Chapter 167: The Threat of the Contribution of the British Army
The Japanese army is not Chongqing, which has almost no ability to produce weapons except light weapons. They have a lot of resources at their disposal. If they really recognize the threat, they can mobilize a large number of anti-tank weapons from other sources at any time. Type 94 rapid-fire guns, Type 9
Type 7 20mm automatic cannon, Taisho Type 11 infantry flat-firing cannon.
Even when necessary, the Japanese army's heavily equipped Type 92 infantry guns and Type 38 field guns can be temporarily used as anti-tank weapons. Even if they want to, they can use the new Type 1 47mm rapid-fire guns in a short period of time.
Artillery, a large number of equipment for any troops they want to equip. In the Battle of Tongliao, it was not only the Anti-Japanese Alliance that learned lessons, but the same was true for the Japanese.
Although it has been proven in actual combat that most of the Japanese anti-tank weapons, except for field guns, are simply unable to fight against the British and Soviet tanks currently equipped by the United States. Not only are they unable to form any weapons within long range,
The threat, even at close range, is almost non-existent. But at close range, it is still quite a threat to the Soviet-made light tanks of the Anti-Japanese Alliance.
Especially with the cooperation of multiple levels of firepower, the light tanks of the Anti-Japanese Alliance can even be said to be a great threat. At present, the Anti-Japanese Alliance is equipped with Soviet-made medium tanks and British-made infantry tanks. The Japanese may not be able to grasp it. They do this
The original intention was to deal with the large number of Soviet-made light tanks used by the Anti-Japanese Alliance in the previous stage of the battle.
In fact, the Japanese army deployed a large number of anti-tank firepower on the Chadong front line. For the Anti-Japanese Alliance, this was both expected and unexpected. It really made Yang Zhen feel surprised and surprised.
What must be taken seriously is the information transferred from North China that the Japanese army unloaded a large number of weapons seized from Southeast Asia from Tianjin Port.
If this batch of weapons and equipment is unloaded at Tianjin Port, it can only be given to the North China Front Army. If this batch of weapons and equipment is given to the Kwantung Army, it can only be unloaded in Lushun or Jinzhou or Huludao. If it is used by the Japanese troops in Central China and East China, it can only be used by the Japanese Army in Central China and East China.
It's in Shanghai, and definitely not Tianjin.
The Japanese army is not monolithic, and there are many internal factions and turf wars. Just like the supplies for the Kwantung Army will never be unloaded at Tianjin Port, the supplies for the North China Front will never be unloaded at Jinzhou Port. One is one, two
There are two, and the Japanese distinguish them very clearly.
It's just that the underground party intelligence officers in Tianjin are not military experts, but ordinary underground workers. Although they have obtained this extremely valuable information, they do not know what types of weapons this batch of weapons is. They only know that there are a lot of artillery, and
Numerous machine guns and a large amount of ammunition. There are also dozens of armored vehicles and more than 300 cars.
The Japanese army kept the arrival and quantity of this batch of equipment strictly confidential. When this batch of goods was unloaded at Tianjin Port, the port was all taken over by the Japanese. All Chinese, whether they were pseudo-staff or laborers, were strictly prohibited
Contact the port. All Chinese working at the port that day were escorted from the dock to a port warehouse when the ship arrived. They were not released until all weapons were transported away.
The loaders and unloaders used were the directly mobilized Japanese garrison in Tianjin, as well as prisoners of war and laborers escorted from the Peking Prisoner of War Camp. After completing the loading and unloading, these laborers were escorted onto the freighter transporting these materials on the spot. It is unknown where they were sent.
He went there and was not sent back to the prisoner of war camp at all.
Moreover, after this batch of goods was unloaded, it was put on a train with a Japanese driver in the shortest possible time. When it was transferred from Tianjin Port to the railway, all the goods were Japanese military vehicles, and all were covered by canvas.
The train entering the station was taken from outside the city, and it did not make any stopover in Tianjin city at all.
This information was obtained three days later by an insider of the Tianjin underground party stationed in the Japanese army in Tianjin. After everything was completed, he accidentally learned this information from a Japanese lieutenant. But this guy didn't reveal much.
And this guy obviously doesn’t know much.
But even though he did not know the exact quantity and model of the weapons and equipment that were transported immediately after being unloaded from Tianjin Port, Yang Zhen still felt the importance of this information. And judging from the current situation of the entire front line confrontation with the Japanese army, Yang Zhen still felt the importance of this information.
Look, Yang Zhen can be sure that the ultimate destination of this batch of British equipment can only be the front lines of Chadong and Chanan.
What Yang Zhen is even more certain of is that the quantity of this batch of equipment is definitely quite large. Although the British troops in Malaya are all a bunch of miscellaneous names, the overall number is quite large. In addition, when the British lost the battle
, basically rarely have a good habit of destroying equipment that cannot be carried. Especially in the case of a big rout, they will not spare precious escape time to destroy those equipment.
Speaking of thousands of artillery, it is definitely not possible. After all, most of them are second-rate troops. In addition to the huge consumption on the North African battlefield, the British will not give them too many first-class equipment. But at least large and small
There should still be hundreds of artillery pieces. The British are very stingy towards their allies, but they are often quite generous towards their enemies.
What really worries Yang Zhen is whether these artillery pieces will be used by the Japanese army as anti-tank weapons. In the Battle of Tongliao, the Kwantung Army used the old 77 field guns captured by the Northeast Army as large-caliber anti-tank guns with high-explosive grenades for flat firing.
, brought considerable losses to the Second Armored Brigade participating in the battle.
Although these temporary field guns do not have special armor-piercing shells, the lethality of high-explosive grenades against light tanks is not that small. When a shell hits at close range, the huge explosive force can completely destroy the tank. Even if it is
The modified light tank cannot withstand it due to structural limitations.
The British equipment in Southeast Asia was not as powerful as the Soviet 45mm anti-tank gun, so he was not too worried. After the British two-pounder gun arrived in North Manchuria, the Anti-Japanese Alliance conducted extensive research on this artillery.
A result of the test was that the power of this two-pounder gun was the smallest among all artillery guns with anti-tank capabilities currently in the Anti-Japanese Alliance.
Its power cannot even penetrate the front of the improved T-26 and BT tanks. Compared with the Soviet-made 45mm anti-tank gun, its power is very different. For the Matilda II infantry tank equipped by them,
, there is almost no threat, no matter what the range.
The Maltida II tank was equipped much later than the two-pounder gun. When it was designed, the main defense object considered was the German Pak 37 combat anti-cannon with similar performance to the two-pounder gun. The British
The spears created by people themselves cannot penetrate the shields designed by themselves.
Even shooting at close range cannot destroy their own tanks. The threat to the Soviet-made T-34 tanks is almost non-existent. Its power is only slightly stronger than the Japanese Type 94 rapid-fire gun.
It was enough to deal with the Japanese tanks, but it had almost no effect against the new Anti-Japanese tanks.
What worries Yang Zhen most now is how many of the artillery pieces shipped to Tianjin by the Japanese army are 25-pound field guns that can be used as large-caliber anti-tank artillery. Although the power of this field gun is not as good as that of the large-caliber
The howitzer has a short range. And when necessary, it can also be used as an anti-tank artillery. The British army has indeed developed special armor-piercing projectiles for this kind of artillery.
The Japanese army has always used advanced experience as a magic weapon. After gaining advanced experience in fighting in the Tongliao area, they will not fail to make extensive use of this advanced experience. The North China Front Army was able to build a set of fortifications similar to those in Tongliao in Chadong.
region, then using the advanced experience gained in the First World War of Tongliao, there is nothing to doubt.
In addition to the threat of the twenty-five-pound field gun to the tank cluster, another thing that worries Yang Zhen is whether the British army is equipped with the latest six-pound anti-tank gun for the garrison in Southeast Asia. This latest British army
Anti-tank guns, with an armor penetration depth of 94 millimeters within 100 meters, are quite powerful.
It still has a certain lethality against the two types of tanks that are going to be used as the main force in the westward march. At least within a distance of 300 meters, there is still no problem in destroying the T-type 3 and 4 tanks. At close range
Within, there is also a great threat to the Maltida II tank.
What only made Yang Zhen a little angry was that when he repeatedly approached Brigadier General Ross and asked him about the firepower configuration of the British Commonwealth troops in the Southeast Asian battlefield, this guy's answer almost made Yang Zhen vomit blood. As a British Army Brigadier General, in
In an extremely critical situation, he actually knew nothing about the firepower configuration of his army on a certain battlefield.
How many artillery pieces and what kind of artillery pieces were equipped by the British Commonwealth troops on the battlefield in Southeast Asia had no confidentiality value at this time. He was responsible for contacting the British allies in the war against Japan. Fortunately, he was responsible for the British Far East in the Southeast Asian theater.
A person from the headquarters actually doesn't know anything.
As for how many of them the British might have lost, he was even more confused. Looking at this fool who couldn't provide anything useful other than urging him to send troops all day long, Yang Zhen didn't know whether he really didn't know.
, or he knows how to pretend not to know. Or his superiors have some instructions that make him deliberately pretend to be deaf and dumb.
In the end, Yang Zhen was forced to have no choice but to call General Wavell directly through the United States. After a lot of effort, he finally learned what artillery pieces the British Commonwealth Army had deployed in Malaya and Singapore. And then they arrived.
For this reason, the British were still being arrogant. They only told the Anti-Japanese Alliance the types of artillery equipped by the British, but the specific number was pushed to 625, pretending to be confused.
When Yang Zhen asked about the power of the twenty-five-pounder gun and whether the British army in Southeast Asia was equipped with armor-piercing projectiles, he did not give any answer at all. Countless pieces of this artillery have been lost on the battlefield, but the British are still worried about their own.
Keeping allies secret is a big joke.
Wavell's only useful answer is that the anti-tank guns equipped by the British army in Southeast Asia are all two-pounders and are not equipped with the new six-pounder anti-tank guns. This is the latest and most powerful anti-tank gun in the UK. Currently,
It was only equipped in the North African battlefield and not in other theaters. But as to whether the twenty-five-pounder gun that Yang Zhen was most concerned about was equipped with armor-piercing projectiles, Wavell did not give any answer.
Taking the call back from Wavell, Yang Zhen couldn't help but frown a little. Apart from yelling at these American and British ghosts in his heart for harming others and not benefiting themselves, there was nothing much to say about these British people who were still fussy about this trivial matter.
There was a way. And Brigadier General Ross, after thinking about it, finally helped a little bit.
Although he, a former senior official of the Far East Command, did not know exactly how many artillery pieces the British army was equipped with in the Southeast Asian battlefield. However, he told Yang Zhen the prescribed number of various artillery pieces that the British army should equip in its wartime establishment according to regulations.
Of course, what he is talking about is the establishment that should be in place according to regulations when not participating in the war. As for the temporary adjustments during the war, he is not clear.
Chapter 167: The Threat of the British Army’s Contribution: