Chapter 268 The Attack of the Cavalry

To be honest, Zhao Dongyun was quite dissatisfied with the performance of the cavalry in the battle entering the customs. In the Feng army entering the customs, the cavalry basically only fought a medium-sized battle, that is, the second cavalry brigade intercepted the operation of the first brigade of the 11th Division of the direct army. The battle loss was not much, but the loss of non-combat effectiveness was quite large. .

After entering the customs, the first cavalry brigade attacked hundreds of miles and successively cooperated with the fifth mixed brigade to capture Yutian, Ji County and other places. There were not many regular battles, but due to long-distance maneuvers, a large number of horses were killed in the process of maneuvering.

The combat losses of the Second Cavalry Brigade were not much, but also caused a large number of horse casualties due to long-distance maneuvers.

Since entering the customs, the combined combat losses of the two cavalry brigades will not exceed 50 people, but more than 400 horses have died and died of injury, and more horses are also seriously consumed, and a large amount of horse materials are urgently needed to supplement nutrition and restore physical strength.

A large number of horse injuries not only appear in the cavalry unit, but also in the infantry force. As a typical mule-horse unit, the Feng army, officers ride horses, cavalry regiments ride horses, horses, horses and artillery regiments needed to pull artillery, etc., the total number is thousands.

The cavalry brigade has a large number of injuries, and the cavalry regiments belonging to the infantry division often run around for reconnaissance and even pursuit. Their horses are not good enough to go there. However, those who pull horses and carry horses are not heavy, so there are not many injuries.

This also led to the fact that the Feng army entered the customs and the battle cavalry did not die much, but many horses died!

This army has a large number of professional cavalry talents, and the quartermaster's department has a special military and livestock department to protect military horses, which has killed and injured so many military horses. If it is replaced by other troops, it is estimated that those war horses will be killed in this battle.

However, when the war horses die, the battle still needs to be fought. Fortunately, the Feng army is located in the three eastern provinces and the Rehe area, and there are many horses imported from the local and Mongolia.

Due to its geographical advantages in the north, the Feng army is generally not short of horses. In addition to the local collection and import of a large number of Mongolian horses from Mongolia, Zhao Dongyun, who attaches more importance to the development of cavalry, also instructed the military to cultivate Don horses from the Russians in recent years. In addition, a small number of Angles have been specially imported from France. The horse of Normandy is used to cultivate horses. Well, this horse is also a military horse widely used by Japan. If there is no particular word for the oriental horse in the population of later generations, it is generally referred to as this kind of horse.

However, the introduction of the latter two Don horses and Anglo-Normandy horses is still in the early stage of cultivation. At present, a small number of stallion horses and mares are still in the two military horse factories of the Feng army. As for the fact that there are also a small number of Anglo-Arab horses in the Feng army in active service, which are specially imported from Japan. Only suitable for senior generals, this horse is relatively flexible, has great explosive power and good endurance. It is a kind of tall horse that is very inclined to British pure blood horses in appearance. It is more than 1.65 meters tall and much taller than about 1.64 meters tall than Mongolian horses. However, due to its high price and endurance compared with other horses The horse is relatively poor and is no longer suitable for modern light cavalry. At present, the stallion is basically used as a mount for senior generals and messenger horses. The Feng army is no exception. Dozens of imported horses are used as mounts for senior generals.

If the Mongolian horse is domestic Geely and Chery, then this Anglo Arabian horse is an imported BMW, which is basically incomparable.

However, the cheapness of Mongolian horses also ensures the demand for military horses of the Feng army. At least in the next few years, the main military horses of the Feng army will still be Mongolian horses.

Although the quality of these Mongolian horses can only be regarded as ordinary, they are also cavalry. The Feng cavalry riding Mongolian horses is much shorter than the Japanese cavalry riding in Anglo-Normandy and the Russian cavalry riding the Dun River. If they play the charge at close range, the Feng cavalry riding the Mongolian horses are naturally not as good as these strong cavalry.

But if you want to play a long-distance attack, the Mongolian horse of the Feng army is still good. If the Japanese cavalry riding on delicate Anglo-Normandy and Arab horses comes, it is estimated that more than half of the horses will die in half a month.

Not to mention that after a day's hurried rest, the second cavalry brigade of the Feng army continued to go south and then went straight to Shijiazhuang. They are going to reinforce Wu Fengling in Shijiazhuang. At this time, it is not the time to care about the horsepower. The second cavalry brigade often rides for a while and then walks for a while, although it is not the whole journey. The march still brought serious problems to the war horses. As soon as they arrived in Baoding, more than 100 war horses died. At this time, they were still far away from Shijiazhuang.

In the romance novel, you can casually play hundreds of kilometers of attack, but most of it is a literati's fantasy. The reality is that unless you can ride three or even four times a person, you don't want to play any drama of attacking hundreds of kilometers a day. Under the mode of modern light cavalry alone, you can march 40 or 50 a day. Kilometers are often the limit, which is still based on the premise of the death of a large number of war horses. If you want to save war horses, it is quite good to be able to march 30 kilometers a day.

Of course, if you plan to be a horseless infantry after arriving at your destination, then you can run desperately and may run 70 or 80 kilometers a day. If it is the best war horse, it is also possible to run hundreds of kilometers a day. Well, after running, the war horse will be 100% dead.

In many cavalry battles in history, there are many examples of dead horses. The Battle of Changdu is the most obvious example. 1,200 horses rushed to attack somewhere. When they reached the roundabout position, there were only 100 horses left. All the other non-combat losses were lost, which cannot be described as killing 1,000 and 800, but the real Kill the enemy and lose a thousand.

So this cavalry, if you don't play well, you don't need the enemy to fight, you have to play yourself to death.

Of course, the Feng cavalry is not a loser. They will not run thousands of war horses to death in order to march in a hurry. If thousands of war horses are killed, the Feng army cavalry will not be relieved for half a year. Therefore, the second cavalry brigade marched to Shijiazhuang in a hurry and slowly. Although it is still impossible to avoid the death of a considerable number of horses in this process, it is much better to die than all of them.

And when the second cavalry brigade quickly marched to Shijiazhuang, the other main forces of the Feng army also launched a large-scale attack on the capital!

After June, the main forces of the Feng army, which had been resting on the front line outside the Beijing Division for two days, started a new round of offensive on July 1st. The offensive was mainly in the southern direction, that is, all the way north along the Beijing-Feng Railway to the Beijing Division. In one direction, the Feng army gathered many main forces such as the 3rd Division, the 9th Division and the 10th Division. .

The reason for gathering the main attack in this direction is quite simple, that is, mainly from this direction, Zhao Dongyun can use the Beijing-Feng Railway to transport and supply the front-line troops to the greatest extent. Otherwise, put the troops in Tongzhou and other western directions, then logistics Losing will become very troublesome.

In addition, there is another factor that Wang Zhanyuan's 7th Division has arrived at the front line of Tianjin. Although Zhao Dongyun sent the 20th Brigade of the 10th Division to south to intercept, it is inevitable to deploy heavy troops in the direction of Langfang in order to prevent accidents. The main force of the Feng army is not only used to attack the capital, but also to intercept Wang Zhan. Yuan's 7th Division.

Except along the Jingfeng Railway, the fourth mixed brigade, the fifth mixed brigade and the first cavalry brigade on the northeast line of Tongzhou and Jingshi can only be regarded as companions.

Wang Yingkai opposite is also a stupid person. After seeing Zhao Dongyun's army gathered on the front line of Langfang, he pulled troops from other defense lines to move to the front line of Nanyuan. The remnants of the first division that had just been withdrawn from the Battle of Tangshan were deployed here.

The first division suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Tangshan. Although the second brigade led by Lu Yongxiang was intact, Zhu Panzao's first brigade and two artillery battalions suffered heavy losses. The remnants of the first brigade returned to Beijing were less than 3,000, and the two artillery battalions had lost a single artillery.

After withdrawing from the Beijing Division, Wang Yingkai rudely dismissed Zhu Panzuo, then ordered Lu Yongxiang to quickly integrate the 1st Division, and personally served as the brigade commander of the first brigade, and transferred a large number of new recruits and ordnances originally scheduled to be added to the 11th Division and 12th Division. However, even so, the first brigade could not recover in a short time. In terms of construction and equipment, the strength of the first division is far inferior to that of the heyday. In the heyday, the total strength of the first division reached more than 13,000, 54 75mm artillery and more than 50 heavy machine guns. Today, only a second brigade and a field artillery battalion are intact, although the other remnants of the first brigade However, there are still 3,000 people, and the number of the first division may still be 8,000 now, but the remaining combat strength will never be much stronger than the original first mixed brigade, and it is even more comparable to the original first division.

It can be said that a Tangshan battle destroyed most of the main forces under Wang Yingkai's command. Although Wang Yingkai still has the remnants of the First Division, the majority of the 11th Division, the 12th Division and a brigade of the Zhili Provincial Army to defend the Beijing Division, even Wang Yingkai knows that the remnants of the First Division are better, although the losses It is important but can still fight, but the other two new divisions and the brigade of the Zhili Provincial Army are false. In the previous Tangshan Campaign, 10,000 people of the main force of the 12th Division were chased and beaten by He Zonglian's fifth mixed brigade, and one of the infantry regiments simply surrendered in Yutian, which can be seen that These troops are basically second-rate, and their strength is not bad, but at this critical moment, they can still rely on the remnants of the First Division.

Of course, Wang Yingkai is more looking forward to Wang Zhanyuan's 7th Division to reinforce the Beijing Division in time. As long as Wang Zhanyuan's 7th Division arrives, although the combat effectiveness of the 7th Division is not as good as that of the 1st Division, at least the predecessor is also the old Beiyang army, and the combat effectiveness is far beyond the ordinary provincial army. If there are reinforcements of the 7th Division, it will guard the Beijing Division against Wang Ying. It's not a dream.

As long as you can defend the capital, even if Wang Shizhen and Duan Qirui's troops do not go north, Wang Ruxian and Zhang Huaizhi's troops will also have to go north. At that time, they can repeat the past of fighting with other warlords against Zhao Dongyun last year.

Only Wang Yingkai knows this, but Zhao Dongyun doesn't know?

Now, the troops attacking Nanyuan only have Lin Yongquan's 9th Division, while Chen Guangyuan's 3rd Division and Xu Bangjie's 10th Division are staring at Wang Zhanyuan's 7th Division!