The government's additional funding has finally given the struggling Army some relief.
Of course, the Army, which has received the money, needs to make good use of it. For General Simeone, the current leader of the Army, how to spend the money more valuable is what he is most concerned about.
That's right, General Simeone is currently the number one person in the army, because the Minister of the Army, Marshal Cadorna, has been recovering from illness in the past few years and is no longer very involved in military affairs.
With the increase in funds, Simeone was indeed worried about how to spend the money. Speaking of which, as soon as he received the money, the General Staff gave two plans for the additional funds.
The first plan is very simple, that is to expand the strength of the divisions that are currently severely understaffed. According to the plan of the General Staff, this additional 60 million lire will allow the army to expand its strength by at least 20,000 to 40,000
.
Of course, it is impossible to spend this money like this. It would be good to use half of it to expand the military strength. The remaining cost can also be used to purchase some new weapons and refit the troops. After all, new and old weapons currently coexist in the Italian army, and it is necessary to update them.
Check out the troops' equipment.
Compared with the prudent first plan, the second plan is a bit radical. In this plan, there is no plan to replenish the divisions that are currently seriously short of personnel. Instead, the new funds will be used in two aspects. On the one hand,
The upgrading of weapons, on the other hand, is to use the funds to continue to expand the division-level establishment.
Yes, it is to increase the number of infantry divisions that are currently severely short of personnel in Italy.
However, although it seems that such an Italian division-level unit has a small number of people, only eight or nine thousand people, its equipment is not much different from that of a full division. Take the Army's Sixth Division as an example, equipped with 18 105mm howitzers, 54
A 76mm mountain field gun, more than a hundred light and heavy machine guns, as well as various firearms, vehicles, radio stations, field telephone lines and other materials, the total purchase cost of the equipment was as high as more than 16 million lire.
In addition to the cost of purchasing equipment, there is also the cost of training it, and daily training costs a lot. With the 60 million lire in Simeone's hands, he can only form three such missing divisions every year.
So in his office, Simeone looked at these two options and fell into deep thought. When he had no money, he thought about increasing military spending, but when military spending increased, it was also difficult to choose.
But just as he was meditating, he heard the secretary's voice coming from outside the door. "Admiral, the Director of Education, Admiral Darkiang, is here."
"Please ask Admiral Darkion to come in."
"Haha, Darkion is so free to come see me today?"
For Simeone, the number one man in the Army, to make such a warm gesture, on the one hand, the two have a good relationship, and on the other hand, he is considered to be of high authority.
Since Prussia defeated France, its advanced military system has been imitated by other countries. The Italian Army has also copied a lot of the Germans. The mobilization system, total war, etc., have been copied almost exactly by Italy.
As the three giants of the German Army (Minister of Army, Chief of General Staff, and Director of Education), Italy has them all. And their functions are similar to those of Germany. So how can General Dalchieng, who is in charge of the training and education of the Italian Army, not
It's considered a high-weight position.
As soon as the education director of the Italian Army entered the door, he smiled and said to Simeone. "Simone, I heard that you are worried about how to spend the money?"
Although Simeone wanted to ask how you knew, he held back because he knew that this visit must be difficult, so he said frankly. "Yes, I do have a headache about spending this money."
Faced with Simeone's confession, Darkiang smiled and said, "Actually, I think neither of those two options is the best choice. Do you remember the staffing issue we talked about before?"
Darkion's words made Simone come back to his senses immediately. Of course he knew what he was talking about with Darkion. At that time, the two of them were talking about the increasing number of new equipment and the increasing number of people in the division-level establishment. It was getting bigger and bigger, and both of them felt something was wrong, so they talked about their opinions.
"You mean, you want to make changes to the army organization?"
Simone asked a little uncertainly.
Gu Feng
Faced with Simeone's inquiry, Darkian nodded and answered. "Yes, that's why I came to you."
"Do you still remember the drill we conducted before?"
"I remember……"
Simoni certainly remembered that the increasingly large division-level troops in the exercises at that time also caused many problems during the exercises. Of course, in addition to military exercises, the Russo-Japanese War in the Far East also gave Italy sufficient reference value.
For this war, the Italian Army conducted an in-depth study. The results of the study showed that the more bloated the size of the army, the less conducive to its mobilization. At present, although the actual number of people in an Italian division is small, the establishment is very large.
According to the latest standards of the Italian Army Ministry, a fully-equipped army division should have an infantry organization of two brigades, four regiments and 12 battalions (a battalion consists of four companies of 254 men, plus a 6 Maxim and 12 Revelli machine guns) machine gun company), plus artillery, engineer battalions, cavalry battalions, baggage regiments and other units, a full division has more than 19,000 people.
Such a huge force makes the army's top brass feel very bloated, which is not conducive to wartime command.
Some people may ask, this is true for other European countries as well, why is it that Italy alone feels that its troops are bloated?
That's a good question. Because the national conditions of each country are different, the national defense requirements are also different. Compared with other major powers, the areas that Italy needs to defend are mainly mountainous, and the mountainous terrain determines the small-scale elite troops, which are more suitable for this terrain. Therefore. Compared to other countries, Italy feels that a large division-level force is not suitable for its needs, which is reasonable.
"But how to change it now is a difficult problem. Whether to change it from above or from below is difficult to judge. After all, changing the organization is not a trivial matter, and it is common sense to be more cautious." Darkion looked at Simeone and said. .
But Simone didn't believe what Darkion said. "Don't look at me like that. I know you must have an idea. Let's take it for reference."
"I really don't have any ideas, just a little thought."
"It doesn't matter, any idea is fine. It's always good to refer to it."
Faced with Simeone's questioning, Darkiang was really helpless, so he had no choice but to say. "Then let me share my humble opinion. First of all, the problem of the huge size of the army is that it is actually very simple to lose weight, but if you want to It’s a bit difficult to ensure combat effectiveness as much as possible.”
Of course Simeone also knew what Darkion said, otherwise he wouldn't be embarrassed by it.
"However, I think that if we want to slim down the army, we should first make changes from the top. I think the brigade and regiment levels can be changed first. In addition, if the number of companies at the battalion level is too many, is it appropriate to cancel an infantry company?
Then, will the current four-four establishment at the squad level also undergo certain changes? And if it is significantly eliminated,
If the number of infantry is reduced, should the firepower supported by a larger number also be downsized to a certain extent? In addition, in view of the large-scale downsizing at the division level in our country and considering the possibility of war in the future, does it also need to be downsized at the corps level?
Certain supplements, such as giving the army three divisions, or adding artillery and other technical arms to the army?"
Darkion spoke out his thoughts at once, leaving Simone a little stunned.
"It seems you have a good idea, so let's sit down and talk slowly."
Simeone then talked with Darchion until late at night, and continued the discussion the next day. After a total of three days of conversation, and then after synthesizing the views of both parties, the two decided on the organization of Italy's new infantry division.
To be conservative, the two decided not to touch the establishment below the company level yet.
According to the two people's ideas, a new Italian infantry division has three infantry regiments and one artillery regiment. The division's direct units will not be changed, and the brigade level of the infantry division will be directly cancelled. In addition to major changes at the brigade level, the battalion level
It was also a big change. First, the four infantry companies were directly cut into three. Secondly, the machine gun company under the battalion was planned to be transferred to the company level to form a machine gun platoon to enhance the firepower of the company level.
After such changes, the total strength of the new infantry division will be reduced to more than 14,000. The scale is much smaller than before. As for discussions at the corps level, we still need to wait and see the effect of the changes at the division level before deciding whether to proceed.
change.
Of course, the plan is still in its first draft, and it will need to be carefully demonstrated and piloted to see the effect before deciding whether to promote it to the entire military.
