Rock shuddered when he thought about Verdun on the Somme in World War I.
In fact, we can't blame the battlefield commanders for their rigid thinking and disregard for life. There are actually millions of troops fighting on a front line dozens of kilometers long. There is basically no room for detours and they can only use the most primitive human sea tactics.
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Because of the rise of Southern Africa, the technology of this era is much better than that of another time and space. Nyasaland has been conducting research on aircraft and armored vehicles a long time ago. Although there are currently no air force and armored forces in Southern Africa, Rock also
Already prepared.
In another time and space, during the Battle of the Somme, tanks participated in the battle for the first time. It was already September 15, 1916.
Nyasaland had begun exploring armored vehicles a long time ago. Unfortunately, armored vehicles failed to catch up with the Boer War and have not yet proven their value on the battlefield.
Now the Nyasaland Tractor Factory has begun research on tanks and has produced a prototype.
Because of Rock's guidance, Nyasaland Tractor Factory immediately abandoned the over-the-shoulder track design, and the first tank it produced was a light tank.
This light tank called "Scout" is 5.5 meters long, 2.1 meters wide, 1.9 meters high, weighs 7.5 tons, has 25 mm frontal armor, and is equipped with a 40 mm howitzer and 7.7 mm general machine gun produced by the Nyasaland Arsenal.
It uses a 50-horsepower engine, has a speed of 10-30 kilometers, a combat range of 100 kilometers, and only two members.
In terms of performance, the performance of the "Scout" is similar to that of the Renault tank produced by France in 1917.
The difference is that the "Scout" pays more attention to the protection of the crew. The armor at the driver's position and the commander's position is 40 mm thick, which can provide maximum protection for the driver and commander.
This seems unnecessary now, because before tanks actually appeared on the battlefield, countries around the world had no weapons against tanks, so there was no need to consider the protection of the crew at all.
But Rock wouldn't think so. British tanks from another time and space appeared on the battlefield, and the Germans quickly developed anti-tank rifles to counterattack. So Rock had to take precautions and thicken some steel plates without increasing the cost.
, but it will create more trouble for the Germans and bring more advantages to the Nyasaland troops.
In addition to the "Scout", the Nyasaland Tractor Factory is also studying medium tanks and heavy tanks. The code name of the medium tank is "Light Cavalry", and the code name of the heavy tank is naturally "Heavy Cavalry", but now "Light Cavalry"
The "Cavalry" is also under development, and no sample has yet appeared. The "Heavy Cavalry" project has just been approved, and its development seems far away.
In fact, it is estimated that heavy tanks will not be used in World War I, so the "Heavy Cavalry" project is obviously preparing for the future.
The emergence of the "Scout" was destined to change the battlefield situation of World War I. If the southern African troops appeared on the European battlefield, it would become a nightmare for the German army.
In front of tanks, it was almost impossible for the Germans to use trenches and heavy machine guns to cause large-scale damage to the attacking troops. Rock did not proactively disclose the specific performance of the tanks to the British. The testing of the tanks was mainly conducted in Rhodesia.
Carry out in the city of Milna, Nyasaland has only produced twenty tanks for testing, and will further improve them in the future until they are finally finalized for mass production.
On the plane, Nyasaland has also made great progress.
In August last year, the Wright brothers in the United States successfully built their sixth airplane. This airplane finally attracted widespread attention from the outside world. In August, Wilbur Wright performed more than 100 flight demonstrations in France, setting off an aviation craze in Europe;
Orville Wright flew 55 times around the Fort Meyers Parade Ground in the United States for an hour.
Compared with the Wright brothers' aircraft, Nyasaland's aircraft is obviously more advanced in performance. In August last year, Nyasaland's aircraft completed a three-hour continuous flight with a range of more than 500 kilometers. Now Nyasaland
Lang's aircraft were more advanced, and while the Wright brothers were still trying to figure out how to install machine guns on the aircraft and sell them to the U.S. Army Department, the Nyasaland Aeronautical Research Institute had already begun research on aerial bombs.
The need for aerial bombs emerged after the successful development of the shooting coordinator.
When aircraft first appeared on the battlefield, their main role was for reconnaissance and observation. If they wanted to attack ground targets, they could only use hand-thrown bombs, and the hit rate was predictable.
The principle of the shooting coordinator is very simple, but it is very effective. When the world war in another time and space just broke out, in addition to a pilot, there was also a shooter on the aircraft, so that the aircraft could have certain attack capabilities.
After the emergence of the shooting coordinator, the pilot can position the aircraft while launching attacks on the target. The shooter position is eliminated on the aircraft, further reducing the weight, and naturally it can load more bombs or more fuel.
, attack targets at greater distances.
Nyasaland's aircraft can now carry 500 kilograms of bombs, or carry auxiliary fuel tanks of the same weight to increase the combat radius. From this concept, it has far surpassed the Wright brothers who had just started.
Now in Nyasaland, people are used to having a plane roaring by from time to time. For this reason, the Nyasaland State Government has to set up places such as Little Rock and Xuanji City as no-fly zones in order to stop the uncontrollable arrogance of pilots.
Behavior.
In Nyasaland, there are already more than 200 test pilots, and the Aviation Research Institute has moved beyond biplanes and begun research on monoplanes. If necessary, Southern Africa can set up an air force at any time, which is far ahead of the rest of the world.
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This is where Rock's confidence lies. With these advanced equipment, even if the troops from southern Africa go to Europe to participate in the war, they will not become cannon fodder on the front line, but will stay in the safe rear and provide support to the front line.
Or, participate in the attack in a tank or armored vehicle, which will minimize the losses of the troops.
As for the Allied forces——
Roque doesn't care how many of them die, this kind of thing is better for fellow Taoists than poor Taoists.
Whether it is aircraft or tanks, they are independently conducted research by Nyasaland and have basically nothing to do with Stoudemire, so Stoudemire's attention is still focused on profitable projects such as farms, plantations, factories, and fishery companies.
Rock's focus is not here. As more and more mechanical products are produced in southern Africa, southern Africa's demand for oil is also increasing.
What needs to be emphasized here is that most of the natural resources in the world are rich in reserves in Southern Africa. Except for oil, Southern Africa does not have many reserves. The few oil fields in the world are very difficult to exploit. At least
It cannot be realized under current technical conditions.
At present, the world's demand for oil is not yet obvious. The main oil-producing countries are not Saudi Arabia or the United States, but the little-known Romania and the Baku oil field of the Russian Empire.
In Romania, the current oil refineries belong to the traditional powers of Britain and France. Southern Africa cannot intervene, and the Baku Oilfield of the Russian Empire is beyond its reach. However, outside of Romania and the Baku Oilfield, there are countless oilfields for Rock to choose from.
, the Arabian Peninsula under the control of the Ottoman Empire naturally became Rock's first choice.
Although the Ottoman Empire joined the Allied Powers in World War I, the United Kingdom has always supported the Ottoman Empire against Russia in the several Russo-Turkish wars that have broken out. Therefore, the relationship between the United Kingdom and the Ottoman Empire is not bad, and the United Kingdom even forcibly occupied it.
Egypt, neither caused the war between Britain and the Ottoman Empire.
The purpose of Britain's forced occupation of Egypt was for the Suez Canal. This route was very important to Britain, but it was dispensable to the Ottoman Empire, because the Ottoman Empire did not have the same interests as Britain in Asia.
India during this period was really very important to Britain.
With the relationship between Britain and the Ottoman Empire, Rock's plan to search for oil began on the Arabian Peninsula.
Of course, the first to set foot in the Arabian Peninsula were Rand Bank and Umbrella Corporation.
In June last year, Rand Bank opened its first branch in Cairo. In just a few months, Rand Bank has had six branches in Egypt, making it the strongest bank in Egypt.
More branches than Imperial Bank in Egypt.
In fact, given the size of Egypt's economy, there is no need to establish so many banks. Except for the branch in Cairo, the branches in Egypt basically have no business. The reason for such a big fanfare is that the mercenaries of the Umbrella Company were sent to the Arabian Peninsula.
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Otherwise, with only six branches, the total number of mercenaries would definitely exceed 1,500.
The reason why Roque was able to send so many people to Egypt was mainly due to Ade.
Before Ade served as Commissioner for Southern Africa, Ade once served as the chief executive of Egypt. Even though that was twenty years ago, Ade had a very good relationship with the current Egyptian governor, so Roque took advantage of Ade's influence in Egypt.
, we successfully expanded the Umbrella Company’s business to Egypt.
Roque's ultimate goal is Kuwait.
At this time, Kuwait was just a small seaport with less than 3,000 people living in it. Because oil had not yet been discovered, Kuwait did not gain any attention. Its presence in the Commonwealth was even lower than in southern Africa.
Yes, Kuwait was also a British colony at this time and fell under the jurisdiction of the Egyptian Governor. However, the Egyptian Governor obviously did not pay much attention to Kuwait. He probably did not even know where Kuwait was and how big it was.
So Sidney Milner's reply to Rock was very casual: "Ten thousand pounds is already a lot. I have been to Kuwait Port, and there is nothing but sand there. Even the fish tastes like sand. I really don't understand.
Why do you want to buy Kuwait?"
Roque would certainly not say that Kuwait's oil reserves account for one-tenth of the world's total oil reserves.
