It's better to conquer them than to command the steel torrent

Chapter 37 | Outdated Armored Tactics
The spring rain is continuous.

The cast iron gate of the Ganden Tank Academy was open, and drops of water slid down from the top to the bottom. The four big characters "Sharpening Soldiers and Refining Equipment" were written on the surrounding walls.

Shang Ke walked through the gate holding an umbrella and carrying a briefcase. The sentry in a raincoat saluted him with his gun, and the officer on duty took two steps forward to greet him.

"Are you here to report?" He pointed to the front right and said, "The registration office is in that building."

After resolving the funding issue, Shang Ke came directly to Ganden for further studies.

There were quite a few officers who came to report, and at a glance there were twenty or thirty people queuing up.

The reporting process is not worth mentioning. After verifying identity and registering, you will be assigned a dormitory and receive textbooks.

The dormitories are on the west side of the campus. They are low, three-story red brick buildings, with a total of six or seven.

In a cheerful mood, Shang Ke searched all the way to the end of the corridor on the second floor. After finding the right dormitory, he pushed open the door directly, and the door hinges made a harsh squeak.

There is a double iron bed, two wide tables, two chairs, the floor is covered with non-slip tiles, a large electric fan is hung on the ceiling, and there is a toilet next to the balcony.

Not bad, there is nothing to complain about the conditions.

Shang Ke put his briefcase on the table and looked around.

The sound of flushing was heard, the toilet door opened, and a thin young man wearing glasses walked out while lowering his head to fasten his belt.

"Oh? My roommate is finally here?" He looked up at Shang Ke and nodded, "Let me introduce myself. I'm Xu Zhong, the communications staff officer of the 6th Engineering Brigade. What about you?"

The latter smiled slightly and said, "As for me, Shang Ke, I used to be from the Military Police Company of the First Mobile Division."

Xu Zhong noticed the Border Guard medal on Shang's uniform and asked curiously, "You're quite capable, brother. When did you get it? Was it from fighting the Russians?"

"Just recently, over at Yibohai."

"Huh? What a coincidence! I can actually meet someone who has experienced it firsthand here."

The previous border crossing was no secret; it was known to the public, let alone within the IDF.

Xu Zhong was originally the communications staff officer of the 6th Independent Engineer Brigade, a major. This unit was not part of the regular army and was understaffed by more than 50%.

There was actually nothing to do on the day of reporting, and the two became familiar with each other after a few words. From the conversation, Shang Ke discovered that Xu Zhong was a standard master test-taker, and his professional level of consultant was quite high. After all, everyone who was selected to study here was not an ordinary person.

The Gandan Tank Academy was founded in 1930, which makes it very young, but it is a key step towards the standardization of the armored forces of the Federal Armed Forces.

Starting from the year before last, the Tank Academy underwent adjustments and was re-divided into junior and senior departments. The junior department aims to train platoon and company-level officers, while the senior department aims to train battalion and regiment-level officers.

For military academy students with no basic knowledge, the academic period for ordinary classes is two and a half years.

However, in order to expand the number of officers quickly, efficiently and economically, the Military Training Department of the General Headquarters approved the establishment of short-term training courses in various military academies to select experienced active-duty officers for further study. The academic period of the short-term training courses was greatly streamlined and compressed, and the actual period was ten months.

A few days later.

The textbooks and the first lesson of the school year are speechless.

The regulations and ideas of the Bundeswehr's armored forces are still at the level of more than ten years ago. It is no exaggeration to say that they are only slightly more perfect than those during the European War.

The professor's response was rather helpless. The Army's leadership was currently divided into two schools of thought regarding the use of armored forces, with neither school winning or losing. Naturally, the textbook couldn't be updated until it was finalized. "Teacher! Wait!"

After class, Shang Ke found the professor and asked him for the tactical drafts of the two major schools.

There was no need to hide such a rough and imperfect thing, and it would be the content of future discussion classes, so Shang Ke got a booklet very easily.

He discovered that the two factions in his country's army were actually the infantry fighting chariot faction and the cavalry fighting chariot faction.

The former regarded tanks as mobile firepower points, insisted on the supremacy of infantry, and advocated that tanks be used as support weapons for infantry units during attacks.

The latter viewed tanks as a mobile force with powerful offensive capabilities, and therefore a superior alternative to cavalry. They advocated that tank clusters seek opportunities to raid weak points.

After Shang Ke returned to the dormitory, he carefully read the booklet and commented: "Excellent, all wrong."

Regardless of whether it is the infantry fighting vehicle school or the cavalry fighting vehicle school, the design and application ideas of tanks will gradually evolve like the Soviet and French armies in the early stages of the war in history.

Concentrating on the use of fast cavalry tanks (BT-7 or Soma S-35) without infantry support, even if a breakthrough is achieved, it will be impossible to consolidate the results.

Slow infantry tanks (T-35 or Renault R-35) are deployed in a dispersed manner and lack mobility, making them vulnerable to aggressive enemies.

I can only say that it is worthy of being a new type of soldier. It is really not easy to find the right path during the exploration stage.

In the history of the original dimension, among so many great powers at the beginning of the war, only the German army chose the right development path.

The use of armored forces is a commonplace topic and one of the most debated military common senses on the Internet. It is often deified together with blitzkrieg, leaving people confused.

However, its essence is not that mysterious at all. The correct idea is to focus on two core elements.

The first principle: Tanks have unparalleled breakthrough capabilities and are in a superior position, but tank units without the support of infantry units are vulnerable.

The second principle: When concentrated tank attacks are carried out, other arms should give priority to cooperating with tank units.

In everything, we must focus on the main contradiction. As long as we develop in accordance with the two major principles, the results will be almost certain.

Since tanks can only exert their maximum power by cooperating with infantry, how can we make infantry keep up with tanks?
The best solution is to let the infantry go by car, take trucks and armored personnel carriers, so that they can be motorized and mechanized. Of course, there is also a makeshift way, which is to let the infantry ride on tanks.

If this development continues, scouts, engineers, and artillery will naturally be mechanized, and armored reconnaissance vehicles, armored bridge-laying vehicles, self-propelled howitzers, self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, etc. will appear.

As long as the general direction is right, the subsequent deviations will not be too serious.

The book "Tanks! Forward!" records: "Despite the deployment of 300 tanks, the attack failed, the losses were heavy, and the lack of grenadiers had a painful effect."

The strength of the armored troops determines the upper limit of an army, while the strength of the infantry determines the lower limit of an army.

Realizing that the situation was not optimistic, Shang Ke decided to act as a guide himself and strive to write the correct ideas for armored force construction during his short-term training course.

While thinking, he suddenly thought of an interesting thing.

I wonder if the people of Valland in this dimension will choose the right ideas as they did in history. What are Man Buqun, Gu Bushuai, Long Buzai, and Mo Bugong doing now?
There are also the Ivan Rus people, the old enemies of the Valland people. Because it is very different from the original plane, the officer corps must be completely different. Will the troika still exist?

(End of this chapter)