In war dramas and some military materials, we can often see the establishment of special service companies, special service battalions, and even special service regiments.
In fact, the so-called "spies" here are not the kind of ** personnel in spy war dramas, but the category of troops that undertake special tasks. Specifically, it can be a guard unit, and it also incorporates some technical arms of the time.
Especially in the 1930s, the Northwest Army units preferred to organize such "spies" units.
For example, the famous 29th Army, under the name of one army, has various types of "special service groups", the number of which is as many as seven.
So how were these "secret service groups" organized?What are the differences in the specific types?
First of all, let's sort out the configuration levels of these 7 special service groups.
Level 1: 2 military special service groups.
There are two special service regiments under the jurisdiction of the special service brigade directly under the military headquarters, namely the 1st Regiment and the 2nd Regiment.
Among them, the 1st Regiment is not much different from the ordinary infantry regiment, with 3 battalions and 12 companies under its jurisdiction, but there is no machine gun company and mortar company directly under the ordinary infantry regiment.
Although it is said that its direct detachments are not as rich as ordinary infantry regiments, in fact, this regiment undertakes the traditional "pistol team" task in the history of the Northwest Army, that is, its essence is the military headquarters guard regiment of the 29th Army.
In such a unit, the soldiers are all elites selected by the whole army, and the equipment is naturally different from that of ordinary infantry, but a large number of shell guns, submachine guns, and light machine guns.
The 2nd Special Service Regiment is a whole technical arms regiment.
The regiment also has three battalions, but it is extremely rich in configuration and types of equipment.
The 1st Battalion was an anti-aircraft artillery battalion with 4 companiesThe 2nd Battalion was a machine-gun battalion with 4 companiesThe 3rd Battalion is rich, and although its name is an engineer battalion, it has 6 companies under its jurisdiction, and the configuration is also very interesting.
The 1st company is a wired company, the first company is a wireless company, the 5th company is a tank company, and the 6th company is an engineer company.
In other words, the so-called engineer battalion is actually a mixed company of communications, engineers, and armored vehicles.
From the above two regiments of the special service brigade directly under the military headquarters of the 29th Army, it is not difficult for us to see the basic configuration of the combat, support, and guard forces of the army directly under the corps level at that time.
Second level: 4 divisional special service regiments.
The 29th Army has a total of 4 infantry divisions under its jurisdiction, namely the 37th Division, the 38th Division, the 132nd Division, and the 143rd Division.
According to the infantry division of the 29th Army at that time, each division had a special service regiment, so the four infantry divisions had a total of four special service regiments.
So what is the difference between the special service regiment directly under the division headquarters and the army special service regiment?
According to the establishment, the special service regiment directly under the division headquarters is composed of five battalions and one company, with a total strength of 2,850 troops.
Among them, the 1 company directly under it refers to the heavy mortar company, and the 5 battalions are: pistol battalion, cavalry battalion, artillery battalion, engineer battalion, and heavy machine gun battalion.
Obviously, the special service regiment directly under the division headquarters is also very rich in the types of battalions and companies under its jurisdiction.
Among them, the pistol battalion is responsible for the guard work of the divisional units, which does not need to be emphasized.
It is also needless to emphasize that the cavalry battalion is responsible for mobile raids and reconnaissance tasks, and the engineer battalion is responsible for the corresponding engineering duties.
The existence of the heavy machine gun battalion is actually worth mentioning, because at that time, the 29th Army collected all the heavy machine guns in the establishment below the brigade level, so the units below the brigade level wanted to get heavy machine gun support, and the only way to get heavy machine gun support was from the heavy machine gun battalion at the division headquarters.
As for the artillery battalion and the heavy mortar battery, it is clear that they are extremely important fire support units of the 29th Army, with 16 mountain artillery pieces and 8 heavy mortars respectively.
Judging from the number of establishments, the divisional artillery configuration of the 29th Army is still okay, after all, in the domestic troops at that time, even the infantry divisions of the ** Army may not have mountain artillery.
Of course, the 29th Army itself is extraordinary, and the establishment of the infantry division under its jurisdiction is actually the strength of a normal army, and in this context, it seems that there is an artillery battalion and a heavy mortar company, of course, it is not so abrupt.
We mentioned above the 2 special service regiments directly under the military headquarters, and then the 4 special service regiments directly under the division headquarters, so what is the situation with the last remaining special service group?
At that time, in addition to the divisions and brigades with normal numbers, the 29th Army actually had a number of independent brigades, some of which were not actually "independent", but were assigned to various divisions and served as fixed units.
The exceptions are the 39th and 40th Separate Brigades.
Among them, there is a special service regiment in the formation of the 39th Independent Brigade, which is within the establishment of the 29th Army:
Category **: That is, 1 brigade special service group.
Of course, the organization of this regiment is different from that of the corps and divisions, and it actually has two special service battalions to undertake guard duties, while the third battalion is a mixed battalion of arms, which has a pistol company, a cavalry company, an artillery company, and an engineer company.
Therefore, we can say that the establishment of the 29th Army at that time can be said to be indeed a unique existence, even if it is organized into 7 special service groups in one go, it can be subdivided into three grades and four types.
So in addition to the establishment of the special service regiment, are there corresponding special service detachments in other units at all levels of the 29th Army?
The answer is: Yes.
Among them, the 39th Independent Brigade has a special service battalion, and the general infantry brigade has a special service company.
The 9th Cavalry Division is directly subordinate to the Special Service Company; The 9th Cavalry Brigade of the Cavalry Division has its own special service company; The 13th Cavalry Brigade, which is independent, also has a special service company.
Therefore, within the organization of the 29th Army, the strength of special service detachments at all levels is very large, and this is a topic that deserves our attention in studying the history of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression today.