The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 261: Ready but not trained, rushing into battle

In the open space at the entrance of the 103rd Division, seventeen gagged and blindfolded officers of the 103rd Division were escorted to the open space by dozens of soldiers from the special agent platoon, and seventeen others were tied up. Although the officer was gagged, he was still roaring as hard as he could, making hysterical screams, and looking helplessly at the officers and soldiers watching around him.

Some people were swinging their legs randomly, some were rolling on the spot, and some even had their legs softened and were dragged forward by the soldiers of the secret service platoon like molluscs without bones.

And the once-famous Ding Dafa was not only unable to walk, but he even became incontinent on the spot due to extreme fear in front of everyone, leaving a trail of yellow and white excrement on the road.

Among these people, the one with the highest military rank is a lieutenant colonel officer, and the rest are also majors and captains. They were once among the top luxury figures in the 03rd Division, but now they are like zombies without spirit. The spirit of Qi can be said to be full of ugliness.

The officers and soldiers of the 103rd Division who were watching all around had different thoughts. Most of the ordinary soldiers and sergeants were watching the fun. After all, the fighting between this group of officers really had nothing to do with them as a group of soldiers. Most of the officers were secretly grateful.

The officers who had not taken refuge with Ding Dafa lamented in their hearts that their previous choices and positions were extremely correct. Those officers who had taken refuge with Ding Dafa, but did not respond to Ding Dafa's mutiny at the 103rd Division headquarters just now, were While I was sweating profusely from behind, I worshiped all kinds of gods and Buddhas in my heart, and I was glad that I didn't act impulsively just now.

In short, the officers and soldiers of the 103rd Division watching around all knew as clearly as a mirror that from today on, the imprint of the old Guizhou Army will gradually disappear in the 103rd Division. This original force with a long history will Starting from today, the Guizhou Army troops will be formally and fully integrated into the Central Army's system and order of battle.

"Hurry up, hurry up, don't waste your time, there are only two steps in total, if you die early or die later, you will die."

"If you're a man, just be happy. Don't delay me from going to fight the Japanese."

Soon, under the continuous pushing and shouting of the officers and soldiers of the special agent platoon, the seventeen former officers of the 103rd Division finally came to the end of their lives. The seventeen people were lined up in a row, behind each person. There were two soldiers from the special agent platoon, one on the left and one on the right, holding their arms and pushing him to the ground.

In the middle of the two soldiers, there was an execution officer with a rifle, pointing the cold Czech rifle muzzle at the back of the head of the officer to be executed.

The officers and soldiers of the firing squad pinned the officer to be executed to the ground.

"Report to the battalion commander, preparations for execution are complete, please give instructions!"

When everything was ready for the execution, Yang Biao stood up at attention and shouted loudly at He Wei in the distance.

He Wei nodded to Yang Biao, then looked at He Shaozhou beside him and said, "Sir, do you think it's time to start?"

He Shaozhou, who had achieved his goal, was no longer as cautious as he had been when the 103rd Division was struggling. This nephew who graduated from the first phase of Huangpu and experienced the Northern Expedition finally showed his talents. For He Shaozhou, Wei asked and said without any hesitation: "Execute immediately, shoot and expose the body for three days to serve as a warning to others!"

He Wei yelled: "Execute immediately!"

Yang Biao waved his hand and shouted: "Everyone is here, prepare!"

"put!"

bang bang
bang bang
Seventeen soldiers from the secret service battalion pulled the triggers, and gunshots rang out one after another. The full-power 7.92mm bullets shot out of the barrel and directly hit the brains of the seventeen officers. The seventeen officers looked like They were knocked down as hard as if they were hit hard, and they all fell to the ground in random directions, leaving a mixture of red and white all over the ground.

"Report to the battalion commander that the execution is over!"

After Yang Biao's death, the execution ground instantly returned to silence. In just one sentence, all seventeen officers were shot.

He Wei paid a military salute to He Shaozhou and said: "Sir, the execution is over. From today on, there will be no more people in this division who disobey the central government. This division will be completely centralized. You can rest assured, sir." We have the troops under control. I am here to congratulate you, sir. But once I show what I have learned, I would also like to congratulate the Central Army for adding another capable division to the army."

He Shaozhou laughed heartily twice, held He Wei's hand, and said sincerely: "Brother He, thank you very much. I will never forget what happened today. Thank you!"

He Wei looked at his handsome nephew with a smile on his face and felt happy in his heart. He and Minister He had already been on the line, and now he helped him control the troops, which was the icing on the cake.

Moreover, if this matter is reported to the Ministry of Military Affairs or spread to the higher-ups, it will be a great achievement for himself. After all, what Ding Dafa did today is clearly to openly defy the central government and disobey orders.

On the contrary, what He Wei did, to exaggerate, was to help the central government retain an army and quell the rebellious rebellion of the local troops, which is definitely a big contribution.

Looking at the red-faced He Shaozhou, He Wei secretly thought that his contribution to helping him control the 103rd Division should also allow him to "progress" in the military officialdom and expand and build his own troops in the future. It's quite helpful.

Just when He Wei was thinking about the benefits that this matter might bring to him, He Shaozhou interrupted He Wei's calculations with pride and said loudly: "Let's go down to the troops and take a look. The troops are now under control." , but if you want to join the war, you must reorganize and reorganize, let’s go together.”

．． ．． ．． ．． ．． ．． ．． ．． ．． ．． ．． ．． ．． ．． ．．

After killing people and completely controlling the troops, they were going to join the battle. Naturally, they had to reorganize themselves. He Wei followed He Shaozhou non-stop and walked through the 103rd Division in a very short period of time.

Talking on paper is one thing, actual inspection is another.

When He Wei took a real look at the units of the 103rd Division, he realized that the situation of this unit was worse than he imagined. First of all, the only thing he was thankful for was that the hardware of this unit was decent. Since the military industry in Guizhou Province was extremely backward, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the equipment of the Guizhou Army was the last among the armies of various factions in the country.

It is said that when the Red Army passed through Qian Province and fought with the Guizhou Army troops, they were quite disgusted with the captured weapons of the Guizhou Army.

The 103rd Division had already undergone preliminary changes when it was initially reorganized by the central government, so it did not lag behind in terms of hardware.

The three infantry regiments of the 103rd Division are composed of three infantry battalions, a mortar company and a special agent platoon, a baggage platoon, a communications platoon and other departments, which are relatively complete.

The regiment's mortar company is equipped with four 82mm mortars made in Jinling. Each infantry battalion has three infantry companies and one heavy machine gun company.

Each heavy machine gun company is equipped with six Jinling-made Type 24 heavy machine guns, and the infantry company has three infantry platoons and nine infantry squads, each of which is equipped with a Czech light machine gun.

The rifles are all new Hanyang-made rifles produced by Hanyang Arsenal. The platoon leader and company commander are all equipped with telescopes and Mauser pistols. The communication equipment is also relatively complete. The overall equipment situation is pretty good.

It can be seen that when these Guizhou Army units were first reorganized, the central government did not spare any money, but also gave them some sweeteners. The equipment allocated to the 103rd Division were all active main battle equipment of the Central Army units.

The Czech light machine guns and Mauser pistols they are equipped with are all original goods imported from abroad, and the equipment is actually better than some of the Central Army affiliated units.

But the quality and personnel of the soldiers are very poor. Currently, after the battles in Jiangyin and Zhenjiang and other places, these three infantry regiments have only more than 5,000 people left. The losses of soldiers in each battalion and company are not small, and the soldiers The quality of the soldiers was poor, and He Wei knew at a glance that many soldiers lacked systematic training.

What's even more terrible is that among the more than 5,000 people, nearly a thousand are double-gun soldiers and heavy smokers. All of them have virtues that cannot be lived without heavy smoke.

During the inspection by He Wei and He Shaozhou, some brave veterans actually slapped their eyes in front of the two of them, which really made He Wei dumbfounded at that time.

The situation of the officers is not optimistic either. At present, the officers of the 103rd Division at all levels are basically those from the old Guizhou Army system. Although the central government has sent some Huangpu graduates, a group of people headed by Ding Dafa have been involved openly or covertly. Due to the boycott, most of the Huangpu graduates did not hold official positions in grassroots units. They were either attached to the company or trained as training officers, which did not fill any real vacancies.

Eighty percent of the basic battalion company chiefs and platoon leaders in the division are veterans of the Guizhou Army, and most of these officers have never attended military schools. They are basically from the military or were recruited by relatives through nepotism. Most of my friends who have joined the army as officers have not received decent systematic military education, and their military literacy and commanding abilities can be imagined.

The situation of these three infantry regiments is not the same. The 615th and 618th regiments are okay, but the 613th regiment originally controlled by Ding Dafa is in the worst situation. The officers in the regiment, up to the battalion commander , down to the platoon leader and even the squad leader, they are all Ding's cronies and fellow villagers. The personnel system of the entire regiment is simply terrible.

After He Wei and He Shaozhou killed Ding Dafa and a group of his cronies with thunder, there was a devastating vacancy in the regiment's personnel. Two of the three battalion commanders were shot, and half of the company commanders were shot. The platoon leader also shot many people, the troops were leaderless, and the morale and morale of the troops were also showing signs of vacillation.

Faced with this situation, under He Wei's suggestion, He Shaozhou made the following adjustments: First, the leaderless 613th Regiment was temporarily abolished, and all officers and soldiers were dispersed and organized into the 618th Regiment and the 615th Regiment. , This approach can not only prevent unexpected situations in the 613th Regiment, but also enrich the combat strength of the 618th Regiment and the 615th Regiment, which is considered to be killing two birds with one stone.

Secondly, in order to ensure the combat strength and command system of the troops, He Shaozhou vigorously promoted Huangpu Military Academy graduates in the division and assigned them to the positions of company and battalion chief officers. This not only strengthened the command strength, but also improved He Shaozhou's control over the troops. In addition, since most of the veteran Guizhou Army officers had not attended military academies and relied on experience to fight, these cadres from the Huangpu Military Academy were also of great benefit to wartime command.

Regarding the issue of soldiers, He Shaozhou and He Wei unanimously decided to screen out those soldiers who smoked heavy cigarettes, temporarily eliminate the troops, and manage them uniformly.

After all, it is really uneasy to let this group of people fight on the battlefield. Just imagine, when these soldiers are fighting fiercely with the enemy, they suddenly become addicted to smoking. Then they have to take a puff before they can continue. To fight, He Shaozhou took out nearly a thousand heavy smokers from the army and organized them into an independent battalion-level unit for unified management.

In addition, in order to stabilize the morale of the military, He Shaozhou also issued a unified announcement stating that no matter what the officers in the division had done before, from now on, as long as they obey the orders and fight with peace of mind, they will forget the past.

Although Ding Dafa and many of his supporters have been eradicated, his influence in the 103rd Division is intricate and deep. Many of the seventeen people he killed were actually unlucky because they were not very smart. After hearing Ding Dafa's lies, He Shaozhou was killed. A gun was fired in front of him, otherwise his life would not have been lost.

Among the current officers of the 103rd Division, there are actually many people from Ding Dafa. He Shaozhou issued this announcement to reassure this group of people and tell them: As long as they fight with peace of mind and obey orders, the past things will never happen again. Don’t mention it.

In short, He Wei and He Shaozhou were busy until late at night amid the Japanese feints and exploratory attacks, and then they were able to finish reorganizing the 103rd Division.

Of course, this is just rectification. He Wei also said that with the word rectification and training, under such a tight time, it can only be done to rectify the 103rd Division. As for training, there is no such effort at all.

When visiting various units of the 103rd Division, He Wei also got to know the training and basic tactics of this division. The situation is not optimistic. The tactical level of the 103rd Division basically remains at the level of the Beiyang Army in the late Qing Dynasty to the First The state between the First and Second World Wars.

The infantry drills used in daily life are still inherited from Beiyang in the late Qing Dynasty. The tactics used are just the traditional multi-layered dense skirmisher line platoon assault tactics. To be honest, they are not even up to the level of World War I. Basically, it was the tactical level of the Beiyang Army in the late Qing Dynasty.

And their grasp of technical equipment is also very poor. They are very unfamiliar with the use and tactics of the Czech-style light machine guns issued by the central government, Jinling-made Type 24 heavy machine guns and various communication equipment.

However, under such an urgent situation, He Wei was unable to make any decent changes to it. The 103rd Division could only face the ruthless test of war without training.

Because, facing the imminent war situation and critical situation, there is no time for the 103rd Division to make any fuss about the word "training".

The Japanese troops who are eyeing Xiaguan will soon open their fangs and continue to attack Xiaguan.

(End of this chapter)