Lieutenant Colonel Li Fuchen was transferred from the 3rd Infantry Division of the Nanyang Guards in the Northern Theater to Wuling to be responsible for the formation of the 2nd Marine Corps Armored Regiment in the Southern Theater.

This is the year 304 of the Republic of China.1 After a sudden rain and snow, in the Wulingwei armored rear training camp not far from Lizhou City, almost every day, a column of military vehicles drove into the nearby military freight yard, and a large number of new equipment and logistics support materials were transported.

"Suddenly, suddenly, suddenly, suddenly, ......"

With the roar of diesel engines, more than a dozen freshly unloaded No. 2 tanks rumbled across the road and in the direction of the barracks' garage with black smoke. The asphalt road between the military yard and the barracks had long since been potholed and tattered, and the road surface was covered with mud.

A military jeep jolted up and down, rushing across the road like a bull, and then stopped in front of Li Fuchen. A quartermaster in the training camp jumped out of the back seat: "Lieutenant Colonel, the fourth batch of supplies consists of 18 No. 2 tanks and 24 wheeled vehicles, as well as some equipment and fuel, here is the list of supplies, please sign for it." ”

Li Fuchen took the list and glanced at it roughly, and then asked Captain Robin, who came with the quartermaster, "Have you checked the quantity?" ”

"It's been checked, sir!" Captain Robin of the regimental support company replied.

"Why are they all tank two?" Li Fuchen frowned and complained.

"The newly formed armored units are all trained with tank No. 2, and only a small number of tank No. 3 are allocated, sir." The quartermaster explained to Li Fuchen. Tank No. 2 is an experimental tank successfully developed by the Imperial Army in 298, with a hull armor thickness of only 15 mm, a weight of 16 tons, and a 37 mm anti-tank gun, which is similar to the T26 tank equipped by the Byzantines. The total production of the No. 2 tank, which was about 400 units, has now been removed from the front-line units and used only as a training tank.

The only three armoured divisions of the Imperial Army were newly equipped with a 57-mm anti-tank gun and a 24-ton No. 3 tank, which was only partially retained for training tanks.

At present, the number of No. 3 tanks produced by the factories of the empire is not high, only more than a hundred per month, so as a newly formed armored unit, only a small number of No. 3 tanks can be allocated.

The Imperial Army did not have many qualified officers to command mechanized units, nor did it have much experience in the use of armored units. Li Fuchen was stained with the light of his father, General Li Chengzong, and was selected by the army as the commander of the only armored battalion of the 3rd Nanyang Guards Division, which was one of the first commanders who came into contact with mechanized armored troops.

The personnel and military command of the Imperial Marines rested with the Imperial Admiralty and the General Staff of the Navy, and because of the wealth of the Imperial Navy, its equipment was considered to be first-class within the Empire. Although most of the officers and enlisted men were from the Army, the armored unit formed by Lieutenant Colonel Li Fuchen was under the command of the General Staff of the Imperial Navy.

As early as the year 301, the Imperial Army organized a confrontation exercise between armored units and ordinary infantry divisions at the Wolf Mountain Training Base. The scale of the exercise was not large, and only one armored regiment and one mechanized infantry regiment were dispatched from the armored forces, and there were not even divisional artillery, while the Imperial Third Army, which was stationed in the Hetao area, dispatched two infantry divisions.

The outcome of a field encounter really surprised all the army generals who watched the battle, although many people knew that the armored forces were strong, but they did not expect that two infantry divisions would quickly collapse in the face of the assault of an armored regiment, which most people would never have expected before the exercise.

In everyone's consciousness, an infantry division should be able to cope with the impact of an armored regiment, but I did not expect that the two infantry divisions participating in the exercise actually failed to withstand the attack of an armored regiment and a mechanized infantry regiment, you must know that this armored unit is not yet equipped with artillery units. According to the calculation of the results by the exercise headquarters, it would take more than four ordinary infantry divisions to resist the attack of a newly formed armored division.

The results of this exercise, of course, were classified as "top secret", and apart from the personnel participating in the exercise, only the commanders of the army group in the empire knew the detailed process and results of this exercise, and most of the ordinary middle-ranking officers had not heard of it. Of course, this does not include Li Fuchen, who, as Prince Li Chengting's subordinate officer, accompanied the prince, who was preparing to succeed the crown prince, to observe the exercise.

Because the emperor also came at that time.

After the war, due to land and sea disputes, the navy's plan to develop armored forces in the Marine Corps was greatly hindered by the Imperial Army, but it was only after the exercise in 301 that the navy broke the original restriction with the support of Prince Yi Chengting, who was born in the navy.

Since everyone is doing well now, some conflicts of interest are not particularly obvious.

The sky was gloomy, and there were bursts of engine roars from time to time in the Wulingwei armored training base, scattered snowflakes drifting in the sky, and in the cold fog, the figures of several tanks loomed behind the hills.

"Yes, nearly thirty kilometers of mountain roads, it only took less than an hour to turn back, and the mobility is okay." Li Fuchen signed his name on the list of supplies, looked at his watch again, and said to Lieutenant Colonel Link, the chief of staff, who had been holding a telescope and observing the direction of the mountain.

In the distance, the Swabian Mountains were covered with white snow, and their armored soldiers carved out several roads between the forests, and several black ruts stood out among the white mountain forests, destroying the harmony of nature.

Lieutenant Colonel Link put down his binoculars, turned his head and smiled at Li Fuchen: "In such muddy and complex terrain, it is rare that our young men can still maintain a decent battle formation. After the compliment, he squinted his eyes again and looked at the tank team rumbling in the distance: "I wonder how many vehicles were thrown on the road this time?" ”

These words suddenly swept away Li Fuchen's original smug mood.

The reliability of tanks and tracked armored vehicles equipped by the Imperial Army has always been a big problem that is difficult to solve, and the Wulingwei armored training base is located on the edge of the mountain, which also adds a lot of difficulty to the mobility of the armored troops.

Tanks and armored vehicles move from mountain to mountain, not to mention the increased fuel consumption, and the wear and tear on machinery is much higher than in the plains. Li Fuchen and others made several reports hoping to move the tank training camp to the Hengyang Army Training Base on flat ground, but the answer they received was that the Admiralty requested that the Marine Corps armored training camp be located here.

Well, it seems that the "old man" sitting in the office in the Luoyang Admiralty seems to be ready to use this armored unit as a mountain infantry.

Read the URL: n.