Chapter 294 The Third Cavalry Regiment of the Eighth Route Army
Chen Feng left with satisfaction. Zhou Weihan looked at Zhu Dashan who was still staying where he was.
"Are you here to ask for help?" Zhou Weihan asked.
"Detachment leader, you said back then that our cavalry battalion can have as many people as there are horses and equipment, and that our independent detachment can afford it!" Zhu Dashan repeated the promise made by Zhou Weihan before.
Zhou Weihan played with Zhao Gang's teapot and snorted coldly: "Humph, I said this, and it counts now!"
"Then let me report on the situation of the cavalry battalion. Before the war, the barracks had four companies and one platoon. There were 465 horses alone. In addition to the mounted soldiers, there was also a platoon of 42 auxiliary soldiers. A total of
507 people.
The last time we intercepted the Japanese cavalry, our cavalry battalion annihilated a total of 340 Japanese cavalry and captured a full set of Japanese horse equipment, including 238 horse rifles, 4 Type 96 light machine guns, and 2 heavy machine guns. 42 people were killed and 15 were injured.
people!"
After listening to Zhu Dashan's report, Zhou Weihan immediately smiled and said: "Zhu Dashan, you are here just like me to take credit!"
"Detachment leader, that's not what I meant!" Zhu Dashan, who was once a bandit, was an upright man. When Zhou Weihan said this, he hurriedly explained.
"Cavalry is not easy to train. There used to be more people than horses. The soldiers took turns to train. They relied on seizures from the Japanese to achieve their current scale. Now there are more than 400 horses all of a sudden. I can't just watch these horses...
It’s not like horses are getting fat, isn’t this a waste!”
"If we recruit new soldiers and the training time is too long, it is better to allocate some veterans from each regiment and train them specifically in equestrian skills and thrusting. This can save a lot of time!" Zhu Dashan finally revealed the purpose of this trip.
The cavalry unit of the independent detachment can achieve its current strength because Zhou Weihan is the driving force behind the scenes, while Zhu Dashan is the one who works hard on the surface.
Together, the two witnessed the cavalry unit growing from scratch.
The horses of the cavalry company that started as the new second regiment were all captured from bandits on the hills everywhere. They reluctantly gathered more than a hundred horses to form a cavalry company.
When it was first established, it didn't even have sabers. Many warriors trained with swords and spears, and all the horses they used were Central Plains horses.
Compared with the Japanese army's Oriental horses, the Central Plains horses were smaller and smaller. Zhu Dashan's cavalry battalion later captured the so-called Oriental horses from the Japanese army step by step.
The cavalry is an ancient and fierce unit, known for its high mobility and impact. This unit often attacks in groups and kills by surprise. If the infantry does not form a square formation to deal with it, it will be difficult to win.
The advent of the Maxim heavy machine gun allowed nomads to sing and dance everywhere.
Entering the 20th century, with the popularization of rapid-fire weapons and armored vehicles, cavalry gradually fell out of the battle order of European powers. Good horses were reduced to baggage tools and became the core capacity for transporting materials and weapons and equipment.
But in fact, on the Asian battlefield, cavalry is still a very important type of arms. Because China's road construction was not comprehensive at that time, it was difficult for motorized troops to maneuver on a large scale. In addition, the mechanization level of China and Japan was not perfect. The cavalry was inferior to the infantry.
Their speed advantage still allows them to have extremely high strategic value.
The Japanese army also had a profound understanding of this, so during World War II, it invested a total of about 300,000 military horses on the battlefield.
During the Anti-Japanese War, Japan retained its cavalry units as independent assault units. If our army held fast to the fortifications, the Japanese cavalry would detour to the two wings to cut off supplies or dismount for infantry combat. If our army's ranks were loose or resting and they relaxed their vigilance, the Japanese cavalry would
Use the reverse slope as a cover to launch a surprise attack while our army is slacking off.
Once the infantry is dragged into hand-to-hand combat by the cavalry, it will turn into a one-sided massacre.
Our soldiers love and hate the Oriental war horses. On the one hand, the Japanese army killed many of our compatriots while riding them. On the other hand, the Oriental horses draw on the strengths of the West and at the same time adapt to the physiques of the East Asian nations.
Its long driving speed is as fast as lightning, and it is truly worthy of life and death. It is a rare and good horse.
In ancient times, Japanese war horses were mostly domestically produced short-footed horses. Some horses were even only 1.3 meters tall. These horses had very limited movement and transportation capabilities and were not suitable for large-scale cavalry maneuvers.
During the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese began to set their sights on the world. They realized the importance of cavalry combat and saw the gap between Japanese native horses and other excellent horse breeds.
For this reason, the Meiji government began to specifically breed horses. In order to bring Japanese war horses to the world's advanced level, they did not choose to import Mongolian horses from China, but targeted Western horses.
Crossing Arabian war horses with local horses resulted in a significant decrease in the height of the resulting war horses, and the first breeding plan failed.
After the Second Opium War, the Japanese government believed that Arabian horses were not the best war horses, so they spent a lot of money to purchase Anglo-Norman war horses, Don horses and other excellent horse breeds from Western countries. They appeared when they first arrived in Japan
The phenomenon of acclimatization to the soil has caused repeated setbacks in breeding plans.
But the Japanese did not give up their breeding work. They crossed these war horses with the previous Arabian horses, and finally developed war horses that could adapt to Japan's local environment.
The average height of these war horses can reach 1.6 meters, even taller than the height of Japanese soldiers, and they also have good carrying capabilities. The Japanese government officially adopted this new type of war horse as the standard war horse of the army, which is what we are familiar with.
"Eastern Malaysia".
But in fact, although cavalry took a back seat on the European battlefields of World War II, war horses were still a very important strategic resource.
The armies of various European countries are equipped with a large number of draft horses. Although these horses are not fast, their large size can help them transport heavy equipment and are key logistical support materials.
On the Asian battlefield, the main role of horses is also to play an important role in transportation. During World War II, the Japanese army divided the army into A divisions and B divisions. The indicator was the number of war horses.
Each of the Class A divisions can have more than 7,000 war horses. Most of these war horses were sent to the artillery units to help the Japanese army transport artillery parts, and only a handful were used to form cavalry units.
However, we still cannot underestimate the role of the Japanese cavalry on the battlefield. During World War II, the Japanese army was not highly mechanized, and their front lines on the Asian battlefield were stretched very long, which required them to have some mobile troops to support them at any time.
On the battlefield, the highly mobile cavalry played this role.
Although there may be less than 500 cavalry in a Category A division, they can still play a role in dividing the battlefield.
In positional warfare, the cavalry mostly played the role of scouts. The intelligence they provided was very important to the Japanese army's tactical formulation, which also allowed the Japanese army to gain the upper hand many times in battles.
As an opponent of the Japanese army, the Chinese army also attached great importance to the training of cavalry during the Anti-Japanese War. However, because most of northern China was occupied by the Japanese army at that time, the source of the Chinese army's war horses was limited.
Although people in the southern region also have horses at home, most of them are native breeds that are not suitable for combat. They can only be used to transport supplies and cannot play the role of war horses.
Moreover, there is a certain gap between these horses and Japanese horses in terms of transportation capabilities. They can only transport some weapons that are smaller in size and lighter in weight.
Before the Anti-Japanese War, our country also had several cavalry units, among which the Ma Jiajun and the Mongolian Cavalry Division in the northwest were the most powerful. They left brilliant records in the battle with the Japanese army, causing the Japanese army a headache.
However, the war horses used by the Chinese cavalry at that time were traditional Mongolian war horses. These horses were smaller and less durable than the Japanese horses. However, they still relied on their combat experience to deal with the Japanese army and made great contributions to the Anti-Japanese War.
contribution.
The Eighth Route Army currently has two regiment-level cavalry units, one is the 129th Division Cavalry Regiment, and the other is the Jizhong Cavalry Regiment. They are both cavalry regiments directly under the military region.
"Have you ever heard of the Jizhong Cavalry Regiment?" Zhou Weihan suddenly asked.
"That cavalry unit that revolted from the national army at the beginning of the year? This is the cavalry regiment directly under the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region. I must have heard of it!" Zhu Dashan said excitedly.
"I plan to set up the third cavalry regiment of the Eighth Route Army. You will be the commander of the cavalry regiment. As you said before, you can choose the people you want. Whether they are soldiers within our independent detachment or people you find from outside, it will be up to you.
Make the decision. I personally hoped that you would find some suitable personnel from outside to enrich the cavalry regiment!" Zhou Weihan thought for a long time. He was originally afraid of being in the limelight, but now he finally made a decision on the matter.
Hearing this, Zhu Dashan said honestly: "Yes, detachment leader, I will try my best to find them from outside. I promise to bring out a force that can move like the wind, can fight on both horse and foot, and can fight tough battles!"
"Okay, okay, don't get excited. Recruit all the people first and train quickly. I will apply to my superiors to transfer a few key members from the divisional cavalry regiment and the Jizhong cavalry regiment. The three parties can communicate and make progress together!" Zhou Weihan
Seeing Zhu Dashan's excited look, he quickly stabilized him.
"In addition, I will give you another task. The Japanese army must have military horse farms in Tainan and southern Hebei. Bring back some stallions. Do you understand what I mean?"
"clear!"
The war horses of the Japanese army are all fanned. The service life of ordinary war horses on the battlefield is no more than five years. Zhou Weihan thought that it must be developed sustainably. Since there are already cavalry regiments, it is not too much to build a military horse farm!
Zhou Weihan was a hands-off shopkeeper, and the specific formation of the cavalry regiment still required Zhu Dashan, the military chief, to worry about it.
Each regiment was already suffering from serious attrition. The cavalry regiment was short of nearly 400 men. On average, five regiments needed 80 men each. Most of the soldiers in the company were gone. How could the commanders of each regiment make friends so easily?
