I want to be emperor

Chapter 1197 Fully Protective Armored Vehicle

In the field of motor vehicles, cars are now not only used in large quantities by the general public, but are also rapidly replacing horse-drawn carriages.

The same is true in the military field, but due to cost issues, military vehicles are mainly purchased and used in the form of tricycles, supplemented by trucks.

Armored vehicles and tanks are more special because they should not be counted as ordinary motor vehicles. Instead, they are firepower output weapons, which are the same concept as guns and cannons.

But no matter what is done, the degree of motorization in the Chu army is now relatively high... You can't deny the degree of motorization of the Chu army just because it uses tricycles on a large scale.

At the same time, many vehicles used by the Chu army, especially transport vehicles, were actually improved civilian vehicles. There were very few specialized military vehicles, which made them expensive.

The Type 15 truck is a typical example. It was originally a civilian truck, and was later selected by the military as a military model. Although its military model is slightly different from the civilian model, the difference is not big.

Tricycles are no exception. Except for the sidecar tricycles which are quite special, many other three-wheeled vehicles are improved versions of civilian tricycles.

This is mainly to significantly reduce costs...

Today, the "American off-road vehicles" allocated to officers are no exception. The prototype is the pickup truck of the North American Motors Corporation. The North American Motors Corporation came up with this thing after optimizing the off-road performance.

The Chu army had already ordered a lot of them for use, and this time, Crown Prince Luo Jun inspected and watched them, and after riding them for a while, he expressed his approval. If nothing unexpected happens, this off-road vehicle will enter large-scale military service.

In addition, this off-road vehicle can not only be used by officers, but can also tow a non-powered carriage or a 75mm mountain cannon at the back. Under special circumstances, it can be used as a towing vehicle.

Well, in fact, most of the vehicles in the Chu army have this traction capability, whether it is a 15 truck, an American off-road vehicle, or a large number of three-wheeled vehicles.

There is usually a towing hook at the back, which can be used to tow light and heavy artillery.

Even a small tricycle has a towing hook that can be used to pull artillery at the back.

The artillery towed by these light vehicles on a daily basis are basically 70mm infantry guns.

At this time, when Crown Prince Luo Jun and his companions were inspecting the artillery, they saw the improved version of the 48-type 70mm infantry gun of the Guangdong-Guangxi Weapons Company that had just been finalized by the military. The 48-type improved 70mm infantry gun is also called the 55-type 70mm infantry gun.

This latest Type 52 70mm infantry gun that has been finalized and put into service inherits the advantages of a series of mm infantry guns in the Chu Army, that is, it is light and detachable. At the same time, its accuracy and power have been improved compared to the previous generation Type , because the shells of this artillery use a new type of yellow gunpowder as the explosive charge.

  This makes the killing radius larger!

Improvements to the gun barrel also allow the artillery to withstand greater chamber pressure, thereby achieving a higher range, and the accuracy is also improved.

The Type 55 70mm infantry gun has made significant improvements in accuracy and power while maintaining the weight of the Type 48 70mm infantry gun.

This can be considered as the second generation of rapid-fire breech-loading rifled guns.

Although it is small in size and is just an infantry artillery, the Guangdong-Guangxi Weapons Company actually used a lot of new technologies in this small artillery.

The new alloy steel barrel, more scientific and superior rifle design and processing technology, and optimized shells are matched.

Plus improved propellant and a brand new explosive charge.

Even the iron wheels used on the gun carriage are made of new alloy steel materials to ensure strength and reduce weight.

This type of artillery can be said to be a comprehensive breakthrough for the Chu army in the design and manufacturing of small and medium caliber artillery.

  The performance of the artillery produced in this way is naturally very good. Although the price has increased, it is still within the acceptable range for the military.

The 70mm infantry guns of the Chu army, all models, have always weighed no more than 200 kilograms. They can be towed by one or two horses, and of course they can also be towed by a tricycle.

At the same time, it can be disassembled and transported by horses, or simply thrown into the carriage of a tricycle for transportation.

In case of emergency, it can be disassembled and directly transported manually.

It is precisely because of this lightness that the 70mm infantry gun has become the most important field artillery in the Chu army...no doubt about it.

Such as 75mm field guns with longer range, howitzers, even 100mm howitzers, cannons, etc.

And various mortars.

In terms of tactical and even strategic role, it is far inferior to the role of 70mm infantry gun.

Because this thing is light, it can be directly deployed to battalion-level troops. During battle, you can even see the commander of the Chu army directly strengthening this thing to the infantry company-level troops that are carrying out the mission.

Therefore, when fighting overseas, it was common to see a Chu army of more than a hundred people fighting with a 70mm infantry gun behind them to provide fire support.

And because of its light weight, this type of artillery can be deployed in almost all terrains, whether it is on plains, in mountains, or in jungles.

Of course, the above advantages can actually be achieved by 60mm and 80mm mortars, and they are even lighter... Even the 80mm mortar is only a few dozen kilograms, and the small 60mm mortar is even lighter. The Chu army directly deploys this thing to the infantry company level. In actual combat, the infantry platoon can also directly get fire support from the 60mm mortar.

  However, the 70mm infantry gun has an advantage that the mortar cannot match, that is, accuracy and flat shooting!

Even though the barrel of the 70mm infantry gun is very short, the trajectory is very curved when it attacks at long distances, but it is still rifled.

It has the high accuracy characteristics of a rifled gun.

This is something that is difficult to match with current mortars.

After all, current mortars are limited by technology, and their accuracy is not very good. Most of the time, they rely on rate of fire to cover the bombardment to get a hit, and accurate hits are difficult.

At the same time, mortars can only fire indirect fire and grenades, which leads to a lack of ability to attack fortifications.

The 70mm infantry gun is different. It can be laid flat for firing, and is very useful for dealing with indigenous earthworks.

  The 70mm infantry gun developed by the contemporary Chu Army can almost meet all the supporting firepower needs of the front-line infantry!

It can be used as a howitzer to directly attack enemy targets more than 2,000 meters away, and it can also hit medium and short-range targets within a few hundred meters.

It can also indirect fire to attack enemies hiding behind trenches and other fortifications.

You can also shoot directly at the enemy's earthworks.

It is definitely a panacea. When the infantry needs artillery support, just pull this thing up.

This is why the Chu army, even though they had already developed and equipped 60mm and 80mm mortars, still could not replace the 70mm infantry gun. Even in the past ten years, the number of 70mm infantry guns in the front-line troops has been further increased. At present, even each infantry battalion in the second-line troops is equipped with at least two of these guns.

A small number of front-line field troops may even be equipped with three or even four guns in excess of the quota.

As for the corresponding 80mm mortar, there are actually relatively few of them, and they are often used as special artillery, that is, as the main artillery of the battalion level in extremely special terrains, or specifically used for indirect fire attacks.

The Chu army actually has a small number of 80mm mortars.

There are more 60mm mortars. After all, this thing does not conflict with the 70mm infantry gun and is mainly used as company-level firepower.

Taking the conventional field forces currently deployed in Europe as an example, an infantry battalion usually has two 70mm infantry guns, two 80mm mortars, and six heavy machine guns.

Each of the subordinate infantry companies is equipped with a 60mm mortar.

In addition, light machine guns have begun to be equipped in the past two years. Currently, the regular troops on the front line of the Army are equipped with one light machine gun per infantry platoon.

The above are pure infantry equipment. In addition, there will be different numbers of sidecar three-wheelers. This vehicle is mainly used as a command vehicle for the front-line officers of each battalion and company. In addition, some of them are equipped with heavy machine guns and used as light armed vehicles and reconnaissance vehicles, but the organization has not yet been determined.

In fact, the Chu Army is still groping in the dark regarding the use and organization of various motor vehicles, including armored vehicles. Currently, there is no clear unified organization or even tactics. Basically, there are all kinds of them, depending on the preferences and tactical patterns of the front-line commanders.

  The top management also acquiesced to this model of letting a hundred flowers bloom, trying to explore and find the best organization and usage path!

This means that in an infantry battalion, in addition to the machine guns used directly by the infantry, there are also several vehicle-mounted heavy machine guns used by motorcyclists.

Then the infantry generally used the Type 27 repeating rifle, which was a repeating rifle with a ten-round detachable magazine. In the hands of a skilled shooter, it could produce very fast shots. An infantry squad using this weapon could unleash extremely fierce firepower.

In addition, there are some miscellaneous pistols, shotguns, precision rifles, etc., but they have little impact.

The firepower of such an infantry battalion is extremely powerful. Even if it does not receive fire support from higher-level divisions, it can launch a war of annihilation in Europe with its own firepower alone!

  This is not bragging, but the Chu army really did it!

Many times, it is just an infantry battalion of just over a thousand people that serves as a strategic pillar in a certain region and intimidates the local indigenous countries.

Such an infantry battalion is enough to defeat an army of tens of thousands of indigenous troops in an offensive operation. This kind of army specifically refers to the indigenous regular army that is fully equipped with single-shot breech-loading rifles such as the Type 18 rifle, as well as various smoothbore cannons.

If it was a defensive battle, then it would be even more impossible for tens of thousands of natives to attack the defense line of the Chu army's regular army.

This is not bragging, but the result of many actual combat tests.

Moreover, this is limited to independent operations, without support from friendly forces, and unable to obtain air support, sea support and other extreme situations.

If the Chu army cooperated in the battle, it would be even worse for the natives.

  Often, as soon as some indigenous rebels gathered and set out, they would be discovered by the Chu army's aerial reconnaissance aircraft. The Chu army would then directly send out armored vehicles and tricycles to kill them, and use vehicle-mounted machine guns to carry out large-scale strafing within a few hundred meters before the indigenous rebels could react!

And then nothing happened!

Today, the Chu army is fighting in Europe, India, West Asia and other regions. They like to use various armored vehicles, which run fast and the power of the vehicle-mounted machine guns is really great.

Those indigenous cavalry were simply unable to effectively intercept the Chu army's armored convoy.

As soon as they found the enemy gathering, the Chu army would basically send out armored vehicles to launch a devastating attack... Even if there were no armored vehicles, they would use sidecar three-wheelers, or simply use ordinary three-wheelers with machine guns. Ordinary three-wheelers can also carry machine guns, but it is more troublesome.

  After the battle, they were too lazy to even capture prisoners. They just fired from a distance with the vehicle-mounted machine gun, and when they ran out of bullets they went home... and reloaded and fought again!

Therefore, in fact, in overseas battlefields, it is rare to see the regular army of the Chu Army seriously dispatching battalion-level troops to engage in so-called field battles... The other side simply does not have the courage to conduct a large-scale assembly in front of the Chu Army.

As soon as you dare to gather, the Chu army will send out regular troops to give you a devastating blow... Over time, these indigenous rebels no longer gathered, and often fought sporadic battles.

Many of them were small-scale battles between Chu army patrols and indigenous rebels, or these rebels attacked some Chu army outposts.

However, the regular Chu army generally does not do this kind of mission, that is the job of the foreign legions.

The regular troops deployed by the Chu Army overseas do not participate in these security operations. They are used as strategic forces to target large-scale indigenous rebels and are also used to deter indigenous agents.

Whether in the regular army or the foreign legion, the 70mm infantry gun is a very important artillery.

The Foreign Legion is also equipped with a large number of early-production Type 34 series 70mm infantry guns that were retired from the regular army. Although the performance of these early 70mm infantry guns is a bit poor, they have all the necessary features and are quite powerful in combat.

However, as the foreign legions used these advanced weapons too much, they were bound to lose them for various reasons, and these weapons might fall into the hands of some indigenous rebels.

Therefore, in contemporary overseas areas, some indigenous rebels may actually have the Type 25 repeating rifle or the Type 24 rifle that uses 8mm black powder bullets.

There may even be weapons such as 70mm infantry guns and machine guns, but their numbers are extremely small and they cannot play a decisive role.

But it will more or less bring some trouble to the Chu army.

This also prompted the Chu army to continue upgrading its weapons, and armored vehicles were a typical example... For the natives, they might be able to obtain sporadic machine guns or even 70mm artillery, but it was impossible to obtain armored vehicles.

Even if you get it, you can't use it... because armored vehicles need gasoline and spare parts for maintenance, and they can only be used once or twice at most.

But for the Chu army, these armored vehicles can enable them to gain more tactical and strategic advantages.

In particular, the 783 tank, which adopts the concept of comprehensive protection, was officially ordered by the Army to purchase this full-track tank after Prince Luo Jun finished his inspection.

Also purchased was a five-ton wheeled armored vehicle. This Type 556 armored vehicle produced by the Guangdong-Guangxi Weapon Company also adopts the concept of heavy armor protection. The side and rear armor are eight millimeters thick, which can effectively resist attacks from various light weapons. The main weapon uses two eight-millimeter heavy machine guns. Unlike other larger-tonnage armored vehicles that also have troop transport functions, this armored vehicle does not have troop transport functions.

It is a pure fire output armored vehicle.

The 556 armored vehicles and the 783 tanks are two types of armored vehicles that are specially customized and used in combination with the Chu army's complex tanks.

At the same time, the Chu Army also has a tradition of sending advanced weapons to overseas areas for small-scale actual combat testing after they are finalized. Therefore, it was not long before a batch of 556 armored vehicles and 783 tanks were sent to the battlefield in West Asia.

Recently, local rebel activities have been rampant, and the Chu army is gradually mobilizing troops to carry out a large-scale cleanup operation.

It was just right that this batch of dozens of armored vehicles were sent to this place for actual combat testing, in order to verify whether this type of armored vehicles with a comprehensive protection concept is really as useful as theoretically predicted!

If the actual combat is successful and the effect is good, then the Chu Army may purchase the equipment on a large scale. A few years later, perhaps the Chu Army stationed overseas in various places may be equipped with these two armored vehicles.

  This will further enhance the Chu Army's military control capabilities in various overseas regions and reduce the combat casualties of the regular army. At the same time, it will replace the security and combat functions of some foreign legions to a certain extent, and prevent the foreign legions from becoming larger and more important!

These two armored vehicles suppressed not only the indigenous rebels, but also the foreign legions!