It's better to conquer them than to command the steel torrent

Chapter 103｜Bottle! We need tubes!
Shang Ke finally woke up when it was already bright.

Airborne raids require suddenness, taking the enemy by surprise and catching them off guard.

Obviously, after a whole day of fierce fighting, the Ivan Ross airborne troops had lost this key advantage.

Whether it is the airborne troops or the special forces, they are essentially still elite light infantry with insufficient firepower and attack capabilities. It is too difficult for them to engage in head-on confrontation with field troops.

No matter how brave you, Ivan Ross VDV, are, can you be stronger than PVA?

If your night attack succeeds, I, Shang, will eat the aluminum alloy command ruler that my fiancée gave me!

Anyway, Shang Ke refused to believe it and slept soundly for half the night.

Eugene reported on the battle in the second half of the night.

“…If those brave compatriots had not launched a timely counterattack, the enemy might have entered the city.”

Shang Ke did not comment on his sigh.

The actual situation was not that critical. The royal guards who were watching from the sidelines did not participate in the battle, and the imperial Russian paratroopers were still far from completing their mission objectives.

"How's the situation on the front line? Is there any crisis on the Tisza River defense line?" Shang Ke asked.

"It's said to be OK, only slightly worse than the General Staff's expectations," the second lieutenant intelligence officer replied.

"I'm going to the General Staff Headquarters, Captain Eugene. I'll leave this place to you."

"Okay sir."

Although he only slept for a few hours last night, it was high-quality deep sleep, and Shang Ke now feels energetic.

On the way to the General Staff Headquarters, he finished a can of beef and a pack of biscuits and strode to the second floor.

Staff officers and civilian staff walked back and forth in a hurry, their greetings mixed with the clacking of typewriter keyboards.

Anna, looking tired, was still dealing with a mountain of files and did not notice Shang passing by.

In the No. 2 War Situation Room, staff officers were nervously marking the situation on several 1:10000 maps.

"The 2nd Infantry Corps reported the destruction of 1200 to 1500 enemies and approximately 30 tanks. The Ivan Rus offensive against Tarcha has been disrupted, but the Ivan Rus appear to be planning to find a suitable location upstream to attempt another forced crossing."

"The 19th Infantry Division reported the presence of two new units in its front, the 234th and 255th Volksmarine Brigades. Radio monitoring is verifying whether these two units have been sighted before."

"The Romanians' offensive in the Sazonok region continues. They have suffered heavy losses, estimated at 900 to 1000 casualties. However, it is uncertain whether the 45th Infantry Division will participate in the battle."

It took several dozen seconds after Shang came in before someone among the concentrating staff noticed him.

"Eh? Major Shang?"

"When did you come here?"

The lieutenant colonel present praised you sincerely, "Yesterday's counterattack by the Royal Guard west of Vitesse Airport was admirable. You are an excellent tactician."

"It's not too difficult." Shang Ke smiled and waved his hand, then asked, "Is the pressure on the northern section of the defense line high?"

The northern section of the Tisza Line was under attack from Ivan Rus's 10th Army, with approximately 21 Hungarian troops having to resist 40 of Ivan Rus's troops. This 40 was only the initial standing army; as mobilization progressed, more conscripts joined, bringing the actual number to over 50.

The lieutenant colonel shook his head, then nodded, and said helplessly, "The Ivan Rus people failed because of their contempt, but this is only temporary. We are generally at a disadvantage."

"There is still hope for long-term resistance." Shang Ke comforted.

He stared at the map, trying to imagine the entire battle situation in his mind based on those abstract team logos and numbers.

Ivan Rus's army prioritized using its limited number of new equipment to deal with Varland, and the troops deployed towards Hungary were obviously inferior in terms of weapons and equipment.

The tank corps had only a few T-34s, the rest being T-26s and BT-7s. In terms of battlefield suppression, how could these thin-skinned, bulky interwar light tanks possibly compare to the T-34?
It is certainly inappropriate to over-exaggerate the role of a weapon, but the advantages brought by advanced weapons cannot be denied.

This was the case with the fighting that broke out in Tarcha yesterday.

Under the usual powerful artillery preparation, Ivan Rus's army forced a crossing of the Tisza River, opened up a small landing area, built a pontoon bridge, and then quickly sent a tank battalion across the river using the pontoon bridge, greatly strengthening the defense of the landing area.

However, the Hungarian army reacted decisively and launched a large-scale counterattack, annihilating the Imperial Russian troops that had crossed the river with thunderous force - about a thousand people and more than thirty tanks.

During the battle, the thinly armored T-26 and BT-7 were unable to withstand the attack of the Hungarian army's 40mm anti-tank guns, and were even easily penetrated by armor-piercing incendiary bullets fired by 12mm anti-aircraft machine guns.

What if the T-34 was the only weapon in use? The 40mm anti-tank gun would have been useless, and it would have been hard to predict who would have won in the end.

"This thing is still too outrageous at the beginning of the war. The development of the new medium tank must be accelerated."

Shang Ke commented on it to himself, wondering how the Grand Federation's medium tank development work was going, and hoped that he wouldn't be caught off guard.

Then he sorted out his thoughts, found a relatively quiet corner, and began to write the battle report.

The actual combat experience tempered by blood and fire is too precious, it is gained at the cost of hundreds of lives.

As a member of the military advisory group, objectively recording and analyzing combat experiences is a basic duty, which will play an important role in guiding the motherland in its rearmament.

In terms of tactics, Shangke gave high praise to the Ivan Ross Airborne Forces, saying they had a very high level of tactical proficiency. However, he then pointed out that overemphasizing the offensive was inappropriate and that a reasonable retreat was not a disgrace.

Shang Ke naturally brought up some of his own thoughts on weapons. He pointed out that there was a significant gap in firepower between submachine guns and semi-automatic rifles, and that equipping an infantry squad with rifles, submachine guns, and light machine guns simultaneously would negatively impact their general serviceability. He suggested developing automatic rifles firing intermediate-power rounds would be a better approach.

In addition, individual protective gear with steel plates also has considerable tactical value - it can improve morale and reduce the probability of death from injuries, and is worth equipping.

But it should be noted that in a statistical sense, bulletproof vests cannot reduce the probability of injury, but can only reduce the mortality rate.

Light weapons and individual protective gear were mentioned, and at the end of the battle report he did not forget to talk about accompanying support weapons - the firepower of traditional infantry units was too weak and must be strengthened, which would be very helpful in attacking earthworks or armored vehicles.

"...I observe that the light firearms carried by today's infantry are too limited in variety, consisting of rifle grenades, anti-tank rifles, and mortars. These are insufficient to meet the demands of modern warfare. I strongly recommend the development of new, lightweight firearms, and the Davis-type improved recoilless rifle is the best choice."

This is divided into two routes, one is the recoilless gun in a narrow sense, and the other is the individual recoilless gun, such as the rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) and the famous Panzerfaust disposable rocket launcher.

Anyway, with the national strength of the Grand Unification Federation, it is not difficult to equip each soldier with a disposable rocket launcher, and it is not impossible to equip each citizen with one.

Shang Ke couldn't help laughing when he thought that the army of bamboo shoots would be born decades earlier.

(End of this chapter)