The German advisers sent to the Yugoslav army found that the situation of this armored unit was even worse than they had imagined. Of the four independent armored battalions under the army, in reality only two were organized, and only one hundred and ten tanks could be used, and the rest of the units only existed on the army command's establishment table.

The Yugoslav Army is scheduled to order fifty S1-D light tanks from Škoda to form a light tank battalion (the same as the fifty tanks missing above). These tanks were included in the Army's equipment list, but since Skoda was immediately annexed by Germany, the deal was doomed to be impossible.

And although the contract for the French tank has been finalized, the French have problems with the supply, these tanks are too dilapidated and must be refurbished to a certain extent, otherwise the deal is really too ugly.

As a result, when the Germans invaded France, the refurbishment of French tanks was not completely completed, and some of the antique tanks kept in the factory warehouse became trophies of the German army, and in the end, the Yugoslavs only got 54 R35s and 48 Renault FT-17s.

The German consultants were surprised to find that the antiques were all M26/27, a modified tank for the purpose of "infantry auxiliary tank", which was strengthened on the basis of the FT17 and adopted a newly designed suspension system and gearbox. The tank's frontal armor was increased to 30 mm, the side armor was 16 mm, and the turret armor was 22 mm, so the total empty weight was increased to 8 tons, and the road speed was reduced to 35 km/h.

As a French-style "infantry tank", this speed is completely acceptable, and the thickness of the armor and the firepower it carries are enough to cope with the low-intensity wars of the twenties and thirties.

The first country to buy this export tank, the answer may be surprising, it turned out to be the Japanese Empire, thousands of miles away from Europe.

The Japanese Army has previously purchased 15 Renault FT17 basic tanks from France, some of which have been handed over to the Japanese Army Cavalry School for use in the teaching and research of armored forces, and at the same time as a model for technology development, with the intention of developing Japan's own tank armored vehicles on this basis.

The starting point of Japan's tank equipment in history is actually very high, it can be said that it borrowed the most advanced armor technology from Britain and France, and it was completely synchronized with the world trend in the early stage of development.

In addition to Japan, another Asian country also purchased this tank, to be precise, it should be a local faction, that is, the Feng warlords who dominated the three eastern provinces at that time.

Zhang Yuting established China's first formed tank unit very early, and the tank weapon also appeared on the battlefield of China's civil war for the first time with the outbreak of the Zhifeng War.

The Northeast Army initially purchased only 14 basic Renault FT-17s, but by 1930, the number of Renault tanks had increased to 36, of which 15 were M26/27s.

In fact, the NC27 is the stereotyped number given by the French government to the tanks for export, and it is recorded that these tanks were transported to the Northeast in 1930, and the Huanggutun Incident broke out two years ago, and after a period of turmoil and civil strife in the Northeast Army, the transfer of power at the top has been basically completed, and the Feng faction is in the heyday of this warlord faction.

On September 18, 1930, Zhang Hanqing and Jiang Zhongzheng reached a deal, he could not resist the temptation to enter the customs and control Zhili, so he released a high-profile "Qiaodian" on the same day, and then the Northeast Army officially intervened in the "Central Plains War" that was in full swing.

Feng stabbed himself in the back at a critical moment, completely destroying the already fragile anti-Chiang alliance, and Zhang Hanqing gained control of North China, which his father had once dreamed of, and it should be Commander Chiang Zhongzheng of the Nationalist Government who had the last laugh.

September 18, 1930 became an important turning point in the history of the Feng faction, which reached the pinnacle of the birth of the armed faction in this place, and after receiving the soldiers and chassis owned by the Northwest Army, the Feng Army instantly expanded to become the most powerful armed force north of the Yangtze River in China.

Perhaps it is also in response to the phrase prosperity and decline, and the decline and final destruction of the Northeast Army also began at this moment.

Zhang Hanqing would never have imagined that even if he was high, in the second year, also on September 18, the Feng Department would usher in the biggest turning point in his fate. On that day, a group of "Showa staff officers" took the tradition of the army's red deer to the extreme, and plotted and launched the "September 18 Incident" without the approval of the Japanese emperor, cabinet, and even the military department.

At that time, if it were not for Zhang Hanqing's political naivety and military command incompetence, this military adventure launched by a handful of Japanese officers would not have any chance of success at all.

The topic is somewhat distant, and now we return to the issue of the integration of the Yugoslav Army.

The report submitted by the German adviser to the High Command was very detailed, and there was a thick stack of various charts alone, and in order to save the Führer's precious time, Xu Jun saw a condensed version after collation.

The role played by Yugoslavia in Germany's strategy on the Eastern Front, to be honest, is difficult to accurately position, the geographical location of this country is very important, the territory is steep and mountainous, not suitable for the deployment and mobility of large forces, especially armored forces, but it is very suitable for small forces to carry out guerrilla warfare, as long as the outside material support is constantly cut off, the mountains here can easily become a quagmire to bury the invaders, and even become a flesh and blood mill like Afghanistan, so that any invaders will smell the color.

But there is an important prerequisite for this to be achieved, that is, it is necessary to maintain a smooth supply line and provide a steady stream of backup, and at the same time, the defender must have a certain ground superiority, and at the same time, it is necessary to seize air supremacy in the theater of operations.

The combat effectiveness of the Yugoslav ground forces is really a little worrying, it cannot be said that the Serbs are not brave enough, they are really reckless, even Hitler once expressed admiration, the problem is that the equipment in their hands and the command class are really too bad.

The ethnic contradictions in Yugoslavia led to an imbalance in the strength of the army, with Serb officers accounting for ninety-nine percent of the number of officers at one point, and a total of 165 generals before the war, of whom only four were Croats.

The Croats could only serve as low-level soldiers and low-level officers in the royal army, which obviously laid the foundation for the defeat in the future. After the German invasion in history, a large number of Croatian soldiers defected to the battle, unwilling to fight for Serbian officers, the original unorganized defense line was about to collapse, and the tactical concepts of the army's senior command were outdated and rigid, under the rapid offensive of the German army and its allies, the elite of the kingdom's armed forces was quickly lost, and finally forced to surrender to the German army, which was only 12 days before the start of the war.

In order to prevent this problem from happening again, it is necessary to reform the membership structure of the army, change the dominant position of the Serbs in the royal army, and at the same time foster the strength of the Croatian community in the army.

Even if the Yugoslav royal family comes forward to cover it, it may not be able to suppress the negative impact of this practice among Serb nationalists, and Xu Jun is likely to witness another coup d'état in Belgrade.

Xu Jun did not want to take risks at such a critical juncture, Germany strategically needed an internally stable Balkan without violent social upheaval for at least the next four years.

Maintaining permanent peace among the various ethnic groups in Yugoslavia was an impossible task, but it was still within Germany's current capacity to keep them in peace for a year or two.

In the event of a war on the Eastern Front, Yugoslavia, as a member of the European military alliance, could not keep itself out of the matter.

Because once Hungary was invaded by Soviet troops, the immediate Yugoslavia would become a natural strategic line of defense, blocking the Soviet army's penetration into the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula, and it was impossible for the Soviet Red Army staff not to see this.

Once Yugoslavia is invaded by the Soviet army, then Xu Jun can wait for the show to be staged with peace of mind.

Historically, Yugoslavia was in a mess because the German army destroyed the royal government recognized by all ethnic groups in the country, drove out the nominal king co-ruler (although the people were dissatisfied but still recognized his royal power), directly tore the curtain between several ethnic groups, and deliberately provoked ethnic hatred.

Historically, Yugoslavia's civil war was a hundred times bloodier than foreign wars against invaders, with the German-sponsored Croatian puppet government brutally killing ethnic Serbs in its territory, and Serbian armed groups taking bloody revenge on Croatian civilians in its territory.

Paramilitaries and guerrillas subordinate to the two communities. The Home Guard, the District Guard, and even the armed civilians were like mortal enemies when encountered, and they would never stop until one of them was broken, and both sides had a habit of leaving no prisoners alive, and the captives were usually executed with axes by the victors after being brutally abused.

This habit has resulted in the fact that in some areas, once fighting breaks out, both sides tend to fight to the last breath, willing to commit suicide rather than raise their hands in surrender.

Historically, when the war broke out on the Eastern Front, there were more guerrillas led by Yugoslavia in the ranks of the civil war, and at the same time, the armed family guards of the Slovenians also appeared, and then almost every ethnic group living on this land was involved in this hopeless melee, because of the fundamental contradictions in the concept, there was no room for compromise on all sides, so there was no possibility of unity, and the territory of Yugoslavia was turned into a pot of chowder.

In this civil war, which is dominated by guerrilla warfare, all forces show extraordinary ruthlessness, showing no mercy to the enemy, and eventually the hatred even extends to the civilians who have helped the opponent.

The exact number of combatants and civilians killed in this ethnic civil war is no longer countable, because the data have been deliberately covered up and revised by all sides after the war, and the preliminary estimate is at least 300,000, while the total number of dead and missing German officers and soldiers in the Balkans during the same period is less than 40,000.

Xu Jun can't open this Balkan box again, of course, the Croatian and Slovenian ethnic groups do need to be appeased, but they must not shake the social structure of Yugoslavia because of this, maybe it is a little unfair to those ethnic groups, but now is obviously not a good time to carry out social structural reform.

Prince Paul was quite sensible, and under the guise of German pretense, he succeeded in convincing most of the Serb elders in the Cabinet and Parliament to agree to increase the position and share of the Croats in the Yugoslav government and army, provided that the Croats also cease all separatist activities in Yugoslavia.

In support of Prince Paul, Xu promised that Germany would not provide any form of support for the political demands of the Croats, but at the same time he said that the Yugoslav Croats would be brought under the protection of the Third Reich and that any organization or individual would be prohibited from possible retaliation for their previous actions.

This series of agreements was a reassurance to both sides, the Serbs no longer had to worry about the German overthrow of the kingdom, and the Croats had a strong enough backer, and everything seemed to be back to the days under Austria-Hungary.

As for the Slovenians, the two most difficult ones are silent, and if they have anything to be dissatisfied with, they can stand in the front desk and say it out loud.

The Yugoslav infantry was generally of good quality as a single soldier, whether Serbs or Croats, and was not inferior to the Slavic barbarians, and with strict and reasonable training and adequate equipment, these men would probably be the best mountain light infantry in Europe.

Yugoslavia's infrastructure is quite backward in Europe, and although there are some excellent projects, such as the famous "Tara Valley Bridge" (the prototype of the movie "The Bridge"), most of the roads in its territory are outdated.

Most of the mountain roads are still rammed earth and gravel, which does not turn into a quagmire during the rainy season, but also restricts the movement of heavy equipment.

At the same time, the carrying capacity of the bridges in Yugoslavia is also a problem, like most of the old bridges in Europe, these bridges can usually only carry a maximum weight of about 30 tons, and even many can only be used by 20 tons of vehicles, which is enough for the originally lightly armed Yugoslav army, but at this time it limits their equipment level.

In the case that Germany is temporarily unable to invest in local infrastructure, Germany has not even completely completed the reinforcement of its own bridges at this time, and can only hand over these problems to the local Yugoslav engineering team, which will require a large amount of money and materials to complete these projects, and if the Royal Yugoslav government cannot get enough loans, it may not even be able to start construction on schedule.

The First Armored Brigade of the Royal Yugoslav Army was prepared by the High Command with H35 tanks produced by the French company Hochkiss, and the first batch of 320 tanks had been sent to Belgrade, and a standard tank regiment was being formed with the help of German advisers.

The next step of the high command plan is to wait for the officers and men to become familiar with the use of these new equipment, then transfer this unit to the Yugoslav border provinces for adaptation training, and to draw up field regulations and equipment manuals suited to the local combat environment as soon as possible.

The long-distance mobility of these armored units could not be carried by road marches and vehicles, and the most suitable way was to use the Yugoslav railway system, which was second to none in the Balkans, although it could not be compared with several developed countries in Europe.

Yugoslavia's railway system, which began to develop in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, entered a period of rapid development after the First World War, and in the twenties the railway from Zagreb to Belgrade was built, along which the famous Orient Express crossed Yugoslavia and then entered Bulgaria.

Xu Jun did not expect to see the results of these training in a short period of time, he only hoped that when the war broke out on the Eastern Front, Yugoslavia would be able to complete the war preparations and join the European Union as agreed.

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