this place can not be the neck of the Holy Roman.
Perhaps with the continuous development of the economy and technology, the tonnage of merchant ships will slowly become larger, and the importance of the Cape of Good Hope in the future will come to the fore.
But that’s just a possibility. Right now, the Suez Canal route is sufficient to meet the needs of commercial trade.
Even in the Holy Roman Empire, the calculation of military service was also influenced by economic and strategic value.
Usually, the higher the economic and strategic value of a place, the greater the credit for conquering a city, and vice versa.
Just because the Cape of Good Hope was of little importance to the Holy Roman Empire does not mean that everyone put little effort into it. For the sake of this war, the African nobles really did have the money to pay for it and the power to pay for it.
Even up to this point in the war, many of the strategic materials on the South African battlefield were privately raised and advanced.
Although the future government will pay for these expenses, but the same needs to be discounted military credit. If there is no benefit, who is so enthusiastic?
According to the practice of the Holy Roman Empire, we all contribute to the capture of British South Africa, then after the war to take the British South Africa’s land, property division is.
The problem now is that everyone contributed to the war, and there are too many people who are qualified to share the cake, but the cake of British South Africa is not big enough.
Uneven distribution of the spoils has always been a big taboo. If you do not get the appropriate reward for your efforts, then you will have to weigh the pros and cons of going to war in the future.
In the end, everyone will flock to the meat, but no one will ask for the bones. Then, it will be the turn of the military honors and titles system to collapse.
Similar cases have happened in history. The most typical case was the collapse of the farming system of the Great Qin Empire because the later generations had no land to share.
Right now, the Holy Roman Empire empire has also come to this crossroads. The only difference is that it has now entered the industrial age, and there is still a chance to choose again.
Of course, this issue is something that the top levels of the government need to consider. As the supreme commander of the frontline, Baron von Reuter hadn’t thought that much in depth.
Right now, the problem he was facing was: how to distribute the loot when there wasn’t enough of it to satisfy most people.
Although the titles and fiefdoms were ultimately determined by the Emperor; it was still Baron von Reuter who was responsible for the approval of the war merits, which also included giving a detailed disposal plan.
Generally speaking, as long as it was determined that the frontline war merits were accurate, the division of fiefdoms and the bestowal of titles would take into account the opinions of the frontline commanders.
Of course, this is only part of it, the actual operation needs to consider more issues, for example: the wishes of the rewarded individual, but also to take care of as much as possible.
Comparatively speaking, the nobles have less choice in the fiefdom, and still the larger the fiefdom, the less choice they have.
On the contrary, the ordinary soldiers, the kind of obtaining a dozen hectares, dozens of hectares of land, basically respected the individual will.
Even if they couldn’t be resettled, they would be placed in the neighboring areas, and the distance wouldn’t be too far off.
Baron von Reuter has been carefully calculated, all the armed forces involved in this war together, the total number of people are up to two hundred and thirty thousand of ****** according to the battlefield statistics out of the military, British South Africa the palm of this big place, can get the battle of the ordinary soldiers resettled down on the good.
There is no way, a total of so 20,000 to 30,000 square kilometers, but also to deduct the city, mountains and forests, not suitable for cultivation, grazing land, can establish a farm land is really limited.
Soldiers are actually quite good, British South Africa does not have enough land, a different area to settle is. This war was fought so high, after the war, the Vienna government will certainly not lack of land.
The real trouble is still the aristocracy, according to the past tradition, who fought down the land priority allocation to who, did not participate in the war naturally not eligible to reach out.
Before this war against France, that is the entire continent of Africa are counted as a battlefield, naturally there is no such trouble.
But this time, the Battle of the Cape of Good Hope was independent and not connected to any other battlefield. If you divide up the meritocracy into other regions, it will violate the unspoken rules of the game, and may even be resisted.
(End of chapter)