Chapter 443 Military Proofreading Meeting

Two days later, all the senior commanders of combat troops at all levels in Guangdong Province rushed back to Guangzhou, and the Sufeng Juntou movement was booming. These commanders were busy every day and even had to go to the grassroots level to participate in the production movement. For them, returning to Guangzhou today to hold a conference was a rare opportunity to rest. After a day off, they came to the conference hall of the Military Department of the Governor's Office the next morning. The venue had been arranged long ago. Everyone was familiar with each other. They did not have too much politeness. They walked into the venue and sat down.

A few minutes later, Wu Shaoting led the Chief of Staff He Fuguang, the General Officer of Guangdong Arsenal Zhang Zhicheng and his adjutant Deng Keng into the venue. The attendant sang loudly: "Sir, the Governor!" The generals at the venue stood up and saluted.

"Everyone sits, just sit outside, just do this form and make a move. Inside, you are all your own people, so you don't need to do this. Are all tea ready? Well, let's not waste time, just go to the point." Wu Shaoting waved his hand to let the generals sit, and signaled Deng Keng to distribute the meeting information.

After everyone arrived in Guangzhou yesterday, officials from the Military Department more or less revealed the content of this conference. The main topic of this conference was the report on the Guangdong Army and the first phase of the military garrison movement. Of course, some people also released news that Wu Shaoting announced the appointment of the 49th Brigade Commander at this conference.

The information documents sent by Deng Keng are about the detailed parameters of new weapons, and all the generals present have more or less heard of the "Zhicheng" light machine gun that has begun to be put into production and the automatic rifle that has just been transformed and finalized. Although they do not pay much attention to these new weapons, the new guns always make people curious and expectant. If the army has greatly improved combat efficiency after equipping with new guns, it will naturally be even more beneficial.

At the beginning of the meeting, Wu Shaoting asked Zhang Zhicheng to introduce in detail the performance of the new gun and the predicted problems.

The people present who knew the most about the new gun were nothing more than Wei Rutong, Guan Renfu and Mo Qingyu. When Wu Shaoting set out for Beijing, the Military Department's argumentation for the new gun had already begun, and it was the three of them who were in charge of the argumentation.

After Zhang Zhicheng's introduction, Wu Shaoting asked Wei Rutong to summarize the arguments from the previous few months to other generals.

There are not many problems with the "Zhicheng" light machine gun, and the key issues of the base and density of the assembly troops. The biggest problem with automatic rifles is bullet consumption and logistics supply. According to the survey conducted by the Military Department last month, only nine percent of the soldiers of Guangdong Army really know how to use bullets reasonably, and snipers account for a considerable share of these nine percent. In addition, after statistics on bullet consumption in two wars, the Military Department and Logistics Department speculated that an average of 4,000 bullets could hit an enemy during the Guangdong-Guangdong War, and during the Guangdong War, it rose to an average of 5,800 bullets to hit the target.

This data looks amazing. Of course, most of it is the output share of heavy machine guns. Relatively speaking, the consumption of rifles may account for half. Once the light machine gun and automatic rifle are put into combat forces together, the Military Department will conduct preliminary estimates that every 7,000 bullets will be reached on the battlefield in the future to hit an enemy.

After listening to Wei Rucong's summary, everyone couldn't help but talk. Although most of these generals did not have advanced scientific awareness, when they heard such simple and clear data, as long as they knew a little bit of mathematical knowledge, some people could see the difficulties. For a time, some people thought that automatic rifles should not be equipped, at least it was completely unnecessary now; others believed that automatic rifles could play a very important role in combat; some people were hesitant and could only follow the trend and suggest.

"When it comes to the tough battle, we already have light machine guns. Mr. Zhang also said that this kind of weapon eliminates the poor mobility of heavy machine guns. It is enough to use light machine guns to suppress the enemy's firepower in the tough battle. Why do you need to use more automatic rifles?" someone said.

"You can't say that. This is just one of the advantages of automatic rifles, and formation defense wars can also be greatly utilized! I have read the information of the Military Department's Investigation Meeting. When our army was in the Shaoguan battle in Guangdong War, when the rifle was replenishing ammunition, it was because the rifle supplemented with ammunition was too dragged, so that the enemy found an assault gap and repeatedly attacked into the trenches. If you replace it with an automatic rifle, this situation would inevitably be greatly avoided." Liu Yonghao, chief of staff of the Third Division, said that he had personally experienced the formation defense war on the northern line of Shaoguan, and the tragic spirit made him never forget it.

"Sir Liu, everyone knows the firepower advantages of automatic rifles, but we also need to see if the logistics has the ability to ensure supply? I bet that as long as our Guangdong Army is equipped with automatic rifles, our Guangdong Army will definitely become the most expensive army in China and even Asia. What qualities are below? Everyone knows it. It is said that our Guangdong Army is much better than the Beiyang Army. That is, the Beiyang Army will aim at shooting and that is the elite. Our Guangdong Army is much stronger than them in this regard. But is it useful to be stronger than the Beiyang Army? When fighting, most soldiers still shoot randomly. The bullets waste from rifles are even less worthwhile than the bullets waste from heavy machine guns. At least the heavy machine gun can scare the enemy if it fails to hit it."

At this time, Mo Qingyu sighed, suppressed the discussions of everyone present and said:

"In fact, there is no problem with the automatic rifle itself. The key is whether there are any problems with the people who use it. Now, the automatic rifle is equipped with our Guangdong Army. The soldiers are not good at fighting quality and lack of logistics supply. However, if you put such an advantageous weapon as an automatic rifle, it would be a waste of resources. What I mean is that first, it is not necessary to correct the defects of the automatic rifle, but to correct the defects of the human being. In the short term, the automatic rifle may be equipped with some elite troops, such as the three regiments of the 49th Brigade of the First Division, and two teaching regiments. You can also assemble more suitable troops, such as the Guangzhou Garrison and the Cavalry regiment."

"Teacher Mo's proposal makes sense. I think it can be a try!" After thinking about it, someone nodded and said yes.

"This is indeed a compromise." Liu Yonghao also agreed repeatedly.

"Light machine guns and automatic rifles are both air-guided bolts, and the caliber of the assembly bullets is the same, which can reduce the pressure on part of the logistics supply." Zhang Zhicheng expressed his own view.

Although some generals still did not make any statements, Mo Qingyu's proposal is the only suitable way at present, either to give up the use of automatic rifles or to equip them for suitable troops first.

Deng Keng looked at Wu Shaoting in the chief and asked, "Sir, what do you think?"

Wu Shaoting thought for a moment, reached a conclusion, and said, "I agree with Commander Mo's suggestion. At present, this is the only way to work. Since that's the case, we can discuss which troops are most suitable for using automatic rifles."

From morning to afternoon, and after dinner, the meeting was held three consecutive times. The Military Ministry’s investigation meeting made sufficient argumentation and reference, so everyone was not talking about it. All the questions were in front of us, as long as they were organized and it was all clear.

At around 8 o'clock in the evening, the Military Conference finally formulated a finalization of automatic rifle equipment. All members of the guard battalion directly under the division headquarters were equipped with automatic rifles, focusing on ensuring the high-level command system; the first regiment of the 49th Brigade of the First Division and the second regiment were equipped with automatic rifles, and the third regiment was not necessary for the time being; the two teaching regiments were equipped with 1,000 automatic rifles, mainly to cultivate subordinate officers to master automatic rifle tactics; the cavalry regiment was equipped with automatic rifles, so that it was convenient for maintaining firepower during maneuvering warfare.

Roughly calculated that the three divisions of the Guangdong Army needed to replace a total of 7,000 automatic rifles, accounting for a quarter of the entire army.

After the discussion, Wu Shaoting announced the end of the meeting and held a fourth meeting tomorrow to discuss the use of light machine guns.

The next morning, the meeting was held on time. The discussion of light machine guns was not as intense as yesterday's discussion of automatic rifles. It was nothing more than putting some effort into the establishment of light machine guns. Before the meeting at noon, a preliminary draft had been made. Each combat unit in Guangdong can be equipped with four to six light machine guns according to the company, and each company can be equipped with four to six light machine guns, and the enhanced firepower company and the Pioneer Company can be expanded to eight. There will be a ratio of light machine guns to heavy machine guns. Battalions and regiment-level troops equipped with too many light machine guns, and it is necessary to reduce the number of heavy machine guns to avoid excessive waste of firepower.
Chapter completed!