artillery arc

Chapter 451: Expeditionary Force Combat Readiness

At 8 on the morning of August 18, Wang Zhong arrived at the expeditionary force’s base.

All the troops were lined up on the parade ground. As soon as Wang Zhong got off the car, a tremendous roar of "Ura" sounded.

Wang Zhong glanced at Popov and said, "I haven't said anything. I haven't even gone up to the podium. What are they saying?"

Popov: "You'll get used to it. The Propaganda Department has exaggerated your victory into a great victory again."

Pavlov urged, "Let's go. Time is very tight. You have to visit all the troops assigned to us in the morning and understand their situation."

Wang Zhong glanced at Pavlov, suppressed the urge to complain, and walked towards the troops.

As a result, after the troops saw his face clearly, they shouted even louder.

You know what, it feels pretty cool, as if I were Napoleon.

At the last moment of the Battle of Waterloo, the French Guards were defeated and retreated. When they fled the battlefield and passed by Napoleon, they still shouted "Long live Napoleon", which made Napoleon laugh.

I hope I don’t have to experience this in the future.

While praying like this, Wang Zhong walked up to the troops.

Then he was dumbfounded.

Because at a glance he saw that everyone from officers to non-commissioned officers to soldiers had young faces. Only the bearded division commander and the military chaplain looked older. Even the chief of staff looked to be just thirty years old!
Wang Zhong looked back at Pavlov in confusion, pointing at the troops. Before he could speak, Pavlov nodded: "Yes, that's the situation."

Looking at these young soldiers again, he couldn't help but say, "Okay, stop shouting! Stop shouting!"

The officer in charge shouted, "Stop shouting! Be quiet!"

Then the shouts of "Quiet" spread like dominoes, and the shouts of "Ura" gradually faded away, and the school ground became quiet.

Wang Zhong came up to the bearded division commander and asked: "What is the average age of your troops? What is the proportion of veteran NCOs? How many experienced officers are there?"

Facing Wang Zhong's rapid-fire questions, the division commander shook his head and said, "General, our 450th Provisional Infantry Division has no experienced officers and NCOs. Even I am a high school principal. They said that since I can lead a high school of people, I can lead a provisional infantry division of people, so they gave me the rank of major general and made me the division commander."

Wang Zhong couldn't help but say: "Even Eugene started out as a lieutenant colonel. What is the reserve army doing?"

The teacher didn't dare to answer.

Pavlov said, "Not bad. At least this division still has 8,000 combatants, and all of them have received full recruit training, formal training! The most embarrassed division only has 5,000 people, and the training is also completed by the instructors of the Skitarii. The combat effectiveness is no different from that of the militia division."

Wang Zhong took a deep breath, calmed down, and asked the bearded teacher, "What's your name, Principal Dawasili?"

"Davarish?" The principal was stunned for a moment. "Isn't this the name used by the navy?"

"My troops call each other that too. So what do you call us?"

"Semyon Alexandrovich Roshenkov, commander of the 450th Provisional Infantry Division." After saying this, the bearded man remembered to salute Wang Zhong.

Wang Zhong returned the salute and then turned to the soldiers of the 450th Provisional Infantry Division.

He asked the young private first class standing in the first row: "How long have you been in the army?"

"Six months, General. I'm a veteran here," the private replied.

Wang Zhong hesitated to speak, and finally took the Mosin-Nagant rifle from the shoulder of the private and checked it. It can be seen that it was carefully maintained. This private must have received relatively good training and was very careful in maintaining the weapon.

After returning the gun to the owner, Wang Zhong asked Pavlov: "Are there no other weapons besides Mosin-Nagant? I looked at the report before I came here, and the daily production of PPSh has exceeded 6000!"

Pavlov: "But we have 10 million troops, of which at least 3 million are fighting the enemy on the front line, and many of the remaining 7 million are resting like the First Mobile Army. 6,000 a day is not enough for them."

At this time, the private first class interrupted and said, "General, our divisional NCOs are also equipped with PPShs. This is a reward for being promoted to NCOs. If you perform well in training, you will be selected as a submachine gunner and get a Sten submachine gun. I didn't do well enough, so I got a Mosin-Nagant!"

Wang Zhong stared at the face of the private first class and suddenly felt that it was a dereliction of duty for him as the chairman of the Equipment Review Committee that such a good kid was sent to the front line with an outdated old gun - even though he was not actually responsible for the specific production.

Pavlov: "Once we have a transport line open, maybe we can equip them with a full set of United Kingdom equipment."

Wang Zhong: "Are you talking about the Sten submachine gun and the Bren light machine gun? Forget it. The United Kingdom's planes are good, so we should use our own light weapons. What does the commander of the station in Abawahan say?"

Pavlov: "I have used all the equipment I could seize to arm them."

Wang Zhong patted the private first class on the shoulder, then put his hands behind his back and walked slowly along the line.

After walking two steps, he saw a private first class with an older look holding a Sten submachine gun. It seemed that he was the one who was chosen as the submachine gunner because of his more skilled military skills.

The submachine gunner wore the chest mount designed by Wang Zhong. He looked at Wang Zhong with vigor and his chin held high.

Wang Zhong: "How does the Sten submachine gun feel to use?"

The submachine gunner replied: "General, it's not as good as the PPSh. The main reason is that there are too few bullets, and the magazine is easy to jam. We have to be very careful when using it. It would be great if the general could replace it with a PPSh."

Wang Zhong: “Yes, there will be.”

After saying that, he continued to walk forward, his eyes passing over the young faces. The several infantry divisions assigned to the expeditionary force were all 450 temporary infantry divisions.

Good news: the store is fully staffed.

The bad news: it's only fully stocked.

Wang Zhong walked around and almost knew what kind of troops were assigned to him. If he used this kind of troops to fight against the Prosen people, they would probably be beaten to a pulp by the Aryan Superman.

Taking these troops to Baras for actual combat now might be a good thing for them.

After inspecting the infantry troops, Wang Zhong came to the tank troops.

The faces of veterans suddenly increased, almost evenly matched with the young recruits! Wang Zhong was so moved that tears came to his eyes. It seemed that Pavlov had not lied yesterday. The overall condition of the 51st Tank Army was indeed much better than that of the infantry.

The T422W tank with the tactical number 34 was parked at the front of the entire tank army column. It also had four members - the tank could be driven and fought without a commander, which meant that the commander's position was specially vacated for Wang Zhong.

Wang Zhong held the hand of the highest-ranking gunner and said, "We are going to fight side by side. Whether I can come back alive depends on you guys."

The gunner's voice trembled a little: "Leave it to us!"

Wang Zhong nodded and turned to the colonel standing next to the tank: "Is this your brigade?"

The 51st Tank Army has three tank brigades under its command, and no tank division. However, the brigade commander should be a brigadier general, so Wang Zhong asked this question.

Colonel: "Acting Brigade Commander. General, why do we still need to produce T34? Switch to T34W. We are tired of the two fatal shortcomings of the two-man turret and the lack of radio."

Wang Zhong: "Don't you have radios distributed to every tank in your T34?"

"Yes. They say that the 915 model T34s are equipped with radios, but these are old tanks."

After the colonel finished speaking, Pavlov explained: "The High Command believes that Baras's army is weak, and the old T34 is enough. Besides, they can't provide so many radios. You might as well ask them how many electrical engineers they have."

Wang Zhong: “How many electrical engineers do you have?”

The colonel held up two fingers: "Two. We only have two electrical engineers in the entire brigade."

Wang Zhong was shocked and asked hurriedly, "How many tractors do you have to tow the broken-down tanks? How many maintenance battalions do you have?"

Colonel: "Maintenance Battalion? We have a support company with six tractors."

"Six!" Wang Zhong was shocked. "What about the artillery? How many tractors and tractors do you have?"

"We have no artillery in our brigade," said the colonel.

Wang Zhong opened his mouth into an O shape, but he immediately controlled himself and said to himself, "It's okay, it's okay. I fought worse battles last year."

Pavlov: "The Second Brigade has artillery, and a larger number of tractors and tractors."

Wang Zhong: "Really? Then let's go see the Second Brigade."

After saying this, he walked towards the Second Brigade with great anticipation, but more than ten minutes later, he was disappointed again.

It can be seen that the organization of the 51st Tank Army has learned from last year's lessons. Except for the st Brigade which has no artillery, the other brigades have some of each type of arms, but not enough of each type.

It is a state of being synthesized but not completely synthesized.

Especially in terms of support capabilities, the entire tank army has the word "shortcomings" written all over its face.

After understanding the situation, Wang Zhong was 100% sure that this tank army would be defeated when it clashed with the Prosen people.

It was obvious that the overall organization of the non-direct tank forces reinforced to him in Yeisk was already very balanced, but isn't that the general situation?

Wang Zhong asked Pavlov: "Can we transfer the support troops of the First Mobile Army separately? This will at least ensure the operation of the armored forces."

"I called you here in a hurry to coordinate this matter." Pavlov spread his hands, "Only you can do this. I'm just the chief of staff. This kind of mobilization involves many aspects, I really can't do it."

Wang Zhong: "Okay, I'll make a few calls and get this resolved. Is there any other unit I haven't seen?"

Pavlov pointed to the Black Legion in the corner of the parade ground.

Wang Zhong's mood improved as soon as he saw them.

Although the soldiers of the 393rd Marine Infantry Brigade had been standing in the sun for so long, they did not waver at all.

Wang Zhong walked up to them, looking at their young yet weathered faces with satisfaction. He praised, "Good! I was a little unsure about the troops ahead, because their training, combat readiness, and weapons and equipment were all worrying.

"But once I saw you, I gained confidence. I'm counting on you, the Black Death!"

The naval infantrymen in sailor shirts shouted "Ura" in unison. The wind blew across the parade ground, lifting the ribbons behind their flat caps.

(End of this chapter)