You were tasked with guarding the Sihang Warehouse, and you ended up with a German-equipped division

Chapter 177: Promotion, Unlocking New Vehicles, Classes, and Artillery

In fact, at this time, Li Jianghe's Third Column had a force of 30,000 men and was mechanized. Even a full-fledged army might not be able to match its strength.

After Li Jianghe was promoted, the corresponding permissions in the system were further unlocked.

In terms of space, Li Jianghe's system space volume has been expanded from the original 100000 cubic meters to 1000000 cubic meters.

The overall volume has increased tenfold, and it is now equivalent to a huge warehouse with a length, width and height of 100 meters.

However, with the expansion of the troop size, although it can accommodate a lot of military supplies and effectively reduce the size of the supply troops, it is still impossible to completely eliminate the supply troops.

As the team grew, Li Jianghe discovered that the operational area of ​​the Third Detachment was also expanding significantly.

For example, when fighting in Nanjing, his troops were basically concentrated in an area of ​​a few square kilometers, and a single supply company could basically handle the replenishment of supplies needed for frontline operations.

In this Battle of Taierzhuang, his troops expanded their operational area to a span of over a hundred miles.

In other words, his mechanized troops, equipped with a large number of trucks and mules, have ample transport capacity and can carry a large amount of supplies and equipment to ensure combat supply for a period of time.

In addition to the expansion of space, unit cards and vehicle cards have also been unlocked.

[Congratulations, host! You have unlocked new unit cards, including: 10.5cmleFH1 Light Field Howitzer Squad, .234 Armored Vehicle Squad (Basic), 88mm Anti-Aircraft Gun Squad, Basic Electronic Intelligence Squad...]

The new unit cards unlocked this time mainly focus on weapon caliber and vehicle tonnage, as well as a brand-new electronic intelligence squad.

According to the system's explanation, this so-called "electronic intelligence team" is actually an electronic reconnaissance department, which can be used to intercept and decipher enemy intelligence, and even lock the location of enemy radio stations, etc.

Previously, Li Jianghe also had a communications team, equipped with basic communication telephones and radios.

However, these radios and telephones were relatively basic and mainly used for communication between grassroots units.

But this "electronic intelligence team" will give him stronger intelligence capabilities, communication capabilities, and so on.

Besides that, there are the newly unlocked artillery pieces.

Such as the 105mm light field howitzer.

This 105mm howitzer was classified as a light howitzer by the Germans, but in the Japanese order of battle, it was a heavy howitzer, and it usually operated with independent field artillery regiments.

The 10.5cmleFH1 light field howitzer has a 28-caliber barrel (2.94m), a combat weight of 1985 kg, and a maximum range of 10.7 km, which is much greater in range and power than the field artillery that Li Jianghe is currently equipping on a large scale.

Of course, this also puts a greater strain on logistics.

If this type of artillery could be deployed on a large scale, Li Jianghe would have firepower far exceeding that of the Japanese artillery units.

After all, the Japanese were generally equipped with medium-caliber field guns, and even the number of 105mm howitzers was very small, let alone the larger caliber 150mm heavy howitzers.

Then there's the German 88 anti-aircraft gun.

Although it is called an anti-aircraft gun, it is actually an excellent artillery piece that can be used for both high-altitude and low-altitude operations.

During the Battle of Rzhev, Model used the 88mm anti-aircraft gun as the core of his anti-tank warfare, repeatedly defeating Soviet attacks. By luring the enemy deep into his territory, he destroyed a large number of Soviet tanks, leaving the renowned general Zhukov helpless.

This artillery piece is quite good for Li Jianghe.

It can be used for field air defense as well as for fire support for infantry.

There's also the 234 armored vehicle squad.

This armored vehicle is larger than the Type 221 armored vehicle that Li Jianghe is currently equipped with, reaching a weight of 11 tons, and has better protection.

Its power comes from a Czech Tatra 103 V12 air-cooled diesel engine, with a power output of 210–220 horsepower. The road speed can reach more than 80 kilometers per hour, while the off-road speed can reach 40 to 50 kilometers per hour.

As for protection, its armor thickness is 5.5–30 mm (with a 55° frontal slope, the equivalent protection is about 50 mm). This protection is much stronger than that of Japanese medium tanks.

Even when using armor-piercing rounds, the Japanese 37mm anti-tank gun could not penetrate the armor of the frontal armor.

Its basic model uses a 50 mm KwK 39 main gun and an MG42 heavy machine gun.

其主炮50mm KwK 39\/1，甚至可在500米距离击穿60–106毫米均质装甲，足以威胁T-34侧面或M4谢尔曼早期型号。

Not to mention the tiny tanks of the Japanese army.

It should be said that the firepower of this main gun was even somewhat excessive on the East Asian battlefield.

Li Jianghe also doesn't need to spend extra merit points to modify its main gun weapon.

Of course, this armored vehicle is also a pretty good modification platform, because the eight-by-eight wheeled chassis is inherently full of huge modification potential.

Although the armored tracked vehicles currently equipped by Li Jianghe can be modified, the limited space in the vehicle body and the mechanical properties of the chassis result in a significant restriction on the weapons that can be mounted on them.

Using the Puma armored vehicle allows for the direct mounting of larger caliber cannons, converting it into a self-propelled artillery piece that can accompany infantry or serve as an armored assault force.

Later on, the Germans even began to mount 75mm anti-tank guns on this armored vehicle, with a frontal penetration depth of 130mm/1000m, capable of destroying Sherman tanks from the front.

In addition to these, there is also the unlocking of engineering vehicles.

However, using these engineering vehicles also requires a certain level of proficiency from the engineers.

Fortunately, as the battle deepened, many of Li Jianghe's engineering squads had become veterans through continuous combat, and were able to easily operate and use these engineering vehicles.

It mainly includes:

251/7: Combat engineering vehicle, used to transport engineering squads and equipment.

6: A 5-ton medium-sized tractor unit used for towing artillery or as an engineering vehicle.

3/5: A 4.5-ton heavy-duty "mule" modified from a Daimler-Benz L 4500 R, used for transporting rockets and munitions.

Borgward B300A: A medium-sized truck used for transporting personnel and supplies, as well as towing artillery, etc.

In addition, there are improved models derived from these vehicles, such as cranes, bridge erecting vehicles, and so on.

In short, the unlocking of these engineering vehicles has greatly enhanced the field marching capabilities of Li Jianghe's troops.

For example, when he led his troops to the Xuzhou area to participate in this battle, he encountered an extremely awkward problem.

Because of the frost heave season, the troops faced extreme difficulty in marching, consuming large amounts of fuel and moving at a very slow pace.

Fortunately, they set off early and were able to participate in the Tengxian battle without delay; otherwise, the subsequent development of the battle would have been uncertain.

This is where dreams begin, and where dreams come true.