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The Mittleafrikan Implosion—Part One
Mittleafrika had never been the most stable of Germany’s colonies. The Black Monday Crisis of 1936 had very nearly caused its collapse as the economy basically ceased existing overnight— it was only due to the skilled work of Premier Goering’s ministers, most notably Special Minister Klaus Schaefer, and a hard crackdown throughout the major cities that the country held together. Portugal, seeking its “pink map” and seeing Mittleafrika as just needing a slight shove to come crashing down, threw a rock at the hornet’s nest by arming rebellious tribesmen from bases in Mozambique. They figured that even if the Germans figured out who was providing the arms(and it didn’t take a genius to figure out where the most likely safe havens were for rebels in the area) that the economic crisis would prevent Mittleafrika from doing anything about it.
Portugal had badly misjudged Premier Hermann Goering.
Following a series of attacks against Mittleafrikan police units in the Ostafrika Stadt(OTL Tanzania) Goering ordered his troops into Angola and Mozambique in order to crush the “Portuguese serpents’ dens who allowed rebels to cowardly strike at our glorious state and Germany itself without fear of reprisal”. The Mittleafrikan “Kampfgruppes”—-large units of motorized and armored troops acting in coordinated fashion—swept across the border and headed for the major cities of Angola and Mozambique, brushing aside attempts at defense from the startled and not particularly well organized Portuguese colonial defense forces. Within two weeks Portuguese colonial forces had been effectively annihilated in the field and German columns were approaching Nova Lisboa.
There was just one problem.
Goering had never informed Germany he planned to attack Portugal.
Soldiers of Mittleafrikan “Kampfgruppe 75” pose for a picture in southern Angola, May 1937
View attachment 506462
A pair of Mittleafrikan soldiers, a member of Rea Leaky’s Britisches Freikorps(a unit composed of British settlers in colonies which had been taken over by Germany after the First Weltkrieg) and a Panzer II Ozelot light tank enjoy a nice day at the beach on Lake Victoria, August 1937. Premier Goering managed to acquire large numbers of these light tanks from sympathizers in Berlin in the summer of 1936 and they went on to play an iconic role in Mittleafrikan affairs over the next twenty years.
Mittleafrika had never been the most stable of Germany’s colonies. The Black Monday Crisis of 1936 had very nearly caused its collapse as the economy basically ceased existing overnight— it was only due to the skilled work of Premier Goering’s ministers, most notably Special Minister Klaus Schaefer, and a hard crackdown throughout the major cities that the country held together. Portugal, seeking its “pink map” and seeing Mittleafrika as just needing a slight shove to come crashing down, threw a rock at the hornet’s nest by arming rebellious tribesmen from bases in Mozambique. They figured that even if the Germans figured out who was providing the arms(and it didn’t take a genius to figure out where the most likely safe havens were for rebels in the area) that the economic crisis would prevent Mittleafrika from doing anything about it.
Portugal had badly misjudged Premier Hermann Goering.
Following a series of attacks against Mittleafrikan police units in the Ostafrika Stadt(OTL Tanzania) Goering ordered his troops into Angola and Mozambique in order to crush the “Portuguese serpents’ dens who allowed rebels to cowardly strike at our glorious state and Germany itself without fear of reprisal”. The Mittleafrikan “Kampfgruppes”—-large units of motorized and armored troops acting in coordinated fashion—swept across the border and headed for the major cities of Angola and Mozambique, brushing aside attempts at defense from the startled and not particularly well organized Portuguese colonial defense forces. Within two weeks Portuguese colonial forces had been effectively annihilated in the field and German columns were approaching Nova Lisboa.
There was just one problem.
Goering had never informed Germany he planned to attack Portugal.
Soldiers of Mittleafrikan “Kampfgruppe 75” pose for a picture in southern Angola, May 1937
View attachment 506462
A pair of Mittleafrikan soldiers, a member of Rea Leaky’s Britisches Freikorps(a unit composed of British settlers in colonies which had been taken over by Germany after the First Weltkrieg) and a Panzer II Ozelot light tank enjoy a nice day at the beach on Lake Victoria, August 1937. Premier Goering managed to acquire large numbers of these light tanks from sympathizers in Berlin in the summer of 1936 and they went on to play an iconic role in Mittleafrikan affairs over the next twenty years.
- Tiburon
- Word Count: 380