Chapter 459: Too weak two

Before the outbreak of World War I, Russia had only three rifle factories, namely Tours, Izhev, and Sestrech. A total of 60,000 to 65,000 rifles were produced in 1913! Of course, this is a non-mobilization situation. After the mobilization, the Russian production capacity is still terrifying, but it is still not enough! At the time of the war, the production capacity of these factories at full capacity was 525,000 rifles. By 2017, the production capacity had risen to 1.7 million. But even so, after importing 2.5 million rifles, the Russians’ rifle ownership distance theory requires There is still a shortfall of nearly 7 million pieces! In 1901, the gap must be even greater!

Not to mention, the Russian military is preparing to equip a large number of semi-automatic rifles to strengthen firepower. This thing has not been mass-produced by the Russians. Although it is made in Germany and can be copied after disassembly, it is mass-produced. Cost and quality are hard to say. And to build a production line, it costs not only money, but also time! The Russians don’t know when Japan will start a war, but they know that the Japanese will definitely start a war before the Siberian Railway is repaired!

"I think the problem of mortar shells can still be solved? After all, cast iron can be used as a shell. The internal structure is also very simple. Apart from a fuze, there is no need for technology." Kuropatkin sees After proceeding to send up the documents requesting an increase in the arms order, he frowned and said. "Leave the fuze to someone else to do it. This should save a lot of money."

"Dear General, even according to your plan, we still need to purchase a large amount of materials from foreign countries. Not only do we need technical fuzes, we even have insufficient quantities of explosives and explosive-related chemicals! For example, the key to producing explosives Ingredients-toluene. We are all imported from Germany..." With a puff, Kuropatkin spit out on the table!

This subordinate is right, let alone now, even before the war, the production of explosives and chemicals in Russia was very sad. For example, toluene, in 1913, the production of toluene in Russia was only 1,000 pts. If converted into a unit that everyone understands, then 1 pute is equal to 40 pounds, which is approximately equal to 16.38 kg. The Russians produced only 16.38 tons of toluene in 1913... Toluene is very easy to produce, but the German chemical industry is too powerful, if it were not for the outbreak of war, the Russian chemical industry would not be able to get up!

The production of phenols, the raw material of another explosive, is even more tragic. Before World War I, Russia almost did not produce phenols. (This is not what other people said, it is from Russia's own data.) It was only in 1916 that 6,400 pts of phenols were produced.

"Only from the perspective of producing shells, the cost of fully self-produced shells is higher than that of shells produced using foreign fuzes and charges, while the production cost of assembled shells is higher than that of shells imported from abroad. If I were Minister of Finance Witte, Then we will inevitably choose to import from abroad instead of importing raw materials for production." The last words of the subordinate broke the dream of Kuropatkin, unless he wanted his artillery to have no shells available, or planned to play solid shells. ......

When the Russian officials responsible for arms production submitted this information, the first person who went crazy was not the Chancellor of the Exchequer Witte, because this buddy was very knowledgeable. He had already seen the question of 65.6 million pounds proposed by Kuroputkin. The plan to replace the Army’s artillery is now. (This is a fact. Of course, it's hard to say how much it will be implemented, but the Russians dominated the total artillery volume in the Russo-Japanese War.) It is the Russian General Staff, because they have suddenly discovered that if you follow the current speed Then, even after the Trans-Siberian Railway is completed, Russia will need 20 years to complete preparations for war.

"Then go buy it. Anyway, the money given by the French is enough for us to support this war. We are bound to win the Far East. No matter who stands in front of us, the Japanese or the British, we will crush them. To pieces! The Russian double-headed eagle must dominate Eurasia!” In the end, Tsar Nicholas II decided.

So now the question is, where do you buy it? When the Russians were looking for buyers all over the world with a lot of francs (yes, you read that right, it is francs!), they suddenly discovered that there are not many manufacturers that can supply a modern army of 500,000 to 600,000. !

After all, a peaceful country will not be able to expand production, and a country that is at war will not sell weapons to the Russians! There are just a few big countries in the world. The British are busy fighting with the Boers and are in desperate need of all kinds of arms, and even if they do not fight with the Boers, they will not sell them to the Russians.

The French are in a period of peace. Although France and Germany were a bit nervous because of the Portuguese colony in Africa in the previous period, the karma was just nervous and not going to war. And if you buy weapons from the French, the cost is also relatively high. (The same shells are at least one-third more expensive than those produced by Krupp). In addition to the share that must be purchased with a French loan, the Russians don’t want more. Give the French a ruble!

The Americans’ industrial strength is very strong, and it seems that they are indeed dealing with the British ~www.wuxiaspot.com~ But what they use is German weapons, and the domestic military industry, especially the army equipment, is almost at a standstill. The US Army is too comfortable. , There is almost no need for expansion. Of course, Americans can provide raw materials such as phenol, toluene, and explosives, but if these items are added to the freight, it seems to be a little higher...

As for the Russian semi-automatic rifles and machine guns, it seems that there is one and only one that can provide large quantities of cheap products, and that is Bavaria! The reason is simple. These weapons are designed and produced in Bavaria. Giants such as Krupp and Rheinland can indeed provide them, but they need to pay patent fees... As a result, the cost is very problematic.

Of course, Bavaria may not be able to produce enough new weapons in a short time. But the Russians recently received a message that Bavaria is preparing to update their army. A large number of machine guns, semi-automatic rifles and ammunition are all sold...

Yes, Bavaria has to deal with munitions, because with new machine guns and submachine guns, old machine guns will be eliminated. The original old rifles and semi-automatic rifles will also be processed. (Don’t think that the Russians are only Mosinnagars. In fact, before the 1st World War, the Russians had a large number of old single-shot rifles in their warehouses.) These old goods, which are lower than the new ones, are very suitable for the current Russians, although It may be a little troublesome in terms of caliber, but it is better than more! And it can be provided in large quantities now! Just make up a few German-style equipment troops!

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