NIP #191 - The abacus for a heavy task (two in one)
#191 - The abacus for a heavy task (two in one)
The situation in North China is turbulent and unpredictable, with constant changes that make it difficult for Ren Zhong to foresee the future.
After all, Ren Zhong himself doesn't have much strategic understanding in this area.
He also lacks military talent; he has only read a lot of materials and has a relatively good understanding of the history of his original timeline. Therefore, he is still clear about the overall trend of the War of Resistance, and even if he can't say he knows everything, he can always look up and compare notes.
For example, the current situation seems to have returned to history. The main force of the Guofu has been driven back to the south bank of the Yellow River, and the Jizhong base area has also been completely lost, allowing the Japanese to establish numerous new strongholds in Jizhong.
However, unlike history, what has been lost can now be considered temporarily lost.
Whether it is the main force in Jizhong or the main force of the Guofu's Zhongtiao Mountain troops, the losses are much less than in history. Originally, two hundred thousand troops were directly crippled and wiped out.
Now, these troops are like tempered steel, having grown in the flames of war.
Although Ren Zhong has no idea how the Guofu remnants in Taihang will perform after reorganization,
Ren Zhong knows that the eight strengthened regiments of the Jizhong Military Region's main force are now eager to fight. As soon as the main force of the Japanese army retreats, they will take the opportunity to kill their way back. With their current strength, it is estimated that they will be able to recover their original territory in less than a month!
They might even expand it quite a bit!
After all, their equipment is much stronger than before. Even against a brigade-level Japanese force, they can now put up a fight, which is completely different from being encircled and suppressed in history, retreating to western Hebei, with veterans dying, lacking guns and ammunition, and suffering heavy losses to the main force.
In the original timeline, the Jizhong Eighth Route Army lost 16,800 men, a reduction of nearly one-third, not to mention the consumption of weapons and ammunition in continuous bloody battles!
Now, these eight complete main regiments, if placed in the hands of a brigade commander, could very likely devour a Japanese brigade in one bite if it protrudes into the pocket.
Of course, it must be a quick battle to try to eliminate them cleanly before the Japanese reinforcements arrive.
After all, in the Jizhong Plain, a place with convenient transportation, the Japanese reinforcements arrive quickly. Perhaps a brigade or more can be assembled to support them in half a day. Therefore, if you want to fight a brigade-level annihilation battle, the design must be clever, and the obstruction of reinforcements must also be carefully considered.
Most importantly, the Jizhong main force is still somewhat lacking in firepower.
If each main regiment could be equipped with a 4-gun 107 rocket artillery company, with more than 30 107 rockets providing powerful firepower coverage, the speed of annihilating the Japanese would be much faster. The Jizhong Plain originally had no natural defenses, which is the same for both sides. In this case, the advantage of the side with superior artillery will be doubled.
Another thing to consider is the Japanese air superiority. Therefore, damaging and interfering with the Japanese airport before the war, delaying and preventing the Japanese air force from participating in the battle is also very important.
However, even with the current reorganization, Ren Zhong estimates that returning to Jizhong,
These eight regiments can at least contain more than 4 Japanese brigades in North China.
After all, the Jizhong base area covers tens of thousands of square kilometers, sandwiched between the Jinpu Railway, the Pinghan Railway, and the Beining Railway, with a vast area of about 300km long and 200km wide.
This is a necessary route for the Japanese to connect the north and south.
Even if the main force of the Japanese army has now retreated, they must put down enough troops to defend it.
However, the current Kwantung Army, on the one hand, must watch the Northeast, which it considers to be its heartland.
Once the Pacific War started, even if the Kwantung Army had long lost the opportunity to advance north, the pressure to watch the old nest suddenly increased.
Even if a neutrality agreement is signed, they dare not take it lightly, because the Northeast is now the core interest of the Japanese. The north has now formed an alliance with the rogue eagle, then the fragility of the agreement cannot stand the test at all, making the stable relationship that the Japanese originally painstakingly established with the north suddenly subtle.
The Kwantung Army maintains a strong military force to guard the territory it has seized, but they are constantly encountering pressure from the headquarters to go south. Now the battle situation in the South Seas and the South Pacific has fully unfolded. Even if the Japanese have urgently expanded several divisions, there are too many territories occupied in the South Seas, and more troops need to be invested. You must know that Southeast Asia alone is a vast area of millions of square kilometers.
The headquarters occupied Burmese England, and now they are staring at the curry land on the side of the third brother. After being raised by John Bull for so many years, taking it down will basically eliminate the need for the headquarters to subsidize the logistics and supplies in the South Seas, and it can even feed back to the headquarters, so the headquarters is very jealous of the curry land of the third brother, and is quite thirsty for troops.
In contrast, perhaps the grassland of Jiuyuan has become an insignificant and strategically meaningless abandoned son in the eyes of the headquarters.
According to the ability of the North China Front Army, when they estimate it themselves, they cannot solve the problem of Jiuyuan even if they invest 2 divisions. I believe they will accept the reality, because this is their limit.
After Ren Zhong finished reading the battle report, he reviewed and pondered the current situation in North China, and felt that taking Jiuyuan was promising.
If the production capacity of 107 rockets could be higher, so that the border area garrison could have another 107 rocket artillery regiment with 36 107 rockets, and pull it to the grassland to fight against two three-unit B divisions of the Japanese army, it seems not completely impossible.
Although there is also the Japanese air force bonus, it is still very difficult to actually fight.
On the prairie, it is basically impossible for the Japanese heavy armored divisions to appear. The Japanese themselves do not have many, and it is impossible to pull them to the prairie to waste them.
Most of the divisions that can appear on the grassland are B divisions with 3 infantry regiments, and the division directly under the command of artillery, engineering, cavalry, and baggage troops, each with a regiment, with a total division of 13,000 men. In terms of heavy firepower of the entire division, the artillery regiment has 24 75mm mountain field guns and 8 105mm howitzers, 3 regiments with 18 92 infantry guns, 72 heavy machine guns, 332 light machine guns, 12 Type 41 75MM mountain guns, 12 37mm rapid-fire guns, 18 81mm curved infantry guns, and 15 tank teams (Type 97 light tanks / Type 87 armored vehicles).
Frankly speaking, the artillery strength of the Japanese B division is still very strong. If two divisions are concentrated, there will be 88 guns with a range of more than 6 kilometers.
In addition, there are 36 92 infantry guns, 24 37mm rapid-fire guns, and 36 mortars, a total of 184 various types of artillery.
With such firepower, it would be difficult for 100,000 troops on the Guofu side to resist.
However, when facing 36 units of 107 rocket launchers, the outcome was truly uncertain. After all, each 107 rocket launcher had 12 tubes, totaling 432 tubes. In terms of power, each rocket was at least equivalent to a 105 howitzer shell, or even stronger.
Although the accuracy of the 107 rockets was much worse, their mobility was too high. A single horse could pull them away. They could fire a few salvos in one location, then harness the horse to move a few kilometers and fire another round.
If the ammunition supply was not a problem, having 4 or more 107 rockets fire a concentrated salvo could cover a large area at once, launching 48 rockets at a time. It might even wipe out a Japanese artillery position!
Even if the Japanese 105mm howitzers had a longer range, the transfer and aiming of such heavy artillery was more difficult. On the ever-changing battlefield, kilometers apart, there was no time for leisurely aiming.
Sometimes, when encountering each other on a narrow road, the outcome depended on luck.
Ren Zhong calculated on paper that with 36 units of 107 rockets, they could at least fight two Japanese divisions to a standstill, without being completely defenseless.
As for the firepower at the main regiment level, each regiment could now be equipped with 2 units of 107 rockets, 4 units of 75mm mountain guns, and 4 units of G20 anti-aircraft machine guns, plus the 82mm mortars that were widely distributed to the companies, totaling 18 guns per regiment.
With such firepower, they could crush a Japanese battalion, and still have room to maneuver against a regiment. Three main regiments could hold off a brigade and beat them soundly.
This meant that the Japanese brigade-level units did not dare to come out and die in the border area, because the border area and the Eighth Route Army had already proven that they could encircle and annihilate a Japanese brigade.
Now, they were just short of encircling and annihilating a Japanese division-level unit.
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After a simulation, Ren Zhong felt that even if two Japanese divisions came, it didn't seem like a big deal now. Even if they ended up trading one for one, it wouldn't be a loss. Relying on the border area, they could continuously send new troops up.
The Saibei Military Region had 5 main regiments, and the Provisional 3rd Division had 4 main regiments, plus the Daqingshan Detachment. Even if they traded one for one, they could wear down these two Japanese divisions on the grasslands!
After Ren Zhong's calculation, the current goal was very clear. In terms of heavy weapons, especially artillery production, the 107 rockets that could counter the Japanese heavy artillery units had an extremely high priority, followed by mountain guns, anti-aircraft guns, and mortars.
After discussing his ideas with Staff Officer Ye, Ren Zhong shared his analysis. The staff department of the border area re-calculated Ren Zhong's concept and supplemented and improved the new tactics. The staff department basically agreed with Ren Zhong's concept.
The northward plan was related to Ren Zhong's great weapon, which only a very few people in the high-level border area knew about. Staff Officer Ye was naturally one of them. Now that they had the strength to implement it, there was nothing to hesitate about.
The staff department began to formulate a northward strategy based on the major premise of capturing Jiuyuan, while also considering Japanese reinforcements.
The tactical plan based on the 107 rockets confronting the Japanese divisions was also constantly being deduced and improved in the staff department, while gathering the wisdom of many military experts in the border area.
On the other side, Jiang Chongjing's arsenal accepted the latest task, prioritizing the adjustment of production capacity to the production of 107 rockets and their supporting rockets. The initial goal was to complete at least 36 units of 107 rockets and more than 1,000 rockets by September.
In terms of automobiles, Ren Zhong also began to allocate resources, increasing the production of the Dali Wang and Shengli I models at the Hongxing Automobile Factory. The monthly production capacity of the Dali Wang was increased to 120 vehicles, and the Shengli I was increased to 80 vehicles.
Now, the diesel engine technology of the two models has been completely mastered. After a period of running-in and training, more and more skilled workers are available, and the equipment invested in the diesel generator production line is constantly increasing.
According to the current trend, the monthly output will at least double, and the diesel engine production capacity will reach at least 300 units by August.
Achieving the goal of mass production of 600 units in 3 months is not a big problem.
In this way, by September, Ren Zhong will have 240 Shengli I models and 360 Dali Wang models, realizing the mechanization of all 4 main regiments. Although the marching speed may still be a little worse than that of a truly mechanized unit, the gap is not too big.
At least they can get rid of simply running on two legs. The main regiments have achieved mechanized marching, and their mobility has been essentially improved.
More importantly, the main regiments in the border area now have heavy weapons.
Although there are no big guys above 105mm yet, weapons like the 107 rockets and S41 mountain guns are already heavy firepower equivalent to the Japanese brigade and division levels. If you add the G20 machine guns and the RPG rocket launchers, the new main regiments have undergone a qualitative improvement in firepower.
The northward troops have been determined to add an artillery regiment of 36 units of 107 rockets and 12 units of G20 anti-aircraft guns. At the same time, each main regiment is equipped with an artillery battalion of 2 units of 107 rockets, 4 units of 75mm mountain guns, and 4 units of G20 machine guns, and each battalion is equipped with 6 units of 82mm mortars.
Each company is equipped with 1 RPG rocket launcher, 3 grenade launchers, and 6 Type 56 machine guns. Half of the soldiers are equipped with Type 56 semi-automatic rifles, making the company's firepower quite fierce, not inferior to a Japanese squadron.
In this way, the border area has prepared 9 main regiments and one artillery regiment, plus one Daqingshan Detachment, for this battle, with a total of about 25,000 people for the Jiuyuan Japanese.
Although it is not too many, it should be a direct crushing blow to the Jiuyuan Japanese cavalry group and puppet army.
Even if the two B-type divisions that the Japanese may come to later, they have prepared a full set of meals to send them back to their hometowns. Coming here means death!
However, the good news is not just one point. After the mass production of the glass factory, the mass production of four-fold scopes in the Optical Research Center suddenly exploded with new output, producing hundreds of four-fold scopes every month.
This laid the material foundation for Ren Zhong to propose the goal of training a precision shooter in each infantry squad, further improving the combat effectiveness of the grassroots infantry squad.
As we all know, a well-trained elite shooter veteran can often support a squad by himself, and even annihilate more enemies than others.
In July 42, Ren Zhong guided the construction of the 2nd thermal power plant and electrolytic aluminum plant in Yubei. In August, the 3rd thermal power plant was built in the capital of the border area. By September, the newly built Saibei Military Region's main force began to load and head north, directly to the south bank of the Yellow River in the Ik Zhao League!
Due to the newly completed road renovation, the wide road allowed the troops to adopt the marching method of resting during the day and marching at night. In just three days and three nights, the main force of the Saibei Military Region quietly arrived at the Yellow River!
Even if Japanese reconnaissance planes frequently flew into the Ik Zhao League and the border area for aerial reconnaissance, they did not find this huge mechanized unit.
Two-in-one chapter, there will be another update later. Ask for recommendation tickets.