The Fourth Outstanding Person of Huangpu Military Academy

Chen Tianheng: "Chief Instructor, the Soviet Army's infantry offensive doctrine is the predecessor of the Russian Army's offensive doctrine, which can be traced back to the German infantry offensive doctrine of 1884. This method of warfare was proven difficult to achieve a breakthrough in the European war a few years ago."

"The essence of this tactic is to throw a large number of infantry into a single line, exceeding the maximum limit of the defender's firepower. However, with the large-scale deployment of machine guns and rapid-fire artillery, the defender's firepower has been greatly enhanced. Even after repeated artillery preparations have weakened the defenders, the remaining firepower density is still sufficient to contain any infantry assault of the attackers."

"In the Battle of Verdun and the Battle of the Somme, both sides launched large-scale infantry assaults involving tens of thousands of troops, and both conducted lengthy artillery fire preparations before the battles. Yet, the attackers still suffered disastrous defeats. In the most brutal battle, the British and French forces suffered 6 casualties in a single day."

He Yingqin: "Then how can your new tactics break through the defenders' heavy firepower defense system?"

Chen Tianheng: "I adopted a tactic similar to that of Germany's Storm Troopers of 1917. The attacking infantry was divided into four mission groups: the firepower group, the assault group, the demolition group, and the support group. After the artillery preparation, each group was deployed to the battlefield one by one, reaching the front of the enemy position and destroying its defense system. The subsequent infantry units then quickly passed through this breakthrough. After these subsequent units quickly passed through the breakthrough, they were also automatically divided into four mission groups, responsible for launching an attack on the next line of defense."

He Yingqin pondered for a moment and looked at the three tactical instructors behind him.

"Jingfu, what do you think?"

"Mr. He, I didn't quite understand what you said, but it seemed pretty impressive."

"This tactic was used by the German Storm Troopers. Okay, let's put it this way," He Yingqin concluded. "Chen Tianheng, your unit can practice this tactic, but your entire battalion must master the Whampoa infantry combat regulations. When the whole regiment exercises, I'll assess you on those."

Chen Tianheng: "I understand!"

"Chief Instructor, this is one bucket of water and two pounds of soil," Qiu Qingquan whispered to Lu Deming beside him, "—it's a smooth talk."

Lu Deming: "Puff..."

He Yingqin did not hear the two people's whisper, but the tactical instructor behind him heard it.

"Yuan, what are you talking about?"

Liu Zhi asked seriously.

Chapter 49

"Instructor Liu, Qiu Qingquan just asked how to join the War Research Society."

Chen Tianheng broke the silence of the small classroom and answered Liu Zhi's question perfectly.

Liu Zhi: "I see. Ah, haha, Chen Tianheng, you and I are on the same level, there's no need to salute like that. No need."

When the teaching regiment was formed, the original plan was for the chief instructor He Yingqin to serve as the regiment commander, the tactical instructor Liu Zhi to serve as the battalion commander of the first battalion, and the battalion commanders of the second and third battalions would be outstanding students. In other words, the first battalion would serve as the benchmark for the teaching regiment, and the second and third battalions would follow suit.

As a result, because the armored vehicle team of the Grand Marshal's Headquarters came to compete with Chiang Kai-shek for people, Chiang Kai-shek got carried away and asked Chen Tianheng and Liu Zhi to switch positions.

However, Liu Zhi didn't care much about this. After all, the battalion commanders of the first and second battalions were both battalion commanders, both lieutenant colonels.

Liu Zhi was born in Baoding Military Academy. After graduation, he went with the flow and served in several troops, including the Beiyang Clique, the Yunnan Army, the Jiangxi Aid Army, and the Guangdong Army under Chen Jiongming. In 1922, he jumped from Chen Jiongming's army to Sun Yat-sen's headquarters guerrilla army, served as the captain of the first detachment, and boarded the revolutionary train.

"I was a battalion commander in the Yunnan Army, a battalion commander during the Protection of Law Movement, a lieutenant colonel staff officer when I was with you, and now I'm a battalion commander again."

Liu Zhi and his old colleagues from Xu Chongzhi's Guangdong Army were drinking together and sighed.

Before being transferred from Xu Chongzhi's army to Sun Yat-sen's headquarters, Liu Zhi was a lieutenant colonel staff officer at Xu Chongzhi's Eastern Route Anti-Traitor Army Headquarters.

"Old Liu, why are you sighing? Everyone knows that the Whampoa Military Academy Training Corps will be expanded. If it expands to a division, won't you become the regimental commander? If it expands to an army, won't you become the division commander? Come on, let me pour you some," a colleague poured wine for Liu Zhi. "Hey, if you need experienced officers for the next expansion, remember to recommend a few of us."

"That's right. The Kuomintang army will definitely become a party army in the future. They will expand the army again and again, and absorb all the useful people from the Guangdong, Yunnan and Guangxi armies. After absorbing all the people, they will spit out the remaining dregs."

Liu Zhi: "Now Chiang Kai-shek likes to use his Whampoa students. They are young and have clean backgrounds, unlike us people with mixed backgrounds. He especially values ​​Whampoa students who are not Communist Party members. Even those who have joined the Communist Party, he will do everything he can to educate and win over them."

"These Whampoa student soldiers fought with reckless abandon. I heard they all believed in the Three Principles of the People and weren't interested in getting rich or getting promoted. As soon as Sun Yat-sen, no, Chiang Kai-shek, gave the order, these students would charge forward, braving the hail of bullets."

"It's not just about not wanting their lives, the Whampoa Military Academy is also incredibly skilled in combat," another colleague argued. "Weren't you there during the battle against the Merchant Corps? We were fighting fiercely at the street corner. We didn't even know when the Whampoa student army broke in, and they pushed all the way to the Thirteen Factories and directly planted the Blue Sky, White Sun flag on the roof."

"That's risking my life. If it were me, I wouldn't dare go in there either. Those rich guys in the merchant group have more machine guns than us, and more bullets than we can use up."

"I heard they dug a hole in the wall, went in and around, and suddenly emerged from the side of the Thirteenth Hong Building. Hey, Old Liu, who's leading this group of student soldiers? Do you know them?"

Liu Zhi thought, not only do I know him, but now this student is on the same level as me.

"I know him. He's one of Chiang Kai-shek's closest allies. By the way, let me ask you something. The Whampoa Military Academy now has a new tactic: when the infantry charges, they don't charge all at once..."

Liu Zhi gave his old colleagues an overview of the infantry assault tactics he had heard at the War Research Conference.

"It's difficult." "This is not easy." "It's really difficult. It's too difficult to practice."

A lieutenant colonel in Xu Chongzhi's army said, "If a few of your groups sneak up on us, and the defending team concentrates their machine guns to fire at one of them, soldiers like us will immediately be scared and flee. Then they can concentrate their fire on the next group, and soon the whole team will be defeated."

"And how do you coordinate these people? They have to advance and retreat together. Look, the assault team advances 100 or 200 meters, then they have to stop first, and the machine gunners behind them move up, carrying their guns and moving forward 100 or 200 meters. What if the machine gunners are afraid of being killed and dare not move forward? What if one or two assault teams don't stop?"

"And that group, the one carrying the explosives, how does he know what he's supposed to do? When should he follow behind the commandos? When should he run past them and get to the front to plant the explosives?"

"Let me tell you, the simplest thing is what we're doing now. We rush forward in a swarm. With more people, the soldiers can embolden each other, and being crowded together can prevent desertions. The cannon fires and we charge forward. The cannon fires again and we charge forward again. Isn't that how wars are fought?"

"Yeah, yeah," Liu Zhi nodded repeatedly, "It's quite difficult."

……

Cheung Chau Island.

Training ground of the teaching regiment.

Chen Tianheng is also worried about training now.

The doubts raised by the staff officers of Xu Chongzhi's troops were indeed a problem, but Chen Tianheng had a way to solve it.

The training method used in the Marine Corps is still effective now. During training, just run behind and use a whistle to remind them.

Whistles can be used not only on the training ground but also on the battlefield. The whistle has a sharp and recognizable sound. Even if there is a roar of gunfire, the whistle can be heard within a range of 30 to 40 meters.

What worried Chen Tianheng was that there were too few automatic firearms.

The Fourth Field Army was the first among all the field armies to form tactical systems such as one point and two sides, four groups and one team, and three-three system. This was because the main column of the Fourth Field Army at that time could basically achieve one light machine gun and two submachine guns in one infantry squad.

But the training corps currently lacked submachine guns. The Generalissimo's Guards did have a submachine gun unit, with 30 imported Thompsons (donated to Sun Yat-sen by overseas Chinese), but these were not Instructor Ye, so they couldn't borrow them from him. The Yunnan and Guangdong armies had a small number of Hua submachine guns, but they were clearly unavailable.

So now Chen Tianheng has his soldiers practice bolt-action drills daily, hundreds of times a day. The sound of bolts rattling fills the troops, and the ground dings with empty shells. Now, these soldiers can generally fire five times (emptying the magazine) within eight seconds, of course, without recoil.

Light machine guns were also a major problem. The 1st Battalion used the Madsen imitations from the Ishii Arsenal, which didn't allow for one per squad, or even one per platoon, but two per company.

"Xu Jishen! Wang Erzhuo! I want to discuss something with you!"

Chen Tianheng went to the Second Battalion to find these two acquaintances from the War Research Association, who are now the company commander and deputy company commander in the Second Battalion.

"Our first battalion is going to practice a full-company assault, but we don't have enough machine guns. The entire battalion only has six. Should we combine our two battalions and practice together?"

Xu Jishen: "No, your First Battalion is progressing too fast. We haven't even started working on the tactics that the War Research Council has been studying yet."

Chen Tianheng: "Then let's start today. The three companies in our battalion will have more complex training, and yours will be simpler. There's no need for any preparation, just knowing how to run the route will be enough. We'll take turns serving as sparring partners."

Xu Jishen: "That's fine! But we need to find our battalion commander... Where's Instructor Liu?"

Wang Erzhuo: "Instructor Liu has taken a few days off to have some fun in Guangzhou."

"Since the battalion commander is away, then you, Xu Jishen, have the final say," Chen Tianheng said. "Besides, if Battalion Commander Liu comes back and has any objections, I will explain to the principal on your behalf."

Xu Jishen: "Okay!"

Chen Tianheng: "By the way, we can also merge the training grounds of our two battalions. This way, the width and depth will be even greater. I think we can even practice the second company leaping forward from a breakthrough point."

So it was decided.

What Chen Tianheng wanted to practice was the full-company assault tactic. Of course, there couldn't be just one company of four combat teams on the battlefield. Usually, a company would have nine infantry squads divided into nine teams, with more than twenty combat teams, including nine light machine gun teams, assaulting on a relatively wide front.

Therefore, Chen Tianheng had to borrow light machine guns from the Second Battalion, at least three more would be enough.

After this company broke through the first line of defense, the second company quickly passed through the breakthrough and launched an assault on the next line of defense. How this company could quickly pass through the breakthrough while carrying a full set of weapons and ammunition was also a subject that needed to be practiced.

Three days later, Liu Zhi, who went to Guangzhou on "business", returned to Changzhou Island.

When he walked into the field training ground next to the Whampoa Military Academy, he almost didn't recognize his own troops.

He was indeed at the Second Battalion's training ground, and the leader of the team was indeed the First Company Commander, Xu Jishen. But what were these people doing on the weeds on the riverbank?

Xu Jishen was holding a dog whistle, and parallel to him were nine groups of soldiers, 18 people, and nine light machine guns. These nine two-person teams were spread out widely.

Where did these three extra light machine guns come from?

"Beep-beep--" Xu Jishen blew the whistle. The light machine gun team did not move, but the people lying in front moved. It turned out that there were a lot of four-man teams lying here. These dozens of people all stood up and rushed forward desperately, shouting as they rushed:

"Fuck your mother!!!"

Xu Jishen also ran, and after running for forty or fifty meters, "Dudududu"

The group that was rushing all over the mountains and plains just now fell to the ground again. Two of them aimed their guns, and two took out grenades from their waists and threw them forward desperately, two in a row.

(Of course, it's a training bomb that won't explode)

Xu Jishen's whistle sounded again: "Beep beep"

"Fuck your mother!!!"

The four-man teams stood up and charged again. After repeating the charge-lie-drop-bomb sequence, Xu Jishen changed the tone of his whistle:

"Beep-beep-"

The light machine gun team that had fallen behind stood up and ran forward.

……

"Reporting to the battalion commander, our unit is conducting a company-wide small-group assault tactical drill!"

After the entire company completed the alignment, Xu Jishen came back to report to Liu Zhi.

"Instructor Liu, because the First Battalion is conducting a company-scale small-group assault tactical drill, we need a larger training ground. Therefore, with the approval of Acting Training Commander Xu Jishen, the training grounds of our two battalions will be merged, and the light machine gun groups will also be combined to conduct assault drills that are closer to actual combat."

Chen Tianheng also ran over from where the first battalion was staying.

Liu Zhi: "Oh, I see. Is that what you said to Instructor He last time?"

"Yes."

Liu Zhi: "Has our Second Battalion also learned it now?"

Chen Tianheng: "We are still in the initial stage of tactical alignment training. It will take some time to be able to master the tactical essentials and combat skills. Instructor Liu, do you want to continue training with this method?"

Liu Zhi: "Go on, go on."

——This is too sudden. My battalion started learning automatically without me even teaching them?

Chapter 50

Chen Tianheng brought the Second Battalion into the infantry training system he set up.

It was only a matter of time before the Third Battalion was brought in.

But Chen Tianheng was not worried that training the second and third battalions well would make things easier for others.

The subsequent expansion of the Whampoa Military Academy Training Corps was not a matter of expanding the training battalions into training regiments, or training regiments into training divisions, but rather the formation of new units. After the First Training Regiment was formed, the Second Training Regiment was formed. Two training regiments could form a training brigade. After the third training regiment was formed, it could be upgraded to a training division, and then the Fourth Training Regiment was formed, and so on.

In the future, whether it is the first, second or third battalion, it will all be his. Chen Tianheng is very confident about this.

The First Training Regiment had just been established, and the Second Training Regiment had already begun preparations for its establishment. The commander of the Second Training Regiment was Wang Bo-ling, the director of the Tactical Department, and he had finally gotten what he wanted.

Just two months after the second batch of students from the Whampoa Military Academy entered school, the Second Teaching Regiment was established. The main reason was the urgent military situation: Chen Jiongming had been dishonest recently.

Driven out of Guangzhou in 1923, Chen Jiongming returned to his old base in Chaoshan, eastern Guangdong, where he accumulated money and recruited soldiers, continuously expanding his "Guangdong Rescue Army." In November 1924, when Sun Yat-sen traveled north, Chen Jiongming, convinced that the Guangzhou revolutionary government was leaderless, began to stir.

The Beiyang government, alarmed by Sun Yat-sen's northern expedition, dared not oppose it openly, but secretly intervened, providing Chen Jiongming with 300,000 silver dollars. Chen Jiongming, receiving this financial assistance, acted accordingly. On December 7, Chen Jiongming was elected commander-in-chief by representatives of various groups in eastern Guangdong. His Guangdong Rescue Army marched towards Guangzhou, moving its headquarters to Huizhou in mid-December. The army then continued westward, capturing Dongguan by the end of the month.

Dongguan was located along the Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway. The railway connection between Guangzhou and Hong Kong was crucial. Although Chen Jiongming didn't have the guts to sever or destroy the railway to embarrass the British, the massive concentration of troops supporting Guangdong there was a ticking time bomb, a threat that could not be trusted. Dongguan was less than 50 kilometers from Guangzhou, practically a safe haven.

General Galen and the KMT Military Commission now had to deal with Chen Jiongming's attack.

"Instructor He, when will the revolutionary army march eastward?"

Chen Tianheng asked He Yingqin. He was a high-ranking official and should know more inside information.

"Headquarters is discussing the issue of sending troops," He Yingqin said. "It's not going smoothly at the moment. Chen Jiongming has a large number of troops, and the Supreme Military Council will definitely need to mobilize all revolutionary forces to cooperate in the Eastern Expedition, but the various departments haven't reached a consensus yet."

……

The Supreme Military Council held a meeting on December 28 to discuss sending troops. Yang Ximin's Yunnan Army, who was stationed in Guangzhou, demanded 600,000 silver dollars in military funds before they would send troops. The reason was that his troops had been owed wages for several months and additional silver and money were required before they would be willing to move.

Seeing Yang Ximin's troops asking for money, the Gui army, similarly situated, also approached the headquarters to request payment to cover their arrears. Xu Chongzhi's Guangdong army and the Fujian army also needed funds, but the Guangzhou Revolutionary Government lacked the wherewithal, so the dispatch of troops stalled.

The troops under the Guangzhou Revolutionary Government were collectively known as the "National Construction Army," and numbered fewer than 5 men. Of these, 4.4 were from the Hunan, Guangxi, Guangdong, and Yunnan provinces. The Whampoa Student Army, including the 2nd Regiment, numbered only 3000 men. Without these local factions, the Eastern Expedition would have been impossible.

Now we can only wait until Chen Jiongming becomes more and more demanding and the situation becomes critical before we can reach a consensus.

After 15 consecutive days of various trainings, the teaching group took a day off, and Chen Tianheng also took the time to go to Guangzhou City on this day.

"Brother Hanxi, hello, hello."

"Hello, sir. ... Please come in."

During the Merchant Corps' campaign to suppress the rebellion, the student army's offensive route passed through Baozhilin, where several students were injured. Huang Hanxi, who lived there, climbed out of the cellar, retrieved his medicine kit, and treated the wounds of the seriously injured, saving their lives. This time, Chen Tianheng formally paid a visit to express his gratitude.

By the way, Chen Tianheng wondered if he could meet Huang Hanxi's father this time.

"Mr. Huang! ...Hello. I am Chen Tianheng, the junior. You can just call me Chen Tianheng."