The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 174 Artillery School
Facing the icy cold wind, sitting in the co-pilot of a Mercedes-Benz off-road vehicle, He Wei looked at the vast convoys in front and behind, and felt a lot in his heart. After traveling through time, he could be regarded as commanding a motorized force.

Driving on the road during the Republic of China, He Wei didn't experience any bumps. Speaking of which, the road under the wheels now has something to do with the commander-in-chief of the Nanjing Garrison, General Tang Meng Xiaotang.

After the Songhu Anti-Japanese War on [-], the supreme leader suddenly realized that domestic transportation was inconvenient, which was not conducive to military mobilization. During the Songhu Anti-Japanese War, troops relied on the Yangtze River waterway to mobilize, and the speed was actually slower than the Japanese army's sea transportation of troops from Japan.

Therefore, in the preparations before the Anti-Japanese War, the transportation construction in the Yangtze River Delta was given top priority, and the person responsible for this task was General Tang Meng and Xiaotang. General Tang also fulfilled his duties and lived up to expectations by building more than 2000 railways in the Beijing-Shanghai shipping area. kilometers of road.

Not only are these roads quite large in kilometers, they are also of extremely high quality. The road under He Wei's butt is more than enough to run not only his off-road vehicles and transport trucks, but also tanks, armored vehicles, and heavy artillery.

These roads are all based on the Tongxing German-made 150mm heavy howitzer motorized column. The highest-end Class A military roads "can pass 15-ton tanks and the heaviest existing artillery vehicles (15-ton tractors for 11.6-cm-caliber artillery vehicles). traction), or other gun carriages slightly heavier than this."

Class B and C highways for both military and civilian use must also have the ability to "carry the largest existing artillery vehicles and 10-ton tanks."

These high-performance roads have indeed greatly improved military transportation in the Beijing-Shanghai Yangtze River Delta region. He Wei is now a beneficiary. Unfortunately, the Japanese army is a bigger beneficiary than the Chinese army.

Even the 240mm heavy siege howitzer, the heaviest of the Japanese artillery, was able to travel unimpeded on China's highway network after being disassembled and towed by the Japanese Type [-] [-]-ton artillery tractor. Therefore, the Nanjing defenders in history The Japanese artillery firepower faced was extremely powerful.

These artillery units include the 5th Field Heavy Artillery Brigade, the 15th Independent Field Heavy Artillery Regiment, the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Battalions of the Independent Field Heavy Artillery, the 1st and 4th Independent Mortar Battalions, and the Independent Attack Battalion. The 1st Battalion, 2nd Battalion, and 5th Battalion of the City Heavy Artillery, independent siege heavy artillery team, temporary siege heavy artillery team...

He Wei thought about the complicated Japanese artillery numbers when he read historical materials in his previous life, and he had mixed feelings in his heart. This road is good for me, but it is more good for the enemy. If he can seize the opportunity this time when he is forced to attack, he can find a way to get rid of it. With some Japanese artillery, could the Nanjing defenders hold on longer?
All kinds of chaotic thoughts kept flooding into He Wei's mind, and at this moment, the destination of this trip, the Army Artillery School, gradually came into view.

·The Army Artillery School is located in the Tangshan area of ​​the present-day Nanjing-Hangzhou Highway. It is a specialized military school that specializes in cultivating artillery talents and studying artillery tactics. Unlike military schools like Huangpu Military Academy that focus on student education, the Army Artillery School, the Army Specialized military academies such as the Engineer School and the Army Infantry School focus on educating students. In the current era of the Republic of China, although there is only one word difference between military school students and military academy cadets, they have different meanings.

The so-called students are to educate ordinary young people to become officers, and to cultivate a local youth into a qualified junior officer. Cadet education is to provide on-the-job training and education to serving officers to enhance their tactical capabilities. The artillery school is responsible for This is the function of student education.

The main teaching task of the Artillery School is to educate cadets. The first class was held in 1931. Cadets of the cadet corps are recommended by the artillery unit, provided they are junior officers with a high school education and have graduated from military schools. Before admission, one must pass the gunnery school's examination. The duration of the student team's study is 1 year. .The courses learned include artillery tactics, weapons, shooting, observation, communications, equestrianism, meteorology, aerial photography interpretation, etc. Tutorials are mainly in mathematics, physics and chemistry. After graduation, except for a very small number of outstanding students who stay in school as teaching assistants, the rest still return to work in the army.

`At the same time, the school's teaching organization has also gradually expanded. In addition to the annual cadet team education, short-term training courses and aerial observation officer training courses have been opened. The short-term training courses are divided into officer classes, captain classes and lieutenant classes. The main learning contents of these squads are tactics, shooting and observation and communication. The students are recommended by the army and the schooling lasts for half a year.

Before the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, like a dozen other military academies across the country, the principal was Mr. Baldhead, the current supreme leader (he wanted to be the principal of all military academies), and the person responsible for the actual teaching was Zou Zuohua, an artillery expert from the Northeast Army.

He Wei looked at the grand and beautiful Army Artillery School campus. It was really spectacular. The Army Artillery School site covers a wide area and the school building is also quite grand. All office buildings, teaching buildings, student dormitories, auditoriums, large sports fields and even garages, etc. are all built with great style. Modern artillery shooting observation facilities such as ballistic laboratories, meteorological observatories, shooting observation towers, and radio communication towers are all available. There is even an airstrip that can take off and land small artillery observation aircraft.

The school is surrounded by a large live fire range. The site has roads extending in all directions, and there are 3 lake viewing towers and 30 projectile observation bunkers. He Wei once heard someone say that the Army Artillery School in Nanjing is not much worse than the Fontainebleau Artillery School in France, and When I saw it today, it was indeed extraordinary.

"Battalion Commander, this is the artillery school. I was trained here before."

After the convoy stopped, the artillery company commander Chen Xinsheng ran excitedly to He Wei's off-road vehicle. He Wei knew that he was from the artillery department and had been trained here, but when he looked at the closed door of the artillery school, he could tell A bit weird.

"Company Commander Chen, why do I feel like there is no one in this school?"

Not only was the door of the artillery school not open, but the surroundings were also very quiet. He Wei felt something was wrong and immediately called the major of the Fengqi team and asked him about the specific situation.

The major looked at the door of the artillery school and scratched his head, and said in confusion: "Batalion Commander He, there should be someone here. Before I set off, I was told that there was a platoon of soldiers here responsible for guarding gasoline and remaining supplies."

"Come on, come down and take a look."

He Wei noticed something strange and immediately called the secret service platoon. With the speed machine in hand, he slowly touched the door of the artillery school. Chen Xinsheng walked forward quickly and was at the front. He tried to push the door open, only to find that the door was It was ajar, but as soon as the gate was opened, He Wei saw a big bamboo pole falling from the tall camp gate.

"Get down."

With quick eyes and quick hands, He Wei threw Chen Xinsheng to the ground, only to see that there was a long-handled grenade hanging on the top of the fallen bamboo pole, and the grenade's fire ring was already hung on the top of the bamboo pole. Once the bamboo pole fell, the fragile The grenade fire ring was naturally pulled away along with the bamboo pole, and white smoke rolled to the ground.

"Boom!" After the loud noise of the grenade explosion, everyone broke into a cold sweat. Chen Xinsheng, who was thrown to the ground by He Wei, even had chills running down his spine. He Wei still didn't understand that he had been tricked again. The guys guarding the Army Artillery School must have deserted and ran away. They hung grenades before leaving, leaving themselves such a big gift.

"The whole battalion searched carefully and was on alert. I searched every room and every room in the artillery school."

The furious He Wei shouted and gave the order. The grandsons ran very fast, but they left such a mess for themselves. There was a grenade at the door. Who knows if there were anything else left in the barracks inside the school? Damn, He Wei didn't dare to camp in casually. He could only ask the troops to search carefully before entering the artillery school to camp.

This was really thanks to He Wei's foresight. The spy camp searched for several hours and found a lot of things. These guys set up a lot of booby traps at the door of the dormitory and the office building, but the The technique was quite clumsy, and they were all eliminated cleanly by the officers and soldiers of the special agent battalion.

After all the booby traps were cleared, the officers and soldiers of the secret service battalion dared to enter the artillery school with confidence. More than 100 vehicles accompanying them also entered the large garage of the artillery school.

He Wei had just settled in the dormitory building when he saw Chen Xinsheng running over excitedly.

"Battal Commander, come over and take a look. There are a lot of good things here."

"Good stuff? Don't talk nonsense. Just now you were almost killed by the good stuff they left behind. These grandsons retreated without even saying hello. What good stuff could they leave behind besides booby traps?"

He Wei cursed, but Chen Xinsheng directly pulled He Wei away. Several other company platoon leaders and even Tao Heiwa were also excited to pull He Wei out. He Wei was surprised and let them lead him out of the dormitory. Behind the building, I sat in my off-road vehicle and rushed to the place where the "good things" were.

Under the guidance of Chen Xinsheng, He Wei first came to the logistics warehouse of the artillery school. As soon as He Wei walked in, he saw mountains of various supplies.

"Battal Commander, this is the artillery school's material warehouse. It contains food and drink supplies. When I was training at the artillery school, I watched them unload the goods. I just took inventory. There are three hundred bags of rice and fifty bags of white flour. , and some canned food for meals.”

Chen Xinsheng said.

He Wei walked to a rice bag and took a look. Sure enough, it was military rice with an army label. He Wei became even more angry when he thought of the grenades left by those guys.

"Are these birdmen mentally ill? They did not destroy the materials that should have been destroyed when they deserted, but they left a bunch of grenades for me. Moreover, the booby traps were very clumsy. If it were not us who entered the artillery school, but It’s the Japanese army, I’m afraid if it’s not the Japanese, it will make you laugh out loud.”

"Battal Commander, not only are these food and drinks, the equipment warehouse next to it is also full of good things."

Immediately, He Wei was led by Chen Xinsheng to the equipment warehouse of the artillery school. He saw that the items stored in the equipment warehouse were no less than those in the material warehouse. A large amount of gasoline and ammunition were piled up in the equipment warehouse. Looking at it, He Wei was dazzled, and in awe, he couldn't help but cursed those deserting bastards for squandering the country's important ammunition and equipment so easily.

"Battal Commander, I just organized people to do an inventory. This equipment warehouse contains 81 rounds of newly imported French 150mm mortar shells, [-] rounds of Jinling-made [-]mm mortar shells, and a German-made [-]mm heavy howitzer blaster. Ten grenades, twenty boxes of [-]-caliber rifle ammunition, and three hundred barrels of fuel for cars.”

"So many things?"

Chen Xinsheng nodded: "I'm familiar with the artillery school. I just took people to search the warehouses everywhere. There are indeed a lot of good things left behind. Those mortar shells and rifle bullets should be the ammunition used for daily training exercises at the artillery school. If you can't take it with you, leave it here. The artillery equipment of the artillery school is very complete, including the Japanese-made Lao Sanba field cannon, the Taisho 75-type mountain cannon, and the latest Bofors [-]mm mountain cannon and other infantry guns and machine guns. , mortars and all kinds of guns are available.”

"I guess these shells can't be taken away. I also looked at the gasoline. It seems to be gasoline for the trucks of the 150th Heavy Artillery Regiment. I guess I can't take it away either, so I left it to us. The ten German-made [-] The millimeter grenade should also be left behind by the [-]th Artillery Regiment.”

After listening to Chen Xinsheng's explanation, He Wei learned that the artillery school was not only stationed with school education institutions, but also artillery field troops, equipped with the latest Rheinmetall 150mm heavy howitzers imported from Germany, and using all-car motorized traction. The gasoline fuel and 150mm artillery shells left in the warehouse should be left by this regiment.

He Wei is not polite. It doesn’t matter whether they are mortar shells or howitzer shells. Since they are here to stay, let’s take them all as ordered. Rifle machine gun shells and 81mm mortar shells can be equipped for the use of the secret service battalion. Those domestically made 82mm mortars Although the artillery shells and 150mm artillery shells are not used, it is good to keep them as bombs.

After He Wei ordered people to collect and store these supplies, he sent people to buy food supplies. Although he got a lot of supplies from the artillery school, there were still more than 1000 people in the secret service camp, plus the officers and soldiers of the two automobile companies and the upcoming troops. The tank company, this thing is simply not enough to fill the gap between teeth. Fortunately, Chen Xinsheng was trained in the artillery school and is familiar with the surrounding area.

There is a small town called Xintang near Lianghuali of the Artillery School. In the past, all daily necessities for the officers and soldiers of the Artillery School were purchased there. When He Wei learned about it, he immediately sent five trucks to Chen Xinsheng and allocated money to him. After receiving a sum of money, Chen Xinsheng immediately rushed to purchase in a hurry, while He Wei rested peacefully in the artillery school, waiting for the arrival of the tank company assigned to him.

(End of this chapter)