Our article mainly cuts into an arsenal at that time, from the perspective of weapon production to help you understand an aspect of the War of Resistance.
We know that after the beginning of the Westernization Movement in the Qing Dynasty, modernized arsenals began to appear in China, among which the more famous are Jinling arsenal and Hanyang arsenal. In fact, in addition to these famous factories, there are also arsenals of various sizes in various places, such as the Guangdong arsenal in Guangdong. The predecessor of the
imitated Madsen machine gun
Guangdong Arsenal dates back to the Guangdong Machinery Bureau in the 1870s, and many names have been changed here. The factory had successfully imitated the Madsen machine gun at the end of the Qing Dynasty. This was the first light machine gun successfully imitated in our country, but it was hand-made at that time, with a monthly output of only 2 to 3 guns.
In 1909, Zhang Renjun, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, wrote to the Ministry of the Army: This light machine gun is a trial model of the Dan’s eight-meter caliber. Each machine has 149 pieces of large and small parts. It is all hand-made, and only two can be made per month. Each work material is silver 502 taels. In June, the light machine gun arrived at the Ministry of the Army and tested it in Nanyuan.
After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the Guangdong Arsenal was successively controlled by various warlord forces. In addition to producing rifles, it could also imitate light and heavy machine guns, but could not make artillery. After taking over Guangdong, Chen Jitang was very concerned about the modernization of the Guangdong Army’s weapons and equipment, especially for the construction of the Guangdong Army’s artillery.
In the beginning, there was only one Shanghai-made 75mm mountain artillery company in each of the three armies of the Guangdong Army. Chen Jitang bought 24 Schneider 75mm heavy mountain cannons and 52 75mm light mountain cannons from France with a lot of money. He also wanted to increase the order to 90.
However, the Schneider mountain cannons are expensive. Chen Jitang only got 12 heavy mountain cannons and 12 light mountain cannons, so the artillery was mixed into 3 battalions.
Taiyuan Arms Factory workshop
Chen Jitang actually planned to build his own artillery before purchasing artillery from France. Prior to this, the Shenyang Arsenal and Taiyuan Arsenal had been able to produce a large number of artillery of various calibers.
However, the Chinese arsenal at that time did not have the ability to independently build guns. Whether it was gun-making machines, parts, or raw materials, they depended heavily on foreign countries, and Chen Jitang chose to cooperate with Germany in his gun-making plan.
In 1933, Chen Jitang signed a contract with the German Hebulou Company and decided to set up a processing factory in Lujiang, Qingxin County.
The entire contract involves a large amount. Its artillery factories, artillery shells, letter tubes and powder cartridge factories, packaging costs, freight, insurance, construction costs, and special fees totaled 5.696 million Hong Kong dollars, of which 4% of the special fees were returned. At 5,490,800 Hong Kong dollars, 1 Hong Kong dollar was approximately equal to 1 gold mark. The planned monthly output of
is: 9 75mm field guns, 9 75mm infantry guns, 5 105mm howitzers, totaling 23. In this way, it can produce 108 75mm field artillery and infantry artillery each, 60 105mm howitzers each year, a total of 276 artillery of various types.
Of course, based on the basic level of Guangdong's military industry at that time, it was impossible to achieve fully autonomous production of artillery, and its parts, raw materials, and tools had to be imported.
In the Chinese army at that time, the Northeast Army, the Jinsui Army and the Central Army had relatively more artillery.
However, after the September 18th Incident, the Northeast Army lost the Shenyang arsenal and could no longer obtain artillery supplies; Shanxi’s Jinsui Army relied on the Taiyuan arsenal to form 10 artillery regiments at one go, but Yan Xishan’s strength development was limited after the Central Plains War, and Taiyuan arsenal The output has also been reduced. The
Central Army gradually increased its strength through outsourcing of advanced artillery, but the artillery was expensive and difficult to import in large quantities. At the same time, Nanjing also had a plan to build a factory and artillery, but when it was implemented, it was a fantasy.
Jinsui Army artillery
At that time, other Chinese armies were either limited by financial resources, or limited by traffic, or limited by vision, or limited by capacity, and there was no artillery force worth mentioning.
and Chen JitangOnce this artillery factory in China is completed and produces artillery as expected, the Cantonese Army’s artillery force will be very impressive under the premise of ensuring the supply of raw materials and components.
The factory was completed at the end of 1935 and was renamed Guangdong Second Weapon Manufacturing Factory. Because it was established in Lijiang, Qingxin County, it was also called the Lijiang Armory.
However, the ideal is full, but the reality is very skinny.
When the factory was completed, military personnel found that it was impossible to complete the monthly production of 23 artillery as mentioned above under the conditions of the factory at the time. Therefore, after the completion of the plant, only semi-finished products were used to assemble one 75mm field gun, one 75mm infantry gun and one 105mm howitzer. And these three artillery are also the full output of large-caliber artillery after the arsenal was built. Why is
, one of the prototype guns of
? Even if the actual production capacity is not as good as expected, it is impossible to make samples, right?
was just as the factory was preparing to do something, an accident happened.
In June 1936, the Guangdong-Guangzhou Incident broke out. Chen Jitang betrayed his relatives and was forced to flee to Hong Kong. His subordinate Yu Han sought to lose his sincerity to Nanjing, and thus took power in Guangdong. But Yu Hanmou can no longer have greater independent authority like the Chen Jitang era, and the arsenal in Guangdong is also taken over by Nanjing.
Nanjing believed that the equipment ordered by the Guangdong Second Weapon Manufacturing Plant was extremely unreasonable, so it decided to change the course and re-sign with the German Hebulou Company to supplement the equipment. Only a few of the original more than 40 German engineers and skilled workers in the factory remained, and they were all fired.
Regarding the artillery plan, Nanjing believed that the artillery originally planned to be produced was of the level of World War I and was relatively heavy and unsuitable for domestic use. Therefore, such artillery was no longer manufactured and the arsenal was used for other purposes.
This is also a major defect in the artillery construction of the Nanjing government:
always has a low eye on self-made artillery, and purchases artillery from foreign countries at high prices. In fact, the number of advanced artillery purchased was not enough, and several domestic factories that could make artillery themselves castrated themselves. Although the artillery produced by these domestic artillery factories at that time was not advanced and of poor quality, at least guns are better than no guns. As a result, in the ensuing period of the all-out war of resistance, the national arsenal failed to produce a mountain artillery with a caliber of 75 or more.
and when the government re-planned the Lianjiang arsenal, given that the artillery in the Chinese army at that time was mainly 75mm artillery, there was still a demand for artillery shells, so this piece of ability was not destroyed. .
After the outbreak of the All-out War of Resistance, the arsenals in coastal provinces were seriously threatened, so they planned to implement inland relocation.
A corner of the bombed arsenal
Japan has long been aware of the situation of the Liaojiang arsenal, so on July 27, 1937, it launched an air strike with 6 aircraft and dropped 12 bombs. From September to October, there were 5 air strikes by Japanese planes, and more than 50 bombs were dropped. Most of the equipment in the factory was moved ahead of schedule, so the damage was not significant, but the factory buildings were almost completely destroyed, and the loss was converted into legal currency of at least 5.5 million.
Since then, the arsenal began to send people to Hunan, Guangxi, and Guizhou to find new sites. The factory was originally scheduled to be relocated to Chenxi, Hunan, but then moved to Jiangbei County, Sichuan (now Chongqing). The total amount of equipment moved by the factory was about 3,000 tons. . The arsenal where
was relocated was renamed the 50th arsenal in accordance with uniform rules, and production resumed in 1939.
In 1939, the 50th arsenal, which was initially stable, began to continue producing arms. In that year, 34,000 rounds of mountain shells, 7050 rounds of wild shells were produced, and 86 150mm heavy mortars were transformed.
In 1940, the 50th arsenal produced 2000 rounds of 150mm mortar rounds, 17,500 rounds of mountain artillery rounds, and 5550 rounds of field artillery rounds.
150mm heavy mortar
In 1941, the 50th Ordnance Factory produced 2500 150mm mortar shells, 6000 mountain shells, 1000 wild artillery shells, and 47 modified 150mm heavy mortars.
In 1942, the 50th arsenal produced the 37mm anti-aircraft gun 24Doors, 200 60mm mortars, 9,000 150mm mortar shells, 10,500 mountain shells, 800 wild artillery shells, and 1 modified 150mm heavy mortar.
In 1943, the 50th arsenal produced 28 37mm war defense guns, 800 60mm mortars, 16827 150mm mortar rounds, 39460 rounds of mountain artillery shells, 10,000 wild artillery/grenade, and modified 150mm heavy mortars. 38 guns.
In 1944, the 50th arsenal produced 33 37mm war defense guns, 900 60mm mortars, 18623 150mm mortar rounds, 27100 rounds of mountain artillery rounds, 12,000 rounds of wild artillery rounds, and modified 150mm heavy mortar 40 door.
In 1945, the 50th arsenal produced 9 37mm war defense guns, 1500 60mm mortars, 25650 150mm mortar shells, 17,000 mountain shells, 3000 wild artillery shells, and modified 150mm heavy mortar 69 door. More than
produced a total of 149,910 rounds of mountain howitzers, 74,600 rounds of 150mm heavy mortars, 281 modified 150mm heavy mortars, 94 37mm war defense guns, and 3400 60mm mortars.
of these 37mm war-proof guns were made by obtaining original drawings and raw materials for 100 guns. In addition to the wastage and scrap, 94 guns were eventually produced.
In addition to these 94 guns, the National Armory also imitated 4 20mm Madsen machine guns. However, after the prototype was manufactured, due to insufficient raw materials, it ultimately failed to produce too much.
These 94 37mm flat-fire guns and 4 20mm machine guns, a total of 98 guns, are all the breech guns produced by the entire national military industry during the all-out Anti-Japanese War.
Because of the extreme lack of mountain artillery and field artillery, during the Anti-Japanese War, most of the artillery divisions of the National Army were mortar battalions. In addition to pre-war equipment, mountain artillery, field artillery, and howitzer were mainly obtained through purchase or assistance from the Soviet Union and the United States.
These newly purchased artillery are mostly equipped with independent artillery units and the main divisions of the Central Army. This is also an important factor in the gradual widening of the gap between the Central Army and the miscellaneous forces in the mid and late Anti-Japanese War.
However, because the US aid was only in place from 1944 to 1945, the Chinese army could only rely on a small number of artillery to compete with the Japanese. In most operations, only mortars can be counted on. Due to the huge difference in heavy weapons, the Japanese army is often able to kill a large number of our soldiers through firepower preparation. The price of the weak national power and lack of autonomy of the ordnance can be seen from this.
