Seeing the commander's posture of obviously wanting to get to the bottom of things, and the political commissar beside him, who also looked curious, Yang Zhen smiled bitterly, and then said something that made both of them stunned. Answer: "Old chief, you really guessed it right. Our large corps operations and some artillery tactics were really learned from the Japanese army."
"When we first came out of the mountain, we didn't have a single artillery piece. Later, we relied on a few captured artillery pieces and several captured puppet Manchukuo army artillerymen to build up a frame little by little. However, in terms of comprehensive use, it was far from qualified. There were too many, and a large number of artillery pieces were captured at the Japanese secret warehouse in Qunce Mountain, but the organization and use of the artillery groups can only be said to be unsatisfactory."
"It wasn't until we captured some Japanese artillery officers during many battles with the Japanese army that we adopted certain methods of coercion and bribery to make them work for us as instructors to guide us in our studies, coupled with training at all costs. Only then did we gradually improve the artillery utilization level of the army."
"In order to train a group of qualified artillery and artillery commanders, we once used half of the artillery shells in our inventory for training. At that time, we were unable to manufacture a single artillery shell, including mortars. In addition to capturing, we There is hardly any source of shells."
"As for the training of senior commanders, in addition to using teaching materials from the Soviet Union's Frunze Military Academy and the Japanese Army University, we also used captured Japanese senior officers as lecturers to teach us, and at the same time, we continued to organize a large number of tactics Drills, as well as exercises of various sizes, continuously improve the combined combat capabilities of the troops and the capabilities of the commanders."
"Old chief, we have captured a large number of Japanese officers in previous battles. Although the Japanese army's strategic vision is somewhat poor, its tactical level is absolutely first-rate. The military theoretical literacy of officers at all levels is also quite good and solid. Yes, we tried our best to select some of the Japanese officers we captured as our instructors."
"Especially those graduates of the Japanese Army University are the focus of our selection. The two highest-ranking Japanese military officers currently serving us are two Japanese Army major generals. There are five or six at the rank of colonel, and there are five or six at the rank of lieutenant colonel. There are more than ten officers, all of whom are officers and artillery and other professional officers with certain combined command capabilities."
"And we took advantage of the unconvinced mentality of these Japanese officers to form an imaginary enemy force composed entirely of Japanese prisoners of war, specifically to hone the battlefield command capabilities of commanders at all levels for us, and to serve as military commanders in some exercises. Imaginary enemy force."
"Only by truly and fully understanding the Japanese army's strategy and tactics can we better attack the enemy on the battlefield. All the weapons and equipment of this Japanese army are equipped in accordance with Japanese army standards. They are only issued during exercises. They have blank ammunition and are not issued with bayonets. After each exercise, all weapons are confiscated."
"In daily life, we have formulated strict assessment regulations and systems. Through continuous exercises and assessments, we force these cadres to get into the state as quickly as possible. They can work on maps, work on the sand table, and even engage in confrontation exercises with real guns and live ammunition on the exercise ground. They accumulate experience, improve their military literacy, and at the same time, by learning war in war, they increase their own abilities bit by bit."
"In the promotion and appointment of cadres, there is no mercy or any care. The capable ones are promoted and the mediocre ones are demoted. If you fail to meet the assessment standards, no matter how senior you are in the past, you will be suspended from work to study. If you fail to pass the three assessments, By removing them on the spot, especially military cadres, our assessment standards can even be described as harsh."
"The most important thing is that our army is blank in many aspects. Although it is much harder to start from scratch, we do not have any baggage, let alone past outdated experience, and we are quick to absorb new things. , on the contrary, it is much higher than those old armies."
"Many times, experience and tradition are a heavy burden for an army. Especially in the current situation where new equipment and new tactics are emerging one after another, some old and outdated tactics and tactics will become A drag will affect the improvement of the combat effectiveness of the troops. It may be easier to draw on a piece of white paper."
"As for the use of tank and aviation tactics, which the Japanese army is also quite conservative and does not follow the trend of development, in addition to drawing on some Soviet experience, we have figured out more of them ourselves through daily training and confrontation exercises. Tactical application.”
"After the war in Western Europe ended last year, we obtained all the combat data of the German army on the French battlefield from the Soviet Union, and based on the German tank tactics on the French battlefield, we formulated some of our own tank tactics, although they were very imperfect. But it is more in line with the development of armored forces than the Soviet one."
"The Soviets are too backward in the use of tank tactics, and there are many problems with the cooperation between infantry and tanks, which are not in line with the characteristics of our army. Therefore, we did not adopt their tactical methods, but chose to explore on our own. A method of combat with German tactics as the mainstay and German tactics as the supplement.”
"As for the training of commanders at all levels, there is actually no secret. It is to constantly make tactical improvements through exercises of various sizes, and to improve commanders' use of armored forces. Last winter and this year's training For half a year, our armored forces have done nothing but conduct various tactical maneuvers at the Fujin Comprehensive Training Base."
"From the company and platoon level to the brigade and regiment level, various tactical exercises are conducted on average two to three times a week. At the same time, we have specially allocated an infantry division, two artillery regiments, a direct cavalry regiment, and two bomber squadrons to specifically cooperate with Armored units conduct combined exercises."
"In order to make these armored units form combat effectiveness as soon as possible, we spared no expense and took out 5,000 tons of fuel in one go. Soviet-made tanks are oil tigers. The fuel consumption per unit time of each tank is higher than that of French-made tanks. Nearly one third.
In order to ensure sufficient training time, even if we were reluctant, we could only use one-fifth of our tank oil reserves for training."
"If it hadn't been for last winter, coupled with the no-cost training during the first half of this year, which accelerated the running-in of the troops, improved the commander's ability, and trained a group of tank crews, there would have been no shortage of equipment and personnel. I’m afraid our current fight is not as good as the Soviet army.”
"After all, no matter what people say, there are some old foundations, deficiencies are deficiencies, but where the foundation is, there is that. Although Tukhachevsky was beheaded by the old man in Moscow, his large-depth combat theory was abolished , and the idea of establishing an independent large-scale tank force was discarded."
"As long as the quality of their commanders at all levels improves, this theory says that they can pick it up, and they have a complete military industry system. Although the number of battle losses is a bit large at the moment, as long as the various military factories that are moving eastward resume production, Then the equipment damaged in battle can be replenished at any time, but we don't have this foundation."
"However, although our current performance is slightly better, our opponents are also different. Compared with the German army, which has a complete and mature armor cluster application concept and a large number of tank and armor forces, the number of tanks of the Japanese army itself is far inferior, and its tank armor The use of vehicles is still in the 1930s when it was attached to infantry combat."
"The Japanese army places too much emphasis on its own characteristics, but ignores the development of world military academics and equipment. In terms of the use of tank clusters, it has lagged behind the world's military theory, which is also an important reason for our victory. Sometimes I wonder, when we When we encounter an opponent like the German army, can we still achieve the results we have today?"
"Furthermore, through this operation, we have also exposed that we still have some shortcomings in ground-air cooperation and breakthrough selection, as well as in developing in depth after opening the breakthrough. We still need continuous improvement to form a complete set of characteristics with our own characteristics. combat concepts and systems.”
"In addition, we are also somewhat deficient in equipment, such as armored personnel carriers and self-propelled artillery, which can cooperate with tank attacks. Simply relying on foot infantry to cooperate with tanks will reduce the attack speed of tanks, and trucks have poor off-road capabilities and cannot Armor protection is not suitable on the battlefield."
"This is why during the negotiations, I would rather pay a certain price in exchange for some of the German tank officers captured by the Soviet army. After all, tanks are a brand new combat mode for us, especially large-scale tanks. Regarding the use of tank clusters, we are still blank."
"The development of the situation simply does not allow us to have enough time to improve the training and system, so we choose the Germans who have the most experience in armored cluster operations and the most successful armored cluster tactics as our instructors. , is a more appropriate thing.”
"Old chief, it is not shameful to learn from your enemies. Since their military technology has merits, why can't we adopt the strengths of others and use them for my own use? I dared to use the Japanese Army Major General to train senior senior generals for us. Command talents, so why can’t we use the Germans who are not directly fighting us but just holding the title of an ally of the Japanese?”
After Yang Zhen's words fell, the two veterans looked at each other and couldn't help but smile bitterly at each other. Looking at the young man in front of them, they couldn't help but sigh that this guy was too courageous. The Guannai army also used Japanese prisoners of war as instructors. , but they are generally only used as hand-to-hand combat instructors or infantry tactics instructors. As for the training of senior commanders, they mostly rely on themselves.
First, there are very few captured officers at the officer level, and most of them are die-hard elements who are difficult to convert. Second, the internal troops that mainly focus on guerrilla warfare and mountainous mobile warfare do not have such conditions. The training of senior commanders in each unit is still too much. Relying on the experience accumulated in many years of war.
There is a guy like this who not only dares to use senior officers among Japanese prisoners of war as instructors to train senior commanders, but also uses Japanese prisoners of war to form a whetstone army. He also has the audacity to use captured soldiers. Japanese Army Major General, serving as an instructor in the training of the most senior commanders.
Let’s not talk about the courage of the instructors trained as senior officers in using the prisoners of war of his own enemies. Let’s talk about how he made these die-hard Japanese officers work for his own use. In a military unit where dying in battle is an honor and being captured is a shame. This is almost unimaginable in an army where soldiers are hard to catch, and officers are even harder to catch, with the Bushido spirit of fearlessness and unafraid of death as their belief.
What's more, there are still so many senior officers. The Sino-Japanese war has not yet concluded an outcome, and the Japanese army still has a clear advantage on the battlefield. How did he do it? This is not just It can be done by extorting confessions through torture.