Lu Yinglin told the truth about the various armed forces in the country on the phone, which not only lacked heavy weapons, but also lacked adequate and effective practical support for transportation, communications, staff officers, and security services. Needless to say, even if there are only a dozen trucks in each division of the Central Army, there are only a dozen trucks in each division, and hundreds www.biquge.info of trucks in a division of the 88th Army are simply an outlier. Without trucks, there is no artillery carrying capacity, and without carrying artillery shells, it only relies on the dozens of shells in the ammunition truck, and once the artillery is exhausted, it is an ornament, and many troops have artillery on their books, but those cannons, especially those field guns, are almost all piled up in the rear warehouses.

As for communications, according to the standards of the US army in World War II, a heavy infantry division with artillery as the core, the radio station is at least assigned to the battalion level, and the length of the telephone line is more than 1,000 kilometers, so that the infantry battalions on the front line can call for rear fire support in time and establish close coordination with artillery. The fact that a radio station is assigned to a battalion and has 1,000 kilometers of telephone lines is an astronomical amount for the domestic army; their radio stations are generally at the division and brigade level, and there are no telephone lines even 100 kilometers, and the division and brigade level and below basically rely on cavalry and signal troops to transmit information.

Air-ground coordination must establish a connection between the front-line infantry battalion and the bomber group, which is not technically difficult, during the First World War, the tank unit led by Patton was able to talk to the aircraft overhead, of course, at that time, the language communication distance was very short, only a dozen kilometers, and now the radio used by naval aircraft to the ground communication distance is about 200 kilometers, as long as the training and deployment are appropriate, the air-ground coordination is no problem at all, but the ground-to-ground coordination is a big problem because of the lack of radio stations and the lack of telephone lines.

This is only the vertical connection of ground-to-ground coordination, that is, the connection between the superiors and subordinates within Division A, not the horizontal connection between Division A and Division B. In World War II, only the U.S. military could achieve ground-to-ground horizontal contact, and the German and Soviet armies, which did not have enough radios, were completely unable to do so, and the result of this failure was that they were often hit at the junction -- because of the lack of radio stations, they could not closely coordinate with each other, and once the enemy attacked and guessed that the friendly forces were mistaken, the cracks caused by the junction would become bigger and bigger, and eventually the enemy would take advantage of the chaos to enter.

Radios, telephone lines, trained communications personnel, these are what the 35th Army currently lacks. And then there is transportation, the navy transported 10,000 shells from 2,000 kilometers away to Linhe, and how many shells could the 35th Army transport to the front line? Liu Zhenxing, the commander of the artillery regiment, said that each cannon could guarantee 100 shells, and the back set was close to Mongolia, and every family had horses, and the people were willing to sacrifice their horses to fight Wuyuan.

The horse was solved, but when Huang Hanguang asked about the horse material, Liu Zhenxuan sweated. One kilogram of supplies per day for soldiers is enough, but five kilograms of dry fodder for military horses every day, although Fu Zuoyi expected that Japan would fight Wuyuan as a retaliation before packing his head, so he hid a batch of supplies in advance, but who would have expected naval support at that time? Without expectation, there was no hoarding of horse feed, and without horse feed, it was impossible to transport artillery shells by horses, and the front-line artillery firepower was insufficient, and they could still only rely on light weapons to fight.

Huang Hanguang was previously an air force officer, but he was trained in quasi-alignment before being assigned to this position. Therefore, at this time, the communication with Lu Yinglin and others was directly to the point, whether it was Liu Zhenxin or Lu Yinglin, they were all asked by him and didn't care. These are the current shortcomings of the 35th Army, how do you know about this kind of shortcomings? But in normal times, no one will say it, it is useless to say it, and besides, the domestic army is like this, even the central army is not much better. Now these problems were suddenly put on the table by this naval captain, and everyone suddenly felt very faceless.

"Captain Huang, three years ago, the 35th Army was only three brigades, guarding Taiyuan, Baotou, and Wuyuan, and sacrificed many brothers. It was originally the Jin Army, the Jin Army and the Central Army are incomparable, the 35th Army and the main force of the Jin Army are not good to compare, the situation in all aspects is not very good, not to mention the coordination of infantry and artillery, that is, the cooperation between the infantry and the infantry is difficult to do well because of the lack of contact. Fu Zuoyi saw that the scene was a little cold, so he had to speak. Therefore, when we mentioned air-ground coordination in our meeting just now, Chief of General Staff Lu and Staff Officer Zhang were very worried. To tell the truth, your navy is very foreign, we are very rustic, how to combine this local and foreign, we really have to think about it carefully, everything is for the sake of fighting the Japanese. ”

"Commander Fu, generals, I am also on business." Huang Hanguang bluntly said that he left no room to point to the key reasons, "If the situation is not clear, it is difficult to tacitly cooperate with the operation." However, the more I know about the situation of the 35th Army, the more I admire all of you here. ”

Huang Hanguang got up and saluted Lu Yinglin, Liu Zhenxin and others, Lu Yinglin and Liu Zhenxuan also stood up and saluted when they saw him saluting, and the embarrassment dissipated and only the tacit understanding remained. Fu Zuoyi and Zhong Qiangong laughed when they saw this, Fu Zuoyi said, "They are all their own people, why are they still so angry." Sit down, sit down. ”

"I will suggest in the report that the General Headquarters find a way to enrich the command and communication system of the 35th Army in a short period of time, which is the most urgent at present." Huang Hanguang sat down and said, speaking out what was in his heart.

"Captain Huang, what kind of enrichment method is there?" Lu Yinglin smiled strongly, he also liked the navy more and more.

"First of all, the radio station should be assigned to the battalion level, and each division needs at least 1,000 kilometers for each division of the telephone, and there is ......" Huang Hanguang was frightened just by opening Lu Yinglin, but he didn't know what to say, this was all aid.

“…… That's probably it, the materials can be transferred, but skilled communication personnel are a big problem, and I don't know if the time will be in time. Huang Hanguang was quite worried about whether the telegraph operator and telephone soldier could keep up, but it was useless for him to worry, this could only let the naval staff think of a way, and he couldn't come up with a way.

The assessment of the 35th Army and the operational plan for the counterattack on Wuyuan were randomly sent to Hong Kong that night, and then to Singapore as quickly as possible, and after decoding, it was sent to Li Kongrong's office as soon as possible. The document was red and black, indicating that it was not only urgent but also important, but Li Kongrong was being consulted on two other important matters at this time, and the document was first browsed by the staff officers before being turned around.

"Commander, the 35th Army may need to send communication technicians to achieve ground-air coordinated operations." Lieutenant Colonel Liang Xuzhao came over with Huang Hanguang's report to report, he had read it, marked the main points and drafted countermeasures.

"Fu Zuoyi, is there no one?" Li Kongrong opened the dossier of domestic support operations in 1940, the first one was Wuyuan, the second was Zaoyi, the third was Jiangnan, and the last one was Hanshui. The time is March, May-June, October, and November-December.

"Nope. It is understood that there is a serious shortage of communication technicians, and telephone soldiers may be able to train in a short period of time, but radio personnel cannot be trained in a short period of time. Liang Xuzhao said: "The battle plan is scheduled for March 20, and there are still 21 days. ”

"Twenty-one days? Twenty-one days is too late. Li Kongrong's steel plate was spinning in his hand. Of course, the Navy has radio crews who can support the 35th Army, but dozens of people are sent over, what if they are lost?

"Three transport planes are also not enough." Liang Xuzhao continued his previous proposal, "Only seven tons of materials can be transported at a time, and three planes can only transport twenty tons at a time, a battle like Wuyuan may be able to support it, but if it is a general battle of hundreds of thousands of people, this is a drop in the bucket." Xia Guan thought that it would be better to increase the number of Type 314 transport cargo planes to ten at a time, so that it could transport 70 materials at a time, and more than 100 tons at a time. ”

"Do we have so much to ship?" Li Kongrong looked at him, "The key is money, is the money enough?" ”

"Xia Guan thought it was ......," Liang Xuzhao said. The amount of supplies to support the domestic army may not exceed $2 million per year. Assuming that all these money are used to buy artillery shells, it will only be more than 100,000 rounds. 10,000 rounds is 100 tons, more than 100,000 rounds is more than 1,000 tons, and three planes can carry 21 tons each time, but they can be transported in 60 or 70 times.

"Don't think so." Li Kongrong interrupted him, "Of course I know the benefits of the transport plane, first of all, one is convenient, ten hours direct access to the customs, and the second is concealment, no one knows about the transportation at night, because it is a seaplane, and the airport cannot be found during the day." But we have limited funds, and we can really only save emergencies in China, and even if we do, we can't save small emergencies. ”

"Commander," Liang Xuzhao still insisted on his opinion after Li Kongrong finished speaking, "Didn't you say that the United States will assist countries next year, if the United States can provide supplies, then there will be no worries about running out of transportation." In addition, the Boeing Company sent a letter to the New York Command the day before yesterday to ask whether we would be interested in ordering another 314 aircraft, and they will soon switch to production, after which this type of aircraft may no longer be produced in the future, and if we do not order it now, we may not have a chance. ”

"Really?" The last reason impressed Li Kongrong, the Navy last ordered twelve Type 314 aircraft, including three cargo planes, four AWACS aircraft, and the remaining five were tankers. There are losses in the war, so don't you prepare another batch?

"Exactly." Liang Xuzhao handed over the telegram from New York.

"Then ......" Li Kongrong looked at the telegram from New York, which arrived yesterday, and the General Staff had already marked it with a red line. Then order a dozen more and discuss the specific proportions with the staff. Everything else can be less, but AWACS cannot be less. ”

"Understood." Liang Xuzhao watched Li Kongrong sign the telegram and breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. It is very easy to change the cargo plane to the early warning aircraft, and the whole seal of the fuel dispenser and the oil pump on it are a little difficult to change. "That 35th Army ......"

"Let's make a plan for the staff first, see how many people will be sent, when they will be sent, and how to ensure the safety of these people?" Twelve 314 seaplanes were almost five million dollars, and Li Kongrong, who was a little painful after signing it, threw the telegram to Liang Xuzhao, unwilling to look at it again, and he began to wholeheartedly consider the ground-air coordination on the Wuyuan side.

"Yes, the General Staff will come up with a complete plan tonight, and I will pass it on to you for review as soon as possible." Liang Xuzhao received the telegram for the purchase of the second batch of 314 seaplanes.

"How many planes do you think we should send to support you?" Li Kongrong asked, he found a map of China, and began to measure the distance on it. There are more than 1,800 kilometers in a straight line from Kunming to Wuyuan, and more than 2,000 kilometers from Ruili on the border. It is impossible for a support aircraft to take off directly from the riverside, right? ”

"Captain Huang thinks it should be in Zhong......ning, Ningxia," Liang Xuzhao pointed to a certain place on the map, "here, the place where the Yellow River bends in the north of Lanzhou, he thinks it is appropriate to build an airfield here, this place is 460 kilometers away from Wuyuan, and the Japanese army's Baotou and Yuncheng airfields are 500 kilometers away, and the range of the Japanese Type 97 fighters and Type 96 carrier-based fighters cannot be reached without auxiliary fuel tanks, and although the auxiliary fuel tanks are within reach, there is not much combat time." ”

"It's different when Zero comes out." Of course, Li Kongrong knew that the existing fighters of the Japanese army had short legs, but the Zero Type would come out in July. "Lanzhou is the best, why can't you ask the Air Force to let an airport come out?"

Liang Xuzhao did not answer this question, but when he reacted, he smiled -- Chang Kaishen was wary of the navy and only allowed naval planes to operate in the areas of Kunming, Guilin, and Shaoguan. "Let's talk about the situation in Lanzhou first." He said.

"On the Lanzhou side, the Fourth Route Army Command of the Air Force is responsible for directing the air battle, and the ground support is the Seventh General Station of the Air Force. There are five airports, Jiaojiawan Airport in the center, and the other four are East Ancient City, West Ancient City, Zhongchuan, and Lintao. The year before last, the destroyer squadron moved from Liangshan in Sichuan to Xigucheng Airport, and then there were two squadrons, the 15th and 17th, and a squadron of the Soviet Volunteer Air Force. Lanzhou was the recipient of Soviet aid planes, and it was unlikely that the Air Force would give us the airfield. Liang Xuzhao thought that Li Kongrong knew about the situation in Lanzhou because he wanted to get one or two of the airports, but he felt that this was unlikely.

"How many combat aircraft are there in the Air Force now?" Li Kongrong did not intend to ask for Lanzhou Airport, he turned to ask about the situation of the Air Force.

"We don't know the exact number, but it is estimated that there are about one hundred and fifty aircraft, of which eighty percent are fighters." Liang Xuzhao said.

"That's a hundred and twenty fighters? I have a question that I have never been able to figure out: the Japanese army is all bombers, and the air force is mostly fighters, why can't fighters fight bombers? And then there are very few planes to meet the enemy every time, where do the other planes go? Li Kongrong continued to ask. In fact, he has the answer to this question in his heart, but he still wants to hear what others have to say.

"Commander......" Liang Xuzhao didn't know the answer: "Maybe they have a last resort." The Soviet Union is said to have stopped sending planes, and if more than 100 fighters all take off to meet the enemy, there will be no planes after the fight. ”

"The USSR is not sending planes now?!" Li Kongrong was surprised, it's only February 40 now.

"The intelligence shows that it is no longer delivered. Last year, a group of the Air Force went to Lanzhou to pick up planes, saying that they would pick up planes and return to their stations many years ago, but they have not seen any planes yet, and those planes are said to be still in the Soviet Union and have not yet entered the country. The Soviet Air Force also stopped fighting, and Guinan retreated to Lanzhou after the battle. Liang Xuzhao said, "I think Chongqing's promise to us to enter the country to fight should have this aspect in mind. ”