afterglow

Chapter 556 Chapter 34 Is that...T-? A sudden change occurred!
Chrissy's appearance surprised Zhou Changfeng. Why did she appear here?

"Who sent you?"

"It was just a coincidence that I had a six-month field assignment in Baku."

"That's a coincidence." Zhou Changfeng smiled.

Xia Xiaoshi was equally surprised. She naturally remembered this foreign girl who had visited her before, and her thoughts suddenly started to wander.

The leader of the greeters was Colonel Georg, chief of staff of the Red Eagle Legion's Apsheron battle group. This was a fat officer who was completely opposite to the stereotype.

After the two sides saluted each other, he said: "Welcome to your arrival. The plane to Kiev can leave tomorrow, if you are willing."

"Ok."

"Please put your luggage and prepare for dinner."

The German garrison in the Baku area can be said to be selling sheep's meat to dogs. In name, they are all under the order of the volunteer army Red Eagle Legion, but in fact they are a complete regular army tactical group.

The Apsheron battle group is named after the Apsheron Peninsula where Baku is located. The force has 1 mountain division, 1 motorized infantry regiment, 2 independent armored battalions, 2 light anti-aircraft artillery battalions, 13 heavy Anti-aircraft artillery battery, as well as a large number of support units, the total strength is more than .

Since their defeat last year, the British have given up the idea of ​​capturing Baku by land and have instead sent more bombers to the French colonies of Aleppo and Damascus in an attempt to continue strategic bombing to paralyze the Baku oil fields.

The game of spears and shields has never stopped. The Royal Air Force's bomber formations are looking for trouble every now and then. And with the recent arrival of the US Army Air Force in Damascus, the invading enemies are no longer limited to Whitley MkIIs, but also B -17 figure.

Members of the previous inspection team saw many small airships, or air defense balloons, in the sky, and the mountains and fields in the distance were dotted with shining reflective spots—these were actually the wreckage of British and American bombers that had been shot down and crashed.

"The British and Americans have carried out 34 air strikes, and we have shot down 260 bombers, but the bombs they dropped still had a great impact." Colonel Georg said.

Zhou Changfeng nodded and said thoughtfully: "How much production capacity is left?"

"About 45%, if the situation does not worsen further."

"Are your oil supplies still sufficient?"

"Sorry, I don't understand the situation in the country."

The delegation stayed at the airport for a while, waiting for the arrival of the foreign mission.

The second Youyun-6 passenger plane carrying dozens of diplomats encountered turbulence during its descent and landed four minutes later than scheduled, but it landed safely.

Xia Xiaoshi and the two ministers' wives rode in the same car, while Zhou Changfeng got into the Horch 901 officer limousine, and Chris served as a temporary translator in the passenger seat.

The convoy was driving on the road in the northern suburbs of Baku, and along the way one could see oncoming Bushin heavy trucks, carrying bomber wreckage for recycling.

Looking into the distance, I saw slender barrels pointing diagonally into the sky. Those were the Flak36 88mm and Flak38 105mm heavy anti-aircraft guns.

Along the way, Zhou Changfeng was talking to Georg about his views on the British army.

The latter scorned the British army and proudly introduced that in December last year, the British 50th Infantry Division and the South African 1st Infantry Division invaded Baku. As a result, they were severely damaged by the 4th Mountain Division and the 33rd Infantry Division in the Shirvan area. After losing more than troops, they retreated in embarrassment. The two divisions of the Red Eagle Corps suffered only more than casualties.

Colonel Georg believed that the British infantry was well-trained and the artillery responded quickly. However, the command system had obvious shortcomings and the quality of the officers at the upper and lower levels was generally average, so it was not difficult to defeat them.

Zhou Changfeng agreed with his point of view. The British Army is relatively mediocre and cannot be compared with traditional land-based countries. Even though good industry has enabled the Army to have a very high mechanization rate and advanced communication equipment, its actual combat performance is still unsatisfactory. I'm sorry. Lots of eye-catching vehicles and equipment.

However, the main opponent of the Ming army was the British and Indian troops. There were differences between these servant armies and the real British army, so there was no forced comparison.

Zhou Changfeng suddenly smiled and asked the driver's seat in front: "Chris, what is your mission here?"

"It's simple. Spies hunting for the British, and sabotage squads tracking them."

"Sabotage team?"

"They are infiltrators who parachute into the country." Chris said calmly: "The British airdropped many of these guys through bombers. They carried radio stations and telescopes to guide the bombers to attack and report on the bombing effects."

"The British always like to do this kind of thing and cause trouble secretly. It must be troublesome to chase these small teams, right?"

"No, with radio direction finders and military dogs, it wasn't difficult, so they all died."

Chrissy wasn't bragging. Stasi's efficiency in this regard was unequivocal.

The captured spies were interrogated to assess whether they had any use or exchange value, and if not, they were executed immediately; the commandos airdropped by the British Army often dressed up as the people of the Apsheron Peninsula to hide, so even if they surrendered, they would be quick. was lawfully executed.

Zhou Changfeng praised me in a dumbfounded way, "Then I can rest assured. The British hate me so much that they might send someone to assassinate me."

Chrissy nodded thoughtfully and said hesitantly: "Attack you? There is indeed a risk, but there is no need to worry, we will ensure your safety."

"You want to go with us? But don't you still have a mission?"

"My field assignment ended last week and I will be on leave until next month."

The foreign mission and military inspection team did not stay in Baku for too long - it was a key target for British and American aviation, and there was always a risk of being attacked by air attacks, so it was not advisable to stay for a long time.

The next day, four Lufthansa Ju-57 passenger planes took off one after another and flew leisurely to Kiev.

Less than an hour after the planes left, radar deployed in Baku detected the incoming bomber formation.

The usual air raids are coming again!
In an instant, air defense sirens sounded throughout the city, soldiers rushed to their respective fighting positions, and several fighter jets on standby at the airport began to taxi...

But these have nothing to do with the Ming Dynasty mission and observation mission.

In the cabin, Zhou Changfeng asked Chris in the front seat: "What happened to the gift at that time?"

Because the Ju-52 is not a pressurized cabin, the sealing and sound insulation indicators are still at the level of the early s, so the noise inside is a bit loud.

Chris was silent, and after a few seconds she said, "With all due respect, that helmet doesn't look good."

Zhou Changfeng laughed, pointed at his head with his index finger and said, "The head should be more important than beauty."

Considering that Chris is a passionate idealist, the parting gift given by Zhou at that time was very unique. He hand-drawn sketches of an M56 steel helmet and a bulletproof vest with steel inserts.

Chris was naturally grateful, and knew that the two were indeed good designs that could provide an extra layer of protection for the lives of the soldiers.

Even so, she couldn't help but complain that the shape of the helmet was really unsightly, like a coal bucket buckled on the head.

The People's Army Weapons Bureau didn't care whether it looked good or not. They commissioned the Technical University of Berlin to verify this design. When it comes to life, practicality comes first. After preliminary testing, it was found that its protective capabilities were indeed excellent, so follow-up research and development instructions were quickly issued to determine the best internal and external design and production processes to facilitate subsequent mass production.

At 10:2 on the afternoon of October 16, local time, the passenger plane on which Zhou Changfeng and his party were traveling slowly landed in Kiev.

Unlike the red and blue parties in the east, where the tug of war continues, Ukraine's situation is slightly better, but order and security are still fragile, and armed groups composed of various dissidents still come out to cause trouble from time to time.

On the way to the hotel, a train roared past, towing a large number of flatbed cars carrying tanks and armored vehicles.

Among the tattered T-26 light tanks and BT-5 fast tanks, Zhou Changfeng noticed two different things.

Sloping car body, wide tracks, no supporting rollers...

He was very sure that he had not made a mistake, so he shouted: "Turn right! Chase that train!"

Chris thought she heard wrongly, turned her head and asked in confusion: "Chasing the train?"

"Yes, chase after it. I think I saw an important tank."

"what?"

Although she didn’t know why, Chris instructed the driver to turn around and chased him.

The 82-horsepower four-cylinder gasoline engine of the Volkswagen 23 bucket truck was running at full speed, driving the lightweight off-road vehicle to accelerate rapidly.

The train began to slow down and whistled as it prepared to enter the station.

Of course, the damaged tanks left on various battlefields cannot be wasted. It is best if they can be repaired. If the repair fails, some parts can be recycled, and the wreckage can be used for steelmaking.

This train carried more than twenty T-26s and BT-5s, which were dilapidated and rusty.

After a while, the off-road vehicle Zhou Changfeng was riding entered the train station.

The soldiers stationed here did not make things difficult for them and let them go after checking Chris's ID.

Zhou Changfeng also got his wish and saw something that had just passed by in a flash - the predecessor of the T-34 medium tank... and the predecessor of the predecessor.

An A-20 tank and two A-32 tanks were parked quietly on the flatbed truck, covered with rust, part of the tracks had fallen off, and the driving wheels of one vehicle were missing.

【Picture】

Three years ago, after discovering that the T-26 light tanks and BT-5 fast tanks it provided to the Spanish National Army were very fragile and could be used in a single strike, the Tsarist Russian Army was very dissatisfied with this situation. The generals felt that such tanks were not useful at all. .

So the military put forward new design requirements, which must ensure that the armor of the new tank can withstand a 37mm anti-tank gun without reducing mobility.

The Kharkiv Locomotive Factory responded to the military, and they quickly came up with a design plan for this seemingly unrealistic and contradictory request.

Without sacrificing mobility, you cannot blindly thicken the armor. So how to exchange the minimum armor thickness for the maximum bulletproof effect?

Their idea was to slope the armor - based on the BT-7 tank, they redesigned the shape of the body and turret, and thus came up with the A-20 solution for a new wheel-tracked tank.

The A-20 tank can be understood as a reskinned BT series fast tank. The structure is almost the same. It does greatly improve the protection capability while ensuring mobility, and is not afraid of the mainstream 37mm anti-tank gun.

However, the generals suddenly changed their minds and felt that the target set at that time was too low. They further requested that it be able to withstand the shooting of 45mm anti-tank guns at close range and the shooting of 75mm field guns at long distances, and that the firepower should be strengthened.

The Kharkiv Locomotive Factory had to redesign, thicken the armor, use a more powerful engine, use a larger caliber tank gun, and cancel the flashy wheel-track mechanism.

The final product is the A-32 tank, with a frontal armor thickness of 30mm, an empty weight of 19 tons, a 450-horsepower diesel engine, and a 76.2mm short-barreled gun.

However, the capabilities of Tsarist Russia were limited to this. The scale and organizational efficiency of the Kharkiv Locomotive Factory were not comparable to those of the same period in history. It only had time to produce 3 A-20 and 6 A-32 tank prototypes, and vigorous civil strife swept across the country. the entire empire.

Zhou Changfeng, who didn't know the ins and outs, thought this was the famous T-34 tank, and his eyes almost lit up.

"We want these tanks." He decided to buy them without hesitation.

"These are just scrapped and damaged vehicles." Chris said with a confused look.

Zhou Changfeng explained casually: "I think their design is very good. This shape should be very suitable for resisting flying artillery shells."

System engineering such as tank design is very particular. Key indicators such as firepower and protection are certainly evaluation criteria, but other design details require professional evaluation and analysis.

The T-34 is undoubtedly very good in terms of paper data. However, the extensive use of sloped armor seriously occupies the space inside the vehicle. The Christie suspension makes this problem worse. Therefore, the T-34 is quite crowded inside, and the roaring diesel engine makes the noise biased. Large, two-man turrets also limit combat efficiency...

For Zhou Changfeng, although he didn't know if it would be helpful, he just wanted to get it back first.

It's best to have help, but it doesn't matter if there is no help. The cost of this little trial and error is probably not as much as the private property of some great people in the Ming government.

The inspection team members also followed later. When they learned that Zhou was determined to buy three piles of scrap iron, Li Zhijie, who was the deputy of the inspection team, hesitated to speak.

Finally, he hesitated and said: "Although I don't know what you think about Zhou Daizhao, there should be pros and cons, so buy it!"

But there is a small problem right now - the Trans-Siberian Railway is intermittent, and I am afraid it will take a while to wait and see before it can start shipping.

After leaving a few people to negotiate, the inspection team continued to their accommodation.

At the front of the convoy were sidecar motorcycles, followed by several off-road vehicles and buses, and finally a truck and an Sdkfz221 armored vehicle. The accompanying security force included two classes of military police - nominally affiliated with the Red Eagle Legion.

This kind of guard scale is not common. Generally, only German society commissioners and senior generals are treated like this.

As the convoy drove through the streets of Kiev's western district, Zhou Changfeng felt that although the city was not under threat for the time being, the citizens seemed a little anxious all day long and walked in a hurry.

Yesterday in Baku, although there were frequent air raids, the citizens were obviously calm and calm. This difference is really strange.

The convoy turned left and entered Avenue 16. The motorcycle turned, the off-road vehicle turned, and the bus turned. Just as the armored vehicle started to turn, something happened suddenly!
Several objects were suddenly thrown from the side, and there was a loud sound of gunfire. Those objects exploded after falling to the ground!
"Boom! Boom!"

"Bang bang—bang—"

"Crack!"

The front windshield of the Volkswagen 82 bucket truck Zhou Changfeng was riding in was shattered on the spot, and there were many bullet holes in the body.

Chrissy, who was in the passenger seat, hunched over to hide herself, screamed "Scheie" and at the same time pulled out her pistol.

(End of this chapter)