Chapter 700 Dragoon
South Prussia Province.
Nyeri City was a town in southwestern Kenya in the previous life, the capital of the Central Province of Kenya, and a regional distribution center for coffee, tea, sisal, grain, and livestock products. Like its previous life, Nyeri City was also a relatively developed agricultural region in East Africa.
The largest military horse farm in East Africa is built on the vast grassland 35 kilometers southeast of Nyeri City, and breeds more than 30,000 horses.
Herman, the director of the Nyeri Army Horse Farm, receives personnel from the East African military.
Major General Mars: "According to the government's order, two new cavalry divisions were established on the spot, and we started military training here for half a year."
The province of South Prussia has a convenient geographical location. To the north is the largest animal husbandry base in East Africa. South Prussia is located on the northern edge of the suddenly rising East African Plateau. With Nairobi as the provincial capital, it also has the large lake Kisumu (Lake Victoria). ), the province's economy is also very developed in the whole of East Africa. Together with the Eastern Province (the provincial capital Mombasa) in the east, it forms the core of the northern industrial belt.
Horses selected from northern pastures can be trained on the nearby plateau. After all, the climate of the plateau is somewhat different from that of the plains, so South Prussia has always been an excellent training place for East African cavalry.
In fact, South Prussia also has its own plateau military horse farm, but the plantation industry in South Prussia is more developed, so its reputation is not as prominent.
The tropical plateau terrain of South Prussia is very suitable for military horse breeding. The temperature here remains at around ten degrees all year round, which is relatively cool and is the environment that war horses prefer.
In fact, the 221st Division and the 222nd Division are the European "dragon cavalry", and more generally speaking, they are mounted infantry.
Just like in previous lives, Kenya has the best marathon training ground in the world. I don't know whether this environment has any impact on the horses, but the various conditions at Nyeri Military Horse Farm are indeed much better than those in the northern pastures.
There are also big differences in weapons and equipment between the two. The most obvious one is that the East African Dragoons are equipped with engineer shovels. When they rush to a strategic location and switch to defense, they can use the engineer shovels to build fortifications.
"The two newly established divisions are located in the Northern Military Region, with the new designations of the 221st Division and the 222nd Division. They are mounted infantry imitating European dragoons and are a new mobile unit formed according to infantry training methods and combined with the mobility of cavalry."
Before this, the purpose of the existence of the East African Cavalry Division was to deal with the indigenous people in the cold weapon era. Now the enemies of East Africa have changed from cold weapons to modern armies with hot weapons, so the East African military must also make adjustments.
The previous East African cavalry still belonged to the traditional cavalry category, but this time the 221st and 222nd divisions were motorized infantry. There is a fundamental difference between the two.
East Africa previously had four cavalry divisions, three in the Eastern Military District, one in the Western Military District, and a Guards Division with a separate cavalry brigade. In fact, it was no different from a general cavalry division. Therefore, before 1887, East Africa actually had There were five cavalry divisions.
The pickaxe is a traditional tool of European dragoons. It originated from the ancient Roman era and is still mainstream in Europe where tradition is more important.
The engineer shovel was taken seriously in 1869, when the Dane Mads Linamann invented an engineer shovel, which was then used on a large scale in the Tsarist Russian army.
Influenced by previous generations, the design of the East African engineer shovel is quite "bold". According to the needs of the army, various "improvements" have been made to adapt to the needs of different troops. The new battlefield environment requires every soldier to carry trenching tools with him. Only in this way can they quickly build bunkers to save their lives. However, this new way of fighting still requires an adaptation process, and among armies with long traditions, resistance to the construction of trenches is particularly strong.
The East African National Defense Force does not have this "conservative" concept. As a new army formed from the "bottom level", it also actively absorbs the pragmatism of the Prussian Army. Therefore, East Africa also pays attention to practicality and convenience in weapons and equipment.
Herman: "Don't worry, General, we will definitely cooperate with your work, but we can only provide training venues, and the relevant infrastructure is not perfect, especially providing living and training facilities for two divisions at once. It's very embarrassing for us."
"You don't have to worry about this. We have enough manpower to handle these matters ourselves. We just need the cooperation and guidance of the people at the racecourse. Otherwise, it will be a mess and it will be difficult for you to handle it." Major General Mars said.
Major General Mars brought more than 8,000 recruits, who were the main force of the labor force, and 2,000 veterans, who were drawn from the 123rd Division and the Guards Division. They will become the skeleton of the two new cavalry divisions and lead these The recruits grew up rapidly.
With the cooperation of the Nyeri Army Horse Farm and the Nyeri Municipal Government, it took only one week to basically solve the housing problem. Because the northern part of Nyeri City is a forest area, it is convenient to obtain local materials. At the same time, through the Northern Railway, it can be supplemented Complete other missing supplies and equipment.
The "domestication" of these recruits also began.
Major General Mars: "With the development of military technology, the improvement of rifle performance, and the vigorous development of machine guns and artillery, the role of traditional cavalry is actually being greatly weakened. The five existing cavalry units in our country are actually semi-transitional in nature. Cavalry units, and the two cavalry units formed this time are officially developing towards the European cavalry model."
"Although dragoons are different from cavalry in the traditional sense, their role is becoming more and more prominent on European battlefields and they are more adaptable to the development of the times. This is an important reason why the five cavalry units are not constructed according to European cavalry standards."
After all, apart from the Transvaal, the East African Defense Force had never seen any other cavalry units among its previous opponents in East Africa. In fact, the Boers' cavalry was also irregular, and the Zulus they faced were also powerful infantry.
"So you should not think that the status of dragoons is lower than that of traditional cavalry, at least that is not the way it is arranged in East Africa. Of course, you should also take care of your horses and pay attention to hygiene like traditional cavalry troops.
War horses are your partners, partners in life and death. Horse management must be strictly implemented in accordance with regulations and procedures. Stables should be cleaned on time every day, fodder and water troughs should be filled, saddles should be maintained regularly, and the storage room should be kept dry and ventilated. The place where horses live should be kept clean and hygienic. , to prevent the spread of disease. Horse feces must be cleaned up in time to ensure the cleanliness of the horse farm. "
In Europe, the status of dragoons varies from country to country. However, in mainstream European countries such as Germany and France, the status of dragoons is lower than that of cuirassiers, lancers, hussars, etc.
The status of dragoons in the UK has been greatly improved, and they are in the category of heavy cavalry. However, it is easy to understand that Britain is an island country and is different from the European continent. The Swedish dragoons are also quite special. In actual use, the Swedish dragoons are based on light cavalry and muskets. Used for cavalry's tactical purposes.
Generally speaking, dragoons are in a rather awkward state, similar to when paratroopers and marines were first formed.
However, at the end of the 19th century, dragoons finally began to receive attention from various countries and were vigorously developed. This situation would continue until after World War I.
However, the development of cavalry belongs to the "setting sun". In the future, with the development of vehicle technology, there will be various weapons, tactics, etc. to restrain cavalry, which will no longer be needed by the times. However, this is not an issue that countries are considering in the current era, such as The East African National Defense Force would like to use cars to replace horses, but it is impossible to achieve this in terms of current technology, quality and output.
(End of this chapter)