That night, the door of the ammunition branch of the arsenal was opened...
Zhou Wen didn't dare to call the people from the garrison headquarters to carry weapons and ammunition from the arsenal. They were all brothers from the support regiment. Under the guidance of his uncle Wang Wenzhao, who was familiar with the road, the regiment leaders and members went into battle together. Three trucks were driving back and forth. Uncle Wu and Zhou Yongbin were responsible for registration and storage.
Fortunately, the military camp is big enough and has enough warehouses. They couldn't move during the day and could only work quietly at night. For three nights in a row, not only the weapons and ammunition from the gun and ammunition factory were evacuated, but also all the finished products from the artillery factory and gunpowder factory. When Zhou Wen reattached the seal with the big seal of the Party Headquarters Security Office to the door, these branches were like plates that had been licked by a greedy kitten, clean and not a single bullet casing was left.
On the morning of the fourth day, Zhou Wen, Gao Xiaoshan, and Old Uncle Wu, who had been busy all night, did not catch up on their sleep. can not fall asleep! Looking at the lists of statistics, there were only a few rifles, machine guns, submachine guns, shell guns and their bullets, which were not much different from what my uncle said at the time. Anyway, there is enough equipment and training for a thousand people of the security team and the guard team. Each person can fire thousands of rounds of live ammunition, and there are tens of thousands of Jin-made hand grenades.
The key is that the artillery and shells pulled out from the artillery factory made Zhou Wen and others stunned. This is how we got rich. We built 100 81mm caliber mortars, 16 75mm caliber mountain guns, and tens of thousands of various artillery shells. There were also tons of smokeless powder and explosives. No other large-caliber artillery was found. It is estimated that the caliber was too large and too expensive, so it was towed away as soon as it was produced.
Although the manufacturing technology and quality of Jin-made artillery cannot be compared with artillery imported from foreign countries, it is considered superior in China and is sufficient for training affiliated troops. This harvest gave the mountain artillery company, mortar company, and heavy machine gun company that Zhou Wen wanted to form equipped with training equipment and a large amount of live ammunition.
But what Zhou Wen really valued were the twelve unopened long boxes that came out of the gun test room. This is what Hobert mentioned before. The arsenal has just purchased the German MG13 machine gun for technical reference.
After the end of World War I, in view of the powerful lethality of water-cooled heavy machine guns represented by the Maxim machine gun, the Treaty of Versailles clearly stipulated that defeated Germany was not allowed to manufacture or equip water-cooled heavy machine guns. This is undoubtedly a shackle for the Germans who are unwilling to fail and always want revenge. Therefore, the Germans, who are trying to survive in the cracks, can only find another way in this struggle of "restriction and counter-restriction".
It was against this background that the MG13 machine gun came into being.
The MG13 machine gun is relatively lightweight due to its air-cooled barrel. The barrel is hidden in an air-cooled barrel sleeve full of small holes. This sleeve is equipped with a handle, which is not only convenient for quickly changing the barrel but also for holding the gun. It can be fired hand-held by infantry or mounted on an armored vehicle as a vehicle-mounted machine gun (for example, the No. 1 tank is armed with two MG13 machine guns). It can also be mounted on a tripod as an anti-aircraft machine gun or heavy machine gun. Therefore, the MG13 is the most powerful weapon in the world. The first truly universal machine gun.
The gun fires 7.92mm pointed bullets, which are common with Czech light machine guns and Mauser G98 standard rifle bullets. The ammunition supply originally designed was a 25-round magazine, but this was too little for a machine gun, so a Doppeltromel double-drum magazine with a capacity of 75 rounds was developed, making it Its firepower sustainability is greatly improved.
The MG13 machine gun with a 75mm drum magazine weighs less than 15 kilograms. For the machine gunners of the mercenary group, even Uncle Ma can easily carry and control it.
The MG13's rate of fire of up to 750 rounds per minute and the 75-round Doppeltromel double-drum magazine show the advantages of German precision manufacturing, but what is more commendable is its unique design. First of all, the machine gun trigger is divided into upper and lower arcs. Pulling the upper trigger can only fire a single shot, and pulling the lower trigger can fire a continuous shot. Switching between single-shot bursts is quick and easy, without taking your finger off the trigger. Guaranteed shooting stability and continuity. Next is the folding stock and quick barrel change handle. The most important thing is that his shooting accuracy is very high. The scatter of continuous shots is the smallest among light machine guns, and the accuracy of single shots is comparable to that of a Mauser rifle.
With the 12 MG13 machine guns in hand, the Czech and DP28 machine gun groups of the mercenary group can be eliminated and given to the affiliated troops. This is the first time that the machine gun team of the mercenary regiment has truly unified the standards and bullet calibers. Otherwise, there were two machine guns and bullets of 7.92 mm and 7.62 mm calibers. .
In the next few days, the entire mercenary group was mobilized. Those responsible for recruitment and assessment, those responsible for transporting ammunition and artillery to Lishi, those responsible for guarding the warehouse, etc. all performed their respective responsibilities. His uncle Wang Wenzhao was responsible for recruiting workers at the arsenal. Zhou Wen was the only one with outstanding experience and skills. After all, it is not a large-scale construction. Zhou Wen estimates that dozens of workers will be enough, but the wages will be more generous than before. Zhou Wen has never been stingy with money in this regard. When the prototype gun is successfully produced, Zhou Wen will also pay bonuses to the workers who have made meritorious services.
After the gun test facility opened, firearms engineer Hobert moved in immediately. Anyway, he used to have a special rest room in the gun test facility. After Hobert redrawn all Zhou Wen's design drawings with precision tools, he went to the raw material warehouse to select gun barrels and other materials.
You must know that at that time, the arsenal issued various production materials according to the monthly production quantity. Production was only completed for more than half a month in September, and the remaining raw materials were not a small number. There are thousands of high-quality steel pipes used for gun barrel production alone. As a senior German engineer, Hobert naturally has a keen eye for steel and selected hundreds of the best ones.
At this time, the workers Wang Wenzhao was responsible for recruiting also arrived, and the leader was Li Bin, the technical backbone of the gun and ammunition factory who he had helped a lot before. Li Bin was originally a skilled worker in the rifle barrel production workshop. His drilling and rifling control skills were among the best in the arsenal. Otherwise, how could Wang Wenzhao, the manager, remember his name among thousands of workers.
When he heard that his great benefactor Wang Guanshi needed workers, he answered the call without hesitation without even asking for compensation. At the same time, he also introduced several workers who were outstanding in other processes to Wang Wenzhao. When they heard that their wages were much higher than before, the enthusiasm of Li Bin and more than 40 other workers increased instantly. Originally, everyone's family had no income for several months, and life was a difficult time. Now that they have a source of income, they are all gearing up and preparing to use all their martial arts skills to repay Manager Wang's great kindness.
