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Text Chapter 167 The Threat of the British Army¡¯s Contribution

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    The Japanese army is not Chongqing, which has almost no self-produced weapons except light weapons. They have a lot of resources at their disposal. If they really recognize the threat, they can mobilize a large number of anti-tank weapons from other sources at any time.  Type 94 rapid-fire cannon, Type 97 20mm automatic cannon, and Taisho 11-year-old infantry flat-fire cannon.

    Even when necessary, the 92 infantry guns and 38 type field guns equipped in large quantities by the Japanese army can be temporarily used as anti-tank weapons.  Even if they want, they can equip any troops they want to equip a large number of new 47mm rapid-fire cannons in a short period of time.  In the Battle of Tongliao, it was not only the Anti-Japanese Alliance that learned lessons, but the same was true for the Japanese.

    Although it has been proven in actual combat that most of the Japanese anti-tank weapons, except for field guns, are unable to fight against the British and Soviet tanks currently equipped by the United States.  Not only is it unable to pose any threat within long range, but even within close range the threat is almost non-existent.  However, at close range, the Soviet-made light tanks of the Anti-Japanese Alliance were still quite threatening.

    Especially with the cooperation of multiple levels of firepower, the light tanks of the anti-alliance alliance can even be said to be a great threat.  However, the Japanese may not necessarily be able to grasp the fact that the Anti-Japanese Alliance is currently equipped with Soviet-made medium tanks and British-made infantry tanks.  Their original intention of doing this was to deal with the Soviet-made light tanks used in large numbers by the Anti-Japanese Alliance in the previous stage of the battle.

    In fact, the Japanese army increased the deployment of anti-tank firepower on the Chadong front line in large quantities. For the Anti-Japanese Alliance, this was both expected and unexpected.  What really surprised Yang Zhen and felt that he must pay attention to it was the information transferred from North China that the Japanese army had unloaded a large number of weapons seized from Southeast Asia from Tianjin Port.

    This batch of weapons and equipment was unloaded at Tianjin Port and could only be given to the North China Front Army.  If this batch of weapons and equipment is given to the Kwantung Army, it can only be unloaded in Lushun, Jinzhou, or Huludao. If it is used by the Japanese army in Central and East China, it can only be used in Shanghai, and definitely not Tianjin.

    The Japanese army is not monolithic, and there are many internal factions and turf wars.  Just like supplies for the Kwantung Army will never be unloaded at Tianjin Port, supplies for the North China Front Army will never be unloaded at Jinzhou Port.  One is one, two is two, the Japanese know the difference very clearly.

    It¡¯s just that the underground party intelligence personnel in Tianjin are not military experts, just ordinary underground workers.  Although this extremely valuable information was obtained, it was not clear what type of weapons this batch was.  I just know that there are a lot of artillery, as well as a large number of machine guns and a large amount of ammunition.  There are also dozens of armored vehicles and more than 300 cars.

    The Japanese army kept the arrival and quantity of this batch of equipment strictly confidential.  When this batch of goods was unloaded at Tianjin Port, the port was all taken over by the Japanese.  All Chinese, whether pseudo-staff or laborers, are strictly prohibited from contacting the port.  All Chinese working at the port that day were taken from the dock to a port warehouse when the ship arrived, and were not released until all weapons had been transported away.

    The stevedores used were directly mobilized Japanese garrison troops in Tianjin, as well as prisoners of war and laborers escorted from the Peking Prisoner of War Camp.  After completing the loading and unloading, these workers were put on the freighter transporting these materials on the spot. They didn't know where they were sent, and they were not sent back to the prisoner of war camp at all.

    And after the goods were unloaded, they were put on a train with a Japanese driver in the shortest possible time and transported away.  When transferring from Tianjin Port to the railway, all the vehicles dispatched were Japanese military vehicles, and they were all covered by canvas.  The train entering the station was also taken from outside the city, and it did not make any stop in Tianjin city at all.

    This information was obtained three days later by an insider of the Tianjin underground party stationed in the Japanese army stationed in Tianjin. After everything had been completed, he accidentally learned it from a Japanese lieutenant.  It's just that this guy didn't reveal much, and he obviously didn't know much either.

    But even though he didn¡¯t know the exact quantity and model of the weapons and equipment that were transported immediately after being unloaded from Tianjin Port, Yang Zhen still felt the importance of this information.  Judging from the current situation of the entire front line confrontation with the Japanese army, Yang Zhen can be sure that the ultimate destination of this batch of British equipment can only be the front lines of Chadong and Chanan.

    What Yang Zhen is even more certain about is that the quantity of this batch of equipment is definitely quite large.  Although the British troops in Malaya were all a mixed bag, they were quite numerous overall.  In addition, when the British lost a battle, they rarely had the good habit of destroying equipment that could not be carried.  Especially in the case of a major rout, they will not spare precious escape time to destroy those equipment.

    Speaking of thousands of artillery pieces, it is definitely not possible.  After all, most of them are second-rate troops, and coupled with the huge losses on the North African battlefield,Consumption, the British will not give them too much first-class equipment.  But there should still be at least hundreds of artillery pieces, large and small.  The British are stingy towards their allies, but often quite generous towards their enemies.

    What really worries Yang Zhen is whether these artillery pieces will be used as anti-tank weapons by the Japanese army.  In the Battle of Tongliao, the Kwantung Army used the captured Northeastern Army's old-fashioned 77 field guns as large-caliber anti-tank guns using high-explosive grenade flat fire, causing considerable losses to the Second Armored Brigade participating in the war.

    Although these temporarily converted field guns do not have special armor-piercing projectiles, the lethality of high-explosive grenades against light tanks is not that small.  A shell hits at close range, and the huge explosive force can completely destroy the tank.  Even a modified light tank cannot withstand it due to structural limitations.

    The British equipment in Southeast Asia was not as powerful as the Soviet forty-five mm anti-tank gun and two-pounder gun, so he was not too worried.  After the British two-pounder artillery arrived in Northern Manchuria, the Anti-Japanese Alliance conducted extensive tests on this artillery.  One result is that the power of this two-pound gun is the smallest among all artillery with anti-tank capabilities currently in the Anti-Japanese Alliance.

    Its power cannot even penetrate the front of the improved T-26 and BT tanks. Compared with the Soviet-made 45mm anti-tank gun, its power is very different.  There is almost no threat to their own Matilda II infantry tanks, no matter what range they are within.

    The Maltida II tank was equipped with a two-pounder gun much later.  When it was designed, the main defense object considered was the German-made Pak 37 combat anti-cannon, which had similar performance to the two-pounder gun.  The spears made by the British themselves cannot penetrate the shields they designed.

    Even shooting at close range cannot destroy this kind of tank of their own.  The threat to the Soviet-made T-34 tanks is even smaller and almost non-existent.  Its power is only slightly stronger than the Japanese Type 94 rapid-fire artillery.  It was enough to deal with the Japanese tanks, but it had almost no effect against the new Anti-Japanese tanks.

    What worries Yang Zhen most now is how many 25-pound field guns that can be used as large-caliber anti-tank artillery among the artillery shipped to Tianjin by the Japanese army.  Although the power of this field gun is not as good as that of a large-caliber howitzer, its range is not close.  And when necessary, it can also be used as an anti-tank artillery. The British army did develop special armor-piercing projectiles for this kind of artillery.

    The Japanese army has always used advanced experience as a magic weapon. After gaining advanced experience in fighting in the Tongliao area, the Japanese army will not fail to use this advanced experience widely.  The North China Front Army can build a set of fortification areas similar to Tongliao in Chadong, so there is no doubt that it will use the advanced experience gained in Tongliao.

    In addition to the threat posed by the twenty-five-pound field gun to the tank cluster, another thing that worried Yang Zhen was whether the British army was equipped with the latest six-pound anti-tank gun for the garrison in Southeast Asia.  This latest anti-tank gun of the British Army is quite powerful with an armor penetration depth of 94 millimeters within 100 meters.

    It still has a certain lethality against the two types of tanks that are to be used as the main force in the westward movement.  At least within a distance of 300 meters, there is no problem in destroying the Type 3 and Type 4 tanks.  At close range, it also poses a great threat to the Maltida II tank.

    What made Yang Zhen a little angry was that when he approached Brigadier General Ross many times and asked him about the firepower configuration of the British Commonwealth troops on the battlefield in Southeast Asia, this guy's answer almost made Yang Zhen vomit blood.  As a brigadier general of the British Army, he actually knew nothing about the firepower configuration of his army on a certain battlefield when the situation was already extremely critical.

    "How many artillery pieces and what kind of artillery pieces are equipped by the British Commonwealth troops on the battlefield in Southeast Asia? These things have no confidentiality value at this time.  He was responsible for contacting Britain's allies in the war against Japan. Fortunately, he was from the British Far East Command in charge of the Southeast Asian theater, but he didn't know anything.

    As for how many of them the British may have lost, he was even more confused.  Looking at this confused guy who couldn't provide anything useful other than urging him to send troops all day long, Yang Zhen didn't know whether he really didn't know or if he just pretended not to know.  Or maybe there was some instruction from his superiors that made him pretend to be deaf and dumb on purpose.

    In the end, Yang Zhen was forced to call Admiral Wavell directly through the United States.  It took a lot of effort to finally learn what artillery pieces the British Commonwealth army had deployed in Malaya and Singapore.  And for this reason, the British are still being arrogant.  They only told the Anti-Japanese Alliance the types of artillery equipped by the British, but the specific number was pushed to 625, pretending to be confused.

    "As for Yang Zhen's inquiry about the power of the twenty-five-pounder gun and whether the British troops in Southeast Asia were equipped with armor-piercing projectiles, there was no answer at all.No answer was given.  Countless pieces of this artillery have been lost on the battlefield, but the British are still keeping it secret from their allies. This can't but be said to be a big joke.

    Wavell¡¯s only useful answer is that the anti-tank guns equipped by the British army in Southeast Asia are all two-pound guns, and they are not equipped with the new six-pound anti-tank guns.  This latest and most powerful anti-tank gun in the UK is currently only equipped in the North African battlefield and not in other theaters.  However, Wavell did not give any answer as to whether the twenty-five-pounder gun that Yang Zhen was most concerned about was equipped with armor-piercing projectiles.

    After receiving Wavell¡¯s call back, Yang Zhen couldn¡¯t help but frown a little.  Apart from scolding these Mi-Ying ghosts in their hearts for harming others and not benefiting themselves, there is not much they can do to deal with these British people who are still fussy about this trivial matter.  And that Brigadier General Ross finally helped a little after thinking about it.

    Although he, a former senior official of the Far East Command, did not know exactly how many artillery pieces the British army was equipped with in the Southeast Asian battlefield.  But he told Yang Zhen the prescribed number of various artillery pieces that the British army should be equipped with in its wartime establishment according to regulations.  Of course, what he was talking about was the establishment that should be in place according to regulations when not participating in the war. As for the temporary adjustments during the war, he was not clear.

    Chapter 167: The Threat of the British Army¡¯s Contribution:
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