Although the commander and chief of staff were reluctant to part with the cars and rocket launchers, they knew that Wang Xuexin was right and the rocket launchers must be blown up by then.
First of all, battlefield conditions require rocket launchers, rocket launchers mounted on cars.
The reason was that the Eighth Route Army could only estimate that the Japanese would locate the airport near Yuncheng, and no one knew the exact location of the airport.
What if the airport is ten kilometers away from the ambush point, and eight kilometers is beyond the range?
Or even further to more than ten or twenty kilometers?
Using a mule cart, the rocket launcher carried by humans is slow and easily exposed when walking on the road.
Vehicle-mounted rocket launchers are different. At worst, the artillerymen will change into Japanese skin when the time comes, and the Japanese will not be able to distinguish between ourselves and the enemy for a while. The rocket launcher only needs to run a dozen kilometers or even several kilometers on the road, and it can enter the range in ten minutes.
It can be said that it was lightning fast, and the rocket launchers had already been fired before the Japanese could react.
Secondly, the secret of the rocket launcher itself is more important than the rocket launcher itself. It cannot be done without exploding.
At this time, the "foreign trade version" of the rocket launcher was still a single-barreled one, which was the small cannon sold to the Shanxi-Sui Army. If this was left and the Japanese discovered that there was such a vehicle-mounted multi-barreled thing, they might not be able to return it.
Really good at imitating.
After all, this kind of rocket launcher is still very effective in dealing with the intensive charge of large enemy armies in emergencies, and the Eighth Route Army still generally used cluster charges before adopting the "three-three system".
Even if the Japanese don't imitate it, they still know the secret of the rocket launcher and it will be easier to defend against it.
Therefore, you should take some time to dismantle the rocket launcher barrel, and then blow it to pieces including the vehicle and the base.
As the saying goes, "If you don't want to let go of your children, you won't be able to trap the wolf." It is necessary to pay a price in order to be able to visit the airport for the Japanese.
Considering this, the chief and chief of staff nodded in agreement.
Since this matter required contact and coordination with the intelligence personnel in the Shanxi-Sui Army Defense Area, it was naturally the responsibility of the Chief of Staff.
However, combatants still have to be transferred from independent regiments.
Needless to say, the reason is that the only one with combat experience who has participated in actual combat so far is Laojiu's rocket launcher company. Especially when there is a shortage of radio stations, the artillery scouts of the rocket launcher company are equipped with six radios. This is not comparable to other artillery units.
on.
After completing the chief of staff's plan, it was discovered that Laojiu's rocket launcher company was not strong enough.
The chief of staff reported to the commander: "A rocket launcher company is only equipped with three rocket launchers. This may be enough to bomb an enemy artillery brigade, but to bomb a huge airport... I am afraid that a rocket launcher battalion is needed, which means nine rocket launchers are needed.
!”
"It's simple!" the leader replied: "Isn't the independent regiment training the artillery of each unit? A rocket launcher battalion will be formed immediately. In addition, are there enough rocket launchers?"
The chief of staff nodded and said: "There are enough rocket launchers. The arsenal has produced eight more. It only takes a while to install six of them on the car. The problem is that there are not enough shells..."
The output of rocket launcher shells is about a dozen rounds per day, which was originally enough for this operation, but 60 rounds were just sold to the Shanxi-Sui Army not long ago.
Now if we want to use nine rocket launchers, just one salvo will require 108 rounds.
"How much is left?" the chief asked with a frown.
"There are still more than 20 rounds left, and it will take at least two days to produce." The chief of staff replied worriedly: "We are facing two problems now: First, we are not sure when the Japanese will launch the attack. We have to wait two days to collect enough shells.
Will the fighter plane be missed by then? Secondly, the arsenal cannot be evacuated if it continues to produce artillery shells, which may cause danger to the arsenal!"
The chief anxiously walked around the headquarters, then stopped and said: "There should be three questions. If all our rocket launchers are used for this plan, does that mean we have no rocket launchers available for defense?
Already?"
This is what the chief said.
You must know that the rocket launcher is the only thing that the Eighth Route Army can use to suppress Japanese artillery. It is also an artifact for preparing artillery fire before attacking, which is very useful in "elastic defense".
But if there is not a single shell, then all you can do is stare at the Japanese.
At this time Wang Xuexin asked: "Chief of Staff, do we still have shells for the ghost cannon?"
The chief of staff was a little strange: "We are talking about rocket launcher shells. What does it have to do with ghost cannon shells?"
"Chief of Staff!" Wang Xuexin replied: "I was thinking that the slow production of artillery shells in our arsenal is probably due to the difficulty in producing artillery shell warheads. If we could directly add a rocket propeller to the back of the ghost cannon shell... wouldn't it be a rocket launcher shell?
? That will definitely be faster than producing rockets!"
The commander and chief of staff were stunned when they heard this.
After a while, the chief of staff asked doubtfully: "Can you still... do this?"
"There's nothing to lose if you try it!" Wang Xuexin replied.
In fact, this is definitely possible. The Japanese did this at the end of World War II... When they were at a disadvantage in the Pacific battlefield, they basically had no aircraft that could fly into the sky, so a large number of aerial bombs originally used for aircraft dropping were left in the inventory.
use.
The Japanese came up with a similar idea. They added a rocket propeller to the tail of these aerial bombs to use them as rockets.
In addition, there are many rocket-extended range bombs and the like that have similar thinking.
The chief did not hesitate and immediately shouted to the door: "Guard! Act quickly and ask Zhang Wanhe to come!"
At this time, Zhang Wanhe was organizing workers to dismantle the machines and pack them into boxes for transportation, especially the bullet production line. He asked Su Xin to personally supervise and record the entire disassembly process in detail.
In his words, "If other things break, we can still repair, modify, and build them. But if this bullet machine breaks, our army's supply of bullets will be cut off again!".
No wonder Zhang Wanhe attaches so much importance to this bullet machine.
For the Eighth Route Army, it was not just a matter of producing bullets, but something that turned waste into treasure.
Usually, the cartridge cases collected by the Eighth Route Army are used to produce reloaded bullets. It is rare that one of the five cartridge cases can be reloaded and used again, so there will definitely be a situation where the number of bullets becomes less and less...
After firing five rounds of bullets, even if all the shells were collected, only one could be used. It was obviously difficult to make ends meet.
It's different with the bullet machine. If you don't count the production losses, you can basically produce as many rounds of bullets as you can by shooting the bullets and picking up the shell casings. Plus the shell casings you pick up from the Japanese, don't you shoot more and more bullets?
Therefore, this bullet machine is truly a "treasure of the factory". No one can throw it away if it is lost.
At this time, the guard hurried up and shouted: "Director, the chief wants you to go there!"
Zhang Wanhe replied without thinking: "I'm busy, it's too late..."
"Director!" the guard said, "Xiao Dongbei is also there. It's urgent!"
As soon as Zhang Wanhe heard the three words "Xiao Dongbei", he said "Oh" and raised his head.