The Rise of the Empire

It was specifically requested by the Russian Army Ministry that Witte purchased tractors for the artillery during his visit, and Kuropatkin even claimed: "Whether these heavy artillery can be used is directly related to the success or failure of our army in the Far East in the future! "If such a big hat is buckled down, Werther can't help being careless! \u003c/p\u003e Compared with Witte's troubles, Colonel Kutuzov, who is in charge of the Russian Far East Heavy Artillery, is now in real trouble. The former is just a liaison officer, while the latter needs to complete the operation of large-caliber heavy artillery. Leaving aside the issue of gunnery, how to make these heavy artillery act on the coffee table under road conditions is a very serious problem. \u003c/p\u003eThe overall level of the Russian army is indeed inferior to that of European powers, but it does not mean that there are no outstanding people among them! And Colonel Kutuzov is one of these great men. The American-made 6-inch L30 artillery bought from the United States was integrated into the army gun mount. The foot gun mount uses a new type of double-leg mount, and the wheels of the sports car are also replaced with semi-rubber to replace the original iron-clad wooden wheels, which enhances the passability of the artillery to a certain extent. \u003c/p\u003eThen, the Russian colonel discovered a very serious problem. The weight of this 152mm heavy gun is a bit too big, surpassing all the field artillery that Russia has towed in the past! Of course, don't talk about the Tsar Cannon, the symbolic significance of this thing is greater than the actual combat significance... \u003c/p\u003e Among other things, the barrel of this artillery alone weighs 4.7 tons! And the column weight is as high as 8.5 tons or more! This is not the most deadly, because the towing weight of the artillery is greater than the weight of the column. If the towing weight is included, the weight will be as high as 9.3 tons or more! 9 tons of cannon! Approximately equal to more than 6 times the weight of the Russian 75mm rapid-fire gun! Of course, the performance of this artillery is really good, it can shoot 48kg shells for more than 15 kilometers! So much so that the Russians thought it was better to use it as a fortress than as a field gun! \u003c/p\u003e Such a heavy artillery is no longer a question of how to maneuver on bad roads, because in Kutuzov's view, the weight of this artillery is no longer suitable for being drawn by horses. After all, the power of horses is limited, and as more and more horses are added, its marginal effect will continue to decline! \u003c/p\u003eThe horses used in the Russian Army are the famous Don River heavy-drawn horses, which generally drag about 400kg. Under extreme conditions, it can walk for 10 hours a day, but if it is towed for a long time, it generally does not exceed 8 hours. If calculated by simple multiplication and division, then a 9-ton heavy artillery needs at least 25 Don horses to tow...  \u003c/p\u003eOf course, if you don’t care about the life and death of horses, you may not need so many horses if you use them desperately. This problem can also be solved in Europe. After all, the main long-distance transportation in Europe is by train, and the railway network is relatively developed. The distance the horse drags is the distance from the station to the battlefield. In addition, the essence of Russia is in Europe, and it is not difficult to find some horses to replace dead horses. \u003c/p\u003e But the problem is that you are in the Far East now! There is no dense railway network, not to mention more serious roads. The dirt roads all depend on the situation. Once the snow accumulates in winter and melts in spring, many places will be muddy! The efficiency of this horse's towing has plummeted! More importantly, the Far East is far away from Europe, so it is very difficult to replenish the horses! The horsepower is not enough, and the supplement is also worrying. How do you say to make these artillery maneuverable? \u003c/p\u003eAnd what's even more frightening is that even if you solve the problem of towing heavy artillery, the demand for horses is so great that it is almost impossible to solve! According to Colonel Kutuzov's estimation, an artillery regiment with 16 6-inch heavy guns needs at least 1,200 horses! You read that right,

It is 1400 horses! \u003c/p\u003e (This is estimated by the author. According to the information at hand, a divisional artillery regiment in the third period of Germany had 12 150mm howitzers and 36 105mm light howitzers, which required 2,451 men and 2,318 horses. Twelve 150mm howitzers required 685 personnel and 697 horses. At that time, the German artillery was the sfh18 howitzer, which weighed only 5.5 tons. In fact, the weight of the artillery overhead for the Russians in this plane has nearly doubled. ! And there are 16 artillery regiments, so nearly 700 horses have been added)\u003c/p\u003e When the officials of the Army Logistics Department came to the colonel with the calculation results, the colonel explained it like this: "First of all, such a heavy It is impossible for the artillery to be towed as a whole. It must be divided into two parts. One part is to put the gun barrel of about 4 tons on the trailer, and the other part is the gun mount. The weight of the trailer will reach about 5 tons. In this case, we need 16 horses to ensure a stable long-term march.” (The author does not deny that 10 horses can make do if necessary. But it is about 5 tons 16 horses are not too much.)\u003c/p\u003e After the colonel said this, the other side stopped talking immediately, and one artillery piece is nothing but 32 horses! However, the artillery is only a part after all, and it is a small part. The supply of cannonballs and horses is the real big problem! \u003c/p\u003e Let’s calculate the shells like this. A shell is 48kg, plus the propellant package, which makes a total of 60 kg, plus a series of packaging. (No one thinks that the heavy howitzer shells are transported outside) That is 70kg.... According to the ammunition capacity of 80 rounds of a cannon, this base number of ammunition alone requires 5.6 tons. And the 5.6 tons cannot be the weight of the shells alone, and the weight of the vehicle.... Just one base shell will kill more than 30 horses...... \u003c/p\u003eOkay, you finally pulled the artillery and ammunition away, so now there is another problem. These horses and personnel still need to eat! Not to mention drinking water. Assuming you can find water along the way. For the time being, the problem of bringing water is not considered. A horse needs to eat 2.5% of its own body weight in feed every day to maintain normal vitality. Well, assuming that a pack horse weighs 600kg (the weight of a Russian Arden horse is 550 to 600kg), then it needs about 15kg of fodder a day... . \u003c/p\u003eSo, let alone other things, just to transport a cannon and 80 shells, do you need about 70 horses, and the daily feed of these horses is about 1 ton! These feeds are also particular. The so-called roughage is hay, including alfalfa, grain grass and straw. If the horse does not exercise, then roughage feeding is fine, but if you want to perform delaying tasks, the proportion of concentrated feed will be as high as 30%. It varies from 55% to 55%! Concentrate feed refers to crops such as oats, barley, and corn, or bean cakes. \u003c/p\u003e Soon, the Russians collapsed and discovered that for 16 artillery pieces, they needed a horse from a cavalry regiment to transport them, and this might not be possible! \u003c/p\u003eThe second one is here~~~! Ask for a subscription\u003c/a\u003e~~~! \u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e