German advisers sent to the Yugoslav army found that the situation of this armored unit was worse than they thought. In reality, the four independent armored battalions under the army were only organized two, and there were only one hundred and ten tanks that could be used. The remaining units only existed on the list of the Army Command.

The Yugoslav Army ordered fifty S1-D light tanks from Skoda and formed a light tank battalion (the fifty tanks missing in the previous article). These tanks were included in the equipment list by the army, but because Skoda was immediately annexed by Germany, the transaction was destined to be impossible to complete.

Although the French tank transaction contract has been finalized, there were problems with the French supply. These tanks were too worn and must undergo a certain degree of renovation, otherwise the transaction would be really ugly.

As a result, after Germany invaded France, the renovation of French tanks was not yet completed. Some of the antique tanks kept in factory warehouses became the trophy of the German army. In the end, the Yugoslavs only had fifty-four and forty-eight Renault ft-17s.

German consultants were surprised to find that all of the antiques were m26/27. This is a tank improved with the purpose of "infantry auxiliary tank". It has been strengthened on the basis of the FT17 and has also adopted a newly designed suspension system and gearbox. The front armor of this tank has been increased to 30 mm, the thickness of the side armor on the body is also 16 mm, and the turret armor is 22 mm, so the total weight of the empty car has been increased to eight tons accordingly, and the road speed has also been reduced to 35 kilometers per hour.

As a French-style "infantry tank", this driving speed is completely acceptable. The thickness of the armor and the firepower are enough to cope with the low-intensity wars in the 1920s and 1930s. This tank was not favored by the French army, but unexpectedly received a lot of overseas orders.

The first country to buy this export tank may be beyond everyone's expectations, and it turned out to be the Japanese Empire, thousands of miles away from Europe.

The Japanese Army has previously purchased fifteen Renault ft17 basic tanks from France, some of which were handed over to the Japanese Army Cavalry School for armored soldiers teaching and research, and also used them as a model for technical development, with the intention of developing Japan's own tank armored vehicles on this basis.

The starting point of Japanese tank equipment in history is actually very high. It can be said that it borrowed from the most advanced armor technology of Britain and France. It was completely synchronized with the world trend in the early stages of development. As for why it became the ghost in history, this issue has both internal and external factors, and it is really difficult to explain it clearly in a word. Let’s talk about it in detail when it is discussed later.

In addition to Japan, there was also an Asian country who also purchased this tank. To be precise, it should be a local faction, that is, the Fengtian warlords who dominated the three eastern provinces at that time.

Zhang Yuting established China's first built-in tank unit very early, and tanks, such weapons, appeared on China's civil war battlefield for the first time with the later Zhi-Feng War.

The Northeast Army initially purchased only fourteen basic models of the Legal Renault ft-17, but by 1930, the number of Renault tanks had increased to thirty-six, of which fifteen were the m26/27 models.

Some domestic data say that these are reno tanks imitated by the United States. In fact, the n27 is a fixed number given to the exported tanks by the French government. It is recorded that these tanks were transported to the Northeast in 1930. The Huanggutun incident broke out two years ago. After a wave of turmoil and civil strife in the Northeast, the power transfer of the upper class has been basically completed. The Fengtian faction is at the peak of the warlord faction.

On September 18, 1930, Zhang Hanqing and Chiang Kai-shek reached a deal. He could not resist the temptation of entering the pass and controlling Zhili, so he issued a high-profile "smart telegram" on the same day, and then the Northeast Army officially intervened in the ongoing "Central Plains War".

The Fengtian slashed behind the critical moment, completely destroying the already fragile anti-Chiang Alliance. Zhang Hanqing obtained control of the North China region that his father had dreamed of, and the one who laughed the last should be Commander Chiang Kai-shek of the National Government.

September 18, 1930 became an important turning point in Fengtian's history. Fengtian reached the peak of the birth of this local armed faction. After receiving the troops and chassis owned by the Northwest Army, Fengtian's army instantly expanded to become the most powerful armed force north of China's Yangtze River.

Perhaps it was also true that the saying "The Great Desperation and Decline" of the Northeast Army also began from this moment.

Even if Zhang Hanqing was having fun, he would never have thought that in the second year, September 18, the Fengtian clan would usher in the biggest turning point in his destiny. On that day, a group of "Showa staff" brought the tradition of the army's Malu Shiraki to the extreme. Without being recognized by the Japanese Emperor, the cabinet and even the military headquarters, he conspired to plan and launched the "September 18 Incident".

If Zhang Hanqing had not been too naive in politics and too incompetent in military command at that time, this military adventure launched by a small group of Japanese officers would have no chance of success.

The topic is a bit too far, and now we will return to the reorganization of the Yugoslav Army.

The report submitted by the German consultant to the commander was very detailed, and there were thick stacks of various charts alone. In order to save the head of state precious time, what Xu Jun saw was a simplified version after sorting.

To be honest, it is difficult to accurately position the role Yugoslavia plays in Germany's Eastern Front Strategy. The geographical location of this country is very important. There are many steep mountains and mountains in the territory, which are not suitable for the development and maneuver of large troops, especially armored troops, but it is very suitable for small troops to engage in guerrilla warfare. As long as the external material support is constantly eliminated, the mountainous areas here can easily become quagmire for burying invaders, or even become flesh-and-blooded grinders like Afghanistan, making any invaders look disgusted.

However, there is an important prerequisite for achieving this goal, that is, it is necessary to maintain a smooth supply line and provide a continuous stream of support. At the same time, the defense must grasp certain ground advantages and also seize air supremacy in the war zone.

The combat effectiveness of Yugoslav ground troops is really worrying. It cannot be said that the Serbs are not brave enough. They really want to be reckless and even Hitler once praised them. The problem is that the equipment and command class they have in their hands are too bad.

The ethnic conflicts in Yugoslavia led to an imbalance in military strength. Serb officers once accounted for 99% of the number of officers. Before the war started, there were a total of 165 general-level officers, of which only four were Croatians.

The Croatians could only serve as lower-level soldiers and grass-roots officers in the King's team, which obviously laid the root of their future defeat. After the German invasion in history, a large number of Croatian soldiers turned against each other and were unwilling to fight for Serbian officers. The defense line, which was originally not organized enough, was about to collapse. In addition, the tactical concepts of the senior commander of the army were outdated and dull. Under the rapid offensive of the German army and its allies, the elites in the kingdom's armed forces were quickly lost and were eventually forced to surrender to the German army. At this time, there were only twelve days before the war began.

To avoid this problem from happening again, it is necessary to reform the membership structure of the army, change the dominance of the Serbs in the King's team, and at the same time build the strength of the Croatian ethnic group in the army. However, this approach is obviously not feasible today when the Serb leaders have agreed to fully cooperate with Germany.

Even if the Yugoslav royal family comes forward to take the blame, they may not be able to suppress the negative impact of this practice among Serb nationalists. Xu Jun is likely to witness another Belgrade coup.

Xu Jun does not want to take risks at such a critical moment. Germany strategically needs an internally stable Balkan, and there will be no intense social unrest in the next four years.

Maintaining permanent harmony among the various ethnic groups in Yugoslavia is simply an impossible task, but it is still within Germany's current ability to ensure that they have been safe for a year or two.

If the Eastern Front War broke out, Yugoslavia, as a member of the European military alliance, could not have put itself out of the matter.

Because once Hungary is invaded by the Soviet army, the adjacent Yugoslavia will become a natural strategic line of defense, blocking the Soviet army's infiltration into the southern part of the Balkans, and the Soviet Red Army General Staff cannot see this.

Once Yugoslavia is invaded by the Soviet army, Xu Jun will wait and see the show happen.

The reason why Yugoslavia was killed in chaos in history was that the German army destroyed the royal government recognized by all ethnic groups in the country, drove away the nominal co-lord (although the people were dissatisfied, they still recognized their royal power), directly tearing open the curtains between several ethnic groups, and deliberately provoking national hatred.

In history, the civil war in Yugoslavia was a hundred times more bloody than the foreign war against the invaders. The Croatian puppet government supported by Germany launched cruel killings against the Serbians in the territory. At the same time, the Serbian armed groups also launched bloody revenge on the Croatian civilians in the territory.

The paramilitary organizations and guerrillas, family guards, local guards and even armed civilians under the two tribes will be like mortal enemies once they encounter it. They will never stop until one of them is dispersed. Moreover, both sides have the habit of not leaving prisoners to live. The captured person is usually executed by the winner with an axe after being cruelly abused.

This habit causes the two sides to fight for the last breath once the battle breaks out in some areas, and they are willing to commit suicide rather than surrender.

In history, when the Eastern Front War broke out, the civil war teams led by Yugoslavia were added. At the same time, the Slovenian armed family guards also appeared. Then almost every nation living on this land was involved in this hopeless melee. Because of the fundamental contradictions in concepts, there was no room for compromise between the parties, so there was no possibility of joining the border and joining forces. It forced Yugoslavia into a pot of chowder.

In this civil war dominated by guerrilla warfare, all forces showed extraordinary coldness, and they were all merciless in the face of the enemy. In the end, hatred even extended to the civilians who had helped their opponents.

The specific number of combatants and civilians who died in this ethnic civil war cannot be counted because the data was deliberately covered up and modified by all parties after the war. It was initially estimated that at least 300,000 people were more than 300,000 people. During the same period, the total number of German officers and soldiers who died in the Balkans, including missing German soldiers, totaled less than 40,000.

Xu Jun cannot open this Balkan box again. Of course, Croatia and Slovenian ethnic groups do need to be appeased, but they must not shake the social structure of Yugoslavia. Perhaps it is a bit unfair to those ethnic groups, but now is obviously not a good time to carry out social structural reform.

Prince Paul was quite clear. Under his guise of Germany's power, he successfully convinced most of the Serb veterans in the cabinet and parliament to agree to increase the status and share of the Croatian ethnic group within the Yugoslav government and army, but the premise was that the Croatians must also stop all separatist activities in Yugoslavia.

As support for Prince Paul, Xu Jun promised that Germany would not provide any form of support for the Croatian political demands, but at the same time he also expressed that he would place the Croatian ethnic group in Yugoslavia as the protection of the Third Reich and prohibit any organizations and individuals from carrying out possible retaliation due to their previous actions.

This series of agreements is equivalent to giving both sides a reassurance. The Serbs no longer have to worry about Germany subverting the kingdom regime, and the K tribe gained a strong enough backer. Everything seems to have returned to the era under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

As for the Slovenians, the two of them who were the most difficult to deal with were silent. If they had anything to feel dissatisfied, they could stand at the front desk and say it loudly.

The individual qualities of Yugoslav infantry are generally good. Whether they are Serbs or Croats, they are not inferior to Slavic barbarians when they are reckless. As long as they are trained strictly and reasonably and given enough equipment, these people may be the best mountain light infantry in Europe.

Yugoslavia's infrastructure is quite backward in Europe. Although there are some excellent projects, such as the famous "Tara Valley Bridge" (the prototype of the movie "Bridge", most of the roads in its territory are outdated.

Most mountain roads still have rammed earth and gravel roads. Although they do not turn into quagmire as soon as the rainy season comes, they also limit the movement of heavy equipment.

At the same time, the carrying capacity of bridges in Yugoslavia is also a problem. Like most old-style bridges in Europe, these bridges usually can only carry a maximum weight of about 30 tons, and many can even be used for vehicles of only 20 tons. This is enough for the originally light-armed Yugoslav army, but at this time it limits their equipment level.

When Germany is temporarily unable to invest in local infrastructure, Germany has not even completed the reinforcement of its own bridges, so it can only hand over these problems to the local Yugoslavia engineering team. It will cost a lot of funds and materials to complete these projects. If the government of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia cannot obtain enough loans, it may not even be possible to start construction as scheduled.

The commander prepared the first armored brigade of the Royal Yugoslavia Army, the H35 tanks produced by the French Hodges Company. The first batch of 320 have been sent to Belgrade. With the help of German consultants, a standard tank regiment was formed.

The next plan of the commander is to transfer the troops to Yugoslav border provinces after the officers and soldiers are familiar with the use of these new equipment, and to formulate battlefield regulations and equipment usage manuals that meet the local combat environment as soon as possible.

The long-distance maneuver of these armored units cannot rely on road marching and vehicle transportation. The most suitable way is to use Yugoslavia's relatively qualified railway system. Although Yugoslavia's railway cannot be compared with several developed European countries, it is also second to none in the Balkans.

The Yugoslavia's railway system first began to develop from the Austro-Hungarian Empire era, and entered a period of rapid development after World War I. The railway from Zagreb to Belgrade was built in the 1920s. The famous Orient Express crossed Yugoslavia along this railway and then entered Bulgaria.

Xu Jun did not expect to see the results of these trainings in a short period of time. He only hoped that when the Eastern Front War broke out, Yugoslavia could complete the war preparations and join the battle sequence of the European Union as scheduled.

ps: Thank you for your understanding. Today I will present the big chapter and ask for votes.
Chapter completed!