Chapter 738 Plans from both sides
As night fell, both sides of the Tugela River defense line fell into silence. As for crossing the river in the dark, it was not within the British army's consideration. Night fighting was never the first choice in war.
Although there is only one brigade in East Africa across the river, there are many emergencies on the battlefield and the intelligence on both sides is very limited, so the British commander Rossiter must be cautious about the situation.
No one is sure whether there will be subsequent reinforcements in East Africa, when the reinforcements will arrive at the Tugela River, and how many reinforcements will come.
The closed-door policy in East Africa played a great role at this time. In turn, it was difficult for East Africa to get information about the actions and plans of the British army in the Natal colony. If it was Durban and other places behind Natal, it was possible to place intelligence personnel. , As for the Tugela River front line, there is no such opportunity at all, and it is easy to be discovered when breaking into the war zone.
Under the dim light, the British commander, Commander Rossiter, was discussing with his subordinates a summary of today's battle.
Rost looked very ugly. He hit a wall in the first game when he first arrived in South Africa. This was completely different from what he had expected before coming to South Africa.
The subordinates looked at Rost's gloomy face and did not dare to breathe, especially the commanders of the British Indian troops, who were afraid that Rost would take out his anger on themselves.
"Today's battle made me very dissatisfied with all the troops. All four attacks were repelled by the East Africans, and the Tugela River is not an insurmountable natural barrier. In this case, the East Africans cannot be defeated. What happens next? Wouldn't it be difficult for us to move in the Drakensberg Mountains?"
"Both our army's fighting will and military capabilities have not been reflected. Instead, it has lost face in front of East Africa. If our army loses face, it will lose the face of the British Empire!"
The commander of the British Indian troops retorted: "Division Commander, it's not that we don't want to work hard, but the quality of Indian soldiers is too poor. Although these attacks were not effective, our troops also suffered huge casualties."
Rost: "Humph, you are reasonable. I have clearly seen the performance of the Indian soldiers. Is that poor performance? That is cowardice before fighting. I can forget about the last landing operation, but the first three failures are all It’s because your Indians took the lead in escaping and caused a bad impact.”
Although the fourth river-crossing operation also failed, it did cause some damage to the East African army, and the "entire army" of the landing force was wiped out, so it was in line with Rost's psychological expectations. After all, he did not expect the troops to cross Tugai in one go. It makes no sense to pull up the river defense line and defeat the East African National Defense Force, but failed in the first three battles. There is no reason to evade responsibility.
"Division Commander, in my opinion, the most important problem is not a morale problem, but a hardware problem. I think there are two points that are beyond the capabilities of our army. The first is that East Africa is equipped with a large number of heavy weapons, and the level is not bad. This is inconsistent with our previous colonial combat model.
The second is that our army is not fully prepared, especially the ships, which makes every landing operation ship seem to be stretched thin.
Therefore, if we want to overcome difficulties, we must find ways from these two directions instead of blaming the lower-level troops. After all, the Indians themselves are the ruled, and they are inferior to us Anglo-Saxons in terms of thinking, quality, etc. This is a racial gap, and the inherent disadvantages cannot be made up for. "
In just two or three sentences, he threw away all his responsibilities. After all, this was also what the British thought. If the Indian soldiers were bloody, then the British would not be able to colonize India so easily.
"We won't discuss this issue now. We are an army. The army wants to win the war and achieve strategic goals. No matter what the reason, I must find a way to break through the East African defense line. Now you come up with a feasible plan." Ross Te said.
"Division Commander, in my opinion, we were in the wrong direction before. Compared with East Africa, our biggest advantage is sufficient troops. This can be seen from the number of artillery. Although the power of East African artillery is not weak, its density is much higher. It is not as good as us, so East Africa must have fewer troops on the front line of the Tugela River than us. Therefore, to give full play to our advantages, we should break through at multiple points instead of attacking in key directions. We should consider the entire Tugela River Basin, and we can always Find an ideal place to break through and tear a hole.”
"Very good, but this requires us to prepare more ships. It would be better if we could build pontoons on the river, but it may delay the fighter plane. Today we have lost three-fifths of the ships in four attacks. If If we make it now, I’m afraid it will take a lot of time.”
"Division Commander, this issue may be considered flexibly. We can directly make a batch of simple rafts. The Tugela River is not too wide. We can use ropes and tree trunks to allow soldiers with good water properties to build pontoons. Of course, the biggest problem in this There are too many crocodiles in the Tugela River, which may pose a certain threat, and the large-scale pontoon construction may be noticed by East Africans, so it is best to operate at night, but operating on the river at night is definitely more difficult than during the day.”
After discussion, the British finally gave up their conservative approach. Spending time with the East Africans on the Tugela River made them lose their patience.
Although this will help ensure the safety of one's own personnel, after all, the Indian cannon fodder on the front line is not one of their own, and the British will not feel bad if the Indians bleed dry. This is the same as the use of black troops in East Africa.
Of course, there are no black servants in the East African army now, and even the logistics are mainly based on citizens of the country.
The current use of black people in East Africa is mainly to maintain production. Military recruitment still has a great impact on East Africa, especially on the young labor force. This also further increased the labor intensity of black people in East Africa during the war.
This model in East Africa was actually very common in the early days. It was also the same with the Boers in South Africa. The Boers acted as force, while the blacks created value as slaves.
Later, the needs of industrial and agricultural development in East Africa caused a large number of people in East Africa to engage in production activities, and the previous model of military activities was transformed. Now with the start of the war, it has returned to the right track again.
…
The British planned to attack across the board, but the 9th Brigade on the other side of the river had no idea of holding on.
"The brigade commander and volunteers have all withdrawn to New Hamburg Port City. Now only soldiers exist along the entire Tugela River defense line."
Aridotus: "Very good, we also have to make plans to evacuate, but we can't make it easy for the British. We must slow down the speed and efficiency of the British army in the area leading to the new Hamburg port city and along the railway line. And now I have a plan, as long as it is implemented in place, it is very likely to bring us surprises."
"Brigadier, your plan..."
"There is no rush now. After we give the British the final blow at the Tugela River, we will have time to arrange it. In short, we must preserve our strength as much as possible. The military region has sent news that we may not be able to wait for reinforcements, and Starting from the day after tomorrow, they plan to cut off the Central Railway. We can only rely on the New Hamburg Port City to deal with the British army. Now our most important task is to cause trouble for the British while ensuring our strength."