Chapter 171： Armored Test Battalion

After observing the new armored vehicle, Edel, accompanied by Major Hoffman, inspected the armored experimental battalion that is still being formed.

The camp of this force is just eight kilometers outside of Constanta, a wilderness called Polk, and less than ten kilometers away from the Volkswagen factory. It used to be the resident of a cavalry regiment and was later transferred away, but the camp is still preserved. When he chose the station, Major Hoffman liked the large place here (of course the cavalry regiment station is bigger). There are not enough people nearby to experiment with various tactics. Moreover, it is not far from the city to facilitate life, so he chose the station of the armored experimental camp here. .

"The staff is well prepared."

Edel looked at the more than 300 officers and soldiers of the armored experimental battalion lined up in front of him, and talked to Hoffman when he was inspected.

"His Royal Highness, they are all elite soldiers transferred from the car transport regiment and cavalry unit."

Major Hoffman praised his soldiers.

In fact, the situation is not as good as he said. After Major Hoffman gave the order of the formation of the armored experimental battalion with the crown prince, Major Hoffman happily came to the cavalry unit and car transport group he had been to select. personnel. Although the two chief officials who were poaching in the face of Hoffman would not defy the crown prince’s orders, they also suffered a lot in private.

Especially in the cavalry unit, its chief officer Lieutenant Colonel Stockley told his soldiers in private that the unit formed by Hoffman would only stay in the city, because his armored vehicles can only be used if they have good roads. Combat. This caused many soldiers and officers who were favored by Major Hoffman to refuse his invitation. At first, Hoffman didn't understand the situation. Later, he recollected it after seeing a large number of officers and soldiers who had been invited by him refused his invitation.

Major Hoffman learned that Lieutenant Colonel Stockley was behind the scenes that prevented him from recruiting. I specifically found Lieutenant Colonel Stokery to discuss this matter, after friendly negotiation between the two. Lieutenant Colonel Stokery no longer prevented Hoffman from recruiting people in the cavalry unit, and Hoffman could not specifically find the backbone of the cavalry unit, and could only choose among ordinary soldiers and officers.

The recruitment situation of the car transport regiment is much better. As a result, this is a logistic force that is not as good as the World War I combat force, and the lessons learned by Major Hoffman from Lieutenant Colonel Stockley made him smarter. When he came to the car transport group to pick people, he no longer just stared at the opponent's best soldiers and officers, which also saved him a lot of trouble. However, after Major Hoffman had finished picking people, the head of the transportation regiment was also in pain for a while, because he took away a company of maintenance personnel.

Coupled with the fact that Hoffman was still in the military academy, he recruited a few good military academies from the school.

"I hope you can finish editing and training as soon as possible."

After inspecting the soldiers and officers of the armored battalion, Edel continued to check the lives of the soldiers and talked with them.

"Soldier, what's your name?"

Edel asked caringly at a soldier in front of him.

"His Royal Highness, my name is Sanders and I am from Hobek Village."

The soldier named Sanders who was asked by the crown prince replied excitedly.

His words caused the shoulders of the surrounding soldiers to rise and fall, and it seemed that they endured very hard.

"Sanders, do you have a habit of living here?"

Edel didn't change his attitude because of the soldier's funny answer, but still asked with a smile on his face. The court etiquette that Edel has learned over the years will not change his expression because of the changes, unless the soldier named Sanders suddenly sings Dongfanghong.

In fact, the soldier regretted it after he finished speaking, and he wished to find a hole in the ground. But after the crown prince continued to ask questions to help him resolve this embarrassment, he was much better, at least he knew how to answer. "His Royal Highness, I am very accustomed to living in the army, and my squad leader Dosk helped me the most."

Edel saw that one of the non-commissioned officers smiled very happily. He was probably the Squad leader Dosk he was talking about. He continued to chat with the soldier a few words, and continued to patrol the entire camp.

"It looks like you haven't completed the renovation of this camp."

After Edel finished the tour, he told Major Hoffman who had been by his side about his situation after the tour. When patrolling the barracks, Edel saw too many shadows of the cavalry station, a large number of stables have not been dismantled, broken horseshoes in the corners, and large stacks of forage in the corners of the barracks.

Hoffman explained after hearing the crown prince’s inquiry. "Yes, your highness, there are still many traces of cavalry in our barracks. The main reason is that the time is too short. The soldiers in front of you resisted at the latest five days ago. Now it is mainly to train them into an army. After getting acquainted with each other, we will arrange personnel to transform the barracks as soon as possible.

After hearing Major Hoffman's explanation, Edel did not answer whether it was good or not, but continued to care about how Hoffman organized and trained this unit. "Currently, there is no situation where the European army has concentrated its armored vehicles. What do you think about this new unit?"

Hoffman knew that the crown prince was telling the truth, and now the armored vehicles in other European armies are scattered. They are generally used by the group army, but there are only a dozen or so vehicles, because now many countries still don’t know how to use this expensive and unusable thing.

Like Russia, which has worked hardest to develop armored vehicles before, in 1905, Nakasize designed Russia's first armored vehicle, named "Nakasize" armored vehicle, and Russia subsequently purchased 10 such armored vehicles~www.novelhall .com~ is placed in St. Petersburg to be used as a guardian. Although the first Britain to develop armored vehicles used them during the Boer War, they are now doing the same thing as Russia. They have purchased a small amount of them and put them in the War Department as expensive novelties.

"His Royal Highness, I plan to purchase 24 armored vehicles from Volkswagen and train them into two companies (the existing one is 84 and the other is 81), plus one maintenance company (currently 74), and one logistics company (existing 87 people), which is the establishment I am currently preparing."

Hoffman said the plan he had thought about for a long time.

Edel heard that he was going to train four companies, and asked after thinking about it. "Then how many people are there after you are ready to edit?"

"I have calculated that in accordance with the preparation of the armored experimental battalion, a total of 497 people are needed."

Edel heard Major Hoffman's answer and spoke to him. "Let go and do it."

After patrolling in the barracks, Edel returned to the capital Bucharest by train, where the chief of the general staff, Admiral Prieshan, had already prepared plans for two more divisions, waiting for the crown prince’s approval. (https://)