Reborn South Africa as a police officer

Chapter 2467 Take it apart first

The "Lion King" tank has a total combat weight of 55 tons, a frontal armor thickness of 115mm, and a turret frontal armor thickness of 130mm. It is equipped with an 88mm tank gun, a 7.7mm coaxial machine gun, and a 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine gun.

In terms of power, the "Lion King" tank uses the LD1941 12-cylinder water-cooled engine produced by Diesel, with a maximum power of 750 horsepower, a maximum road speed of 55 kilometers, and an off-road speed of 25 kilometers.

The "Tiger King" has thicker armor than the "Lion King", but the engine power is only 700, the fastest road speed is 30 kilometers, the cross-country speed is only 10 kilometers, and the mobility is seriously insufficient.

Ma Le, the head of the 401st Regiment, graduated from the Pretoria Armored Forces Academy. He has participated in the Brazilian Civil War and the North African Campaign and has rich experience.

"The new German tanks are extremely defensive. The 75mm tank gun equipped by Sherman cannot penetrate the armor of the new tanks at all. The only information we have now is that the new German tanks are relatively slow. Can't catch up with us." Colonel Thomas from the US 3rd Armored Army reminded Marle not to repeat the mistakes of the 3rd Armored Army.

Sherman's combat weight is only more than 30 tons, equipped with 75mm tank guns, and standard small horse-drawn carts.

This is also the habit of Americans. Americans always pursue the ultimate firepower, while ignoring the overall performance of tanks.

The performance of the "Lion King" is very balanced, with strong firepower and high defense, and the external armor brings stronger protection to the Lion King.

The tank guns in southern Africa are not bad, and they incorporate part of the German and French technology. Compared with the southern African tank guns, they are slightly insufficient.

"Why run away? Exposing the weaker armored rear of the car body to the German tanks, you will kill yourself." Marle is still confident, and the German tanks have obvious weaknesses.

Southern Africa does not have the problem of being unable to defeat. Even if the defense of the "Lion King" is worse than that of the "Tiger King", it is not to the point of being broken at the touch of a touch. , It's definitely no problem to fight two against one.

Don't pay attention to chivalry at this time. Marle assumes that the speed of "King Tiger" is as fast as that of "King Lion". After all, Sherman has not forced the full strength of "King Tiger".

"Don't worry too much. When we attack tomorrow, the Air Force will send a bomber brigade to cooperate with us. The Germans cannot have too many new tanks. France is not the main battlefield." Chief of Staff Alexander called Air Force support, "Tiger As long as the king dares to appear, he will be destroyed.

There was nothing to say all night, at 7 o'clock in the morning on July 18, the reloaded 401 regiment launched an attack on the German position on the west side of San Roche according to the plan.

At the same time, the 47th and 51st Armored Divisions of the US Army also attacked the German army. The Allied forces dispatched a total of nearly 400 tanks, an unprecedented scale.

The position of the German army is very rigorous, built along the river, and the terrain occupies an absolute advantage.

The "Lion" has a wading capacity of 1.8 meters and can directly ford across the river. Before the troops launched an attack, the 131st Bomber Battalion who came to support repeatedly bombed the German positions for an hour and a half. At the beginning, most of the fortifications on the German positions were completely destroyed.

"Unfortunately, our bombers did not find the new German tanks. It seems that the Germans have done a good job of camouflage." Alexander was slightly disappointed. With the Allied forces controlling the air supremacy, the German camouflage skills became more and more sophisticated.

"I said a long time ago that it is up to us to solve the problem." Marle was not disappointed. If the bombers were to find the new German tanks, Marle and the others would be in vain.

The battle begins soon.

The 401th Armored Infantry Regiment cooperated with the 417st Regiment to attack. Although the 417th Regiment was infantry, it was equipped with 11 "Leopard" tanks and 39 "Alligator" armored vehicles. Equipped to the platoon level and the bazooka to the squad level, even if they face the German armor alone, they are not invincible.

In order to lure the "Tiger King" to attack, Ma Le only dispatched one tank company, and the other two tank companies were ready to attack in a roundabout manner at any time.

The German army suffered a lot from the previous shelling and bombing, and the counterattack was very weak. The only two 88mm high-level dual-purpose guns were called out shortly after they were fired. Marle only lost a few pieces of external armor. Another "Lion King" got stuck in the mud and couldn't get out of the battle.

"Armored soldiers, keep going!" Marle's mood was not affected. The 17 "Lion Kings" were enough to fight against the No. [-] tanks of a German regiment.

There were not many tanks that the Germans could dispatch. When the "Dragon Cavalry" operation was launched, the German tanks could not reach the battlefield in time due to lack of fuel.

Now that the Allied forces have occupied Lyon, the German army has lost its largest logistics center in southern France. On the side of Caen, the Allied forces even captured the No. [-] tank that the German army had voluntarily discarded due to lack of fuel. The embarrassment of the Germans is evident.

"Number Six, there is a German machine gun stronghold right in front of you, kill it!"

"Number 11 pays attention to controlling the speed and maintaining the formation—"

"Number two, pay attention to the bomb crater in front of you to the right, there are Germans there!"

Marle kept reminding his tank crew through the car radio.

The tankers are also experienced. They hide in the solid tank body and use the periscope to observe the battlefield. Their main target is the German tanks. The scattered infantry do not need to worry about the tankers. The infantry accompanying the "Lion King" attack will take care of them.

"I found a German tank—not a new tank, but the German No. 11—" the excited voice of the No. [-] commander came from the radio.

"Leave it to me!"

"I'll deal with it!"

"Medal, here I come!"

The communication channel suddenly became chaotic, and there were not many valuable targets. Killing a hundred infantrymen was not as good as a German tank.

The No. 1000 commander on the opposite side is probably very collapsed. The tank guns of a dozen "Lion Kings" are all aiming at the moment. At a distance of 88 meters, the [-]mm tank gun of the "Lion King" can easily penetrate the armor of the No. [-].

The No. [-] commander tried his best to evade, but was hit by several armor-piercing shells at the same time. The violent explosion completely engulfed No. [-]. The turret flew several meters high, and the shells that exploded were as eye-catching as gorgeous fireworks. All crew members died when the hull was penetrated.

The tank that was penetrated was like an iron cage, and shell fragments flew around in the narrow body, and the human body was torn apart in an instant.

A mere No. [-] could not satisfy the appetite of the commanders. More than a dozen "Lion Kings" rushed into the German positions at the same time. Some German soldiers used rocket launchers to attack the "Lion Kings". If the assault rifle knocks it down, even if the rocket hits the "Lion", it will not be able to penetrate the armor of the Lion.

To deal with heavy tanks like the "Lion King", armor-piercing bullets are still needed.

The German "King Tiger" did not appear until the southern African tanks rushed into the German battlefield.

In order to avoid the bombing of the Allied forces, the Germans dug tank bunkers directly underground, and carefully camouflaged the bunkers with branches and camouflage nets. No wonder the bombers could not find the new German tanks.

The turret of the "King Tiger" was in front of the car body. When the "King Tiger" rushed out of the underground bunker, the three-meter-long gun barrel was first discovered by Marle.

"Shoot, aim and shoot—" Marle didn't retreat immediately, and he had to shoot first before talking about whether he could pass.

boom--

Marle's tank fired first, hitting the front armor of the "King Tiger" turret, and was directly bounced off.

German tanks now also use sloped armor, and the 180 mm armor on the front of the "King Tiger" turret is difficult to penetrate directly.

If they couldn't penetrate the front, they went around to the side, and the three "Lion Kings" opened fire almost at the same time.

This time, the "Tiger King" was finally penetrated, and the explosion was astonishing. The "Tiger King" used a gasoline engine, and if it was directly penetrated, there was a high probability that it would cause a martyrdom explosion.

"Up and up, continue to attack—" After destroying a "Tiger King", Ma Le was determined, it seemed that he could wipe out all the "Tiger Kings" without using tactics to lure the enemy.

Then Marle found four "Tiger Kings" appearing together.

One "Tiger King" can be beaten, and the difficulty of four cars rises sharply, but the "Lion Kings" did not back down, and they faced the "Tiger King" head-on.

At this time, the distance between the two sides is actually very close, and a casual shot can penetrate the opponent's armor.

The external armor equipped by the "Lion King" played a huge role. Marle's tank was hit at close range. Although the armor-piercing projectile only hit the external armor, the tank's tracks were interrupted and it lost its ability to move.

"Move, don't give the enemy a chance to aim calmly—" Ma Le quickly released the smoke bomb and ordered the crew to abandon the car and escape.

Car No. [-] was also unlucky. The joint between the turret and the car body was hit by the "King Tiger". Although the car body was not penetrated, the turret lost its ability to rotate and had to withdraw from the battle.

The loss ended here, and the battle was easier than Marle had planned. The two tank companies responsible for the detour had not yet arrived on the battlefield. Four of the five King Tigers were destroyed, and one was severely damaged.

After the battle, Ma Le discovered that the Germans not only lacked fuel, but also had a serious shortage of shells, especially armor-piercing shells. Only the "King Tiger" was qualified to equip them, and each "King Tiger" had only ten shells.

No wonder the battle went easier.

Southern Africa is easy, but the U.S. military is not.

The rocket launchers of the German infantry could not penetrate the armor of the "Lion King", but they could easily penetrate the armor of Sherman.

Sherman has not installed external reactive armor, and it is difficult to survive being hit, especially the side and rear with weak armor, which are more vulnerable to German attacks.

If Cherbourg is not counted, this should be the first tough battle for the US military to arrive in Europe. The 47 tanks of the 125th Division participated in the attack, and 42 were destroyed within less than an hour of the battle. The infantry accompanying Sherman's attack The loss was also heavy. On this day, except for the reloading of the 401st Regiment, which captured the position on the west side of St. Rothschild, there was no progress in several other directions.

The "King Tiger" that was wounded by the German army was dragged back to the camp by the Allied forces after the battle.

If possible, Ma Le would like to tow this "King Tiger" back to southern Africa for disassembly.

It's a pity that it's unrealistic. The Americans are watching closely. If Marle wants to take "Tiger King" away, Little Button will probably turn his back on him.

Patton Jr. was in a bad mood. Including the previous attack, the 3rd Armored Army had lost nearly 2.5 men at San Lo, which was more serious than the loss of the British army.

Although Patton Jr. has a lot of experience in commanding armored troops, he still can't change his habit of rushing and fighting in battle. Even in the face of the tight German defense, Patton Jr. ordered the troops not to retreat. People are pushed to death.

"This thing doesn't have much technical content. It's just a pile of defense. The German engine is a bit weak. With a standard small horse-drawn cart, it is estimated that even if this tank is on the road, it will be difficult to reach a speed of 401 kilometers per hour." The logistics director of the reloaded [-] regiment, Jim Kohler, is an engineer and is familiar with tank technology.

"How many tons does this stuff have? 80? Or 90?" Captain Andrew of the 51st Armored Division was also a technical officer.

"Up to 50 tons, I don't understand why the Germans didn't control the weight to about [-] tons, so that the performance will be more balanced." Jim Kohler couldn't understand.

In fact, German engineers also know the importance of speed for tanks, but what Mustache needs is a heavy tank with super defensive power, so German engineers can only abandon mobility and pile up defense desperately.

That's what a leader does.

When speaking on the radio, Mustache is definitely an expert, and his appeal is extremely powerful.

He is not good at commanding the production of military industry departments, and even worse at designing weapons and equipment. But Mustache stretches out his hands everywhere and makes some serious and unreasonable demands, which not only wastes precious strategic resources, but also affects the performance of the German army on the battlefield.

Before the outbreak of the World War, Mustache insisted on the development of airship troops, completely disregarding that in the First World War, airships had been eliminated by fighter jets.

When the German army was going well, the consequences were not serious.

Now the evil results have finally exploded. The "King Tiger" is the epitome of Germany's dying struggle. With Germany's current capabilities, even if the production of the "King Tiger" is open, there will not be a few cars. The Krupp factory that produces the "King Tiger" has always been a Allied bombing targets.

From finalizing at the end of last year to now, only 280 "King Tiger" have been produced.

"Even if the Germans produce faster tanks, Germany doesn't have enough fuel—" Andrew secretly rejoiced that the Germans were not killed, but were consumed alive.

If Germany had enough resources, perhaps Russia would not be able to survive the winter of 1941. After the Germans solved Russia, they would definitely go all out to deal with Britain.

At that time, I am afraid that the British royal family will really have to go into exile in Canada.

"Thank God!" Jim Kohler also rejoiced that the technical content of "Tiger King" is actually very high, and it is not useless.

The "King Tiger" was then sent back to the British mainland for dismantling as quickly as possible. In order to get the opportunity to participate in the dismantling of "Tiger King".

(End of this chapter)