Chapter 203: First Air Force Marine Regiment

The main reason why Huang He asked the Second Department to study gliders was because the number of transport planes in the Air Force was insufficient.

The C47 Skytrain can only carry 28 paratroopers at a time. Without gliders, even a regiment cannot be sent down, not to mention those key support equipment.

Gliders have many advantages. From an economic point of view, their cost is much lower than that of transport planes.

The most rare thing is that they require almost no maintenance and no fuel. Even if they are damaged, they are easy to repair or replace.

Take the Horsa glider as an example. This is the most produced glider in the British during World War II.

It is usually used to transport paratroopers and heavier weapons, which can not only reduce the difficulties of insufficient transport planes, but also solve the problem of heavy weapons being unable to parachute.

Although the speed is sacrificed to a certain extent, the Horsa glider increases the lifting capacity of the towing aircraft by 60% when used with the C47.

Moreover, after the glider is separated from the towing aircraft, it can fly silently for a long distance under human control, and even land on any type of flat or exposed ground.

With this equipment, the Eighth Route Army can accurately bring paratroopers to the battlefield.

"Paratrooper Type II: The transformation from a small action group consisting of a few airborne soldiers to a large airborne division has paved the way for large-scale airborne operations. The airborne troops that were once refreshing are now common on the battlefield.

Research time required: 70 days

Effect: Military factories within the system can produce Horsa gliders and obtain production lines and drawings."

Let's move our perspective to southeastern Shanxi, the Eighth Route Army's airborne force training base.

Recently, it's not just Huang He who has been promoted. Our commander Li has also temporarily escaped from the clutches of the king and father, and has been secretly promoted half a level behind the scenes.

The unit's number was changed from the New Second Regiment of the 386th Brigade to the First Marine Regiment of the Eighth Route Army Air Force.

Excluding all logistics personnel, the entire regiment has a total of 1,000 soldiers. Including two parachute infantry battalions, a mortar company, and an anti-tank company.

Taking into account the changing combat environment, the regiment also has a direct engineering platoon, and is even equipped with a medical class and a communications class.

Although there is still no number given by Guosu, the treatment has exceeded that of the digital regiment, and the First Marine Regiment has become a combat unit directly under the headquarters.

A series of operations of upgrading the rifles and cannons made Kong Jie, Ding Wei and Cheng Xiazi envious. They all jokingly complained that the brigade commander was too partial.

On the 28th of last month, Huang He had unlocked the scientific research project "Paratrooper Type 1" through the system.

After several days of full production by the military factory in the system, enough paratrooper equipment for 1,000 people has been fully prepared and was sent to the southeastern Shanxi base by the C47 air train in early February.

After three months of basic ground training and half a month of indoor training, Li Yunlong and the soldiers have initially met the minimum requirements for parachute training.

During this period, comrades in the whole regiment completed the study of parachute training theory, parachute operation, landing and special problem handling.

Special problems include a variety of unexpected situations, such as what to do if the parachute cannot be opened in the air? How to open the backup parachute? What to do if there is a strong wind? What to do if two parachutes collide?

The learning process not only involves boring theoretical knowledge, but also laborious folding parachute training.

For many soldiers, folding parachutes is a boring operation, but this technique is crucial.

Because paratroopers must quickly collect their parachutes after landing, and if they really can't, they can choose to destroy them by burying them. Burning is strictly prohibited unless necessary to avoid exposing the target.

The first training for the entire regiment is indoor parachuting, and the most important thing is to practice parachuting postures.

To land safely during low-altitude parachuting, everyone must take the right posture and learn how to roll on the ground to reduce the impact of the parachute when it lands.

The intensity and repetitiveness of this training are extremely high, and even masters like Wei Dayong and Duan Peng are exhausted.

Throughout the process, the soldiers basically acted independently, with the goal of mastering parachuting skills personally.

In order to help the Air Force Marine Corps 1st Regiment complete the last step of training, Principal Chang specially allocated a valuable transport plane to stay at the training base.

In mid-February 1941, the weather was good today, and it was a good day for airborne landing.

In order to witness the birth of the new type of soldiers, the brigade commander, the division commander, the deputy chief of staff and the deputy commander-in-chief brought a group of people to the paratrooper training base to observe.

Li Yunlong, who had not appeared for a while, had a significant change in appearance.

The most intuitive thing was his thighs. Even the cotton pants of the winter military uniform could not cover up the explosive leg muscles, as if he could kick a cow to death with one foot.

The soldiers behind him were also extraordinary. At a glance, they were elite soldiers who had fought hundreds of battles.

According to the requirements of the deputy commander-in-chief, most of the grassroots cadres transferred to the First Marine Regiment were assigned high positions and low positions.

Many platoon-level cadres became squad leaders, and the original squad leaders became soldiers. Some soldiers even won third-class merits.

The conditions for being selected for the First Regiment were also very harsh. First, they had to pass the physical fitness test, second, they had to be brave in fighting and not afraid of sacrifice, and third, they had to have a certain cultural foundation.

Among them, the physical requirements were the most stringent, and they had to be checked repeatedly. Only those who finally passed the test could stay, and those who failed would be returned to their original troops.

With the green light from the three major bases, this process went back and forth for a month. This meant that more than 80% of the soldiers in the regiment had participated in large-scale battles, and 70% of them were D members.

Such a personnel configuration is luxurious, especially at a time when there is no elite force and the whole army is slowly expanding.

Such a toss is because the paratroopers often fight behind enemy lines. Only the elites can effectively judge the situation, formulate corresponding strategies, and complete combat tasks flexibly, quickly and effectively.

After the team was assembled, Li Yunlong, Zhao Gang and Xing Zhiguo brought the soldiers of the whole regiment to the apron of the sky train.

Old Li's eyes swept across the excited faces, and he took a deep breath and shouted:

"I used to say one thing when I was fighting before, elite? I fight the elite!"

"But now! We are the elite of the elite! Soldiers carefully selected from the entire army! For our First Marine Regiment, I have only one request!"

"That is to tear apart all enemies who dare to provoke us! Let them flee when they hear the name of the First Marine Regiment!"

After the morale of the troops reached the peak, Li Yunlong began to carefully check the equipment of the first batch of soldiers who boarded the plane. This scene made the brigade commander smile from the heart.

"Everyone, don't be nervous! Let's go!"

"Okay!"

Under the gaze of the crowd, the first group of 28 people walked into the belly of the C47 Skytrain.

After taking all the safety measures, Li Yunlong signaled the pilot to take off. The transport plane began to slowly accelerate and finally took off 100 meters from the end of the runway.

Although this was not the first time for the soldiers to board a plane, it was the first time to soar in the air.

Fortunately, the daily training played a role, and most of the comrades were relatively relaxed. They were very curious about the various equipment in the plane, and even a light bulb had to be carefully observed.

A small number of more nervous soldiers were also self-adjusting, and his comrades and Li Yunlong would provide help as much as possible.

When the plane flew to an altitude of 800 meters, the cabin door suddenly opened. Suddenly a gust of wind blew over, making it impossible for people to open their eyes.

The sudden situation scared the commander Li. He put on the paratrooper goggles and muttered in his heart: "Damn it, why didn't I tell you in advance? I almost made a fool of myself in front of the soldiers."

The sky train flew for about half a minute and was about to enter the landing area. At this time, the plane rang the bell. The first bell reminded everyone to get ready, and the second bell indicated that the parachute jump had begun.

After the preparatory bell rang, the soldiers checked their equipment for the last time, mainly to see whether the hooks were hung and whether the equipment was complete.

If everything is fine, you can get ready and move to the door in order with the first jumper.

At this time, Li Yunlong stood by the cabin door, his hand tightly grasping the handle on the side.

"Start jumping as soon as the bell rings! Don't forget the landing posture! Be sure to protect your legs! Don't be nervous!"

As soon as the voice fell, the bell rang, and the soldiers jumped out of the cabin one after another.

This parachute jump adopts the hook type, and the spring hook at one end of the forced parachute rope is buckled on the steel wire rope at the top of the aircraft.

When the soldiers jumped out of the plane, the parachute rope would forcefully pull open the parachute bag, guide the parachute to pop out and straighten the main canopy and rope.

These parachutes are all high-end products produced by the system, made of linen, large in size, and 70 square meters when opened.

The first person to jump out of the cabin was Wei Dayong, who became the first person in the Eighth Route Army to parachute.

The monk originally wanted to shout to cheer, but the wind blew into his mouth, and he couldn't shout a word.

Three seconds after jumping out of the cabin, the parachute opened. Large white umbrellas began to float slowly in the air, and this process took more than 3 minutes.

When the second to last person left the cabin, Li Yunlong followed his soldiers. He controlled the descending direction of the parachute and stared at the soldiers who landed one by one, fearing that someone would get into trouble.

Soon it was his turn. When he was about to land, Lao Li only felt that the ground was rushing towards him.

However, this little scene would not make people panic. At the moment of landing, Li Yunlong directly leaned forward and landed.

The strong impact force was transmitted from the ground to his feet. His strong leg muscles, paratrooper boots and knee pads prevented him from getting hurt.

After adjusting for half a second, he stood up quickly.

There were a total of 28 people participating in the training this time. Except for one soldier who sprained his ankle, all the others completed the parachute landing safely.

The injured soldier was quickly carried away by the medical staff waiting on the side, and Li Yunlong came to the four leaders. He adjusted his helmet, took off his goggles, saluted and said:

"Report to the leader! The 1st Marine Regiment of the Eighth Route Army Air Force has completed the training mission! Please give instructions!"

I'm a bad cook. I feel tired after writing 6k