African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1320: East African Military Reform
The fundamental purpose of East Africa's military expansion is to cope with major changes in the world. Now we are in a critical period of major changes in the world. This is also the fundamental reason why the East African government wants to expand its military to more than one million.

"Whether we end up joining the war or not, we need to be prepared in the military field in advance to deal with any risks," Pripyat said.

"Although the European countries are fighting fiercely, this also means that they already have a huge military force in their hands, and after being baptized by the battlefield, when this force is deployed to areas outside of Europe after the war, there will be no force that can compete with it in the short term."

"Therefore, the navy is the key issue. Only by guarding the sea can our army maintain the strategic initiative and be able to attack or defend. On the one hand, we need to increase the size of the navy, and on the other hand, we need to be ready to transform our production capacity into a wartime economy at any time."

"The same is true for the army. We must strengthen the management of the reserve and logistics systems so that when a war breaks out, the Empire can always raise a large army that is no less large than that of European countries."

Assuming that East Africa is eventually drawn into the war, there is only one possibility, that is, to join the Allied camp. This is the consensus of the East African governments and the fundamental reason why Britain and France are trying their best to throw out chips to win over East Africa.

It is impossible for East Africa to join the Allied camp. This is determined by a combination of factors such as East Africa’s ethnicity, culture, and interests.

However, not joining the Allied Powers does not mean that one must join the Central Powers, especially at the moment. The East African government still has to see how the European war situation will perform after the United States joins the Allied camp. If the United States’ joining still cannot change the situation in Europe, then the East African government will most likely make a political shift.

Therefore, this round of discussion by the East African government on the topic of military expansion was finally recognized by Ernst, who took out the military expansion plan he had prepared long ago.

Ernst said: "Based on the current base of East African troops and various factors such as the composition of the army, the target of expanding the army is 400,000 and it will be completed within two years."

"For the army, we will expand the armored forces, mobile forces, information forces, biological and chemical forces, army aviation and other important military branches in the country."

"In terms of the navy, we will strengthen the construction of aircraft carrier formations. By the end of 1920, we will have formed three new aircraft carrier battle formations. We will also add naval aviation external combat missions and focus on the construction of combat-ready airports in the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and the South Pacific."

"We will vigorously develop the air force, so that it will have more than 1920 soldiers by . We will also focus on developing military aircraft and improving the local pilot training system. After this round of military expansion, the total strength of the National Defense Force will reach more than million."

It seems that there are a lot of people, but we have to take into account the large number of colonial garrisons in East Africa. Most of these colonial garrisons are poorly equipped and mainly consist of infantry, which means they can bully the local natives.

If compared with the armies of European countries that have been tested by long-term large-scale wars, their combat effectiveness is very questionable.

Ernst therefore stressed: "From this year to next, the military and overseas governments must speed up the cleansing of the colonies. Before 1920, the current population structure problems of the colonies must be basically solved. After 1920, the overall stability of the overseas territories must be achieved."

"Troops fighting overseas should also speed up their return to China, especially those in stable areas. After reserving enough personnel, they should return to China for rest and reorganization."

"The troops returning home will be organized into new combat units based on their experience in the European wars. They will be equipped with weapons and equipment in an all-round way in accordance with modern military standards, and will develop experience in large-scale combat operations."

Why do I say this? The main reason is that the East African army in the past can actually be divided into two types: one is a new type of army consisting of armored forces, mobile forces, information forces, etc., and the other is an old type of army that is still configured according to the military configuration of European countries in the last century and has not been transformed. The latter is mainly East Africa's traditional cavalry and light infantry.

The reason why a large number of old-style troops were retained in East Africa in the past was actually very simple: to save money.

Since the South African War, East Africa has basically fallen into a long-term state of peaceful development. Even if wars have become frequent again in recent years, they are all security wars in overseas colonies. In response to colonial security wars, old military uniforms are more cost-effective. After all, it is not worthwhile to deploy new arms and new weapons such as armored forces or air forces to deal with natives.

However, the overseas security war in East Africa has actually come to an end. Except for the Isthmus of Kra Territory, the cleanup activities in most colonies have been basically completed.

Therefore, during this period of time, many East African troops in Togoland, East Kalimantan, and Mindanao can return home, and the East African overseas colonies have reserved less than 200,000 troops, which can basically ensure that they can rest assured.

In this way, the three parts of the East African mainland, the returning troops, and the newly formed troops after the expansion can basically be maintained at more than 500,000.

Ernst planned to reorganize these at least 500,000 troops into a new army and eliminate traditional cavalry, infantry and other old-style troops.

In other words, in the future, except for a small number of overseas colonial garrisons in East Africa, the entire country's army will improve its weapons and equipment and form new combat units.

For example, the light infantry will be reorganized into a mobile force and fully equipped with a large number of cars, motorcycles and other motor vehicles. The artillery will also be fully tractive by cars, railways and other power sources, changing the mode of people pulling and horses pulling... This is a large-scale military reform in East Africa.

Ernst said: "We should expand the army and reform it simultaneously, comprehensively improve the army's combat capability, so as to cope with any risks that may arise in the future, and join the mechanization and informatization development of the army."

"This military reform should fully absorb the experience of the European battlefield, especially the application of various new weapons and equipment such as tanks, vehicles, and aircraft that have appeared on the European continent."

"Study the application models of large-scale troop operations in European countries to ensure that after the reform of our new infantry is completed, we can quickly form combat effectiveness and respond to various war situations and emergencies."

"Finally, it is to strengthen the coordination between the navy, army and air force. For example, how the air force can cooperate with the army to suppress local firepower on the ground battlefield, provide support and help the army clear enemy targets ahead, or how the air force can assist the navy to achieve air blockades of straits, bays and other places."

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With the appearance of various strange and exotic weapons on the European battlefield, the East African Defense Force no longer needs to hide as it did in the past. Instead, it should study how to further improve its combat system and tactics, so as to achieve a dimensionality reduction attack by the East African army on the armies of other countries.

At present, the East African Army has achieved the world's best level in terms of weapons and equipment, but precisely because of this, the East African Defense Force can only explore its own current and future development, with no reference in the world.

Even though new weapons such as airplanes and tanks have appeared on the European battlefields today, there is still a huge gap between these weapons and those of the East African Defense Force, which has been exploring since the last century.

Through this round of military expansion, the size of East Africa's army would have ranked among the top two in the world before the war.

At that time, only Russia's standing army was maintained at over one million, with the specific number being around 1.42 million. This means that after the expansion of the army in East Africa, the number of troops was only about 200,000 less than the Russian army before the war.

Referring to the population size of the two countries, although the number of East African troops is still small, East Africa's economic and industrial levels are higher than those of Russia. Moreover, after years of development, East Africa's naval strength is also higher than that of Russia before the Russo-Japanese War.

Therefore, after the military expansion, the number of East African troops is still less than that of pre-war Russia, but the military expenditure may be several times that of the Russian army. This is because the economy and industry of East Africa have developed now, otherwise it would be impossible to realize this round of military reform.

(End of this chapter)