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The national army is a very strange army, whether it is during the Agrarian Revolutionary War, or during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, or during the War of Liberation, but at home or abroad, the national army has a brilliant record, and it can almost be described as a one-touch collapse. Either digging the Yellow River or crossing the Savage Mountain, sometimes even the principal shouted shame. It stands to reason that no matter how bad the national army is, it should be a modern army of a bourgeois nature, and its ability to bear casualties should not be so poor. From a historical point of view, Europe is the earliest region of military modernization, whether it is the Prussian Army or the British Red Shirts, they have created a war example of 50% casualties without collapse, even the militia has been converted into a regular army, and the US Army, which is relatively lacking in military training, has also created a record of 10,000 people attacking and falling 8,000 before they were dispersed. Conversely, even the 74th Division, the most elite of the Nationalist Army, was captured 19,000 people in the Battle of Menglianggu, and the 74th Division, which was full of 32,000 men, was captured more than 60%, and collapsed with less than 40% casualties. In stark contrast, when the 63rd Army was withdrawn, there were more than 3,000 people left (US figures), and they were actually complete and did not collapse. From this point of view, although the communist army is primitively equipped most of the time, it is already an organized and modern army in its bones.

What kind of army is the national army?

The full name of the National Army is the "National Revolutionary Army". In the early years, the basic framework of the Nationalist Army was the Seven Armies of the Northern Expedition plus Tang Shengzhi's Eighth Army, and later under a series of political and military wrestling, Chiang Kai-shek's First Army achieved unprecedented development, which was later the "foundation of the Central Army". The growth of the Central Army had nothing to do with its military exploits, mainly due to Chiang Kai-shek's encouragement. The main means is to annex miscellaneous troops. Generally under the pretext of reorganization (the fastest update), the process of reorganization is actually the appointment of a large number of officers from the Whampoa department regardless of military merit and ability. At the same time, the officers of the original unit were squeezed out to achieve the goal of controlling the troops. For example, the 18th Army was strengthened through continuous mergers and acquisitions, and became the largest unit in the "national army" at that time. Of course, in addition to the merger, the Headmaster also re-recruited (the fastest update) with the resources at his disposal and built up some elite troops, such as the early German Mechanic. This has created a situation in which the national army recruits and reforms soldiers, and warlord soldiers and militia groups are promoted at the same time. And these different "national armies" are also very different in terms of combat effectiveness and organizational strength.

Let's start with the analysis of the German mechanic. The German armament division is mainly a conscription system, the soldiers are very well paid (at least on paper), and the officers are mostly from military schools (yellow jackets), able to strictly enforce discipline (compared to other national armies), well-trained, and tactically proficient. This form of military composition was also reflected in the five main forces that followed. It can be seen from this that the relatively elite units of the Central Army have achieved modernization. Although due to various objective reasons, it did not meet the German standards in terms of technique and tactics, it was already a great progress. Later, in the Songhu Anti-Japanese War, the German armor division fought with the Japanese army, which also belonged to the modern army, and it was not very ugly to fight in the hand-to-hand combat. Therefore, it is more reliable to define the elite units of the national army as a modern army.

The rest of the Nationalist army basically did not escape the shadow of the feudal army.

What is the definition of a feudal army?

Let's start by looking at a few typical feudal armies.

The Ming army, in the late Ming Dynasty, the soldiers were the private property of the generals, and the soldiers were attached to the generals. To put it simply, if I become a general, you will be a guerrilla, and if I am a general soldier, you will be a general. For example, Li Chengliang, Li Chengliang has two famous godsons, one is Mao Wenlong, and the other is **Hachi, obviously, while Li Chengliang is improving his status step by step, these two people are also promoted, this is the dependency relationship.

On the battlefield, the generals of the Ming army took their own soldiers to form an elite army (Guanning Iron Cavalry) and Niu Lu Ezhen of Houjin brought his own hundred armor and armor to fight on the battlefield, and ran after the enemy if he won the battle. Then there is Li Hongzhang's Huai Army. The Huai military camp system is that the soldiers are the generals. If the commander of this ministry is still alive after the war, the pension after the war and the support of his family. The posthumous gift of the canon that was asked for from the imperial court was settled. If the commander dies, all the hard work of the soldiers will be in vain.

Others don't bother too much about camping in a place that doesn't belong to them. Similarly, the relationship between the European knights and the squires is similar to this, if they win, everyone will cover up and kill the peasants together to repay the merits, and if they lose, they will directly slip away and leave the peasants to be slaughtered.

Therefore, we say that the characteristics of the feudal army are that there are soldiers, a small number of elite troops decide the victory or defeat, do not pay attention to training, have extremely poor tolerance for casualties, and even collapse under unfavorable conditions (such as lack of food). There is also the possibility of a transfer of strength on the battlefield.

Still taking the Huai army as an example, perhaps the evaluation of their opponent in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese, is more appropriate:

“…… The infantry often seems to be a group of 200 or even 500, and there must be two large flags in this group (the Qing military camp system). And there are two six-centimeter cannons, and the ground weapons carried are all excellent rifles such as Mauser guns and Gela guns, which must be fired as routine after being dispersed............ Their usual formation was to fire in a squad that had dispersed and waved large flags, firing at random and not all at once, and their formation had weak lines everywhere and no reserves. But the general reserve, called the guard, which often served as the commander-in-chief, was in a position several meters behind the skirmishers. When retreating. This reserve retreated first, and the stragglers fled in an orderly manner............ Maybe it's not good at shooting, maybe it's not good at measuring distances. Perhaps there was a big difference in time with the maneuver in shooting, the bullets of which mostly passed over the head. Reach great distances. They do not think about the use of terrain features, and never shoot on their knees, lying down. Shooting from standing is often done in order to keep the formation neat and easy for officers who are not very capable to grasp it, otherwise they will soon stop shooting and retreat............ In the Huai Army's headquarters, only Nie Shicheng's headquarters had the courage to shoot firmly to the end, but when our army paid small casualties (because of their poor shooting skills), approached and showed their bayonets, the Qing army collapsed every time, without exception............ The Japanese Kamei Ziming's "Personal Experience of the First Sino-Japanese War", 1955 Zhonghua Book Company edition

Now looking at the rest of the national army, there is no doubt that the security regiment of the national army is in line with the characteristics of the feudal army. The landlords' families constituted the main members, and they coerced a large number of strong men, and there was no training at all. After these people turned into a puppet army, it is not surprising that they will collapse at the touch of a modern organization army like the TG.

Now we basically know that the elite troops of the national army can be classified into the ranks of the modern army, but the security regiment at the bottom is completely regimental training and armament. Other units are in between. So what is the nature of most of these national army units?

First of all, look at the dependence of soldiers on generals. This national army is not completely in line with this, after all, the elite of the Central Army is still supported by yellow coats, and the relationship between generals is mostly classmates rather than nepotism. Moreover, there was no collapse of the organization after the transfer of generals (command is another story). However, the situation in the miscellaneous army is not optimistic, and due to the lack of training in military schools, the relationship between officers bears obvious traces of nepotism. The Northeast Army, the Northwest Army, and the Jin Army are simply warlords' private soldiers. To make matters worse, the military organization of the national army is a joke. The name has played a lot, and in fact, it has been inherited completely. Whether it is the Central Army or the Miscellaneous Army, the soldiers are the private property of the generals, and there are no soldiers who fart without sound. This kind of soldier-general relationship with obvious feudal characteristics has led to the repeated transfer of the national army on the battlefield, and there is no problem in rescue. For example, Li Tianxia, who rushed to the 74th Division of the reorganization

In terms of training, except for the Central Army and the Yan Xishan and Jin Army, the training level of the Sichuan Army and the Gui Army was generally low. However, it is worth mentioning the experience of the Gui Army in the non-commissioned officer retention system, this method of veterans leading new recruits, so that although the Gui Army has average command ability, it surpasses some central armies in combat effectiveness.

In addition, there is the issue of faith, the modern army must have firm faith, (nationalism, communism, casual) most of the CCP's troops have faith, their cohesion is relatively strong, and their revolutionary ideas outweigh their own combat effectiveness. The so-called TG dares to gnaw bones if it is a unit, because the troops that can fight are role models, and there are supplements. The Three People's Principles of the National Army. Who believes in it except for the elite of the Central Army?

In terms of discipline, the national army can only be described as chaos. As stated in the report of the 74th Division: The brave let the brunt, and the cowardly let them retreat. Jiang Gong is obviously inferior to the communist army in the issue of military discipline, of course, this is also based on the existence of soldiers, and Jiang Gong's punishment of generals of the Central Army and non-generals of the Central Army is completely different. Basically, there is nothing to deal with in the family law, and the national law deals with it...... Looking at Han Fuyu, you will know the way. In fact, this is not surprising, since there are generals and nepotism, it is naturally impossible for everyone to be equal in the face of the most important military discipline of the modern army.

Then, in the three definitions of soldier-general relationship, organization and discipline, and training, most national armies have at least two of them that meet the definition of feudal army; as long as the training is slightly poor, once the situation is unfavorable, the national army will either advance in front of the enemy or disperse in a hurry.

In fact, the national army was not without opportunities, and during the Northern Expedition, the national army accepted the changes of the modern organization. The problem is that when the principal plays the party, he basically sweeps away his grassroots party department + party members, and when he attracts officers in, he will inevitably be influenced by old-fashioned officers, and his troops will also move towards a semi-feudal and semi-modern army, and even more feudal characteristics.

With a small number of modern troops, a large number of feudal troops and a modern army, what can Jiang Gong do if he uses soldiers like gods?