My Italian: Chapter 503 Military reform?

The government's allocation of additional funds has finally made it easier for the struggling Army.

Of course, the army that got the money, of course, needs to make good use of the money. For General Simeone, who is currently the number one in the army, how to spend the money more valuable is what he cares most about.

That's right, Admiral Simeone is currently the number one person in the army, because Marshal Cadorna, the Minister of the Army, has been recovering from illness for several years, and he doesn't care much about the affairs of the army.

With the increase in funding, Simeone is indeed worrying about how to spend the money. Speaking of which, as soon as the money was received, the General Staff gave two plans for the additional funds.

The first plan is very simple, that is to expand the strength of the troops, and expand the establishment of the divisions that are currently seriously understaffed. According to the plan of the General Staff, this additional 60 million lire will allow the Army to expand its strength by at least 20,000 to 40,000.

Of course, it is impossible to spend this amount of money like this. It would be nice to use half of the money to expand the troops. The rest of the money can also be used to purchase some new weapons and refit the troops. After all, old and new weapons coexist in the Italian army at present, so it is necessary to update the equipment of the troops.

Compared with the stable first plan, the second plan is a bit radical. In this plan, it is not intended to supplement the divisions currently understaffed. Instead, the newly increased funds will be used in two aspects. One is to upgrade weapons, and the other is to use the funds to continue to expand divisions prepared by.

That's right, it is to increase the infantry divisions that are currently severely understaffed in Italy.

However, although it seems that such an Italian division has a small number of troops, only eight or nine thousand people, its equipment is not much different from that of a full-scale division. Take the Sixth Division of the Army as an example. It is equipped with 18 105mm howitzers, 54 76mm mountain field guns, more than a hundred light and heavy machine guns, and various guns, vehicles, radio stations, field telephone lines and other materials. The total purchase cost of the equipment is Up to more than 16 million lire.

In addition to the cost of purchasing equipment, it also needs to be compiled and trained, and the cost of daily training is also quite a lot. With the 60 million lire in Simeone's hands, only three such short-staffed divisions can be formed every year.

So in his office, Simeone looked at these two plans and fell into contemplation. When I had no money, I thought about spending more on the military, but after the increase in military spending, how to choose was also a problem.

But just as he was contemplating, he heard the secretary's voice from outside the door. "Admiral, the Director of Education, Admiral Dalkion, is here."

"Admiral Dalkion please come in."

"Haha, Dalkion is so free today to come to see me?"

For Simeone, the number one man in the army, to make such an enthusiastic gesture, on the one hand, the relationship between the two is good, and on the other hand, this is also considered a high position and weight.

Since Prussia defeated France, its advanced military system has been imitated by other countries. The same is true for the Italian Army, which has carried out a large wave of copying from the Germans. The mobilization system, the general war, etc., were copied by Italy to the same extent. As the three giants of the German Army (Minister of the Army, Chief of General Staff, Director of Education), Italy has the same. And it is functionally similar to Germany. So how can Admiral Dalkion, who is in charge of the training and education of the Italian Army, be regarded as a high-ranking and powerful general?

And the director of education of the Italian Army smiled at Simeone as soon as he entered the door. "Simone, I heard that you are worried about how to spend the money?"

Although Simeone wanted to ask how did you know, but he held back because he knew that the visit would not be easy, so he said frankly. "Yes, I do have a headache spending the money."

Facing Simeone's confession, Dalkion smiled and said. "Actually, I don't think those two options are the best choice. Remember the compilation issue we talked about before?"

Dalkion's words brought Simeone back to his senses immediately, of course he knew what he was talking about with Dalkion. At that time, the two of them were talking about the increasing number of new equipment and the increasing number of division-level establishments. Both of them felt something was wrong, so they chatted about their views.

"You mean, you want to make changes to the troop structure?"

Simeone asked a little uncertainly.

Gu Feng

Facing Simeone's question, Dalkion nodded and answered. "Yes, that's why I came to you."

"Remember the exercise we conducted before?"

"I remember…"

Of course, Simeone remembered that the increasingly large division-level troops in the exercise at that time also had many problems during the exercise. Of course, in addition to military exercises, the Russo-Japanese War in the Far East also gave Italy sufficient reference value.

For this war, the Italian Army conducted in-depth research. The results of the study show that the more bloated the troop size is, the less conducive it is to mobilize. At present, although the actual number of people in a division in Italy is small, the establishment is large.

According to the latest standards of the Italian Ministry of the Army, a full-staffed army division should have an infantry establishment of two brigades, four regiments and 12 battalions (a battalion consists of four companies of 254 people, plus a 6 Maxim and 12 Revelry machine guns. machine gun company), plus artillery, engineering battalions, cavalry battalions, and logistics regiments, a full-scale division has more than 19,000 people.

Such a huge force made the top army feel very bloated, which is not conducive to wartime command.

Some people may ask, this is also the case in other European countries, why do you feel that the troops in Italy are bloated?

Good question, because different countries have different national conditions, so the national defense requirements are also different. Compared with the great powers, Italy needs to defend mainly in the mountains, and the mountainous terrain determines the small-scale elite troops, which are more suitable for this terrain. Therefore, compared with other countries, it is reasonable for Italy to feel that the large-scale division-level troops are not suitable for its own needs.

"However, how to change it now is a difficult problem. It is difficult to judge whether to change it from the top or from the bottom. After all, changing the organization is not a trivial matter, and it is common sense to be cautious." Dalkion looked at Simeone and said. .

But facing Dalkion's words, Simeone didn't believe it. "Don't look at me like that, I know you must have an idea, take it out for reference."

"I really don't have any ideas, just a little idea."

"It's okay, whatever you think, it's always right to refer to it."

Facing Simeone's pressing questions, Dalkion was really helpless, so he had no choice but to say. "Then let me share my humble opinion. First of all, with regard to the large size of the army, it is actually very easy to lose weight, but it is a bit difficult to ensure combat effectiveness as much as possible."

What Dalkion said, of course Simeone knew it, otherwise he wouldn't feel embarrassed about it.

"However, I think that if we want to slim down the army, we should first start from the top. I think the brigade and regiment levels can be changed first. In addition, whether the battalion level has too many companies or whether it is appropriate to cancel an infantry company. Then, will the current four-four organization at the squad level be changed to a certain extent? And if the number of infantry is greatly reduced, should the large number of support firepower also be reduced to a certain extent? Considering the possibility of war in the future, does the army need to make some supplements, for example, let the army have three divisions under its jurisdiction, or increase the army's artillery and other technical arms?"

Dalkion spoke out his thoughts at once, and Simeone was a little dumbfounded when he said it.

"It seems that you have a good idea~www.mtlnovel.com~ Then let's sit down and talk slowly."

Then Simeone talked with Dalkion until late at night, and continued the discussion the next day. A total of three days of conversations were held, and after summarizing the views of the two parties, the two decided on the establishment of the new Italian infantry division. To be conservative, the two decided not to move the establishment below the company level.

According to the ideas of the two, a new Italian infantry division has three infantry regiments and one artillery regiment. The units directly under the division will not be changed, and the brigade level of the infantry division will be canceled directly. In addition to the major changes at the brigade level, the battalion level has also undergone major changes. First of all, the four infantry companies were directly cut into three, and secondly, the machine gun company under the battalion, and the two planned to transfer it to the company level to form a machine gun platoon to increase the firepower of the company level.

After such changes, the total strength of the new infantry division will be reduced to more than 14,000. Much smaller than before. As for the discussion at the army level, we still need to wait to see the effect of the changes at the division level before deciding whether to make changes.

Of course, the current plan is still in the first draft, and it needs to be carefully demonstrated next, and after the pilot is carried out, it will be decided whether to promote it in the whole army after seeing the effect.

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