At this time, Yingjiang kept his promise, and the Sherman tanks were delivered to the Eighth Route Army within a week.
The tanks were sent to a valley called Yangdon Valley.
This valley is more than thirty miles away from the Daqingshan Iron and Steel Plant and is located in a natural narrow valley between two mountains.
The reason why we chose this place is because it is close to the front line. If there is a need for combat, we can drive to the front line as quickly as possible to join the battle.
Without saying a word, Wang Xuexin immediately brought more than 200 tank soldiers from the Independent Regiment and the New Second Regiment to Yangdun Valley for training.
The New Second Regiment took advantage of learning from the Independent Regiment in Yuncheng, and also trained a group of tank soldiers.
But this time it was a new round of suffering.
After Ding Wei found out about this, he sent a telegram to Wang Xuexin: "Commander Wang, Ding Wei is ashamed! Both the Independent Regiment and the New Second Regiment have tank soldiers, but the troops of the New First Regiment have never received relevant training and do not have tank soldiers. I'm worried."
There will be difficulties in cooperating with them in the future, will Commander Wang consider it?"
On the surface, Ding Wei's wording seemed like rejection, but Wang Xuexin knew this guy... He, Kong Jie, and Li Yunlong were all not economical, so this telegram was about retreat in order to advance.
To put it another way, it is: "Both the Independent Regiment and the New Regiment have tank soldiers who have been assigned to tanks, but we, the New Regiment, do not have any. I can't blame you for not being able to cooperate in future wars! You, Commander Wang, will take care of it!"
How could Wang Xuexin not understand the meaning of these words? He replied: "Commander Ding is too polite. Our army has a serious shortage of tank troops. If the new regiment cannot go up, other troops will not be able to go up!"
This is not a cliche.
The Eighth Route Army does still have tank troops in Yuncheng, but they are preparations for the defense of Yuncheng and cannot be easily transferred north... Otherwise, if Yuncheng is captured by the Japanese, the industry that Wang Xuexin has worked so hard to run will be destroyed.
Under this circumstance, Wang Xuexin calculated that the New Second Regiment plus the Independent Regiment only totaled 223 tank soldiers, and the number of Sherman tanks he requested was 50.
Each Sherman requires 5 people to drive it, which means 250 tank crews are needed.
Among them, there will also be a group of spare tank soldiers... For example, if there is a possibility of injury during combat, or attrition due to illness, disqualification, etc., then 30 more people will be needed, right? That is a shortage of about 60 people.
Where can I find 60 tank soldiers at this time?
We can only choose some flexible warriors from the new group to top them.
But Ding Wei is a very smart guy. He felt happy when he heard that it was indeed as he thought, and he would eventually select people from the new group to train.
However, he still retreated to advance, pretending to be incompetent and replied: "Captain Wang, both the Independent Regiment and the New Second Regiment have ready-made tank troops and have conducted infantry-tank coordination training. The Independent Regiment has not even
If we rarely engage in air-ground coordination, the new regiment will only focus on suppressing bandits during this period and will not be able to keep up with the pace. I'm afraid it will delay important events, which will be bad!"
The underlying meaning of this statement is: "While the New Regiment was fighting the bandits, the Independent Regiment and the New Second Regiment were working hard to learn their skills, and now they can't catch up even if they desperately try to catch up!"
Wang Xuexin said "Hey" and said: "This Ding Wei, are you still full of energy? Your troops are not of good quality and you still rely on me? You don't want me to transfer other people's tank troops to you! Absolutely not!"
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This is not because Wang Xuexin is playing small tricks, nor is it because Wang Xuexin has no overall perspective.
From a combat perspective, the tank troops of the Independent Regiment and the New Second Regiment should indeed be evenly distributed to the New First Regiment.
Because only in this way, the new group will not have no experience at all and just play blindly.
But if we do this, will it be fair to the Independent Group and the New Second Group?
The veterans who have worked so hard to train are ready to play a role on the battlefield, but now they are transferred to other units with just a word?
In the future, will the veterans trained be sent to other armies?
Over time, it will definitely dampen the troops' enthusiasm for learning and progress.
Wang Xuexin didn't think much about it. He only said one sentence when he called back: "If the new regiment is not up to the task, I will immediately switch to another unit!"
At this time, Ding Wei no longer dared to play word games. He immediately replied: "Understood. Don't worry, Commander Wang. We promise to learn the use of tanks and the application of new tactics!"
This flip of a face is really faster than turning the page of a book.
On the day when the "Sherman" tank was received, Wang Xuexin was also present.
This was mainly because the information provided by Sun Erwei was not complete, and Wang Xuexin wanted to see the condition of the "Sherman" for himself.
The tanks drove into Yangdun Valley at night... driving during the day might be discovered by the Japanese reconnaissance planes.
Although the Steel Factory Airport was still in the hands of the Eighth Route Army at this time, because the airport continued to be bombed by the Japanese, no fighter planes stayed here for a long time... The Steel Factory Airport was only used as a temporary airport. Once a big war broke out, "Pull 5"
"You can take off and land here for refueling to make up for the shortcomings of the "La 5"'s lack of range.
But there is no need to park fighter jets at the airport for a long time and protect the surrounding airspace... This will definitely require a price, and the Eighth Route Army is not strong enough to fight a war of attrition with the Japanese.
Under this situation, the air control over the steel plant is limited to both the enemy and ourselves.
You don’t have to worry about Japanese reconnaissance inside Yangdun Valley, because this valley is very special. Below it is an open area for troop assembly and tank training. The rocks above continue to protrude and become narrower. There are even protruding rocks intertwined in the middle.
Even from the top of the valley, it is difficult to see the situation at the bottom, let alone the planes flying in the sky.
While Wang Xuexin and Li Yunlong were planning the reconstruction of Yangdun Valley with flashlights, the "rumble" of tanks' motors could be heard on the highway.
Li Yunlong shouted excitedly: "It's coming, it's coming, I'm going to die!"
Li Yunlong was extremely reluctant when he handed over the tank in Yuncheng, and he has been obsessed with the tank ever since.
Originally he had already resigned himself to his fate.
But this is also because he thinks it's a good deal...
This is what he calculated. Although a batch of tanks were handed over in Yuncheng, weren't they equipped with repeating rifles when they arrived at Daqingshan? In addition, they can be changed to mechanization, either by car or half-track vehicle. What else is not cost-effective?
of?
Worth it!
Therefore, he did not say anything in front of Wang Xuexin.
But without the majestic tank, Li Yunlong always felt like something was missing.
When I found out that I had bought a batch of tanks from Yingjiang and that they were going to equip the independent regiment, I was so happy that I almost shouted at the Japs with a loudspeaker: "I have tanks again, little Japs, just wait!"
Under the guidance of the car lights of Mohu and the signal flags of the soldiers, "Sherman" tanks slowly drove into Yangdun Valley and lined up to park.
Behind them were a dozen cars, which contained spare shells for the tanks, ground crews and necessary parts.
Wang Xuexin counted thirty vehicles, neither more nor less.
Being able to drive it here proves that this thing is indeed safer than the T34, and not even a little bit better.