March 1936, the 25th year of the Republic of China
Su Tong and Jiang Baili, who had just celebrated the New Year, accompanied by a group of staff officers, arrived at the station of the 101st Armored Division in Baokang. Today was the day when the two top officers of the 37th Route Army came to inspect the results. Sun Liren and 10th
Several military officers from the First Division came out to greet him.
Su Tong and Jiang Baili entered the division headquarters and just took their seats, Jiang Baili said unceremoniously: "Commander Sun, the commander and I are here today to see your training results in the past six months. All the personnel and equipment in the army have been here in the past six months.
Leaning towards your division, the commander and I both hope that you can train a group of elite divisions for our army. And tomorrow is the time to get the answer."
Su Tong smiled bitterly when he heard this. It seemed that a group of officers led by Jiang Baili were still dissatisfied with their preference for the 101st Division. But Su Tong did not blame them. No one knew the power of the blitzkrieg before 1939.
, but in later generations, even Su Tong, a fan of the puppet army, knew that Germany could conquer Poland in 27 days, Denmark in 1 day, Norway in 23 days, the Netherlands in 5 days, Belgium in 18 days, and the so-called "strongest in Europe" in 39 days.
The French army relied on this blitzkrieg method.
Blitz warfare is just like what is said in ancient Chinese art of war: it is as fast as the wind, as slow as the forest, as aggressive as fire, as motionless as a mountain, as unpredictable as the dark clouds, and as moving as thunder.
The establishment of the 101st Armored Division was a bold attempt by Su Tong. He did not believe that the lightning storm of China could not be flapped under the wings of his butterfly.
Looking at Su Tong who was smiling and looking at him with encouraging eyes, Sun Liren knew that he had been sitting in the army for more than half a year.
Tomorrow's confrontation exercise with the armored division is related to whether their troops can get more supplies, and more importantly, whether they can get the attention of the military. This is the most important thing. In the past six months, Su Tong has focused on almost everything except civil affairs.
All their energy was devoted to Sun Liren's armored division, which made the two division commanders Chen Dazhu and Wang Li have some grudges.
Although all are treated equally in terms of weapons and supplies, the Armored Division is undoubtedly given priority in the selection and promotion of personnel.
We in China have always been the first in civil society and the second in military. Especially in the army, no one obeys anyone. We always want to compete for superiority. Su Tong and Jiang Baili both saw this situation, but no one wanted to
No matter what, they just acquiesced, because this also helped to improve the morale of the troops, but at the same time, it also aggravated the dissatisfaction of the two infantry divisions with the armored division.
Tucheng is particularly beautiful in the morning, because the fog at night sometimes turns into a bright rainbow, making Tucheng extraordinarily enchanting.
But today, the beautiful scenery of Tucheng was broken by the roar of tanks. When more than 260 Somoa S-35 tanks of the 101st Armored Division drove more than two miles away from the 103rd Division,
Hou. The officers and soldiers of the 103rd Division in the trenches in front felt that the ground beneath their feet was shaking.
Holding a telescope and looking at the tanks pointing ahead, Su Tong felt a little proud. When choosing a tank, Su Daguan hesitated for a long time. Tiger tanks and T34 tanks were not yet available.
When the time came to take it out, the last thing that caught Su Tong's eye was the French Somoa S-35 tank.
The Somoas S-35 tank began to equip the French cavalry troops in the mid-1930s. It was the most advanced tank designed at the time. The turret and body were made of steel and had beautiful curvatures. Radio intercoms were standard.
Equipment, these unique designs influenced the later American Sherman and Soviet T-34 tanks. The S-35 tank has a total combat weight of nearly 20 tons, a crew of 3 people, a turret frontal armor thickness of 55 mm, and a body armor thickness of 40 mm, which is the weakest
The rear part also has 20 mm, and the protection effect is quite good. The S-35 is equipped with a 47 mm L40 cannon, which is the most powerful tank gun on the Western Front battlefield. The power system is an eight-cylinder gasoline engine with a power of 190 horsepower, the highest on the road.
The speed is 40 kilometers per hour. The French army has more than 400 S-35 tanks, but only 243 are equipped with troops, and the rest are parked in warehouses. Compared with the German opponent PZ3, the S-35 tanks have better firepower and protection.
All in one, only slightly less powerful.
When Su Tong handed over more than 200 tanks to Sun Liren, the entire Thirty-seventh Army was in a sensation. One or two people came to Su Tong to ask for tanks, especially Wang Dayong's guard group, which made the most fuss.
Wang Dayong had participated in the Battle of the Great Wall and had seen with his own eyes the power of Japanese tanks. Although it was only a 12-ton light tank, which the military called the "Little Douding" type, it was still used by the 29th Route Army.
There were huge casualties. Today's tanks are 20-ton medium tanks. I have to get dozens of them to satisfy my cravings, but Su Tong was stunned and assigned them all to the 101st Division.
In fact, it’s not that our Chief Su doesn’t want to produce more Somoya S-35 tanks, but he knows that within two years at the latest, the German Panzer IV tank and the Soviet T34 will be released. By then these Somoya S
-35 tanks are about to be eliminated, so why waste them.
Moreover, such a large number of tanks were equipped to the army, but Su Tong had no way to prove their origin. After all, there were only 400 such tanks in France, and only 243 of them were equipped with the army. If the French were provoked
Doubt will spoil the dish. Who told us that we don’t have a factory that can produce tanks?
However, our Commander-in-Chief Su had already started building a factory in Xuanhua several months ago and was preparing to launch a tank factory.
At this time, a staff officer came and said something in Su Tong's ear. Su Tong nodded and said, "The exercise begins."