Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 292 The Impact of Wounded Soldiers

It's important to know that there's a heavy artillery position at Hagaru-ri Airport, with quite a few 155mm M1 howitzers there. Of course, if air superiority is lost, even with heavy artillery, it won't take long to eliminate them.

After all, it's alright at night, but during the day, those massive, hard-to-hide, and hard-to-transfer heavy artillery pieces are the best targets for bombers.

Wang Gensheng didn't have a good solution to this either. After all, the physical abilities of the person in front of him had only increased sevenfold after many battles. He was still made of flesh and blood and would still be knocked down if hit by napalm or machine gun bullets. More importantly, he couldn't fly.

For Wang Gensheng to reach the minimum superhuman level, which is a hundred tons of strength, he would need to enhance his physical abilities by at least two thousand times. He couldn't even imagine how many people he would have to kill to achieve that.

Even setting aside Superman, the Hulk's physical attributes, especially his strength, which is capable of withstanding small-caliber bullets, are in the hundreds of tons. So Wang Gensheng is still far from that level!
At most, he would only have the physical attributes of a high-end version of Captain America. Just as Wang Gensheng was thinking about how much his physical attributes could be enhanced, Smith received a call from William.

"Smith, I assure you this time that the artillery positions of the reinforcements have been burned to ashes by my napalm bombs. Hurry up and repair the airport runway to evacuate the wounded!"

Smith was skeptical of William's words, but seeing that it was almost six in the morning, he knew that if they didn't repair it soon, they would be in big trouble when the reinforcements caught up.

So Smith didn't waste any time and immediately organized a large number of people to start repairing the airport runway overnight. After all, the airport runway had more than a hundred bomb craters. If it wasn't repaired, the transport plane would only end up being destroyed and killing everyone who landed.

More importantly, as more and more soldiers retreated to Hagaru-ri Airport, the number of wounded soldiers also increased.

Therefore, the tents at Hagaru-ri Airport were almost full of wounded soldiers. If the airport's transport capacity was not restored and these wounded soldiers were not transported back, but instead they were taken to Hungnam Port to evacuate by ship, it is conceivable how much the marching speed and combat effectiveness of the entire army would be delayed.

Moreover, the presence of a large number of wounded soldiers in the army can have a significant impact on the morale of the troops, and may even lead to the entire unit surrendering en masse.

It's important to understand that in post-Industrial Revolution warfare, the rapid development of various heavy firepowers led to a continuous increase in battlefield casualties. The lethality of firearms far exceeded that of melee weapons. When a high-explosive howitzer shell hit the ground, the surrounding area of ​​dozens of square meters would be covered by shrapnel and shockwaves, and soldiers without cover would either be killed or seriously injured.

In the meat grinder of modern warfare, the rate of troop attrition is astonishing. For example, in the Battle of the Somme during World War I, the British army suffered 60,000 casualties in a single day, with a large number of front-line troops wiped out—an unprecedented event in human history.

The reason why such casualties were rare in the Battle of the Somme is that armies generally calculate "casualty rates." When the casualties reach a certain percentage, the army will lose its fighting capacity, and the officers will order a retreat.

An army is made up of soldiers, whether it is the smallest squad or platoon or the largest army group or corps. Whenever the number of soldiers reaches a certain casualty rate, the army will "lose its combat effectiveness".

Of course, the term "loss of combat capability" is difficult to understand, because does it mean the entire army has been wiped out, or that the soldiers have simply routed? In reality, aside from being wiped out as a whole unit, for most military units, "loss of combat capability" means withdrawal and reorganization. In modern warfare, a casualty rate of 20% generally puts a unit at risk of losing its combat capability, while 30% is a globally recognized casualty rate threshold for armies; exceeding 30% renders the war unwinnable. While 30% may not seem like a high percentage, why do armies use it as a benchmark?

Those who haven't experienced the bloodshed of war can hardly understand the meaning of casualties. Throughout history, the casualty rate on the battlefield has directly affected the morale of an army.

It's important to understand that medical care in ancient warfare was extremely limited, and wounded soldiers rarely survived. In the era of cold weapons, if an army suffered more than one-tenth casualties, morale would be severely damaged. At this point, unless a skilled general was stationed at the rear, the soldiers would likely scatter, a phenomenon described in ancient texts as "abandoning their armor and dragging their weapons as they fled."

At this point, the enemy will pursue these soldiers who have lost their fighting ability. In ancient warfare, a large number of casualties and prisoners of war occurred during the process of one side retreating and the other side pursuing.

In modern warfare, thanks to advancements in medical systems, particularly the use of antibiotics and other highly effective treatments for external injuries, wounded and killed soldiers are generally evacuated from the front lines, with new recruits replacing them. This has somewhat reduced desertion. However, casualty rates still exert significant psychological pressure on soldiers. If frontline troops suffer heavy losses and do not return, soldiers may develop a fear of battle, or even completely lose their will to fight and become deserters.

Military casualty statistics are divided into wartime and post-war statistics. The real-time casualty rate on the battlefield is wounded and killed in action, and each one is counted as one. However, the casualty rate after the war is calculated includes four categories: wounded, killed in action, captured, and missing.

These four types of injuries cannot be recovered from in the short term, resulting in a real reduction in military personnel. Some units with excessive casualties may abandon reorganization and be disbanded, with the remaining soldiers being incorporated into other units.

Since the casualty rate affects the morale of the army, how was the 30% casualty rate threshold calculated? Can the psychological resilience of soldiers be quantified?

Actually, this data is not derived from psychology, but is related to the organization of modern armies and is the default rule of the armies of various countries in the Western Regions.

To understand casualty rates, it's crucial to first grasp one essential principle: not everyone in an army is engaged in combat. Besides the large number of frontline fighting units, an army also includes numerous logistical and technical branches, such as engineers, artillery, communications, medics, supply transport units, and command posts. In battle, those responsible for assaulting hilltops or defending trenches are primarily infantry. Just how many of these soldiers are there?

For example, the combat organization of the German army during World War II can well illustrate why a casualty rate of 30% is the limit for the army.

At the outbreak of World War II, the German infantry numbered around 17,000, divided into three infantry regiments and one artillery regiment. In addition, the German infantry also included reconnaissance battalions, anti-tank battalions, engineer battalions, motor transport units, communications units, as well as a command post and guard.

Each infantry regiment of the German army consisted of three battalions, each with 850 men. This meant that a single infantry regiment of the German army had approximately 2,500 men. However, these men were not all riflemen; a considerable number were non-combatants. Excluding these non-combatants, a single infantry regiment of the German army had a total of over 7,000 men. Considering that a fully equipped German army had 17,000 men, the infantry ratio was exactly 40%.

(End of this chapter)