Rise From Eight Hundred

On August 21, the military meeting of the army commanders and army commanders held in Linfen by the Second War Zone ended.

The commanders and army commanders began to return to their respective units.

Li Jiayu, then commander of the 47th Army of the 22nd Army, issued a combat mobilization order to two units under his command before leaving Linfen.

One unit was the 104th Division, and the other unit was none other than the Four-Line Regiment!

"The military order of the war zone has been issued, and all units are ready. The troops will be dispatched soon!" The content of the telegram sent by Commander Li to the 104th Division and the Four-Line Regiment is exactly the same.

Although Tang Dao has not received the specific meeting report, this telegram has already shown that the Four-Line Regiment will definitely not escape the tactical counterattack implemented to help the Jiangxia Battle, which is in full swing.

The units of the Four-Line Regiment, which received the information about the upcoming dispatch, trained even more frantically. Everyone knew that there was not much time left for them to continue to familiarize themselves with the equipment, practice gunmanship, and artillery.

The headquarters, staff, quartermaster, baggage company, engineer company, medical company, and communications company of the Four-Line Regiment were all very busy.

The staff formulated various combat plans, the quartermaster and baggage company needed to prepare various combat supplies, and the special companies such as the engineer company, medical company, and communications company worked overtime to prepare the supplies needed by the three companies in wartime.

For example, Bai Sheng stayed in the arsenal almost every day, hoping that the machine tools and steelmaking furnaces in the arsenal could help his engineer company process steel plates of 10 mm and 20 mm thickness, which were necessary for building heavy firepower fortifications.

According to the requirements of Tang Tuanzuo for the protection of firepower points such as heavy machine guns and machine guns, if a bunker could be built, the top needed to be protected by 10 mm steel plates and logs and more than half a meter of soil, and the front needed to be protected by 20 mm steel plates with three layers of sandbags.

This level of protection can withstand the frontal bombardment of 70mm infantry guns 800 meters away and the bombardment of 75mm mountain guns.

If there is no time or conditions to build a bunker, the machine gun and heavy machine gun fortifications must also be 1.2 meters high with 20mm steel plates and sandbags, which can not only withstand the frontal bombardment of infantry guns, but also effectively reduce the damage caused by mountain gun bombardment to heavy firepower points, unless they are accurately hit by mountain guns.

Now Bai Sheng's engineering company has already expanded to 410 people, and the 5 engineering platoons under it have 80 people each, which is almost equivalent to half of the original engineering company.

It just so happens that each of the 4 infantry battalions is divided into an engineering platoon, and professional matters are left to professionals. The remaining engineering platoon will follow the regiment headquarters and support various departments at any time.

Logs and sandbags can be obtained locally at any time, but special materials such as steel plates must be prepared and carried by engineers first.

In addition to these special materials required for building solid fortifications, the most common weapon carried by the engineering company is probably landmines.

A large number of anti-personnel mines. The principle of this thing is very simple, but it is not easy to manufacture, especially it cannot be easily detected by Japanese metal detectors.

So far, the scientific research team led by Teacher Xiao He has not been able to mass-produce the kind of miniature anti-personnel mines required by Tang Tuanzuo.

That is the design of Tang Dao's anti-future 72-type anti-personnel jumping mine. The jumping mine with a diameter of 79 mm, a height of 35 mm, and a combat weight of only 125 grams uses an integral fuze. The plastic mine shell greatly reduces the detection rate of the mine detector. The design of wrapping the killing steel column makes its killing fragments reach an astonishing 650 pieces. After the mine is detonated, there will be no dead angle within the killing radius of 14 meters.

The more terrifying thing about this mine is that the amount of explosives contained in it is not much, which makes the kinetic energy of the fragments not so large. Many soldiers who accidentally step on the mines are mostly injured but not killed.

And this is the real purpose of this anti-personnel jumping mine. On the battlefield, you can ignore the dead soldiers, but what about the living ones? Even the cruel Japanese army would not ignore it, and one wounded soldier often needed 2 to 4 soldiers to help him withdraw from the battlefield, which greatly limited the enemy's manpower input. Once there were more wounded soldiers, the combat effectiveness of this unit would drop sharply.

Unfortunately, the plastic shell required for this anti-infantry jumping mine was too difficult for this era, so it could only be replaced with an iron shell. Due to the limited process, there were not so many steel balls wrapped. The highest fragmentation rate in the test was only more than 400. Due to the insufficient power of the explosives, the killing radius was also reduced to 8 meters, but it was still rare.

After Tang Tuanzuo left after the end of the Southeast Shanxi Campaign, it was developed and finalized as the Min Erqi Anti-Infantry Mine. It was loved by several chief officers of the Sihang Regiment, and the arsenal was required to work overtime to produce this mine.

Unfortunately, the arsenal had too many equipment to rush to produce, and only 1,500 of this mine had been produced so far, of which 600 had already been reserved by the reconnaissance company.

The reconnaissance company was the most important eyes and ears during the battle of the Four-line Regiment. All equipment was first given to them. For example, the newly produced "Black Star" pistols were not even equipped to Tang Dao and Lei Xiong, but the reconnaissance company had already equipped each of them. They said they wanted so many, and the other battalion-level commanders could only stare blankly.

However, Bai Sheng had a good reason. The work of laying mines has always been the work of the engineering company, so 600 of the remaining 900 of this new type of mines belonged to them, and they also added 1,000 SMI-35 mines that Tang Dao found in the warehouse of Loudehua Krupp Company.

This type of mine is not well-known at present, but it will be famous in the future World War II, nicknamed "Bouncing Betty".

During combat, this anti-infantry mine equipped with the German Empire Army in 1935 will be ejected to waist height and then explode, and the steel column will be ejected horizontally at a deadly speed...

Really, when Tang Dao found this thing in the munitions warehouse, all that flashed in his mind was the lewdness flashing in the blue eyes of the Germans who looked serious. This design of playing the "crotch grabbing" tactic right from the start is not anti-infantry at all, but really anti-human!

If more of these mines are laid, will the Japanese birth rate be several percentage points lower than in the future?

The 7 kg pressure threshold and the design of the built-in tripwire are enough to ensure that the mine will not be detonated by wild animals or natural impacts. The terrible killing distance of 20 to 100 meters is simply born to kill infantry.

The five-leg disability often caused by "Bouncing Betty" has caused psychological trauma to the Allied soldiers, led by American cowboys, until many years after the war.

Because the success of 'Bouncing Betty' attracted countless imitators, including Chinese military industry.

Being malicious has almost become a necessary characteristic of anti-infantry mines in the future!

Anyway, while complaining about the maliciousness of the military experts of the German Empire in front of Lou Dehua, Tang Tuanzuo shouted that he would buy all the mines.

Unfortunately, there are only 1,000 of them!

But this has basically made the 2,000 Japanese infantrymen successfully become eunuchs.

In this era without antibiotics, the principle followed by Western medicine is to cut off the rotten parts, and nothing can be cut except the head.

Speaking of antibiotics, the Japanese don't have them, but the Four Lines Group now has them.

Another extremely important scientific research team of the Four Lines Group, under the clear theoretical guidance of Tang Dao, successfully extracted penicillin and successfully tested it, and also carried out small-scale mass production.

In 4 months, a total of more than 8,000 people of penicillin were produced.

This also became the biggest confidence of the medical company led by Tan Tai Ming Yue, which meant that the medical company no longer had to fight against bacterial infection in vain, nor did they have to watch the wounded die in bed due to bacterial infection helplessly and sadly.

The medical company had statistics, and more than 40% of the seriously injured died because of bacterial infection. For the Si Xing Regiment, which had fought repeatedly, that was hundreds of officers and soldiers. They had the opportunity to return to the battlefield, but bacteria interrupted their young dreams.

Moreover, this time when Tang Dao returned from Tianjin, he not only brought back various military equipment, but also a large number of drugs such as anesthesia and coagulation. Various medical supplies filled five carriages, not to mention enough for the Si Xing Regiment, and it was estimated that it would be enough for an infantry division.

Even Tang Dao brought back five blond and blue-eyed doctors and more than 20 Chinese female nurses, who were all recruited by Tang Dao on behalf of Laura at high salaries in Pingbei City, the largest Western medicine hospital controlled by the Rockefeller Foundation.

Originally, Tang Dao offered an annual salary of 5,000 US dollars for each doctor and 1,000 US dollars for each nurse. However, unexpectedly, when they heard that they were going to serve the Chinese army, the Chinese nurses took the initiative to ask for a salary reduction of 100 US dollars. Not only that, the five doctors from the United States also asked for a substantial salary reduction.

In their words, they were willing to do what they could for the Chinese people in fighting against the invaders.

Later, on the way back, Tang Dao had a careful discussion with them and learned that these Western doctors originally came to China for a generous salary, but after arriving in China, especially after the July 7 Incident, they witnessed the tragedy caused by the Japanese army in the city with their own eyes, and their impression of the Japanese was extremely bad.

Being able to help the weak China fight against the brutal invaders is a manifestation of the Western culture that advocates freedom.

This should also be regarded as an ideal and belief!

Tang Dao did not fully agree with the request of these American doctors. Not everyone is a saint. The material conditions in the vast mountains are already lacking, and it is difficult to maintain it for a long time by faith alone.

Under Tang Dao's insistence, the individual salary of American doctors is still as high as 2,000 US dollars, and the salary of nurses has dropped to 300 US dollars, which is equivalent to an annual salary of 8,000 oceans and 1,200 oceans respectively, which is higher than the salary of many senior officers of the Four Lines Regiment.

At this time, in addition to the necessary guard platoon, the medical company has 16 doctors, 150 nurses who can treat simple trauma, and an additional 300 stretcher teams and 50 medical tents that can accommodate 8 beds.

That means that more than 10 surgical operations can be carried out at the same time, and it has the ability to treat more than 400 seriously injured and 1,000 lightly injured.

The newly added 300 stretcher teams are also selected from the recruit company. The stretchers of 4 people can transport the wounded to the medical company at a rate of 75 people per round on the battlefield.

At the same time, in order to prevent the medical company from being attacked by a small group of Japanese troops, Tang Dao equipped all medical staff with Black Star pistols except for the reinforced guard platoon, and the 300-man stretcher team was also equipped with rifles and machine guns in the infantry platoon mode.

Maybe it can't be used as a front-line field force, but if it encounters an attack, even if it is an infantry squadron, a fully armed elite guard platoon leading 300 new recruits can resist for at least an hour.

Generally speaking, the guard company and special service battalion following the regiment headquarters are nearby and can arrive in less than five minutes. Unless it is the main force of the Japanese army, it would be a miracle if it is not killed immediately under the pincer attack.

As the captain of the medical company, Tan Tai Mingyue and her fiancée who had returned nearly ten days ago only had two meals together. The two of them, who were stationed only 500 meters apart, rarely met each other.

As for other things, you can guess with your heels. They didn't even think about it. Maybe a straight man with strong hormones had some ideas before falling asleep, but it doesn't matter. What's the use?

The communication company led by Yang Xiaoshan also made every effort this time. Although it only has 98 people, the communication company is responsible for ensuring smooth communication between the regiment headquarters and the directly affiliated units of the regiment headquarters.

Especially the most important artillery battalion companies and platoons, no matter how far apart they are, telephone lines and telephones must be sufficiently guaranteed. Only in this way can the artillery group be fully focused.

Commander Tang has already said at the mobilization meeting of officers at the battalion, company, and platoon levels that whether this attack can defeat the Japanese army depends first on whether the officers and soldiers of the four infantry battalions can continue to demonstrate their heroic and fearless determination of "I am invincible", and secondly on whether the companies of the artillery battalion can continue to effectively and accurately drop shells on the Japanese positions.

The three companies of the artillery battalion, the mountain artillery company replaced with 12 75mm Bofors mountain guns, both in range and accuracy, far exceeds the previously equipped Type 41 mountain guns; the heavy mortar company replaced with 12 German 150-caliber heavy mortars, the accuracy and power also surpassed the previously equipped 6 Liao-made 16-year-old heavy mortars; the anti-aircraft company replaced with 24 20mm Suroton machine guns and 24 Browning 12.7mm heavy machine guns, the defense capability against medium and low altitudes is almost doubled than before.

The artillery equipment has been qualitatively improved, but how to maximize its potential, communication is a crucial factor.

Today's communications company has four German-made Siemens 100-watt radio stations. Two are kept in the regiment headquarters for standby, one is given to the artillery battalion, and one is given to the cavalry battalion; six 15-watt radio stations, four of which are given to four infantry battalions, one to the special service battalion, and one to the baggage battalion; 20 5-watt radio stations, one for each of the 12 infantry companies and four machine gun companies belonging to the four infantry battalions, and the other four are given to the reconnaissance company as needed.

In addition to these German-made radio stations, the Sihang Regiment also has some radio stations captured from the Japanese army, which are also distributed to the companies of the remaining direct battalions as needed, basically ensuring that each company-level unit has a radio station.

The characteristic of wireless communication is that it can get in touch with the regiment and battalion headquarters regardless of the terrain, but it also has great disadvantages. One is that the special terrain cannot receive signals, making it difficult to communicate. The second is that the radio station needs electricity. The field radio station uses batteries, and the high-power radio station needs a generator.

Therefore, the radio station cannot be guaranteed to be turned on and unobstructed at any time. At this time, communication requires wired communication. According to the requirements of Tang Tuanzuo, the communication company must ensure the smooth wired communication between the regiment and the battalion, and between the battalion and the company.

If the battle is fierce and the wires are blown off, it is necessary to communicate manually and use two legs to keep the information between the regiment and the battalions smooth.

The communication company led by Yang Xiaoshan is not only a technical branch of the army, but also needs to lay tens of thousands of meters of telephone lines before the war and troubleshoot at any time. In addition, it also needs to play the role of a death squad. Not only do they have to run thousands of meters in one breath with two legs, inform the superiors of the decision to the battalion-level unit, but they may also have to risk their lives to cross the line of fire.

Yang Xiaoshan, who was transferred from a soldier in the front-line troops to a second lieutenant platoon leader and finally to the commander of the communication company, obviously had a plan in advance. From the day it was established, the officers and soldiers of the communication company did the most, in addition to theoretical learning of communication technology knowledge, and the most was fully armed 3-kilometer cross-country training.

Maybe unlike the front-line troops, who carry heavy rifles and various supplies weighing 25 kilograms, the signalmen, who have helmets, pistols, rifles, water bottles, and military rations, also carry more than 15 kilograms.

The passing line for signalmen is 20 seconds faster than the front-line infantry, which the infantry thought Yang Xiaoshan was too presumptuous.

After all, speed and endurance are the bread and butter of the front-line infantry. If they cannot arrive at the battlefield on time, they will lose their heads.

It is not the superiors who want their heads, but the enemy!

Sometimes, seizing the commanding heights is just a few tens of seconds of time difference. If you lose the commanding heights, you often don’t know how many lives you will have to spend to recapture them.

In other words, that is the specialty of the infantry. Although the signalmen carry a lighter weight, they still have to surpass them in speed and endurance, which the infantry cannot believe.

But the performance of Yang Xiaoshan and his signal company in this large-scale training made all the infantry dumbfounded.

The fully armed and 15-jin-loaded signal soldiers all passed the test!

"See? The signal company's little guys are better than you idiots. Run for me. Five kilometers of mountain terrain, 50 rounds of live ammunition! Those who can't hit 350 rings on the 150-meter target will only have cabbage and rice for dinner!" Looking at the training results of the signal company sent by the regiment, Fan Mobei, the deputy company commander of the 3rd Company of the 4th Battalion, had a red face and shouted loudly, making the mountains echo.

The soldiers of the 3rd Company almost cried! Their deputy company commander was absolutely crazy. He just led everyone to run five kilometers in the morning and fired 50 rounds of live ammunition. He hasn't recovered yet, and he's doing it again!

And after running so much and firing up to 50 rounds of live ammunition, who can guarantee an average of 7 rings per round at 150 meters? Let those arrogant scouts try it?

In the past, cabbage and rice would definitely make everyone cheer loudly, but now, in order to ensure the nutrition of all officers and soldiers during the large-scale military training, the meat intake per person per day has been increased to 5 taels, and an egg has been added. It is said that for this reason, the military supply department has bought out all the eggs in the entire mountain town, and even called on some military families who settled in Dakouzi Cave to raise chickens, so that there will be enough eggs to increase nutrition for everyone in the future.

Good guy, all the eggs have been bought out, where will the eggs come from to lay chickens?

As a result, there are "stupid officials" who don't give meat and eggs but only cabbage. How can the soldiers who are about to cry bear it? They have to run desperately with red eyes, so that they have enough time to recover their physical strength and ensure their hit rate.

The scouts who were secretly complained by the soldiers of the 3rd Company of the 4th Battalion as "awesome" were "encountered on a narrow road" by the two companies during a five-kilometer mountain cross-country. Fan Mobei looked at the soldiers of the reconnaissance company and smiled at his soldiers as if they were looking at children. He was very unhappy and suggested that the two sides compete on the spot.

Nothing else to compare, just a five-kilometer cross-country race in full gear.

The result is obvious. The soldiers of the reconnaissance company selected from the entire regiment of the Fourth Line Regiment won the victory in a crushing manner. Even several veterans of the original 542nd Regiment were more than ten seconds behind the second-class soldier ranked last, which made the newly established 3rd Company fully realize the gap between itself and the elite.

Of course, the second-class soldier ranked last in the reconnaissance company was not a person, but a pig!

A big wild boar named "Guaiguai"!

The reason why that guy ranked last in the entire reconnaissance company was not because he ran slowly, nor was it because the big wild boar was carrying two MG34 machine guns and a box of bullets, weighing 60 kilograms.

It was because that guy was greedy. If he was given food, he would run for a while. If he was not given food, he would fall behind and linger. Only when he saw his companions running far away, he would stretch his four pig legs to chase for a while.

Even so, he was more than ten seconds behind the veterans of the 3rd Company. Just thinking about it made Fan Mobei feel very upset!

Anyway, no matter what, the news of the upcoming expedition stimulated the enthusiasm of the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Line Regiment for military training to rise one wave after another!

There is no need for Tang Dao to explain the concept of "sweat more in peacetime, bleed less in war", as most of these soldiers who have experienced the battlefield understand it!