"You mean... Mule? German Yuan was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Yes, mules." Fearing a misunderstanding, Sir Fay held up two fingers on the side of his head.

"I know the mule, Sir Fay, and we use it to tow artillery and vehicles." Xu Jun said that he understood what the other party was saying.

At least eighty percent of the current Wehrmacht units of the 6th Army still retain mules and horses. As mentioned earlier in this book, the reasons for this are complex: in addition to the fact that the number of vehicles purchased cannot keep up with the expansion, there are mainly logistical problems, and the fact that Germany has very limited access to fuel, which will inevitably increase the burden of large-scale motorization. Now that the fuel problem of the German army has been temporarily solved, all units have begun to increase the proportion of motorization, but it will take some time to fully reequip.

Mule and horse vehicles are mainly equipped with infantry units at the company and platoon level, as a means of logistics transportation for grassroots troops, in addition to the rations and ammunition carried by soldiers, almost two-thirds of a company's supplies are loaded on these standard logistics wagons.

In the German army's written establishment, each infantry company was equipped with three or four two-wheeled logistics wagons, as well as a small motorized cooking cart drawn by mules and horses, that is, a company-level field kitchen. As in other European countries, the Wehrmacht's horse-drawn carriages were standard equipment, with designs dating back to before World War I, and although they looked old, they were quite durable.

In the early days, a regular infantry division of the German army would be equipped with 3,500 to 5,000 mules and horses, and almost every four soldiers could get one horse, which can be said to be quite an astonishing ratio.

Of course, in practice, the distribution of horses could not be calculated in this way, because in addition to towing the baggage wagons, the German artillery units had to occupy more than eighty percent of the horses, and a heavy divisional artillery often required six to twelve strong horses to tow it.

Before the war, most of the German army was equipped with tall and strong horses or war horses, but the number of mules in the army was not very large, because the German army has a long history of breeding and using horses, and generals have a soft spot for military horses, and mules can only be used as a reserve supplement for some logistics horses. Another reason was that there were not many donkeys in the German countryside at that time, and the production of mules was of course somewhat insufficient.

In the European war, the German army suffered a great loss of horses, and even had a first-line infantry division lose mobility due to a large number of deaths of horses, and after the war, the German army had to requisition horses in the occupied areas, and at the same time replenished a large number of mules, which finally restored the number of mules and horses equipped by the army to the level before the war.

At present, the mules in the German army are mainly produced in Austria and Hungary, the Magyars have the habit of raising mules, and the French army also provided a large number of mules for the German army. In contrast, the Italian 6th Army preferred donkeys, because smaller ones were better suited to maneuver on narrow mountain roads in the Italian mountains. The German mountain troops were also equipped with a number of donkeys, which were indeed well adapted to the mountain environment, and were more hardy than ordinary horses, allowing them to move for long periods of time above the snow line.

"Sir Sir, I don't quite understand what you mean, do you suggest that we add a batch of mules?" Verle couldn't help but chime in.

"Yes, Your Excellency." Fay replied with a nod.

"It's a real way to replenish our capacity, but the problem is that if we bring horses and mules here from Europe, it's going to be a lot of travel and we don't have that much time." Wehrle said with a frown.

"You're right, General, but you obviously don't understand what I mean." Fay smiled at Wheeler, and then he looked at the German Yuan: "Your Excellency, there is no need to draw livestock from Europe, I know that there is a place with a lot of mules, and it only takes a few days to transport them to the front line of the peninsula. ”

"Interesting, please go on, Sir Fay." Imperial Yuan sat up straight.

"I'm talking about India." Sir Fay's tone was a little smug, and he finally knew that the German dollar still had areas that he did not know.

"Eric, map." Xu Jun raised his head and ordered. Soon, a large-scale map was spread out on a low table in the middle of the carriage.

"You know, the British Empire has a large number of troops stationed in India, and its bases are spread over almost all of the Sub-Great 6. You see, the major cities of India are very far apart, especially near some of the princely states in the northeast, and the local environment and road conditions are very difficult, and the logistical supply difficulties are quite great. Following the German dollar to the map, Fay pointed to the Indian Peninsula on the map and began to explain.

So the British Empire set up a special baggage transport unit in India, and because of its outstanding achievements, it was also given the title prefix "royal" by the king five years ago. Fay said.

"You mean the Royal 6th Army of India?" Xu Jun smiled and stroked his palms and said, he really should have thought of this a long time ago, and the moment Fay mentioned India, he had a vague premonition.

The Royal 6th Army of India Baggage Regiment, officially known as the Royal Indian 6th Army Service Corps, was the predecessor of the Logistics Corps of the 6th Army of India in the future. It is a professional transport force with six transport regiments and one headquarters in Madras and one in Mumbai.

The British and Indian Royal Baggage Corps once participated in the First World War, these Indian baggage soldiers fought side by side with the British 6th Army in the European theater, because they have been active in the front line of the position, often by the German army's air-ground joint strikes, the loss of personnel and equipment is quite serious, in order to recognize the merits of the Indian baggage team, the British officers who lead the team often receive awards and medals from their superiors.

In the mid-thirties of the twentieth century, because of the rise of nationalism in India, in order to win over the Anglo-Indian troops with Indian soldiers as the main force, George VI gave some Anglo-Indian military units the honor of prefix "royal".

The baggage force was purely mule and horse-based, not equipped with a single transport truck, but of course some cars for the command and officers, as well as two-wheeled motorcycles for the heralds.

Speaking of which, Indian soldiers had been riding motorcycles since before World War II, and in the harsh road conditions of the Indian countryside, the heralds all practiced good riding skills. However, the Indian motorcyclists at that time did not have the courage to play acrobatics, and the commander was a British master, and no one could violate military regulations under their noses.

The British army bred a large number of mules in India, mainly for the colonial troops in South Asia to transport the baggage, hard-working mules were more suitable for activities in the tropical jungle than horses.

The Anglo-Indian Royal Baggage Regiment mainly operated in the plains and low hills, and they used the special two-wheeled and single-plane mule carts of the Anglo-Indian army. These lewed mule carts made of angle steel are very light and have a simple structure, being pulled by one or two mules depending on the size. Twin mule carts can usually carry a ton of cargo, and smaller ones can carry half a ton, and the British army usually used two types of baggage mule carts together.

A convoy usually has 300 mules, with 100 Indian baggage soldiers, each soldier is responsible for caring for three mules, the regiment has a special person to handle and divide the forage, and the baggage soldiers are only responsible for drinking and feeding and washing the animals, which is not a very heavy task.

Each mule was assigned a set of British-style pack horse harnesses, including leather saddle pads and straps with shiny metal buckles, and this well-made harness was probably the most valuable piece of equipment in the hands of these baggage soldiers, so it could only be picked up from the munitions warehouse after receiving an official mission.

Xu Jun estimates that at the moment the baggage corps has at least 15,000 to 20,000 mules, about 5 to 7,000 baggage mule carts, even if only half of them are transferred, it will be enough to make up for the current capacity gap of the Afrika Korps.

"This matter involves the Anglo-Indian army, and it needs to be communicated with London first." Xu Jun looked at Fay.

"If you believe me, Your Excellency Yuan, I am willing to do my part in this matter." Fay lowered his head slightly and raised his eyes to look at the young Yuan.

"The Third Reich will not forget your friendship, Sir Fay." Yuan nodded slightly in thanks.

"Sir, if London agrees, how long do you estimate it will take to assemble your troops?" Xu Jun turned around and looked down at the map on the low table.

"Your Excellency, I need to contact the Anglo-Indian Command first, and before that, I think I can prepare ships for the transport of men and livestock." Fay hurriedly put away his smile and began to discuss the specific implementation steps with the German Yuan.

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