The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 461: Equipment, Organization, and Officers in Place
The newly renovated new camp of the assault corps was bustling again. Only three days after He Wei submitted the application for the planned expansion of the establishment and various supplements, the Military Commission approved it.

The Military Commission readily approved all of He Wei's requests for expansion and replenishment of various weapons and equipment. The Military Commission's reply to He Wei was also very simple and clear. The entire telegram only had a short sentence - "Approve the department's replenishment application!"

After the approval of the top leaders of the Military Commission, the next step was to go through the process of the Ministry of Military Affairs, and the Ministry of Military Affairs would carry out specific supplementary work for the Assault Corps. Since the Military Commission had already agreed, and the Ministry of Military Affairs had Minister He, the great god behind He Wei, the Ministry of Military Affairs naturally gave the green light and immediately started a full-scale supplement of the Assault Corps with extremely high efficiency and extremely fast speed.

This point is vividly demonstrated outside the south wall of the current assault corps camp.

More than one hundred German Lightning trucks from a motor vehicle battalion dispatched by the Military Commission drove majestically to the south wall of the assault corps' camp and stopped. The gray German trucks loaded with weapons, ammunition and equipment formed long lines and gathered towards the assault corps' camp.

Outside the South Camp Gate, He Wei, Chief of Staff Wang Yuanling and several battalion commanders could not hide their excitement as they watched the trucks arrive one after another. Although He Wei, Wang Yuanling and other officers all knew that there was a threat of Japanese airborne attacks on the temporary capital and that the Military Commission would be very efficient, the fact that all the procedures for review and approval, as well as the withdrawal, concentration and transportation of various types of materials and equipment were completed in less than three days still amazed He Wei and others.

After all, let alone other things, the models of supplementary equipment proposed by He Wei in the supplementary material application form are not easy to find. For example, for rifles, He Wei still requested to supplement the Czech-made vz24 rifles, and for heavy machine guns, he even requested to supplement the Czech-made zb37 heavy machine guns. All of them were rare goods imported from the Czech Republic.

As for the replenishment of pistols, light machine guns and other weapons, He Wei's requirements were not low. He required that the pistols must be imported from Germany with a 26-shot Mauser rifle, and the light machine guns must be imported from the Czech Republic with an original zb81 light machine gun. Each light machine gun must also be equipped with at least one spare barrel. The mortars also required to be supplemented with 82mm mortars made in France or Austria that could fire multiple types of shells and were more powerful, rather than the domestically produced mm mortars made in the s. In short, He Wei wanted almost all imported equipment.

Now that the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression has begun, the domestic arsenals can no longer meet the needs of the National Army's front-line troops. Therefore, in addition to self-manufacturing, the National Army's weapons supply also depends on the assistance of the Soviet Union and purchases from Europe. The foreign weapons and equipment that He Wei requested to be supplemented are actually within the sequence of the National Army's imported equipment. In theory, they can be supplemented to the Assault Corps.

But theory is theory, and reality is reality. Given the current huge shortage of weapons in the entire national army, it is actually not easy to accurately and sufficiently mobilize and transport these imported weapons and equipment.

Of course, He Wei did request for domestically produced weapons, equipment and ammunition. In the supplementary list he drew up, the more domestically produced ammunition such as grenades and bullets the better. He also wanted to add rifle grenades to the assault corps. Although he did not know whether the rear arsenals of the National Army had started to produce rifle grenades, He Wei still proposed in his supplementary application that he wanted to add a type of rifle grenade based on the principle of trying his best. He even requested a batch of domestically produced grenade launchers, which he looked down upon.

In addition to these weapons, He Wei also put forward stringent requirements for other aspects. For example, in the field of engineering, when fighting the Japanese Marines, the Assault Corps once organized a river crossing attack operation. When organizing the troops to cross the river, He Wei felt deeply that the engineering company of the Assault Corps was short of professional engineering equipment.

Therefore, in this application for additional equipment, He Wei requested a large number of professional engineering equipment, such as rubber boats and steel boats used in wading areas or river crossing operations, field pontoon bridge erection equipment, and small air compressors used by engineers to drill holes for storing explosives during blasting operations. He Wei and Zhao Jiansan, the engineer company commander of the assault corps, all the engineering equipment that he could think of. He Wei didn't care whether the equipment was available in the warehouse of the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs. As long as it was needed, he wrote all of it into the supplementary application. There were even many equipment that might not be manufactured in China.

It can be said that He Wei's appetite for replenishment of weapons and equipment and various equipment is very picky, and he is simply asking for too much. He dares to do so, firstly, because the Assault Corps is responsible for the combat readiness mission of the temporary capital, and he is taking advantage of the special combat readiness mission to offer very high conditions; secondly, of course, it is because Minister He is in charge of the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs. With Minister He's presence, He Wei is naturally fearless in replenishment.

However, He Wei also knew that his supplementary requirements were too stringent. The guns and artillery he wanted were almost all imported, and in large quantities. He wanted both quantity and quality. He originally had the idea of ​​asking for an exorbitant price and then getting nothing in return. He did not expect the Assault Corps to really get weapons and equipment that fully met the supplementary list proposed by He Wei. Even if they could collect and replenish those weapons and equipment, it would probably take some time.

But He Wei didn't expect that in just three days, not only was the expansion of the staff approved, but all the additional weapons and equipment he wanted were also raised. This efficiency was extremely high.

In just three days, all the equipment was ready. While He Wei was greatly impressed, he also secretly complained that the people from the Ordnance Department under the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs had scolded him a lot in recent days. For Minister He, it was actually very simple to give He Wei strong additional support. As a minister, he only had to give an order to the Ordnance Department and send a note.

But the people in the Ordnance Department had to search for equipment in various subordinate arsenals, and they had to mobilize, transport and inspect them. They had to personally raise additional equipment for the Assault Corps. He Wei estimated that the people in the Ordnance Department would be exhausted during these days!
Of course, the Military Commission did not give a clear response to He Wei's request to add a motor vehicle unit to the assault corps. These were the only requests of He Wei that were not met.

He Wei could understand this very well. Compared with weapons and ammunition, the Kuomintang's cars were more valuable. After all, at least guns and ammunition could be made by themselves, but if a car was scrapped, it would be gone. Moreover, the war on the front line was tense and the front line had high requirements for car transportation capacity. The cars of the Kuomintang's supply regiments were simply not enough.

In this case, it is impossible for the Military Commission to allocate a batch of vehicles to the Assault Corps just like that. It has to be considered carefully.

The officers and soldiers of the assault corps, who had lined up in neat rows behind He Wei and other officers and were ready to unload and move things for the convoy at any time, were also full of excitement and anticipation. These grassroots officers and ordinary soldiers, as well as sergeants, were the users of these equipment, so they were naturally full of expectations for receiving new equipment and weapons. Many people were wondering what useful weapons and equipment their captain could get this time.

Smoke and dust billowed, and horns blared. After more than a hundred cars had stopped outside the South Camp Gate, He Wei was about to order his officers to organize the soldiers to unload the cars. But before the order came down, he saw several officers jumping off a truck and running quickly towards the South Camp Gate.

Several people got out of the car and ran quickly, but the voice came before they got close.

"Excuse me, is this Captain He?" "It's me!"

He Wei agreed immediately and went to greet him with a cheerful face.

After approaching, He Wei saw that the leader was a lieutenant colonel. The lieutenant colonel was stunned for a moment when he saw He Wei's youthful face, then he glanced at the colonel rank on He Wei's collar, and a trace of envy appeared in his eyes. He stood at attention and said, "Report to the commander, I am a cadre of the Ordnance Department, and I have been ordered to escort the ordnance equipment to supplement your department. Please sign for the delivery!"

The lieutenant colonel officer immediately took out a document from his briefcase and handed it to He Wei. He Wei hurriedly took the document and saw that it was indeed a list of equipment to be transported, which included: 24 Czech-made VZ26 rifles, 37 Czech-made ZB81 light machine guns, 50 Czech-made ZB1902 heavy machine guns, 76 Mauser 1932-shot pistols, 45 French Brande 20mm mortars, -year-old mm grenade launchers, trial-made -year-old rifle grenades, Soviet-made M-style mm field guns, Soviet-made M-style mm tank defense guns, Soviet mm machine guns, German Zundap three-wheeled military motorcycles, rubber landing craft for engineers, steel boats, and air compressors.
Looking at the several pages of equipment, all of which were the models he wanted and in every quantity, He Wei secretly felt happy. His already cheerful face was even more smiling, as if it had bloomed. The lieutenant colonel who was still panting looked at He Wei's face with helplessness and a wry smile.

He Wei's guess was indeed correct. In order to mobilize this batch of equipment and ammunition for the Assault Corps, the Ordnance Department under the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs has been in a state of distress in the past few days. The people in the Ordnance Department counted at least a dozen arsenals, and even intercepted a batch of weapons and equipment that were about to be sent to the front line to supplement the troops. After all kinds of inventory, communication, and piecing together, it took a lot of effort to finally get the equipment requested by the Assault Corps.

The lieutenant colonel in front of He Wei had been working overtime these days and had hardly any rest. He exuded visible fatigue all over his body.

After checking everything, He Wei signed his name in the column of the leader of the receiving unit on the delivery list, then handed the list back to the lieutenant colonel and said with a smile, "Thank you for your hard work. This batch of equipment in my corps is large in number, and it must be very difficult to transport. Normally, we should go and transport it ourselves, but I didn't expect you to deliver it in person. Sorry for the trouble. I will organize the unloading now. After the unloading is completed, you brothers and the brothers in the motor vehicle unit can all go to the camp of my corps to rest and have a meal together."

"It's my job, but I don't deserve Captain He's words."

The lieutenant colonel smiled and said a few polite words, but he did not refuse He Wei's invitation to dinner. At the same time, he secretly complained that in order to gather such a large number of weapons and equipment for your ancestor, I hardly had a proper sleep for several days. Today I rushed to deliver them to you in the early morning. I couldn't get anything else, but I had to eat this meal. I heard that the Assault Corps is rich, the food is good, and the treatment is good. I must have a good meal today!
"It's just a meal. We are all national soldiers, fighting for the war. We are all family. It just so happens that my corps is slaughtering pigs and chickens today, so let the brothers taste the cooking skills of my corps' kitchen team."

The lieutenant colonel smiled, and then said with some amusement: "Captain He is right. We are family. We are family indeed. Captain He, here is another order. Please sign for it. It is an order jointly issued by the Ministry of Military Affairs and the Military Commission before I set out today."

Before He Wei had time to feel puzzled by the lieutenant colonel's constant emphasis on "family", a new document was handed to him.

He Wei took it immediately. After a moment, He Wei suddenly burst into laughter, shook the order document in his hand, patted the lieutenant colonel on the shoulder, and said, "Brother, you must have a few drinks in my headquarters today."

After that, He Wei raised his arm in front of the officers behind him with puzzled eyes and said, "Brothers, start unloading the trucks. Be polite to the brothers in the motor vehicle unit. We are all family members from now on!"

In the freshly issued order in He Wei's hand, He Wei's only shortcoming was also made up. According to the order, the unit that would transport equipment for the assault corps was the Third Independent Motor Vehicle Battalion of the National Army. After completing the task of transporting the assault corps' equipment, the entire battalion would be under the command of the assault corps.

From now on, the battalion will be assigned to the command of the assault corps. In other words, the more than 100 German Opel trucks in front of He Wei will officially be under his command from this moment on.

Although the battalion was not included in the official battle sequence of the assault corps, but was only attached to it, He Wei was very happy to be reinforced with more than 100 vehicles. The lieutenant colonel officer's "own family" naturally refers to the fact that the battalion became "own family" of the assault corps after it was assigned to the command of the assault corps.

Of course, the other two notices in this order also made He Wei very happy. According to another order, in a few days, a group of graduates from the 13th and 14th classes of the Huangpu Military Academy who had recently graduated from the Chengdu School of the Central Military Academy (that is, the Chengdu School of the Huangpu Military Academy) would be assigned to the Assault Corps. There would be 100 graduates from four major departments, namely the infantry, artillery, engineering, and communications. The Military Commission ordered the Assault Corps to prepare to receive this batch of newly assigned military academy graduates. In this way, the future officer gap of the Assault Corps would be filled at once.

The last order was closely related to He Wei's other part-time identity - the director of the First Supplementary Soldier Training Department of the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs. Although He Wei had this part-time job as the director, and this department was also under the jurisdiction of the two regiment management areas of Ba County and Fuling, the establishment of the supplementary soldier troops under the training department had not been approved. With the arrival of this order, the establishment problem of this supplementary soldier troop was also solved.

After consultation between the top leaders of the Military Commission and the Ministry of Military Affairs, five supplementary soldier battalions were approved at once for He Wei's First Supplementary Soldier Training Department. The organization of each battalion was equivalent to that of an ordinary infantry battalion. These five battalions served as the supplementary soldier training units of the First Supplementary Soldier Training Department, specifically used to train the Assault Corps and replenish new recruits.

Now, all the problems of the assault corps' vehicles, officers, and reinforcements were solved. All the urgent problems were swept away. How could He Wei not laugh heartily?

(End of this chapter)