During the war years, machine guns were very important weapons, and the number of light and heavy machine guns was often an important indicator of the elite degree of a force; This was especially true during the period of the Red Army and the War of Resistance.
Compared with the light machine guns that were relatively easy to capture, the capture of heavy machine guns was not easy, so the number of heavy machine guns equipped by our army at that time was not large, and the level of configuration was relatively high.
For example, during the Anti-Japanese War, only the most elite main force of our army would be equipped with heavy machine gun detachments at the infantry battalion level; The larger ones are the companies, the smaller ones are just platoons, and even the heavy machine gun companies are only 3 machine guns.
For the general Eighth Route Army, heavy machine guns are generally concentrated at the regimental level, and about two or three heavy machine guns plus one or two mortars form a machine gun company.
Because heavy machine guns and mortars were in short supply at that time, some infantry regiments may actually even lack machine gun companies, and only one or two heavy machine guns were directly controlled by the regiment commander.
Even before and after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the situation of the small number of heavy machine guns in our army has not been improved.
For example, only half of the main force of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan field battle that participated in the Shangdang Campaign at that time had 2 to 4 mortars and 3 or 4 heavy machine guns; And half of the regiments don't even have this.
However, during the War of Liberation, the number of heavy machine guns equipped by our army continued to increase, and it also reached a relatively high configuration, especially in the Northeast Field Army.
Compared with the situation of the Kannai troops, Higashino can get a large number of Japanese weapons and equipment; In the battle with the Kuomintang Army in the Northeast, because most of the latter were American-armed forces, they were able to capture a lot of American weapons after winning the battle.
In this case, the equipment level of the Northeast Field Army is a mixture of Japanese and American weapons, and the number of deployments is very sufficient.
Taking the 4th Column as an example, in May 1947, the whole column was equipped with 126 heavy machine guns, and at that time each infantry battalion could basically be equipped with 4 heavy machine guns.
Compared with the situation when the main force of the Northeast National Army was equipped with 6 to 8 heavy machine guns per battalion, our configuration level needs to be improved.
However, by August 1948, the complete state of the main column of the Northeast Field Army had been formed.
At this time, the total strength of the 4th Column of Higashino exceeded 40,000 people, and the number of heavy machine guns equipped reached 172, an increase of more than one-third compared with more than a year ago.
So what is the specific configuration of these 172 heavy machine guns?
According to the establishment of the Northeast Field Army column in 1948, heavy machine guns were deployed in the machine gun company of the infantry battalion.
The 1st platoon of heavy machine guns under the machine gun company has jurisdiction over the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd squads, each squad is equipped with a heavy machine gun, and a heavy machine gun platoon is 3;
In addition to the 1st platoon of heavy machine guns, there is also a 2nd platoon of machine gun batteries, so the number of heavy machine guns in a machine gun company is 6.
A battalion is equipped with 6 heavy machine guns, and a regiment has 3 battalions, a total of 18 heavy machine guns; A division has 3 regiments, that is, 54 heavy machine guns; One column has 3 divisions, that is, 162 heavy machine guns.
Therefore, if calculated according to this set, then the number of heavy machine guns in the 4th column can meet the needs of all infantry battalions with heavy machine guns, and there are 10 more.
However, there are still special places in the establishment of columns and infantry divisions of the Northeast Field Army.
For example, the column has a guard battalion, and each infantry division also has a guard battalion, so that the whole column has an additional 4 guard battalions, and the guard battalion is theoretically equivalent to the infantry battalion, but it is not clear whether it is equipped with a machine gun company.
However, even if this factor is taken into account, the heavy machine gun configuration of the 4th column will not be greatly affected.
Because of the operation of the East Field, ammunition is not a problem, so the 4th Column is not only the number of heavy machine guns can be deployed in place, but also the abundant guarantee of bullets also makes its firepower continuity no problem.
In addition, we need to pay attention to the fact that the Northeast Field Army has a relatively good operational environment, and the rest and training time of the troops is very long.
As a result, the training level of the Dongye troops is relatively high, and the combat effectiveness displayed in actual combat is often stronger.
In the Tashan Blockade in October 1948, the so-called Eastern Advance Corps of the National Army encountered such an Eastern Field Army, and it is not difficult to understand that it was finally defeated.