"The reform of the imperial army will first be the reform of the military system. Among the various units of the army, the two establishments of army and brigade will be abolished, and the formation of group army, division, regiment, battalion, company, platoon, and squad will be directly adopted!" Qin Tian Said.
The previous establishment made the command response of the troops very slow. After eliminating these two establishments, the formation of the troops will undoubtedly become flatter. With the continuous development of communication technology, this will make the army's response faster. This will be very effective in future operations.
Regarding this, the generals of the Imperial Army did not object. They had already expected that Qin Tian would do this. After all, the 8th Army of the Imperial Army is like this. It's just that the 8th Army canceled the organization of the brigade before, and this time it went a step further and directly canceled the organization of the army.
In addition, there is nothing wrong with changing the legion to the group army. It is just that the name has changed, and everything else is still the same.
According to the new establishment of the army, a group army of the Imperial Army consists of 10 infantry divisions and one armored division, plus other troops directly under the group army, with a total strength of 200,000 troops.
In this case, some existing legions of the Imperial Army will have to be reduced. For example, the total strength of the First Army is as high as 360,000, and the total strength of the Second Army is also as high as 280,000. All redundant troops need to be dismantled.
However, in Qin Tian's reform plan, the imperial army's establishment is as high as 12 group armies, if these group armies are full. In other words, there are as many as 2.4 million people in these 12 group armies alone. Compared with the standing force of the German army before the war, this is a full three times.
If logistics, military police, and other non-combatants are counted, the total strength of the army may not be less than three million. Compared with the current size of the army, this is not large.
The generals of the Imperial Army burst into laughter when they saw such a reform plan. Originally they thought that Qin Tian would ask the army to disarm, and if they could save more than one million people, it would be God's blessing. But what they didn't expect was that Qin Tian paid more attention to the army than they imagined, and actually reserved so many people for the army. This undoubtedly made them very satisfied.
The only person who was unhappy was probably the Prime Minister Bilo who represented the cabinet at this military meeting. The size of the army alone has reached nearly 3 million people. If the navy and the soon-to-be-established air force are added, the total size of the German army cannot reach 4 million people! You know, the total population of Germany is only about 50 million people. The scale of such troops is really too big.
At the same time, maintaining a large number of troops means that military spending will soar. This is not a good thing for Germany's finances.
"Your Majesty, isn't the size of the army too big? There are 12 army groups, 2.4 million people. Including other civilian personnel, the total strength may exceed 3 million, right?" Prime Minister Bilo put forward his opinion. .
Suddenly, all the generals of the army looked at Prime Minister Biluo fiercely. If eyesight could kill, then Prime Minister Biluo would be riddled with holes!
"Your Excellency, these group armies will not remain at full strength during peacetime. Except for troops stationed overseas and armored troops, each army will only retain about 60% of its strength. Once a war breaks out, only It will be full." Qin Tian explained.
Although Qin Tian wants to further expand the power of the German navy, he will not resort to military action. It would be inappropriate for Germany, which has a population of just over 50 million, to maintain an army of 4 million all year round.
But even if 60% of the troops are retained, the total strength of the German Army may be close to two million. However, this is much better than the Army's total strength exceeding three million men. Germany's financial pressure can finally be eased. Of course, Prime Minister Bilo also knew that after the empire won the war, its territory and sphere of influence had been further expanded. To defend these interests also requires a large number of troops. Therefore, the size of the army has risen to two million, which is not too much for the current German Empire.
As for military expenditure, although it will increase a lot. However, as Germany's financial resources continue to increase, ensuring the expenditure of these troops will not be a big problem. After all, with so many colonies available for exploitation and oppression by Germany, is it afraid that there will not be enough funds to support the army? India alone, if it can be won, the income obtained will be enough to guarantee the expenses of the German army! Not to mention there are many more colonies.
The generals of the Imperial Army have no objection to this. It is customary for the army to remain understrength when it is not in war. Besides, the current military strength is much higher than before the war broke out. What is there to be dissatisfied with?
"The reform of the army is not only in terms of organization, but also in other aspects. In the next ten years, the army will further increase the number of trucks, armored vehicles and even tanks, and further improve the level of mechanization of the troops." Qin Tian then proposed Require.
Although, Qin Tian knows that in this era, it is simply unrealistic to develop the German army into a mechanized army. Money and technology alone can't make it happen. However, there should be no problem in achieving motorization within ten years! As long as this goal can be achieved, the German army will be able to beat any enemy on the future battlefield.
"Yes, Your Majesty!" A group of army generals replied one after another.
They are on the battlefield, and they have already seen the power of armored forces. Naturally, there is no doubt about increasing the number of tanks and armored vehicles. As for the trucks, that's also very important. If all the troops can be transported by trucks when they are marching, the marching speed of the troops will be amazing. Among other things, when chasing the enemy, it is difficult for the enemy to escape. Of course, the prerequisite is that the road conditions must ensure that the truck can drive.
For the German Army, a squad of troops and equipment can be transported by one truck. There is even excess capacity to transport war supplies. This will undoubtedly strengthen the logistic support capability of the troops.
With Germany's financial and industrial strength, it will not be too difficult to achieve this in the next ten years. After all, Germany is now rich and powerful.
In addition to this, there are other reforms that Qin Tian requires the Army to gradually implement in the future.