Chapter 265 Cannonists

A large group of generals in the Feng army, like other contemporary generals, are firm artilleryists, believing that the more cannons are, the better, but many officers will also have different opinions on what cannons to equip.

Some traditional officers, especially the older generation of generals, believe that the army should be equipped with medium-caliber field guns and mountaineers, that is, 57mm and 75mm guns, on the grounds that these two caliber, especially the 75mm caliber, have met the needs of supporting infantry, and listed This is true for all armies.

Before and after World War I, most countries were equipped with division support artillery, which were actually similar, all at the three-inch level, such as Britain, France, Russia, Japan, the United States, Italy, etc. Although Germany has begun to equip 105mm grenades, it still has a large number of 7 5mm field gun, roller coaster.

The large amount of equipment of the armies of various countries and the equipment history of the past decades have made many people, including Xu Bangjie, firmly support the troops to equip more 75mm guns, and even try to restore the Feng army to the 18-gun artillery establishment of a battalion in the old Beiyang era.

A considerable part is to support the equipment of more mortars, especially 120mm heavy mortars. It is believed that in the case of the Feng army's lack of large-caliber heavy artillery, the best solution is to equip a large number of large-caliber mortars.

As for the large-caliber long-range heavy guns, they are supported by everyone, but they are only verbally supported, because everyone knows that these large-caliber long-range heavy guns are expensive, and even if the Feng army runs out of their homes, they will not be equipped with few.

Nowadays, the Feng army is equipped with more than 200 mm guns, and nearly 600 mortars of each caliber, but the long-range heavy guns are only 12 100 mm cannons. Such a low proportion can be seen that ordinary people can't afford to play with. .

But even if it was expensive, after seeing that this heavy artillery battalion suppressed the 75mm division artillery of the direct army in the Tangshan Campaign, many senior generals turned into firm heavy artillery supporters, so that people like Fang Biyong directly spoke out at the military conference. If you want to increase the number of heavy artillery equipment.

However, the focus of today's meeting is not to discuss whether the number of heavy artillery equipment should be increased. It is mainly about the post-war summary of the Tangshan Campaign, comparing enemy casualties, and then the most important thing is that although a large number of generals still have a lot of questions about the 9th Division breaking through the Yinfeng line.

The war is not enough to win. For Zhao Dongyun, the most important thing is why the 9th Division can quickly defeat the first brigade.

So in the next two days, a large number of staff officers from many departments of the Operations Office, Supervision Office and Strategy Department looked through the battle report of the Ninth Division, trying to find the key point that the Ninth Division could win in a short time.

However, they are disappointed that there seems to be nothing unusual about the series of battles of the Ninth Division. Xu Bangjie's command and the command of officers at all levels of the Ninth Division are normal, and there is nothing unexpected, which is unacceptable for this large group of staff officers, because they are big The purpose of the large-scale investigation of the Ninth Division's defeat of the enemy's first brigade is to find out the differences and then quickly extend this different expenditure to the whole army.

However, they didn't find anything different!

After the 9th Division suppressed the support artillery of the first brigade in the heavy artillery battalion, it began a rapid attack, but the reason why the subsequent attack of the 9th Division was definitely not because the direct artillery was suppressed, because the Feng army on the front line of Huanxizhuang also occupied the advantage of artillery. At that time, Bao Guiqing's first mixed brigade was not There are more than ten mountain guns, but the 3rd Division, the 10th Division and two independent mortar battalions add up, nearly 100 75mm artillery and more than 60 120mm mortars. This artillery advantage can be said to be greater than the Yinfeng line.

But why didn't Huanxizhuang form the same large-scale breakthrough as Yinfeng, which led to the large-scale collapse of the enemy?

"We believe that although the breakthrough of the 9th Division is supported by artillery, this is not a decisive reason. According to our preliminary investigation results, we found that the collapse of the first enemy brigade first occurred in the position of the 3rd battalion of the 37th Regiment of our 9th Division.

The battalion gathered almost all the heavy weapons and equipment of the regiment in the battle. During the battle, as the first battalion of the 37th Regiment temporarily withdrew due to excessive casualties, and the second battalion was also deployed in a later direction, Colonel Lei Anlin of the 37th Regiment temporarily transferred the mortars and light machine guns of the above two battalions to the third. The battalion, thus making the number of light machine guns and mortars in the battalion more than twice the quota.

In particular, the number of light machine guns has increased. Although it has not been evenly distributed, the first company as the vanguard of the attack has the support of nine additional light machine guns. The large increase in the number of light machine guns has greatly suppressed the enemy's interception firepower during the attack, and then broke through the position of a company of the enemy. The breakthrough of the Duan position quickly caused a chain reaction, which led to the complete collapse of the enemy's second regiment defense line, which led to the collapse of the entire Yinfeng defense line!"

After listening to this, Zhao Dongyun pondered and then said, "Are you trying to say that the victory of this battle is not because of the artillery, but because of the light machine gun?"

Fangbi Yongdao: "The advantage of artillery is a necessary factor for victory, while light machine guns are the advantage factor for my arms to win!"

Fang Biyong's words actually put the importance of artillery above light machine guns. Fengjun can fight without light machine guns, but it must not be without artillery.

But on the other hand, when the Feng army launched an offensive battle, light machine guns played a huge role. Many battles have shown that light machine guns are no less important than heavy machine guns.

The reason why the 9th Division is defeating the first brigade of the direct army is actually quite simple, that is, the Feng army on the front line. To be precise, the 37th Regiment concentrated a large number of technical weapons to a certain front, concentrated the average scattered power, and then concentrated on breaking through a step of the enemy. This seems very simple in the previous period. But in fact, creating this opportunity to concentrate one's own forces to achieve the absolute advantage of the enemy is the lifelong pursuit of every military commander, and few can do it.

The tactical application of this light machine gun developed much faster than he thought. Zhao Dongyun pondered that the 37th regiment temporarily strengthened the light machine guns of the whole regiment to the third battalion, especially the original three light machine guns in the first company as the striker, plus nine light machine guns temporarily assigned, which reached 12 , enough to make each infantry squad have a light machine gun and three superfluous.

The dense firepower formed by twelve light machine guns is enough to hit the opposite enemy who can't raise their heads!

And this kind of front-line troops temporarily concentrate and use light machine guns, which is also unexpected. In the past half month of battles, many front-line military commanders, especially grassroots company and battalion commanders, like to concentrate and use light machine guns and directly assign them to attack. The subordinate forces of the mission.

It is common for a battalion of light machine guns to be used by a company, and a company of light machine guns to be used by a company for a platoon, but it is the first time that the mortars and light machine guns of the whole regiment are used by a battalion like the 37th Regiment of the 9th Division.

Not to mention the good or bad of this situation, but it also directly proves the fact that the number of light machine guns equipped by the Feng army is seriously too small. If the Feng army's troops can be equipped with nine light machine guns in each company, then the future offensive battle will never be as long and weak as the previous Tangshan battle. .

However, according to the current expensive price of light machine guns, large-scale equipment is also impossible. Although the price of contemporary light machine guns is cheaper than that of light machine guns, it is not much cheaper. This Madsen light machine gun is famously expensive, even if it is a Madeson light machine gun imitated by Fuyuan Machinery Factory under the patent authorization. Although the factory price is cheaper, it is not cheap to go there.

Now it is not after World War I, but 1907. Large-scale popular equipment of light machine guns is impossible for the Feng army and even the whole of China. It is not bad that a warlord in the south can be equipped with 20 or 30 machine guns. Nowadays, there are nearly 60 heavy machine guns and nearly one light machine guns in a division of the Feng army. 150, which adds up to more than 210 machine guns.

Although the number of heavy machine guns cannot be compared with the explosive number of heavy machine gun equipment in various countries, the proportion of light machine guns is absolutely the most. So far, countries have been equipped with heavy machine guns on a large scale. As for light machine guns, they are only a small amount of experimental equipment. After all, for the great powers, heavy machine guns The gun has been tested in the Russo-Japanese War and needs to be vigorously developed. As for the light machine gun, this thing has not been tested by a large-scale war.

"As for light machine guns, we still follow the original steps and first fill the staffing of each platoon of the existing troops. However, considering the urgent needs of the front-line troops for light machine guns, a small number of troops can increase the number of light machine guns. Well, let the 12th Regiment of the 3rd Division be used as a pilot for each infantry squad. It is equipped with a light machine gun. As for the specific preparation and application of tactics, you can ask the personnel of the establishment department, the combat department and the supervision office to give me a plan within three days!"

Zhao Dongyun's decision to allocate a light machine gun to each infantry platoon last year will not be easily changed. This not only involves military expenditure and financial resources, but also involves a series of problems such as military tactical arrangements and ammunition supply. Not to mention the large amount of military expenditure required, even if it falls from the sky The batch of light machine guns can be used by Feng soldiers, but Fengjun's current logistics system is also unable to meet the demand for a large number of bullets of these light machine guns.

There are too many changes in the compilation and equipment changes, and it is impossible for Zhao Dongyun to change them at any time according to his preferences.