"It's spectacular!" When Schlieffen and his entourage came to the starting point of the exercise, the first thing that caught their eyes was the hundreds of vehicles and the dense crowd. The so-called people are full of thousands of people, and a division has about 14,000 people, so it is naturally impossible to start from one place, and now Schlieffen has come to the starting point of the division headquarters and subordinate units. A large amount of heavy artillery and supplies have been loaded, and an infantry regiment that is moving with the division headquarters has already begun to set off.

Most of the heavy weapons and large baggage can already be towed by vehicles, but most of the infantry should walk slowly on their own. Personnel could not move on either side of the road, while vehicles transporting baggage and artillery drove in the middle of the road. The marching speed of the entire army was maintained at about 5 kilometers per hour, and there was no way, the fully equipped infantry marched at this speed for a long time.

"Your Excellency's troops seem to be equipped with a smaller number of heavy weapons than they are in strength." When Schlieffen and the others passed by a company, he deliberately stopped to check the equipment carried by the troops, first of all, he was very interested in the new rucksacks equipped by the Bavarian regiment. Simple and neat. It is also very comfortable to carry weights and is easy to walk. He affirmed this.

But soon, he found that there was not even one of the four machine guns that should be attached. 2 60 mortars were also missing. HE WAS DISPLEASED THAT THE 82MM MORTAR, WHICH A BATTALION HEADQUARTERS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE EQUIPPED WITH, DID NOT APPEAR IN THE INFANTRY MARCHING COLUMN. "Your Excellency's practice of reducing the necessary equipment of the troops is acceptable." Before Schlieffen could finish speaking, the prince pointed to a wagon in the distance. Motioned for him to go and see.

It is a T1 cargo truck equipped with a 50 hp engine, and the rear compartment can theoretically carry 1 ton of cargo. The façade is neatly lined with 2 mortars and the required ammunition. The trailer in the back houses four machine guns and about 16,000 rounds of ammunition. The personnel of the company's direct fire team accompanied the two vehicles.

There is also a car in the back to store other baggage and supplies of company-level units. This includes a variety of large tents, necessary medical supplies, gasoline for vehicles, and various maintenance tools. The third car was a cooking cart with a body full of all kinds of food and vegetables and canned food needed by the company, and in the back was Dongdong, which the prince called a field cooking car. According to the prince's description, such a car could make food for 200 people in an hour and a half.

The three trains and the three trailers behind them solved almost all the supply problems of a company in the conditions at that time, and the speed of this car was about 15 kilometers per hour. Theoretically, the third section of the vehicle could rush to the place where the troops were resting in advance and then raise the fire for cooking. When the troops arrive at the location, they can eat a hot meal and drink a sip of hot water. "It's a tourist." After comparing his own Prussian army, Hindenburg had to sigh that the treatment of others was really high!

Of course, not all companies can be equipped with 3 trucks, most of them are usually 2 trucks. This was decided on the basis of the supplies carried by certain companies and the tasks they undertook, and the advance guard units were always ready to fight, and they had to march fast, they naturally needed to carry more ammunition and provisions. A company of a division alone needs about 200 vehicles. The rest of the trucks were used to tow artillery and divisional supplies.

Even if Schlieffen and others support Ma Zheng and their butts are crooked, they have to admit that it is really cool to use a car to pull a gun. A TRUCK CAN PULL AWAY AN ARTILLERY SQUAD AND THE TOOLS IT NEEDS, AS WELL AS A 150MM HOWITZER. A 12-gun divisional 150MM heavy artillery unit was completed with less than 40 vehicles. And it allows artillery units to move at a speed of more than 15 kilometers per hour.

Sitting in the car specially prepared for Schlieffen and others, looking at the torrent composed of hundreds of various vehicles in the distance, Schlieffen was also shocked by the spectacular marching scene in front of him. If there were aerial photography in this era, then it can be found that several troops scattered in the garrison eventually converged on the main road.

The gray-black queue, which stretched for more than ten kilometers, was advancing rapidly like a giant dragon, and in front of it was a mixed reconnaissance force composed of cavalry and armored vehicles to open the way, and a huge fan spread out in front of the team. AND THEN THERE WAS A MAIN REGIMENT TO WHICH THE DIVISION BELONGED, AND UNLIKE THE GENERAL GERMAN ARMY'S HEAVY EQUIPMENT POSITION, THANKS TO THE STRONG TRANSPORT CAPACITY, THE 105MM GUN GROUP ASSIGNED TO THE REGIMENT WAS VERY FAR FORWARD, ACCORDING TO COLONEL SCHMIDT, IF THE OPPONENT WAS FOUND IN FRONT, THE ARTILLERY COULD SMASH THE SHELLS ON THE OPPONENT'S POSITION BEFORE THE INFANTRY FINISHED DEPLOYING.

The roar of hundreds of engines shocked Schlieffen and others, who had never seen such a large-scale mechanized maneuver, and marched along the winding road, and the entire army marched in an orderly manner. Because most of the horse-drawn carts were eliminated, the amount of supplies needed by the troops was reduced. After all, a horse has at least 10KG of various feeds a day, as well as a lot of fresh water. To tow a 75 gun and an ammunition cart, you need at least 6 horses. But a car on this plane can't use 60 liters of gasoline to travel 40 kilometers a day.

"The day will come when wheels will completely replace horses as the main capacity on land, and horse-drawn carriages will eventually take a back seat. And now, whoever can seize this opportunity will have an advantage in the future war. "Look at the rainbow of the dragon. His Royal Highness the Prince was also very proud. looked at Schliefen and the others next to him with the eyes of a local tyrant.

But to be honest, the prince's words are a bit exaggerated, after all, in World War II, German military horses still occupy an important position in transportation, and only the United States and Britain are the local tyrants who really realize mechanization, or the army is not particularly large.

In the course of the exercise, several encounter simulations were also arranged. Large numbers of infantry quickly left the road, finding nearby bunkers and building improvised fortifications, while company and battalion support fire was maneuvered in place by trucks before the infantry could deploy.

"As long as there are no problems with reconnaissance, our machine-gun and mortar positions can be deployed before the opposing infantry can launch a group charge. Although we will concentrate our company firepower, relying on grenadiers and automatic rifles, we will not suffer at least when we encounter other national battalion and company units, and when the support weapon assumption is completed, it will be crushed. The prince explained.

On the first day of the march, the entire army marched about 45 kilometers, which was almost twice the speed of the Prussian regiments at the same time! In the next two days, it was still about 40 kilometers. As a result, the whole march ended 5 hours earlier than expected! The officers of the German General Staff recorded the march and the data in detail, and watching them seal and pack the documents, the prince knew that his goal had been achieved.

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