This is good news but not bad news for Wang Xuexin.
The good news is that the headquarters has summoned a security company... This security company is all veterans who can fight, especially Chen Fujun, who has two hands. He may not be as good as a monk in terms of boxing and kicking skills, but he is better than a monk in wielding a gun.
It's much more powerful, especially the pair of box cannons on the waist, which can shoot accurately with both left and right bows.
It's not good news, because the transferred troops only have one company, and there are still two companies missing!
For this matter, Wang Xuexin went to find Li Yunlong.
But Li Yunlong raised his head high when he heard this: "I said Xiaodongbei, are you a tank battalion or an infantry battalion? Pick so many people! You can just transfer people to drive tanks, but you still need so many infantry...
…Wouldn’t it be enough for any of our troops to go up and follow the tank?”
Zhao Gang felt strange when he was listening, so he asked: "Comrade Wang Xuexin, tell me what the situation is and why so many infantry are needed!"
"Regiment commander, political commissar!" Wang Xuexin replied helplessly: "The infantry behind the tank is not just a random one. If there is no training at ordinary times, the infantry will not know how to follow, when to charge and when to attack."
It’s useless to hide behind a tank, but won’t everything be in chaos once a fight begins?”
Li Yunlong said "Oh" and nodded.
He somewhat understood what Wang Xuexin meant.
There is a saying that "I have never eaten pork and I have seen pigs walking." The Eighth Route Army did not have tanks before and would not do this, but it had seen the Japanese infantry follow the tanks in attacking. It was indeed methodical.
If we don't learn this method, then tanks will fight tanks and infantry will fight infantry. This will not work.
Zhao Gang also agreed. He thought for a while and said: "So, these infantry are very important. They are related to whether the tanks can function. Am I right?"
"Yes!" Wang Xuexin replied: "Regiment commander, political commissar! Think about how we fight the Japanese tanks. We use 50 cannons or incendiary bombs to push back the Japanese infantry first, right? Otherwise we can't get close to the tanks at all.
The Japanese infantry was covering the tank, and the tank was covering it.
Infantry and firepower complement each other in size. Only by fighting in this way can we form a line of defense. Otherwise, just a tank... If we approach from the blind spot of firepower and throw an explosive pack, we'll be done. There's no need to expend so much effort! Now do the reverse,
We have to organize our tank battalion in this way!"
Li Yunlong felt that it was reasonable, but after thinking about it, he still felt embarrassed and said: "Xiao Dongbei, it's not that I won't give you these soldiers. Think about it... our regiment has five battalions, and 250 of them were first deducted to drive tanks.
Now that we have to remove two more companies, wouldn’t that mean we lose one battalion? This will hurt the morale of the newly formed troops!”
What Li Yunlong said makes sense.
The taboo thing about the army is to change orders from day to day. The newly formed unit has been well trained. How many soldiers will be drawn out later... The training plan of the entire army will be disrupted, and it will also be in various places.
The commander had a mentality of laziness: he would be beaten anyway in the future, so what’s the use of training?
After a moment of silence, Zhao Gang suggested:
"Otherwise, I think we need more infantry who have mastered this kind of infantry-tank cooperative combat skills."
"Otherwise, emergencies are likely to occur on the battlefield."
"For example, the tank battalion has insufficient infantry and no one can replace it, or the infantry temporarily joins the tank unit but cannot cooperate."
"So, why not just merge the fifth battalion with the tank battalion?"
"Train more infantry who can coordinate with infantry and tanks! Idle time is idle, be prepared!"
Li Yunlong immediately nodded in agreement: "What a great idea! It depends on whether Xiao Dongbei agrees or not!"
Of course it doesn't matter to Li Yunlong, they are all members of an independent regiment, it's just the merger of the two battalions.
But Wang Xuexin was confused when he heard it. Does this mean that the entire fifth battalion was donated?
The fifth battalion has four companies, and together with Chen Fujun's company, there are five companies!
But after thinking about it, I think what Zhao Gang said is really right.
The casualties of infantry in this era were completely out of proportion to the casualties of tanks, especially the T34 tank... This tank was basically invincible in China at this time.
Therefore, it can be predicted that on the battlefield, the Japanese will definitely use artillery to suppress and try to separate and follow the infantry.
Therefore, following the infantry may result in heavy casualties.
It is definitely necessary to train more follow-up infantry who can cooperate with tanks.
In addition, no matter whether it is the fifth battalion or the tank battalion, they are all their own soldiers anyway. Now that there are more tanks, what else is there to be unhappy about?
Thinking of this, Wang Xuexin nodded and said: "No problem, let's do it!"
As a result, the following infantry companies were changed from the originally planned three companies to five companies, and Wang Xuexin, the commander of the fifth battalion, completely became the commander of the tank battalion.
However, due to confidentiality reasons, after discussion between Li Yunlong and Zhao Gang, they decided to continue using the "Five Battalions" organization and cancel the tank battalion.
Wang Xuexin went back and told Xie Baoqing about the matter, which made Xie Baoqing happy.
"Battal Commander!" Xie Baoqing said: "This means...our battalion is going to add 60 tanks? Darling, this is amazing, one of our battalions can be as strong as another regiment!"
"Why don't you think that our fifth battalion is gone and the tank battalion has been replaced?" Wang Xuexin asked in return.
"This is different!" Xie Baoqing replied: "Aren't our establishment still there? The tanks must be added to our fifth battalion!"
Wang Xuexin could only smile bitterly in return.
It seems like it's just a compilation of a name, but it can really bring this kind of mentality to people.
At the same time, Wang Xuexin was a little lucky that he had not thought of this method before.
If it had been known earlier that the fifth battalion and the tank battalion could be merged, there would be no need to go to the headquarters to ask for people. Chen Fujun's company and an engineer company might not come.
What Wang Xuexin then considered was the organization of tanks.
Tank organization does not mean just assigning a few tanks to a platoon. There is a lot of knowledge involved.
For example, the 3-row, 14-car system is very popular in modern times.
To put it simply, a company has 3 platoons, each platoon has 4 tanks, plus the 2 tanks of the company headquarters, a total of 14 tanks.
This organization should be said to be more scientific, because each platoon of 4 tanks can be divided into two groups. The two tanks in each group usually cover each other during training, so they can coordinate well and are more flexible, because they can be used at any time.
Split up to coordinate with other tank groups.
The problem is that this kind of collaboration requires advanced communication equipment and perception capabilities, otherwise it will be difficult to play successfully.
Communication equipment?
This has always been Mao Xiong's weakness. They don't even have a radio station on t34, and they just mess around.
Sensing ability?
This is simply a joke for the Bear tanks. Their tanks even require the infantry to bang them with their rifle butts before they know where to go.
So be honest and still play the three-by-three system!