Chapter 316: Mobile Army Organization
Wang Zhong's First Mobile Army is indeed very different from Proson's Asgard Knights, and it is not the Tsar's imperial guard.
The official name of the First Mobile Army is the First Mobile Army of the Command Direct Training Force. According to the document drafted by Wang Zhong himself, it is "a force formed to explore a more suitable way of organizing troops for war."
Now this army is only affiliated with the Yebao City Defense Command in terms of logistics and personnel relations - the army is a big consumer of supplies. Even if there is no war, the food, drink, and defecation of nearly 200,000 combatants and hired workers is also a huge expense. Now these daily consumptions go to the logistics of the city defense force.
So there is no need to have many associations when seeing the army under the name of the city defense command.
Of course, the First Mobile Army did get some convenience in obtaining equipment, but that was only because this army had many logistics support units and they could cope with the low reliability of new equipment. If it was given to ordinary troops, the new equipment would probably be thrown on the side of the road if it broke.
The First Mobile Army has three divisions under its command, namely the First Guards "Red Flag" Mechanized Infantry Division, the 225th Mechanized Infantry Division, and the First Division of the Melania People's Army.
All three divisions were formed based on the template of the First Guards Mechanized Infantry Division.
The First Guards Mechanized Infantry Division has a tank battalion, a reconnaissance battalion, an engineering battalion, an air defense battalion, a tank destroyer battalion, and an anti-tank artillery battalion, and then a mechanized infantry regiment, an artillery regiment, a motor vehicle regiment, and a support regiment.
In addition, a cavalry company was strengthened as a reconnaissance and emergency communication force.
After the 5th Beshensk Infantry Regiment, which originally belonged to the First Guards Mechanized Infantry Division, was reorganized into the 41st Guards Infantry Regiment, it was handed over to the 225th Mechanized Infantry Division as the backbone of the division.
The current organization of the First Guards Mechanized Infantry Division reflects Wang Zhong's summary of the experience of the battles in the past year. The other technical arms in the division only have one battalion, and only the infantry, artillery, motor vehicles and support forces have one regiment.
The 31st Guards Infantry Regiment of the division is Wang Zhong's old unit, that is, the original 3rd Rear Amur Regiment. This regiment has been supplemented with a large number of M3 half-track vehicles, and has truly achieved mechanization.
The most exaggerated thing about this regiment is its infantry artillery equipment. Because of the large number of M3s, Wang Zhong stuffed a lot of 75mm infantry artillery into this regiment, and used M3 to tow it, directly increasing the number of 75mm artillery in each battalion of this regiment to 12, and the 82mm mortar was even used as supporting firepower and delegated to the infantry company.
It is no exaggeration to say that just in terms of the number of artillery, a battalion of the 31st Guards Regiment can match the more ordinary Ante Infantry Division.
The tank battalion under the 1st Guards Mechanized Infantry is not too luxurious just looking at the tanks. There are also 4 tanks in a platoon, 12 in a company, and three companies form a battalion.
Now the production of T34W has increased a lot, so armored battalions with such a number of T34Ws are everywhere in the Ante Army.
What is really abnormal is that Wang Zhong equipped this battalion with a lot of accompanying troops. He stuffed a reconnaissance platoon with three squads of jeeps and a mechanized infantry platoon in each armored company, equipped with four M3 Grant Lee tanks.
Yes, a mechanized infantry platoon, but the infantry fighting vehicle is an M3 medium tank.
I am not kidding. The interior of the M3 tank is very spacious and can fit eight fully armed ANT soldiers, so Wang Zhong used it as an infantry fighting vehicle.
Half-track vehicles are not as good as T34W in terms of passability, so full-track tanks are used.
In this way, even if the tank company rushes very fast, there are at least 60 infantrymen accompanying it. In case of complex situations, the infantrymen can get off the car and move forward to "open the field of vision" for the tank.
In addition to mechanized infantry, Wang Zhong also stuffed a SU76 self-propelled artillery into the tank company as accompanying indirect firepower.
The previous experience of adding infantry to tanks was Wang Zhong's own experience, and the experience of the Soviet army on Earth was copied from the tank company.
In addition to mechanized infantry, the Soviet tank company will also be equipped with a vehicle-mounted 122mm gun when attacking. Once the tank company finds enemy infantry building trenches, it can use this 122mm gun to cooperate with the accompanying infantry to attack.
Wang Zhong does not have a vehicle-mounted 122mm howitzer yet, so he will use the su76 first, which is only 46mm smaller in caliber. Let's deal with it first.
When the SU152 is available in the future, it will be assigned to the tank company.
In addition to infantry and artillery, the tank battalion under the Guards 1st Mechanized Infantry is also stuffed with support forces far exceeding other tank battalions. Wang Zhong even referred to the standards of the US military on Earth and stuffed a tractor into each company to tow the stranded tanks.
Wang Zhong also wanted to get some Dragon trailers, but unfortunately the United States is not enough at present, after all, it has not started to explode production capacity.
The artillery regiment of the Guards 1st Mechanized Infantry is even more luxuriously equipped, with 36 152mm heavy artillery and 24 122mm howitzers. In order to tow these artillery pieces, Wang Zhong equipped the artillery regiment with 150 tractors and 100 cars.
Yes, there were 100 trucks in addition to the car regiment.
The car regiment also had 500 cars, and the entire division had 600 trucks alone!
Thanks to the generosity of the United States.
No, the anti-aircraft artillery battalion also had eight Crusader anti-aircraft guns, so it should be thanks to the generosity of the United States and the United Kingdom.
There are three divisions with such rich configurations under the First Mobile Army.
Of course, the destroyer battalion equipped with vortex tank destroyers only has the Guards 1st Infantry Division, and the other two divisions are temporarily lacking. This is because the vortex is a newly redesigned equipment, and the production capacity is too low.
By the end of April 1915, there were only 36 vehicles, enough to equip one battalion.
By the end of April, except for the missing tank destroyer battalions, each division had basically been filled with combatants, and the support personnel and employees were also fully equipped.
In addition to the divisions, Wang Zhong also organized a large field hospital and a large field repair shop under the army, using field tank repair vehicles assisted by the United States.
In addition to these, the military headquarters also directly subordinates a rocket launcher brigade and a barrel artillery brigade. In this way, Wang Zhong, a military leader, has more than 200 large tubes with a diameter of 152 mm or more, and initially has the ability to shave off one meter from the top of a mountain.
But Wang Zhong still felt that the firepower was insufficient - anyone who had been on the battlefield would probably have this problem.
If you can blow up the enemy to death, why go up and risk your life in close combat?
The equipment of Wang Zhong's army should not be much different from that of Prosen's army. The key lies in training.
Since moving to Kubinka, high-intensity training has not stopped. Wang Zhong also imitated the monthly exams he took in high school. During the four, five, and six days of the last week of each month, he held comprehensive competitions. On the one hand, through competition- - and prizes - stimulate everyone's enthusiasm, and on the other hand, it also allows the commanders and fighters who have been training frantically for a month to take a break.
Later, he simply extended the competition time to a week. First, each company would hold internal competitions, and then the battalions, level by level. Based on the results of the competition, mobile red flags would be issued to the division with the most wins.
So in the last week of every month, Kubinka is filled with the atmosphere of a sports meeting, and the effect is outstanding! Especially after Wang Zhong added Havana cigars shipped from the United States to the prize.
On the night of the last Sunday of each month, you can always see the champions of subdivision events smoking cigars in a very pretentious manner in the Kubinka camp, enjoying the envious gazes of everyone.
Wang Zhong really didn't expect that the things he learned in military training and high school would be so useful!
By the end of April, Wang Zhong was convinced that the gap between his troops' training level and that of the Plosen people should be close, but there might still be some gaps in terms of cultural literacy.
He has been communicating with the prisoners from time to time in the past few months. He discovered one thing. The high school penetration rate among the Prosen people is really high. The high school students are active in thinking and have high subjective initiative. That's why the Prosen army is so good. High quality.
In contrast, in the Ante Army, there are some soldiers who have not reached the tenth grade and whose hometown has not been occupied. Many people join the army just because "the priest called for it". Wang Zhong also has to consider "the meaning of protecting the family and the country." Start teaching.
Fortunately, the priests in charge of night school teaching had rich experience in dealing with these rural children, and they soon understood the meaning of the battle and why Ant was bound to win and Proson was bound to fail.
By the end of April, the First Mobile Army was mentally prepared to fight the enemy.
However, the Plosen Army's attack on the coastal fortress-Borsk defense line predicted by Wang Zhong did not begin.
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Early in the morning on May 1, Wang Zhong had just gotten up and was having breakfast, butler Mikhail entered the restaurant and reported: "General Gorky is waiting in the reception room."
Wang Zhong: "If he hasn't eaten, invite him to have breakfast."
Mikhail saluted and left.
After a while, General Gorky sat down opposite Wang Zhong and his wife, the prospective couple, and looked at the dishes on the table: "Even you can only eat canned Spam..."
Wang Zhong: "A lot of livestock froze to death last year, and the supply will not be restored until the second half of this year. Thanks to Spam cans and fish catches from the North Sea, we have fed the people of Ant. So why are you back?"
General Gorky: "It seems that I am going to be the chief of staff."
Wang Zhong asked in surprise: "Didn't Marshal Boris do a good job?"
It was Lyudmila who answered this question: "The marshal is ill and may have to retire. His wife said so."
Wang Zhong: "That's it. Are there any other adjustments?"
General Gorky: "General Turgenev is about to be promoted to general. He was promoted to general at the end of the civil war. As a result, he has not been promoted for so many years. Now he finally got the rank of general... But I think he may not care much about this. ”
After speaking, the general shrugged.
He continued: "Chekhov is also about to be promoted to general. He may be transferred to the General Logistics Department and will take over from General Sergey in the Ordnance Bureau."
Wang Zhong: "Is Sergei going to be replaced? To be honest, this guy doesn't have any big problems except that he keeps opening doors for his son-in-law."
It's true. As the chairman of the Ordnance Review Committee, Wang Zhong deals with the Ordnance Bureau all day long. General Sergey does most things well, but he just likes to protect his son-in-law.
But apparently Lieutenant General "Non-Stick Pan" Chekhov was better than him.
General Gorky observed Wang Zhong's expression and said with a smile: "It seems that you are also very satisfied with these changes. The Military Command and the Ministry of National Defense were handed over to the reliable General Turgenev, and the logistics were left to the reliable Chekh Admiral Husband is responsible..."
Wang Zhong corrected him: "Admiral Chekhov who is reliable and non-stick."
"Hahahaha." General Gorky smiled happily.
At this time, Mikhail came in with a serious expression, holding a telephone in one hand and the receiver in the other. He stepped forward and handed the receiver to Wang Zhong: "The palace's phone number."
Wang Zhong took the receiver and heard Olga ask anxiously: "Is General Gorky with you?"
Wang Zhong: "Yes."
Olga: "The enemy attacked. I think the headquarters has called, but I got there first."
Wang Zhong: "Is it finally here? Is it on the southern front?"
"Yes, the coastal fortress reported that it was under heavy artillery fire. At the same time, the Plossen Army battleship appeared on the sea and was firing at the coastal defense batteries."
Wang Zhong: "Got it."
"Will you come to the palace to attend the emergency imperial meeting?"
"Of course."