Chapter 760 421st Division’s Ambition
This kind of thing is not to be blamed for the fierce resistance of black people. East Africa's reputation among black Africans is not that it is "full of evil", but it is also an existence that can stop children crying at night.
The closer black people are to East Africa, the more afraid they are of East Africa. East Africa is like Pixiu, which can only be entered but not exited. Just like the border of the former Kingdom of Congo, there are many black people in East Africa, and now there is almost no trace of black people. .
This is naturally the reason why a large number of black people fled to the Kingdom of Congo and other regions. However, everyone only knows that the objective fact is that the number of black people has decreased significantly under the governance of East Africa. Coupled with the artistic processing and rendering of the escaped black people, East Africa has naturally become a "magic cave".
Of course, East Africa is not that bad, but some people always like to add their own subjective assumptions when describing their experiences.
However, having said that, Portugal does treat black people "good". This good is relative, as it is the earliest global colonial empire.
Over hundreds of years of accumulation, the Portuguese have indeed become easier to integrate with the locals. Angola now has hundreds of thousands of mixed descendants of the Portuguese and local indigenous people, and it is also one of the important foundations of Portuguese rule in Angola.
These mixed descendants actually belong to the ruling class in Angola and are the beneficiaries of Angola’s colonial system, so they will inevitably support the maintenance of the Portuguese Kingdom’s rule over Angola.
After being persuaded, Custer's mood had become stable. He said to Hans Griffin: "Forget it, it's just the first time I encountered this situation, so I can't suppress my anger. As for them, The future will naturally be decided by the Kingdom."
Sharing the same hatred as the colonists, Custer had been in Africa for many years, and this was the first time he encountered them, so he was inevitably a little angry. After all, everyone was an invader, and the "double standards" of the local indigenous people easily allowed Custer to break through.
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When the 331st Division wanted to take advantage of the Portuguese main force being held back by friendly forces on the front line and take the opportunity to harvest the fruits of victory, the friendly forces in the Western Military Region were not to be outdone.
In the province of Letania.
The 421st Division also has similar plans. As a very rare cavalry division in the West, the 421st Division can be said to be a treasure in the Western Military Region.
Helmond, commander of the 421st Division, formulates the next battle plan in Menonge City.
Menongue's original name was Celsa Pinto, which was named after a Portuguese explorer. After the first East-Portuguese War, it was ceded to East Africa by Portugal, and then changed to its current name.
This is a relatively important city located in the southern part of Angola in the past. Angola had a railway and an airport here in the past, and now it is the headquarters of the 421st Division.
As a cavalry division, the 421st Division can effectively play its role in this area. There are many grasslands and deserts in southern Angola, mainly grasslands, so it is very suitable for the 421st Division to fight.
An important reason why Catania Province was able to avoid the fall of a large area of land like the Danube Province in the early stages of the war was the strong mobile combat capability of the 421st Division.
The 421st Division frequently harassed the Portuguese army on the vast grasslands in the south. Even if the Portuguese concentrated their superior forces, there was nothing they could do against the 421st Division because of its strong mobile combat capabilities.
Often when the Portuguese reinforcements arrived, the 421st Division, including its men and horses, had already fled, so the Portuguese in Letania Province could only be passively beaten.
Of course, one of the important reasons why East Africa did not abandon the province of Letania is that the province's location is too important. It is an important area in East Africa that connects the Kalahari Basin and Southwest Africa.
If the Portuguese were allowed to succeed, it would pose a serious threat to the overall national defense of East Africa, especially Southwest Africa, which relies heavily on inland supplies.
If the Portuguese occupy the province of Letania, the East African Defense Forces in Southwest Africa can basically surrender.
Ships on the west coast are now unable to cross Cape Town to provide supplies to Southwest Africa, and all pressure is concentrated on the two land routes.
One is the Whale Highway, and the other is the north bank of the Orange River in the west, and the 421st Division must ensure the smooth flow of the Whale Highway.
Of course, with the passage of the war, the mission of the 421st Division has now been completed. What is more important for the 421st Division now is to take the initiative to achieve greater results.
Helmond analyzed the current war situation in Angola and said: "Now other troops led by the 414th Division have been fighting with Portugal in the east, and the 331st Division from the north has also moved south. At this time, the 331th Division going south may not be a good thing for us. After all, Portugal Important cities such as Luanda are concentrated in northern Angola.”
"If we cannot achieve results before the 331st Division, it will be a big loss. You must know that even without the reinforcements from the Nile Military Region, our Western Military Region is capable of taking Angola."
"Now that they have a hand, if we let them attack Luanda and other places, where will the face of our Western Military Region be?"
"So we must give full play to our advantages and achieve impressive results in the Angola battlefield."
Everyone agreed with what Helmond said. After all, no one would have too little military merit, and it also meant safeguarding the reputation of the Western Military Region and the 421st Division.
In fact, the main force of the Western Military Region mainly confronts the Mozambique colonial coalition forces in Matabele Province in the west. Only two divisions of the main force are retained in the west.
The 421st Division is one of them. In the 421st Division's view, the 331st Division of the Nile Military Region is here to grab credit. After all, the 421st Division and the 414th Division have been fighting the Portuguese for three months in the western battlefield. The current form of the war is Something has changed.
The 331st Division joined in. Of course, it was suspected of "eating off the shelf." Of course, in order to prevent the 331st Division from being the only one ahead, it was natural for the 421st Division to play a role in the war on behalf of the Western Military Region.
"Division Commander, at present, the 331 Division must focus on Luanda. They have a distance advantage, and the Portuguese forces in the north are weak. This may be the driving force for the 331 Division to seize Luanda earlier, so our focus should be on the second-largest Luanda. Benguela, Luanda.”
Benguela was established as a port in 1587 and as a city in 1617. It is one of the earliest colonial strongholds in southern Africa and is currently the most important city in Angola's colony after Luanda.
Moreover, Benguela is not far from Merunge. With the mobility of the 421st Division, the success rate of capturing the city of Benguela is very high.
"It's not just Benguela. Benguela was already considered a target of our army before the war started. After all, we captured Benguela once in the last war."
In fact, Benguela was briefly occupied by East Africa during the first East-Portuguese War, and was later returned to the Portuguese after the armistice.
However, the last time Benguela was captured was not only the 421st Division, but also the participation of other troops, such as the 412th Division currently fighting Mozambique on the eastern front and the 414th Division holding back the main force of the Angolan colony.
In fact, the 414th Division is the one who is really suffering. Now it can only watch the 331st Division and the 421st Division make great achievements, but it is held back by the main force of the Portuguese.
Of course, it was actually the Portuguese who were held back by the 414th Division. Most of the expanded New Army in East Africa were in Danube Province, fighting in coordination with the 414th Division. This made it impossible for the Portuguese to successfully withdraw their frontline troops. In the south and north of Angola, The direction became a huge strategic hole, creating excellent opportunities for the 331st Division and the 421st Division.