The first shot was fired by the famous 29th Army, which at that time was nominally only an army number, but it had 4 infantry divisions, 1 cavalry division, 1 cavalry brigade, 1 special service brigade, in addition to a number of independent brigades and security forces, with a total strength of about 100,000 troops.
Moreover, the establishment of its infantry divisions at that time was also different, each infantry division had 4 infantry brigades, and 1 special service regiment directly under it.
Obviously, compared with the embarrassment of the 29th Army when it was first established, the 29th Army at this time can be described as strong and strong.
However, due to a series of internal and external factors, the 29th Army's war of resistance in the Pingjin area did not last long.
Soon after, you will not be able to see the number of the 29th Army of the Northwest Army System.
The reason for this is that in the process of retreating southward, the number of the army has been adjusted on a large scale, and the establishment of the number commensurate with its strength has actually been restored.
The headquarters of the 29th Army was upgraded to the 1st Army, and the subordinate infantry divisions were combined into three infantry corps, and the cavalry units were also formed separately.
Among the infantry divisions at that time, the 143rd Division and several independent brigades originally stationed in the Chahar area were combined into the 68th Army, which was the unit of Liu Ruming's system.
At the beginning, the troops under the jurisdiction of this army still had the original characteristics, but by the middle of the Anti-Japanese War, the establishment was basically the same as that of the national army at that time.
For example, the army has three infantry divisions, namely the 119th Division, the 143rd Division, and the 36th Provisional Division, each division implements the establishment of three regiments, and the whole army has a total of nine infantry regiments, plus the troops directly under the corps and divisions, and the whole army has a total of more than 30,000 people.
Because such a unit is quite independent, it also retains its original stocks in its armament, which allows the army to have a considerable number of artillery.
According to the statistics of 1941, the various types of artillery in the 68th Army's establishment at that time were:
Mountain artillery:
2 75-mm mountain guns; 8 75-mm field guns; 4 77-mm field guns; The total number of mountain artillery pieces is 14.
These 14 guns can form a full field artillery battalion, plus a mountain artillery detachment.
In the national army at that time, there were usually no field artillery battalions, and the field artillery battalions of the 68th Army could be said to be a relatively special existence.
Mortar class:
4 150-mm heavy mortars; 35 82-mm mortars; The total number of mortars was 39 pieces.
The 150 mm heavy mortar here was a special weapon of the Northwest Army, which was originally supposed to have 8 guns and was organized as a heavy mortar company, but due to the loss of battle damage, there were only 4 left at that time; Because this kind of cannon was not replenished in the future, it was actually used as an artillery company directly under the army, and it was easy not to use it until the critical moment.
The 82-mm mortars were equipped at the infantry battalion level at that time, and theoretically each battalion should have 2 guns, 6 guns per regiment, 18 guns per division, and 54 guns for the three divisions of the whole army.
However, at that time, the mortars of the 68th Army were not fully staffed, and the actual equipment of 35 guns was only about 12 guns per division on average, and each regiment actually had 4 guns.
In the process of equipping, it is more likely to be deployed at the regimental level and form a mortar company, rather than dispersed into three infantry battalions, which is not easy to distinguish.
Organs/Anti-Aircraft Guns:
8 37-mm anti-aircraft guns; 6 20-mm machine guns; In total, there were 14 cannons.
The 37-mm anti-aircraft gun mentioned here should be a company formation, which was assigned to the army around 1938, and later directly became a fixed establishment.
For this kind of artillery, the 68th Army also treated it as a treasure, so it did not lose a single one in the entire Anti-Japanese War.
The 20mm machine gun also formed a company, which existed when the all-out war of resistance against Japanese aggression broke out, and it may be a more distinctive machine gun model equipped by the national army at that time.
This kind of artillery has the same status as the 37mm anti-aircraft gun in the entire Anti-Japanese War, and it has not been damaged.
So in general, in 1941, the 68th Army had more than 60 artillery pieces of various types, of which except for the mortar, which was slightly insufficient, the rest of the artillery could be organized into 1 field artillery battalion, 1 mountain artillery detachment, 1 heavy mortar company, 1 battle defense artillery company, and 1 machine gun company.
This is actually a relatively good existence in the national army where there is a shortage of artillery.