The new mixed battalion of the North American garrison operated very smoothly. They set out along the route found by the previous reconnaissance team and successfully found the location of the indigenous tribes that had previously attacked the Chu immigrant settlements.
Then a thunderous strike was launched!
Even if these natives were equipped with some matchlock guns and also used horses, they could not be a match for the Chu army.
Even if the Chu army coming here is not a new army using new breech-loading rifled guns, but a traditional Chu army using flash cap percussion weapons and light smoothbore field artillery, they can still defeat them with an overwhelming advantage.
Not to mention the new breech-loading rifled guns, there is no suspense or surprise in offensive operations.
The Chu army first set up a 75mm mountain cannon on a hill about two thousand meters away, and used the artillery to launch a fierce bombardment on the indigenous camp.
The infantry then advanced in company units, advancing to a distance of two to three hundred meters before launching intensive rifle fire strikes.
Although the Type 18 rifle is only a single-shot rifle, its loading speed is much faster than that of a muzzle-loading rifle, and its rate of fire can reach more than ten rounds per minute.
Later, there was a Mauser 1871 live-fire shooting video released by a foreign brother. In the prone position, after the first shot was fired, it took about seven seconds from ejecting the cartridge case to loading the second bullet, and then returning the finger to the trigger to complete the firing preparation.
The point is, it was a demonstration video, and the movements were all slow!
If it is a trained soldier, this step can be shortened to three to four seconds or even faster. In actual combat, even if the aiming time is added, the rate of fire can still reach more than ten rounds per minute.
This rate of fire is unmatched by muzzleloading rifles.
This is why the Chu army would rather endure the high price of a breech-loading rifle than equip a breech-loading rifle. The rate of fire advantage is really too great.
In addition, breech-loading rifled rifles have a huge tactical advantage over front-loading rifles, that is, loading is not affected by posture and can be loaded lying down on the spot, which will greatly enrich the rifleman's tactics.
The difference between loading while standing and loading while kneeling or lying down can completely change the way war is fought.
Specifically manifested in the disappearance of infantry line tactics and the emergence of skirmishing tactics.
As for the accurate and effective range, this is not the unique advantage of breech-loading rifles. Front-loading rifled rifles can also do it... The Guards in the Chu army had previously equipped more than 10,000 15mm caliber versions of the Ten Type VI muzzleloading rifle.
However, this rifle has never really been on the battlefield, because the early rifled rifles were too expensive. These Type 16 rifles are basically regarded as strategic weapons by the Guards. They have long been used as important weapons to control the important areas of Gyeonggi. He never appeared on the battlefield.
Now these Type 16 rifles have been handed over to the Army. The Army has modified the Type 16 rifles with breech-loading, changing the front-loading to the rear-loading. It has become a very unique 15mm caliber breech-loading rifle, firing a copper shell. Ammunition... But these modified rifles are just transitional weapons. When the number of Type 18 rifles in the Army increases, these modified breech-loading versions of Type 16 rifles will be completely retired.
Now the Chu army used Type 18 rifles to fire fierce rifle fire at the natives in front from a distance of two to three hundred meters, instantly defeating the enemy.
After completely scattering the enemy, the cavalry company came out to harvest!
These cavalrymen use Shaanxi-type 7 breech-loading rifled revolvers specifically designed for cavalry, developed and produced by the Shaanxi-Gansu Arms Company.
This Shaanxi-7 type 11mm cavalry revolver, together with the Hebei Weapons Company's He5-type 9mm officer revolver, constitute the standard pistol of the Dachu Empire Army and are distributed in large quantities to cavalry, officers, artillery and other arms.
The revolvers of the Dachu Empire also went through three stages: front-loading smoothbore, front-loading rifled, and then rear-loading rifled.
The same runner structure is used, but the performance is completely different.
The Type 7 cavalry pistols and Type 5 revolvers used today are actually the revolvers that later generations will be familiar with.
The Type 7 Cavalry Pistol fires a special 11mm pistol bullet, which is relatively powerful and can cause effective damage even if it hits the enemy's horse.
After burning all the bullets in the cavalry revolvers, the cavalry will temporarily retreat to reload, and then carry out impact harvesting after reloading.
As for charging with a sword, it is actually possible...but not necessary.
After all, charging with a sword looks mighty, but after all, it is a close combat, and unnecessary casualties are easy to occur... After all, accidents are easy to occur during close combat. Even if the opponent brings a spear, it can pose a threat to the cavalry, and it can also cause unnecessary casualties. It's better to use a pistol to shoot and harvest from dozens of meters away.
In addition, these Chu army cavalry are actually equipped with Type 18 cavalry rifles, which are short-barreled versions of the Type 18 rifles. The barrels are shorter and lighter, allowing the cavalry to carry them on horseback. use.
Of course, in most cases, cavalry use lances when dismounted and fighting on foot. If they shoot directly on a bumpy horseback, the hit rate is too low.
The Type 18 rifle, the Type 33 cavalry pistol, and the Type 14 saber constitute the main equipment of the new Chu army's cavalry.
It can be seen from these weapons and equipment that this Chu army cavalry is a multi-functional light cavalry that can dismount to fight on foot, mount a horse to charge, and can also play pistol riding and shooting. It is also the cavalry that the Chu army has been pursuing in the past twenty years. Combat mode.
In this battle to eliminate the indigenous people, this new mixed battalion of the Chu army almost completely tested various new tactics of the Chu army in the past year, from the use of artillery, to the use of rifles, to the final cavalry harvest.
And achieved great results.
The battle reports this time were quickly collected and sent back to the hometown of Jinling in a report.
The Army Staff conducted repeated studies on this battle report. In addition to refining and summarizing the advantages brought out in it, it also repeatedly studied some of the problems exposed in it.
This battle did not reveal its shortcomings. On the contrary, there were many shortcomings.
For example, after the adoption of new breech-loading weapons, the consumption of ammunition has increased significantly. For example, the consumption of rifle ammunition is astonishing!
The Type 18 rifle has a very fast rate of fire, and the soldiers fire at a distance of about two to three hundred meters. This distance is completely outside the fire range of the indigenous people, so the soldiers can have a very safe shooting environment.
This also allows soldiers to shoot very stably, which greatly increases the rate of fire.
In addition, when shooting at a distance of two to three hundred meters, the killing efficiency of bullets is not very high. Although the maximum effective range of the Type 18 rifle can theoretically reach 1,500 meters... But the premise is that you can aim. However, due to the human body's naked eye vision, coupled with factors such as jitter caused by the shooting action, the shooting accuracy will still be greatly affected at a distance of three to four hundred meters, let alone 1,500 meters.
In actual combat, even at a distance of about three hundred meters, it is still difficult to accurately hit the enemy.
This has to be said to be a very embarrassing fact. At this distance, the performance of the Type 18 rifle has no problem at all. The high accuracy of the rifled rifle allows the bullets to be dispersed at this distance to be controlled within a very small range.
But just because the weapon is accurate enough, it doesn't mean that soldiers can use this accuracy.
This problem has also appeared in the combat effectiveness of the Nanyang Peninsula before, and it is normal for it to appear again now.
As for the solution? There is no good solution... we can only increase shooting training and cultivate the soldiers' shooting skills.
As for sights, don't even think about it. The large-scale equipment of sights on ordinary infantry only happened after the 1980s.
Well, this large-scale equipment only refers to the US military, and does not include the armies of other countries!
The sight seems simple, but in fact it is very high-tech and belongs to the top optical equipment. However, optical equipment has a common problem: it is expensive!
Not all militaries are as wealthy as the US military, and the cost of pensions for soldiers is high. Various methods have to be used to increase the survival rate of soldiers on the battlefield, thereby reducing the cost of pensions.
In most countries, such as Africa, West Asia and other regions, soldiers are cheap and make do with AK47s. What, you said they are issued with sights? That thing is more expensive than the infantry itself...
In today's Dachu Empire, optical instruments are more expensive, and it is impossible to distribute magnification lenses to ordinary soldiers. At most, the technology of optical instruments has advanced, and three or four times magnification lenses can be manufactured in large quantities and cheaply, and then some can be cultivated. Just a sniper.
It is estimated that Luo Zhixue will never be able to equip ordinary soldiers with scopes in his life.
Therefore, the situation that ordinary infantry using rifled rifles has a poor hit rate at a distance of three hundred meters cannot be solved for the time being.
Of course, this is talking about a single precise hit. In fact, just like the musket, the infantry can kill the enemy from a long distance in an area-wide manner by using intensive firepower.
When shooting collectively, infantrymen using Type 18 rifles can effectively kill group targets hundreds of meters or even kilometers away.
This is why it is difficult for soldiers to use the Type 18 rifle to accurately shoot targets 300 meters away. However, the scale of the Type 18 rifle still reaches 1,400 meters...
The distance of this ruler is not used for precise shooting, but for collective shooting of group targets.
The specific usage scenario is: when the enemy launches a group charge one thousand meters away, a large number of riflemen adjust the scale under the command of the officer, and shoot collectively at the enemy group target at a distance of one thousand scales... so many bullets are shot out, the bullets The spread is small enough and the number of enemies is large, so bullets can always hit the enemies.
It's just that this consumes a lot of bullets.
When the Chu Army's new mixed battalion fought in North America, the soldiers consumed a lot of bullets, firing almost hundreds of bullets per person... This far exceeded the dozen or so rounds in the era of muzzle-loading muskets.
The large consumption of bullets means that logistics supply is more troublesome. This is a severe test for the logistics system of the Chu Empire Army, and it is also a great test for the national strength of the Chu Empire!
After all, bullets also cost money and consume productivity.
Without the support of strong national power, you can't afford a rifle with such a fast firing rate.
In addition to the large consumption of bullets, this battle also exposed another problem, to be precise, it was a problem with the formation of skirmishers.
That is, the Chu army discovered that after adopting the skirmishing formation, the soldiers' combat enthusiasm, or courage, was lower than in the line era, and it was more difficult to command.
When shooting at a long distance, the soldiers have a stable mentality when shooting because their safety is guaranteed. Most of the time, they can fight stably. At most, they are lazy and reduce the rate of fire... After all, although the caliber of the Type 18 rifle has been reduced, Eleven millimeters, but the recoil is still not small. If you shoot too much, the soldiers' shoulders will become sore or even injured.
In the skirmish formation, the shooting is mainly free fire. This rate of fire is more or less open to the soldiers' consciousness. Many soldiers will deliberately or unconsciously lower the rate of fire in order to avoid shoulder soreness and the enemy is not in a good position. speed!
This problem is not a big one. The key is that during the attack, when the officers order the infantry to advance, because the troops are spread out in skirmish formation, it is difficult for the officers to directly command or restrain all the soldiers.
When attacking, some soldiers often delay the advancement deliberately, or out of fear and life-saving mentality: letting their teammates rush in front, while they advance slowly from behind, lying down to avoid the slightest risk. !
This situation makes the top brass of the Chu army very unhappy... When we used to engage in line tactics, this kind of situation would hardly happen, because they were all in tight formations. If you took a step slower, you would be particularly obvious, and There are also teammates behind you. If you are one step behind, the comrades behind you will have to bump into you directly.
Therefore, in the linear era, few people deliberately fall behind.
If so, then it’s time for the Supervisory Team to take the field.
However, in the case of skirmishing tactics, advancement is always preceded and followed. Therefore, if a soldier is a few steps behind his teammates, it is difficult to judge that this is intentional lagging, and there is no way to punish him according to military law.
What's more, in the skirmish formation, the soldiers have a high degree of freedom of movement, and what is needed is subjective kinetic energy. Instead of being like in the line era, the soldiers do not need and are not allowed to have their own ideas and directly follow the officer's orders to advance or retreat. Just load and shoot.
On the battlefield, soldiers have clear orders for how many steps they must march!
But now... it is impossible for officers to direct operations like this. All these are left to the soldiers to make their own decisions.
Trouble begins when soldiers have a certain degree of autonomy in decision-making on the battlefield.
This is determined by human nature. Not only skirmishing tactics have this problem, but many tactics have similar problems, such as the typical cavalry charge.
In traditional formations, cavalry will have similar problems when charging. There will always be some cavalry who deliberately fall behind.
How did modern cavalry generals solve this problem?
Shorten the distance of free charge as much as possible.
Strict military laws and dense formations are used to restrain the cavalry. In the early stage of slow walking and trotting, they maintain the same pace and speed to maintain the overall formation, which is the same as the infantry's line formation.
Only launching an infantry charge in the last few dozen meters... it was still the same as the infantry's final bayonet charge.
This will not only save the physical energy of the war horse to the greatest extent and maximize the impact of the war horse, but also reduce the situation where the cavalry deliberately falls behind as much as possible.
When you charge forward in the last few dozen meters, even if you want to fall behind on purpose, you will be forced to rush forward!
Therefore, when you see the Guards Cavalry charging bravely in movies and TV dramas, don’t think that all modern cavalry are so brave... and don’t think that they are all trained to be inhuman wooden men!
In fact, no, the actual situation is that the cavalry were restricted by tactical formations and strict military laws and were forced to act in unison in the early stage, but were coerced into charging together in the later stage.
The generals also know that you are afraid of death... and they know even better that you are afraid of rushing in front... so the generals will find ways to keep you on the same page as your comrades in various ways, such as reasonable formations, strict military laws, etc. Move forward at the same pace...and you will become a warrior!
The Great Chu Empire was no exception. In the line era, the generals of Chu State solved this problem very well.
But now that we have entered the era of skirmishers, this problem has erupted again, and the generals of Chu need to find ways to solve this problem: how to make ordinary or even cowardly soldiers charge forward like warriors!
However, this is not impossible to solve. A large number of staff members from the Great Chu Empire's General Staff Department proposed a solution that in addition to strengthening the propaganda of etiquette, the formulation of corresponding military laws, and strict training!
It is also necessary to strengthen the role of junior non-commissioned officers, especially squad leaders, deputy squad leaders and senior non-commissioned officers in the infantry. These soldiers can replace junior officers and perform part of the command and supervision duties.
Skirmishing tactics are the general trend. It is impossible for the Chu army to continue to use line tactics after being equipped with breech-loading rifles.
How to make better use of skirmishing tactics is what a large number of Chu army officers need to think about.
Strengthening the training of non-commissioned officers and strengthening the role of non-commissioned officers is an improvement they made based on the advantages and disadvantages of skirmishing tactics.
Increased logistics consumption and low motivation of soldiers are inherent shortcomings of the skirmisher era.
But compared with the many advantages, these shortcomings are not worth mentioning. Therefore, the Dachu Empire Army and the four major armed forces of the Guards, Marines, and armed tax police, even if they are equipped with rear-mounted rifled weapons and use skirmishing tactics, Many problems were encountered during the process.
But we are still firmly moving towards the rifled breech and the formation of skirmishers!
A new war model has emerged, the footsteps of a new era are approaching, and the Chu army will not rest on its laurels and constrain itself.
Luo Zhixue is also aware of the many problems that the military has recently faced when replacing rifled guns with rear-mounted guns, but to be honest, he doesn't have a good solution.
After all, he was just an ordinary person in his previous life. He was able to know the general structure of breech-loaded rifled guns thanks to the war movies and TV series he had watched.
But in those movies and TV shows, no one will delve into detailed tactical arrangements, let alone tell you that one of the important reasons why modern cavalry charges are so short is that they don’t want to give the cavalry a chance to retreat!
I will not tell you that the important reason for the emergence of modern infantry squads and the birth of non-commissioned officers is also to prevent soldiers from shrinking when charging...
It sounds cruel, but this is the reality!
After all, this is military and war.
And war, no matter how it is beautified, cannot change the nature of war: a group of people try their best to kill another group of people...
War itself is a very cruel thing!
(End of chapter)
