Quartermasters can also fight the devils

As the fighting in the Battle of Western Hubei eased, the residents of Changde City gradually began to be recalled. At this time, the sentries responsible for guarding the city had the hardest time. They needed to check everyone's ID, and if they found anyone suspicious, they would need to conduct a detailed and strict investigation.

More than two months before the Battle of Changde coincided with the autumn harvest. Since many of Changde's able-bodied male laborers had joined the army, there was a shortage of manpower among the rural people and a large amount of grain could not be harvested in time. Commander Yu of the 57th Division organized the soldiers to bring their own food to help farmers in the suburbs harvest grain.

The commander of the 57th Division, Yu Chengwan, was from Taishan, Guangdong Province, and was also a graduate of the first class of Whampoa Military Academy. However, after graduating from the first class of Whampoa Military Academy, Commander Yu did not join the combat troops. Instead, he started working in party affairs, that is, he was responsible for organization, propaganda, and discipline inspection, rather than military work.

Because the top government officials have their own way of judging people, and their impression of Commander Yu was average. They thought Commander Yu was too smart but not steady enough, and was not the material to be a good soldier.

However, the top government leaders believed that Commander Yu was eloquent, had strong organizational skills, and was talented in party affairs. Therefore, after Commander Yu graduated, the top government leaders retained him as an officer garrisoned in the Political Department of the Third Class of the Whampoa Military Academy.

In 1927, the highest level of the government entrusted Master Yu with an important task and transferred him to the embryonic Navy Bureau as the director of the Political Department. Later, Master Yu was transferred to the Ishii Arsenal, one of the best in China.

Although party work was easy and did not require going to the front line to risk one's life, it was the dream job of many people. However, Commander Yu felt that these jobs did not fit his original ambitions. Later, after Commander Yu's continuous applications, he left the originally easy rear and joined the combat unit.

Later, Commander Yu performed very well in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, so in 1940 he was appointed as the commander of the 57th Division of the 74th Army.

Commander Yu led the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division and fought countless tough battles with the Japanese army. The 57th Division was particularly good at defensive operations. Moreover, the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division who were able to survive to this day are basically battle-hardened. Most of the officers and soldiers have been injured, and some have even crawled out of a pile of dead bodies.

More importantly, Commander Yu led the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division to fight across most of China. Not only did he experience the sacrifice of countless comrades, but he also made the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division generally have a strong anti-Japanese sentiment.

Of course, the fighting spirit of the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division is valuable, and their weapons and equipment are not bad either. As the direct force of the Chinese government, each infantry company of the 57th Division is equipped with the same type of Zhongzheng rifles. Each company has nine imitation Czech-style light machine guns, and each platoon is also equipped with imitation Japanese grenade launchers and a small number of rifle grenades.

The infantry battalion is equipped with a machine gun company. In theory, each machine gun company has six domestically-made imitations of the German Type 24 heavy machine guns. The infantry battalion also has an 82mm mortar platoon equipped with two mortars.

However, due to the continuous war consumption, the weapons and equipment originally in the 57th Division were basically not complete. As of the end of October, the 57th Division had a total of 8,529 officers and soldiers, but was equipped with only more than 1,000 Zhongzheng rifles. The remaining gap was all made up by the old Hanyang rifles.

In terms of machine guns, the newly acquired Soviet weapons were used as supplements, mainly including DP light machine guns and M1910 wheeled heavy machine guns. In addition, eight Soviet field guns, four mm anti-tank guns and other heavy weapons were also supplemented.

In short, the light weapons and even heavy weapons of the 57th Division before the Battle of Changde were already the best in the Chinese army. However, this was just picking a general from a group of dwarfs. Compared with the weapons and equipment of the Japanese 11th Army's offensive forces, the equipment of the 57th Division was still far behind, and even the weapons and equipment of the Japanese Type C Division were far inferior.

Although the 74th Army was the best equipped and supplied unit in the Chinese Army, the war of resistance had lasted for six years and the Chinese government's economy was almost on the verge of collapse, so the army's supply was still very poor.

In the eyes of the officers of the United States Military Advisory Group, even with the equipment and supplies of the 74th Army of the Chinese government, in their opinion, even the equipment and supplies of the United States militia are much stronger than those of the Chinese government's direct troops. To be precise, in the minds of the officers of the United States Military Advisory Group, the Chinese government's army is like a group of armed refugees.

To what extent was the supply shortage of the 74th Army, the direct force of the Chinese government? For example, in the field hospital of the army, even the most basic medicines such as carbolic acid, mercurochrome, and iodine were not available, and some new drugs had never even been heard of.

The officers and soldiers wore cotton-padded jackets this year, but had to hand them in when the season changed. They would be issued again in the winter of the following year. No matter how torn or tattered they were, they would have to be worn for at least two years. Some of the cotton-padded jackets were even taken off from fallen soldiers, and were riddled with bullet holes.

Soldiers basically wore straw sandals, sometimes they were given one pair and sometimes two pairs. If they could get a pair of rubber shoes, it would be a great event. The officers would save money to buy themselves a pair of shoes after receiving their salary.

The soldiers also had very poor food. All they ate were vegetables and unprocessed brown rice, which were very difficult to swallow. They had less than one pound of oil a month and very little meat supply. They could only buy some pork from the local residents during the New Year and other festivals.

The only good thing was that the 74th Army was the government's direct force, so all the officers and soldiers were not hungry. Each person was provided with one kilogram of food every day, but getting enough to eat was naturally something they had never had before.

This was because the officers and soldiers of the 74th Army had no side dishes at all. All they had were vegetables and radishes. It was difficult to even get a piece of tofu, and all the dishes had little oil. So just one pound of food was far from enough for the officers and soldiers who consumed so much physical energy.

With such supplies and weapons and equipment, they are already considered the direct troops of the Chinese government. In fact, the officers and soldiers of the 74th Army are already relatively satisfied, because the supplies of other troops of the Chinese government are even worse.

Many officers and soldiers in other troops live a very difficult life. Due to severe food shortage, they can only grind soybeans into pulp and cook it with dug wild vegetables. This kind of food is used to feed pigs in rural areas, but now the government can only supply them with these. What if the officers and soldiers don't eat it?