The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 413: Artillery Concept

"Guarantee to complete the task." Liu Changfa's voice trembled with excitement.

According to the current court's hierarchical design for the new army, Zhentong is the highest official position in the new army, which is what these generals dream of.

Teng Yuzao promised Liu Changfa the position of town commander in person, which made them all jealous.

Teng Yuzao looked at the eager eyes of the crowd and said to them, "Don't worry, as long as we fight well in this battle, you will all have a chance when we expand our army."

Without waiting for anyone to comment, Teng Yuzao continued, "In order to ensure that our existing artillery firepower is fully utilized, I have decided to concentrate all the mountain artillery in your troops into the artillery brigade and have them all under Qingyun's command."

"As for when your artillery will be returned to you, we will talk about it when we expand the army. As for how to deploy the artillery units, I still need to think carefully about it."

Teng Yuzao was a little hesitant about the deployment of artillery. Just as he was thinking about this combat plan, he suddenly realized that he should have been guilty of empiricism in the deployment of artillery.

Teng Yuzao was already accustomed to the habitual thinking that in later generations, regiments, brigades and above would have artillery units, but he suddenly realized that his idea was a little ahead of its time.

Although this is now a common configuration among Western powers, Teng Yuzao believes that doing so would disperse firepower, especially for his vanguard army, which does not have many artillery pieces.

Moreover, at this stage, when the armies of all countries in the world lack infantry automatic weapons, the dispersed deployment of artillery fire will lead to a serious shortage of infantry firepower. In order to maintain sufficient firepower density, tactical means having to adopt human wave tactics.

This is also why the armies of the great powers generally still adopt the mode of intensive charge in offensive and defensive battles.

This situation even continued until the First World War more than a decade later. Even then, local attacks and defenses between the two sides still involved tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops.

For example, in the Battle of the Somme, the German army deployed as many as 68 divisions on a 58-kilometer-wide defensive front, with an average of more than one division per kilometer.

The Anglo-French forces were even worse. At their peak, they deployed as many as 86 divisions, with nearly one and a half divisions per kilometer.

Due to the extensive use of this human wave tactic, when automatic weapons such as light machine guns were not widely popularized, it became necessary to concentrate artillery fire.

Only by concentrating the use of limited artillery can we inflict maximum damage to exposed enemies in a short period of time. Dispersing artillery is simply a waste of limited firepower resources.

Moreover, artilleryism has been proven in later generations to be necessary. Even a hundred years later, artillery construction still has great power.

It is for these reasons that Teng Yuzhao is now concentrating on the use of artillery and is preparing to start building his artillery force.

Although the artillery battalion was taken away, even temporarily, these generals felt very painful, because they had witnessed the power of the cannons and the great benefits they brought to the vanguard army after their effective use.

However painful it was, no one could disobey Teng Yuzhao's orders.

Since Teng Yuzhao had just mentioned in his eye-catching combat plan that the Imperial Guard Association would also be involved, Wei Jinghai, the deputy chief of staff, had to ask for clarification and said after glancing at Wu Peifu.

"Marshal, how do we defend against the foreign devils on the east bank of the Juma River?"

Since Teng Yuzhao wanted the Guards to participate in the ambush of the coalition forces that were chasing the Third Mixed Brigade, he naturally had to consider the defense of the more than 30,000 coalition forces on the east bank of the Juma River, Teng Yuzhao said without hesitation.

"The Juma River is quite deep in this area. Although there are sections where we can ford across the river, the cannons definitely can't get through."

"So, we don't need too many troops to deal with the 30,000 foreign devils who are preparing to retreat. We can just leave two battalions of troops at the stone bridge to bluff." Teng Yuzao said directly to Wu Peifu, "The foreign devils on the other side will not react at least until tomorrow morning. The morning should be their time to scout and test our defenses in Hexi. If they want to take action, the earliest they can start is probably noon."

"Order Li Jinyu to lead two battalions to stay at the position near the stone bridge and monitor the coalition forces on the other side. He can blow up the stone bridge if necessary. Tell him that no matter what method he uses, as long as he can prevent the foreign devils on the east bank from landing on the west bank in large numbers before 3 pm tomorrow, I will give him a great merit."

"Qingyun."

Teng Yuzao turned to Liu Changfa again and asked, "Did you see your three artillery battalions in Yi County?"

"Marshal, I have seen them. They have returned to the base intact." Liu Changfa replied in high spirits.

Teng Yuzhao nodded, but still worriedly warned in a serious tone.

"Counting your two newly formed artillery battalions and their understaffed artillery battalions, you can at least have seven complete artillery battalions, with more than a hundred 75mm caliber artillery pieces."

"These cannons of yours are the key to our annihilation of 50,000 foreign devils this time. Whether we can wipe out these foreign devils in one battle depends on the performance of your artillery unit."

"Your artillery must be deployed in the middle and rear of the battlefield. After the second phase of the ambush begins, you must not only hit hard, but also hit accurately. Not only must you kill a large number of foreign devils, but you must also completely confuse and stun them. Your mission is not an easy one!"

“So, you must plan carefully!”

"Yes."

Liu Changfa replied solemnly, "Marshal, although we only have more than a hundred cannons, my French artillery battalion has a very high rate of fire. One battalion is almost equivalent to five or six battalions, so our cannons are almost equivalent to about 200. Including mortars, our artillery will exceed 300."

Liu Changfa hesitated for a moment, glanced at Liu Shijiu and said, "If Captain Liu Zong and his men can successfully seize the foreign devils' cannons, I can also temporarily organize those foreign devils' cannons into one or two battalions."

"This way our artillery firepower will be even more powerful. If the artillery unit doesn't blow the foreign devils half to pieces, you can dismiss me."

Hearing that Liu Changfa was thinking about the foreign devils' cannons, Liu Shijiu rolled up his sleeves and waved his hand casually.

"Qingyun, don't worry. Leave this matter to me. I will make sure that all the foreigners' cannons are delivered to you in good condition. You just need to repair the artillery positions in advance, arrange the gunners, and wait for the cannons."

"very good!"

Seeing that his generals not only quickly unified their thoughts but also were all motivated to fight, Teng Yuzhao couldn't help but feel happy.

However, Teng Yuzao couldn't help but remind Liu Shijiu, "Brother, your mission is critical. Whether you can attract the two groups of foreign devils in the front and back to the middle area and quickly resolve the battle depends on your assault column. If you don't have enough time, blow up all the foreign devils' cannons."

"besides."

Teng Yuzao turned to Wei Jinghai again and said, "The Third Mixed Brigade is under great pressure. Now that our troops have arrived, the Third Mixed Brigade can retreat earlier."

"Tell Hu Dianjia that his troops don't have to fight to the death. As long as he can lead the foreign devils chasing them into the predetermined ambush area after 11:00 tomorrow noon, the General Staff Office should speed up the formulation of the battle plan according to the plan I just mentioned."

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(End of this chapter)