In April 1835, Sean was ordered to form the Genoese National Army.
Previously, the 101st Garrison Brigade had been expanded into the 101st Division. At that time, the war situation was not so bad. Based on the 101st Garrison Division, the National Army formed two additional divisions. These three divisions were renamed the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd National Army Divisions.
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The total number of troops is more than 35,000, and the sources of troops come from miners and some young people without families from the north. Military expenses come from taxes that Genoa should have paid to the Holy City before July, up to 30 million.
Sean became the undisputed commander of this national army.
Wells, the former commander of the 101st Brigade, became the deputy commander, and Perosa was the chief of staff. They are Sean's trusted right-hand men, assisting Sean in managing, training and commanding the entire army.
The senior officers of the original 101st Brigade became division commanders, brigade commanders, regiment commanders and other officers at all levels of the three subordinate divisions, and for the first time the "battalion" became a permanent command level rather than just a tactical unit.
In addition to the 1st Division, the other two divisions currently only exist on paper, but under Sean's close attention, the formation work is proceeding in an orderly manner.
Sean has taken a crucial step. The Holy City has no time to accuse the Genoese people of "independent behavior". In fact, various provinces have formed their own civil defense forces. This is the situation.
Even though Sean has a very high influence in Genoa, Sean has to spend a lot of energy fighting the bureaucrats and conveying some benefits.
For example, he facilitated the Three Estates Conference and the Governor-General's Office to allow private capital to invest in the defense industry without restrictions. The empire's arms industry was mainly in the north. Water from a distance could not quench the thirst of the near. The allocation of resources must be more conducive to future war needs.
To this end, he advocated the reorganization of the Poitou Chemical Company into a public company. Many influential people in Genoa became its shareholders. The new arms company was renamed Poitou United Technologies. At the same time, it was also necessary to expand shareholders and capital.
In order to expand production capacity as quickly as possible to meet the needs of the war.
War is a feast for arms dealers, and they are afraid of peace.
When powerful people become shareholders of arms companies, they will have an inexplicable fanaticism for war, and of course they will not prevent funding for the military.
In addition, publicity was put on the agenda.
The newspapers in Genoa were trying their best to exaggerate the brutality of the enemy and the suffering of the people, trying to encourage the people to participate in this war. Those liberals published articles one after another, and even they were moved. Many young intellectuals wrote and joined the army.
National Army. These people are the most fanatical among the National Army and the Genoese. They can't wait to jump into the battlefield immediately and tear the enemy into pieces.
Sean had a hunch that when this kind of fanaticism was fully mobilized, it would produce an unrivaled power.
This can be seen from the recruitment stations across the province. Many people are encouraged to join the army not because of their salary, but because of their fanatical patriotic enthusiasm.
Among them, the quality of soldiers from mining areas is the highest, because these strong miners can not only endure hardships, are extremely patient, and are also relatively disciplined.
The working class is the most powerful and organized.
Among them, the miners from the north were the most active. They shouted the slogan of regaining their hometown and joined the Genoese National Army.
At a shooting range north of Fort Putnam, Sean and his senior officers were experiencing first-hand the effectiveness of the new weapons.
In addition to Deputy Commander Wells and Chief of Staff Perosa, there are three division commanders, namely Luca Mora of the 1st Division, James Roberts of the 2nd Division and Liam Lawrence of the 3rd Division.
Each of them has a new rifle in their hands. At first glance, the appearance is no different from before, but from a technical point of view, it is a revolutionary leap.
The new rifle, which is typically characterized by smokeless powder, breech-loaded primer full-metal bullets and a new firing mechanism, will eliminate the previously commonly used muzzle-loading flintlock rifles.
This was a secret product of the former Poitou Chemical Company. Chemist Alexander Foss played a crucial role in it. His inventions and creations in gunpowder gave gunsmiths the conditions to launch a series of new guns.
invention.
This new rifle has been equipped with Sean's covert operations team for a long time. After being tested in actual combat, Sean is now officially showing the final product to senior officers.
Bess, the general manager of United Technologies of Poitou, calls this new rifle the "Bess 1835 breech-loading percussion rifle", or "Bess 1835 rifle" for short.
He once again took the opportunity to promote himself and was proud of his desperate move - all his net worth was invested in the company, which now seems to be a very wise investment.
This revolutionary advancement in the new rifle made senior officers very excited.
It can be imagined that the new weapon will bring a terrible shock to the opponent. When the opponent lines up neatly and prepares to face death, the massacre has already come. It has a longer range, more sustained firepower, and especially faster
The easier shooting method will make it a nightmare for enemies.
However, officers also realize that this advancement will bring challenges to them because it will mean that they will have to change their existing training methods and tactical options.
Painful and happy.
This was the only reason Sean brought them here. He had to get his men to change rather than completely abandon their original tactical concepts.
To the surprise of his subordinates, Sean handed out a training outline, which was unsigned and even clearly stated that it was for reference only and could be revised at any time.
Even among the current military tactics, line tactics are not absolute. Skirmishing tactics are also a common tactical choice among command headquarters. Some people are even called skirmishing tactic experts.
This skirmishing tactic is compared to the line tactic of forming a tight formation.
For example, in a company of 100 people, 50 soldiers form a "spread out formation", and the skirmishers working together in twos occupy an area as wide as 100 infantrymen forming two densely packed formations, but they can survive in a firefight.
Obtain greater results and suffer smaller losses.
Especially at certain battlefield moments, promenade tactics often become a preferred choice for commanders.
And in the dense queue, when one soldier is closing the medicine pool, another is pulling out the purge, the third has just finished loading, the fourth is aiming, and the fifth is pulling the trigger. If we consider that the deceased has fallen
, the evacuation of the wounded and the thick smoke of gunpowder surrounding the soldiers, including fear itself, mean that even the best hunters will not achieve better results than ordinary soldiers in a dense formation.
In comparison, the disadvantage of skirmishers is that they cannot face the impact of cavalry. For some commanders, they are more afraid that soldiers will easily escape due to being dispersed.
Therefore, tactics are not static. When the new Bess 1835 rifle appears, there is a need for tactics that are suitable for this weapon.
Sean did not advocate completely abandoning the original line tactics, because when his army faced enemies equipped with flintlock muskets, it was simply an asymmetrical massacre. Why should they lie in the trenches?
Unless the opponent is also equipped with the same breech-loading rifle.
Therefore, he paid more attention to skirmishing tactics, especially small group tactics.
So this is also the reason why he established the command level of "battalion". In the past and now, "battalion" is not a permanent level. Only when on the battlefield, the commanding army will form 2 to 3 companies into a sub-battalion, or more, as needed.
Multiple companies form a large battalion to deal with opponents.
Even in large-scale battles, there will be huge sub-camps such as "sub-camps based on regiments" and "sub-camps based on divisions".
Taking into account the large amount of Bes 1835 equipment in the future, it is necessary to set up a battalion level. The firepower of a unit of about 500 people is far beyond that of units of the same strength equipped with flintlock rifles. It can flexibly deal with small-scale attacks.
The opponent can also face an opponent with a larger number of troops alone without being weakened.
When it comes to defense, Sean has more options.
Trenches and barbed wire will become necessary means of defense.
Of course, this is just Sean's idea, and he needs the officers to help him improve it.
Sean, who has considerable military experience, dare not say that his assumption is correct.
"The 1st Division will remain unchanged, and the 2nd and 3rd Divisions will train troops according to the new outline, because these two new troops are starting from scratch anyway, without historical burdens, which means..." Sean said.
"It means that the 1st Division will not be equipped with new rifles." Wells said.
The commander of the 1st Division, Luca Mora, was very disappointed. Any soldier would fall in love with this new rifle when he sees it. Sean said:
"500 non-commissioned officers and veterans will be selected from the 1st Division to form a teaching camp. They will receive a month-long special training. After the new unit is formed, they will become the seeds of new tactics and be assigned to the new unit.
Go and serve as an officer."
"One month, isn't it a little short?" Chief of Staff Perosa asked.
"Time waits for no one. If I can, I would rather give them more time for us." Sean said, "Who knows whether the Bili people will cross the Longjiang River?"
"This is going to kill me. Even if I am not equipped with a new rifle, 500 backbones will be pulled out, and the vitality of the 1st Division will be seriously damaged." Maura complained, "Commander, I am willing to fight with James or Liam
You can change your position and become a brigade commander or regiment commander."
"Objection is invalid!" The other two division commanders objected in unison.
Sean glared at Maura: "Luka, you have the most experienced officers and soldiers in your hands. If I were you, I would just enjoy myself. Otherwise, dismantle the 1st Division and distribute it evenly to each division?"
That's impossible.
Although Luca Mora is greedy, he knows that the commander's measure is very necessary, and the National Army must maintain considerable combat power at the moment.
"Everyone, stop talking, we must race against time!"