Chapter 1896 Yang Mingzhi talks about street fighting (1)
Although the Imperial Division currently has 400 tanks, the number has basically remained at the current number. Due to the current situation of the war, the Imperial Division commander had to arrange them relatively dispersedly.
The Imperial Division, which was once Model's trump card in attack, is now the trump card in defense.
The Ninth Army currently has more than 800 tanks and more than 2,000 infantry and armored vehicles. Half of them are in the hands of the Imperial Division.
After all, Model's heavy equipment continued to decrease during the war of attrition. Among the other armored divisions under his command, only 100 of the original 400 tanks in one division were still capable of combat.
The Imperial Division has become a defensive trump card. Until reinforcements and heavy equipment are sufficient, the Imperial Division's shield role in Smolensk will continue.
This is the reason why tens of thousands of veterans of the so-called Imperial Division have been fighting on the Eastern Front for more than a year and are not allowed to retreat to rest.
They could not leave their posts because in front of them, the Germans believed that the number of Soviet tanks had increased to a thousand!
The German army generally looked down on the quality of Soviet tanks and had a contemptuous attitude towards the quality of its tank troops.
Although contempt for the enemy is a common reaction of all armies, the Soviet army's current tank troops do have their own problems.
The T3476 has its own design flaws. The commander and driver have a large blind spot in their field of vision, because the on-board radios can only be assigned to the platoon for the time being. These flaws have resulted in the Soviet medium-sized tank's single-vehicle combat capability being inherently low.
Fortunately, the Soviet army always used tanks as an assault force, using them in groups to break down the German defense lines. After achieving this goal, the infantry was often responsible for subsequent battles.
Therefore, the tens of thousands of veterans of the Imperial Division clearly realized that as long as they wiped out the attacking tank groups of the Soviet army, the Soviet army's offensive capabilities would be greatly reduced.
But the German army did not dare to attack rashly.
The Imperial Division is actually capable of launching a lightning attack, but what happens after that?
The anti-tank capabilities of the Soviet army are not useless at all. Although the Imperial Division gathered all its armored units and fought hard, it would definitely achieve good results in the early stages of the battle. As a result, it lacked friendly support and ended up being a stupid intrusion alone.
The Imperial Division may be able to seriously destroy the combat strength of the Soviet 39th Army. As a result, friendly forces cannot keep up, and the Imperial Division will soon be surrounded. And Smolensk lacks a huge shield, and the Soviet army will send other troops to attack fiercely. Once Smolensk
If Smolensk fails, all Model's troops should consider abandoning the position that they have held for a year but are slowly losing. Perhaps Model can recapture Smolensk, but also loses the entire summer front, and the Soviet "conspiracy" will succeed.
Already.
After the fall of Automatic Rzhev, Model knew that his troops had fallen into an absolutely passive situation. The reason for being able to hold on to the current defense line as it is now is probably not the impregnable German defense line, but the Soviet army's fierce attack in August and the consumption in September.
After the war, the Soviet army's vigor had been lost.
According to common sense, this situation is most suitable for a comprehensive counterattack!
Model knew that he had now gained a major fighter opportunity, but... he had no soldiers in hand!
He has more than 250,000 combat troops under his command, including a powerful and offensive imperial division. However, what is the situation of his enemies? The Soviet combat strength on the front is likely to be three times that of his own.
, and the Soviet army replenished its troops more quickly. They were also a group of reckless men who were not afraid of death at all.
Model was not optimistic about the Soviet army's individual combat capabilities at all. They organized a large-scale attack and the losses were very serious. However, they could still organize a strong force to start the next round of attack.
Model was very self-aware. The Soviet army could organize ten or eight attacks. Each time it lost 100,000 people, the Soviet army could still withstand such losses and quickly replenish its troops. His Ninth Army only had more than 200,000 people.
If we organize Slavic civilians or volunteers from Western Europe, we can gather up to 300,000 combat troops at most.
So what? Attacking in October with this small force? That’s crazy!
At the same time last year, nearly 2 million elite troops stormed towards Moscow but failed in the end. What could a mere 300,000 do? An all-out attack meant a total defeat. The result was that the entire army was annihilated and Smolensk was occupied by the Soviet army.
Model himself is a die-hard, and he agrees with Mustache's various ideas, but now he is full of doubts about the military orders imposed on him by Mustache.
Although Germany does not have the concept of "taking orders from foreign kings", Model knew that organizing an attack in accordance with the order would mean total collapse. Even if he disobeyed the order, he knew that there was nothing that Mustache could do to him!
Therefore, Model will not order the Imperial Division to attack now. As for Wolfsburg, they once hoped that the Imperial Division would take the lead in the attack. Now a group of senior staff officers and important generals at Wolfsburg are also urging Mustache not to order Model to attack again.
Fortunately, Mustache's thoughts were all in southern Russia. He ordered Model to "continue to attack" in order to prevent the northern Soviet army from going south for reinforcements and to reduce the pressure on Paulus's troops.
After all, the strategic center of the German army is in southern Russia. The two armies of Model and Ludwig in the north have more than 500,000 front-line troops. It is best to temporarily stabilize the status quo and strengthen defenses to deal with the winter offensive that the Soviet army will definitely launch.
Yes, the Russians have been willing to launch winter offensives since ancient times, and all countries in Western Europe have reached a consensus on this.
Therefore, Mustache has his own considerations, and Model has his own considerations. The former is considering the fate of the entire empire, while Model is considering the fate of more than 200,000 soldiers under his command. The contradiction here is irreconcilable.
It's just that this time the German military experts in Wolfsburg never imagined how courageous the Soviet army's new winter consensus would be.
The Imperial Division will face a different enemy than in the past. In a sense, the Imperial Division will face a new attack from an old opponent who has had a war but has changed its appearance.
Yang Mingzhi proposed wire-guided rockets and believed that he had the ability to complete them quickly.
Facing everyone who was surprised, Yang Mingzhi solemnly promised: "Comrades, I will complete my concept as soon as possible like before. I am likely to succeed quickly, but I estimate that even if I succeed quickly, my superiors will not order me to complete it immediately.
Mass production. Even then I will produce it, just like we do in the Far East."
"Far East? That was really a wonderful meeting." Lavrenti said freely: "At that time, Yevgeny and I were very suspicious of your design. As a result, those RPGs actually saved our lives."
"Yes!" Yevgeny said, "Give us a limited number of your new rockets, and I will help you get the results. Can each of them hit a moving tank? Give us five hundred, and we will hit all the German tanks.
"
"Okay." Yang Mingzhi cheered up, "But don't be too optimistic."
"No! I'm very pragmatic." Lavrenti said, "Even without new guided rockets, we still have Catfish. By the way!"
Lavrenti patted the table: "General, would you like to give it a nickname first?"
"nickname?"
Lavlenji's words reminded Yang Mingzhi, he closed his eyes and thought about it, and suddenly an idea came to him, and a funny nickname came into being.
"Just call him Hard Bass!"
"Ah? Hard bass?" Rafe laughed out loud, and the others were also serious.
Now Yang Mingzhi really wants to follow the rhythm and dance a Mao-style dance that is adapted from the Cossack dance.
"Why the hard bass?" Bayevgeny asked.
"Hey! Isn't it hard enough?" Balzen joked.
Yang Mingzhi shrugged. He thought of something reliable and said, "You all know the bass. The fins of the bass are very big. I think the guided rocket cannot fly too fast. It requires a large tail and rudder. This
It’s a bit similar to sea bass.”
"Wonderful!" Balzen slammed the table excitedly, and others followed suit.
Balzen was the most excited here. He filled himself up with wine, stood up and raised his glass high. Seeing this, others stood up.
"Comrades, please allow us to launch hard bass at the Imperial Division and penetrate their armor."
"Are you the only one who can do it? It's us!" Lavrenti corrected.
"Yes! It's us." Yang Mingzhi raised the wine glass very high, as if holding a torch, "For victory! For every soldier to be able to easily destroy the German tanks! For the liberation of that city! Cheers!"
Yang Mingzhi drank it all in one gulp, and so did everyone else.
However, everyone who calmed down suddenly felt uncomfortable. The most uncomfortable person here was Yang Mingzhi.
Balzen said nervously: "General, we really want to attack that city."
Balzen deliberately did not mention the name of the city. In fact, everyone already knew it very well, but it was tacitly understood.
Yang Mingzhi hummed: "Yes! That's it! We must capture that city."
"Then, we should talk about how to fight urban warfare, general..." Balzen looked at Yang Mingzhi: "Maybe your assault rifle will be of great use, it is a hundred times more powerful than a submachine gun?"
As for whether to attack Smolensk, it is no longer important. What is important is that assault rifles are simply at home in urban warfare.
Yang Mingzhi cheered up, and he completely confirmed what Balzen said.
He slammed the table and said: "Submachine guns are about to be completely eliminated. The future is the era of assault rifles. It is a hundred times more powerful than a submachine gun. It is the fusion of Mosin Nagant and Bobosha. Just imagine, it shoots like a submachine gun at close range."
, aiming at an enemy one thousand meters away, as long as the bullet hits the enemy's head, it can still kill him with one shot. It is truly an all-round weapon."
Yang Mingzhi deliberately boasted here, but in fact it was not an absolute boast. This made the three division commanders who were already very excited even more excited!
"Lavrenti, do you still remember the details of the street fighting in Lechica?" Yang Mingzhi suddenly asked.
"Of course! You are also very clear about the equipment of the troops at that time. My troops were equipped with a large number of submachine guns and semi-automatic rifles, and the infantry firepower was stronger than that of the Germans, so we had a great advantage in the battle inside the city. However, our weapons did have
Many faults.”
"Oh? Tell me."
"For example, submachine guns have limited accuracy against long-distance targets. Although semi-automatic rifles are accurate, their firepower is still relatively weak, not to mention the bolt-action rifles also equipped in the army. If your new gun can combine them into one, it would be great.
Nothing better."
"Of course." Yang Mingzhi sat upright with a confident posture: "I think we don't need to pursue the accuracy of weapons too much in street fighting. What we need is a weapon that takes into account the speed of fire, power, and maneuverability. Assault rifle
It is basically capable of doing this, or the three have reached a wonderful balance. For example, although it does not have the extreme rate of fire and smaller recoil of a submachine gun, its recoil is still much smaller than that of a semi-automatic rifle, and its accuracy is not as good as that of a semi-automatic rifle.
The same is true in terms of power.
Regarding street fighting, the three of you are also very clear, and you have very sufficient combat experience. So..."
Having said this, Yang Mingzhi slowly darkened his expression, paused for breath, and subconsciously knocked on the table with his right hand to attract their special attention.
"If you three divisions attack a big city, a big city that is ten times bigger than the city of Bilechica or Mozyr, will you be able to defend the city?"
Yang Mingzhi's words were like the tip of a spear, piercing the hearts of the three of them.
In their opinion, the general just needs to directly explain that the so-called "big city" is Smolensk!
Balzen hesitated for a moment and took the lead in making a positive statement, and others followed suit.
However, Yang Mingzhi knew clearly from their expressions that part of their once-high self-confidence had now been worn away.
Yang Mingzhi followed up and said: "Of course it's not enough to rely solely on courage to fight a war. You need a lot of heavy equipment, heavy equipment that can take into account firepower, power and mobility. I think you must equip RPGs and Catfish rockets on a large scale.
You also need a lot of anti-tank guns. You...you even need flexible 37mm anti-tank guns, and even flamethrowers, shotguns, and grenade launchers..."
Yang Mingzhi was very excited. He listed a lot of weapons. It sounded like these were weapons for street fighting, which made people suspicious.
After all, it was a street fight!
In the 21st century that Yang Mingzhi once belonged to, local wars and wilderness operations in the world are slowly being marginalized. It was an era of global urbanization, and it was also an era in which it was impossible to have a full-scale world war again. The world
The overall tone is peaceful, but war is still inevitable in some corners.
In that era, there were very few opportunities for large-scale full-scale assaults involving hundreds of thousands of troops. After all, a big country did not need a large army to bully a small country. And in a war between small countries, both sides simply did not have the manpower and material resources to organize a World War II Eastern Front campaign-level battle.
It is a battle at the level of one or two armies between the two sides. The most intense battles are often over in a few days.
But the war will continue, and will last for many years. The bustling city has become a battlefield, and the former downtown wine shops have become a world of rubble and smoke. The battlefield has become blocks and roads, and the distance between the two armies is often fifty meters. Special
In this era, street fighting has actually become the mainstream.
Since urban street fighting has become a major feature of warfare in the new era, the major powers have of course stepped up research on these. International arsenals and weapons design bureaus in various countries have also adapted to the times and produced a large number of street fighting weapons.
What kind of monsters are there in those street fighting weapons? Yang Mingzhi knows very well.
The German army was blind in street fighting at the beginning, and of course the Soviet army was also blind at the beginning. Both sides were exploring suitable tactics in street fighting, and the weapons design bureaus of both sides also developed new street fighting weapons based on battle reports.