Eight hundred and ninetieth chapters tanks join the war
It is precisely because they have realized that the traditional cavalry has come to an end that the cavalry generals have been seeking changes in these years. They have long begun to equip the divisional cavalry regiments with wheeled armored vehicles and half-track armored vehicles, and formed armored units to replace some of them.
The divisional cavalry is responsible for carrying out armed reconnaissance, rapid maneuvers and other tasks.
The current tank force was also formed by the cavalry force. The commander of the 1st Armored Cavalry Regiment, Colonel Tang Ruming, was the commander of the 16th Cuirassier Regiment a year ago, and was later transferred to be responsible for testing and forming the tank force.
They were among the first batch of mid- to high-level officers in the Daheng Empire Army who came into contact with and were actually responsible for the formation and use of tank troops.
Why are the cavalry so enthusiastic about building tanks? In the words of the cavalry director: There has to be a way to survive for the more than 200,000 cavalrymen...
Ordinary cavalrymen will retire after serving for a few years, but you want a lot of cavalry officers to do this?
If you let them retire, they are not old enough and have not made any mistakes. It is not an army-wide disarmament. If you retire the cavalry officers, believe it or not, those cavalry generals will just ride on their war horses and run away waving their sabers.
Go to the Joint Staff and cause a scene.
These are not dozens or hundreds, but thousands of cavalry officers. There is no way to account for them being sent directly to the reserves!
If they were transferred to lead infantry or artillery, they would not be professionally qualified.
Finally, after much deliberation, the middle and senior generals of the cavalry and the senior leaders of other arms decided that the cavalry should be transformed into a mechanized force, otherwise they would be unemployed sooner or later!
As a result, there is also such a situation in the army. All kinds of armored units, regardless of whether they are armored vehicles or tanks, are basically handled by cavalry. Now the armored reconnaissance companies, battalions and other units under the armies and divisions are cavalry.
Responsible for the establishment.
This is also why the first tank regiment of the Daheng Empire has the word cavalry in its unit designation.
Because this is originally a "cavalry" unit, but the horses are replaced by tanks!
Since this tank unit belongs to the 'cavalry', its combat mode will naturally follow the direction of the cavalry.
Therefore, after the 1st Armored Cavalry Regiment arrived at the front line and during the continuous adaptive training period, when the 27th Army discussed how to use this tank unit, the idea of its use was quite special.
Instead of dispersing these tank units and assigning them to infantry for combat, the regiment-level organization was maintained for launching assault operations.
How should I put it? Whether it is Colonel Tang Ruming, the commander of the regiment, or people from the Cavalry Department of the Southern Theater Command, they all agree that the operations of the 1st Armored Cavalry Regiment should be the same as the previous heavy armored cavalry and cuirassiers.
, gather together and then rush over, smash the enemy's defense line and tear open gaps, which is the typical basis for the assault of the follow-up troops.
This is a typical thinking of heavy cavalry in combat.
At this point, there is a certain difference from later tanks that first appeared on the battlefield and were then directly assigned to infantry units and used as infantry support tanks.
Because when the Daheng Empire developed tanks, trench warfare was not yet so perfect. The cavalry troops of the Daheng Empire wanted tanks not to break through the trenches, but to replace the existing cuirassiers and other troops for charge operations.
, used to tear apart the enemy's defense line.
But now that the trenches have appeared, there have been some changes in the tactical positioning of the tank troops.
But the fundamental changes are still not big. At least the cavalry generals still have no idea of spreading out the tanks and assigning them to the infantry.
Because in this way, the tank will become an infantry weapon, and there will be no need for the cavalry.
However, they also considered that the performance of current tanks is still very average, and their ability to fight alone is weak.
For example, the Type 21 tank weighs about ten tons, has a marching speed of fifteen kilometers per hour, and a maximum travel distance of fifty kilometers. This means that the speed is average, the continuous combat distance and time are relatively short, and it is difficult to continue after a breakthrough.
Fight in depth.
In terms of firepower, the tank is equipped with an independent 360-degree rotatable turret, equipped with a short-barreled 37mm cannon and an 8mm coaxial machine gun.
In terms of protection, the armor thickness is between eight millimeters and 25 millimeters, with the frontal armor and turret armor being the thickest.
The performance of this tank has basically reached the limit of the current technical capabilities of the Daheng Empire's defense industry. Limited by the power of the engine, it has been difficult for them to make additional performance improvements.
Considering that the tank's ability to fight alone has certain limitations, after consideration, it was decided to allocate a certain amount of additional infantry to this tank unit.
Not ordinary infantry, but armored infantry, which was the infantry that was previously equipped with armored vehicles. This thing also belongs to the cavalry combat order.
To put it bluntly, the cavalry should play alone and not interact with the infantry!
After some discussions, three armored reconnaissance battalions were quickly transferred and together with the 1st Armored Cavalry Regiment formed a temporary armored brigade, commanded by Major General Fang Guilin, deputy director of the Cavalry Department of the Southern Theater Command.
The armored brigade did not go to the battlefield immediately, but continued to conduct training in the rear, mainly conducting collaborative training on how to effectively cooperate with the tanks and the armored infantry.
During this period, the war between the Daheng Empire and the Orissa Empire in the second line of defense in the southern part of the northern peninsula entered a state of confrontation.
Both sides have millions of troops, but no one can defeat them. On weekdays, both sides mainly engage in artillery attacks. In this regard, the Daheng Army has taken a lot of advantage.
Because the artillery of the Daheng Army, especially the heavy artillery, is more numerous and has better performance.
In addition, the navy of the Daheng Empire is also in continuous action. They have completely blocked the maritime transportation lines of the entire southern continent to the outside world. Regardless of the Orissa Empire or the four countries on the east coast, the maritime transportation of the three countries on the west coast is completely blocked by the Daheng Navy.
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At the same time, the Daheng Empire Navy also continued to carry out targeted shelling, mine laying and other operations against the important coastal cities of the above-mentioned enemy countries in a planned manner.
This has dealt a big blow to the coastal cities in the above-mentioned countries, forcing them to move their industrial facilities and population inland, at least not to place them directly in ports very close to the sea.
In August, the Daheng Empire Army launched a medium-sized offensive on the central front.
At least 500 artillery pieces and more than 50,000 troops were used in the attack, with the intention of seizing an enemy protruding stronghold and destroying the enemy's heavy artillery position on the reverse slope of the protruding highland.
In this attack, the artillery and infantry units continued to attack in the same manner, but the armored brigade also entered the battle for the first time and performed very eye-catchingly!
When more than forty tanks sprayed white smoke into the battlefield, and the defenders of the Orissa Empire discovered that bullets, even heavy machine gun bullets, could not effectively threaten such steel vehicles, but the opponent could continue to fire with artillery and machine guns.
, their mentality collapsed...
More than forty tanks stepped onto the battlefield, followed by a large number of infantrymen, who then moved forward under the cover of the tanks.
In the subsequent battles, they broke through the enemy's depth of five kilometers, not only cooperated with friendly forces to seize the enemy's protruding high ground, but also annihilated a large number of the enemy's effective forces.
After this war, the Southern Theater Command continued to send telegrams to the country, requesting more tanks, and believed that if enough tanks participated in the battle, it would be possible to break through the enemy's second line of defense.
Similarly, the tanks of the Daheng Empire took to the battlefield, which also attracted great attention from the Orissa Empire.
It even attracted the attention of other countries participating in the war, such as the Krul Kingdom, the Kokel Empire and other countries.
They knew that those Hengbarbarians had come up with a new weapon, and it was very effective.
The question now is how to obtain information about this weapon to imitate it, and at the same time study countermeasures!