The Fourth Outstanding Person of Huangpu Military Academy

"Furthermore, as far as I know, Guangzhou's regular army consists of 12 men, with an additional 5 to 10 militia. If we simply compare the numbers of the two armies, the Guangzhou rebellion would have been quelled long ago. I believe this current situation stems primarily from a disparity in the quality of the two armies.

Chiang Kai-shek: "It is imperative that the nation's military and political orders be unified. Disarmament is already on the agenda, and by that time military expenditures can be significantly reduced and the army's equipment improved. General Wetzel, in your opinion, which army unit should be the first to form a training corps?"

Wetzel: "Not any particular military unit, actually, my work should start at your military academies.

Nanjing Army Officers School.

Chiang Kai-shek moved the Whampoa Military Academy to Nanjing. Although only part of it was moved, the academy was able to open for business.

After the relocation, the Whampoa Military Academy was renamed the Nanjing Army Officer School, or simply the Nanjing Army Officer School. Of course, the official name of the Whampoa Military Academy wasn't actually Huangpu. It used to be called the "KMT Army Officer School." Now, the Guangzhou military academy has slightly changed its name to "Republic of China Army Officer School," but everyone has gotten used to calling it that, and the informal name has overshadowed the official one.

But there is a problem now: the Nanjing government prohibits the Nanjing Army Officers School from being called the "Whampoa Military Academy" in daily address.

The reason is that now when people talk about Huangpu, they think of the Communist Party, and when they think of the Communist Party, they think of Chen, Deng and the Guangdong bandits.

So now there are four military academies in China that were derived from Huangpu, three of which have the name of Huangpu, and one does not:

1. The Whampoa Military Academy, still at its old location in Guangzhou;

2. Huangpu Ganzhou Branch (Mountain Infantry School)

3. Huangpu Nanning Branch (Li Zongren founded it himself from Chongxi. He used the name Huangpu without authorization. I will file a lawsuit for intellectual property rights when I have time.)

4. Nanjing land officer.

I've noticed that the teaching standards at your military academies are extremely poor. It's impossible to train qualified officers at this rate; all you can do is produce yes-men who can do nothing but shout "Long live the Commander-in-Chief."

After inspecting the military academy in Nanjing for a few days, Wetzel gave the academy a failing grade without mercy.

Fortunately, the principal, Chiang Kai-shek, was not present at the moment, but the chief instructor, He Yingqin (acting as the principal on a daily basis), was present. He Yingqin explained:

When the military academy was still in Guangzhou, there were numerous Soviet advisors serving as instructors and coaches. Now that the Soviet instructors are gone, there are some subjects that our instructors don't teach as well as they should. And, well, there are indeed some negative effects from the departure of the Communist instructors.

Wetzel: "That's why my 25-person advisory group includes 10 military training experts. Now, all 10 military training experts need to be added to the instructor team of the officer academy.

He Yingqin: "Okay."

Wetzel said, "Each of these experts needs to be assigned a German translator. Furthermore, if military training experts are to engage in both teaching and training, your original plan to use the First Division of the First Army as a training unit will no longer be feasible. I hope to expand the training regiment into a training division, and to establish and train pilot units locally."

Nanjing Army Officer Training Corps.

Wetzel observed the training regiment next to the military academy for two days.

In Wetzel's eyes, the training corps was still substandard, both in terms of the quality of its soldiers and junior officers. But to be fair, the officers and NCOs in the training corps seemed better than the students at the Whampoa Military Academy. During drills and tactical training, the training corps had quite a few company commanders and platoon leaders who had their own unique methods of leading their troops.

Wetzel: "Did the Soviet advisers still leave when the officers of the training corps were studying at the academy?

He Yingqin stated: "The officers below the battalion level in the Training Corps were primarily graduates of the fifth and sixth classes who remained on campus after graduation. Some were injured and returned from the front lines for medical treatment, and after recovering, they reported to the Training Corps. For a period of time during their time in school, they had Soviet advisors, but these were no longer available by graduation. In fact, the reason the officers of the fifth and sixth classes were so effective in leading troops was that they had more or less been exposed to Chen Tianheng's tactics and strategies, and some even kept notes from their training sessions."

Wetzel: "Chen Tianheng?

He Yingqin: "He was a standout among the first class of this military academy, but later led his troops in a rebellion and became the main force of the Chen-Deng Yue bandits. Alas. General Wetzel, Chen Tianheng's tactics, according to many people, are very much borrowed from the German infantry tactics of the European War."

Wetzel: "Do you have any of Chen Tianheng's training notes?"

The "training notebook," compiled from several notes, was presented to Wetzel. The notebook, compiled by the more motivated officers of the training regiment, was in Chinese, and Wetzel's translator was busy writing on it, at least translating the index chapters first.

Wetzel: “Um….

Translation: "The translation of the main text may take a day or two.

Wetzel: “Hmm…”

Wetzel could get a general idea from the table of contents. This little training notebook contained infantry squad tactics, and Wetzel had come across the Stormtroopers' combat doctrine while on staff. In his opinion, the "infantry squad tactics" in this little notebook were more complex and more targeted than those of the Stormtroopers, and many of the ideas contained in it were still under development.

In other words, China’s military academy, no, this Chen Tianheng, uses a modified version of the Storm Commando tactics.

A muscle in Wetzel's face twitched. His eyes gradually turned red and flickered.

"Head Instructor He Yingqin.

The next day, Wetzel took the "Military Training Notebook" back to He Yingqin.

Chen Tianheng's infantry tactics are a rip-off of the Stormtroopers."

He Yingqin: “Oh.

Wetzel: "My advisory team and I will teach you the real German infantry combat regulations of 1918 during the next training period. This little book will no longer be used."

Chapter 8: The Three-Person Ghost Story

"Lieutenant General Georg Wetzel was born in 1869 and is 59 years old this year. Colonel Max Bauer, do you think he is young? No, he is also 59 years old this year."

“They are old and out of date.

"Not only is it outdated, their brains can no longer learn new things.

It is. ”

In Moscow, Frunze "Department 11", Guderian mercilessly evaluated the two German military advisers who went to China, even though they were colleagues of Guderian in the Weimar German Army before leaving their posts.

Guderian had a high opinion of himself and a bad temper, so it was normal for him to criticize the two elderly officers.

And, he was right. The main German generals of World War II, especially those with distinguished military achievements, were all young officers in their thirties and forties. Guderian was 40, Manstein 41, and Model and Rommel 37.

However, the older officers of the Reichswehr period did play a role in preserving Germany's military power and continuing its military system during the transition period from Weimar Germany to the Nazis.

Chen Tianheng: "What the Nanjing government lacked in its army was regularization, not the ability to stay at the forefront of tactical research. This is not to say that the Chinese battlefield lacked cutting-edge tactical research and practice, but rather that the Nanjing government had not yet built a regularized army or a modern military system, making it difficult for it to stay at the forefront of military technology."

Guderian: "That is a real problem for you.

Chen Tianheng: "What does it have to do with me? I am a Soviet citizen.

"%t&S^S! Trash!" Guderian was so angry at Chen Tianheng's stubborn excuse that he started speaking German again: "... Then, strangely enough, the Guangzhou government seems to want to be at the forefront of military technology.

"Because the Guangzhou government has a regularized army, and, although it hasn't yet fully established a military system, this semi-completed military system is modern. Furthermore, as I mentioned earlier about the role that the two German military advisors could play in regularizing the Nanking government's military, I believe it was useful but limited. This isn't because their ideas are outdated, but rather because the entire system of the Nanking government is difficult to change."

Although he still did not prove his identity, Chen Tianheng still answered Guderian's question, but using a third-party tone.

Max Bauer was Chiang Kai-shek's first German military advisor in the original historical dimension, and Wetzel was his third. Max Bauer served in China for less than a year before dying of illness in Shanghai. Wetzel... Wetzel had performed well, but he and Chiang Kai-shek didn't get along. Chiang Kai-shek secretly contacted Falkenhausen, Wetzel's former superior during the Second Reich War, to replace Falkenhausen as head of the advisory group, with Wetzel as deputy head. Furious, Wetzel resigned and returned to Germany.

Therefore, whether they have the ability or not is not the most important thing, what matters is Chiang Kai-shek's broad-mindedness and magnanimity.

Guderian: "Modern military system. Then you can manufacture 150 field guns?" State,

Chen Tianheng: "They can't do it now, but they will in the future. Chinese people are very smart and can do anything.

Guderian laughed and said nothing.

Chen Tianheng went to these "11 places" not just to check in, he originally wanted to see the research results of the two countries' staff on future wars during the period of Soviet-German military cooperation.

There is a saying that the military cooperation between the Soviet Union and Germany from 1923 to 1932 was the period when the armored mechanized combat theories of the two countries were jointly born.

Military cooperation ended after the Nazis came to power, and at the same time, Germany's armaments were dismantled, allowing the Germans to conduct research and study in their own country.

The Soviet Union also continued its research, and although it experienced some twists and turns, it eventually came up with the theory of deep combat.

Chen Tianheng took out all the files related to the "West 1926" exercise from the filing cabinet and looked through them one by one.

The 'West 1926' exercise assumes that the armies of Poland, Romania and other Western powers invade Ukraine and occupy Kiev. At this time, the Soviet army launches a counterattack, breaks the enemy's defenses and pushes back to Kiev.

For this counterattack, the General Staff planned to mobilize 70 troops from two fronts (actually a conservative approach). The actual exercise only simulated the first phase of the battle and mobilized one army group.

After nearly an hour, Chen Tianheng finally finished reading the General Staff's plan and the actual progress of the exercise. In the end, he found that... the exercise didn't seem to be very successful?

"Ivan, the 'West 1926' exercise seems to have failed to achieve its intended purpose?"

Guderian: "Hmm. 41 volumes

The door of the archive room was pushed open and a person came in.

"Comrade Instructor Vyacheslav.

Chen Tianheng knew this person, Vyacheslav from the Advanced Campaign Teaching and Research Department, and the director of the General Staff Department when Tukhachevsky was the Chief of the General Staff.

When a stranger appeared in the archive room, Chen Tianheng and Guderian stopped chatting temporarily. But looking at Vyacheslav, Chen Tianheng thought that this instructor who worked under Tukhachevsky should also know something.

"Comrade Instructor, I have discovered that the final results of the 'West 1926' exercise failed to achieve the depth of advancement planned by the General Staff, nor did it achieve the planned amount of territory recovered.

After successfully crossing the Dnieper River from sections A and B, the armies stopped advancing in depth and instead attacked the riverside city of Onuforiyivka. To this end, the two armies marched slowly along the Dnieper River from the third to the sixth day. When Onuforiyivka was captured, the battle was over.

Vyacheslav: “Yes.

Chen Tianheng: "Then, after the exercise, we should summarize the actual situation and propose improvement plans. I didn't find any improvement plans in the archives.

Vyacheslav: “Of course there are plans for improvement, but they are in the Operations Department of the General Staff.

Chen Tianheng: "How did the Red Army improve the course planning of this campaign?

"Ah, well, that," Vyacheslav suddenly stuttered. "As for the improvement of the campaign plan, of course, we used the shortcomings and deficiencies revealed in the last exercise as a reference to revise or improve it. Exactly how we improved it is a very complicated question. If you ask me this question, I can only say that we did improve it.

Chen Tianheng:

Wow, you’re saying the same thing over and over again.

Maybe Vyacheslav was on guard against the German "visiting scholar" who shared the same room with him.

"By the way, how did you get in? This is Section 11." Vyacheslav took out a document he wanted from the file rack and asked.

Chen Tianheng held up the access card and said, "It was issued by the dean.

Seeing that Instructor Onufori Ifoka didn't give a direct answer, Chen Tianheng turned to Guderian and asked, "Ivan, if this campaign is to achieve its intended objectives, how should we improve it?"

Guderian suddenly looked around and hesitated: "The expected goal of the battle is difficult to achieve. Of course, it is not impossible to achieve it, but some adjustments must be made.

Chen Tianheng: “How should we adjust it?

"In short, we need to make some adjustments." Chen Tianheng still looked at Guderian. He had no choice but to say: "Move the attack point of the first group here, that's it."

Chen Tianheng looked at the map and saw that Guderian had just casually moved the breakthrough point of the first cluster.

From the originally weakly defended area, it was moved to an area heavily fortified by the defending side with a large number of troops...

"That's great, Comrade Ivan's brilliant deployment adjustment." Chen Tianheng said.

Guderian could hear Chen Tianheng mocking him. "Comrade Medvedev, what are your thoughts on the adjustments to this campaign?"

"Me? I've only been looking at this file an hour ago.

Chen Tianheng finally understood that Vyacheslav and Guderian were both more pretentious than the other. They either talked nonsense or did not say anything of substance.

So, the joint exercises between Germany and the Soviet Union were conducted, and the exercise data were obtained, but as for the research and improvement of the exercise results, I am sorry, this is the research I did behind closed doors and is not open to the public.

Chen Tianheng simply did something frivolous, swiping at the map on the second page of the unfolded file and moving the second cluster further towards Cherkassy:

“Or let’s just adjust it this way.

Liaison Office of the United Nations Government in Moscow.

"Director Wang, is the line confidentiality of our telegram sent back to Guangzhou?

Chen Tianheng asked Wang Ruofei.

"Confidentiality? You're asking about that," Wang Ruofei thought for a moment. "Honestly, how good can confidentiality be with wired telegraph? Theoretically, all messages can be monitored. Although ciphertext can be used, it's hard to say whether it can be deciphered. With radio, sending long messages takes a long time."

Chen Tianheng: “What I want to post also happens to be a very long piece of content.

Wang Ruofei: "If that's the case, I suggest you send it by mail, and have our liaison office staff take it back personally when they rotate."

Chen Tianheng: “This is the only way.

The things I wrote down at the Frunze Academy and the General Staff were very long after they were sorted out. They included not only text but also charts and graphs, which basically could not be transmitted by telegram.

Wang Ruofei: "In a few days, a delegation from Guangzhou will land on the Black Sea and then go to Moscow. I may take them to observe and inspect the Soviet cities and towns in a week, and they will be back in a month.

Chen Tianheng: "The Soviet comrades arranged the location and the accompanying personnel."

Wang Ruofei: “Yes.

"Well," Chen Tianheng said, "I happen to know some Soviet friends. The agricultural group in your delegation can go to my Soviet friends and take a 'free trip'."

Wang Ruofei nodded, understanding the significance of Chen Tianheng's proposal. "But the inspection schedule was already set when they left Guangzhou, so it's not easy to change it casually.

Chen Tianheng: "Then let the delegation go with the group for the inspection first. After returning to Moscow, they will have a week of free time. During this week, I will ask my friend to take them to Kursk, where there are both pastures and farms. My friend has relatives who are in charge of both the pastures and farms.

Wang Ruofei: "Okay, that's good. ...Industrial inspection team, do your friends have any connections?"

Chen Tianheng: "Yes, there are, but the industrial delegation doesn't need 'free travel', but rather to shop around. Have the delegation members ever visited factories or industrial cities abroad? They haven't never seen factories in other industrial countries, or even traveled abroad, have they?

"I'm not sure about that. I only have a list of the members of the delegation, but no information about them.

Chen Tianheng: "But we could also let them investigate the Soviet Union first, and after that, it would be best if they could also visit other countries.

Chapter 9: Zhukov reports to school