Chapter 45: Reorganization of the Temporary 2nd Division (I)

Night of October 25, 1938. Headquarters of the 2nd Provisional Division in Qifeng County.

Wang Yue stared intently at the troop organization plan submitted by Zhou Weisheng. The second batch of recruited exiled students had arrived at the perimeter of the New 1st Regiment's defense zone just a few hours earlier, meaning that the structuring of the 2nd Provisional Division had to be put on the agenda immediately.

The Ministry of Military and Political Affairs had assigned the designation of the 2nd Provisional Division, with a personnel quota of 3,000 men, comprising the 1001st, 1002nd, and 1003rd regiments. Such an establishment constituted merely a Category C division. One should not assume this was deliberate suppression by the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs, because this was actually the norm for the National Revolutionary Army; some military corps were not even allocated five regimental designations.

Therefore, whenever one witnessed numerous Nationalist divisions being routed by a single Japanese division, one should never find it surprising. Aside from the gaps in equipment and combat effectiveness, it was very likely that the Nationalist side fell short of the Japanese even in terms of the most basic troop strength—it would be a miracle if they could win.

The basic infantry squad of the 2nd Provisional Division still consisted of 11 men, including two 4-man rifle teams and one 2-man machine gun team, plus 1 squad leader. They were equipped with 1 Hotchkiss M1931 light machine gun, 10 Vz. 24 rifles, and 1 Mauser M1879 pistol.

Compared to the days of the Independent Detachment, the equipment had undergone a significant upgrade. The precision and range of the Vz. 24 rifle were vastly superior to the Commission rifle, and it was also much lighter. There was no question about it; a replacement was mandatory.

Wang Yue had actually hesitated regarding the Hotchkiss M1931 light machine gun. This machine gun was heavier than the FND light machine gun and used a rather cumbersome feed strip holding only 15 rounds. No matter how one looked at it, it did not seem like a good piece of equipment. Coupled with its terrible reputation, it should not have been chosen under any circumstances.

Yet, only after using it would one realize that the Hotchkiss M1931 light machine gun was truly a hidden gem. Its long range, high precision, ability to use reloaded ammunition, and easy adjustment to fire round-nose bullets went without saying. Let us just consider that during operation, a single feed strip could deliver eight short bursts—wouldn't that amaze you? Meanwhile, the ZB26, purchased by the Nationalist army at a high price, used a 20-round magazine but could only deliver seven short bursts. This was because a single short burst from the Hotchkiss M1931 consisted of only two rounds, and paired with its extremely high accuracy, those two rounds could achieve the effectiveness of three.

As for the weight, the weight saved by using feed strips instead of magazines could basically offset the difference. Machine gun magazines in this era were made of solid metal milled from blocks, making them exceptionally heavy. A machine gun with eight magazines was dead heavy. When we usually watch television, it seems machine gunners only have four large magazines on their chests, but that was actually not the case. Nationalist machine gun teams generally carried eight magazines, with the four pockets on their chest each holding two.

And this was not even the maximum. The Japanese Type 96 machine gun teams were issued a standard of 16 magazines, and 30-round ones at that, along with a steel shield. When deploying a defensive position, this shield could be placed in front of the machine gunner. One should never underestimate this piece of steel; with this gadget, the survival rate of the light machine gunner would be vastly improved. On one side were eight 20-round magazines, while on the other were sixteen 30-round magazines. Solely in terms of sustained firepower, the Nationalist Bren-style gun simply could not compare to the Type 96, not to mention that many of the Bren guns captured by the Eighth Route Army often lacked complete sets of magazines, as these items were prone to being lost.

Milong that fellow had used 400 ZB26 light machine guns procured from Europe while in Jiangcheng to trade out all the remaining 477 Hotchkiss M1931 light machine guns from the warehouses of the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs. These were also the very last 7.92mm Hotchkiss M1931 light machine guns left in the hands of the Ministry. As to why these weapons had not been distributed when the war had reached this stage, only the bigwigs at the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs knew.

Regarding pistols, Wang Yue had originally intended to use the Steyr M1912 automatic pistol, but after some consideration, he dismissed the idea. This pistol used the same feeding method as the old Mauser C96, which was inconvenient for reloading every time and difficult to resupply with ammunition. Fifty thousand rounds of Steyr 9mm ammunition might sound like a lot, but it truly wouldn't last very long. At present, his side could not yet produce nitrocellulose, and Steyr 9mm pistol ammunition was not easy to come by at the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs either. Therefore, it was better to equip the Mauser M1879 pistol, since it was merely a self-defense weapon anyway.

An infantry platoon consisted of 38 men, comprising 3 infantry squads, plus 1 platoon leader, 3 messengers, and 1 medic (equipped with 4 Vz. 24 rifles, 1 Mauser M1879 pistol, and 1 Webley M1870 flare gun, in addition to the standard equipment of the infantry squads).

To further simplify logistics, the C93 pistols originally used by platoon leaders were eliminated. In this way, one type of ammunition could be dispensed with. After all, the small amount of ammunition refreshed daily in Wang Yue's spatial dimension was genuinely not quite enough once the troops expanded.

An infantry company comprised 3 infantry platoons, 1 machine gun and mortar platoon, along with a mess squad, a communications squad, and company headquarters.

Company headquarters had 8 men: 1 company commander, 1 deputy company commander, 4 staff officers, 1 medic, and 1 bugler (equipped with 4 Vz. 24 rifles, 4 Mauser M1879 pistols, and 1 Webley M1870 flare gun).

The communications squad had 6 men (equipped with 6 Vz. 24 rifles and 2 Webley M1870 flare guns).

The mess squad had 10 men (equipped with 10 Vz. 24 rifles).

The machine gun and mortar platoon had 53 men, comprising 2 heavy machine gun squads, 2 mortar squads, and 1 transport squad, plus 1 platoon leader, 3 messengers, and 1 medic (equipped with 4 Vz. 24 rifles, 1 Mauser M1879 pistol, and 1 Webley M1870 flare gun, in addition to the standard equipment of each squad).

A heavy machine gun squad had 10 men (equipped with 1 ZB37 heavy machine gun, 6 Vz. 24 rifles, and 4 Mauser M1879 pistols).

A mortar squad had 9 men, comprising two Brandt M1935 60mm mortar teams, plus 1 squad leader (equipped with 2 Brandt M1935 60mm mortars, 5 Vz. 24 rifles, and 4 Mauser M1879 pistols).

The transport squad of the machine gun and mortar platoon had 10 men (equipped with 10 Vz. 24 rifles).

An infantry company totaled 191 men. With this establishment, dealing with a Japanese company-level unit presented zero problems. As for the 90mm mortars that Japanese companies might possibly be equipped with, there was no need to worry at all. Let alone rear garrison units, even frontline Japanese units might not necessarily allocate two 90mm mortars to every single company.

Historically, before the outbreak of the War of Resistance, the Japanese had planned to use 90mm mortars to replace their Type 92 infantry guns, but in reality, they never did so right up until the day World War II ended.

Judging from this point, the Japanese thought process was equally bizarre. It was just that, in an era of competing in incompetence, the bigwigs at our Ordnance Bureau were even more incompetent.

On the Nationalist side, a central army company mustered only about 100 men, and some battalions had fewer than 300 men. A single infantry company of the 2nd Provisional Division could match a Nationalist infantry battalion. If substituted with miscellaneous regional warlord troops, one company could easily handle an entire regiment.

To give an example, when a certain Sichuan army division-level unit marched out of Sichuan to resist Japan, its light and heavy machine guns totaled only three, and it didn't even have a single artillery piece. With troops like that, it would be a miracle if a whole division could hold off a single Japanese company.