Chapter 909 Chapter 226: Armored Force Concept

"Traditional cavalry will inevitably be eliminated. With the advancement of military weapons, such as the use of machine guns, it has been tested in the South African War. In this case, how cavalry can break through the machine gun fire coverage network is a big problem. When there are enough machine guns, infantry can solve the threat of cavalry very well, so our cavalry must adapt to the development of the times and embark on the road of motorized cavalry." Lieutenant General Mars said.

Mars was promoted after the South African War. The 221st and 222nd Cavalry Divisions he created before the South African War both achieved good results, especially the 221st Division, which almost fought the entire war in Mozambique.

The East African cavalry has a long history and a poor record. After all, the earliest East African cavalry was born entirely to suppress the indigenous forces in East Africa. It was completely a waste of time.

The highlights of the East African cavalry were the Boer War and the South African War. As for the first East-Portuguese War, East Africa did not need the cavalry to take action, and Portugal's territory was lost smoothly. At the beginning, Portugal's two colonies were too close to the core territory of East Africa, and the East African border troops were enough to deal with the Portuguese. Even the East African border troops at that time were not fully deployed, but used blacks to fight Portugal.

With the end of the South African War, the East African Army has naturally not been idle over the years. First of all, the research on traditional weapons such as rifles and artillery has continued to advance.

After the South African War, the emphasis on new weapons, new technologies and new tactics such as machine guns, railways, telegraphs, trench warfare, etc. was further enhanced. The Battle of New Frankfurt was a classic example of trench warfare in East Africa. The trench system built by the East African National Defense Army with New Frankfurt as the core greatly consumed and delayed the military forces of Britain and Portugal.

This is the impact of the South African War. Putting aside the war factors, the development of new things such as radio and automobiles has once again promoted the research of the East African Army in related fields.

On this basis, Lieutenant General Mars became pessimistic about the development of the cavalry. With the establishment of the Guards Division Infantry Mobile Unit, the importance of automobiles in the future military has become prominent.

In 1895, with the development of the East African automobile industry, the military also proposed the application of automobiles in the military, and as the most wealthy Guards Division, it was naturally at the forefront of all the troops in East Africa.

Mars is now in charge of the 101st Cavalry Division and serves as the commander of the 101st Cavalry Division, which is the cavalry unit stationed in Mbeya.

Mbeya is one of the automobile industry production bases in East Africa, so Mars can also see the rapid development of the East African automobile industry most directly. In addition, the establishment of the Guards Division Infantry Mobile Unit made him realize the crisis of traditional cavalry in East Africa.

In order to cope with this crisis, changes must be made. Therefore, after more than a month of meditation, Lieutenant General Mars believes that if the cavalry wants to keep pace with the times, it must have more powerful machinery than the Guards Division Mobile Unit, and it must be a powerful machine with both offensive and defensive advantages and mobility.

This kind of machine is obviously different from cars. It should have certain defensive functions and can be equipped with weapons with strong striking capabilities such as machine guns and artillery.

In order to achieve the defensive function, it is natural to equip "armor". As for machine guns and artillery, they are to suppress the infantry. However, after Mars learned that the Guards Division Infantry Mobile Unit had installed machine gun positions on the cars, he was more determined to install more powerful artillery on the cavalry units. Of course, machine guns are also indispensable.

Soon, Mars wrote his idea into a specific plan and submitted it to the General Staff. Then he was called to the first town by the new Chief of the General Staff, Merk, to make a report.

"Well said, Mars, as for the new cavalry equipment you proposed, in fact, under the promotion of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, relevant research has progressed, but I can't disclose the specific content yet, but you can realize this problem in advance, which shows that you are very alert and sensitive to new technologies. This is what our East African soldiers need." Merk praised generously.

"As for the new cavalry equipment you mentioned in the document, we have already planned it. It is called "tank". Its equipment is similar to what you expected, but there are some differences, but the overall functions are similar."

The specific difference is naturally to replace the wheel hub of the "car" with the track used by the "tractor". Of course, wheeled armored vehicles are also studied, but the track is obviously more suitable for the battlefield environment, which also leads to more tractor factories in East Africa participating in armored vehicle research than car factories.

Moreover, there are still some differences in the definition of "tank" and wheeled armored vehicles. The armored vehicle obviously emphasizes the meaning of "car", while the tank emphasizes the integration of offense and defense.

Of course, this does not prevent the tank from being a kind of armored vehicle, but it emphasizes its own offensiveness.

"In the future, our country intends to deploy the first armored force in the central region. Of course, it is too early to say this now. After all, tank research is still ongoing, so it will take a long time. However, you can first participate in the compilation of relevant military tactics and how to give full play to the battlefield advantages of this integrated offensive and defensive mobile force. At the same time, relevant research should also be conducted on how to restrain this type of armored vehicle." Merk's words basically confirmed that Mars would participate in the establishment of the East African armored force in the future. After all, before the finished product comes out, no one knows what the tank looks like, and now it can only rely on speculation and imagination.

Mars was the first among East African generals to recognize the shortcomings of traditional cavalry units and even proposed corresponding solutions. In Merk's opinion, he is very worthy of training.

"Of course, we must also pay attention to confidentiality. Only a few people know about this matter now, because His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has high hopes for the armored forces and even believes that they are the main force on the battlefield in the future, so the armored forces are also our future killer in East Africa. Don't tell others about this situation after you go back."

Mars naturally nodded in agreement to this point. Confidentiality has always been the tradition of the East African army. Even unimportant intelligence is kept secret, not to mention that General Staff Merk explained it to him so solemnly.

"General Staff, I have a question. I don't know when the so-called tank will be ready. After all, I can't complete the tactical design of the future armored forces by guessing alone."

A good cook cannot cook without rice. Mars cannot formulate his corresponding tactics based on a "virtual" tank. Specific details and data support are needed to explore the development direction of the future armored forces bit by bit.

Merkel said: "It's hard to say, but it happened in recent years. Even I don't know the specific details. I'm afraid only His Royal Highness the Crown Prince knows about this, because the project was determined before I took office, and Prime Minister Siewert didn't know when the project was launched." As Ernst's confidant, Siewert has become the leader of the East African Planning and Economic Commission, that is, the Prime Minister of the East African Planning and Economic Commission. In the absence of a prime minister in East Africa, this prime minister is equivalent to a "quasi" prime minister. Of course, it is more similar to the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty Cabinet, except that the Planning and Economic Commission is in charge of East African economic affairs and has a smaller scope of power, but it is not a non-"legal" institution like the Ming Dynasty Cabinet. In short, the East African government agencies have become unrecognizable under Ernst's transformation. There is no organization like the East African government in the world, which is mixed with the characteristics of various national political systems.