The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 469 Joint Combat Exercise and Inspection by the Boss

In the office, He Wei nodded at a new personnel appointment and dismissal document, put it on the table after signing his name, and let out a long sigh.

The expansion and training work of the Assault Corps and the First Supplementary Soldier Training Department is progressing steadily. The preparations for the expansion of the Assault Corps have been completed. The document that He Wei has just approved is the personnel and appointment and removal orders for the newly expanded troops and the newly added officers in various departments.

Although the expansion of the assault corps may seem small on the surface, it is actually quite large in scale. Each of the three infantry battalions has expanded an infantry company and a supplementary platoon, the artillery battalion has also expanded a mountain artillery company and a field artillery company, and the direct-affiliated units have assigned the tank defense artillery company that originally belonged to the artillery battalion to the direct-affiliated units, and expanded a direct-affiliated machine gun company and a direct-affiliated search company.

All in all, the force was expanded by about seven or eight companies. The increase in strength was quite large, and there were also significant personnel changes.

In terms of personnel, the original rank and position arrangement of the Assault Corps was very strange. When the Assault Corps was just formed, among the three infantry battalion commanders and one artillery battalion commander, except for the commander of the 1st Infantry Battalion, Fu Chen, who was a major, the others all had the rank of captain, which seemed very awkward. After all, the vast majority of the National Army's troops, especially the field troops, had the rank of major, and a small number had the rank of lieutenant colonel.

The reason why He Wei made such arrangements was actually because the qualifications of several battalion commanders were really limited. At that time, except for Fu Chen, the battalion commander of the 1st Battalion who graduated from the 8th term of Whampoa Military Academy, who was promoted to major and served as the battalion commander with the rank of major, the other battalion commanders could not be promoted to colonels. After all, before the assault corps was formed, among the several battalion commanders, only Fu Chen had the rank of captain, and the others were all lieutenants. It was impossible to promote them directly to colonels.

In addition, He Wei was a lieutenant colonel at the time. In order to facilitate command and the organizational structure of the troops, he could only let the other three battalion commanders, except Fu Chen, serve as battalion commanders with the rank of captain, which made He Wei feel very uncomfortable as "captain battalion commanders." As a result, the rank of the battalion commander was compressed, and the ranks of the company commanders under him were also affected. In order to facilitate command, the company commanders of the infantry battalions and artillery battalions of the assault corps were all lieutenants.

Only the company commanders directly under the headquarters have the rank of captain. As for the ranks of the platoon leaders below, they have not been affected by further compression. There are only a bunch of second lieutenants and first lieutenants, which is quite normal.

Fortunately, the Assault Corps is a unit directly under the Military Commission, and the positions and ranks of cadres at all levels do not need to be arranged in the same way as in ordinary troops. Therefore, He Wei's special approach can also be successfully implemented in the Assault Corps.

Of course, he himself sometimes felt awkward. After all, the title of "captain battalion commander" was really twisted. Fortunately, with his promotion to colonel this time, the personnel structure of the entire corps was further smoothly adjusted. The captains Fang Jing, commander of the second battalion, Hu Zhaowu, commander of the third battalion, and Chen Xinsheng, commander of the artillery battalion, were all changed and promoted to major, becoming real major battalion commanders.

However, He Wei did not promote the rank of Fu Chen, the major commander of the 1st Infantry Battalion. After all, he was already a major, and the next promotion would be lieutenant colonel. Fu Chen himself was a graduate of the 8th class of Whampoa Military Academy. Compared with Fang Jing, the commander of the 2nd Infantry Battalion, who graduated from the 10th class of Whampoa Military Academy, Chen Xinsheng, the commander of the artillery battalion, and Hu Zhaowu, the commander of the 3rd Battalion, who was a soldier and graduated from the Whampoa Affiliated Officers Training Class, although he had more experience and military exploits, it was still too hasty to promote him directly to lieutenant colonel.

He was promoted to lieutenant colonel. On the one hand, his qualifications were not good enough. Most of the graduates of the eighth batch of the Whampoa Military Academy in various units of the National Army were majors and captains. Fu Chen was already the fastest. Many graduates of the fifth and sixth batches of the Whampoa Military Academy were only lieutenant colonels. On the other hand, there was no extra lieutenant colonel position for him in the current personnel structure of the assault corps. The only lieutenant colonel was the chief of staff, Wang Yuanling.

As for adding a lieutenant colonel rank vacancy in the Corps, given the current overall operation of the Assault Corps, He Wei feels that there is no need for this, at least for the time being.

Of course, He Wei still took good care of Fu Chen, his old company commander when he was a platoon leader. According to He Wei's plan, when the assault corps was expanded again in the future, his old company commander would be promoted to lieutenant colonel first. In short, considering his military exploits, qualifications, and personal connections, Fu Chen's promotion in the future would definitely be faster than those of the other battalion commanders.

He Wei also talked to Fu Chen about the issue of military rank promotion, telling him not to think too much about it, and encouraged him greatly, saying that if there is a vacancy for a lieutenant colonel in the headquarters in the future, Fu Chen will be given priority for promotion.

Fu Chen was very open-minded about this and didn't care at all. He said that his promotion speed was not slow among the eighth batch of Whampoa Military Academy students, and asked He Wei not to think too much and to put the overall development of the team first.

He Wei was naturally very pleased with his reaction, but when it came time to promote Fu Chen's military rank, the organization and scale of the assault corps would certainly be further expanded on a large scale, and the expansion would be even greater than this time. By then, the assault corps would be in a completely different situation.

After the promotion of the ranks of several battalion commanders, the company commanders under them no longer had to hold the rank of lieutenant. They were all promoted to captain by He Wei. The candidates for the company commander positions that were vacant in each battalion due to combat casualties and transfers were also selected by He Wei one by one. At the same time, the positions of deputy battalion commander and deputy company commander, which were not set up when the assault corps was established, were all appointed by He Wei. The deficiency of deputy officers in companies and battalions being not set up when the assault corps was established was finally made up by He Wei.

As for the candidates for the company commanders of the newly established companies, they had been selected by He Wei as early as before the Spring Festival. The commanders of these newly established companies were all selected by He Wei from the best of the company and platoon commanders of the headquarters. For example, the company commander of the search company directly under the headquarters was Zhao Zhanhai, the former chief of the combat training section of the general staff office of the assault headquarters. Zhao Zhanhai once led an elite fast-advance force to take the initiative to attack and achieved the brilliant result of annihilating the vanguard of the Japanese Army's Hata detachment. This time, he was transferred from the chief of the general staff office to the company commander of the search company directly under the headquarters, which can be regarded as the best use of his talents.

In short, thanks to He Wei's painstaking arrangements, the personnel arrangements of the assault corps were finally arranged properly and became perfect.

He Wei leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes to rest. Outside the window, waves of footsteps, shouts, commands and even scolding came from the camp's playground. On the wide playground, more than 3,000 new recruits were divided into battalions, companies and platoons. Under the leadership of their respective company, platoon and squad leaders, they were undergoing various basic military education and training, including formations, commands, military posture, military etiquette, knowledge of military ranks, and marching rules within the camp.
The most basic education subjects for new recruits are being continuously instilled and taught to the new recruits by the officers and sergeants of the five new recruit battalions. He Wei closed his eyes and listened to the commands, feeling very happy in his heart.

Compared with the training method for new recruits when the assault corps was first established, the current training model is much more complete. When it was first established, He Wei had limited time, so he had to skip many unnecessary training subjects, such as the most basic formations, military posture and housekeeping education.

Because of the tense fighting situation on the front line at that time, He Wei had to focus the training of new recruits on combat subjects, and only briefly glanced over the education and training of non-combat subjects. However, this time, he had relatively ample training time and better training conditions, so the training of new recruits could be carried out more comprehensively.

The personnel structure of officers and sergeants in the five recruit battalions also enables these recruits to receive better education and training. After completing the education tasks for officers and sergeants, the Officer Education Battalion and the Sergeant Education Battalion of the Assault Corps will be disbanded and transferred on the spot to become the backbone officers and sergeants of the five recruit supplementary battalions.

Needless to say, the sergeant squad leaders are all veterans with rich combat experience. These sergeants have seen blood, fought in wars, and are very good at leading troops. Their flaws and shortcomings are their cultural level and theoretical knowledge from various training and education books. However, most of the platoon leaders of the five recruit battalions are Whampoa graduates. They have little combat experience, but their cultural level and theoretical knowledge from various education and training books are relatively high, which can make up for the shortcomings of the sergeant squad leaders. The shortcomings of this kind of squad and platoon leaders complement each other, which is also of great benefit to the training of the recruits.

It can be imagined that under this more complete training model, the new recruits trained by the five battalions of the First Retraining Department will definitely make greater progress in both basic and combat qualities compared to the new recruits who were quickly trained when the Assault Corps was first established.

The combat troops of the assault corps were also not idle. Three infantry battalions, one artillery battalion and a number of directly affiliated units were all pulled outside the barracks to carry out various tactical training, field operations and service training.

After the opening ceremony after the Spring Festival, the morale, vigor and vigor of He Wei's troops have reached a new level. The new recruits are sweating and working hard on the training ground. The combat troops of the assault corps are also honing their various combat skills and performing various expanded training duties. Both the assault corps and the first supplementary soldier training unit have entered a healthy state of development. Bang bang bang

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"report!"

He Wei recognized the voice of Chief of Staff Wang Yuanling and said softly, "Come in!"

Wang Yuanling pushed the door open and entered. He saluted He Wei and walked over quickly. He Wei saw that he was holding a pile of documents and knew that he was here to report to him. He stood up to greet him, left his desk, walked to the sofa on the side of the office, and said with a smile, "Brother Yuanling, sit down and talk."

Having said that, He Wei casually fell on the sofa.

Wang Yuanling nodded, put a stack of documents on the low table in front of the sofa, and sat down casually. At this time, Tao Heiwa, an orderly on duty in the guard room next to the office, came in at the right time and served tea.

As the chief of staff and chief of staff of the assault corps, Wang Yuanling would find He Wei almost every day to report on the situation of the assault corps and the first replacement soldier training department. The two of them could be said to have detailed discussions and plans every day.

Wang Yuanling's level in staff work and headquarters organization work is indeed not to be underestimated. His professional ability can be said to be extremely strong. Not only did he handle all the affairs of the assault corps in an orderly manner, but he also handled the various affairs of the five new recruits' supplementary battalions quite well.

You know, although He Wei has a part-time job as the director of the First Replacement Soldier Training Department, this department, which nominally has five recruit replacement battalions under its jurisdiction, does not have any directly affiliated management agencies or personnel in charge. Apart from the five replacement battalions, there is only one director, He Wei. These five battalions are actually managed by the headquarters of the assault corps. Therefore, all the affairs of the five recruit replacement battalions have to fall on Wang Yuanling.

All the affairs of the assault corps and the five replenishment battalions had to be reported to Wang Yuanling's staff office. After the staff office had processed the matter initially, Wang Yuanling would report the results of the processing and any difficult problems that could not be handled to He Wei and request He Wei's instructions. His workload was extremely heavy. Of course, it also relieved He Wei of a lot of pressure. This was the role of the staff office.

But even so, Wang Yuanling handled the business with ease, and He Wei was quite impressed by him. It must be said that the graduates of the regular class of the Army University were indeed not given for nothing.

As usual, Wang Yuanling started talking as soon as he sat down, reporting to He Wei: "Captain, the work of the Corps and the First Supplementary Training Department has made a lot of progress in the past few days. At present, the backbone structure of each company of the Assault Corps has been completed. The backbone of each company is determining the organizational structure according to the confirmed organization table, and has also begun to use the equipped weapons. What is missing now is new recruits, so I want to confirm with the Captain, how the five battalions of the First Supplementary Training Department should supplement the combat forces of the Assault Corps with new recruits in the future?"

He Wei thought for a moment and said, "The establishment of these five recruit replenishment battalions cannot be cancelled. In this way, whenever the Corps needs to replenish new recruits and cadres in the future, it can directly report the number of officers and soldiers needed, and the five recruit replenishment battalions will select officers and soldiers to replenish them based on merit. However, the five recruit replenishment battalions must not be organized to replenish the assault corps. The establishment of the recruit replenishment battalions must be retained. If necessary, some officers from the assault corps' combat units can be transferred back to the recruit units to serve as cadres. In short, the establishment of the five recruit replenishment battalions must be retained, and they must be like reservoirs, storing and training new recruits for the assault corps, and the assault corps and the recruit replenishment battalions should also communicate more."

Wang Yuanling nodded, took out a pen, ticked a document, and said, "Captain, the new recruits are still in the military education stage. When it comes to combat education, the use of various weapons and equipment should also be put on the agenda. The main purpose of weapons training for new recruits is to train them into qualified riflemen. Only on the basis of training them into qualified riflemen can we further educate and train new recruits with light weapons such as submachine guns, light machine guns and pistols. We have more than 3,000 new recruits, and the number of weapons required for training is very large. If we want to meet the training needs of these new recruits, the new rifles in our headquarters are not enough. These guns are enough to equip the assault corps combat units after they are fully staffed, but if they are equipped to the new recruits, they are still not enough. Do you think we should apply for a batch of additional rifles?"

He Wei shook his head when he heard this and said anxiously, "We must not give the new guns in stock to the new recruits. The new recruits don't know how to use weapons at all. Moreover, our soldiers are all from peasant families and have a low level of education. These new recruits are extremely destructive to weapons and equipment during the training stage. We must not use those new guns for training. After the new recruits have finished their training, I think those guns will be useless. The new rifles in our corps are all Czech-made vz24 short rifles, commonly known as Ma Sihuan. They are first-class weapons. No matter how rich and extravagant we are, we dare not let the new recruits ruin such good guns."

Then, He Wei thought about it again and said, "Don't we still have captured Japanese guns in Curry? Yes, don't we still have a batch of Hanyang-made guns? When the new recruits are trained with weapons, we will use these weapons!"

After He Wei finished speaking, Wang Yuanling was stunned for a moment, and slapped his head: "Captain, you are really quick-witted. Why didn't I think of the weapons seized in Curry? I forgot about such a large number of weapons."

He Wei immediately responded with a smile: "You are too kind, Brother Yuan Ling. I am just a little clever, not wise. Now you have so many things to take care of, it is normal that I can't take care of such a small matter. Haha, anyway, you can give those captured Japanese weapons and Hanyang guns to the new recruits. I won't feel bad if they are damaged."

Wang Yuanling started to draw for a while, and praised He Wei for his method of making full use of the captured items. Then, he discussed and handled some business matters that required He Wei's approval. When everything was done, Wang Yuanling handed He Wei a telegram that he had just received. This telegram came from the Military Commission, and the content of the telegram also surprised He Wei.

The main content of this telegram was that the Military Committee of the Assault Corps would conduct an inspection and random check on the Assault Corps in July this year, and require the Assault Corps to organize joint combat exercises to prepare for the review. He Wei was notified of this matter long before the Spring Festival.

Therefore, He Wei actually had no reaction to the content in the telegram regarding urging the troops to prepare for the review, roll call and organize joint combat exercises. He had been notified long ago anyway, and now another telegram was sent saying this was nothing more than continuing to urge them to do so.

What really surprised him was the last content of the telegram. According to the last few sentences of the telegram, during the July inspection, senior leaders of the Military Commission, including Minister of the Military Affairs Department Xu Yongchang, and Minister He of the Ministry of Military Affairs would come in person to inspect the inspection. In addition to these Military Commission leaders, even Soviet military advisers would come.

This matter was not mentioned in the previous notice.

Two ministers and a bunch of military advisers, this is really a big scene.

(End of this chapter)