Western Force Deployment

Countless "minor frictions" plagued East Africa's borders, but conflicts with the Portuguese were the most numerous, especially along Mozambique's border with East Africa.

As for Angola, it was a secondary direction in East Africa's strategy. Though Angola occupied fertile land and excellent ports along the Atlantic coast—things East Africa "coveted"—the Indian Ocean coast had always remained East Africa's core.

The areas controlled by Mozambique were precisely where East Africa focused its attention. One only needed to look at East Africa's concrete deployments to understand why: Mozambique was almost surrounded on all sides by East Africa.

Though the Indian Ocean direction faced the open sea, East Africa also had its naval base in the Comoros, making Mozambique far more endangered than Angola.

Yet the opposite was true for East Africa and Portugal. Portugal's investment in Angola was clearly greater than in Mozambique. The clearest sign was that three brigades from the Portuguese homeland were stationed in Angola, while Mozambique had only one homeland brigade.

However, with British support for Mozambique, coupled with the fact that the last main battlefield had been within Mozambique's territory, Mozambique had already formed an army of around twenty thousand men. Those twenty thousand had been organized into two divisions entirely according to European—or rather, British—standards.

Besides that, there were more than ten thousand Black auxiliary troops. Their numbers could actually have been greater, but the Governor of Mozambique's office had designated them as reservists. Thus, Mozambique's main military personnel numbered roughly thirty thousand. If its forces were expanded in wartime, they should be able to reach well over a hundred thousand, with Black people as the primary source of recruits.

Angola's military strength was no weaker, perhaps even stronger, but Angola's military power was more directly under the kingdom's leadership, centered on two homeland Infantry Brigades