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After the victory of the Liaoshen Campaign in 1948, the Northeast Field Army entered the country to fight, with a total force of more than 800,000.

At this time, the East China Field Army was strong in both men and horses. The 12 field infantry columns were basically fully equipped and even exceeded the established strength. In addition, each column was also equipped with an additional infantry division, bringing the total number of infantry divisions in the entire column to 4.

In this way, the strength of the columns under the Northeast Field Army will be even stronger.

Taking the 3rd Column of the Northeast Field Army, known as the "Whipwind Column", as an example, the total strength of the column when it entered the pass reached 58,775 people.

Among the three main divisions under its command, two have a strength of more than 13,000 troops, and one has more than 12,000 troops; the newly joined Liaodong Military Region Independent Division also has a total strength of more than 10,000 troops; in addition, there is a large column headquarters and direct-affiliated teams.

Because the 3rd Column of the Northeast Field Army had annihilated a large number of enemies in the previous Liaoshen Campaign, reaching nearly 40,000; especially in the process of encircling and annihilating Liao Yaoxiang's Corps, it directly smashed the command organs of his corps and various elite armies, and while greatly accelerating the victory of the battle, it also seized a large number of American weapons, such as submachine guns.

At that time, although submachine guns had been equipped to the squad and platoon levels of the Kuomintang Army's American-equipped units, the guard forces of the corps and army-level command agencies were certainly equipped with more. If these units were destroyed, it would be obvious that the submachine guns seized would be numerous and of high quality.

After seizing these weapons, they were naturally used by our army.

Therefore, when the 3rd Column of the Northeast Field Army entered the Pass, it was equipped with 3,541 submachine guns.

You should know that at the peak of the Kuomintang Army's New 1st Army after returning from India, it was equipped with 4,097 submachine guns, which was the highest number of equipment.

After that, the number of submachine guns equipped by the various armies of the National Army did not exceed this number, and even the New 1st Army itself did not reach this number of equipment.

By December 1946, the actual number of submachine guns equipped by the new 1st Army was 3,519.

Just two years later, when the 3rd Column of the Northeast Field Army entered the pass, the number of submachine guns it possessed exceeded that of the previous New 1st Army.

Of course, because our 3rd Column had 4 infantry divisions under its command at the time, the submachine guns were distributed among the 4 divisions. In addition, some submachine guns were also equipped in the column headquarters and direct teams.

In terms of the equipment quantity of each division:

The 7th Division (118th Division) was equipped with 997 submachine guns;

The 8th Division (119th Division) was equipped with 769 submachine guns;

The 9th Division (120th Division) was equipped with 831 submachine guns;

The Liaoning Military Region Independent Division (153rd Division) was equipped with 749 submachine guns;

The remaining submachine guns were equipped to the column headquarters and various direct teams. After all, the direct teams of the East China Field Army Column were very large at that time, and teams such as the guard battalion, field howitzer regiment, cavalry reconnaissance team, etc. all had to be equipped with some submachine guns.

If we look back at the submachine guns equipped by each division, even the field division newly incorporated into the column had about 750 submachine guns.

If the squad leader and deputy squad leader of each infantry squad are each equipped with a submachine gun, then the company's 9 infantry squads will need 18 submachine guns; the regiment's 9 infantry companies + 1 guard company will need 180 submachine guns; the division's 3 infantry regiments + 1 guard battalion will need about 600 submachine guns.

If a division has 750 submachine guns, the above basic needs can certainly be met, and there will be additional submachine guns to be equipped to the organs and technical arms battalions and companies.

The number one main force division at that time, the 7th Division (118th Division), was equipped with nearly 1,000 submachine guns. The submachine guns in the infantry squads, organs, direct teams, and technical arms units would undoubtedly be more abundant.

The effective range of a submachine gun is not large, and in today's weapon sequence it is only a sidearm and auxiliary weapon in field troops; but in the combat environment of that year, the submachine gun was a weapon very suitable for our army, which was accustomed to night combat and close combat.

Especially for a unit that is good at assault like the 3rd Column (40th Army), equipping it with a large number of submachine guns will help it to exert its excellent assault power, which will be like adding wings to a tiger and will greatly contribute to the subsequent series of victories.