The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 459: Rifle Grenade and Various Expansions
While He Wei was thinking, the commander of the 3rd Infantry Battalion, Hu Zhaowu, also spoke up: "Captain, I have no objection to increasing the number of infantry troops and independent search units, but I do have some opinions on infantry firepower and weapons."

When He Wei heard Hu Zhaowu talking about infantry firepower and weapons, he immediately became interested. He raised his chin and asked, "Tell me what you think?"

Hu Zhaowu said: "As Captain Fu said, the firepower of our grassroots infantry is sufficient. Each infantry platoon can be said to be equipped with machine guns, submachine guns, general-purpose machine guns and other light and heavy automatic machine guns. In terms of indirect fire, each infantry platoon of our corps also has mortars as indirect fire. A Japanese infantry squad only has rifles, light machine guns and grenade launchers. In theory, the firepower of our unit is strong enough."

"But what I'm thinking is whether we can add an indirect-fire blasting weapon. This happened to my battalion during the battle at Banbi Mountain. Sometimes when the infantry launched an attack, the enemy was in a concealed fortification within a hundred or two hundred meters. The machine guns couldn't hit them, so they had to use indirect-fire weapons. At this time, the 60mm mortars at the platoon level often couldn't provide support immediately, and the infantry's grenades couldn't be thrown that far. So to eliminate this group of enemies, we either had to let the infantry charge hard, or wait for the 60mm guns to provide fire support before we could eliminate the enemy."

"If we rely on infantry to charge, we will often suffer casualties, and waiting for the fire support of the 60mm gun will easily delay time. In any case, it is not very appropriate. Many officers and soldiers in my battalion have reported this to me. I am thinking, can we add a kind of indirect blasting firearm that can be used by a single soldier, can be fired quickly, and has a range of 50 meters to 200 meters or 300 meters for the grassroots infantry of my corps?"

After Hu Zhaowu finished speaking, He Wei was stunned for a moment, and then he felt a sense of relief. He thought that Hu Zhaowu was also talking about the problems in the organization of the troops, but he did not expect that he would actually require the addition of new weapons and equipment based on the troops' combat experience, and even put forward specific performance parameter requirements.

Although He Wei was certain that Hu Zhaowu had no idea whether the weapon he expected existed, being able to make requests based on extremely subtle situations on the battlefield and the actual needs of officers and soldiers, and seeking to equip himself with a new weapon that was beyond his own knowledge, wasn't this an improvement?
It can be seen that the battlefield of blood and fire brings to the officers and soldiers of the assault corps not only the improvement of combat skills and technical tactics.

Of course, the most crucial thing is that the opinions of Hu Zhaowu and the officers and soldiers of the Third Battalion are actually quite pertinent, and they really hit the key points and gaps in the current equipment sequence of the assault corps.

What Hu Zhaowu wanted was an indirect-fire firearm that could be held in the hands of infantry and used for rapid firing. The range of this firearm was between that of an infantry grenade and a 60mm mortar, and the Assault Corps was indeed lacking in weapons and equipment of this type.

If it were someone else, they might be confused about the additional weapons Hu Zhaowu proposed, but He Wei immediately realized that this was just a rifle grenade!

At this time, the commander of the first battalion, Fu Chen, spoke again: "Commander of the Third Battalion, the firearm you are talking about is the Japanese army's grenade launcher. The Japanese grenade launcher is an indirect firearm, which is light and can be used by skilled soldiers. It is also relatively convenient to carry. However, the captain said that the combat performance of the grenade launcher is similar to that of our 60mm mortar. Since we have equipped the platoon-level units with 60mm mortars, if we add grenade launchers to the infantry squad, the combat performance will be the same as that of the 60mm gun. Moreover, our army currently does not have a large number of standard grenade launchers produced by itself. If we really want to equip ourselves with grenade launchers, we can only use those captured from the enemy, which is not conducive to logistics. Anyway, the grenade launcher is really useless."

Chief of Staff Wang Yuanling also said in a deep voice: "I have tried the Japanese grenade launcher and fired a few rounds. Although it is light, it is only compared to the 60mm mortar equipped by my corps with a full set of gun mounts and aiming equipment. Moreover, in the kind of combat situation that Captain Hu just mentioned, the infantry launched an attack on a position where the enemy was hidden. It is necessary to use indirect firepower to eliminate the enemy hidden behind the fortifications as soon as possible. This kind of grenade launcher is definitely not light. It needs to find a shooting support, load the bullets, and aim."

"You see, the grenade launcher is not big, but it is actually quite cumbersome to use when you are in a hurry to fire. The entire firing process is neither light nor fast in the combat situation that Captain Hu mentioned. I think the grenade launcher still cannot meet Captain Hu's needs."

After Wang Yuanling finished speaking, He Wei nodded slightly, thought for a moment, and then spoke again: "You are all right. The grenade launcher does not fit the combat situation that Zhao Wu just mentioned. There is only one kind of firearm that fits the situation - the rifle grenade. This thing is the same as the grenade launcher. It is a curved fire weapon used by infantry for close combat and can be used to eliminate enemies behind cover. But this thing is lighter than the grenade launcher, and its launcher is very small, even smaller and thinner than the grenade launcher."

"When in use, it can be directly installed on the barrel of a rifle. When firing, just load the grenade into the launcher and replace the rifle with special bullets for firing grenades. Just pull the trigger and fire the special bullets to fire the grenade. The shooting process and device are simple, and it is also lighter than a grenade launcher."

He Wei directly called Fu Chen, Wang Yuanling, Hu Zhaowu, Fang Jing, and even the artillery battalion commander Chen Xinsheng, who all became excited and looked at He Wei with hope. Obviously, they were all very interested in equipment such as rifle grenades, and Fu Chen and other three infantry battalion commanders' eyes were shining.

Indeed, if the grassroots infantry squad of the assault corps is really equipped with rifle grenades, then when the infantry is in combat, the explosive firepower within 60 meters can be provided by throwing grenades madly, and there will be rifle grenades within the range of to or meters. As for longer distances, they will be provided by mm mortars.

In this way, the grassroots infantry of the assault corps will be equipped with indirect explosive firepower at all distances during combat, and will be more adept at attacking the Japanese infantry in the future. For these infantry battalion commanders, the temptation of such a complete firepower configuration system is enormous!
He Wei spread his hands and said, "This weapon is not an advanced weapon. Rifle grenades have been equipped in Europe for a long time. If I can get this kind of firearm, I will definitely equip our troops with it. But I don't think it will be available in a short time. After all, rifle grenades have never been the standard equipment of our army."

"How about this, I'll go to the Military and Political Department and ask them to look through the arsenals under their jurisdiction. If they really don't have it, I'll ask them to help coordinate and see if I can get rifle grenades through external channels."

Although He Wei said this, he had another idea in his mind. If he remembered correctly, according to the original historical development, the Kuomintang's rear arsenal successively developed and produced domestically produced grenade launchers and rifle grenades in 1938 and 1939.

Among them, the grenade launcher was named the domestically made Type 27 50mm grenade launcher, and the rifle grenade was named the domestically made Type 28 rifle grenade. The so-called standard year is naturally named according to the year of the Republic of China when it was developed and produced.

It is said that the time has come for the development of these two weapons, so He Wei is thinking about whether he should go to the metropolitan area one day to inquire about the development and production of these two weapons at the Ordnance Department under the Ministry of Military Affairs, and then bring them back for the troops to use. Now it is the 28th year of the Republic of China, and the 27-type grenade launcher should have been developed. What Fu Chen just said, "Our army has not mass-produced standard grenade launchers" will become history, but He Wei is really not interested in this kind of grenade launcher.

Firstly, he didn't like the grenade launcher, which was a kind of indirect-fire firearm that relied heavily on experience and had no complete sights. Secondly, this domestically-produced Type 27 grenade launcher was an emergency product developed by the National Army to deal with the Japanese grenade launcher. It was improved on the basis of the old Taisho Type 10 50mm grenade launcher that had been eliminated by the Japanese. It used a smoothbore barrel and had a short range of less than 300 meters, and its performance was very average.

Therefore, this new type of domestic grenade launcher can be used for fun, but it is not necessary to have it as equipment.

However, as for rifle grenades, He Wei could indeed equip the assault corps with them in large quantities. This thing was still very useful, so He Wei decided on one of the key points of this expansion, which was to equip the troops with rifle grenades on a large scale.

Then, He Wei spoke again: "I will take care of the rifle grenade issue. Just now, the commanders of the first and second battalions also said that it is necessary to increase the number of infantry. However, given the current overall situation of our corps, if we increase the number of infantry on a large scale, although it is completely possible, the quality of these additional troops may be a problem. What I mean is that we should add an infantry company to each of our three infantry battalions first, so that the number of infantry in the organization will increase, and there will be enough cadres and sergeants. What do you think?"

The three infantry battalion commanders Fu Chen, Fang Jing, and Hu Zhaowu and the chief of staff Wang Yuanling nodded in agreement. It was indeed a wise move for He Wei to do so. It was not difficult to expand the infantry of the assault corps, but if He Wei directly added one or even two infantry battalions, it would obviously be a big step - it would easily lead to failure.

Apart from other things, where can we find so many qualified company and platoon leaders, as well as battalion commanders? With the current human resources of the assault corps, it is difficult to spare so many qualified officers at one time, and the same is true for sergeants.

Therefore, He Wei still planned to play it safe in this expansion and increase the number of infantry companies under the three infantry battalions from three to four. This was the most appropriate approach considering the current situation of the Assault Corps, as it not only increased the number of infantry in each battalion, but also ensured the combat effectiveness of the newly expanded troops.

After discussing increasing the number of infantry, Chief of Staff Wang Yuanling also put forward two suggestions. One was to add deputy officers to the grassroots units of the assault corps, that is, to add deputy company commanders to the company-level units and deputy battalion commanders to the battalion-level units. He Wei readily agreed to this. It turned out that the companies and battalions of the assault corps did not have any deputy officers at all. This personnel system was not conducive to wartime command. He Wei was naturally happy to make up for this shortcoming now.

The second suggestion put forward by Wang Yuanling was to add a small artillery company equipped with dual-purpose machine guns to the assault corps' direct subordinate units.

The reason why Wang Yuanling proposed to add a small artillery company was because he was worried about the Japanese airborne attack. Facing the possible airborne raid launched by the Japanese from the air, the machine gun with anti-aircraft function is indeed a powerful weapon. If used properly, it can inflict heavy damage to the Japanese army before the Japanese airborne troops land.

The four battalion commanders were all very supportive of Wang Yuanling's proposal. Although He Wei himself did not care about the combat readiness mission of the Japanese airborne troops to attack the temporary capital, and was very sure that the Japanese airborne troops would not attack the temporary capital, this was a mentality unique to time travelers. Others would not think so. In fact, the officers under He Wei were very afraid of the possibility that the Japanese airborne troops might attack the temporary capital. Therefore, they strongly supported the equipping of anti-aircraft machine guns.

Since everyone has unanimously requested it, the machine gun company directly under the corps must be formed. Although He Wei believes that this company has a high probability of not having a chance to fight the Japanese paratroopers, it is still a very good air defense force directly under the corps. What's more, the machine gun can also hit tanks when laid flat, and can also serve as an anti-tank force when necessary.

After Wang Yuanling finished speaking to He Wei, everyone's eyes naturally fell on Chen Xinsheng, the commander of the artillery battalion of the assault corps. The expansion of the infantry and the direct-affiliated teams was almost complete, and the only thing left was the artillery battalion's affairs.

He Wei smiled and nodded to Chen Xinsheng, then raised his voice and said, "Captain Chen, your artillery battalion is the pillar of firepower for our corps. Artillery is the god of war. If you have any opinions, just tell me!"

Chen Xinsheng was not polite. He chuckled twice, rolled up his sleeves, drank another cup of tea, and said with a lion-like posture: "Captain, this time I was exposed to the command and operation of a large-scale artillery group in Banbi Mountain. I benefited a lot in artillery tactics and command. I do have some opinions on the organization and equipment of the artillery battalion. In my opinion, command is extremely important for both infantry and artillery, but my battalion's current equipment actually has many disadvantages for command. My battalion currently has two mountain artillery companies and one tank defense artillery company. These three companies are equipped with mountain artillery and tank defense artillery."

"But what I can command in wartime is basically the mountain artillery. The tank defense artillery company is the artillery that cooperates with the infantry in combat. Being assigned to my battalion only makes my battalion responsible for the management of this company. I basically cannot command this company in wartime. Therefore, I think that instead of placing the tank defense artillery company in my battalion for the convenience of management, it is better to directly assign the command sequence of the company to the direct-affiliated troops of the corps and unify all the companies under my battalion into mountain artillery companies equipped with barreled artillery. This will also facilitate my management and command."

He Wei said without hesitation: "No problem, assign the tank defense artillery company to the headquarters directly, separate it from your battalion, and change it to a company directly under the headquarters. This will be beneficial to both your artillery battalion and the headquarters."

Then, He Wei signaled Chen Xinsheng to continue. Chen Xinsheng paused and said, "In addition, I also hope that our battalion can add a field artillery company or a howitzer company with a longer range. It would be best if the mountain artillery equipped by the two existing mountain artillery companies could be of the same model and replaced with the Japanese-made Type 94 75mm mountain artillery. Of course, it would be even better if the mountain artillery unit could also be expanded."

(End of this chapter)