In modern times, the Chinese army really began to use Western guns in the modern sense from the Hunan Army. In 1851, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement broke out. Zeng Guofan established the Hunan Army and began to purchase foreign artillery. "According to incomplete statistics, from the 4th to 6th years since Chengfeng (1854-1856), more than 1,800 foreign artillery pieces were successively purchased." However, these artillery pieces were mainly equipped with the Hunan Navy's naval division. The artillery battalion is still in the stage of using both hot and cold weapons.
The Huai Army Artillery Battalion still belongs to infantry equipped with artillery
After Li Hongzhang’s Huai Army arrived in Shanghai in 1862, Li Hongzhang began to add foreign guns. Foreign artillery. By 1863, "Hongzhang’s guard battalion, namely Zhang Yuchun’s Chunzi battalion, had 200 artillery squadrons participating in the battle. This was the beginning of the establishment of the Huai Army’s official artillery squadron, which is also China. The beginning of the artillery system.” In 1873, Li Hongzhang began to establish an independent artillery unit dedicated to the use of artillery, which enabled the Qing army to take a new step in establishing a regular artillery system.
Because of the victory of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, Prussia and later Germany became famous in Europe, and its weapons and equipment sold well in various countries. Li Hongzhang reviewed the situation and quickly asked the Huai Army battalions to build artillery teams following the German system, purchase advanced German artillery, and hire German instructors for training. By 1876, Li Hongzhang had successively raised funds to purchase 114 German Krupp breech guns, and built 19 artillery battalions.
Although the newly-built Huai Army Artillery Battalion has made great progress in number, artillery equipment and artillery formation compared with the Eight Banners, Green Battalions and Hunan Army. However, it does not have a complete battalion and logistics system. It still follows the infantry battalion system of the Hunan Army. It also lacks coordinated operations with various arms. In actual combat, the artillery did not really play its due synergy. Therefore, the Huai Army’s The artillery battalion is not mature and can only be a transitional effect.
Duan Qirui imitated the German army to form a full-time artillery
The artillery system of the late Qing Dynasty was really formed after the Jiawu War, and the fiasco of the Jiawu battle was announced. The failure of the Westernization Movement was not only the people of insight at the time, but the timely and corrupt Qing government also deeply realized that the content of military reform is no longer just to study the level of Western artifacts, but should be studied together with the Western military system, especially The military establishment and training system of the arms. Under the guidance of this kind of thinking, Yuan Shikai was ordered to start training the Beiyang Army. At that time there were two main new armies, "Wen Chudao Yuan Shikai trained the new army.
At the end of 1895, Yuan Shikai’s Beiyang Army was formally established, "specially imitating the German statutes", and created 4 arms, artillery, horses, and engineering 7 One thousand people were set up for training separately. Among them, there were 1 artillery battalion with 1 thousand people, under the leadership of Duan Qirui. At the end of 1898, Yuan Shikai was transferred to the governor of Shandong, and Duan Qirui led the artillery battalion to move to Shandong with him. Conditions at the time Artillery is the heaviest firepower, and the artillery team is the backbone of the whole army. Therefore, it has been allocated the most military personnel and the most generous salary.
Duan Qirui did not disappoint Yuan Shikai. He used his own past The advantages of studying in Germany and internship in the Krupp arsenal helped Yuan Shikai establish a complete German artillery system, imitating the establishment of the German army, dividing the 1,000-man artillery team into a left-wing heavy artillery team, a right-wing quick artillery team, and a contingent horse. Artillery team, each team has 1 leader, 3 guard officers, and 9 guard officers. Each guard manages 2 German artillery pieces to ensure that each gun is carefully maintained by a dedicated person and can be more proficient during training.
Elaborate training and regular exercises to become the first artillery in modern times
Duan Qirui insists on going to the playground every day to supervise training, and presenting issues for the artillery team throughout the year In September 1896, one year after the formation of the Beiyang Army, Yuan Shikai personally tested the training results of the various teams in the school, and carried out joint military exercises every month. Teams and sentries were used as units to cooperate with infantry training to gather, disperse, advance and retreat, and various formations. "The artillery battalion's footwork, marksmanship, and bodywork are extremely sophisticated and excellent. ”
After that, the Beiyang Army began regular confrontational military exercises under Duan Qirui's suggestion. The infantry, artillery, horse, engineering, and even heavy battalions all went into battle to carry out joint exercises of all arms. During the exercise, personnel were sent to record and supervise to ensure that they went all out. After the exercise, the summary of experience and continuous improvement have greatly improved the Beiyang Army’s infantry coordination capabilities.
At the beginning of the Revolution of 1911, Duan Qirui led the main force of the Beiyang army to go south to Hubei and attacked the three towns of Wuhan occupied by the rebel army. The artillery and infantry worked closely together and quickly captured Hankou and Hanyang, the first artillery unit in modern history. Showed their due combat power.
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