There was no way. The Kwantung Army, which had the highest priority in equipping the Japanese army with weapons and equipment, had already begun to equip the Type 90 field cannon and the new Type 95 field cannon. This old-fashioned howitzer had a range that was not as far as the Japanese Type 94 mountain gun. , although the power is not small, but if it is used on the battlefield, it is asking for death.
By then, these bulky guys with poor maneuverability will not be able to reach others, and they will be too cumbersome to retreat. And with the training quality of the Japanese artillery, the losses of these artillery on the battlefield will be quite high, and this has already been done They had learned a painful lesson, so after this battle, all these 122 howitzers were dismantled.
Even if they were bought from the Soviet army warehouse in Outer Mongolia or the more than 70 F-22 models that Wang Guangyu snatched with a much longer range, they were too bulky and not as popular as the Japanese field guns. , although the number is not small, they have never been the main force in the Anti-Japanese Alliance.
When configuring new equipment, the Soviets have always focused on the West over the East. The latest equipment is equipped in various military districts in the west. The equipment in several military districts in the east is basically second-rate equipment, not to mention the equipment in Nomen. During the Battle of Khan, the Soviet army also expanded its forces massively, and the new equipment that had just begun mass production could not meet the needs.
During the Battle of Nomonhan, the Soviet army participated in the battle with old-fashioned artillery. The most widely used artillery was the 1902/30 field gun and the M1910/30 122mm howitzer. , of course, the A-19 howitzers with the best performance among the Soviet army at that time, and the ML 20-type 152 howitzers were also numerous and used as artillery directly under the army.
In the artillery battle with the Japanese artillery, we mainly relied on these two types of artillery. It was also the high power and long range of these two types of artillery that suppressed and severely damaged the Japanese artillery. As for the division artillery that participated in the most battles, they were still two old-fashioned types. As for artillery, it was these two old-fashioned artillery pieces that suffered the greatest battle losses.
At that time, the F-22 field artillery, which had the best performance among the Soviet army, was not used in large numbers at that time. Those that the Anti-Japanese Alliance purchased from the Soviet army warehouse in Outer Mongolia were the original F-10 field artillery guns transferred to them by the Soviet army. After the Outer Mongolia Army, they were transferred from the Western Military Region that had been redressed.
But even though it was the latest Soviet division main artillery at the time, this artillery was too long in length, difficult to control, had poor maneuverability, and had almost no shortcomings in cross-country capabilities. Using this artillery was very troublesome. It is a very tiring thing. Dragging to the position and then withdrawing is even more tiring. Moving under artillery fire is even more strenuous.
When participating in the war, many artillerymen would rather use the old Japanese-made 38 field guns than replace them with Soviet-made field guns with a much longer range. However, the performance and performance of these bulky Soviet-made field guns were not as good as those of the Japanese 120-guns. The twelve howitzers also directly affected the Anti-Alliance artillery's impression of Soviet-made artillery.
It was out of this concern that Yang Zhen made a special trip to the artillery unit that was being re-equipped to prevent these guys from playing tricks on him, just like in the previous stage of the battle, the artillery unit participating in the battle would be equipped with At least half of the F-22 field guns were left in the rear, and only about thirty were brought to the front to participate in the battle.
Even the few artillery pieces of this type are all used on the front, and all the detour troops are not equipped. After the war in the previous stage, the artillery unit issued a report demanding the withdrawal of these two types of artillery. There were even strong demands. The commander stated that continuing to use these two artillery pieces is irresponsible to the soldiers.
At present, the medium-caliber artillery of the Anti-Japanese Alliance is mainly Japanese and miscellaneous artillery. The troops do not welcome Soviet-made artillery, especially Soviet-made field artillery. These two kinds of Soviet-made artillery are different from the miscellaneous artillery used by the Anti-Japanese Alliance in the past. Compared with the original Soviet-made field guns, this type of artillery not only has excellent performance, but is also very different in structure.
The most critical thing is the ZLS Type 3 76mm cannon. Whether it is a flat-firing field fortification or an anti-tank, its fire suppression performance is far beyond the existing 70-plus guns in the Anti-Japanese Alliance that can do everything and loose everything. The bulky Soviet-made F-22 field gun can be compared.
Yang Zhen had great expectations for whether this cannon with excellent performance could replace the no-name field guns in the army. He felt a little uneasy if he didn't go there in person. There were lessons learned from the past, and he didn't want the F-20 The incident with the Type 2 field artillery was repeated among our own troops.
What he didn't expect was that these two Soviet-made artillery pieces were far more popular than the Soviet-made artillery pieces originally received by the Anti-Japanese Alliance. Especially the ZLS Type 3 76mm cannon, which was quite popular and the troops were enthusiastic about changing their equipment. It's quite high, and Yang Zhen doesn't need to worry about it at all.
The troops who received this Soviet-made cannon were concerned that this type of cannon was only slightly heavier than the Japanese Army's lightest Type 38 field gun and lower than the Japanese Army's latest Type 95 field gun, but its range was comparable to the Japanese Army's best-performing Type 95 field gun. The Zero field gun is comparable, and the recoil is the smallest among all the artillery of the Anti-Japanese Alliance. The muzzle velocity of the shell is also the fastest, and the ballistic performance is very good. I like the Soviet-made cannon very much.
This artillery relies on high muzzle velocity, a high rate of fire of up to 25 rounds per minute, as well as a maximum range of more than 13,000 meters and high accuracy. It can even easily suppress the Japanese Army's best-performing Type 96 150mm Howitzers, except for the Japanese Type 92 Type 105 cannon, none of the artillery equipped by the Japanese front-line field divisions can surpass this kind of artillery.
At the time of receiving it, the troops who were very resistant to the two Soviet-made artillery based on their original experience soon fell in love with this artillery not long after taking over. The troops who received it were working enthusiastically and their combat effectiveness was formed. Very fast.
By the time Yang Zhen arrived at the artillery training base, the artillery personnel involved in the reception had basically mastered the technology of using this artillery, and had completed rapid deployment, withdrawal, and single-gun precision shooting with two temporarily organized artillery battalions. , artillery group interception and suppressive shooting, the entire training progress has entered the training of anti-tank firepower group shooting and single-gun anti-tank shooting.
Qiu Jintang, the deputy commander of the artillery, who personally led the training of the artillery replacement training team, and several combat staff officers from the artillery headquarters, personally explored the tactical use of this artillery based on its performance during the training. Yang When Zhen arrived here, Qiu Jintang had roughly come up with a new tactical training outline. Although it still needs further improvement, the foundation has been laid.
In fact, the ordinary tactical suppression and fire interception of this artillery, and ordinary anti-fortification direct-aiming training, are not much different from the Japanese field artillery. It only needs to be slightly adjusted according to the performance of this artillery. The biggest difference is As a medium-caliber anti-tank gun, anti-tank training, especially anti-tank group training and mobile ambush training, must be started from scratch.
Although the Anti-Japanese Alliance was originally equipped with 37 Bofors anti-tank guns, a few Soviet-made 45 anti-tank guns, and the two-pound anti-tank guns sent by the British this time, these small-caliber small-caliber anti-tank guns were The performance is very different from this artillery that can perform both fire suppression and anti-tank operations. It cannot be compared in terms of caliber, power, or even rate of fire.
This artillery can easily destroy the latest Japanese Type 97 tanks at a distance of 1,500 meters. However, the backward sighting equipment limits the long-range accuracy of this artillery. However, at a distance of 800 meters, There is no problem in destroying any Japanese tanks at such a distance. Qiu Jintang improved the use of tactics, focusing on anti-tank tactics.
The reloading troops here are doing it in full swing, and the troops over there who are still using miscellaneous mountain and field artillery are drooling at the sight. In fact, according to Yang Zhen's original intention, these artillery pieces should be given to each infantry division to form a direct subordinate unit. The remaining cannon battalions are organized into several directly affiliated cannon battalions as mobile forces.
However, considering that the second-hand artillery currently used by the army, after long-term and intensive use, a large part of it has reached the level of scrapping. In order to reduce the caliber of artillery in the army, there are many artillery pieces with small calibers in the army. For example, there are only a dozen The Skoda mountain artillery and the French-made 105 field artillery have no need to produce shells and have all been withdrawn from the front-line troops.
Due to the expansion of the army and the expansion of the demand for artillery under the original division, all the 100mm howitzer regiments that were directly under the artillery headquarters were disbanded and equipped to each infantry division according to the caliber. The remaining parts will continue to use seven The 15mm mountain gun will be adjusted in the future.
Therefore, after careful consideration, the artillery of some of the original infantry divisions was adjusted. The original mountain artillery, except for the scrapped ones, was uniformly deployed by the headquarters. The artillery regiments of the infantry divisions numbered 1 to 12 were composed of the original two The organization of one mountain artillery battalion and one field artillery battalion was changed to two 76mm cannon battalions and one 100mm howitzer battalion.
Each division numbered from 12 to 20 is equipped with a 76mm cannon battalion, a 75mm mountain artillery battalion, and a Polish or French field artillery battalion. The newly formed divisions after the 20th are equipped with The equipment is all Japanese-made mountain field artillery, but a six-gun division-affiliated cannon battery is added to be used as a long-range direct-aiming artillery.
This makes it impossible for a large part of the troops to replace this excellent performance cannon, and can only continue to use the original Japanese and French mountain cannons. Therefore, during training, those troops who have not changed their equipment can only look at these The new artillery with excellent performance is drool-worthy.
After seeing Yang Zhen, the leaders of the unit who had not caught up with this new cannon kept nagging around Yang Zhen and wanted to change their uniforms. For these cadres, Yang Zhen could only tell them , you have to wait patiently, bread will be available sooner or later, and the miscellaneous artillery they are currently equipped with will one day be eliminated.
The army currently uses too many artillery calibers and is under heavy logistical pressure. The headquarters is also aware of the current situation. However, there are currently insufficient new artillery pieces, so the old troops can only be re-equipped. When the Anti-Japanese Alliance can produce them themselves, their troops will be re-equipped. But at present, equipping each division with a company is already the ultimate. The most important thing now is to quickly master the skills of using new artillery, rather than rushing to change equipment.
Yang Zhen spent a lot of words to deal with the grassroots artillery cadres who reached out to him for cannons. Fortunately, his prestige in the army was enough, and it was normal for the troops below who had not changed their uniforms to be a little resentful. Under Yang Zhen's prestige, the cadres I didn't dare to get too entangled, whether I really figured it out or just said it, but I didn't bother Yang Zhen on this issue for too long.
However, Yang Zhen also knows that the current problem of too many artillery calibers in the army will be solved sooner or later. However, the mass production of this artillery will take time. The most important thing at the moment is to solve the shortage of shells for this batch of artillery, especially when using The current situation of insufficient armor-piercing ammunition.
However, there are not many armor-piercing shells that can be used by this artillery at present, but this artillery can be used universally by the Anti-Japanese League. Currently, there are still many F-22 field guns in stock that use explosive anti-personnel shells. To talk about the lack of shells, the main reason is The new armor-piercing projectiles and high-explosive grenades, as well as the ordinary anti-personnel blasting grenades, are barely sufficient in quantity, at least to meet the training needs of these cannons, which is basically not a problem.