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After the Paris Peace Conference and the Washington Conference, although all countries had ostensibly gained a general environment for peaceful development, as a graduate student of the 21 st Century Artillery Academy, Song Xiaofei knew that it would not be long before a world war would be inevitable. Moreover, Song Xiaofei knew that artillery had the title of "god of war" in history, and he was deeply aware of the huge role of artillery in the coming years. In 1906, countries did not pay enough attention to artillery, and the artillery of various countries was mainly to build artillery batteries. An artillery battery consisting of 6 to 8 field guns, which is traditionally considered the largest artillery tactical unit, began to form larger tactical units with other artillery batteries. Whether they are called artillery groups in France or artillery divisions in Germany, these units consisting of 2, 3, and 4 artillery companies do not enjoy "independent numbers", or even independent numbers, and directly use the numbers of superior infantry units as their own numbers.

Germany was the first country to begin experimenting with expanding artillery units from "companies" to "battalions", and then they went one step further, combining two battalions into a regiment and then two regiments into a brigade, with the artillery brigade as an infantry corps formation. From the point of view of troop personnel, the German approach provided more and higher positions for senior artillery officers; From a tactical point of view, the corps commander can now not only assign an officer to command all the artillery, but also directly assign the two artillery regiments under his command to the infantry division to provide fire support.

On that day, the sky was clear and the air in Beijing was very dry. Song Xiaofei called Army Chief Duan Qirui and said that China would build an artillery unit at the regular army level. An artillery academy will also be established in Baoding, and Song Xiaofei plans to use the most advanced artillery theories and methods he has learned. To train and arm them, it is necessary to build artillery brigades, artillery divisions, and artillery corps, and to increase the proportion of reserve artillery.

The two were in the back garden of the presidential palace, birds were chirping in the old locust tree, and they exchanged opinions while playing chess. Duan Qirui said to Song Xiaofei: "The idea of the president is very strategic. I have been in charge of the artillery of the Forces nouvelles, and our previous artillery was mainly German ones. Personally, I think. Artillery, in the future battlefield, will certainly be the mainstay. ”

Song Xiaofei smiled and said, "It's good to learn from Germany." European artillery was in the shadow of the Franco-Prussian War. into the twentieth century. For tacticians, there were too many lessons to be learned about how to deploy and use a new generation of cannons in the war between Germany and France, and Germany was a generation ahead of France in field artillery. ”

Duan Qirui said: "It is true, the fierce artillery battles in the Franco-Prussian War. It's simply a completely unequal artillery battle. The breech-loading guns used by the Prussians far surpassed the breech-loading guns of the French in range, accuracy, and fuse-reliability: the gunners of a standard 80-millimeter four-pounder Prussian field gun could project shells up to 3,800 meters away and were confident that their shells would bloom; Their French opponents, on the other hand, used 86.5 mm four-pounder field guns that could shoot shells up to 3,150 meters away, and only at 1,400 to 1,600 meters. The fuses of the 2650 to 2,950 range shells were in order to work properly, when the French gunners fired the shells to other distances. They are usually surprised to find that what they shoot is just a big iron ball. ”

Song Xiaofei said: "You go with me." The weakness of the French artillery was further highlighted by the strong organizational ability of the Prussian artillery, in the Battle of Sedan Army, the five infantry corps of the Prussian Army could concentrate more than 90 guns at the same time to form an artillery company, and even line up in a column to fight under the command of an artillery commander, at the critical moment of the Battle of Sedan Army, the Prussian Army once assembled 540 guns, equivalent to 80% of the artillery of the whole German army, into a large artillery company to fight. ”

Duan Qirui said: "Yes, the field artillery fire must be concentrated, the maximum number of artillery pieces in an area as much as possible must be concentrated and placed under the command of a single commander, and the enemy's artillery must be destroyed before the battle begins, and the battle between the two units must begin with an artillery duel." The artillery had to find a way to sprinkle enough firepower on the point to destroy it. ”

Song Xiaofei said: "The armies of all countries have paid insufficient attention to the construction of artillery, especially the construction of heavy artillery, and the French army is equipped with more than 4,000 field artillery, most of which are 75-77 mm light artillery, and only 300 105-155 mm heavy artillery. The German army had the strongest artillery strength, with more than 9,000 field guns, of which the number of heavy cannons was less than 200. For most of the war, direct aim was still predominant. We in China can regard the development of heavy artillery as an important strategy and develop the army. ”

Duan Qirui said: "The president is right. ”

Song Xiaofei asked: "Are there any particularly outstanding artillery talents among your students now?" ”

Duan Qirui put down a black hand and said: "There is a young man named Jiang Baili, who is only twenty-four years old, very good, a native of Haining, Zhejiang, who studied at the Royal German Military Academy. ”

Song Xiaofei laughed and said, "Twenty-four years old, not young anymore." But at that age, I was the governor of Shandong. ”

Duan Qirui put down the game of Go, asked people to find a recent military theory newspaper, handed it to Song Xiaofei, and said: "President, you see, this newspaper just published an article about artillery written by Jiang Baili, please take a look." ”

Song Xiaofei took it and took a look, the title of the article is "On the Importance of Artillery as an Independent Branch", from the past to the present, looking at the history and current situation of artillery in the world, there are data, examples, and theories:

Artillery is an important component of the army and the main firepower assault force. With strong firepower, long range, good accuracy and high maneuverability, it can carry out fire assaults on ground and surface targets in a concentrated, sudden and continuous manner. It is mainly used to support and cover the combat operations of infantry and armored troops, and to cooperate with other arms and services, and can also independently carry out firepower combat. According to the combat performance of the equipment, it is divided into howitzer artillery, cannon artillery, cannon howitzer, mountain artillery and other units. Artillery under the corps refers to the artillery within the structure of the composite army at all levels below the group army. Britain, the United States, France and other countries called it "field artillery".

In China, during the Spring and Autumn Period, there were soldiers who operated heavy stone throwing machines (cannons). In the Song Dynasty, the army used artillery to throw stone projectiles. Fireballs made of gunpowder, iron artillery, etc., were also thrown, and the operator was referred to as the gunner. In the Yuan Dynasty, there was a gunner army and a gunner Wanhu Mansion in the army, and by 1332 at the latest, it was equipped with a metal tubular gun with a caliber of more than 20 mm for firing iron projectiles, thus giving birth to the earliest artillery in China.

From the seventh year to the beginning of the eighth year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty, the Beijing army established the 'Shenji Battalion' with artillery and muskets as the main equipment. It was the world's first firearms unit. In the battle of Ming Chengzu's expedition to Mobei, the Shenji battalion cooperated with infantry and cavalry to fight, played an important role, and has become a branch of the army. When Qi Jiguang Jizhen was training, there were car battalions and cavalry battalions. There are more than 3,100 officers and soldiers in the car battalion and 256 Francophone guns; The cavalry battalion has about 2,700 officers and men and 60 tiger cannons. In the Qing Dynasty, the Eight Banners, the Green Battalion, the Hunan Army, and the Huai Army all had artillery. The new army of the Republic has one artillery mark per town, and each battalion has three battalions, and each battalion has three teams. Each team formed 6 guns.

16th century. The artillery of some European countries, in coordination with infantry and cavalry, has become a branch of the army. In the 17th century, France established an artillery regiment and established an artillery school; Sweden also had artillery regiments, and each infantry regiment was equipped with two guns, and team artillery appeared. In the 18th century, European artillery was divided into field artillery, siege artillery, fortress artillery, coastal artillery, and cavalry artillery. Late 18th to early 19th century. The French ** team concentrated on the use of artillery on the European battlefield, and regarded it as one of the main arms to kill and inflict the enemy.

Basic fire unit. There are 2 artillery platoons and 1 command platoon or command squad, and the artillery platoon is equipped with 2 to 4 artillery pieces or rocket launchers. An artillery battalion is usually formed from 3 artillery batteries and the corresponding command detachments. Artillery regiments are usually organized from 2 to 4 artillery battalions; Some are composed of only 2 or 3 artillery companies, such as the artillery regiments of the British and French armies. An artillery brigade is usually the highest unit of artillery, generally consisting of 3 to 7 artillery battalions; Some were formed by several artillery groups. An artillery division is the highest establishment unit of the artillery of a few countries, and generally has jurisdiction over 3 to 5 artillery regiments.

Advances in metallurgical science meant that lighter guns could fire larger projectiles, breakthroughs in gunpowder allowed for longer range and made it harder for the enemy to spot the location of the guns, the invention of the magazine shell, the placement of propellant in a metal canister and the combination of the warhead, and improvements in the breech mechanism increased the firing rate by as much as three to four times.

A weapon that combines all of these inventions is called a rapid-fire cannon. At least 70 kg lighter than the previous gun, the rapid-fire gun was similarly more organically powered than the previous generation of guns under the condition of being towed by six horses. The caliber of the rapid-fire gun was smaller than that of the previous generation of field guns, from 87 mm to 75 mm, but the range was greatly increased, from about 4,000 m to 5,000 to 8,000 m. Field guns of the previous generation could fire two shells per minute, and rapid-fire guns could fire six or seven shells per minute.

In terms of the choice of ammunition, the first choice for rapid-fire guns was the grenade projectile, which was invented at the beginning of the 19th century but did not become a reliable ammunition until the end of the 19th century. The bullet is covered with a thin layer of metal, filled with 8 to 10 grams of metal projectiles and a little gunpowder, and the grenade can explode several meters above the enemy's head, like an oversized shotgun, throwing a rain of metal bullets at the enemy infantry. The timing fuse used in the grenade is a rudimentary fuse, and the gunner can control the time of the grenade explosion by cutting the length of the fuse.

Rapid-fire guns appeared in every major European artillery camp in a very short period of time, whether it was the purchase of new weapons or the modification of the original artillery into rapid-fire guns, but it was not easy for tacticians to develop concepts and tactics that could match this epoch-making weapon. The long range of rapid-fire guns and the power of grenades made it more difficult for infantry to get close to the enemy, and effectively destroying enemy artillery before the infantry could attack became a more important task.

While the Germans boasted that their new 77mm rapid-fire gun could fire 8 rounds of 6.85 kg shells per minute, the new French gun could fire 30 rounds of 7.2 kg shells per minute. Under careful secrecy, the nations of continental Europe did not know until 1901 that the French army had acquired such an astonishing weapon. France has carefully planned all kinds of bullying activities, and even deliberately published false information in the media. It is alleged that the new field artillery uses a short-stroke re-entry system.

Of the few battles in which British troops were able to coordinate their infantry and artillery, the Battle of Colenso in December 1899 was a successful example. In this battle, 4,500 Boer infantry, supported by five 75 rapid-fire guns and one 120 mm howitzer, occupied positions on the hill and took control of the iron bridge over the Tugela River; The British included 4 infantry brigades with 18,000 soldiers, 5 field artillery batteries with 30 15-pounder guns, 14 long-range naval guns moved to land, and a considerable number of cavalry units. The attempt of the British army was to open the railway. And the Boers were responsible for stopping them.

When light howitzers were first introduced to the German Army, the War Ministry's plan was to convert one of the eight artillery battalions belonging to the German infantry corps at that time into a howitzer battalion. However, in 1905, the German army carefully analyzed the examples of the Greco-Turkish War and the Boer War in 1897, and was convinced that increasing the number of howitzers would bring great benefits to Germany in future wars. Since then, the Germans have begun a howitzer multiplication program, so that each infantry division can have an artillery battalion of 18 howitzers.

A large part of the reason why Germany was able to become the world's leading country in heavy howitzers must be due to the polemics of different schools of thought within the German army. As early as 1891, when Hillifin was Chief of Staff, a key success factor in Hillifin's plan was to overcome the speed of the French and Belgian fortifications, so that the fortress artillery power was greatly expanded under Hillifin's deliberate cultivation. There was even a detailed mobilization plan planned in the Hillifin plan. In order to requisition enough civilian horses to tow these artillery.

In 1900, during a live exercise, Kaiser Wilhelm II personally ordered the army to be equipped with 105 mm light howitzers in field artillery and 150 mm heavy howitzers in fortified artillery units.

Influenced by the traditions of fortress artillery. German heavy howitzers used high-explosive shells as their main weapon. Equipped with a delayed fuse, such shells could effectively explode inside the fortifications after penetrating the cement roof of the offensive. Although these shells are primarily designed to destroy materials, their shock waves have a strong lethal effect on humans at a certain distance.

The howitzer proved itself even more powerful in counter-battery tactics. Due to the relatively high power and accuracy of the howitzer, the commander at this time. Howitzer fire can be concentrated to quickly eliminate enemy forces in a certain section of the trenches. At the same time, cover your own infantry to advance with their guns in hand, occupy this section of the trench, and rush to the rear of the enemy army with lightning speed, slaughtering the unarmed enemy gunners. But this tactic is a race against time, and if the infantry cannot open a breach and destroy the enemy's artillery positions in a short gap, these infantry on assault missions will be wiped out by the hellish enemy's grenade fire.

Good infantry is the most important key to artillery operations, and if all battle plans are carried out smoothly, the infantry will sweep away the enemy's artillery positions within hours of the attack, without the need to destroy them; Likewise. The infantry is not only professionally trained, but also has a wide variety of weapons at their disposal. It can deal with isolated enemy strongholds or machine gun nests, so the artillery only needs to use the barrage to temporarily incapacitate the enemy, and then the infantry can remove these obstacles on their own............

After reading the article, he said to Duan Qirui, "It seems that Jiang Baili is really a rare military theorist, and he must be trained well." I'll see you another day and check it out for myself. ”

Three days later, Jiang Baili went to the presidential palace to see Song Xiaofei, he was dressed as a straight army commander, his eyes were bright, but his expression was still a little nervous, Song Xiaofei patted Jiang Baili on the shoulder and said, "Are you from Zhejiang?" You have a curse saying, 'Niang Xipi', right? ”

Jiang Baili was stunned, Song Xiaofei laughed, and the atmosphere at the scene eased up.

Song Xiaofei said: "I came to you today mainly to see your theoretical knowledge of artillery. I've read one of your articles "On the Importance of Artillery as an Independent Branch", which is good. ”

Jiang Baili said: "Thanks to the president's wrong love, I was careless... Panic..."I stammered a little when I spoke, and cold sweat broke out on my forehead.

Song Xiaofei said: "I want to hear your opinion again, about the gap between French artillery and German artillery in the Battle of Sedan.

Jiang Baili then became gushing: "In the theory of the French army, the purpose of the existence of artillery is only to support infantry operations, so the artillery commander must accept the control of the infantry commander. However, the real impact of French artillery tactics is not at the tactical level. Rather, at the operational level. The lengthy command and control procedures, while inefficient, even slowed down the entire French Army to a slow pace, making it difficult to organize any decent battle. Relatively speaking. The Germans gave greater freedom to the artillery commanders, and in the German army the relationship between the artillery and the infantry was one of cooperation, not subordination. Germany has developed the so-called artillery liaison officer system, so that the commander of the infantry battalion has an artillery-trained staff officer next to him, who can really provide advice on the use of firepower in the overall situation, rather than just one guy who follows the battalion commander but can only do some work to report shooting data. Artillery liaison officer at this stage. Not only can it coordinate the firing operations of several different artillery units, but it can also assign firing units, firing targets, and firing methods according to the current combat situation to meet the operational needs of infantry commanders. This one is smarter than the French. Later, the French also learned this system. ”

Song Xiaofei said: "What is the situation of the artillery in the United States now? I don't see it's written in your article. ”

Jiang Baili replied: "American artillery." They were all established with the assistance of the French, who not only sent instructors to train American officers, but also directly translated all French artillery guidelines into American artillery guidelines. Unlike their infantry and cavalry units, American artillery formed a certain tradition in the Civil War and the Spanish-American and Mexican-American wars. There is a blank in terms of equipment, training, tactics, and guidelines. And when the U.S. military fully uses French artillery as standard equipment. In addition to the difference in nationality and language, it is difficult for outsiders to distinguish the difference between American artillery and French artillery, and the artillery regiments of the US Army Infantry Division still look very similar to their French ancestors, with two artillery regiments in each division, one consisting of three 75 rapid-fire gun battalions and the other consisting of two 155 howitzer battalions, and also imitate the French fire control center tactics. So in such a situation, the American artillery is simply a copy of the French artillery. I didn't study American artillery anymore. ”

Song Xiaofei nodded and said, "I plan to establish an artillery academy in Baoding." You go and become the dean. China has a natural advantage in developing heavy artillery. China can now conduct aerial reconnaissance. Use airplanes or balloons to find out the location of enemy artillery. The advantage of using balloons is that they can stay in a fixed position for a long time and observe in detail the enemy artillery positions in front of them; The advantage of using aircraft is that it can penetrate deep behind enemy lines, without being hindered by terrain features. ”

Jiang Baili said: "Yes, so that our artillery can destroy the enemy's artillery positions first. Without pre-artillery preparation, as long as one-third of the artillery is directly fired into the barrage, and the rest of the artillery suppresses the enemy's infantry, artillery positions, and command posts, and at the same time the tanks guide the infantry to attack, the world can be invincible. However, our current planes are not equipped with radios, and the most effective way for reconnaissance planes to communicate with ground personnel is to write down the information they see on paper, and then fly back to their own positions and throw them to friendly forces on the ground. ”

Song Xiaofei said: "The plane is equipped with radio communication equipment, and I believe that the Wright brothers will soon solve this problem." ”

Jiang Baili nodded, and Song Xiaofei said, "I have some artillery materials here, and you can use them as teaching materials." After speaking, he handed Jiang Baili a simplified version of the artillery theory in his memory, mainly talking about the firing method of artillery:

The methods of artillery firing mainly include the simple method, the precision method, the result method, the optimal supplement method and the ammunition measurement method. The concept of preparation for shooting, artillery must be prepared for reconnaissance, geodesy, meteorology, technology, ballistics, etc. before the start of shooting. At the beginning, the artillery was fired, but due to the limitations of the artillery's own manufacturing process, various observation equipment and meteorological conditions, these preparation conditions often could not meet the requirements of effective firing, so it was necessary to conduct test firing before suppressing the target.

The simplified method is a method of determining the starting point of shooting on the basis of incomplete or inaccurate ballistic and meteorological data on the basis of simple continuous testing. It mainly includes the single-view deviation method, the pinch method, the rendezvous observation and shooting, etc., which usually use the map to determine the geodesic elements, and is generally implemented within the battalion and company range. The concepts of precision method and simple method are opposite, which refers to the method of calculating the correction of firing conditions on the basis of more accurate geodesic elements, according to the complete ballistic conditions and timely meteorological notices, and deciding the starting elements of shooting. The pinch method is based on the knowledge of probability theory to determine the distance deviation according to the far and near symbols of the explosion point.

After observing the distance difference and direction angle of the old and new targets, the position of the old target is taken as the position of the explosion point of the new target, and the scale and direction shift of the new target are calculated by using the method of determining the amount of correction of the explosion point by the single-view deviation method.

When the firing area is large, you can choose 2 to 3 test shooting points according to the situation. If the depth of the firing area is more than 4 km, two test firing points can be selected, far and near, and the difference in geodesic distance is 4 km, and if necessary, it can reach 6 km. The geodesic distance is roughly equal to the middle distance between the far and near test points.

Ricochet shooting, in certain terrain conditions, selects the appropriate charge and fuse, makes the projectile jump and explode in the air to kill the enemy's shot. Ricochet is suitable for firing at living forces and firearms in exposed, uncovered bunkers and on water. The factors that produce ricochet are the reaction force of the ground, the velocity of the projectile, the appropriate trigger time, and the limited angle of fall (θc) = the limited angle of hit (m) - the slope (g)......

This time it was Jiang Baili's turn to be curious, he didn't expect that the president was still an artillery genius, Jiang Baili was dumbfounded, and said: "This, I'm afraid ordinary soldiers can't understand it." ”

Song Xiaofei said: "It doesn't matter, because artillery is a science, so in the future, more than 80 percent of China's artillery will be composed of college students, and colleges and universities will train special national defense students." I fully support you in going to Baoding to become the dean of the Artillery Academy, and the best students will go to the Artillery Academy, and you will spend two to three years training a group of outstanding artillery commanders for China. ”

Jiang Baili stood up and saluted a standard military salute: "I promise to complete this glorious mission." ”

In this way, Jiang Baili went to Baoding to establish China's first artillery academy to train specialized personnel for the Chinese artillery unit, while Duan Qirui reorganized and established a new artillery corps, and the artillery unit became another secret killer weapon of the Chinese army in the future. (To be continued......)