Reborn South Africa as a police officer

Chapter 1556 Attack
When Madagascar began to expel the French, the commander-in-chief of the French Expeditionary Force, François Darlan, had just arrived in Réunion with his fleet on the battleship "Colbet".

Born in 1881, François Darlan rose to prominence during the World Wars, becoming the youngest cruiser captain in France.

Throughout the First World War, the performance of the French Navy was lackluster. After the World War, Francois Darlan graduated from the Paris Naval Advanced Research Center with No.1 grades and was appointed as the French Minister of the Navy. François Darlan became the youngest French rear admiral and was ordered to carry out combat missions against Madagascar.

In order to return to Madagascar, France formed a huge fleet of 16 warships, with a total strength of nearly 5 troops, including marine troops. This is France's largest military operation since World War II.

The area of ​​Reunion Island is not large, with an area of ​​2500 square kilometers. It is 190 kilometers away from the British colony of the Mauritius Islands in the east and about 650 kilometers away from Madagascar in the west. It is the closest French colony to Madagascar.

A few years ago, France actually had a better choice. Compared with Reunion, the Comoros Islands are more suitable as the forward base of the French army.

It is a pity that the Comoros Islands are used as collateral and have now become part of the territory of southern Africa, so France had to choose Reunion.

Fifty thousand troops gathered on the small island of Reunion. There were simple temporary barracks everywhere. The materials prepared on the pier were piled up like mountains. The port conditions of Reunion Island were not good. The battleship "Colbet" could not even enter the port. Francois Darlan could only drop anchor in the open sea, which made Francois Darlan in a bad mood. Considering that the previous attempts to colonize Madagascar were unsuccessful, this time cast a shadow of failure on subsequent operations.

"Madagascar has begun to expel the French on the island, and we must start the operation as soon as possible." François Darlan's chief of staff is Lieutenant General Brad Adelaide, and the chief of staff has a higher rank than the commander. This also happens only in France.

"Are all the marines in place?" Darlan was about the same age as Roque. His grandparents were sailors. Sunk by the British.

Darlan's father, Darlan Sr., was a lawyer who had been elected mayor of Nejac and member of Parliament, and in 1896 became Minister of Justice in Julius Merlin's cabinet.

So Darlan is the real second generation of officials.

"Not yet, less than two regiments have arrived, and it will take about half a month to complete the assembly." Adelaide also has no choice. The French government is ambitious to return to Madagascar, but the French army is not strong enough.

During the World War, 131.5 million French troops died in battle, 280 million were disabled, and wartime production and front-line service caused a loss of 136.5 million working population. Most of the lost population were young and middle-aged men. It can be said that a whole generation of people was killed or injured do.

After the World War, the French economy was sluggish, and even the pensions of disabled soldiers could not be paid in time. The French government was criticized for this, and the people's anti-war sentiment was serious. The government had to mobilize colonial troops to Réunion.

In order to conquer Madagascar, France mobilized 2.5 troops, all from the North African colonies and Asian colonies. It will take time for these troops to assemble.

"What's the reaction in southern Africa?" Darlan was still worried about southern Africa. As the leader of the Southern African Union, it was impossible for southern Africa to ignore France's attack on Madagascar.

"There are at least four destroyers of the Southern African Indian Ocean Fleet off the coast of Réunion. I don't know how many submarines there are under the sea. A few days ago, Madagascar completed a military purchase contract with a total value of more than 4 million rand through the umbrella company and Southern Africa. It's a pity that we don't know the specific content of the contract." Adelaide frowned, the French government is not yet ready to fight with southern Africa.

The Umbrella Company has a huge influence in Madagascar. Before the French colonial government left Madagascar, it had to rely on the mercenaries of the Umbrella Company to maintain its rule in Madagascar.

During this process, the Umbrella Company grew rapidly, and tens of thousands of Malagasy people joined the Umbrella Company and received training from the Umbrella Company to become mercenaries.

The subsequent downfall of the colonial government of Madagascar has a lot to do with the Malagasy trained in the Umbrella Company.

It can even be said directly that the collapse of the colonial government of Madagascar is directly related to the umbrella company.

But this statement cannot be made public. The owner of Umbrella Company is Rock, which is well known.

Roque was still a French creditor.

"The content of the military purchase contract does not include submarines?" Darlan was worried. Although the two fleets were silent about the joint exercise between the Indian Ocean Fleet and the Mediterranean Fleet, the news spread like wildfire. The ghost submarine is no secret to the French Navy.

During the Washington Naval Conference, because of France's insistence, there were no strict restrictions on submarines.

Although the French delegation won power for the French navy, it is a pity that the French navy has not made much progress in submarines due to various reasons, which is embarrassing.

In fact, before the World War, the French navy had distorted the technology tree. When the United Kingdom and Germany were engaged in an arms race, France could not keep up with the rhythm of Britain and Germany because of its own insufficient strength, so it had to implement the "green water navy" strategy. Green water The navy means a navy with a certain mid-range and far-sea combat capability. Although it can fight hundreds of nautical miles away from land, the farther it is from the home port, the weaker its combat effectiveness will be.

Réunion is more than 8500 kilometers from the French mainland.

The battleship "Kolbe" has an endurance of only 10 nautical miles at an economic speed of 4200 knots, which is a standard short leg.

For the French expeditionary force, only the ubiquitous ghost submarines can pose a threat to powerful battleships. Darlan is very afraid of the performance of ghost submarines.

"It's not clear yet." Adelaide is also very distressed. France doesn't even have a reliable intelligence agency, and the channels for obtaining intelligence are very limited.

During the World War, a dancer could infiltrate Paris with holes, which shows France's neglect of intelligence work.

After the World War, all countries have strengthened their emphasis on intelligence. The United Kingdom established the Military Intelligence Service, the United States established the Bureau of Investigation (the predecessor of the FBI, referred to as BOI), there was Brad in southern Africa, and France also established the Security Bureau, but as of last year , the funds of the Security Bureau did not exceed 1000 million francs.

The income of intelligence work is directly proportional to the investment. 1000 million francs sounds like a lot, but it is actually equivalent to less than 30 pounds. It is not even enough to pay employees.

"Send the 'France' to Madagascar to test the attitude of southern Africa." Darlan must do something. Returning to Madagascar is another adventure for the French government, and no one knows whether it will succeed.

The "Korbe" class battleship is also known as the "Guba" class battleship. There are four ships of the same class, namely the Corbet, the Ocean (formerly known as: Jean Bart), the Paris, and the France.

The expeditionary force fleet consists of two battleships, the "Colbet" and the "France". These two battleships were built by France before the World War. Gross tonnage, but no new shipbuilding plans.

Of course, for Madagascar, which does not even have a navy, the "Korbe" and "France" are strong enough. The "France" battleship has a full load displacement of 25000 tons, is equipped with 12 twin-mounted 305-caliber main guns, and has a crew of 1108 People, the paper data is not as good as the "Normandy" class battleship after the transformation in southern Africa.

After receiving the order, the "France" raised fire and anchored, ready to set off for Madagascar.

Darlan was still very careful, and sent four destroyers to accompany the "France" in action. Unless the southern African navy took action, this fleet had no opponents in Madagascar.

Unlike the cautiousness of Darlan and Adelaide, the captain of the "France", Rear Admiral Quiller Grote, is more optimistic about this mission.

After all, the mission assigned by Darlan did not include the combat part. The mission of the "France" was reconnaissance and probing, which was easy for Grote.

"Departure, target Madagascar—" In the bridge of the "France", Grote was full of confidence. Regardless of whether the French Army could beat the mercenaries of the Umbrella Company, the French Navy still had confidence in maritime operations.

Although 650 kilometers is not far away, it was already the second day when the "France" arrived off the coast of Madagascar.

The weather on this day was fine, the sun was shining, the sea breeze was warm, a few seagulls passed by the side of the "France", and there were dolphins playing on the sea not far away. A fishing boat, and farther away, a patrol gunboat that probably belonged to Madagascar probably spotted the huge "France" and turned around in panic and fled.

"Hahahaha, I found an enemy warship and prepared to bombard it—" Grote was extremely excited. The offshore patrol gunboat had a tonnage of one or two hundred tons, and the 305mm main gun could be smashed into pieces as soon as it ran down.

"General, our mission does not include the combat part." Grote's first officer, Rich Effie, reminded softly.

"Look clearly, the enemy is attacking us. We must kill them and show the glory of our French navy!" Grote was determined.

attack--

Rich Effie didn't even know which eye Grotter saw the fleeing offshore patrol boat attacking.

(End of this chapter)