Double-Cut During the War of Resistance: My Wife Came from 1937

Even with only 82mm and 60mm mortars, they were able to receive tremendous fire support.

With powerful firepower, they were able to eliminate more Japanese soldiers with fewer casualties.

Both Division Commander Liu and Deputy Division Commander Xu had read the history of the War of Resistance against Japan.

They all knew what the firepower provided by Ma Hongwei and Xia Weiwei meant.

It should be noted that before the Hundred Regiments Offensive was launched (March 1940), the Eighth Route Army had more than 400,000 troops and 170 regiments, and the number of artillery pieces they possessed was only 311.

Among them, there were 38 75mm mountain guns.

These were all the Eighth Route Army's most prized possessions, concentrated in the headquarters artillery regiment.

There were only 156 82mm mortars, 21 more than Xia Weiwei brought.

If you include the nine 120mm mortars, and the 16 82mm mortars that their three divisions currently possess, the number is even greater, and the firepower is even stronger.

During the Hundred Regiments Offensive, there were also 9 anti-tank guns and 108 50mm Japanese grenade launchers.

The power of those 50mm grenade launchers is far less than that of a 60mm mortar.

It can be said that with these artillery pieces, the artillery firepower that the Eighth Route Army now possesses even exceeds that of the Hundred Regiments Offensive two and a half years later.

This will be a qualitative leap!

However, the Eighth Route Army at that time did not have that many suitable artillery units.

It seems we need to train more artillerymen quickly!

"What about the shells and bullets?"

Deputy Division Commander Xu then asked a crucial question.

Shells and bullets are crucial.

Without shells and bullets, artillery and guns are no longer deadly weapons.

"As for bullets, provide 2000000 rounds for the AK assault rifle, Type 56 submachine gun, and Type 56 semi-automatic rifle."

Xia Weiwei continued reading while looking at her phone: "500000 rounds of ammunition for the RPK light machine gun."

"1242000 rounds of ammunition were supplied for the PKM; this ammunition can also be used for the Maxim heavy machine gun!"

"306000 rounds of ammunition for the M249 light machine gun."

"391500 rounds of ammunition for the Browning M1919 heavy machine gun."

"72000 rounds of ammunition for the DShK 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine gun."

"In addition, there are 200000 rounds of handgun ammunition."

"One million rounds of 7.92mm full-power ammunition."

"One million rounds of 6.5mm bullets."

"A total of 6711500 rounds of ammunition were used, including 2511500 rounds of light and heavy machine gun ammunition."

"670 million rounds of ammunition? That's over 250 million rounds of ammunition for light and heavy machine guns alone?"

Deputy Division Commander Xu exclaimed with considerable emotion, "What a grand gesture! Truly a grand gesture!"

Since the founding of the Eighth Route Army, the Nationalist government and Yan Xishan have supplied them with a total of 152 million rounds of ammunition, 7.3 hand grenades, and only 9000 mortar shells.

These are all given to them only when they are needed to fight the Japanese.

At other times, the Eighth Route Army could only fight guerrilla warfare and capture the spoils on their own.

To date, they have captured 35 rounds of ammunition and more than 1200 artillery shells.

However, they also consume a lot.

Even if the Eighth Route Army only fired one or two rounds of gunfire before engaging in hand-to-hand combat, they have already used up more than 100 million bullets.

Only a few hundred thousand rounds remain.

Later, they obtained more than 100 million bullets through the exchange of sulfonamides.

This is much better than before.

But they never expected that Xia Weiwei and Ma Hongwei would get them more than 671 million bullets this time.

This contains 251 million rounds of machine gun ammunition alone.

All they have so far, including their stockpiles, supplies, and captures, amount to only 77 rounds of machine gun ammunition.

Moreover, these machine guns have consumed a huge amount of ammunition, with more than 40 rounds already fired on the battlefield.

Originally, Division Commander Liu and Deputy Division Commander Xu were worried about how to obtain more machine gun bullets.

Unexpectedly, Ma Hongwei solved the problem for them directly.

The number of machine gun bullets they have is more than three times that of their peak period, and eight times that of their current quantity.

"If there are so many bullets, there must be a lot of mortar shells too, right?"

Commander Liu said with a smile.

The smile on his face hadn't disappeared since then.

"The number of shells!"

Xia Weiwei slowly said, "1800 rounds of 120mm heavy mortar shells."

"7000 82mm mortar shells."

"30000 60mm mortar shells."

"The total number of shells is 38800."

Deputy Division Commander Xu thought that after experiencing so many shocks, he had become numb and would no longer be shocked.

But when he heard the number 38800, he was shocked once again.

From the start of the War of Resistance against Japan until now, the total number of artillery shells they have obtained from the Nationalist government, the Jin-Sui Army, and the Japanese army is only 10200.

Ma Hongwei brought back 3.8 times the number of artillery shells they had previously received.

On average, each 120mm heavy mortar has 200 rounds of ammunition.

Each 82mm mortar (the one brought back by Ma Hongwei and the one now possessed by the Eighth Route Army) has an average of more than 46 shells.

Each 60mm mortar carries an average of 80 shells.

Prior to this, each of their 16 mortars was equipped with only a dozen or twenty mortars.

In routine small-scale guerrilla warfare, the use of mortars is strictly prohibited.

Only when ambushing or attacking key strongholds is it permissible to use 3-5 shells; once those are used up, the assault must begin.

Back then, every shot was as precious as life itself!

In contrast, each mortar in the Central Army's German-equipped divisions was equipped with 150-200 rounds of ammunition as standard.

Although so many shells had been supplied before, most of them were consumed in the Battle of Pingxingguan and other major battles.

Even the 129th Division, which was in the most dire need of ammunition, only had 11.2 rounds per mortar.

These shells were a huge boost for them.

"call!"

After Xia Weiwei finished reading, she let out a long sigh.

She handed the phone to the two leaders, saying, "By the way, sirs, there are some artillery parameters on this!"

The Type 55 120mm mortar, with a caliber of 120mm and a combat weight of 275kg, can be disassembled into three parts: the barrel, the carriage, and the base plate. It can be transported by manpower or mules by squad members and is suitable for mountainous and complex terrain.

The artillery has a maximum range of 5700 meters and an effective combat range of 1000-4500 meters.

The shell is a high-explosive shell, weighing 16 kg; its fragmentation radius is 25 meters for lethality, 40 meters for serious injury, and 60 meters for minor injury; it can directly penetrate a 1.2-meter-thick rammed earth bunker and a 0.6-meter-thick brick-and-mortar pillbox, and can destroy field tunnels, machine gun positions, and simple defensive walls.