Northwest Airlines' large BFY-15 transport plane flying from Rome to Beijing took off from Rome Airport. Fang Minghao was ordered to return to the country. Among the people he traveled, he met Colonel Cheng Hui of the Army General Equipment Department.
"You have been in Germany for the past two years?" Fang Minghao asked Colonel Cheng who sat beside him.
"No, this time I coordinated some cooperation projects with them. I returned to China a year ago. Major General Yue Chengzong has been staying in Berlin as a consultant to General Guderian." Cheng Hui said.
"How is the preparations of the German Army?" Fang Minghao said. He is not very familiar with the situation of the German Army.
"It's not really very good. Hermann Gorene, who is in charge of the four-year economic plan, is completely a layman in economic and industrial production. Germany's military production seems very chaotic compared to the Schacht period." Colonel Cheng Hui frowned and frowned.
"German leaders like to directly intervene in military production, which is a lot of trouble when organizing production in factories. Unlike us, the military only requires performance indicators and quantity, quality, and the organization of production is done by those companies themselves and
solve.."
"Does this have a great impact on German military production?" Fang Minghao asked again.
"Yes, the impact is great. For example, tank manufacturing, based on German military capabilities, should be able to produce 600 to 800 No. 4 tanks and 500 No. 5 tanks developed based on our Type 35 tanks, but
Hitler ordered the tank factory to develop a heavy tank of more than 60 tons. The Germans could only squeeze out three of the tank production lines from not many tanks to invest in the development of new tanks. So far, they have made it every month.
The number of tanks is only about half of the production capacity." Cheng Hui said: "If we had no help from us, the Germans would definitely lose this war."
The equipment advantage of the Republican Army gradually lost after the war began, and all parties involved in the war will be greatly affected by the enemy in terms of weapon development. After the Republican Army equipped the Type 35 medium tank weighing 38 tons, including the United States, Russia and Britain.
The German army, which was a hostile country and allied side, began to develop heavy tanks with armor and firepower stronger than the Republican side. With this rising military competition, including the German Leopard, the American m26 Pershing and the Soviet Union.
The is-1 Stalin heavy tanks were developed several years in advance.
"Is the domestic military production task very heavy?" Fang Minghao asked, "I heard that the production of small cars has been stopped."
"Well, most civil machinery factories have turned to military products and will implement a new army organization in 1941. The president hopes to equip all infantry divisions with numbers below 210 into mechanized infantry divisions, with about half of them being infantry divisions.
There are no tanks, armored vehicles and transport vehicles. The original infantry division did not have armored troops, but there was an armored regiment in the new mechanized division. Each infantry division must be equipped with more than 100 tanks and more than 100 armored vehicles.
"Cheng Hui paused for a moment, "In the plan of the General Equipment Department, nearly 20,000 tanks and 28,000 armored vehicles of various types must be built every year."
"This is four times that of the Germans. But as far as I know, since the Americans gradually implemented the wartime system, their military industry has gradually reached this scale." Fang Minghao said, "I estimate that their aircraft production is the highest.
There will be 10 aircraft a year.”
"We may lag behind them in this regard. Now the annual aircraft production has reached its limit. Although the factory is still expanding rapidly, the annual aircraft production is only more than 60,000." Cheng Hui said, "The General Equipment Department has completed its operations."
We have made the greatest efforts to improve the aircraft manufacturing capacity from 20,000 aircraft per year before the war to the current level, but after all, our overall industrial capacity is still lagging behind our opponents."
"The war still played a considerable role in promoting domestic industrial development. At present, domestic steel production has reached 58 million tons. In just three years, the output has increased by nearly 40%. Machine tool production has also increased from 120,000 yuan per year.
Taiwan has increased to nearly 200,000 units. In just these three years, the country has equipped a large amount of heavy equipment. It seems that war still has a considerable effect." Fang Minghao said: "At least in these three years, the industrial technology level of various countries is
They are all developing rapidly.”
"There is a prerequisite for this, that is, the factory cannot be damaged by war, such as like the Japanese. As a result, there is nothing left, let alone progress and development." Cheng Hui said.
"So the national security areas mentioned by the President are very important, and the war must not be burned to our territory." Fang Minghao said, "Because our industrial capacity is not enough to fully fight the United States and Britain, we are trying our best to win the best possible situation.
Allies. But the Germans seemed a little too arrogant."
"Hitler's Germany was a lame monster, but they seemed to have no idea about this. Hermann's air force occupied too much resources, but they have been unwilling to vigorously develop the naval aviation." Cheng Hui said:
Some old aviation generals have been complaining that the president has never been willing to give them the command of the country. After seeing the huge mistakes of the Germans and Italians, they now realize that the president has always refused to form an air force. He placed the aviation force in the army and the navy.
It was a very wise decision under command.”
The plane landed in the port of Bahar, where the port is under intense expansion and construction. Under an agreement with Afghanistan, southern Iran and the new Pakistani state, the Republic has obtained a width of only
It is more than fifty kilometers, but it connects from the Pamir province of Central Asia to the corridor in the Arabian Sea.
Bahar will become the main base of the Republican Navy's Indian Ocean Fleet in the future, and Givoni, located at the mouth of the Dasht River, will be built into the most important commercial port in the Republic connecting Central Asia and the Indian Ocean.
Currently, civil flights from Europe to the Republic generally refuel twice in the middle, and most civil aviation aircraft choose to land at Baghdad or Ashgabat airports, but general military transport aircraft choose to land on their own territory.
On the way to China, transport planes generally avoid the harsh Himalayas and choose to refuel in the airports in Myanmar or Central Asia in Tashkent, Chuhe or Dihua.
After the outbreak of the war, domestic civil aviation aircraft have been accepted and managed by the military. The Civil Aviation Administration, directly led by the Military Commission, currently has about 12,000 transport aircraft of various types. In an emergency, it can even support air transport of the three armies of the Republic of China.
The need for combat supplies.
Due to the limitation of engine power, the maximum load capacity of the XFY-** transport aircraft, the best equipped by the Republican Army, is only about 15 tons. The military is eager to obtain a large transport aircraft that can perform air transport tank missions, including Beijing Aircraft Manufacturing Plant.
Several major domestic transport aircraft manufacturers, including Taiyuan Aircraft Manufacturing Company and Xi'an Aircraft Manufacturing Company, have designed heavy transport aircraft equipped with six propellers, but their performance cannot meet the requirements of the military.
After more than an hour of stay, Fang Minghao boarded the plane again. The flight will fly directly to Beijing after refueling on the ground in Dihua.