Purchasing rifles from southern Africa is only part of the UK's huge procurement plan. In addition to the most basic rifles, the UK also needs to purchase a huge amount of military supplies and living supplies. At the end of May, the UK sent a special procurement team to southern Africa.
This time the team was led by Douglas Haig.
Douglas Haig played an important role in the First World War. After Kitchener became Minister of War, the 1 million recruits that Britain had just recruited were trained by Douglas Haig.
He had participated in the Second Boer War before. Do you remember the 17th Lancers that were completely wiped out by the Boer coalition during the war? It was commanded by Douglas Haig.
Because of his poor performance during the Second Boer War, Douglas Haig followed Kitchener to India after the war to serve as Attorney General. After that, he had a prosperous career, first becoming the youngest major general in the British Army, and later becoming the Director of the Military Training Bureau of the War Department.
, then returned to India to serve as Chief of General Staff, and now he has returned to the Army Department again with Kitchener.
After the outbreak of World War I, Douglas Haig took charge of the First Army of the British Expeditionary Force. Douglas Haig's boss at that time was Sir John French.
It is worth mentioning that Douglas Haig was Sir John French's chief of staff during the Second Boer War.
During World War I, the First Army was active, and Douglas Haig was promoted to general in the first year of the war. After that, Douglas Haig began to go dark. In all the battles he participated in,
The British Expeditionary Force suffered heavy losses, and Douglas Haig earned the nickname "The Butcher".
After learning that the head of the purchasing group was Douglas Haig, Rock was still quite depressed.
Douglas Haig was as extremely conservative as his old superior Sir John French. He had a special preference for cavalry and was not interested in new weapons that emerged in the war. He once believed that "the machine gun is a superfluous weapon."
, the same attitude towards tanks, it is absolutely a tragedy for such a person to be in charge of arms procurement.
Even if it is a tragedy, the reception must be received. On May 31st, Douglas Haig led the procurement team to Pretoria. As the Minister of Defense, Roque was mainly responsible for the reception of the procurement team.
Just like Roque's trip to Egypt, on the evening when the purchasing group arrived in Pretoria, Ade held a grand welcome dinner for the purchasing group in his manor. The dinner included ice cream made on site and drinks from Rhodes.
The Western chef of the West Asia Hotel happened to have a performance team from the United States in Pretoria during this period, and was also invited to perform live performances.
"Locke, you don't look very interested -" Sidney Milner didn't care about Douglas Haig and took the initiative to find Locke in the corner of the banquet hall.
Rock was chatting with Henry Stoudemire. When the three of them were together, only a few people such as Owen and Sidney Milner dared to come over and join in the fun.
"No, I'm very happy -" Rock's face was full of smiles, and he did look very happy, but he couldn't hide it from Sidney Milner.
"Cheer up Locke, no matter what, General Haig is now our God of Wealth. We must serve General Haig well so that we can get more orders." Stoudemire was in high spirits. If he were to accompany Douglas Haig throughout the whole process,
Ge, I guess Stoudemire will be very happy.
"Don't have high hopes. Maybe this guy will buy a bunch of potatoes in the end. I just had a chat with his adjutant. Guess what? He doesn't want to watch the air show or the confrontation exercise we arranged. He dislikes general-purpose machine guns.
The weight of the machine gun is too light, so I think the general machine gun is not powerful enough. This is the first time I have heard that the power of a machine gun is determined by its weight." Rock complained, although he had just been in contact with Douglas Haig for less than two hours, but Rock
Grams was fully aware of Douglas Haig's stubbornness.
There are several types of machine guns currently used by the British army, the most common of which is the Lewis machine gun designed by American Lieutenant Colonel Isaac Lewis.
The performance of the Lewis machine gun is pretty good, but the barrel is covered with an aluminum sleeve for heat dissipation, which greatly increases the weight of the Lewis machine gun. The empty gun weighs 11.8 kilograms.
Later research showed that even if the aluminum sleeve is removed, the Lewis machine gun can still effectively dissipate heat. Therefore, many people believe that the reason why Lieutenant Colonel Lewis insisted on installing this aluminum sleeve on the Lewis light machine gun was mainly to match the previous Mack
Lane's original design to distinguish.
You taste it, you taste it carefully, this is obviously another liar who uses other people's inventions to defraud money.
Compared with the Lewis machine gun, the general-purpose machine gun used in southern Africa is lighter in weight and more reliable in quality. The profit continuity of the 75-round magazine is also better than the 47-round drum of the Lewis machine gun. However, Douglas Haig just believes that the Lewis machine gun
Even better, this really makes Rock feel helpless.
"Perhaps General Haig thinks that the heavier machine gun will be more powerful when the machine gunner uses it to hit the enemy when the bullets are exhausted." Henry laughed. He was also a soldier. This was the first time he said this.
It is said that.
"You should arrange a performance for him." Xiao Si actively thought of a way.
"I just said, he doesn't want to see it." Rock really tried, but it didn't work.
"Locke, this time you have met your opponent." Sidney Milner also laughed. Not only did he not help find a solution, but he also took pleasure in his misfortune.
"It doesn't matter, time will give the best answer." Rock is not too anxious. The world war has not yet broken out, and Douglas Haig can still take care of it. When the world war breaks out, Haig will beg Rock to buy a universal machine gun.
.
"Send a telegram to Winston." Stoudemire found another way and tried another one when his plan failed.
"No, I said, there will be times when he begs us." Rock can't rely on Winston for everything. Winston's life is not easy now, because of the aircraft carrier, Winston is also being questioned by Congress.
It is true that the cost of aircraft carriers is a bit high. It is now higher than the newly launched Queen Elizabeth-class battleships in the UK. The key is that the role of aircraft carriers has not been verified by war, so Congress believes that Winston has to come up with it when the economy is so tight.
It is a waste of money to buy an aircraft carrier with such a large sum of money.
And it’s not even one ship, so it’s a waste multiplied by two.
Of course, Winston is not easy to bully. Winston has the final say in the Navy now. Winston has issued a military order in Congress, exaggerating the role of aircraft carriers to the sky. Although Congress is dissatisfied, there is nothing they can do about it.
pause.
"Come with me Locke, you can't hide here forever. The Lord asked me to come to you." Sidney Milner has a mission, and Locke, the Minister of Defense, must accompany him throughout the whole process.
Rock followed Sidney Milner to the center of the venue, where Douglas Haig was speaking loudly among the crowd.
"The Germans are at the end of their rope. Their troops don't even have the most basic weapons, and their navy can't compete with our Royal Navy. Those poor guys don't dare to provoke a war. As long as the war breaks out, we will be able to do it within three months."
Then we can capture Berlin and hold a military parade in front of the City Palace." Douglas Haig was foaming at the mouth and seemed not to notice that the faces of the people around him were not very good.
It's okay to say "German", but using adjectives like "poor" is not allowed in southern Africa. This is a form of racial discrimination.
"I communicated with Marshal Kitchina a few months ago. The combat effectiveness of the Germans still needs to be affirmed. Marshal Kitchina said at the time that if the war breaks out, it may not end within two or three years. We must prepare for a long-term battle.
Be prepared, any form of slackness will lead to our failure." Rock used the banner as a tiger's skin, and then Douglas Haig's expression became a little stiff.
"We really need to pay attention to it. The Germans should not be underestimated. They have just won the Franco-Prussian War and their morale is high. We have always been a sea-power country and we are not skilled in fighting on land." Ade is also no stranger to military affairs and is familiar with the national level.
To put it simply, decades have really passed by in a blink of an eye. In the Boer War, which had just ended ten years ago, the performance of the British troops was really not reassuring.
"That's why we have to change the current army tactics. There is no need to add new weapons, but to strengthen the role of cavalry. Countless wars have proven that cavalry is the decisive force in changing the shape of the battlefield." Douglas Haig wrote a book
"Cavalry Research", I have some experience in cavalry, but the level is probably not very good. The 17th Cavalry Regiment was the only unit wiped out by the Boer coalition during the Boer War. I don't know why Douglas Haig, the chief officer,
Didn't fight to the end with the troops.
"Four legs can't run on four wheels." Rock couldn't help but retorted. The British army now has more than one million soldiers. How can they get more than one million military horses? Even if they include draft horses and plow horses, it won't be enough.
"You mean cars? Stop being ridiculous. Think about the poor performance of cars and the requirements for transportation. The advantages of cavalry are irreplaceable. Cars can be helpless in any small river, but cavalry can easily cross it." Douglas Black
Ge retorted, and today's cars do have a relatively high failure rate, and they are greatly restricted by terrain.
"Okay, you're right." Rock didn't argue with that. If he had the opportunity, Rock still wanted to let Douglas Haig understand how far the world has developed. Compared with cars, cavalry may indeed be better.
There are some advantages, but compared with armored vehicles and tanks, the advantages of cavalry are not worth mentioning.
The cavalry is expected to disappear after World War I. Think about the fact that the Cossacks, who once dominated Europe invincibly, have almost become a historical term.