Reborn South Africa as a police officer

Chapter 859

On August [-]th, Germany began its attack on the Belgian fortress of Liege.

In 1905, Alfred von Schlieffen, then Chief of the German General Staff, formulated an extremely top-secret combat plan, which was the famous "Schlieffen Plan".

In Alfred von Schlieffen's vision, even if Germany fought side by side with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it would not be able to support a two-front war against France and Russia at the same time.

Considering Russia's inefficient mobilization capabilities, Germany must first defeat France before Russia completes its mobilization and its troops are capable of attacking, and then return to the Eastern Front to deal with Russia.

France has built a large-scale and well-equipped fortress group on the German-French border. Although it has not yet reached the point of the "Maginot Line of Defense" in the future, a direct attack will have to pay a huge price, so Belgium has become the last place for Germany to bypass the French defense line. good channel.

At this time, the status of the Liege Fortress was highlighted to the point where it could not be added. If Germany wants to bypass Belgium to attack France, it must first conquer the Liege Fortress.

General Gerard Lehmann, who was in charge of guarding the fortress of Liege, had 2.4 fortress garrison troops in his hands, as well as a mobile force composed of 500 infantry, 72 cavalry, and [-] field artillery.

The Fortress of Liege is located at the confluence of the Meuse River and the Ult River, bordering the Dutch border to the north, the Ardennes Forest to the south, and the Meuse River as the center, with six fortresses facing Germany on the east bank and six fortresses protecting the rear on the west bank Fortresses, each fortress is six kilometers away from the scorching sun, and the interval between fortresses is also six kilometers apart, evenly distributed radially between the German and Belgian borders.

Before the German troops launched an attack on the Liege Fortress, the current German chief of staff, Moltke, modified Schlieffen's plan. There were as many as 50 troops to pass through the Liege Fortress, so many troops were distributed on a front with a total width of less than 12 miles. The degree of congestion can be imagined.

In order to conquer the fortress of Liege, Germany formed a siege force of 3 people. This force is well-trained and equipped with large-caliber howitzers. It has been deployed to the Derby border in advance. The commander of one of the brigades of this force is about to Brilliant Ludendorff.

Ludendorff once served as the staff officer of Alfred von Schlieffen and participated in the formulation of the "Schlieffen Plan". He knew the key nodes in the "Schlieffen Plan" very well. I once went to the Liege Fortress to investigate, and I also know the Liege Fortress very well.

To attack the fortress of Liège, the first step is to cross the Meuse River near the Derby border.

After Germany issued an ultimatum to Belgium, Belgium had blown up all the bridges on the Maas River, so the German army could only use boat bridges to forcefully cross the river.

The Maas River is already within the artillery range of the Liege Fortress. The Belgian defenders have accurately measured the terrain around the Liege Fortress early on, so the Belgian artillery fire is very accurate. The German troops who crossed the river suffered heavy losses. More than 200 artillery pieces concentrated on the fortress of Liège, but they were unable to break through the defense of the fortress, and the artillery units also suffered heavy losses. On this day, the German army only made a certain breakthrough in the lower reaches of the Meuse River, and made no progress in the middle and upper reaches.

Later in the day, Britain officially declared war on Germany, and at [-]:[-] pm, the Ministry of Defense of Southern Africa received orders from the War Department to launch an immediate attack on Southwest Africa.

The Ministry of Defense in Pretoria has been extremely busy since the mobilization of the war.

This is a huge complex of six buildings located on General Street in Pretoria. The six divisions of the Ministry of National Defense share a three-story office building with each of the two divisions and a defense chief. Rock's office Building No. [-] is located in the center of the entire Ministry of Defense.

From the outside, the entire Ministry of National Defense is a huge fortress. There are hidden underground passages and material warehouses under the gardens between office buildings, as well as 120 rooms with different functions. If southern Africa is invaded by foreign enemies, Pretoria Under attack, then the Ministry of Defense is the last bastion.

According to the plan of the General Staff Department, southern Africa has entered a state of combat. Rock, Derek Dodd, and Martin will all work in the underground office. Dodd is going to Nyasaland soon, and Martin is preparing to lead the army to Europe. Rock does not want to Dive into the ground as a rat, so Rock is still in Office Building No. [-].

"Not yet. I will go to Congress tomorrow to explain the war plan of the Ministry of Defense and postpone the attack on Southwest Africa." Rock is not in a hurry. Although Rock has been looking forward to the attack order for a long time, Rock has more important things to do. to do.

There are still many hidden dangers in southern Africa. Rock wants to release news of attacking Southwest Africa for fishing to see how many people will be hooked.

"How do you reply from London?" Derek Dodd hesitated, preparing to attack the army in Southwest Africa, which was also planned to go to Europe to support the army. Rock had to occupy Southwest Africa first, and then he could take care of supporting Europe.

On the contrary, the attack on Tanganyika will start soon, because Rock is ready.

"Just say that we need more time to prepare. It's almost winter, and our troops lack cotton coats and blankets." Rock can easily find out a lot of reasons. In the early days of the war, the British and French allied forces suffered heavy casualties, and the German and Austrian allied forces marched forward triumphantly. At this time, sending troops to Europe will not achieve any record at all, it is purely sending cannon fodder.

"My lord, Britain still needs to order blankets from southern Africa—" Derek Dodd is a shameless person, and he feels that such a reason cannot be said.

"What's the matter? The Johannesburg Textile Company is a private enterprise, and our Ministry of Defense has no money and cannot afford it." The excuse of free trade is really useful, and the federal government cannot recruit materials at will.

"My lord, Whale Bay was attacked by the Southwest African army—" Patton rushed to report. He didn't expect the Germans to move so fast. The attack was launched not long after the war was declared, and it was probably planned for a long time.

"Where do the Southwest Africans have the courage—" Derek Dodd shook his head and sighed.

"Even if they don't attack Whale Bay, we won't let them go." Roque knew that the Germans were adventurous, but he didn't know they were so brave, but this also reminded Roque: "Order the troops to attack along the railway, at least We must ensure the safety of the Walvis Bay Railway."

The attack on Walvis Bay was not serious. There were about two divisions besieging Walvis Bay. These are the only two divisions in Southwest Africa. Only one of them is a real German army, and the other is a colonial servant army formed by the Germans.

Rock's pre-war deployment worked. Whale Bay also had two African divisions on standby. Although only the officers of these two divisions were white, their combat effectiveness was comparable to that of the two divisions in Southwest Africa.

"We have repelled two enemy attacks and killed at least 103 German soldiers. The combat effectiveness of the German troops does not seem to be very good." Richard Brown, the commander of the 40rd Division, is less than [-] years old this year. A little thin, wearing a pair of high-prescription glasses, giving people a very aristocratic feeling.

The African divisions that are going to Europe for reinforcements all have three digits starting with "1".

"Don't be careless. This is the German colonial army. They are not well trained and lack artillery, so we can persevere. The real German army is not so easy to defeat." Ford Lu, the commander of the 105th Division, was not proud. He was a veteran soldier, with experience in the British Army, the Second Boer War, and a brief stint at the Army Academy.

"If we can attack, I feel like we can fight all the way to Windhoek." Richard Brown felt a little regretful. These are all military exploits, the kind that can be knighted.

"Enjoy the relaxation now. When we go to Europe, I'm afraid we won't even have time to sleep." Ford Lew was sober. He and Richard Brown had a clear mission, and they had to go all out after arriving in Europe. It doesn't matter if the troops are exhausted, the Ministry of National Defense will not hold them accountable, and will replenish troops to rebuild the troops, and they will be punished only if they cannot show the bravery and tenacity of the southern African army.

To put it bluntly, cannon fodder is not so easy to be. It takes not only cold blood, but also discipline and courage to make soldiers line up to die.

"General, Mr. Humphrey's car has arrived." Brown's chief of staff was wearing a uniform. Since the 103rd and 105th divisions arrived in Walvis Bay, Walvis Bay has been singing every night, and Brown's chief of staff was also invited.

"Not today, we can't go to the banquet." Brown still has a bottom line, the battle is going on, and Howard Humphrey is really big-hearted.

On the front line, five kilometers away from the headquarters of Richard Brown and Ford Lew, fighting was in progress.

Although the equipment of the African divisions is simple, one shot per person can still be guaranteed. These African divisions have been established for more than two years. The training of the troops is very strict, and the quality of the soldiers is not bad. There were all kinds of traffic trenches and machine gun positions, and barbed wire and landmines were arranged in front of the positions. The attacking German army suffered unspeakably and suffered heavy casualties.

The defending troops are two regiments of the 103nd Brigade of the 12rd Division. These troops were reorganized this summer. Unlike the British Army, the African Division uses the standard three-three infantry division, one division and three brigades. A brigade has three regiments, and then the battalion and company are arranged in three units. The most basic squad is 120 people, and the company plus about 1765 non-combatants. The battalion will add a machine gun company equipped with twelve installation triangles. There are general-purpose machine guns, and the regiment level has a company responsible for logistics and transportation, plus troops responsible for communications, medical treatment, and engineering. The standard establishment of each regiment is 17206, and the standard establishment of each division is [-].

In addition to the organization, the African Division continues to use place names as the troop names. The two regiments of the 103rd Division are the Bunia Infantry Regiment and the Mankayane Infantry Regiment, which can clearly indicate the origin of the soldiers. If the troops are exhausted, they will continue to replenish troops from these two places.

(End of this chapter)