Harder and Harder

As Maputo fell, East Africa's Christmas Offensive was also drawing to a close. Maputo had been one of the most representative battles of the offensive.

East Africa had in fact achieved major breakthroughs on multiple fronts. The Eastern Military Region and Northern Military Region had also successfully crossed the Save River, pushing the front into the Funialoru area. Only a few major Portuguese strongholds remained to the south before they could reach the Limpopo River basin.

The Western Military Region and Nile Military Region had achieved even more brilliant results. Besides taking part in the Maputo campaign, the Western Military Region had completed the division and encirclement of Portugal's main western forces, wiping out large numbers of enemy troops.

Now, only the enemy forces at Mapai and Saint George in the upper reaches of the Limpopo River were still making a desperate stand. But under the East African Army's siege, the enemy in those two places could only take blows passively.

The Southern Military Region and Guard Division had been the main force in the Maputo campaign. Taken together, the results on the three fronts had basically eliminated most of Mozambique's main forces.

Count Roberts now had only a little over seventy thousand troops left, concentrated within less than forty thousand square kilometers centered on Shaoqui, a reduction of more than two-thirds from before the war.

Other than the enemy troops trapped at Mapai and Saint George, the garrisons elsewhere included Maputo's newest elite troops. But with Maputo's fall, it meant Count Roberts no longer had any cards left to play.

The last battle to the death would likely be the defense of Shaoqui. But compared with an African giant like Maputo, Shaoqui fell far short, especially in infrastructure and defensive fortifications. That was an utterly fatal flaw.

Shaoqui.