Chapter 388: Switching Divisions
Without heavy fire support, the 514th Division could only advance slowly—practically at a snail's pace—crouching and exchanging gunfire while attempting to find cover. The East African Army and Pretoria's defenders were effectively stuck in a stalemate of low-intensity skirmishing.
That made Wiggins quite smug. Addressing his "Young Patriots Army," he boasted, "I told you the Germans weren't all that. They think we're just some Ndebele savages!"
Initially, many patriots in Pretoria were nervous, given that their opponents were Germans. The German lands had seen countless wars, and the reputations of Prussia and Austria-Hungary loomed large. No one doubted the Germans' fighting strength, particularly with their superior numbers compared to the local two thousand (not counting the African conscripts). But now, seeing that the 514th Division was not as formidable as expected, they regained confidence.
From his vantage at the rear, Ernst concluded, "A unit like the 514th is better suited to open grasslands, where it can bully natives armed with cold weapons. They don't look anything like a proper army against fortifications, strongholds, or cities. Fortunately, the Boers have revealed this weakness in our own forces!"
In Africa, native peoples certainly could build towns, but those fortifications were typically primitive. Setting aside the Ndebele, who gave up their cities and chose to fight East Africa in open battle—and the Sultanate of Zanzibar, which fell to internal strife and thereby made things easier for East Africa—the toughest city walls they'd faced so far were the early stone walls built by a few kingdoms around the African Great Lakes. Frankly, these were haphazard constructions of stone blocks that might fend off local beasts or rival villages but would never stand up to a truly developed foe. Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, the only large, stone-built city constructed independently by Black Africans was the Great Zimbabwe ruins.
By contrast, the walls around Pretoria—though only recently built—were a cut above. Wiggins mixed bricks and earth to connect the city's outer structures, basically creating a ring around Pretoria. Fortunately for him, it hadn't rained lately, or that makeshift wall might have collapsed. Despite being an improvised fortification, it had firing slits, gun turrets, and positions suitable for machine guns, all made thick enough to withstand two or three rounds of artillery bombardment.
So far, however, Wiggins hadn't even deployed his cannons or machine guns. He knew East Africa's forces had artillery—during the Ndebele uprising, their small-caliber cannons had proven quite effective. The Boers didn't have many guns, but the ones they did were larger caliber with greater firepower than East Africa's light artillery. The problem was poor mobility, making them suitable only for defense or siege.
Logically, Boers had little need for such weapons in their own conflicts, so they must have acquired them with Britain's Cape Colony in mind.
"Commander, how about we lob a few shells at those Germans below the walls?" a Boer soldier suggested.
Wiggins waved him off. "You don't get it. Right now, the Germans are just probing us. There are quite a few in that force, but it isn't their main body. They haven't even used artillery yet, which tells me they don't really take us seriously. But since their vanguard is getting nowhere, sooner or later their follow-up forces will get impatient—and that's when we should bring out the artillery."
"Commander, since the enemy has cannons as well, how powerful are theirs?"
"Don't worry. The 'German' guns in East Africa are of very small caliber, and there aren't many of them."
That part made sense. Previously, other than coastal defense, East Africa hadn't invested much in artillery for its ground forces. Against native forces, rifles alone usually sufficed, with cannons only needed to discourage fanatical attacks and break their morale. Thus the overall number of cannons in the East African Army was limited. In the entire Southern Route Army there were only around a dozen. The 514th Division—lowest in priority—didn't have a single cannon. Only the 511th and 512th Divisions had artillery.
Without artillery, the 514th couldn't open a breach in Pretoria's defenses. Of course, having more powerful firepower doesn't automatically guarantee victory, but the 514th was clearly out of its element attacking a city. Facing an urban foe for the first time, it was left fumbling.
So Ernst ordered, "Pull the 514th back. Time to see how our newly reorganized 111th performs."
When the 514th withdrew, the Boers rejoiced; some even taunted that the Germans weren't so tough after all. However, Wiggins felt uneasy. The East African Kingdom hadn't truly launched a serious assault, yet they'd already pulled out. Although he'd reinforced Pretoria, it wasn't the fortress he'd painted it as for morale's sake—there were holes everywhere. If the East Africans had been willing to make the sacrifice and charge, they could have forced their way to the city limits at the cost of maybe a hundred men. Plainly, East Africa wasn't keen to pay even that price, suggesting they had a better method in mind.
The new 111th Division was one of East Africa's principal units. After the Franco-Prussian War, a cadre of officers—graduates of the Hechingen Military Academy who had actually fought the top-ranked French Army—were assigned to restructure the division. These officers are typical "academics," not just from quick crash courses. For instance, the East African Army's current Chief of General Staff, Sivitt, completed a shorter track, but many of the 111th's officers underwent three years at Hechingen. They not only learned theory at length, but also had real frontline experience. They left the war with confidence and solid credentials.
The 111th's armaments improved significantly as well. Except for its artillery still lagging behind Prussia's, it had no major weaknesses.
Commanded by Major General Chris, the 111th Division took the field and showed a clear difference compared to the 514th in terms of fluidity. Subunits, having divided responsibility for particular sectors, proceeded in an orderly fashion.
They didn't open with an artillery barrage either. Instead, after estimating a safe distance, small squads advanced to roughly four hundred and fifty meters from Pretoria's defensive works. Because the Boers used a variety of weapons with differing ranges, the 111th found this distance to be essentially safe; using their own Dreyse rifles as a baseline, they knew that at four hundred and fifty meters, they were still effective.
At that four hundred fifty meter mark, they dug in, and the engineers got to work—using spades and picks to extend trenches forward.
From his vantage on Pretoria's walls, Wiggins could see the East African Army's maneuver. Clouds of dust were tossed aside, and soon the East African engineers disappeared into their dugouts.
"They're planning to approach us via trenches," Wiggins muttered.
It gave him pause. At that range, their ordinary rifles were ineffective against the East Africans. He could consider using artillery to bombard the forward positions, but East Africa's own artillery had yet to appear. He wanted to save his limited ammo for when he could seriously hamper the enemy. The only remaining option was to send troops out from behind his fortifications to break up the East African sapper work.
"Pass on my orders—have the 3rd Battalion leave its trenches and launch an attack on the East Africans' forward positions. Don't let their plan succeed!"
Soon, a unit comprised mostly of Black conscripts under Boer officers had no choice but to emerge from their trenches and charge the East African line.
"Charge! Get moving, you slackers! You want to die here?!" Boer officers shouted at the hesitant Black soldiers, kicking them from behind. The Africans had to pick up their rifles and charge toward the East African lines.
Though they were armed, these men didn't dare turn on their Boer officers. Before the battle, Wiggins had given them a nasty demonstration of what the Gatling could do, and now those machine guns were pointing straight at them from behind.
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