I am an industrial worker during the War of Resistance

Chapter 68 Who says anti-aircraft guns can only shoot down airplanes?

"Uncle, I have a question about combat that I'd like to learn from you. Could you tell me about it?"

Chen Changzai, along with Regiment Commander Chen and two political commissars, were eating breakfast at the kang table.

There were four people, so there should have been two kinds of food.

Wang Ling and her older sisters specially prepared millet porridge, wheat flour pancakes, and scrambled eggs for Chen Changzai—meals typical of patients.

But he said he had an upset stomach and couldn't stand oily food.

Wang Ling was then asked to deliver the fried dough and scrambled eggs to the children at the orphanage.

Wang Ling also took the millet porridge to eat with her older sisters.

He still ate cornmeal porridge, steamed buns, and pickled vegetables with Commander Chen and the others.

Although the harvest in northern Shaanxi was better last year than the year before.

But things aren't good enough for everyone to be able to eat white flour pancakes yet.

Within the team's controlled area, the only people who could eat white rice five times a week and meat twice a week were the children from the nursery.

Those children who survived the snow-capped mountains and grasslands and made it to northern Shaanxi.

"Oh, what combat-related questions do you want to ask?"
"Ask away. As long as I know the answer, I'll explain it to you in detail," Commander Chen asked curiously.

Chen Changzai asked this question today, and it wasn't just Commander Chen who was curious.

Even Political Commissar Liu and Political Commissar He were very curious.

Chen Changzai said, "Uncle, it's like this."

A while ago, the comrades from the Special Branch sent me some technical data they had obtained about the Japanese artillery.

I took a closer look.

Among these are the Type 96 150mm howitzers that the Japanese had just equipped for their North China garrison.

There were also the Type 41 and Type 94 75mm mountain guns.

In addition, the Type 94 37mm rapid-fire gun and the Type 92 70mm infantry gun.

And their Type 97 mortar data.

There's also data on Japanese field guns, ranging from 75mm to 105mm.

These data are not very detailed.

But to me, this is already shocking.

We were far inferior to the Japanese in artillery.

We now have a 500-ton forging press, which can forge gun barrel steel.

However, the headquarters' ordnance factory has already begun to copy and produce the 82mm mortar of the 20th year of the Republic of China.

However, these small-caliber mortars with a range of less than 3,000 meters were unable to suppress the Japanese artillery.

At best, it could only hold its own against the Japanese mortars and Type 92 infantry guns.

I saw a newspaper article from a while ago that said the Japanese were constantly provoking China.

It seems the Japanese are about to lose their temper.

If the Japanese really start a war with us.

I feel that North China might not be able to hold out, and Shanxi is in a tough spot too.

That guy Yan Laoxi is unreliable.

If Shanxi is lost, we will face the elite Japanese army directly.

Therefore, we only have two directions to fight the Japanese army.

One is Shanxi, and the other is Suiyuan.

Shanxi's terrain is characterized by intersecting peaks and crisscrossing ravines.

Eastern Suiyuan is also a mountainous and hilly area.

I feel that if we were to fight the Japanese, it would be in this kind of terrain.

Uncle, what I want to ask is, in this kind of terrain, if you were a front-line commander...

How would you deal with a Japanese regiment that is roughly the same size as our own?

They have 75mm mountain guns with a range of about 8,000 meters.

The question Chen Changzai asked surprised all three of them, including Commander Chen.

Commander Chen and other senior commanders were aware of these matters.

Whether it was the data on Japanese artillery that the Special Branch comrades brought back, or the Japanese actions in North China.

As senior commanders of the team, how could they not be informed?

Moreover, they share similar judgments with Chen Changzai regarding potential future wars and battle zones.

However, they did not expect Chen Changzai to ask them how to fight if they encountered a Japanese regiment with a similar number of soldiers.

Commander Chen didn't try to hide anything.

Instead, he put down the cornbread in his hand and said to Chen Changzai, "If we were to encounter a Japanese infantry regiment head-on..."

So there's nothing more to say, we can only fight, there's no other choice.

As for how to fight, that depends on the terrain.

A standard Japanese infantry regiment doesn't have a number of soldiers roughly the same as ours.

It's actually more than the number of people in our group.

Our Third Independent Regiment is a specially reinforced regiment.

The entire group has a little over three thousand people.

A typical full-strength regiment usually consists of three battalions plus one reinforced company, with a maximum strength of only 2,500 people.

Normally there are two thousand people.

The Japanese infantry regiment, on the other hand, consisted of more than 3,800 men.

Just like you said. In Shanxi and eastern Suiyuan, there are actually not many areas where such a large infantry regiment can fully deploy its forces.

After they deployed their forces.

Its frontal combat width needs to be at least two to three kilometers.

The depth needs to be at least four to five kilometers.

Moreover, their positions are often divided by ravines, hills, and other features.

At this time, what the Japanese relied on most was their artillery fire support.

Especially indirect fire support.

In such terrain, direct-fire artillery is less effective than indirect-fire artillery.

And when we were facing the Japanese devils.

They were at a disadvantage in terms of artillery.

Therefore, we can only engage in close-quarters combat to minimize the threat posed by the Japanese mountain guns and infantry guns.

Use landmines to block the roads on our flanks that the Japanese might use to maneuver.

Then, using a combination of automatic fire from our rifles and submachine guns, we got close to the Japanese.

They systematically dismantled the Japanese troops' formations, which were fragmented by the terrain.

However, such a direct confrontation would inevitably cause huge casualties to our troops.

I wouldn't fight like that unless it was absolutely necessary.

I will lead the Japanese devils to run, make them loose and disorganized.

Then I'll go back and figure out a way to eat one of its parts.

I can't say whether our other brother units can do it or not.

However, our Independent Third Regiment is absolutely fine.

We have cavalry.

In addition, there are the three-wheeled vehicles you produce.

Although there aren't many of these three-wheeled vehicles, they can still solve our big problem.

Especially after they were fitted with triangular tracks.

Their mobility, I feel, is even better than that of warhorses.

A warhorse cannot run very fast in muddy or gravelly terrain.

But I feel that once the three-wheeled vehicle is fitted with tracks, there will be absolutely no problem.

Of course, if you have a way to make better cannons that can take out the Japanese mountain guns.

That would be perfect! As long as I can destroy their artillery, I'll be fearless.

Chen Changzai nodded after listening.

He said, "Uncle, you know that the prototype of our 37mm anti-aircraft gun will be ready in about two more days."

The prototype production of the twin 37mm anti-aircraft gun has moved from the blueprint stage to the component production stage.

I think it won't be long before the twin 37mm anti-aircraft gun will be tested, following closely behind the single-barrel 37mm anti-aircraft gun.

According to my design intentions.

The effective slant range of these two 37mm anti-aircraft guns is 3,500 meters, and the effective firing height is 3,000 meters.

The maximum theoretical firing altitude is 5,000 meters.

Theoretically, at a firing angle of 45 degrees, its maximum horizontal firing range is 8,500 to 9,000 meters.

Uncle, I don't know if you've heard of it, during the European war.

The Germans used heavy machine guns and strafing techniques to inflict heavy casualties on the attacking British and French troops.

The so-called "crossing shot" is also known as "curved shot".

So I was thinking...

If I equip the 37mm anti-aircraft gun with high-explosive shells using trigger fuses, and don't use them to shoot down aircraft...

Instead, they used crossfire tactics to deal with the Japanese artillery positions.

So, here's the 37mm anti-aircraft gun I designed.

Its single-barrel firing rate can theoretically reach 160 to 180 rounds.

However, the average rate of fire in combat should be limited to sixty to eighty rounds per minute.

And the double-barreled 37mm anti-aircraft gun.

Its actual rate of fire in combat can reach 100 to 120, which I think is acceptable.

If we discover the Japanese artillery positions.

In theory, a single-barreled 37mm anti-aircraft gun can fire at a rate of 60 to 80 rounds per minute from 8500 meters away.

To cover the Japanese artillery positions, a longitudinally or laterally elliptical area of ​​approximately 130 x 130 meters was formed.

If it were a twin 37mm anti-aircraft gun, its bullet density would be even greater in this area.

The kill radius of a high-explosive shell from a 37mm anti-aircraft gun is five to fifteen meters.

Therefore, if a hundred 37mm high-explosive shells or incendiary shells were to fall on this area in a short period of time, the Japanese artillery positions would not be in a good position.

Of course, these are still theoretical values.

In actual combat, things will definitely change.

After hearing Chen Changzai's words, Regiment Commander Chen, Political Commissar Liu, and Political Commissar He looked at each other in bewilderment.

It's not that they don't understand the application of ballistics.

They had never used 37mm anti-aircraft guns before, so they never thought they could use them to conduct cross-coverage firing.

(End of this chapter)