Bright Sword: Construction starts from southeastern Shanxi

"Later, Lao Wu ambushed the Japanese Fifth Cavalry Regiment and seized a large amount of horse meat, which he gave to the 386th Brigade. The brigade's weapons and equipment included approximately 300 Type 38 rifles, 12 light machine guns, and over 450 sabers."

"Later, we joined the 16th and 17th Regiments in encircling and annihilating two Japanese artillery battalions. Apart from the six Type 94 mountain guns we took away, the rest were taken away by the 16th and 17th Regiments."

"However, the 781st Regiment also suffered the heaviest casualties this time. When blocking the 5th Division, each of the four battalions suffered over 100 casualties, over 150 serious injuries, and over 200 minor injuries. That's over half of the casualties, bringing the total casualties for the entire regiment to over 1,800. Fortunately, most of the injuries were minor, and many of the seriously injured were able to return to the team after recuperation."

"It's okay. Despite the superior attack of Japanese aircraft and artillery, only more than 400 people were killed in 15 hours. Compared with other troops, the 781st Regiment has been thoroughly trained this time." Zeng Jiwen said although he felt heavy-hearted.

"Yes, there are nearly 3,000 people in the 781st Regiment. Although more than half of them were killed or wounded, they are not seriously injured." Zhou Xi replied.

"The other regiments' blocking forces suffered relatively few casualties this time. The total number of casualties from each regiment is less than a hundred. Most of them were pierced by the Japanese Type 38 rifles, and they will heal quickly."

"Since the spoils from each regiment were scattered, I compiled them together. We seized over 3,000 guns, including 78 light machine guns, 42 heavy machine guns, and six Type 92 infantry guns. Most of them belonged to the 80th Regiment, which is now essentially a shell except for its artillery and machine gun squadrons. We rescued over 3,000 prisoners of war and miners from Jingxing. The vast majority of them were from the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army and the Central Army, with a small number from other brother units of our army."

"Then, this is the main goal of this operation."

After hearing this, everyone began to look expectant.

"When Chief Engineer Liu and our team were sorting out the information, they discovered that the Japanese army had transported a Shanxi-made 105mm artillery and artillery shell production line to the Northeast. The production line included five forging machines, including two large air hammers and three friction presses.

The machining equipment includes 5 large horizontal lathes, 5 universal milling machines, 3 gantry planers and 3 jig boring machines.

There are 5 heat treatment equipments, including 2 quenching furnaces and 2 tempering furnaces.

1 quenching and tempering equipment, 5 welding equipment, 3 AC welding machines, and 2 gas shielded welding machines.

10 pieces of testing equipment, several measuring instruments such as calipers and micrometers, 3 hardness testers, 3 ultrasonic flaw detectors, 3 magnetic particle flaw detectors, and 7 other auxiliary equipment, including 3 cranes, 3 ventilation equipment, and 2 power equipment. A total of 75 pieces of equipment.

"In addition, the equipment for the two production lines of the Taiyuan Arsenal, which produced the Type 65 rifle, a replica of the Japanese Type 38 rifle, was also transported out, including five forging machines.

The processing equipment includes 8 lathes, 5 milling machines, 5 drilling machines, 3 boring machines, 2 quenching furnaces, and other equipment includes 2 tempering furnaces, 2 sets of electroplating equipment, 2 sets of painting equipment, several measuring tools, 2 hardness testers, and 2 flaw detection equipment.

Other auxiliary equipment includes two cranes, more than a dozen power equipment such as motors and generators, and two sets of ventilation equipment, totaling more than 100 sets.

"There are also two submachine gun production lines, including three air hammers forging equipment, two friction presses, 10 lathes for machining equipment, six ordinary horizontal lathes, four precision lathes, five milling machines, eight drilling machines, and three boring machines.

Heat treatment equipment includes 2 quenching furnaces, 2 tempering furnaces, surface treatment equipment 2 sets of electroplating equipment, and 2 sets of painting equipment.

There are also ammunition production equipment, including 2 melting machines for bullet manufacturing equipment, 3 bullet processing machines, 3 stamping machines for shell manufacturing equipment, 2 closing machines, 2 charging equipment, and 3 assembly equipment.

There are several measuring instruments for testing equipment, two hardness testers, two flaw detection equipment, two sets of firearms comprehensive performance testing equipment, and a total of nearly 70 sets of equipment and machines.

"In the end, there were about two production lines for the manufacture of light and heavy machine guns, totaling more than 160 sets of equipment, and more than 80 ammunition production lines."