After glancing at the several ministers present who had extremely serious expressions after hearing what he said, which was a bit offensive, Yang Zhen did not pay attention to Xiong Dazhen, but turned to the logistics minister Zhang Zhenhua who was attending the meeting and said: " Lao Zhang, this battle is of great importance, and the requirements for logistical supplies are extremely high."
"Compared with our previous internal supply lines, the supply lines involved in this operation are somewhat too long, which is a severe test for our army's logistics. For such long distances, there are basically no supplies that can be utilized by railways, or This is our first encounter, but we have to fight it out sooner or later, and we have to encounter this kind of long-distance supply situation."
"I have always been quite assured of your work, but for the next stage of the battle, I have only two requirements. One is that all ammunition, supplies, and fuel must be transported and stored strictly to the starting point of the attack. The confidentiality must not be exposed in any way before the battle begins."
"With regard to the confidentiality of personnel and equipment during forward movement, the chief of staff is responsible for formulating plans and ensuring their implementation. However, you, Zhang Zhenhua, are responsible for the confidentiality of ammunition and materials that need to be sent forward in advance, as well as the confidentiality of transportation vehicles required for troop transportation. These two issues are yours." If there is a problem in this area, I will not look to anyone else, I will only look to you, the logistics director."
"The second and most critical issue is that wherever the battle line advances, your logistical support and supplies must follow, including not only ammunition, but also food and other supplies. That is, you cannot let soldiers fight hungry. , let alone let the guns and guns in the hands of soldiers go to the battlefield hungry."
"The main areas for our next stage of operations are either Mongolian nomadic areas or mountainous areas with barren land and poor people. In addition, the customs troops have encountered repeated brutal raids by the Japanese army this year. Our military base areas in North China are no longer able to bear the burden of our operations." supply for the troops moving south."
"I'm afraid that we need to bear all the supplies for the next phase of the battle ourselves. In modern warfare, logistics work is the top priority. To ensure the astronomical amounts of food and ammunition required by these hundreds of thousands of troops every day, your logistics department's The pressure is very heavy, but no matter how heavy the burden is, you must fully ensure the supply of troops participating in the battle on the front line."
"At the same time, the next phase of combat is our first large-scale use of tanks and armored groups in combat. For these oil tigers, you must replenish the fuel in place. We must not let our armored units miss out because the fuel replenishment cannot keep up. Any fighter jet."
"For all the work, you have to come up with a detailed plan and implement it to each specific responsible person. Remember, it is not only our own troops, but also the advancing army, as well as the preparation of wartime supplies for the internal troops. , but for the troops within the customs, the main issue is ammunition.”
"Starting tonight, all other matters will be handed over to your deputy. You can concentrate on coming up with a detailed plan for the next stage of logistics support, material transportation, confidentiality, etc. All your plans, It is classified as top secret before the battle begins, and apart from reporting to the Standing Committee of the Military Region, absolutely no one can reveal the slightest bit."
"In addition, based on the overall intention of the next phase of the battle, the headquarters has decided to allocate the fifth engineer regiment directly under your logistics department to the aviation force and follow the aviation force in order to set up field airports according to the needs of the aviation force. You have to choose the best one Construction machinery is equipped for these two regiments."
"Change your second and fourth engineering regiments to use construction machinery imported from the United States into fully mechanized engineering regiments that will follow the troops to ensure emergency repairs of roads during wartime. In addition, the headquarters has already imported a batch of American trucks this time. We have decided to allocate them all to you, and the training of your drivers and maintenance personnel must keep up with the speed of equipment development."
Originally, he just wanted to hold a meeting on the idea of unifying the air raids on Japan, but because of Xiong Dazhen's interruption, Yang Zhen did not expect that it would end up being a preparatory meeting for the next phase of the battle. Although he felt that it was a little off-topic, he still had a lot of questions about the preparations for the next phase of the battle. For Yang Zhen, this can be regarded as a mistake.
Pre-war preparation meetings are held sooner or later. Although several column commanders, as well as the commanders of armor and artillery, did not participate in this meeting, Yang Zhen believed that on certain issues, especially military industry and logistics, It would still be beneficial to talk about it first.
As the saying goes, the army moves forward before using food and grass. The ammunition and materials consumed in a big war are almost astronomical. If the ammunition and materials are not fully prepared, the important event will be delayed. According to my plan, the Logistics Department will be ready next month. Secretly began to stockpile combat supplies to the starting point of the attack.
According to my entire plan, even if this meeting is not held today, it will be held until the end of the year, because a series of tasks will be arranged immediately after the New Year. Since it is already somewhat off-topic, it is better to make the mistake and use the headquarters to make arrangements. We have an opportunity to talk about this matter first when all the important secondary ministers are here.
Let’s talk about one aspect first, and then implement one aspect, especially logistics and military production, which are key issues related to the success or failure of the next stage of the battle. Whether the amount of ammunition and materials stockpiled can meet the needs of the campaign, and whether logistics support can guarantee the campaign. These are very critical issues for the smooth progress of the project.
In the next stage of the battle, the logistics supply line, which is hundreds of kilometers long, is the first time for the logistics department that has been carrying out internal supply. It is a very severe test. Many things should be implemented earlier than implemented late to strive for more responses at any time. Unexpected response times may occur.
The problems that the military industry needs to face are no easier than those faced by the logistics department, including the production and storage of ammunition, the modification and repair of tanks, and especially the preparations for receiving the German tanks handed over by the Soviet army in accordance with the agreement. The corresponding modification preparation is also the department with the greatest pressure before the launch of the campaign. It will be of some benefit to Xiong Dazhen to make some preparations in advance.
It's just that although Yang Zhen hammered Xiong Dazhen very hard at this meeting, no one expected that the number of tanks handed over by the Soviets would eventually exceed imagination, and it was limited by production capacity until all the tanks handed over by the Soviets. After that, the Equipment Department was unable to produce all the required 45mm tank guns.
Fortunately, Xiong Dazhen still has some reaction speed and his head can turn quickly enough. He used the tank gun on the T-26 tank, which was relatively seriously damaged in the previous stage of the battle and could no longer be repaired, to kill the 38-T tank. The 37mm Czech-made tank gun on the No. 2 tank was replaced, and he improvised a batch of 23mm anti-aircraft artillery shells from the 20mm machine-gun shells used on the No. 2 tank.
As for the Panzer III tank, he used the foundation accumulated from developing 45mm armor-piercing shells to produce and manufacture some shells for the 50mm tank gun used in it within a month before the battle was launched. Although due to the production They were too hasty and did not form enough reserves, but the output of 30,000 rounds was enough to meet the needs of the battle.
Such a large number of British and Soviet equipment was almost in place within less than a month, making the Equipment Department and the Military Industry Department of the Northeast Bureau very busy. In addition, they had to concentrate on the production of artillery shells, aerial bombs and various light weapons. Ammunition must meet the quantity delivered to the Soviet Union. It is really not feasible to produce such a batch of tanks and guns in a short period of time to counter the current limited military industrial capabilities of the Alliance.
Xiong Dazhen believes that instead of rushing around, producing substandard products and wasting raw materials, which are currently very precious to the Anti-Japanese Alliance, it is better to use the foundation of manufacturing shells for 45mm tank guns to first produce a batch of shells for emergency response , at least the production process of artillery shells is much simpler than that of tank guns.
Except for certain differences in the capped armor-piercing projectiles, the technology of ordinary steel-core armor-piercing projectiles is basically the same. Even if there are certain differences between capped armor-piercing projectiles, the differences are not very big. With the technology of the Anti-League Ability can fully meet the needs of this difference.
The actual gap between the production process and technology of 50mm tank shells and 45mm tank shells is much smaller than that of manufacturing tank guns, and the power of the 50mm tank guns used by these German tanks is It is also larger than the Soviet-made 45mm tank gun.
The batch of tanks transferred by the Soviets were mainly Panzer III tanks equipped with 50mm tank guns. As for the 38T tanks, the number of Panzer II tanks was not very large. There were only more than 70 tanks in total. The Panzer IV tanks were also However, there are less than a hundred of them. The Panzer 2 tanks are used for reconnaissance and do not need to change the artillery. The remaining 38T tanks with 37mm artillery and a small number of Panzer 3 tanks are much less troublesome.
Except for a few of the tanks transferred by the Soviet army that were captured before the Battle of Moscow, most of them were captured during the counterattack during the Moscow Defense War. When these tanks were captured, most of them were captured because they were in Moscow. From December to January, it is generally minus 25 degrees Celsius during the day, minus 40 degrees Celsius at night, and even extremely cold temperatures of minus 52 degrees Celsius. The tank engine is frozen and cannot be used. In addition, there are fuel problems. , the German army could only abandon it when they retreated.
Only some of these tanks have minor injuries that can definitely be repaired. Most of the tanks are basically intact. Apart from the need to clean the engines, they basically do not need repairs. This saves money for his equipment department and armored forces. Caused a lot of trouble.
Although the German army achieved a huge victory in the early stages of the Soviet-German campaign, its own losses were also quite heavy due to the tenacious resistance of the Soviet army. Not counting the Battle of Kiev, Smolensk and other major battles, only in Moscow In the Battle of Vyazma before the battle, the German army lost nearly 800 tanks.
In the early days of the war, the 38T tanks and the Panzer 2 tanks, which were the main forces of the German army, had already been exhausted by the time the Battle of Moscow began. The few remaining tanks faced the crisis created by the Soviet T 38T tanks because they basically had no room to fight back. , are no longer responsible for front-line combat missions. Except for some that have been modified into various self-propelled artillery, most of them have been transferred to rear troops for use in suppressing guerrillas.
In the early days of the Soviet-German War, the great results achieved by the German army concealed its equally heavy losses. Tanks, which were the main assault means of the German army, suffered even more heavy losses. The armor was fragile and the Soviet-made anti-tank guns could destroy the Panzer II tanks and 38T tanks.
Tanks were the preferred hunting targets of the Soviet army, and they were also the tanks with the heaviest losses. When it came time to launch the attack on Moscow, the tanks invested by the German army were already armored forces mainly composed of Panzer III tanks and supplemented by Panzer IV tanks.
And they were basically the late Type III models equipped with 50mm tank guns. If it were the early days of the Soviet-German war, nearly half of the 3,300 tanks invested by the German army were equipped with 20mm cannons.
If the No. 2 tank with a 37mm tank gun and the 38T tank equipped with a 37mm tank gun are still the main force of the German tank force at this time, Xiong Dazhen will have even more headaches.