Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 106: Station Selection
The next morning, Wang Gensheng was taken by a messenger to the various regiments under the 129th Lions to select personnel.

However, the one who went back this time was not 386 but another 385 under the 129th Lion.

Of course, according to the organization reorganized that year, the 385th and 386th Regiments each had only two regiments, but the actual situation naturally had more than two regiments.

At this time, not to mention other things, the number of people under the four main groups alone is at least more than four or five thousand.

Because of the war horses, the recruitment work was extremely fast. In just two days, more than 800 people were recruited.

What Wang Gensheng did not expect was that during the recruitment process, not only did he not encounter any difficulties from the various regiments, but the regiments actively supported the recruitment work of Wang Gensheng's cavalry regiment.

The construction of cavalry is supported not only by the various Lions but also by the various regiments.

The reason for this was that in the previous breakout battles, many of the scattered breakout teams were killed by the Japanese cavalry.

After all, when breaking out, the Japanese infantry faced the Eighth Route Army's infantry. They all had two legs, and the Japanese's short legs naturally could not outrun the Eighth Route Army's long legs.

But once the Japanese cavalry appeared, the situation was different. There was basically no way to escape. In the original plot of "Bright Sword", if Sun Desheng had not held back the Japanese cavalry regiment, the independent regiment would have suffered even greater losses.

During the large-scale mopping-up operation, Wang Gensheng killed a cavalry regiment of the Japanese devils, which was a disguised form of revenge for the other regiments.

In addition, this large-scale sweep also made the Eighth Route Army realize the importance of cavalry, especially in terrain like Huazhao. Horses can move where tanks and cars cannot, so war horses are very important on the Huazhao battlefield.

The Japanese attached great importance to the construction of cavalry as early as the early days of World War II. They not only had improved and excellent Oriental horses, but also established a cavalry unit of up to 200,000 people. Many of the cavalry officers were children of Japanese aristocrats, and some of them even participated in the Olympic equestrian competitions and won Olympic gold medals.

For example, the Kuroshima Morita cavalryman who was killed by Wang Gensheng was an aristocrat among aristocrats, that is, a member of the Japanese royal family. His samurai sword with a white jade handle, which is only worthy of being held by royals, was very good, and its blade was so sharp that it could cut hair with a single blow.

Therefore, such an elite cavalry unit trained by the Japanese devils posed a great threat to our army on the northern plains of our country. Their raiding and assaulting tactics gave our army, which advocated fast and flexible combat, a lot of headaches. We could not catch up with them even if we chased them, and we could not get rid of them even if we retreated.

You have to understand that in a war, if the enemy has weapons and equipment, we must also have them, so that we can at least achieve equal strength and then find an opportunity to defeat the enemy. The Japanese have planes, tanks and artillery, and we naturally want them too, but the reality is very difficult.

So relatively speaking, it was much easier for our army to build cavalry units than to build airplanes and tanks during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, so the Eighth Route Army also began to vigorously build cavalry units. Although Wang Gensheng's cavalry was called special cavalry, it was because the cavalry took advantage of the cavalry's high-speed mobility that they achieved such a record.

With cavalry, on the one hand, we can use cavalry to fight against the Japanese cavalry, and on the other hand, we can also bully the enemy's infantry and puppet troops.

While World War II was dominated by tanks and armored forces, we didn't have any. With Huazhong's industrial strength, being able to produce a rifle grenade was already impressive, but as for tanks, that was simply wishful thinking. So, while we didn't have tanks, our tanks were cavalry, capable of tank-like maneuverability. Having cavalry was like having a sharp, rapid assault weapon, allowing us to complete raids in record time or quickly retreat to escape pursuit, fully leveraging our army's fast and flexible combat capabilities.

For example, in the plot of Bright Sword, Chu Yunfei's subordinate Qian Bojun rebelled and surrendered to the enemy, and Chu Yunfei was trapped in Qian Bojun's camp. Upon hearing the news, Li Yunlong ordered the cavalry company to make a long-distance attack. The cavalry company descended from the sky and defeated Qian Bojun's camp, rescuing Chu Yunfei.

Moreover, the establishment of cavalry can not only be used in combat, but also for communication. In "Bright Sword", the problem of the Eighth Route Army's lack of long-distance communication equipment was mentioned many times. Radio stations were only distributed to the level of the cavalry. For example, the Lion Division of the 129th Lion and the Lu Division of the 386th Lion could still communicate through the radio station.

However, there was a serious lack of radio stations starting from the regimental level combat units, so the role of cavalry communicators became prominent.

For example, in the plot of Bright Sword, Li Yunlong wants to summon all the troops of the independent regiment to attack Ping'an County. The communication squad under the regiment headquarters all ride on horses to deliver orders to various troops. If there is no cavalry, the communication speed cannot be guaranteed. If the messages are delivered by manpower, the efficiency will be greatly reduced, affecting the combat mission.

Of course, in addition to being used for combat and communication, cavalry can sometimes also be used to transport supplies. It should be noted that throughout World War II, except for the US Army, the armies of various countries had not truly achieved mechanization. Even the German Army had a large number of mule and horse troops specifically responsible for logistics support, so the Japanese also assigned special mules and horses to be responsible for the supply of supplies to the front line.

Although in principle, cavalry horses cannot be used to transport food and ammunition, as doing so will consume the horses' physical strength and they will stumble once they are needed in combat.

However, the Eighth Route Army was seriously short of logistical transportation tools, and supplies such as food and ammunition often still needed mules and horses to share the transportation capacity. There was no way around it.

What's more, on the battlefield, when troops are transferring or retreating, horses can also provide great help to the wounded and those who are falling behind.

So even though cavalry units will not easily do logistical work, once an emergency occurs, there are likely to be two different results with or without the help of cavalry and horses. Therefore, even though cavalry is very noble, it still needs to be used when necessary.

.........

On the outskirts of the New Second Regiment's base, near Taiyuan City, there was a village that was completely slaughtered by the Japanese. Wang Gensheng chose to station the cavalry regiment here.

That’s right, like most regiments, they had to choose a place as their base, and Wang Gensheng chose this place because he also planned to continue to develop a base.

This village is not very far from Taiyuan City, and the area around it is flat for more than ten miles, with a very wide view. Therefore, there is no need to worry about the Japanese making a surprise attack. After all, even at night, there is Li Xiu, a man with excellent night vision, on guard!
Of course, this terrain might not be very friendly to infantry. After all, the terrain is open. If the Japanese sent out cavalry, the infantry would definitely not be able to escape. But Wang Gensheng's cavalry regiment! Even if the Japanese sent out cavalry or even tanks, there is no need to worry. You have to know that the Japanese tanks are not as fast as horses!

How can a small tank with a maximum speed of only 40 kilometers per hour catch up with a warhorse that can run 60 or 70 kilometers?

(End of this chapter)