Chapter 1989: The Eighteenth Division of the Mouse
In addition, in addition to the three Guards divisions, the first cavalry brigade, the first artillery brigade, the baggage regiment, the fourth fortress garrison regiment, the royal guard regiment and other units were organized.
The artillery in its artillery brigade are all heavy artillery, mainly 150mm howitzers, supplemented by some 120mm cannons.
As for the artillery in the fortress garrison, not to mention, they are all the fortress heavy artillery modified from the active naval guns, including 300 mm, 250 mm, and 200 mm heavy artillery. As for the 150 mm
, one hundred and twenty millimeters is more.
The four fortress garrison regiments are actually four fortress heavy artillery regiments. They have more than a hundred heavy artillery firepower, which can compete with the navy's battleships.
The total strength remains at 80,000.
The organizational reform of the Guards was once again ahead of the Army.
After seeing the reform started in the Guards, the Army also began to seriously consider the reform.
Although the Army has always been short of funds, after all, the Army is a big business. Previously, more expensive mobile units have been built, so there is no big problem in building a few of the newly established units.
Soon, the army's rapid-fire mortars were also sent to the Northern Arms Company. However, for such a large army, the total number of purchases was not as large as that of the Guards. It only purchased more than a hundred guns for preliminary equipment testing.
Rapid-fire mortars consume a lot of ammunition, which is not a problem for the Guards, but it is extremely troublesome for the Army.
More than ten artillery shells can be fired in one minute. If equipped with thousands of artillery shells, the Army will go bankrupt in minutes.
Even the Army has specially asked the research department of Northern Arms Company to research a cheap rapid-fire mortar grenade for the Army. You don't need to use such good materials. You can just get a cast iron shell, as long as it is cheap.
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Compared with rapid-fire mortars, the Army prefers 65mm light howitzers, which can also adapt to the terrain in all directions. Although the rate of fire is far lower than that of rapid-fire mortars, it is also much stronger than traditional howitzers in the past.
And this thing is pretty accurate, and the accuracy is very good.
The Army's idea is similar to that of Jiangnan Weapons Company. If the problem can be solved with one artillery shell, why use ten or even twenty artillery shells?
Besides, the intended combat goals of the Guards and the Army are different.
Although no one said it, everyone knew that although the Guards would also deploy overseas, the intended combat targets of the Guards were never overseas indigenous people, but potential domestic enemies.
To be more precise, the rebels that may appear in the future.
And where the rebels came from, they must be the army or navy!
Therefore, the intended combat targets of the Guards have always been the army and navy.
In terms of weapons and equipment, we have always pursued leading the army and navy, no matter the cost.
Now that good things like rapid-fire mortars have come out, they will naturally equip them as soon as possible. The cost is not a problem at all.
As for the army and navy, although they usually say that they are each other's biggest enemies, in fact their real combat targets are the indigenous people overseas.
In this case, the rapid-fire mortar is suitable for the Guards, but not suitable for the army!
Because the Army does not need to pursue such a high rate of fire, it uses rapid-fire mortars with such a high rate of fire in overseas wars. If it runs out of shells, there is no room for replenishment.
On the contrary, what is needed more is accuracy. It would be great if you can solve the problem with one shell.
After all, every artillery shell used by troops deployed overseas is extremely valuable.
They all need to be transported from the mainland, which can be a long journey of several thousand kilometers or even ten or twenty thousand kilometers.
Not to mention the extremely high transportation costs, and it’s not something you can replenish if you want.
When the news of the shortage of ammunition is sent back, we can organize the transportation, which can take at least a month or two, or at most a year and a half.
Otherwise, the army and navy would not have been chanting slogans such as practicing hard artillery skills for so many years. In addition to the high cost of artillery shells, it is also closely related to the difficulty of overseas supply.
Therefore, it is slightly heavier, but it is still within the bearable range. It can also be disassembled. If necessary, it can be carried by horses or simply moved by people. At the same time, the accuracy is quite good, and the rate of fire is higher than that of traditional howitzers.
The 15mm light howitzer has become the first of the army's battalion-level support firepower.
Different combat targets and different combat environments have resulted in the Army and Guards choosing different weapons and equipment.
And this is not the first time this has happened, it happened many years ago.
Nowadays, if you look at the whole world, only the First Cavalry Regiment of the Guards is equipped with Jurong horses. They are tall and mighty but very delicate. They were given to the Army for nothing. The Army thought they were too difficult to serve, but the Guards
He has a special liking for this kind of top-notch war horse, and has been the attached Jurong horse for many years.
The same is true for rifles. When breech-loading rifles first appeared, the Guards were equipped with extremely expensive Li Fu rifles, while the Army could only choose single-shot paper case breech-loading rifles. The performance gap between the two was almost two generations.
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Subsequently, the Army began to completely abandon paper-cased bullets and upgraded the combination rifle to a rifle that fired metal bullets, but it was still an 11mm single-shot breech-loading rifle.
Even if the current Army is equipped with the Joint Type II rifle, it can barely be regarded as entering the ranks of rapid-fire rifles, but there is a huge gap in performance and the latest improved model of the Li Fu rifle.
Especially in terms of accuracy and rate of fire, the gap between the two is huge.
The rate of fire of the Li Fu rifle can reach more than fifteen rounds per minute, but in tests, skilled shooters were able to shoot out all ten bullets in the magazine in just ten seconds!
One bullet per second, this is no joke, it is what the Li Fu rifle can do.
At the same time, the loading of the Li Fu rifle is also very convenient. A skilled shooter can quickly reload the bullets and then fire again.
Therefore, without pursuing accuracy, the Li Fu rifle can even fire thirty rounds of bullets per minute under extreme circumstances, and this data has also been achieved in tests.
The accuracy is also very high, and it is said to be able to hit anywhere within a kilometer.
As long as the shooter can aim accurately, he can hit a human-sized target within a kilometer. Unfortunately, most people cannot aim at a target a kilometer away. This distance is already far beyond the distance that can be aimed with the naked eye.
, so it has no practical significance. However, if equipped with a scope in the future, it can be used as a sniper rifle.
It is recognized that the Li Fu rifle is good, but the Army still does not equip it. Earlier they preferred to use the Combined Rifle, but now they are replacing it with the Combined Type II Rifle.
In the final analysis, it is still a question of cost-effectiveness.
The Army and the Guards are completely different arms, so in many cases, their organization and even equipment are different.
Based on the Army's policy, we can't expect to see the Army equip rapid-fire mortars on a large scale in the short term. The Army cannot afford to equip them, and at most it can only acquire some experimental equipment.
Just like this, the Army also asked Northern Arms Company to research a cheap rapid-fire mortar shell.
After the Guards and the Army placed orders, Jiangnan Weapons Company and Northern Weapons Company quickly produced a batch for trial testing. At the same time, the military also set models for these two new artillery, which were forty years old.
Type 80mm rapid-fire mortar, Type 40 65mm light howitzer.
Soon, a batch of 80mm rapid-fire mortars and 65mm light howitzers were loaded onto freighters, transported across the ocean to Gohe Prefecture, and delivered to the hands of the 18th Army Division.
The reason why many new weapons have been sent to the 18th Army Division for actual combat testing is not because there is anything special about the 18th Army Division itself.
In fact, they are not special at all. The reason why they are allowed to test new equipment is simply because the situation in India has been somewhat chaotic this year. In order to maintain the stability of the situation and maintain the interests of the empire, the 18th Army Division frequently dispatches troops to fight.
To put it bluntly, there are more actual combats, and the distance is relatively close.
To transport it to Gohe State, it only needs to start from the mainland, go along the coast of the mainland, then go down to the South China Sea, pass through Malacca, and cross the eastern sea of the Indian Ocean.
If you want to travel to the Red Sea region, Africa, or even Europe and America, the distance will be much farther.
Major General Tian Qinyun was also a little speechless about the arrival of these new equipment.
After being deployed to Gehe Prefecture this time, there were too many troubles.
The first few deployments to Gehe Prefecture were great. Most of the time, I was very idle. Occasionally I went out to fight a few battles, but there were not as many troubles as now.
This means that batches of new equipment for testing are sent to them every once in a while, and what's even more disgusting is that not every new equipment is easy to use.
The Joint Type II Rifle is a good thing, and the Type 40 150mm light howitzer is also a good thing, but the other equipment sent over for testing is more deceptive than the last.
Two months ago, the Ordnance Department sent a batch of so-called new 75mm field guns, which were said to have a longer range and better accuracy. Tian Qinyun almost believed it.
But while the brothers in the artillery regiment were testing it, they scolded the designers at the rear for being cheaters.
Because that thing is too heavy. The total combat weight is more than 1,000 kilograms, and the total traveling weight is even heavier. The range is far, but it is only seven or eight thousand meters, and it is not much more substantial than the previous six thousand meters.
difference.
But the mobility capabilities are completely different.
Major General Tian Qinyun made it clear in the subsequent test report that if the superiors were to issue him with such a large-range 75mm field gun, why not give him a few more 75mm howitzers?
The effective range of this thing is just over 4,000 meters.
However, it is enough for use, and it is also light in weight. The whole gun only weighs a few hundred kilograms.
This artillery is an example. There are many more things. It is not limited to weapons. New types of military shoes and tents were also sent.
The boss was treating their 18th Division as a guinea pig. All kinds of new equipment, even equipment that could not be finalized during the research, were sent to him one after another for testing.
And many of these stereotypes are immature and even flawed.
These things may seem like good stuff at first glance, but in fact most of them are just scams.
Now, Tian Qinyun also suspects that these rapid-fire mortars and infantry cannons sent from above are also scams.
But doubts are doubts, and dissatisfaction is dissatisfaction. Testing is still necessary. After all, testing new equipment is also one of the tasks of the 18th Division today.
The only thing that gave Tian Qinyun some headaches was that the situation in the surrounding area had been very calm in the past half month. The natives were all as good as little white rabbits, so that he couldn't find a suitable test subject for a while.