afterglow

Chapter 195 Bouncing Betty
Brett's statement is correct, Talavera is Madrid's gateway to the southwest, and is now in a state of confrontation.

Bringing it back...or even making a swipe at it would ease some of the pressure on Madrid.

But now that the Republican Army is expanding its army on a large scale, there are not many troops that can actually mobilize to participate in the war, and it is impossible to risk mobilizing the strategic reserve for this purpose.

The headquarters originally planned to send the International Column to the southern front soon, but the [-]th Brigade, a smaller unit, seemed a bit overwhelmed——

Let's say it is more, it is essentially a regiment-level unit; say it is less, the morale is high, the officers are more experienced, but the actual combat power is much higher than that of a regiment.

Therefore, it is very suitable for a tentative attack, to surprise the enemy in the direction of Talavera, and may even cause a misjudgment by the National Army and the Italian Army.

Zhou Changfeng told Schroeder about his intentions, and the latter was quite surprised.

"Xia, is this Chinese-style war wisdom? I think this is a very risky move. You lack the necessary heavy weapons. If you fight in plain areas, your combat effectiveness will not be much higher than that of militia units."

"No, Commander, this is not a military adventure, this is a serious military operation."

"In my opinion, light infantry is not suitable for fighting in plains." Schroeder raised his beard when he spoke, "Mountains and hills are their home ground."

"That's right." Zhou Changfeng said solemnly: "So I will try to make my troops heavy to adapt to future battles."

"Then where are you going to get heavy weapons from?"

"Talavera. There's only a rebel brigade being replenished and a regimental-sized battlegroup from the Italians."

After talking for a long time, Schroeder was finally persuaded by Zhou Changfeng, and he reluctantly agreed to this idea, which in his eyes looked like the idea of ​​attacking the strong with the weak.

After submitting the application for proactive attack, the Republican Army Command was naturally overjoyed.

I am worried that there will be no extra troops to attract the enemy who besieged Madrid. Isn't this sleepy and sending pillows?

Zhou Changfeng was also unambiguous, saying that it still needs a month and a half of training time, and at the same time lacking heavy weapons, he asked for as many artillery pieces as possible.

The Republican Army Command was very embarrassed, and it took a long time to reluctantly agree to hand over a reserve weapons depot in Erin.

Erin is a small city located seventy kilometers southeast of Albacete.

After obtaining the authorization, the logistics officers of the [-]th Brigade immediately organized a convoy of more than [-] trucks to go there, and rushed there overnight to wipe them all out.

However, the next day, when the excited Zhou Changfeng went to check the harvest, he once thought he was delusional——

2门Le.FH16型105㎜榴弹炮？3门斯柯达M15型75㎜山炮？2门施耐德75㎜型野战炮？除此之外还有一些37㎜步兵炮和2磅QF1砰砰炮。

Forget about the old European war antiques with complicated models, these artillery pieces are not in good condition. The breech bolts of some artillery pieces are rusted, and most of the paint is peeled off.

Feeling speechless, Zhou Changfeng looked at the second lieutenant who led the team, "Is this brought back from the museum?"

The latter replied helplessly: "The museum will at least paint them and clean them regularly."

Zhou Changfeng touched one of the mountain cannons very unhappy, but his hands were covered with rust and dust.

No, what kind of attitude is this!
In the past, the interception of weapons and equipment could push the responsibility to the local troops along the way, but now even the Republican Army Command is doing this?
Zhou Changfeng almost couldn't hold back his curses, this is really a hot face with a cold ass.

Thinking back to last winter, when Madrid was most critical, the No.11 International Brigade, which had just been formed and had not even had time to carry out basic adaptive training, received an order to go to the front line.

Although it was not ready, the 48th Brigade still moved forward without hesitation.Arriving in Madrid, they went straight to the front and lost half their casualties in just [-] hours.

The No.12 International Brigade, which arrived in the next few days, also entered the fiercest fighting in the University City of Madrid with insufficient preparation. They almost lost everything in the 40 days of fighting, with a death rate as high as [-]. %, almost empty.

Zhou Changfeng sent a telegram to the headquarters, asking for a batch of Ming-made artillery to be dispatched by name, but he did not receive a reply.

Until that night, he couldn't bear it anymore and called directly, but was told that all the weapons and equipment transported from Daming to Barcelona had been delivered to the Republican Army on the front line, and there was nothing left.

Although Zhou Changfeng only had the attitude of giving it a try at first, he was already mentally prepared for the current situation, and he still had to rely on himself in the end.

Schroeder was obviously quite dissatisfied with the republic's arbitrarily detaining weapons and equipment that did not belong to them. He chose to send a telegram to Berlin to condemn such shameless behavior.

But such a "little mistake" seemed insignificant in the overall situation, and his protest was only vaguely answered.

The only relief was that Schroeder ordered the transfer of a batch of weapons from the International Brigade's reserve warehouse to the [-]th Brigade, including:

4门Pak35型37㎜反坦克炮、4门Flak30型20㎜高射炮、8支索罗通S18-1000型20㎜反坦克枪，以及500枚S.Mi.35型反步兵地雷。

The S-type landmine is a special kind of landmine, also known as the jumping mine. It is different from the ordinary landmine that explodes on touch. A black powder projectile cartridge is added below the S-type mine.After the fuze is triggered, the main body of the mine is blown to a height of about 1.5-2m before detonating.

Due to the unique mode of action, and the warhead contains about 400 steel balls or steel rods, its killing radius exceeds 60m, and its killing effect is excellent. It has the nickname of "Bouncing Betty".

It has to be said that the Germans are very talented in developing more efficient deadly devices. The S-type landmine is undoubtedly quite successful. Historically, after the end of the World War, this kind of jumping mine was imitated and further developed by countries all over the world.

Zhou Changfeng had considered directional landmines before, but he didn't think much about jumping mines, because he felt that Daming should have done similar research, and they might even be in experiments, but they hadn't been installed yet.

But now that he got the real thing from the Germans, he wondered if he should take one back, so that he can compare and refer to it. Only by trying it will he know which one is better.

In the next month or so, the [-]th Brigade devoted itself to intense training. The switch to the German training rules made many officers very uncomfortable, because many of the ideas were different from the education they had received.

For example, the most basic individual bunkers, in the German army's regulations, all kinds of foxholes need to build additional back (back) walls.

That is to say, after digging a hole, not only an earth wall must be built in the front, but also an earth wall must be built in the rear. This is to avoid accidental injury caused by friendly firepower passing through the rear. It is a relatively special offensive bunker.

And this is just a microcosm.

(End of this chapter)