The purpose of fighting was to rob supplies. Naturally, the German army would not hand over the items obediently, so they had to kill them before seizing the supplies.
This battle was the largest military operation planned since the troops entered the swamp. As many as 2,500 troops were dispatched, including all elite troops.
Although war mobilization was carried out, Yang Mingzhi knew very well that this operation was a military adventure.
In order for the battle to go smoothly, the soldiers must be well-equipped, and some so-called "black technology" must be used in this battle.
The soldiers were still preparing their own equipment. Everyone was ordered that this operation would last for a long time. Food, drinking water and bedding must be prepared. Of course, there should be enough ammunition, and the war horses should also be used as pack mules to load supplies.
On a new day, militiamen from Blacksmith Village came to Catfish Village carrying large and small wooden boxes.
Yang Mingzhi had just woken up when the messenger came in a hurry. "Sir, the special warhead you requested has been delivered!"
Yang Mingzhi waved his hand to greet the soldiers away, and stayed quietly at the door of his house for a while. It was quite cool in the early morning. It was early September, and autumn had arrived in Eastern Europe. After the weather turned cooler, he always felt a little chilly.
After a while, Star Tao got up and went out to wash up, and saw her husband smoking alone.
"What's wrong? Are you nervous about having to command the battle again soon?" Yang Tao leaned over and rubbed her husband's arm.
"It's okay, I'm a man. Sometimes you just have to be quiet and have a comfortable smoke."
"Okay, you should smoke less in the future. I don't like the smell of cigarettes."
Yang Mingzhi chuckled and threw away the cigarette butt. "There aren't many cigarettes left anyway. We should be able to seize some more after this battle. Come on, Xiao Tao, follow me to see what was sent from the Blacksmith Village."
nice one."
Both the Blacksmith Village and the Black Earth Village provided very necessary supplies for this combat operation. The Black Earth Village sent a large amount of salty cheese and a small amount of dried meat. These high-calorie foods can provide a lot of energy to the soldiers. The Black Earth Village
, naturally sent a large amount of ammunition.
The villagers sent more than thirty boxes of ammunition, and these ammunition were extraordinary because all the bits of picric acid they prepared were loaded into the cannonball warheads.
The chemist Ivanov, who had followed the fleeing civilians, hospital doctors, and a small unit of militiamen a few months ago, now found his right calling - preparing gunpowder and explosives.
"I told you that picric acid can be produced. Although it is only at the laboratory level, it can already be supplied to the troops."
As he spoke, Ivanov opened a box. Inside were ten mortar shells, but they were painted with a very special yellow paint. These were shells filled with picric acid explosives.
Yang Mingzhi was surprised. "Ivanov, I know you are a very talented chemist. Since you can create picric acid, how can you ensure that these substances will not corrode the metal cartridge case? I also know about picric acid.
Yes, I know it is powerful and difficult to control."
Ivanov smiled, "Of course I have my own way to preserve them. I used kerosene to preserve them before putting them into the missile. As for how to ensure safety inside the missile, I used a special substance
.”
"what is that?"
"It's beeswax," Ivanov said.
"What! Beeswax! My God, you and the Japanese are thinking of going together." Yang Mingzhi was very surprised.
"So what? The Japanese made it very simple and very efficient. Besides, all we can get now is beeswax. Otherwise, I really can't figure out how to use picric acid bombs."
In military history, sometimes the Japanese will come up with some novel inventions. Picric acid is an explosive stronger than TNT, but it is extremely difficult to control. It is too active and corrosive to metals. The Japanese
In order to develop picric acid, the acid bomb they developed is very special. In order to overcome its strong corrosiveness, the inside of the bomb body was painted and coated with paraffin, thus solving the corrosion problem.
Ivanov’s solution is very similar to the Japanese. “Actually, if we consume all the picric acid in this battle, the time will be very short, and they will have been consumed in the battle before the metal is corroded.
.”
Yang Mingzhi was still worried about accidents. He didn't want the soldiers to march with "time bombs" in their arms.
"You were very good at applying beeswax to the picric acid bombs. You can just keep making them from now on."
"Okay." Ivanov honestly pointed out the problem of picric acid for the troops. "I prepared it very slowly. After all, I have to make sulfuric acid and nitric acid, and making phenol is also very troublesome. Furthermore, we don't have that much beeswax.
So I can only make twenty for this operation."
There were only twenty picric acid mortar shells in two wooden boxes, but they were very powerful.
Ninieli, the militia captain responsible for escorting this batch of ammunition, was an old friend of Yang Mingzhi. He handed over a list, and Yang Mingzhi confidently checked it.
"One hundred and twenty mortar shells, one hundred light rockets, four hundred rounds of anti-tank gun ammunition, and three hundred hand grenades. Is that all in total?" Yang Mingzhi asked.
"No, there is another team in the afternoon, and they will transport more. According to the commander's request, we will transport a large number of grenades."
"How many grenades will you bring?" Yang Mingzhi asked urgently.
"About two thousand more can be shipped in the afternoon. As you know, sir, the manufacturing process of wooden handle grenades is very simple, and our production capacity has been greatly improved. For this operation, according to your request, we have taken out all the inventory
.There are also some reloading bullets to be delivered in the afternoon."
Yang Mingzhi nodded with satisfaction, and soon the quartermasters at the armory called for soldiers to come over and carry the ammunition.
Among these ammunition is a weapon called "light rocket", which is what Yang Mingzhi calls the Large Sky Monkey. This is also a kind of strange black technology. The projectile is made of rolled metal plates, and the interior is filled with propellant.
The warhead is a small grenade machined by lathe and equipped with a collision fuse.
Yang Mingzhi noticed that these ammunition were equipped with four tail fins. They were not as good as the RPG2 rockets that he had copied, and their image was more like a bazooka. These large flying monkeys were used in the last battle, and they have actual combat experience.
After experience, the Blacksmith Village was improved on the basis of actual combat, and its accuracy and power were somewhat improved.
This weapon still uses a very primitive ignition method - an ignitable fuse. Therefore, the soldiers must bring their own fire source. The so-called fire source is easy to handle, that is, a captured gasoline lighter, or the villager's own
Matches. Because the technical requirements for using a striker-type fuze are somewhat high, it is simpler to use the most primitive fuze method.
The launch tube of the weapon is still a steel tube. The Blacksmith Village has installed a foldable bipod and a mechanical sighting device on it. As for the effective range, Yang Mingzhi has no expectations. Generally speaking, this thing can fly a hundred times.
Just rice will do.
According to the later German anti-tank rocket launchers such as Panzerfaust, their range was only within fifty meters, which was completely sufficient for urban combat. Field combat in the wilderness was naturally not possible, so various countries are also developing anti-tank guns.
Now, there are ten almost recoilless anti-tank guns, and a total of more than 80 are still usable. Compared with other troops, the 284th Guards Division is equipped with an excessive number of anti-tank guns. During the great retreat, these weapons were not available.
Abandoned, so that now there are not enough bullets.
In the afternoon, Yevlov also came to inspect the ammunition in person. Faced with a large number of reloaded bullets, a sense of distrust arose spontaneously.
Yang Mingzhi patted him on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry. Although it is loaded with black powder, the smoke is a bit louder, but it is better than no bullets. We can let the machine gunners use these bullets."
Yevlov shook his head: "I still like normal bullets, but it is best to use smokeless gunpowder for reloading. Otherwise, I am worried that the machine gunner will be exposed early, or the machine gunner will be blinded by the fog of war."
"I have thought about this, but we have no choice." Yang Mingzhi shrugged helplessly. "Black powder ammunition has a lot of residue and cannot support long-term operations of machine guns at all, so we have to use ammunition with better quality.
"On the heavy machine gun." Yang Mingzhi naturally requested these 7.62 bullets for the army's Maxim M1908 heavy machine gun. The army currently only has two of these, and there are also some spare parts.
"Okay, as you ask, our heavy machine guns have always been big eaters of bullets anyway."
"Don't worry." Yang Mingzhi patted his chest, "Heavy machine guns are mainly used for fire cover. Black powder ammunition is more fluffy, but it can ensure fire suppression in a larger area. Since we want to capture a small town, the firepower must be
fierce."
In this way, the soldiers were assigned the appropriate ammunition. The average infantryman carried two bases, that is, one hundred and twenty rounds of ammunition. They were armed with Mosin Nagants, and there were many of them. Some soldiers also used Mauser rifles.
The light machine gunners used a mixture of German Su gunners. Among the heavy machine guns, two Maxim machine guns and the captured ZB57 heavy machine gun became the mainstay of firepower.
At the same time, Yang Mingzhi ordered the troops to bring thirty anti-tank guns, but the shooters did not have much ammunition, only ten each. As for Yang Tao and Natasha, they were allowed to carry more ammunition.
All mortars and light rockets were brought with them. Yang Mingzhi's strategy remained unchanged, that is, once in contact with the German army, he must use powerful firepower to defeat the enemy as soon as possible.
Black technology is about to enter the war again. Each soldier carries a grenade, and the 100 people dispatched by the guard company have four grenades each. The soldiers are well-equipped and have high morale. They feel that the new battle is still going on