The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 60 Infantry Tactics: Three-Three System?Team leader system?

Section 50: Infantry tactics: three-three system and team leader system
This version of the Infantry Drill Code, as the first military textbook compiled by China, has far-reaching significance. Needless to say, its greatest significance lies in bringing the Chinese army’s infantry squad combat model to the age of skirmishers. However, since time travel, , He Wei also discovered problems with the tactical requirements stipulated in the code of conduct.

In the drill, the infantry squad is divided into two skirmisher groups: the rifle group and the light machine gun group. Excluding the squad leader and deputy squad leader, there are eight people in the rifle group and six people in the light machine gun group. This is slightly different from the organization of the adjustment division. Entry and exit.

The adjustment division's establishment table stipulates that each squad has seven people in the rifle team and five in the light machine gun team. Generally speaking, the infantry squads of each German weapon adjustment division have the establishment of these two versions, 14 or 16 people, but Apart from being divided into two skirmishing combat groups, there was no further, more detailed grouping.

This led to a problem, that is, it was only divided into two groups. The combat division of the entire infantry squad was very bloated. The squad leader took five people from the light machine gun team to be responsible for fire cover. The problem was not big. The problem still lies with the rifle team. .

The rifle team consists of the deputy squad leader and seven riflemen who are responsible for impact and hand-to-hand combat. These seven riflemen have different ranks, but there is no specific division of tasks. This will cause serious problems on the battlefield.

For example, the rifle team, under the cover of a light machine gun, launched an attack on a certain firepower point A. At this time, the deputy squad leader led seven riflemen to rush and attack. Suddenly, another side-firing firepower point B opened fire. At this time, the The rifle team will inevitably have to separate people to deal with other firepower points. The deputy squad leader needs to command seven people to deal with targets that change at any time, and he must command each specific person and everyone in the rifle team. This is very important on the battlefield. It's very difficult to do, and there are a lot of inconveniences in the command.

Clausewitz, the author of "On War", believed that the most suitable formation for a person to command is usually 1-4 formations. If it exceeds this formation, the command effectiveness and combat effectiveness will be affected. To put it bluntly, when each formation is If there are too many subordinates under an individual's direct command, combat effectiveness will decrease.

Sometimes, more people is not always better.

He Wei's purpose is to re-divide the infantry squad into several different groups. According to the current establishment, an infantry squad, excluding the squad leader and deputy squad leader, has seven people in the rifle group.

Among these seven people were one private, two first-class, and four second-class. The light machine gun team was composed of one first-class and four second-class.

According to He Wei's idea, he planned to divide the infantry squad into several groups of three to four people. First, he would reduce the number of the light machine gun group. The light machine gun group would only retain the upper class marksman and two privates who served as ammunition soldiers, and the other two privates. Enriched into the rifle group, so that the rifle group has nine people, and these nine people will also be divided into three groups. Each group will have a first-class soldier or first-class soldier as the team leader, leading two second-class soldiers to form a battle Assault group.

In this way, the light machine gun group consists of three people, and there are also three combat assault groups composed of riflemen. During the battle, the squad leader commands and leads the three-person light machine gun group, and the deputy squad leader commands the three combat assault groups and also directs When each combat assault group is formed, there is no need to command everyone, only the group leader is required. The group leader is assigned tasks and designated attack targets, and the group leader leads the soldiers of the group to perform specific tasks.In essence, this division method can be described from coarse to fine. In fact, this method of division of teams can be traced in history. In the Japanese infantry drill, the tactical tutorial is based on a team of four people. Minimum unit for coaching.

Like the U.S. Army, during World War II, the U.S. Army's standard infantry squad consisted of 12 people, including the squad leader and deputy, a two-person reconnaissance team (M1 Garand), and a three-person firepower team (1BAR+2 Garand). Germany), a five-man rifle mobile team (M1 Garand). This 2-3-5 organization is actually relatively bloated. The squad leader usually leads the command reconnaissance team or firepower team, and the squad deputy generally leads the mobile rifle team in combat. , this kind of preparation does not perform well in actual combat.

Compared with the U.S. Army, the U.S. Marine Corps is much smarter and more flexible. It directly organizes the infantry squad into 1 squad leader + 3 four-person firepower teams, making it more mobile and flexible during combat.

Like the pla three-three system tactics that have been regarded as the standard by countless people in later generations, the formation of the three-three system is actually divided into 3-4 combat groups within a squad, with 3-4 people in each group. In addition, there are experienced and qualified personnel in the squad. A prestigious veteran serves as the group leader.

When forming a company, the company generally deploys them appropriately based on the combat experience, physique, and other conditions of the entire company's soldiers, with the goal of keeping each group at roughly the same level.The formation of three-three-system teams is mainly suitable for infantry squads.However, other detachments can also be appropriately adopted based on their nature, tasks, scope of activities, etc., and in line with the principles of convenience for leadership, convenience for combat, and convenience for work.

In fact, it is a squad tactic with the same principle and essence. It is not original to Pla, nor is it an invincible tactic. In essence, it is through reasonable formation to maximize the command effectiveness of the infantry squad.

Even the National Army in history has made similar improvements. Qiu Qingquan, who graduated from the second phase of Huangpu and studied at the German Army Berlin Command Academy.When he served as the commander of the New 22nd Division of the Fifth Army, he divided the infantry squad into three teams, two rifle teams and one machine gun team (group). The light machine gun team was composed of shooters and two ammunition soldiers, and the rifle team was composed of one The first-class private serves as the commander of the corps, and there are two second-class soldiers in the group. In addition to the three corps, there is also a first-class private who serves as an escort.

As a time traveler who is familiar with these team tactics, He Wei really has no reason not to plagiarize them!
Of course, there are still many problems with his plagiarism method. The formation has been changed. In fact, there should also be changes such as attack formation, attack spacing, squad formation, etc. These all need to be re-stipulated, but The military situation is urgent now, and there is no time to make regulations. We can only leave it to be resolved later.

When He Wei informed several squad leaders and deputy squad leaders of his formation ideas, he expected to be opposed. After all, what had to be changed was not only the tactical formation used in long-term training, but also the content of the prescribed training materials.

Unexpectedly, as soon as I said it, I got the unanimous consent of several squad leaders and deputy squad leaders. When I asked the reason carefully, it turned out that it was really because of the seven-man rifle team. In the previous battle in the Pingxi area, because of the large number of combat areas, It was a mountainous area, so the problem of the seven-man rifle team being too bloated was fully exposed, and several squads suffered losses.

In this way, with the foundation of the masses and public opinion, He Wei implemented the reform, which can also be called plagiarism team tactics, much more smoothly. He even thought of a name for plagiarism, and it was called - corps leader system!
(End of this chapter)