British Somalia, also known as Somaliland, is located in northwest Somalia, covering an area of approximately 137,600 square kilometers.
Most of Somaliland is now under rebel control. Only a few large cities such as Hargeisa and Berbera are still under the control of the colonial government. Roque arrived in Somalia on the destroyer "Crocodile" on October 3.
Berbera, the largest port in the Netherlands.
Garfield Pullman, the British government's high commissioner in Somaliland, greeted Roque at the port, as well as Colonel George Jensen, the top commander of the Somaliland garrison.
Although Berbera is the largest port in Somaliland, from Roque's perspective, Berbera does not need to be compared with Port Edward and Walvis Bay, and there is a huge gap compared with Port Elizabeth. Not only are the terminal facilities simple, but the port management
The buildings in the district are also lackluster. Standing on the third-floor balcony of the port area building, you can clearly see the stilts not far away. The shacks are slums where locals live.
"We originally had about 3,500 troops. The officers were all our own, and the soldiers were young people recruited from the local area. After the rebellion, many soldiers absconded with weapons, and our defense line was forced to shrink. Now there is a gap between us and Hargeisa.
Land transportation has been completely cut off. Fortunately, we can use telegraph to contact us. The only thing we can be sure of now is that Hargeisa is still under our control." Garfield Pullman knew nothing about the rebels and did not know
We don’t know how many people there are in the rebels. We don’t know the equipment of the rebels. We only know that the leader of the rebels seems to be a man named Muhammad Abdullah Hassan.
like?
Rock is really dumbfounded. Shouldn't we understand this kind of thing clearly?
However, Rock cannot ask too much of Garfield Pullman. During the World War, the British government's attention was on the Western Front. Garfield Pullman did not have enough strength, so it was understandable that he could not control the situation.
"How's the situation on the Italian side?" Roque didn't have much hope for the Italians. He just hoped that when Roque took action here, the Italians wouldn't hold back.
Before coming to Somaliland, Roque had tried to contact the Kingdom of Italy, but there has been no reply from the Kingdom of Italy yet.
After the end of the World War, the Kingdom of Italy did not immediately free itself from the war. After the Italian-Turkish War, although Tripoli and Cyrenaica became colonies of the Kingdom of Italy, the rebels in Tripoli and Cyrenaica have been resisting and
The battle with the Kingdom of Italy did not stop.
During the World War, in order to tempt the Kingdom of Italy to choose the Allied Powers, the then British Foreign Secretary Edward Gray promised part of the Balkan Peninsula to the Kingdom of Italy. This promise has now been fulfilled.
However, the Kingdom of Italy's control of this part of the territory was not smooth. Especially after Kemal declared independence, rebellion broke out in the areas occupied by the Kingdom of Italy. Now the troops of the Kingdom of Italy are also exhausted. Like the United Kingdom, they have no time and energy.
Nor does it have the strength to quell the rebellion in Italian Somalia.
"The situation in the Kingdom of Italy is also very bad. It is estimated that the Kingdom of Italy only has two brigades left in Italian Somalia. Their General Tony was seriously ill last year and was unable to handle military affairs. He has returned to Italy to recuperate. Now the person in charge is Gilardino.
Colonel, Colonel Gilardino's situation is very bad. The troops lack sufficient weapons and ammunition, and their supplies are not sufficient. Colonel Gilardino has applied for reinforcements many times, but has been unable to do so." Garfield Pullman looked calm.
, he actually sent telegrams to London many times before, hoping that London could send reinforcements to British Somalia, but London also had no troops to send.
"Colonel Johnson -" Rock knew that the situation in the garrison was very bad, but he didn't expect it to be so bad.
"I'm here, Marshal Locke!" George Johnson's voice was loud, so loud that it startled Locke.
"George, take it easy, don't be nervous -" Roark couldn't laugh or cry. With the reputation accumulated during the World War, Roark's reputation in the British Army has been rising steadily, and now he has become a "military god" on par with Kitchener.
After Kitchener was hospitalized due to illness, this situation became more and more obvious. Now among the British troops, the only ones who can rival Rock are John Fisher and John Jellicoe, the former commander of the Home Fleet who has just served as Minister of War.
It's all a little bit worse.
After Kitchener was hospitalized, Winston had intended to appoint Locke as British Secretary of War, but the invitation was declined by Locke.
"I'm sorry, Lord, I'm too nervous -" George Jensen blushed slightly, and then smiled helplessly: "-The total number of our current troops is less than 2,000, and the troops still use Henry equipment equipped ten years ago.
·Martini rifles, many officers were killed by the rebels, and in several cities all the immigrants were slaughtered——"
Roque's expression gradually became serious. Although British Somalia had nothing to do with southern Africa, Roque, as a British marshal, had reasons to protect British citizens.
"The number of white people in Somalia is very small. Our last census was in 1898. At that time, the total number of white people in Somalia was less than 5,000." Garfield Pullman looked embarrassed. British immigrants were based on the United States and Canada.
Mainly, very few people choose Australia and New Zealand. If that doesn't work out, there is still Southern Africa as an option. There really aren't many people who choose Somalia as their immigration settlement.
The "Somalia" mentioned by Garfield Pullman specifically refers to British Somalia. Not all white people who immigrated to British Somalia were British. There were also French, Greeks and even Italians. Specifically, the British were estimated to be even a thousand
nothing.
This is the norm in British overseas colonies.
"It doesn't matter, I have ordered the Second Cavalry Division to board the ship and it is expected to arrive in ten days." Roque became the ace unit as soon as he took action.
After the end of the World War, except for a few meritorious troops who made repeated military exploits during the World War, the other Southern African Expeditionary Force troops were disbanded on the spot and returned to southern Africa in batches. The 2nd Cavalry Division was one of the meritorious troops and was completely
Retained and posted to Port Elizabeth.
Another meritorious force, the 3rd Cavalry Division, was deployed in the Bosporus to assist the British troops in controlling the Black Sea outlet.
"That's great, we're going to hit those Somalis hard and kill them all!" Garfield Pullman was murderous. Although the colonial government relied on local indigenous people to create profits, those who had white people on their hands
All the bloody natives must be dealt with.
This is just like killing a dog if it bites someone. There are some bottom lines that cannot be exceeded.
Although George Jensen did not speak, his expression was absolutely positive.
That night, Garfield Pullman held a dinner party at his official residence. It seemed that as long as the British Empire still existed, banquets would never disappear. Almost all the British and French officials Rock knew were very enthusiastic about banquets. World War
Even at the most stressful time, it did not stop the dignitaries in Paris from holding banquets.
To Rock's surprise, many of the items at the banquet came from southern Africa.
Somalia is actually rich in products. In Rock's concept, the reason why Somalia is called a "country of pirates" in the 21st century must be because the people have to become pirates because of the poor products and lack of means to make a living.
In fact, when I came to Somaliland Rock, I realized that Somaliland is really not a desert or barren in products. Although there are Gobi mountains in Somaliland, there are also fertile pastures and fertile oases. In Somaliland, the most famous animals include the great antelope.
, wild boars, African wild ass, warthogs, antelopes, Somali sheep, wild goats and camels. In addition, there are many kinds of birds and fish living in Somaliland. The richness of the products is no less than that of other areas in Qingdao.
Thinking about Somalia's history as a famous spice producing area, Rock really couldn't figure it out. Although Somalia is a geomantic treasure land, it is definitely not barren. In such an environment, Somalis actually became pirates. What do you think?
At the dinner, Rock tasted some local Somali specialties. According to custom, Rock ate everything on the plate.
“In Somaliland, if a guest eats all the food on the plate, it means that the guest is not full, which is very rude, so you should leave a little food on the plate to show respect for the host.
"Garfield Pullman introduces Rock to Somaliland traditions.
Rock really couldn't accept this habit. The traditional education that Chinese people receive is: Who knows that every grain of food on the plate is hard work? What does it mean to have a little bit left after a meal is not finished?
If this were the case in a Chinese family, a child would definitely be beaten if he didn't finish his meal and left something at the bottom of the bowl. In the words of many Chinese parents, only beggars would have this habit.
At this time, Roque will definitely not comment on Somaliland’s traditions, and do as the Romans do. Roque will also save some when eating later.
"Somaliland is also rich in aquatic products and there are many livestock in the pastures. We have invited Mr. Cecil Rhodes to invest in Somaliland many times, but it is a pity that Mr. Cecil Rhodes looks down on our Somaliland -
—" At this moment, it was Garfield Pullman's turn to smile bitterly. Somaliland is rich in beef, mutton and aquatic products, but it cannot be sold to the British mainland because it does not meet British requirements. This makes Garfield Pullman very troubled.
"If you want Cecil to invest, you must at least create a stable environment for Cecil. Now Somaliland is full of rebels and the situation is precarious. I am Cecil, and I will not invest in Somaliland." Luo Keneng said.
I understand Stoudemire, maybe in Garfield Pullman’s view, Somaliland’s pastures and aquatic products are not bad, but compared with southern Africa, Somaliland’s pastures are really not good enough.
Although Stoudemire is easy to talk to in front of Rock, if it were anyone else, Stoudemire would be very difficult to serve.
