The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 298 Czech Equipment
With a worried look on his face, the colonel and section chief of the Ordnance Department told He Wei about the current situation of the weapons and equipment of the national army. Originally, He Wei was dazzled by the list of imported equipment, and the number was also considerable. He was stunned, but what the colonel said later made He Wei see the dilemma of the Chinese army behind these imported weapons and equipment and the difficulty of the anti-war situation at this time.

According to this colonel who was responsible for the equipment distribution and storage business, in October 1937, three months after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, heavy losses were suffered in the fierce battles in Songhu and Xinkou. , there have been considerable gaps in the weapons and equipment of the national army.

In order to make up for the war losses, Guozhou's original plan was to purchase equipment through barter from Germany, which helped China build its German weapons force. However, Germany was also sharpening its military preparations at this time, preparing to attack Europe. There is not enough equipment to sell to China.

After encountering a disastrous encounter with the Germans, Guogui turned his attention to purchasing weapons to the Red Soviet Russia, which had just signed a non-aggression treaty with itself.

In this non-aggression treaty, Soviet Russia provided Guo Preserved with a barter arms sales loan of 100 million French currency. The Soviet Russians were also willing to sell arms to China. However, the problem was that most of Soviet Russia’s weapons and equipment were of the same caliber as Guo Preserved’s equipment. different.

The Soviet Russian Lao Maozi's rifle machine gun uses 7.62×54mmR type bullets, while the Chinese army is equipped with German 7.92×57mm bullets. The caliber is not universal at all. After buying it, it is likely to cause big logistical troubles. Therefore, Guo Preserved decided It used loans from Soviet Russia to import aircraft, artillery and tanks from Soviet Russia, while light weapons and ammunition were purchased elsewhere.

In order to rush to buy weapons and equipment, Supreme Leader Chang Kaishen directly sent Kong Xiangxi to various European countries to purchase arms of German standard caliber. They swept the goods along the way and purchased 1155 million rounds of Mauser ammunition and 3000 Belgian light machine guns from the FN Arsenal in Belgium, and sent them to France. Brand Company purchased 150 81mm mortars, anti-aircraft machine guns from Hotchkiss Company, and 120 75mm field guns from Schneider.

Austria and Hungary also sold a large number of German-caliber bullets to China. Of course, the Czech Republic also had to make a profit. They also sold a large number of Czech-made vz24 rifles to China, Czech zb26 light machine guns, and the latest model, which had just come out. Czech ZB37 heavy machine gun.

In short, in the face of massive battle losses on the front line and the plight of domestic military production capacity, Guo Preserved purchased a large number of weapons and ammunition from all over Europe, which was able to make up for the war losses of equipment, but the money spent was like water. , the foreign exchange spent on buying foreign arms accounts for almost one-third of the total foreign exchange quota.

"This is war, this is war. Countless people die every day on the front line, and a lot of money is spent on the rear. Most of the foreign exchange we use to purchase arms comes from selling silver to foreign countries. Every dime spent is a dime lost. This When will we get rid of those stupid little devils!"

The colonel of the Ordnance Department said angrily to He Wei. He Wei acquiesced and remained silent, but inexplicably thought of Ding Lunshi who was purchasing mg34 machine guns and French Brand mm mortars for him. No wonder that Fatty Ding With so much money, the most profitable thing these days is the murderous arms trade.

Looking at the colonel with a sad look on his face, He Wei said firmly: "Don't worry, brother, sooner or later the Japanese will be driven away by us. Those of us who are fighting on the front line will definitely fight to the death with them!"

"However, if you want to do your job well, you must first sharpen your tools. Please give me more good equipment, brother."

The colonel nodded, pointed to the list of arms stored in the military station and said: "Feel free to choose, as long as the quantity meets the regulations, I will naturally approve it directly. Speaking of which, Brother He, you are also lucky. This batch of arms stored in the military station Most of them were recently purchased from abroad. Not only the firearms, but also the bullets are mostly imported from abroad, so you have a lot to choose from.”

Of course, you have to choose. There are so many arms and equipment produced in Europe in front of you. With his style, he naturally wants to buy as much as possible.

However, there is no limit to this. Minister He has made it clear to He Wei just now that the strength of his Army Commando Corps is best controlled at the size of a reinforced infantry regiment. So if you want to apply for equipment, you will naturally have to According to this standard.

So, He Wei asked: "Then I won't be polite. Let's follow the standard of having more infantry regiments. An infantry regiment has nine infantry companies, three machine gun companies, and three mortar platoons. In total, There should be 24 heavy machine guns, about 37 rifles, and six 26mm mortars. I don’t want more. The Czech-made rifles are all good. I want Czech vz rifles. , thirty Czech ZB heavy machine guns, how about a hundred ZB light machine guns?”

The colonel from the Ordnance Department was stunned for a moment, and began to wonder if the reason He Wei didn't say much just now was because of auditory hallucinations.

Isn’t this what the hell?

Not only do you want a lot, but you also want to choose the best ones!
When He Wei's spy battalion was established in Jinling, it was equipped with some Czech rifles. The rifles in the entire battalion were all Czech-made vz24 rifles, commonly known as Ma Sihuan. During combat use, they received unanimous praise from the officers and soldiers of the spy battalion. He Wei Wei also liked it very much, so he also loved weapons produced in the Czech Republic.

Two thousand Czech rifles and thirty heavy machine guns are more than enough to equip two infantry regiments!

The colonel smiled bitterly and said: "You know how to choose. These Czech weapons are hot commodities. Let alone the Czech light machine guns, the Czech rifles are said by frontline troops to be more useful than German-made rifles. The steel muzzles are excellent. What about the Czech-made rifles?" The heavy machine guns are even more amazing. I saw the test firing when the first batch of shipments arrived in China. They are much easier to use than the Maxim. They are air-cooled, lightweight, fast in rate of fire, and powerful in firepower. Moreover, each heavy machine gun All come with a full set of anti-aircraft sights, which are excellent equipment.”

He Wei showed a smile and continued: "Then can you approve it?"

The colonel thought for a while and realized that what He Wei wanted was quite a lot. Now all the troops were asking for weapons to be replenished. If so many weapons and equipment were rashly awarded to He Wei at once, there would immediately be a huge shortage of weapons in the military depot's inventory. The gaps, heavy machine guns and light machine guns were okay. The quantity He Wei wanted was not large, but two thousand Czech-made rifles were really too much to bear.

There are only 5,500 Czech-made rifles in the military depot's inventory. If 2,000 were given to He Wei, half of the inventory would be gone. If an order came to allocate weapons to other troops, wouldn't there be no guns to replace them? ?

More importantly, rifles are different from automatic firearms such as light machine guns and heavy machine guns. Rifles are the basic combat weapons of the current army. The consumption and demand are huge. We must try to save and replenish them carefully, even if He Wei is The minister's favorite, the colonel, did not dare to satisfy He Wei's huge appetite.

The colonel said in a deep voice: "Light machine guns and heavy machine guns are okay, but we need too many rifles. Let's do this. I will give you 1,500 Czech rifles, and I will give you 120 light machine guns. I’ll give you forty heavy machine guns and some imported ammunition, what do you think?”

He Wei looked hesitant, as if hesitant, but he was secretly proud of himself. Of course he knew what two thousand rifles meant. Before the war, the number of rifles in a division of the German weapon adjusters of the national army was about four thousand, and now the national army has about four thousand rifles. The number of rifles in an infantry division of the Chinese army is only about 2,700. The Chinese army currently has an infantry company of more than 150 people, and less than half of the soldiers in the company have guns.

The two thousand rifles that He Weishishi asked for were enough to equip most of the infantry division. Of course, he was asking for a high price so that the colonel in front of him could pay back the money.

"Well, if you have fewer rifles, you can have fewer rifles. But guns alone are not enough. You also need cannons. I see that there are no mortars and combat artillery in the inventory equipment list of our military depot. I don't know when they can be replenished. superior?"

Looking at He Wei, who looked greedy, the colonel said helplessly: "There are no mortars at the moment. The only domestic arsenal that can manufacture mortars is the Jinling Arsenal. This factory is being relocated to Sichuan Province and cannot produce it. However, after a while, A batch of 81mm mortars bought from France should arrive. According to the structure of an infantry regiment, each regiment should have six mortars. Let's do this. I will make an order for you later and grant it to you. Twelve mortars, and another hundred German-made twenty-ring mortars will be granted to you. When the mortars arrive at the military station, you can use the order to receive the equipment." The colonel had already seen that He Wei had a big appetite, so he simply said generously. Some equipment was added, and He Wei was given Bayi mortars and fast-slow machine pistols according to the equipment of the two infantry regiments.

However, the colonel then poured cold water on He Wei.

"As for the tank defense cannon, don't think about it. The tank defense cannon, like machine guns, mountain guns, and field guns, is a key weapon. It will not be stored casually in military depots. Instead, the military committee will designate the storage location. , the Ministry of Military Affairs must consult with the Military Commission when replenishing. Brother, if you really want to replenish tank defense guns, I am afraid you have to go to Minister He. Only Minister He can do it personally. "

"I see, I've learned a lesson!"

He Wei said, then he leaned close to the colonel and continued to ask: "Brother, I still don't know something, please give me some advice."

"Oh? But it's okay to talk?"

"That's right, my army is equipped with a lot of machine guns. I wonder if our army still has stocks of weapons like machine guns?"

He Wei asked with hope. The rifles were coming, the light machine guns were coming, the heavy machine guns and mortars were coming. He Wei came up with the idea of ​​submachine guns again. The troops of the secret service battalion in Jinling were equipped with flower machine guns, and Played a very important role in the battle.

Since the basic equipment of the Japanese army was not equipped with short-range, fast automatic firearms such as submachine guns, in a series of battles in Jinling, the submachine guns equipped by the officers and soldiers of the special agent battalion caused a large number of casualties to the Japanese army.

In the Army Assault Corps that is about to be formed, He Wei naturally hopes to continue to be equipped with submachine guns and continue to carry forward the advantages of submachine guns in close combat firepower.

But there is also a problem, that is, in the general equipment sequence of the national army, submachine guns are not standard weapons. The standard weapons in the national army field troops are actually the same as those of the Japanese army. In addition to light machine guns, they are pistols and rifles. Submachine guns have long been eliminated from the weapons and equipment sequence of field troops.

Therefore, if He Wei wants to continue to equip the Army Commando Corps under his command with submachine guns, the source of the submachine guns will be a big problem.

As far as he knew, major domestic arsenals had stopped producing submachine guns before the Anti-Japanese War, and they were not seen on the Ordnance Department's depot storage list today.

However, in line with the principle of hitting three shots with dates and without dates, He Wei of course wanted to ask if there were any submachine guns and see if he could get some submachine guns from the Ordnance Department.

But the colonel gave He Wei a negative answer.

"Submachine gun? You are talking about the flower machine gun, right? This kind of gun is not classified as the standard weapon of the national army, so it has been discontinued long before the war. I guess there are still some in some arsenals or weapon depots. It’s in stock, but I’m afraid it’s hard to find, and even if you find it, the quantity may not be very large. Why, do you want some fancy machine guns?”

"Yes, my troops used flower machine guns very well when they were in Jinling. Today, I came to the Ministry of Military Affairs to handle equipment matters, and I also wanted to inquire about whether there are any such firearms."

He Wei said.

The colonel added: "Let me keep an eye on it for you, but don't hold out too much hope. This kind of gun is not a standard weapon and has been discontinued long ago. In addition to the various battle losses since the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, it is estimated that there will not be many of them. "

"Thank you sir!"

He Wei thanked the colonel. It was a pity that he did not find the submachine gun, but his harvest today was fruitful enough. The submachine gun was just a slight flaw.

Soon, the satisfied He Wei went through all the delivery procedures with the colonel and received the order stamped with the seal of the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs.

At that time, as long as he goes to the military station and shows the order, he can collect all the equipment allocated to him today, and the amount of equipment He Wei received can be said to be a brilliant result.

One thousand, five hundred Czech-made VZ24 26mm rifles, one hundred and twenty Czech ZB37 light machine guns, forty Czech ZB heavy machine guns, one hundred German-made -shot speed machines, and twelve The Brand mm mortar and a batch of ammunition made by Menfa really satisfied He Wei.

After completing all the formal procedures, He Wei left the Ordnance Department of the Ministry of Military Affairs with a miscellaneous formality and signatures, full of wandering and imagination about the future.

With this batch of equipment, He Wei can boldly form his own Army Commando Corps.

However, if some submachine guns and even tank defense cannons were added to the existing ones, it would be perfect.

He Wei thought that the problem of tank defense guns could be left to Minister He to solve. The submachine gun issue might be settled by Ding Lunshi, who helped him purchase mg34 machine guns and mortars.

(End of this chapter)