Sword: Heart of Iron

Chapter 52 Organizational Reform, Rear Preparation

After a brief rest in Daying Town, the Temporary 1st Brigade continued to march southward.

The further south you go, the more defeated soldiers you encounter along the way.

Wang Feng naturally wanted to seize this opportunity. Compared with recruiting new soldiers from the public, recruiting these defeated soldiers was obviously the most cost-effective.

Rich combat experience and short retraining cycle.

It's just that the morale of the army has declined a little, but the merits outweigh the flaws. Compared with the benefits it has brought, this is nothing.

But Wang Feng didn't accept everyone.

It's really easy to tell a person's temperament.

Defeated soldiers usually move slowly and drag their feet, giving people a sense of lethargy that can be seen with the naked eye.

He was also slightly injured and was holding the weapon tightly in his hand.

Most of them are wandering around because their organizations have been destroyed and they have completely lost contact with the main force.

In Wang Feng's view, this kind of soldiers can be recruited, and with some simple training, the order and discipline of the troops can be restored.

But deserters are different.

The deserter looks hurried and his eyes become panicked when he sees a large army passing by, for fear that others will recognize him.

The temperament also gives people a feeling of cowardice and timidity.

Wang Feng resolutely refused to recruit such soldiers.

Emotions on the battlefield are contagious, and we can't let a single bad apple spoil the whole barrel.

Along the way, the Temporary Brigade recruited more than 1,200 soldiers.

If we also count the more than 280 people recruited by Daying Town.

Enough to form an extra infantry regiment.

As for the so-called order from the Sixth Army Headquarters, it was nothing more than a cover-up by Wang Feng.

Otherwise, it would be difficult to get the defeated soldiers along the way to change their flags and sincerely join the Temporary Brigade.

As for whether the truth would be revealed, Wang Feng didn't care.

Or the priority is not that high.

The Japanese knife is at my neck, how can I care about so many things?

Try your best to arm yourself first.

I believe that after seeing the rich food of the temporary brigade and receiving one month's salary paid in advance, the soldiers will not have any objections.

The generals of each army sat high up in the hall, invisible and untouchable.

Some recruits cannot read a single word, cannot even remember the unit number of their original unit, and do not even know the name of their highest officer.

Nor will they have the slightest sense of belonging to their original unit.

The morale of the army will only gradually shift towards the temporary brigade.
Four days later.

Yangqu.

Temporary base of a brigade.

Wang Feng is planning the troop organization.

"Fang Yuan. What do you think?"

Zhao Fangyuan looked at the list of weapons and equipment on the manuscript paper in front of him and fell into deep thought.

After a series of battles including the Pingxingguan Battle, the First Temporary Brigade's financial resources were greatly enriched.

Currently, the entire brigade has nearly 150 light machine guns, a level of firepower that many army-level units cannot match.

There are a lot of them, but the types are also very diverse.

A small number of them were captured Taisho Type 11 light machine guns.

The caliber is 6.5 mm.

The vast majority of them were Type 65 light machine guns made in Shanxi that were allocated by Yan Laoxi.

A replica of the Czech light machine gun, but with a caliber of 6.5 mm.

There were also a small number of about a dozen Czech light machine guns.

The caliber is 7.92 mm.

There are more than sixty heavy machine guns, and their types are quite uniform.

The original few Mark machine guns were all destroyed in the battle.

The heavy machine guns currently equipped include a few captured Type 92 heavy machine guns.

The vast majority are Type 38 heavy machine guns made in Shanxi.

But the tone is still not unified.

In addition to light and heavy machine guns, there are more than fifty grenade launchers.

Zhao Fangyuan frowned: "Sir, in my opinion, we should concentrate all the automatic firepower together to give the Japanese army superior firepower strikes." Wang Feng stared at the manuscript on the table, thoughtfully.

This view is indeed correct, and this is what the vast majority of China’s military is doing at present.

Sergei stood aside wearing the uniform of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army. Because he was a foreigner, he had no collar badge or military rank.

But it did not affect his enthusiasm for participating in the discussion.

After joining the 1st Temporary Brigade, Wang Feng appointed Sergei as an instructor of the general staff and was under the command of Zhao Fangyuan.

"If we look at it from the perspective of human wave assault tactics, we need to concentrate superior firepower to suppress the Japanese army and buy time for our infantry to approach the enemy."

"It is recommended to adopt a 13-man infantry squad, so that the battle line is wide enough."

Wang Feng nodded. The three of them had the same opinion, so there was nothing more to discuss.

After reorganization, an infantry squad consists of 13 people.

There are three squads in a platoon, and there are a total of 45 people including the platoon headquarters.

A company has three platoons, with a total of about 150 people including the company headquarters.

When the organization reaches the battalion level, it gradually becomes richer.

The unit with the highest priority for equipment reinforcement is still Zhang Hu's regiment.

A battalion has three companies, and there are about 450 ordinary infantrymen alone.

This is not finished.

Another fire support company was added, with six heavy machine guns and eighteen light machine guns.

and a company of grenadiers, equipped with twelve grenade launchers.

By this calculation, a battalion has about 850 people.

A regiment has three battalions, and the front-line combat troops have a total of 2550 people.

It was equipped with eighteen heavy machine guns and fifty-four light machine guns.

Such a dense firepower configuration is not inferior even to that of the elite regiment of the Central Army.

It is enough to be able to stand on your own.

The brigade headquarters directly under the command of a heavy artillery battalion was added, which was composed of four Type 91 howitzers.

The number of weapons in the mortar battalion was expanded to twenty-four.

The rest remains unchanged for the time being.

This time, although he had more weapons at hand, Wang Feng did not forget Liu Zhijian's Second Regiment.

All organization is deployed according to the standards of a regiment.

In addition, Kong Zhiyong's reserve force was reorganized into three regiments.

The organization structure is directly based on the first group.

However, after the organization of the Second Regiment was put in place, the remaining supplies could only half-arm the Third Regiment.

Not only is there a shortage of weapons, but there is also a shortage of soldiers.

According to this calculation, the Temporary 9000st Brigade must expand its troops to at least people to meet the standard.

But now, the entire brigade has only about 6300 people.

There is still a big gap.

It's not realistic to expect Yan Laoxi to provide additional information.

I can only recruit locally.

Wang Feng turned around and asked, "Fang Yuan, how is the recruitment going?"

As soon as the troops entered Yangqu, the first thing they did was to post conscription notices everywhere.

At present, the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army does not have a clear conscription agency, although the Ministry of Military Affairs has always listed conscription as its main work goal.

However, the work of recruiting new soldiers has always been carried out independently by each unit.

Without the constraints of rules and regulations, Wang Feng naturally became much bolder.

Carry out large-scale recruitment directly in Yangqu.

Not limited to 9000 people, the more the better.

The general officer training class taught by Sergei will officially start classes in the afternoon, under the guidance of the "human wave assault" doctrine.

The speed at which reserve forces reinforce the front lines has increased, and the training period for new recruits has been greatly shortened.

It is more in line with the current rhythm of troop explosion.

While the three were discussing, the signalman came running over.

"Report to the commander, urgent telegram from Xinkou!"

Zhao Fangyuan walked quickly forward, took it, glanced at it, and then his expression suddenly changed.

(End of this chapter)