newbobooks Chapter 541 1st Armored Division
Chapter 541 1st Armored Division
541st Armored Division
Immediately afterwards, Luo Zhuoying took Zhang Kedi and others to a British military camp.
The equipment of that armored division is placed here.
After entering the camp, Zhang Kedi and his team saw the neatly arranged tanks, armored vehicles, motorcycles, artillery and cars parked in the camp.
There are so many that you can't see the end of them.
“This is truly the equipment of an armored division.
That’s a lot of them.”
Zhang Kedi was also delighted when he saw such a huge amount of equipment.
The teams of armored soldiers that followed behind also looked over curiously.
"Okay, you bunch of brats, stop peeking.
Now, come here in company units to receive the equipment.
Then get familiar with the British tanks and armored vehicles as soon as possible. "
Zhang Kedi cursed and laughed at the soldiers of the 1st Armored Regiment.
"Ow!"
Suddenly, the soldiers of the 1st Armored Regiment cheered, but did not disperse in chaos.
Instead, they entered the venue in an orderly manner and selected equipment in groups of companies.
Luo Zhuoying was still introducing the armored equipment left behind by the British to the two regiment commanders, Zhang Kedi and Fu Hongyuan.
"This batch of British armored division equipment includes a total of 178 tanks, of which there are mainly two types.
One is the 'Valentine' infantry tank and the other is the 'Matilda' infantry tank.
Then, there were 98 Bren armored vehicles.
As well as 1200 motorcycles, 450 cars, and 1200 horse-drawn carriages.
There are also more than 105 mm howitzers, more than anti-tank guns, more than a dozen anti-aircraft guns, etc.
These equipments should be able to equip 10,000 people.”
Luo Zhuoying was also very jealous of the armored division equipment that Ye Qingshan had obtained from the British.
It’s a pity that among the expeditionary force, only the armored soldiers under Ye Qingshan’s command are capable of bringing out the combat effectiveness of this batch of equipment.
Other expeditionary forces obtained it, but were unable to fully use it.
At this time, the soldiers of the armored regiment in the camp had already started warming up and operating these British armored equipment.
What Zhang Kedi said was right, although it was the first time for them to use these British armored equipment.
However, the difficulty would not be much greater than the American armored equipment they had previously trained with.
Give them some time and they can totally master the operation.
However, all these tanks and armored vehicles of the British were developed by them after World War I.
The performance is average, and it's barely usable now.
On the battlefield in Europe, our armored equipment was definitely lagging behind that of the German army.
But in Myanmar, it is no problem to use them to deal with the Japanese's tiny tanks.
Soon, Ye Qingshan also received a telegram from Luo Zhuoying, informing him that their two armored regiments had successfully received this batch of armored equipment.
Immediately, Ye Qingshan issued new orders.
"Tell Zhang Kedi and Fu Hongyuan to have the soldiers of their two regiments familiarize themselves with the British armored equipment.
Let them drive back to the north of Moneva and meet up with Lu Dahai's 208st Regiment of the th Division.
Then, a reorganization will be carried out there.
I plan to reorganize these three divisions into the First Armored Division."
After Ye Qingshan listened to Luo Zhuoying's report on the armored equipment left behind by the British.
It is clear that the two armored regiments of Zhang Kedi and Fu Hongyuan alone cannot digest all these equipment.
These are enough to equip more than tens of thousands of people.
Therefore, Ye Qingshan simply merged the strongest regiment under the 208th Division with the two armored regiments.
Create a brand new armored division.
At that time, the 42st Armored Division will become the new strongest force of the nd Army under Ye Qingshan.
"Commander, are you going to merge us into the 1st Armored Division?"
Soon, Zhang Kedi and Fu Hongyuan in Imphal learned the news that Luo Zhuoying told them.
The two were overjoyed.
"Lao Zhang, who do you think will be the commander of the 1st Armored Division?
The commander must choose between the two of us.
Let me make it clear first, I won’t give in to you this time.
I must get the commander of the 1st Armored Division."
Fu Hongyuan looked at Zhang Kedi and said jokingly.
“Come on, old man.
With our levels, neither of us is qualified to be the commander of the 1st Armored Division.
After all, neither you nor I have ever commanded an armored force in actual combat.
I think no one else is qualified to be the division commander except our commander.
The commander really understands armored warfare."
When Zhang Kedi mentioned Ye Qingshan, there was too obvious admiration in his eyes.
After listening to Zhang Kedi's words, Fu Hongyuan nodded slightly and said, "Old Zhang, I dare not refute what you said.
That makes sense.
The commander's previous decision to send the Fifth Army's Seventh Armored Regiment south for a long-distance raid on the enemy's rear was a stroke of genius.
This is how armored clusters should be used.
We are the protagonists on the battlefield of the future, how can we be assistants to the infantry?"
Fu Hongyuan said with some excitement.
He has studied abroad.
After studying some Western military theories about armored forces, he highly praised Ye Qingshan's previous tactics of using armored forces to conduct long-distance raids and large-scale penetrations.
On the contrary, Zhang Kedi now highly praises the Germans' blitzkrieg tactics.
Afterwards, the two men took 7,000 armored soldiers and set off immediately after getting familiar with the British armored equipment at the Imphal base.
Head north of Moneva to join the 208st Regiment of the th Division for reorganization.
*
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The time goes back to the 27th, when Ye Qingshan in the north arranged Zhang Kedi and others to go to Imphal.
An emergency meeting was also being held at the Japanese headquarters.
They already knew that an expeditionary force had entered Rangoon and that Shojiro Iida's headquarters had been forced to evacuate urgently.
Things had come to this point, and Shojiro Iida could no longer be complacent and could only ask for help from the domestic headquarters.
Before that, the Japanese 15th Army was besieged in Mandalay by the Expeditionary Force.
Shojiro Iida didn't even ask for help from the Japanese headquarters in the country.
At that time, the old Japanese Shojiro Iida still felt that their 15th Army was fully capable of solving this problem on their own.
But now it is proven that they have failed.
At this point, if Shojiro Iida did not ask the Japanese headquarters for help, his 15th Army would be in great danger.
The Japanese emperor and a number of high-ranking officials of the Imperial Headquarters scolded Shojiro Iida at the meeting.
But after scolding, the Japanese high-ranking officials also had to find a way to rescue the 15th Army trapped in Mandalay.
And they had to move quickly, as they were worried that the 15th Army wouldn't be able to hold out for much longer.
So, after an emergency meeting that lasted for half a day, the Japanese headquarters sent orders to another elite Japanese force stationed in Malaysia.
Let them go to Burma immediately to rescue the Japanese 15th Army.