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In order to achieve a range of over 15 kilometers, howitzers have long and thick barrels. To balance such heavy barrels and to prevent them from being overturned by the strong blast of the muzzle during firing, howitzers generally have very heavy trail spades.
Therefore, even if the caliber is the same, infantry guns are much lighter than howitzers, more mobile, and can keep up with the infantry battalions. For instance, Ante’s 76mm infantry gun actually uses a similar carriage as the 45mm anti-tank gun, and can be operated by just two people when manpower is tight.
The artillery platoons in the Ante Army are very small, usually consisting of two sections, each with two guns. However, the artillery sections that Wang Zhong created have four guns each, making it 12 guns per platoon and close to 300 people in a company.
By cramming such units into infantry battalions, logistics are probably cursing already.
But he did it anyway.
It was mainly because in the initial fight at Peniye, his artillery didn’t catch up, only vehicle-mounted mortars did, which enabled them to fight. Later, at Loktov, the enemy’s heavy artillery made him suffer dearly.
Based on that experience, Wang Zhong became desperately keen.
Why go for a melee when you can blast the enemy away? Infantry is there to clear the field of view for the artillery!
Since these guns all require personnel for operation, the establishment of Wang Zhong’s infantry battalions is horrifyingly large, with almost a 2:1 ratio of infantrymen to artillerymen.
At the regimental level, Wang Zhong even assigned a company of M3 vehicle-mounted 75mm howitzers to the units.
Not to mention armored vehicles, fuel supply, and other logistical support; a regiment could have over six thousand combatants.
Such a regiment can’t have too many at a division level, as logistics couldn’t handle it.
This isn’t like playing Hearts of Iron where you can just cram more infantry and the organization level of the troops will just drop, in actual combat the point at which the infantry will retreat due to losses is entirely dependent on their will to fight.
Wang Zhong was confident in his infantry’s fighting spirit and believed that over six months of night school education had greatly enhanced their initiative, allowing even small scattered units to maintain combat effectiveness.
So the next choice was obvious, pack enough support units into the infantry, and then spread out and dilute the force.
In the battle of Orachi, for the first couple of days, there were actually just two infantry companies at the front of his position, relying solely on support fire to withstand the enemy attacks. The rest of the troops were reserves, ready to be committed in case of emergency, but they never needed to engage; the enemy was completely wiped out by the support fire.
Thus, Wang Zhong concluded that as long as there was enough support fire, a battalion with strong combat willpower could easily hold a regiment’s defensive zone.
Moreover, the advantage of spreading the forces thinly was obvious—the ability to withstand artillery fire was greatly enhanced.
Of course, in order for Wang Zhong’s idea to be realized, the front-line infantry needed enough field telephones, at the very least to bring radios down to the company level.
Wang Zhong’s regiment was equipped with more field telephones than an entire conventional Ante infantry division because normally, even division headquarters don’t have radios and had to rely on laying telephone wires.
A significant portion of the field radios supported by the Federation was swallowed up by the First Mobile Group Army, which led other troops to also think that field telephones were good things to have—they clamored for it even though they didn’t know why, but whatever General Rokossovsky wanted must be good.
Of course, other units didn’t have as much support fire as the First Mobile Group Army, so having more field telephones didn’t make as much of a difference.
As for the artillery regiments of the Guard Motor Rifle Division, that was even more impressive.
An ordinary Ante infantry division’s artillery regiment might at the very most have 12 units of 152mm, 24 units of 122mm, totaling 36 guns with just under two thousand men.
The artillery regiment of the Guard Motor Rifle Division had 36 units of 152mm, 24 units of 122mm, totaling sixty heavy guns, nearly four thousand men in service.
This is actually a terrifying number, and some people who have seen too many sensationalized stories might think this isn’t much, they might even say that an American divisional artillery regiment has 50 heavy guns! Or that a Sturmtiger division has 48 heavy guns!’
However, an American divisional artillery actually consists of three 105mm battalions and one 155mm battalion. Although the 105mm and 155mm are both classified as divisional heavy artillery, this classification is mainly because the long-barrel 105mm is quite heavy and requires large tractors, so they are stationed within the division for easier logistical support.
The actual 155mm heavy artillery in a typical ‘Big Red One’ division has only 12 units.
Sturmtiger is the same, with only 12 units of the SHF18 model 150mm heavy howitzer per division, the rest are 105mm. Sturmtiger’s différence lies in its 150mm heavy infantry howitzer.
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Comparing the firepower of the guards’ mechanized infantry with 36 152s and 24 122s, it is already insanely powerful.
The anti-tank artillery battalion of the guards’ mechanized infantry, besides the 36 57mm anti-tank guns, also has about 30 ZIS3 self-propelled anti-tank guns, which are worlds apart from the regular infantry division’s battalion with only 12 guns.
There is also the anti-aircraft artillery, where Ante’s anti-aircraft artillery battalions are typically made up of 16 37mm anti-aircraft guns. Wang Zhong’s battalion, however, has 36 37mm anti-aircraft guns and has been reinforced with eight Crusader self-propelled anti-aircraft guns.
In summary, despite the guards’ mechanized infantry consisting only of one infantry regiment, one artillery regiment, and one motorized regiment, and other units being various “battalions”, it possesses more than 100 tanks, tank destroyers, and self-propelled artillery, equivalent to two tank brigades.
It has more than seventy 75mm medium guns and sixty 122mm or higher-calibre big guns.
It has a total of 66 57mm anti-tank guns (including vehicle-mounted and towed).
It has over 100 machine guns, more than 200 light machine guns, and a total of over 1,100 half-tracked trucks and tractors.
The most outrageous aspect is the division’s support capability, equipped with two maintenance battalions, two rescue companies (which were dispersed among each tank company and tank destroyer company), capable of completing medium repairs on 12 tanks daily.
By contrast, the support capability of Ante’s First Assault Army Group is to complete medium repairs on 20 tanks daily—yes, an entire Army Group, that’s how inadequate it is.
Having crammed in so much stuff, the guards’ mechanized infantry became a wealthy division with a total force of over twenty thousand. Then, the military novices at Ye Fort pointed at the plethora of “battalions” in the organization and made baseless comments, suggesting there was certainly embezzlement of payrolls.
Vasily sighed, possibly recalling these points, “It’s no use, laymen just don’t get it. The critical point is, if you tell these people not to nitpick over unit numbers but to consider the quantity of vehicles and guns, they just lie on the ground, throw a tantrum, and scream, ‘I won’t listen, you’re just pocketing the pay without service.'”
Wang Zhong shrugged, “If I had known this would happen, I would’ve made the tank and tank destroyer companies into regiments. This way, when they see one infantry regiment, one tank regiment, and one tank destroyer regiment in the division, the half-informed at Ye Fort would find it reasonable for a division to consist of three regiments.”
Vasily burst into hearty laughter.
Wang Zhong: “Of course, I do occasionally think that the number of infantry might be too few… But with the current exaggerated organization, logistics are already cursed.”
After all, support units are the gluttons consuming logistics, and adding three more infantry regiments into the Army Group’s organization might just be the last straw that breaks the camel’s back.
Wang Zhong now also worries that with so many 75s, 122s, and 152s guns in his mobile army, they might run out of ammunition in the midst of battle.
Vasily: “Hey, back in Loktov, us students from the Artillery School were used by you as infantry, and didn’t we perform very well? Infantry isn’t a specialized troop type; anyone who picks up a rifle and shoots while lying on the ground is an infantryman.”
Wang Zhong chimed in: “You’re right, those gun loaders in the artillery regiments, they’re all just regular soldiers. Perhaps because they’re from artillery units and thus have a longer survival time, they might be more reliable than the newly conscripted soldiers when it comes to fighting as infantry.”
At that moment, the telephone in the room rang again, and Wang Zhong picked up the handset: “This is Rocossov.”
The voice of General Tugenev came through the handset: “Rocossov, you must already know that Suhayaveli Front Army is in a critical situation, right? I’ve already spoken to the logistics department to empty railcars as quickly as possible and to transport your Army Group to Yarvik on the eastern bank of Suhayaveli, where it’s currently relatively safe.”
Wang Zhong: “I’ve already ordered the formation of a vanguard team, led by me personally, that can embark and depart today.”
“Excellent, that’s very good,” General Tugenev paused, “I’m looking forward to the performance of your new army, after all, we’ve invested so much resources in your Army Group.”
Wang Zhong nodded: “I will do my best.”
“Then, I wish you good luck.”
After the call ended, Wang Zhong put down the handset and turned to Vasily: “I think it’s still necessary to place a pure infantry unit in the Army Group’s supply line. Just infantry, give them food, and it should be fine. Being next to the supply depot means a shorter supply route and less pressure on logistics.”
Vasily: “I remember four more infantry battalions from Melania arrived, with only basic armaments. How about we form them into an independent infantry brigade?”
Wang Zhong: “That’s possible. Let Pavlov take care of that. When we’re transporting our regular forces forward, we can also finalize the brigade’s organization and send it over later.”
Vasily muttered with sympathy: “Poor Pavlov.”