After an inventory, Lin Zhiqiang discovered that when almost every regiment went north, almost every regiment secretly hid some light machine guns and even rifles. According to the understanding of the 18th Army, if there are no more people, they can find ways to mobilize in the new area. The old base in Guan Nei You can also replenish some new soldiers, but if you don't have weapons, you will really be blind.
The troops in the pass are really used to and afraid of being without guns and ammunition. They are really reluctant to hand over or eliminate all the assets they have saved up. If they are all exposed, the superiors will When replenishing weapons, the number distributed will also be reduced.
Therefore, each regiment laid some ambushes and took advantage of this rare opportunity for superiors to distribute equipment to get more spare equipment. Most of them thought it was normal. Who knows when the next time superiors will distribute weapons? Anyway, most of the time, you have to get the equipment yourself.
You must know that since the troops crossed the Yellow River eastward and entered behind enemy lines, they have grown and developed over the years. The weapons that superiors can issue are limited. The ammunition is sometimes transferred to each other, but many of them are also reloaded by the arsenal in the base area. It can be used for rifles, and in many cases the quality is not up to par. After the bullets come out of the barrel, they are all reloaded ammunition that flies sideways.
The number of grenades filled with black powder filled with black powder that were made in the border area were sufficient, but they were too weak. It was not so much that the enemy was killed by being blown up, but rather that they were smashed to death. Yes, four grenades bundled together are not as powerful as one Japanese-made grenade.
Before receiving large-scale reinforcements from the Anti-Japanese Alliance, the troops inside the customs were really suffering. According to what the deputy commander-in-chief said in the telegram when discussing the weapons distribution and transportation plan with Yang Zhen, 80% of the rifles Due to excessive use, the rifling has been worn flat, the caliber has become loose, and the shooting accuracy is horribly low.
There are 400,000 people in the army, including rifles that have been scrapped but are still working, there are less than 90,000, light and heavy machine guns combined, less than 800, grenades plus mortars, the total is still less than Three hundred of them, among them cannons among the Eighteenth Army, and grenades, which are just the most basic weapons among the Japanese army, accounted for more than half. The total number of other artillery pieces totaled more than forty, but because there was no source of ammunition, they were basically The above has never been used.
The most critical thing is the extreme shortage of ammunition. Including supply ammunition, each gun has less than twenty rounds of ammunition on average. Each battle is issued with five rounds of ammunition for rifles and three rounds for pistols. In a medium-sized battle, each light machine gun has only one ammunition. Less than thirty rounds, grenades and mortars, each can only have three rounds at most. Most of the time, there are guns but no ammunition.
In the most difficult times, one Japanese-made 65mm bullet cost three kilograms of grain. After the battle, each unit had to return to the original place to collect the bullet casings, even if they were defeated. The warheads were also sucked out bit by bit with magnets and sent back to the arsenal so that they could be exchanged for some ammunition.
Necessary ammunition is extremely scarce, weapons and equipment are outdated, the quantity is always insufficient, and the number of heavy weapons is seriously lacking. This is always a throat problem that restricts the internal troops from fighting the Japanese and puppet troops head-on. Under such circumstances, close combat, night combat, hand-to-hand combat, and mountainous terrain Guerrilla warfare, grabbing and running away, has also become the main mode of fighting between the customs troops and the Japanese and puppet troops.
With this experience, it is also common for each regiment to lay some ambushes privately before heading north, because no one knows when the superiors will next reissue weapons and ammunition. Although the superiors repeatedly emphasized before departure that they would further improve after arriving in the Northeast. The troop equipment level and ammunition will also be replenished according to the specified quantity.
But for those commanders who have never received the weapons issued by their superiors most of the time and can only make enough food and clothing by themselves, the equipment promised by their superiors is like a moon in the mirror or a flower in the water. When they get it, they still don’t know when. Taking action is the safest course of action.
As for the private ambush of various troops, in addition to the troops transferred from the Taihang Military Region, it can be said to be quite common among the troops transferred from the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region. There is even one regiment among the three regiments under my own brigade. In addition to three Czech-style light machine guns imitated by Shanxi and using 65-mm bullets from the Type 38 rifle, 60 Hanyang-made rifles and more than 30 Jin-made 65-mm rifles were secretly ambushed and hidden in the regimental logistics office for consignment. Inside the cattle team of supplies.
These weapons are not on their original equipment list, but among these weapons, except for the Jin-made Czech light machine gun that can use Japanese 65-mm bullets, the remaining 60 Hanyang The total number of bullets produced was less than 1,500 rounds, and most of them were reloaded bullets from the arsenal in the base area, and the original bullets used were less than 300 rounds.
Each unit has some purpose of secretly hiding some weapons. Of course Lin Zhiqiang understands that these equipment are prepared to expand the army in new areas or to replenish battle losses when necessary. These units that have persisted behind enemy lines for a long time know that seizure may lead to defeat. At that time, it was not an easy task for the Japanese weapons and ammunition to self-destruct weapons and equipment.
It's just that a small number of them are made in the Czech Republic or China. In any case, they are the same as the Polish-made weapons and bullets currently used in the army, but the remaining ones made in Hanyang have no place to get even the bullets. What do they have? Moreover, under the premise that all the equipment used by the Japanese and puppet troops in Jehol were Japanese-made, there was no place to replenish some of the ammunition if they wanted to capture it.
The Puppet Manchukuo military and police in Rehe are not equipped with messy equipment. Many of them rely on the weapons of the national army captured by the Japanese army, or mainly carry their own weapons and equipment when surrendering to the enemy. The weapons in their hands are very messy. The weapons of the national army are caliber, they basically have puppet troops.
On the contrary, it increased the number of troops, which was already a huge burden. Some troops even consciously took less food with them in order to carry these weapons, which were in good condition but did not have many bullets. This also became a problem for the troops when they left the country. One of the reasons for the food crisis.
It is impossible to smash these weapons that are insufficient in ammunition and have actually become a burden. Lin Zhiqiang is not so wasteful, but the limited transportation capacity cannot be wasted on these weapons that are basically useless. In order to save the limited transportation capacity of the troops , Lin Zhiqiang kept some of the Czech light machine guns and crooked machine guns that were in good condition, and packaged all the other weapons and handed them over to the headquarters, waiting for the logistics transport team of the Jidong Army Division to transport them back to Rehe.
After this reorganization, although the overall combat effectiveness of the army has declined somewhat due to the reduction of the organization and the adjustment of equipment, the combat effectiveness has still reached the level of Sixty percent before the battle.
After adjusting the strength and organization of the troops and sending out several armed work teams, Lin Zhiqiang did not take action. He was taken by Zeng Yuliang, the former commander of the 129th Division Cavalry and now the captain of the cavalry detachment of the Advance Army, to meet the cavalry of the Anti-Alliance Forces. When the detachment crossed the vanguard brigade station and galloped northward, Lin Zhiqiang did not move.
When various troops penetrated into enemy-occupied areas according to the plan he formulated, he still did not move. For three days, he did nothing but one thing, which was to use all time and means to strengthen Mountain warfare training for troops to improve their mountain warfare capabilities.
When faced with the fact that all the brothers' troops had moved, and only he himself had not taken action yet and the various troops were calling for battle, Lin Zhiqiang not only did not issue an order to dispatch immediately, but instead issued an order for everyone, including the brigade commander and political commissar, to The order I didn’t understand was: “The entire army goes up the mountain to strengthen training.”
During the day, the entire brigade was pulled out to conduct mountain marches and combat training, especially the coordination between troops, the deployment of machine guns, and fire suppression drills when divided by terrain. In the evening, the entire brigade concentrated on reviewing the training during the day. There is only one thing, and that is for everyone to clean their guns together.
Moreover, if the gun cleaning does not meet the nod of the instructors at all levels selected from the Anti-Japanese Federation, it will not be considered qualified. After a day of training, not only can there be no mud in the barrel of the gun, but also on the body of the gun. All weapons must not be used when they are not in use. It must be well oiled and clean as new.
Facing the incomprehensible looks of all the cadres and soldiers, Lin Zhiqiang did not give any explanation. He just transferred the 20 combat backbones assigned to the vanguard brigade as weapons and tactics instructors from the Anti-League League to form a platoon and work with each unit. A company was randomly selected from the group and conducted a simulated mountain warfare confrontation.
As a result, the result of the transferred company in this mountain battle, which they were originally good at, made everyone shut up. Only many of them knew that mountain battles are different from mountain battles. In their eyes, it turns out that they are very different. In a simple mountain battle, there are still so many requirements.
In Lin Zhiqiang's view, with the whole army already setting off, it is not a while for the disabled vanguard brigade to join the battle. Only by concentrating on making up for the previous debts can we be in the next battle. The bigger the better, and the more thorough the victory. Fighting a turnaround and re-establishing the confidence of cadres and soldiers can also more effectively reduce casualties.
Lin Zhiqiang's move wiped away the objections of the entire brigade. They started training honestly according to the plan he made, but they still didn't understand his order to clean the gun. After all, Everyone knows how to clean a gun, no one needs to teach you this.
Regarding the criticism from the troops, Lin Zhiqiang just smiled and did not explain. After the simulated battle, Lin Zhiqiang randomly selected a machine gun and ten rifles from the troops at the all-troop meeting, and after casually dismantling them, Wipe it with your own towel and let everyone look at the comparison after wiping it.
Looking at the towel that turned dark after wiping the gun, almost all the cadres and soldiers fell silent. Lin Zhiqiang randomly asked for a company commander's shell gun and quickly disassembled it. He was shocked when he saw that the gun chamber was full of dirt.
He shook his head and said: "The gun is the second life of a soldier, it is also spiritual."
"Only if we respect it and cherish it, will it protect you at the most critical time. If the gun has been used for a long time and you don't wipe it or take care of it, how can it be able to fire if you expect it to be so effective during the battle?"
It's accurate. With such a dirty gun, you won't be afraid of it exploding on the battlefield."