African Entrepreneurship Records

 Chapter 783 The Fall of Maputo

  December 20, 1888.

Maputo, which has enjoyed peace for more than half a month, once again sounded the alarm because the **** East Africans are here again.

"Just three hours ago, the East African Navy fought with our army in the north. The enemy troops landed in the east of Marakwane. We just discovered the enemy navy at the lookout post on the north side of Cape Town Bay. They are heading into the bay. .”

The exit of Maputo Bay is nearly 20 kilometers long, so it is impossible to be completely blocked. Of course, Maputo City is built at the mouth of the bay further inside, so there is no risk of being breached from the sea.

Just facing the gunfire coverage of enemy ships, this situation is enough to make Davis, the current top military commander in Maputo, feel aggrieved and frightened.

“Get the troops in a fighting position. Once each fort detects an enemy ship, fire immediately without hesitation.” Davis ordered after calming down a little.

At this time, there is no time to worry about the landing troops in northern East Africa. Who knows whether East Africa will just feint a shot and attack Cape Town directly.

In fact, even if we know that the East African army in the north is the main force, we cannot allocate too many manpower to destroy the East African army that has landed in the north.

Because just three days ago, an unknown small force penetrated between Maputo and the southern defense line, and carried out a devastating blow to the supply channel between Maputo and the southern defense line.

And the total strength of all the troops in northern Maputo is only one brigade. In this case, it is definitely not possible to go head-to-head with East Africa.

At this time, there was no way to take care of areas outside Maputo City. Based on his experiences these days, Davis knew that the encirclement of Maputo in East Africa had taken shape, and a small force was dispatched to the encirclement. Cut off the connection between Maputo and the main force in the south.

At this time, the troops were divided to encircle and suppress the Shivar tribe, which made Maputo's already weak troops even worse. Therefore, the troops in the city could no longer be shared out, and some troops were even now needed to be withdrawn to consolidate Maputo's defense.

In order to destroy this East African force, Maputo has sent the last reserve team to the south to encircle and suppress this small East African force.

 Once East Africa moves from the north or west to the south, I am afraid that the southern defense line will be directly wiped out, and now Maputo also needs additional troops.

Davis felt heavy in his heart and said feebly: "It seems that the East Africans are ready for a decisive battle in Maputo! Let the messengers withdraw our troops quickly. Now only the city of Maputo can be used as the last resort. Those in other areas should give up first!”

"The troops in the north must be the elite of East Africa. The artillery fire we just heard lasted for nearly an hour, which shows that they carry a lot of artillery and ammunition, at least the strength of a division. Now let all the northern troops withdraw to Maputo Periphery, this is no longer something they can face!”

And this small force is the regiment led by Schwal. If the enemy wants to wipe out the Schwal tribe, they must dispatch at least one brigade of troops. However, since the transfer of Earl Roberts and the Governor's Palace, nearly half of the original Maputo troops have been taken away. The troops went to Shaokui.

Davis's idea now is to keep the main force of the southern defense line, otherwise they are likely to be besieged by East Africa. Unlike Maputo, the southern defense line has cities, military fortresses and defense projects, as well as sufficient supplies to hold on.

The north of Maputo belonged to the hinterland of Mozambique before the Guards Division landed, so there were actually not many troops. And where the Guards Division landed, there was only one battalion that came from nearby to support it. This was also a direct and violent landing of the First Brigade of the Guards Division. s reason.

At the same time, Davis withdrew his southern troops, also considering this aspect. If the north was landed in East Africa, there would be no significance for the continued existence of the southern defense line.

After all, the original idea of ​​the coalition was to use the narrow terrain in the south to keep the East African army out of Mozambique. Now that the enemy appears behind Maputo, the so-called defense line will collapse. In this situation, Davis can only Prioritize the safety of Maputo.

There are many examples of relying on cities to resist enemies in history. To put it bluntly, there is one example in the South African War. That is, East Africa was trapped in the New Hamburg Port City, and the New Hamburg Port City defended it for three months. month time. Davis thought that based on the current construction of Maputo, it should be able to defend Maputo for a year. Even if it was finally breached, it would have been out of ammunition and food and surrender, rather than being conquered by the enemy.

 …

 The East African General Staff did not know Davis's thoughts. After the navy and Guards Division were in place, the General Staff issued a comprehensive offensive order to the Western and Southern Military Districts.

At this time, Schwal finally waited for the large roundabout force. After the two sides joined forces, Schwal and the 9th Brigade switched from defense to attack.

It completely cut off the hope of the southern defense line coalition forces to withdraw to Maputo. At this time, the main force of the southern military region also began to launch a full-scale attack on the southern defense line.

Only one day later, the southern defense line of the coalition forces, which was attacked from both sides, was completely broken. At this time, the Western Military District also attacked the coalition forces in western Swaziland, heading towards Maputo in a mighty manner.

Before Davis' messenger could deliver the letter, he became a prisoner of the East African Defense Forces. When all defense lines were broken, Maputo also felt uncomfortable. The East African Navy launched a new round of attacks on Maputo.

This century-old military fortress in the Western Indian Ocean was unable to withstand the successive bombardments from East Africa's main ironclad ships, and large areas of ruins appeared in the city.

Before the coalition forces had time to clean up the ruins in the city, the Northern Guards Division began to move south, leaving the coalition forces to rely on the ruins to fight in East Africa.

But the situation was not too bad. Although many buildings in the city were destroyed, Maputo's city walls did withstand East African artillery attacks.

This kind of fortress has been reinforced by the Portuguese for hundreds of years and nearly ten years, and is far more impregnable than any city in Africa.

 However, the biggest problem faced by the coalition forces at this time was the shortage of troops, not the problem of city defense. Without enough troops to defend, loopholes would easily occur.

But a situation that made Davis desperate happened. On the next day, intelligence from the south and west came back, and at the same time it brought absolutely bad news. The main force of the coalition forces in the south and west was almost completely lost, and only less than one division escaped. With the strength of the troops and the withdrawal of a brigade from the north, the current number of Maputo defenders is less than 30,000.

And East Africa may have several times the number of Maputo defenders. At this time, Maputo was besieged on all sides, but Davis was in a stable mood.

Although less than 30,000 troops were too few, they were still more than enough as long as they gave up part of the outskirts of Maputo City, so Davis wanted to fight to the death.

Subsequently, the East African Guards Division, the Western Military District, and the Southern Military District completed their rendezvous in Maputo City, with full strength and firepower advantages.

The East African Army achieved good results, but it was not enough to conquer this strong fortress in a short time, but unexpected events occurred.

After being bombarded by artillery fire for a day, under the planning of the East African Defense and Security Bureau in Maputo, and under extremely pessimistic circumstances, a Portuguese regiment declared an uprising and took the initiative to introduce the East African Defense Force into the city of Maputo.

Davis never dreamed that such a situation would happen on the battlefield. That night, a fierce street battle broke out between the East African Defense Forces entering the city and the British troops who resisted. After seven hours, Davis, who had no choice but to lead his troops to East Africa, had no choice but to lead his troops to East Africa. surrender.

 (End of this chapter)