In the later period of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Kuomintang army began to receive and equip US weapons and equipment, among which the first to be mechanized was the troops stationed in India that were "close to the water, the building and the platform are the first to get the moon"; while the troops stationed in India were redressed, they also replaced a small number of domestic troops by air; by 1945, after the Yunnan-Burma Road was opened, a large amount of equipment arrived by land, and the Kuomintang army had a plan to arm 13 US armies.
According to the establishment of the US armament army at that time, an army should be equipped with 3,479 submachine guns, and the specific model was the American-made Thomson.
In the history of the equipment of the Kuomintang army, submachine guns were also equipped and used from the 1920s to the 1930s, but the proportion of imported guns at that time was not high, mainly the versions copied by various arsenals, and its performance and quality were difficult to guarantee.
The U.S. weapons and equipment that began to be equipped in the later stage of the Anti-Japanese War, plus the British weapons received from Canada, had relatively good performance, and ammunition could also be supplied in large quantities, so the combat effectiveness of the Kuomintang troops was rapidly improved after being equipped.
For example, Yang Botao, commander of the 18th Division of the 11th Army, which was reequipped with American weapons at that time, had the following statement about the power of American submachine guns:
The Japanese army is known for its bushido white-knuckle combat, roaring and waving bayonets, and rushing straight to the 11th Division, at this time the 11th Division, which has American melee weapons and submachine guns, fired head-on at the dense Japanese troops within a few steps, and the Japanese soldiers fell to the ground one after another.
According to a 1945 statistic, the military headquarters of the army was actually equipped with 261 submachine guns, the 51st Division was equipped with 896 submachine guns, the 57th Division was equipped with 896 submachine guns, and the 58th Division was equipped with 831 submachine guns, with a total of 2,884 submachine guns.
Of course, the number of equipment was not yet ideal, but after a small number of submachine guns were installed one after another, the war of resistance was won, after which the 74th Army was busy receiving the surrender of the Japanese army and transferring it to Nanjing, and then changed to the reorganization of the 74th Division.
Owing to the tremendous changes in the state of establishment, especially the fact that the number of infantry regiments was reduced by three, it was obviously impossible to issue additional weapons for the division; according to the actual number of equipment counted by the division at that time, the actual number of submachine guns was 2,963.
A unit of more than 30,000 men of an integrated division was actually equipped with about 3,000 submachine guns, which was a very high rate at that time; basically one out of every few combatants used submachine guns, which greatly enhanced the melee assault capability of the integrated 74th Division.
In the statistics of strength at that time, in addition to mentioning the number of firearms, there were also ammunition data, that is, the number of submachine gun rounds was 646185, and the average ammunition reserve for each gun was 218 rounds, and there were about 11 magazines of 20 rounds.
Of course, this is the amount of ammunition in reserve in peacetime, and a unit like the integrated 74th Division will certainly not be short of ammunition, and it can still be supplied quite after the ammunition is consumed.
The relatively large amount of submachine gun equipment, coupled with the relatively preferential supply of ammunition, ensured the relatively fierce melee firepower of the department.
In addition, it is worth noting that in the American armament unit of the Kuomintang army at that time, the armament configuration of its auxiliary support units also had typical American characteristics, that is, it was equipped with more firearms to make it have considerable self-defense capabilities.
For example, in the mountain artillery battalion, engineer battalion and other units, there are a considerable number of submachine gun configurations.
Taking the mountain artillery battalion of the reorganized brigade as an example, there are 65 submachine guns in one battalion, and nearly 200 submachine guns in the three mountain artillery battalions of the reorganized 74th Division.
In addition, in the organs and units of integrated divisions, integrated brigades, and infantry regiments, officers and soldiers in some posts are also issued with submachine guns, and this makes the reorganized 74th Division still have a considerable number of submachine guns in addition to combat units.
Of course, this configuration allows the department's organs and auxiliary support units to have considerable melee firepower, and even units such as the engineer battalion will be temporarily pulled into the line of fire and used as infantry if necessary.
After the quantitative briefing is clear, the model of the submachine gun of the integrated 74th Division should also be mentioned.
Specifically, the division was armed with two types of submachine guns, an American-style Thomson submachine gun, which was called the Tom type at the time, and a Canadian-made Stern submachine gun, also known as the Canadian type, and the ratio of armament between the two guns was roughly 1 to 1.
After the start of the Liberation War, the reorganized 74th Division relied on its intensive firepower for a time, but it also lost a large number of veteran backbones and some submachine guns.
By the time of the Battle of Menglianggu in May 1947, the reorganized 74th Division was completely annihilated by the East China Field Army, and a large number of submachine guns were captured.
According to the statistics of Huaye after the war, a total of 2,482 submachine guns were captured in this battle, and it can be said that all the submachine guns equipped by the reorganized 74th Division at that time were basically taken down (note: so there was a certain loss in the previous battle).
In addition, because during the Battle of Menglianggu, most of the ammunition of the division in Duozhuang, the ammunition abandoned at the foot of the mountain, and the ammunition dropped by air were captured by our army, so the capture of submachine gun shells was not a few.
These submachine guns and ammunition have greatly improved the equipment level of the main force of Huaye, especially the submachine gun, which is a weapon that is good at close combat, can be described as a tiger with wings, and it is also of great benefit to the improvement of combat effectiveness.