The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 487 Supplementary Vehicles and 28-style Mortars

The Military Commission's response to He Wei's request for additional vehicles was exactly what He Wei had expected. They approved the request very readily and stated that since the Assault Corps had performed extremely well in the inspection, they would specially select 100 heavy-duty trucks, 30 three-wheeled sidecar motorcycles, and a group of drivers and officers from the motor vehicle units from the recently imported trucks to supplement the Assault Corps.

In addition, a large number of ammunition was drawn from the 21st Arsenal of the National Army (formerly the Jinling Arsenal) near the temporary capital to replenish the losses of the assault corps during routine combat training.

After receiving the reply from the Military Commission, He Wei was happy for a long time. One hundred trucks and thirty three-wheeled sidecar motorcycles could fully realize his motorization plan. The arrival of a large amount of ammunition replenished the assault corps's empty ammunition depot.

Under He Wei's high-intensity live-fire shooting training, the weapons handling and shooting skills of the officers and soldiers of the Assault Corps have improved greatly, but in contrast, the Assault Corps' ammunition loss is also extremely high. In particular, in order to ensure the supply of high-quality ammunition during wartime, He Wei strictly ordered the troops not to use high-quality imported bullets for training, and only ammunition produced by domestic arsenals could be used for daily training.

After fighting for several months, the ammunition in the warehouse had been mostly used up. Now a new batch of ammunition had been replenished, which was truly a timely rain. He Wei was very happy. After receiving the approval order, he immediately ordered Sun Fa, the battalion commander of the 3rd Independent Motor Vehicle Battalion, to lead a team to receive the vehicles and ammunition.

While he continued to perfect his strategic proposal for the Battle of Southern Guangxi, he was also gearing up to motorize several of the assault corps' direct units.

A few days later, at the entrance of the assault corps' camp, there was a bustling crowd and a lot of traffic. Sun Fa, the commander of the 3rd Independent Supply Truck Battalion, jumped off the truck, ran to He Wei, who had been waiting at the entrance of the camp for a long time, saluted and said, "Captain He, our department has fulfilled its mission. We have received all the 100 brand-new trucks, 30 motorcycles, 5 jeeps, and the newly assigned drivers and officers and ammunition to the assault corps!"

He Wei was shocked when he heard that his superiors had allocated him a hundred military trucks at once. According to the organization of the Independent Motor Vehicles Battalion 3 assigned to the Assault Corps, a hundred brand-new trucks could make up two motor vehicle companies. This number was much more than He Wei had expected.

He Wei patted Sun Fa's shoulder, nodded with satisfaction and said, "Okay! Let's go, take me to see it!"

Amid the loud roar of engines, trucks drove up to the gate of the assault corps' camp one after another. Accompanied by Sun Fa, He Wei walked forward and began to inspect these brand new military trucks.

As soon as he walked in front of a truck, He Wei was attracted by the large three-dimensional logo composed of a three-pointed star and a round badge on the front compartment of the truck. Obviously, this is the logo of the German Mercedes-Benz Daimler company, symbolizing the combination of air, water and land.

He Wei stroked the front of the truck and whispered to Sun Fa, "Captain Sun, these trucks are not bad. They are all made in Germany."

"Indeed, the 3000 trucks I picked up are all new. They were just bought from Germany at the beginning of the year. They are Mercedes-Benz L models with very good overall performance. I heard that the heavy-duty trucks equipped by the Fifth Army are of this type, with excellent off-road performance, passing performance, and load-bearing performance. When I picked up the trucks, I also asked the delivery manager about it. The trucks in their hands and the trucks of the same model of the Fifth Army were all purchased at a high price in Germany. A total of less than trucks were ordered, but they are all treasures. The more than trucks that arrived before were equipped to the automobile corps within the Fifth Army. The remaining hundreds of trucks were also coveted by others. The independent automobile unit wants them, the government departments want them, and the Air Force also wants them. This is because your assault corps, Captain He, performed well in the inspection. Otherwise, these trucks would not have been transferred here."

He Wei nodded and inspected with satisfaction the fleet of brand-new trucks that stopped one after another. He was very satisfied looking at the Mercedes-Benz military trucks shining brightly in the sun. Just as Sun Fa said, the 3000 Mercedes-Benz trucks allocated to the assault corps were indeed good things. This type of Mercedes-Benz L truck is indeed a classic work of Mercedes-Benz.

In the original timeline, this type of truck was also one of the main equipment of the German army in World War II. It was 6.715 meters long, 2.24 meters wide, 2.58 meters high, weighed 3.69 tons, and had a payload of 3.1 tons. It used a 4-cylinder 75HP diesel engine, a fuel tank capacity of 90 liters, a maximum speed of 70 kilometers per hour, a maximum road range of 450 kilometers, and a maximum off-road range of 300 kilometers. More than units were produced during the entire World War II. It was the darling of the German Army and its performance in all aspects was excellent.

The brand-new trucks with exquisite workmanship shone brightly in the sun. Except for a small number of officers and soldiers from the 3rd Independent Motor Vehicle Battalion who were brought by Sun Fa to pick up the trucks, most of the drivers and officers were drivers and soldiers newly assigned to the Assault Corps.

As for the rear compartment of the truck, it was filled with large quantities of ammunition that had recently been produced by the 21st Arsenal near the temporary capital and disassembled parts of German-made Zundap three-wheeled sidecar motorcycles.

According to Sun Fa's report, this batch of equipment included 500 boxes of 7.92mm caliber machine gun bullets and 300 boxes of long-handled grenades, which are the most commonly used ammunition equipment of the National Army and also the ammunition consumed the most by the Assault Corps during training.

In addition to these, there were actually four newly produced trial-produced 1939-style 60mm mortars, two hundred boxes of 60mm mortar shells, and a brief letter from the director of the 21st Arsenal, asking Sun Fa to pass on to He Wei when Sun Fa led a convoy to the 21st Arsenal to receive the ammunition and equipment.

After reading the letter, He Wei learned that this batch of 34mm mortar shells produced and delivered by the st Factory was actually related to him. When the Assault Corps was just established before the Battle of Wuhan, Minister He personally came to inspect the Assault Corps and visited and tried out various weapons and equipment of the Assault Corps. He was therefore very interested in the Assault Corps' mg general-purpose machine gun and French Blonde mm mortar. At that time, he specifically asked He Wei for one machine gun and one mortar, preparing to hand them over to the arsenal in the rear for research and imitation.

However, due to the high manufacturing difficulty of the MG34 general-purpose machine gun and its extremely high ammunition consumption during use, the major arsenals in the rear wisely gave up imitating this machine gun. However, the mm mortar attracted great interest from the arsenals in the rear and the National Military and Political Department responsible for replenishing military equipment.

Since the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the National Army's standard 82mm mortar of the 30th year of the Republic of China and various 81mm mortars imported and purchased from France and Austria (according to data, the National Army's imported 81mm mortars at that time were both made in France and Austria) have undoubtedly become the firepower pillar of the National Army's field forces, and are also the most troublesome firearms of the Chinese army for the Japanese army.

Relatively speaking, the 50mm grenade launchers equipped by the Japanese army at the squad level also caused quite a headache for the National Army. In order to equip the front-line troops with firearms of the same level, the National Army required the arsenal to develop and manufacture grenade launchers on the one hand, and 60mm caliber mortars on the other.

In the original timeline, the National Army did instruct the rear arsenal to develop 60mm caliber mortars, and the 50th Arsenal was responsible for it.

In the initial plan, the Fiftieth Arsenal was going to simplify the 20th-year Type 82mm mortar, but this development plan did not go smoothly until 1941, when the plan for independent development was cancelled and the French Blonde 60mm mortar was directly imitated. Only then was the 31st Year of the Republic of China Type 60mm mortar successfully developed and equipped to the troops in batches.

However, now with He Wei, the little butterfly, the National Army has obviously avoided many detours in the development and production of 60mm mortars. The 21st Arsenal, which undertook the task of copying the 60mm mortar, directly used the French-made Blonde 60mm mortar provided by He Wei for reverse copying. After more than a year of emergency research and development, it finally successfully copied the domestically-made 60mm mortar.

With the early birth of the 60mm mortar, the 60mm mortar of the 31st year of the Republic of China on the original timeline naturally became the 60mm mortar of the 28th year of the Republic of China, which was released almost two years earlier.

The reason why the 21st Arsenal gave the first-produced 60mm mortars and ammunition to the Assault Corps was that the Assault Corps was the only unit in the entire national army equipped with 60mm mortars and had experience in using 60mm mortars. Therefore, they were sent to the Assault Corps for trial use. The Assault Corps was asked to see what problems the 60mm mortars they had imitated and produced still had and what changes needed to be made so that improvements could be made before large-scale formal production, so as to provide the front-line field troops with the most perfect 60mm mortars. He Wei was also quite surprised when he heard the news. In the past year or so, he had either fought the Japanese on the front line or was busy with the training and construction of the troops in the rear. He had long forgotten that the rear arsenal was going to reverse-engineer the general-purpose machine guns and mortars he handed over. He did not expect that the seeds planted more than a year ago have now taken root and sprouted.

If the 21st Arsenal can really mass-produce 60mm mortars and equip the front-line troops in batches, it will greatly enhance the firepower of the grassroots field troops of the National Army on the front line.

At least, facing the Japanese army's large number of grenade launchers equipped at the squad level, the National Army now has firearms that are equal to the grenade launchers and have better performance. It will no longer passively take the beating from the Japanese grenade launchers as before. It is also of great benefit to the overall combat effectiveness of the National Army. If each infantry company of the National Army can be equipped with four to six 60mm mortars of this type, then in future battles, the National Army will not be afraid of the Japanese grenade launchers at all.

This is another unexpected effect of He Wei flapping the butterfly's wings.

As for how many Japanese soldiers would go to hell with this 60mm mortar, which was created ahead of time because of He Wei, in the future battlefields of the War of Resistance Against Japan, it is unknown.

After inspecting the trucks and reading the letter from the director of the 21st Arsenal, He Wei checked the 60mm mortars produced by the 21st Arsenal and the ammunition delivered. He Wei also inspected and checked the drivers and motor vehicle officers newly assigned to the assault corps. He Wei was very satisfied with these new motor vehicle officers, whether they were drivers, driving sergeants or leading motor vehicle officers.

When He Wei finished checking the trucks and mortars and walked to the end of the truck queue, another row of five jeeps came into He Wei's sight. These jeeps also had the Mercedes-Benz logo, with a large spare tire hanging on the side of the car body in front of the main driver's seat, and the car body had a simple top awning.

It was not until He Wei looked at them carefully that he remembered that these five brand-new jeeps should be the Mercedes-Benz Typ320wk military jeeps purchased by the National Army from Germany. Before the Anti-Japanese War, the National Army imported a lot of them from Germany. They were mainly equipped in the Army's armored corps, which is the predecessor of the current Fifth Army. They were mainly used as command vehicles for officers and towing vehicles for mm tank defense guns.

"Captain Sun, what's going on with these five jeeps?"

He Wei pointed at the five brand new Mercedes jeeps with military license plates and asked.

Sun Fa replied, "Commander He, this was also allocated by the Military and Political Department when the vehicles were delivered. It was Minister He's idea. Minister He saw that you, Captain He, didn't have a special car during the exercise and had to squeeze into the truck with the soldiers, which was really shabby. So when the vehicles were received, five extra jeeps were allocated to the Assault Corps as vehicles for officers to ride in."

After Sun Fa finished speaking, his eyes became a little amused, and he said: "Captain He, when I received the vehicles, I heard from the warehouse manager that these jeeps and motorcycles were originally intended to be supplemented to the Fifth Army, but now they are given to your assault team, Commander He. These vehicles can be regarded as meat snatched from the Fifth Army."

He Wei smiled when he heard this and said, "This is the Minister's kindness. Indeed, the army is now so large, and the headquarters should be equipped with some vehicles for officers to ride in. Not bad, not bad. As for robbing the Fifth Army's cars, I don't think so. Captain Sun just said that the Fifth Army has more than a thousand of the most advanced Mercedes-Benz trucks. I'm afraid they don't think highly of the jeeps and motorcycles we robbed, haha."

After He Wei finished speaking, he glanced at the huge convoy of military trucks and jeeps in front of him, and couldn't help but feel secretly proud. Using these recently allocated vehicles would be more than enough to achieve his previous goal of motorizing some of the assault corps' direct troops. The assault corps' combat methods and mobility will also be further improved and changed with the arrival of these vehicles.

After receiving the additional vehicles, He Wei immediately started the motorization of his direct troops. According to his original plan, he was going to motorize the assault corps' direct search company, tank defense artillery company, and anti-aircraft artillery company. However, the number of additional vehicles this time did exceed He Wei's expectations, so He Wei decisively expanded the scope of the "motorized" troops. At the same time, the distribution and equipment plan of cars and motorcycles in various parts of the assault corps was also changed.

The assault corps' direct search company, tank defense artillery company, and anti-aircraft artillery company were motorized according to the original plan. Each company established a motor platoon and was allocated 3000 German Mercedes-Benz L trucks.

In addition, the engineering company and communications company directly under the assault corps, which were not originally included in the motorization reorganization plan, also established a motor vehicle platoon within their structure, and were allocated 21 and 17 heavy-duty trucks respectively.

The headquarters set up a small car team, equipped with the five Mercedes-Benz jeeps sent by Minister He.

He Wei also made further adjustments to the allocation and use of those three-wheeled sidecar motorcycles. When the Assault Corps was just expanding, the Military and Political Department allocated forty German Zundap three-wheeled sidecar motorcycles. This time, another thirty sidecar motorcycles of the same model were added to the Assault Corps.

In addition to the twenty military three-wheeled motorcycles retained by the assault corps' direct search and communications companies, He Wei also equipped the communications platoon and search platoon of the headquarters company of the three subordinate infantry battalions with five each, for a total of thirty vehicles for the three infantry battalions.

After He Wei drew up a distribution plan for various vehicles, the various units of the assault corps quickly carried out reorganization and adjustment according to the predetermined plan. The addition of these one hundred heavy-duty trucks, jeeps and a large number of three-wheeled sidecar motorcycles also represented a significant increase in the assault corps' mobile marching capability, and an all-round enhancement of its mobility and search capabilities.

Of course, everything has its pros and cons. After this batch of vehicles was added to the team, the assault corps suddenly had hundreds of additional trucks, motorcycles, and jeeps. This also put very high demands on the assault corps's logistics supply and maintenance support capabilities.

He Wei also made corresponding adjustments to this. He Wei stipulated that the formation, training, and maintenance of the motor vehicle units in the various directly affiliated companies of the assault corps should all be assigned to the independent motor vehicle battalion 3 assigned to the command of the assault corps. This battalion would be responsible for taking the lead in forming and training the motor vehicle units within the directly affiliated units of the assault corps, and would be responsible for the basic maintenance of trucks within the assault corps.

All matters related to the motor vehicle unit are also managed by Sun Fa, the battalion commander of the 3rd Independent Motor Vehicle Battalion.

The 3rd Independent Motor Vehicle Battalion is a professional automobile unit. Officers, sergeants and soldiers at all levels are quite professional in military transportation. The battalion is also equipped with a complete repair factory that can perform basic vehicle maintenance operations. He Wei unified the automobile-related business of the entire corps into the training management of the battalion, which is also of great benefit to the automobile units within the assault corps.

Of course, He Wei integrated the motor vehicle unit within the assault corps with the Independent Motor Vehicles Battalion 3, which did not belong to the assault corps and was only affiliated with the assault corps, because he wanted to incorporate the Independent Motor Vehicles Battalion 3 into the assault corps. If one day his idea could be realized, the Independent Motor Vehicles Battalion 3 would have to change its number and be called the Motor Vehicle Battalion of the Assault Corps.

(End of this chapter)