Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 261 Heavy Mortar Battalion

"Ling ring ring~~"

The phone at the headquarters of the New Second Regiment suddenly rang.

The communicator next to him picked up the call.

"Hello, this is the headquarters of the New Second Regiment."

"Commander, call from the arsenal," the communicator reported.

During the great raids and battles to capture points, the New Second Regiment obtained a lot of telephone lines and telephones.

Now all important locations in Dayun Mountain have telephone access.

When Chen Chengxing heard that it was the arsenal, he immediately walked forward and took the microphone.

He had anticipated something.

"I am Chen Chengxing."

"Commander, the 120mm mortars and 150mm mortars have been successfully produced!" Wen Ying's excited voice came from the phone.

In fact, she had completed the production of 150mm mortars a few days ago.

The reason why Wen Ying called Chen Chengxing only now was that she wanted to give Chen Chengxing a big surprise.

"Successful? Great! Great! I'll be there right away!" Chen Chengxing said excitedly.

He had been waiting for this day for a long time. At 5 times the speed, the research on the mortar progressed rapidly.

After hanging up the phone, Chen Chengxing put on his hat and walked out of the regiment headquarters.

"Monk, take the horse, let's go to the arsenal."

"By the way, call Zhuzi and the mortar training team." Chen Chengxing added.

“Hey!”.
After arriving at the Erlangdong Arsenal, Chen Chengxing immediately saw two cannons placed outside.

These two guns are basically the same except for their size.

(150mm heavy mortar processed from train axles, produced in Taihang Mountains during the War of Liberation)

However, the barrel thickness of these two guns is obviously thicker than that of normal mortars.

It should be to ensure the continuity of firepower and service life. After all, there are some differences between train axles and professional artillery steel.

Just as Chen Chengxing was stroking the mortar and couldn't let it go, Wen Ying got the news and came out.

"How is it, Captain, is the speed okay?" Wen Ying said with a smile.

"Not bad, not bad." Chen Chengxing likes others to be fast the most.

"Captain, let me introduce you."

"150mm mortar, weighing 400kg, tested with training rounds, with a maximum range of 2500m."

"Except for being slightly heavier, it has reached the standard of the previous 150mm mortar made in Jin."

Wen Ying was still satisfied with the performance of this gun.

The Japanese Type 150 720mm mortar weighs as much as 3900 kilograms, and its maximum range is only meters.

"This 120mm mortar weighs 220 kilograms and has a maximum range of 5500 meters."

"According to my idea, the barrel should be even shorter."

"But we can only produce cast iron shells, so the shells have thicker walls and heavier weights."

"In order to increase the range, I tried to make the barrel as long as possible."

Cast iron shells are relatively weak, and if you want them to withstand the full-power No. 8 propellant, you can only increase the wall thickness.

"Okay, that's good." Chen Chengxing nodded.

The conditions of the new second regiment are like this, why do they need bicycles?

"Has the foundry produced the shells?" asked Chen Chengxing.

"A few shots each." Wen Ying nodded.

When producing mortars, it is impossible to only focus on the cannon. The shells must also be produced simultaneously. Otherwise, it would be a shame if the shells were not matched with the cannon.

"Let someone pull up the shells, and let's try live firing." Chen Chengxing said excitedly.

Although these two guns are mortars with a relatively short range, they are heavy artillery!
The 120mm mortar shell alone weighs 17 kilograms, and the 150mm mortar shell weighs 25 kilograms!

Not to mention the New Second Regiment, this is unique in the entire Eighth Route Army.

When he arrived at the back mountain, although Chen Chengxing was very excited, he did not take it lightly.

Let the people who come with you dig the hole first.

After all, this is live ammunition. If it explodes, I'm afraid we won't be able to find anyone.

After working for a whole morning, the soldiers dug a gun position for each of the two mortars.

The two mortars were 2 meters apart, each in a deep position.

"Captain, everything is ready." the flag bearer reported.

"Try firing 150mm first."

Chen Chengxing stood on a hill not far away, holding a telescope, ready to see the actual effect.

"Yes!" The flag bearer waved the flag and gave a signal using flag language.

"Loader, load ammunition!" Wang Chengzhu ordered.

This is not a small 60mm cannon. He can operate the gun with one hand and load the ammunition with the other.

Whether it is a 120mm mortar or a 150mm mortar, everyone has to do their job.

The 25-kilogram shells have to be carefully loaded by a special person.

After carefully loading the shells into the mortar, the loader immediately shrank to the side and shouted:

"Loading complete!"

"put!"

The gunner immediately pulled the gun cord.

For heavy mortars, in order to avoid accidents, only the trigger can be used.

"boom!!"

A large ball of fire rose up on the distant hilltop, and the debris on the hilltop flew everywhere.

"Good! Good!" Chen Chengxing couldn't stop smiling.

A few minutes later, the soldier who ran over to check the situation ran back.

"Captain, the crater is 4 meters in diameter and 1.5 meters deep. The shrapnel killing radius is 50 meters."

After hearing the report, everyone was shocked. Even Wen Ying did not expect it to be so powerful.

The killing radius is 50 meters, which doesn’t mean that everything will be fine beyond 50 meters, it just means the chance of casualties will be lower.

If the body is within 4 meters of the impact point, even cremation can be saved.

"Continue the test firing and use up all the shells." Chen Chengxing ordered.

"Yes!"

"Boom!" "Boom!".
Wang Chengzhu kept adjusting the angle of the mortar, and several pits appeared on the hilltop that was bombarded.

After recording all the data obtained from the test, Wang Chengzhu began to operate the 120mm mortar.

Compared to 150mm shells, 120mm shells have less explosive charge.

However, the killing radius still reached 35 meters, the crater diameter was 2.5 meters, and the depth reached 0.8 meters.

After such a shell, there is basically no room for survival in the civil engineering works.

Even if the concrete fortification is one meter thick, there is no way to survive if it is hit by two or three bullets in succession.

After the test launch stopped, Chen Chengxing also went to the two hills to observe in person.

I have to say that the 150mm mortar is indeed powerful enough.

However, Chen Chengxing's plan is to stop production after producing these few guns.

The reasons are very simple. First, the range is too short, and second, the weight is too heavy.

Moreover, the two are in conflict with each other in battle.

With a range of 2500 meters, it can only be used for fire support for battalion-level units, just like the 82mm mortar.

But for the infantry battalion, the weight of 400 kilograms is too heavy and it is impossible to move quickly with the troops.

With such a heavy weight, it can only be used for fire strikes at the regimental level, or even the divisional or brigade level.

But even if a battle is launched at the regimental level, the depth will exceed two or three kilometers.

At this time, the range of 2500 meters is not enough. You can't shoot at your own people, right?
And the most important thing is that although the weight of the 150mm mortar shell is 120 kilograms heavier than that of the 10mm mortar, the amount of explosives is only increased by 1 kilogram.

With this raw material, it would be better to make two 2mm mortar shells.

Therefore, Chen Chengxing decided that the mortars of the new second regiment would use three calibers: 60mm, 82mm, and 120mm. "Wen Ying, the production of mortars must be accelerated," Chen Chengxing said.

"The Japanese have suffered such a great loss, they will definitely counterattack next. The more artillery the arsenal produces, the stronger our combat effectiveness will be."

"If we focus on producing large-caliber mortars, we can produce about 7-10 mortars a month, but this will squeeze the production of other caliber mortars and guns."

"We only have so much equipment. If we can produce this, we can't produce that," Wen Ying said.

The scale of Erlang Cave was still too small. After all, what they robbed was just a small weapons factory.

"Produce heavy mortars first, and put other weapons on hold for now."

"The production of 150mm mortars will stop after six are produced. The goal for the 6mm mortars is to produce 120 first, and then slowly produce them along with other calibers."

"Only six 150mm guns are produced? I see there are six locomotive axles. Wouldn't it be great to have a battalion?"

Wen Ying felt a little sorry because she liked big ones.

"Do I need two heavy mortar battalions for an infantry regiment? Besides, do we have so many raw materials? 2 mm is enough." Chen Chengxing affirmed.

If Chen Chengxing had not promised Wen Ying at the beginning, he would not even want these 6 doors.

“By the way, the bottom plate of this 120mm mortar can be welded by cutting the bottom corners of the rail steel, which should reduce a lot of weight.

"Then use the springs from the captured Japanese motorcycles to make buffers for the mortar." Chen Chengxing explained.

Now the base plates of these two mortars are directly cast by melting the rails.

It is a completely solid discus, very heavy.

Although this can increase shooting stability, the effect is not significant.

After all, a mortar without a shock absorber will cause its position to shift with every shot fired.

If the base plate is lightened, combined with stabilizers, it should be possible to reduce weight while maintaining performance.

Chen Chengxing did not expect to be able to reduce his weight to the original 174 kg. He would be satisfied as long as he could reduce it to 200 kg.

"Okay, I'll try." Wen Ying nodded.

There is no loss in this matter, and it doesn't matter even if it fails in the end.

The core barrel of the mortar has not been lost, so just replace it.

"Also, we need artillery carts. The soldiers can't carry such a heavy weight on their journey," Chen Chengxing added.

"Okay, okay, I get it, I get it." Wen Ying said impatiently.

Every time he comes, he arranges work for me without asking about my well-being.

The donkey in the logistics team is not used this way.

(Later production, rail steel welded base plate)

(Mortar Carriage)

After communicating with Wen Ying about the details of the mortar, Chen Chengxing found Xu Tao.

"Director Xu, is there any way to reduce the wall thickness of this shell?"

Although the 120 mortar shell weighs 17 kilograms, it contains less than 3 kilograms of explosives, and the rest is all iron.

Only by reducing the wall thickness can we load more explosives while reducing the weight of the shells, which directly affects the range of the mortar.

"The strength of cast iron is limited. If you want to reduce the wall thickness, you can only use steel," Xu Tao explained.

After hearing what Xu Tao said, Chen Chengxing felt a little toothache.

Even though a lot of railways were dug up this time and more than 2,000 tons of rails were harvested, it was still not enough.

This Hundred Regiments Campaign completely drew the Japanese's attention to the battlefield behind enemy lines.

It was not until the Japanese were unable to defeat the Eighth Route Army and were suffering increasing losses that they turned their attention to Southeast Asia and Pearl Harbor.

Therefore, within a few years, the New Second Regiment no longer had the opportunity to obtain materials in large quantities.

If steel is used to make artillery shells, one ton of rails can only produce 60 120mm shells, which is only half the base.

To equip 12 mortars with a basic amount of shells, 24 tons of rails are needed!
Not to mention the heavier 150mm shells.

Now the entire base of the New Second Regiment is still crying out for food, and every aspect of it is inseparable from these railway tracks.

"Is there any other way?" Chen Chengxing said a little helplessly. Even if the wall thickness can be weakened by 1 mm, it would be helpful.

"There's basically no way." Xu Tao shook his head.

If the strength cannot be increased and the wall thickness is reduced blindly, it will most likely lead to barrel explosion, which would be a real disaster.

"You can try cast iron." Wen Ying suddenly said from the side.

"I have read some information in Yan'an. Some mortar shells from foreign countries are made by mixing steel and iron together."

"This will improve the strength of the shells to a certain extent, and will not require as much steel consumption."

"Well, this is a good idea." Chen Chengxing nodded repeatedly.

Although the shells cannot use rails completely, it is still possible to use some of them.

After all, a lot of debris is produced during normal turning in the arsenal.

These scraps would previously have been processed into farm tools, but now they could be used in artillery shells.

"I'm going to try this." said Xu Tao.

If you want to determine the specific parameters, you have to conduct experiments.

"Okay, then I'll wait for Director Xu's good news!"

For the next month, Chen Chengxing basically spent all his time in the arsenal.

Wen Ying not only improved the mortar, but also installed it on a gun carriage.

Even the artillery shells were successfully tested, and the killing effect was increased again.

Watching the heavy mortar battalion gradually take shape, Chen Chengxing was smiling all the time for the past month.

However, Chen Chengxing's good mood was soon interrupted.

"Captain, the political commissar called and said that there is enemy information! He asked you to go back quickly!" Wei Dayong ran over to report.

"The Japanese are counterattacking!" Chen Chengxing said seriously.

"Let's go back to the regiment headquarters!"
Chen Chengxing returned to the regiment headquarters, and just as he got off his horse, Luo Ping heard the voice coming out.

"Old Chen, you're back. I received intelligence that the Japanese have started their raid!"

Luo Ping said as he followed Chen Chengxing to the operations room.

"How many Japanese soldiers are there?" Chen Chengxing asked while looking at the map when he arrived at the operations room.

“根据军区发来的情报，鬼子出动37师团、41师团的部分部队，还有独立混成第9旅团、独立混成第16旅团、步兵第29旅团，总兵力超过3万人！”

Hearing the long list of troops that Luo Ping mentioned, Chen Chengxing looked at him in disbelief.

"3 people come to fight the new second group?!"

What did the New Second Regiment do to make the Japanese so angry?

Among the devils killed before, was there Tian Huang's son? Or was there Tian Huang's father?
"That's not to attack us." Luo Ping shook his head.

"The main target of the devils should be the Liangshan area. The Zhongyun Mountains and Yalu Mountains are not the main directions."

"However, according to the intelligence reported by the military district and guerrillas from various places, the guerrilla areas around the Zhongyun Mountains are also within the scope of the sweep."

"Especially these villages close to the base area, they should be important targets for the devils to raid."

Although the Japanese did not focus their main energy on the New Second Regiment, the aftermath of the mopping-up operation was enough to cause great trouble to the guerrillas in various places.

"The guerrillas and militia must be on high alert. Once the Japanese appear, they must immediately protect the people and send them into tunnels or mountains," Chen Chengxing said seriously.

The foundation of the Eighth Route Army's survival is the common people, and this time the Japanese raid was brutal and insane.

Chen Chengxing couldn't let the people be massacred.

After finishing speaking, Chen Chengxing looked at the map again.

Seeing Chen Chengxing standing there in deep thought, Luo Ping became a little curious.

"What's wrong? Is there anything else?" Luo Ping asked.

"Nothing." Chen Chengxing shook his head.

What Chen Chengxing was thinking about at this moment was Yitiantian.

This is the most important asset of the Eighth Route Army and cannot be destroyed so easily by the Yamazaki Battalion.

However, it is unforeseeable that a situation like the Yamazaki Brigade took the wrong road and then hit the narrow gap.

Chen Chengxing couldn't say it no matter what.

After sitting on the stool and thinking for a long time, Chen Chengxing felt that he still had to find a way to give an early warning, as the Eighth Route Army could not afford the loss.

And the task of early warning falls on Li Yunlong.

Chen Chengxing found a piece of paper, wrote a letter to Li Yunlong, and then sent a messenger to deliver it.

(End of this chapter)