Munitions Empire-Chapter 648 - : Progress of enemy troops 607

Chapter 648: Progress of enemy troops 607

“This is a new weapon used by the Shen Nation soldiers! A grenade! It’s not our model, the appearance is very different.” Looking at the somewhat familiar equipment, a Major among the Tang Army commanders gathered around the captured weapon box picked up one of the Shen Nation troop’s grenades and said.

The thing he was holding was a grenade produced by the Shen Nation, and it looked very similar to the first generation wooden-handle grenades used by the Tang Army.

The Tang Army themselves had already stopped using that device and had subsequently transferred the inventory at a low price, almost giving them away, to the Northern Ridge Troops.

Later on, the Northern Ridge Troops used it in battle, especially during the campaign that eradicated the Kingdom of Germelin, where they consumed a large number of these stockpiled grenades.

After that battle, the inventory of wooden-handle grenades became chaotic, as it was impossible to reconcile the numbers of those used or lost on the battlefield.

...

It was said that most of the stockpiled grenades were used up during training when Northern Ridge began their relocation, but still, a batch of them disappeared without a trace.

Anyway, there were many opportunities for the first generation of grenades produced by the Great Tang military industry to be taken away for study.

Of course, simply studying and copying was not that big a deal, as the technology for such grenades was not insurmountable. The technology was very simple, easily produced by workshop craftsmanship.

For Shireck, capable of producing shell fuses and even owning many factories, making grenades was not difficult, so the Tang Army was not panicked or astonished when they saw the enemy’s grenades.

“They even referenced our wooden-handle design,” another veteran officer snorted coldly, lifting a grenade that could serve as a hammer and looked at the white text on it.

“Shireck, Type 1… Can’t they come up with a new name?” another officer disdainfully remarked.

“We need to be careful with this thing when we attack,” said the Major who had spoken earlier, surveying the circle of officers, then continued to remind, “Summarize this, report it up! Alert all the soldiers! The remaining samples, send them to the division headquarters as well.”

In trench warfare, if the enemy started using grenades on a large scale without warning, an unprepared Tang Army could suffer unexpected losses.

In fact, in this battle, Tang Army soldiers had already died from the enemy’s grenades. Attacking a trench, the enemy threw seven or eight such grenades, and caught off guard, the Tang Army lost four soldiers and wounded more than a dozen.

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“It’s really infuriating,” grumbled the veteran officer holding a grenade, glancing at the text on it again, feeling somewhat angry, “We’ll make those damn Shireck bastards pay their blood debts with blood when we get the chance!”

“Exactly! But now we have to let those goblin-like creatures that slaughter humans taste our fury!” the officer beside him patted his shoulder and comforted him, “Don’t worry! We’re keeping a tab on every single debt, and we’ll make them pay!”

…

At the Anpu, the highest command of the Tang Army, a group of technical officers was gathered together, discussing the latest discovered enemy weapons.

These weapons were actually quite interesting: The Shen Nation military used a brand new 50mm caliber cannon on the front line, which had its stand modified to allow quick elevation and lateral movement of the barrel.

Simply put, this was a very primitive small-caliber anti-aircraft gun, which was already significantly faster at aiming than the old 76mm caliber balloon guns.

However, these cannons weren’t equipped with anti-aircraft scopes, nor were they equipped with the corresponding altitude measuring equipment. Also, there were no shells fitted with time-delayed fuses found near these cannon positions.

This meant that the Shen Nation was attempting to create better-performing anti-aircraft guns but were still in the experimental phase. Their weapons were more like semi-finished products: although they still lacked practical combat value, they were more advanced than the weapons they used in the past.

Similarly, the Maxim heavy machine guns equipped by the Shen Nation military had also undergone lightweight modifications, with the cumbersome tripod removed, reducing some of the weight.

Unfortunately, as they could not abandon water cooling, the combat weight of these weapons was still very high. The Shen Nation soldiers, being rather short, were still unable to enhance the maneuverability of the machine gun teams on the battlefield.

But these modifications indeed met the basic requirements of the Shen Nation troops: their soldiers were short, so weapon lightweighting did make sense for them.

Additionally, news of the enemy grenades found by the Tang Army on the front had also reached here, causing anxiety amongst many officers.

“If grenades start being equipped on a large scale, then what about landmines?” an officer with glasses asked next to the conference table.

“We’ve got to be careful with cheap defensive weapons like landmines. If the enemy introduces similar weapons in combat, our casualties might rise again,” another technical officer commented soberly.

The enemy’s advancement in technology was uncontrollable and with time, their technology would surely keep improving.

“Should we revise the tactical manual so that soldiers are more aware of landmines and grenades, and enhance their precautions?” suggested an officer pinching his chin.

“Good idea. Let’s reprint a batch of tactical manuals, listing as many newly-appeared enemy weapons as possible, in as much detail as we can,” the Chief of General Staff Luff finally ordered.

As the Chief of Staff for the troops, he had to think globally about issues: weapons like these would certainly become increasingly common on the battlefield, and the Tang Army must be prepared for them.

“Here’s another interesting gadget!” During the conversation, a hemispherical piece of iron was placed on the conference table.

It was a hemispherical iron shell that was hollow inside, with a depression on the top—a bullet hole, it was clear.

“A helmet?” The Tang Army had already universally equipped the M35 helmets, so they were certainly familiar with this item. An officer immediately identified it aloud upon seeing it.

“Right, a gadget from the Shen Country,” the officer who brought out the item nodded and explained, “Found on the battlefield, the hole was made by our snipers, and the dead man was an officer from Shen Country.”

Compared to the finely made M35 helmets of the Tang Army, the Shen Country helmet on the table was quite crude; its design was simpler and it didn’t even have the extended brim design.

Its shape was just half a sphere, with the edges smoothed out. This gadget was not yet widely issued to Shen Country soldiers, only a small number were distributed to frontline officers.

“This means that the soldiers can no longer simply identify friend or foe by looking at the helmet,” another officer spoke with a face full of regret.

This was a very important means of enemy recognition; until now, a quick glance to see if someone was wearing a helmet was a clear method to determine if they were friend or foe.

“Give these bastards a few more years, are they going to manufacture airplanes too?” As they often found new and novel gadgets on the battlefield recently, a general from the Tang Country couldn’t help but complain.

“No helping it, we can’t stop them from copying our homework,” Luff also felt helpless.

Things like helmets could be copied just by glancing at them and imitating the cat. As for performance, no one cared about that.

The design being unscientific doesn’t matter; as long as the soldiers are issued helmets to wear, that’s already progress. Haven’t you seen? Qi Country was destroyed, and its soldiers still only wore soft caps?

It’s just that they can’t replicate airplanes by just looking at their shape; if they could, Shireck would probably already have a proper Air Force by now…

“It seems that it’s about time we let them know, our weapons aren’t just something they can casually copy and understand,” a general turned to Luff and suggested, “Hasn’t Your Majesty ordered us to speed up the pace of our offense? To put some new equipment into action?”

“Agreed!” Luff approved the suggestion, “Let the Rocket Artillery Troops try out their edge, and let our enemies know our might!”

In the distant southern part of Beiyuan City, a newly constructed makeshift train station saw a train slowly come to a halt on the platform.

On the flat train cars, covered with tarpaulins that only allowed one to discern they were some sort of truck, new weapons were transported to the front line.

Until they were unloaded from the train, the trucks’ cargo areas remained covered with tarpaulins, and the soldiers nearby could only vaguely make out a series of racks at the rear of the trucks, slanted toward the sky, looking rather strange.

Soon, these trucks reached the previously designated area. The surrounding guard troops were driven even further away, and no one knew what these trucks actually were.

This weapon was still under the highest level of secrecy; the front-line soldiers had no idea that a rocket artillery battalion was ready for battle just behind them.

As the loaders belonging to the Rocket Artillery Troops hung the rockets one by one on the launch rails, the world’s first type of rocket artillery was prepared for battle.

The observing infantry generals and the testing technicians, even Tagg, attended this live-fire demonstration of the rocket artillery.

With an order given, everyone immediately felt the shock brought by this weapon. Gunsmoke enveloped the entire artillery position, and the dust raised instantly swallowed all the launch vehicles.

Witnessing the trail of smoke streaking towards the sky and fading into the distance, the spectacular sight left all the observers with their eyes wide open.

In just a few dozen seconds, an entire battalion’s 24 rocket artillery vehicles fired a total of 384 rockets at the predetermined enemy positions.

This was nearly equivalent to the entire ammunition dumping capacity of the Great Tang’s southern front artillery. The instantaneous dump capacity of the rocket artillery was formidable, to say the least.

Seeing all this before him, Tagg didn’t know what to say; six years ago, he had been overjoyed at acquiring a Left-Wheel Handgun. But now, he did not know which adjective to use to describe the weapon before him.

——–

There will be an additional update today, coming within half an hour.