Film and Television: Starting from the Journey to Guandong

Chapter 149

The "Fortress" operation in 1943 was a classic operation that used the "Tiger" on a large scale. Of course, this operation also exposed the technical and tactical limitations of the "Tiger", that is, a frontal attack on an extremely well-defended enemy. Positioning and accidental intrusion into well-laid minefields would limit the Tiger's tactical advantage.

Anti-tank rifles and mines with explosives less than 5Kg usually only cause minor damage to the "Tiger", but these damages may seriously affect the combat effectiveness of the damaged "Tiger".

As for the anti-tank rifle, even if it fires at the "Tiger" at close range, it cannot penetrate the "Tiger" armor. However, the enemy's riflemen do not aim to penetrate the armor, because under certain conditions At a very short distance, an anti-tank rifle can destroy the optical equipment of the "Tiger" or damage the walking gear of the "Tiger".

In addition, after running over landmines or other hidden explosive devices, even if these explosives fail to destroy the "Tiger" track, they may still cause damage to the road wheel swing arm, torsion bar or road wheel. If The damage is serious enough, which will hinder the "Tiger"'s maneuverability and even cause the "Tiger" to become immobile.

Similarly, the Soviet-made 7.62cm anti-tank gun cannot penetrate the frontal armor of the "Tiger" at close range, and the training of the gun crew requires them to aim at the "Tiger" suspension device, optical sighting equipment, driver's Observation port and commander's control tower.

It should be noted that the command tower of the early "Tiger" was often chipped off by artillery shells, causing fatal injuries to the commander sitting inside.

When the "Tiger" was first put into combat, its armor protection level could be said to be sufficient at the time to outshine the rest. However, this advantage often blinded the crew's eyes and made them give up on driving an "ordinary" tank. Maintaining a cautious mentality, they launch attacks on enemy positions carelessly, ignore the correct use of various terrains, and no longer pay attention to the interactive observation of the battlefield situation.

Although localized damage generally did not result in a total loss of the vehicle, they often resulted in mechanical failure, significantly reducing the number of combat-ready Tigers. At the same time, the quality of repair and maintenance services provided by the maintenance troops attached to the battalion has always been maintained at a high level. This is a fact that cannot be ignored.

Regarding maintenance services, I will talk in detail later if I have time.

In addition, the "Tiger" force has a high demand for replacement spare parts, ammunition and fuel. These logistics-related contents will be specially opened in a new article to further explain.

Therefore, only by meeting the prerequisites of carefully reconnaissance of the battlefield in advance, ensuring that the battle takes place on suitable terrain, and obtaining effective combat support can the success of the attack launched by the "Tiger" be guaranteed.

If the "Tiger" jointly launches an attack with other armored units, the "Tiger" can prove that they are fully capable of combat duties in the main direction of attack, while other light armored units can perform combat reconnaissance and flank monitoring duties. Use your own effectiveness.

If the attack is launched on terrain suitable for armored warfare, the "Tiger" will be subject to the same restrictions as other types of tanks. For example, movement will be restricted in certain terrains (such as swamps) and you need to pay attention to the road. The carrying capacity of the bridges on the way and the suitability for wading also need to be more careful.

If fighting in towns or forests, the "Tiger" must be accompanied by infantry or armored grenadiers.

Although these rules and regulations sound simple and trivial, they are the real reason why the German army can better use armored vehicles to fight at a lower tactical level.

Although the German army is usually at a numerical disadvantage and therefore in a desperate situation, these offensive operations can turn the situation around. Compared with waiting and hesitant actions, a decisive attack is obviously a battle that can be won. one of the keys.

Thanks to the advantages of sighting devices and artillery, the combat effectiveness of the "Tiger" is sufficient to support such tactics.

At that time, the first hit probability of the 8.8cm gun mounted on the "Tiger" was very high.

Within a range of about 1000m, experienced gunners have almost no missed shots. Within a range of 2000m, the probability of hitting is about 50%.

As for other forms of combat methods, although there are no clear instructions in the regulations, the fact that cannot be ignored is that in the second half of the war, the "Tiger" was mainly used in defensive battles, and usually in static defensive positions , this is especially obvious when the "Tiger" is assigned to an infantry division or provides moral support to the entrenched troops.

In large-scale battles, the "Tiger" is often used as a fire brigade, running around in various hot spots on the front line and being exhausted in continuous battles.

Such a situation usually causes the "Tiger" to be divided into small units, or even put into combat alone. Such piecemeal use greatly reduces the combat effectiveness of the "Tiger".

Even though the company or other combined units are the main pillar of combat operations, the platoon is also particularly important.

The No. 4 tank performs combat missions in platoons as sub-units. Under special circumstances, half a platoon or a single vehicle can be separated to provide security protection and supply services for the original unit.

If contact is lost with the platoon leader or half-platoon commander, or the platoon leader or half-platoon commander is killed in action, given the rapidly changing battle situation and the difficulty of distinguishing things on the terrain, this requires the bicycle who has lost command to Give full play to their subjective initiative and fight independently.

But when the "Tiger" platoon is deployed or attached to a medium armor company or an armored grenadier company, it is an exception.

When the medium armored company performs special tasks, the "Tiger" platoon is needed to strengthen the medium armored company.

The Tiger platoon was required to provide support to the Panzergrenadier company when it was crossing a river or attacking a fortified position.

The platoon conducts offensive operations with a sustained, rapid exchange of fire and movement.

Semi-platoons and bikes must supervise each other and support each other's actions.

It is especially important to stop shooting briefly and advance quickly to the next shooting position.

When performing a long-distance jump forward, the jump distance should be no less than 200m.

When taking advantage of the terrain, you should frequently change the direction of travel and the position of your fire.

In order to expand the results of victory and decisively pursue the enemy, or when breaking through the enemy's defense line, all platoons can move forward at the same time, so that short stops will not provide easy targets for the enemy's artillery to choose. .

In short, the former has the general trend of promoting each other, while the latter has the spirit of mutual support and support.

The battalion-level instructions also mentioned the use of the "Tiger" in forest areas and urban operations:

Considering the huge blind spot of the "Tiger" itself and its protruding gun barrel, the "Tiger" should not be deployed in narrow house-to-house street battles in towns. This also applies to forests. regional operations.

Obviously, the battalion commanders and company commanders of the "Tiger" troops actually have an officially written combat guidance document in their hands. They can use this document to point out the erroneous command of the commander of the attached unit-that is, the violation of the document. regulations and mistakenly deployed their "Tiger" style.

However, in actual combat, due to the lack of resources, commanders often have to make decisions that deviate from the normative regulations based on their own practical experience and the necessity caused by the combat situation.

When launching an attack on terrain with limited visibility or involved in urban street fighting, armored grenadiers or reconnaissance units should walk ahead in order to identify enemy tanks as early as possible and determine the appropriate attack direction or firing position in time. .

When advancing by leaps and bounds, tank artillery should be ready to fire at any time; commanders should not be afraid to use dismounted methods to reconnoiter the next position.

If you need to attack enemy tanks in a hidden position (such as a forest or the edge of a town) through open terrain, you can use a feint or pretend to have the troops break away from the battle in a specific direction to lure the enemy to fire, and then start from the enemy tank. Launch the main attack unexpectedly from an unexpected direction.

If you suddenly encounter a position defended by enemy tanks, you should immediately avoid the enemy tank's fire and re-launch a tank attack from a different position.

Recent combat experience has once again shown how important it is to destroy destroyed or broken down enemy tanks immediately, so that the enemy cannot recover and repair them after the battle is over.

So reiterate this to your troops and train them so that they can quickly carry out the mission of permanently destroying or blowing up enemy tanks.

Furthermore, tanks should never be allowed to fall into enemy hands without being destroyed or abandoned with minor damage.

It is the duty of all troops to recover or destroy incapacitated tanks!

When the objectives of offensive operations are achieved, the armored combat vehicles are withdrawn.

In offensive operations supported by armored combat vehicles, when the goal of offensive operations is achieved, the armored combat vehicles should not be allowed to stay at the forward position of the position for too long. Instead, they should choose the opportunity to withdraw from the battle so that they can be prepared for counterattack.

The timing of the withdrawal of armored combat vehicles depends on the progress of our defense forces in re-establishing defenses in the captured positions.

Generally speaking, armored fighting vehicles should remain in forward positions, providing fire support to infantry units until they can reorganize their defenses; that is, until the defending troops are trenched deep enough and tanks and artillery are ready. when.

Although these combat instructions are completely correct, in actual combat, grassroots commanders often violate these instructions.

For example, in terrain with limited visibility, attacks were often launched without reconnaissance elements moving forward due to the commander's trust in the Tiger's level of protection;

When encountering a well-defended enemy position, there was no evacuation; the tank remained in the position where the offensive combat objective had been achieved.

Of course, the latter often stems from the urgent request of the German infantry, because without tanks, they cannot control the new positions they have captured.

As for quickly destroying the enemy's abandoned tanks, this is an order that is completely divorced from reality.

The reason why this suggestion became a practical order is that the Soviet tank recovery operation has proved to be quite effective, so that the broken down vehicle was towed away and repaired soon after the battle, and was put into use again soon after. During the battle.

However, in the hands of the "Tiger" crew, "only" their own "88 (Acht-acht, the soldiers' name for the 8.8cm gun mounted on the "Tiger")" can be used to destroy the enemy. tanks, but there is no point in firing indiscriminately at the destroyed wreckage.

Although the original intention is good, only under special circumstances will the German army "check" the enemy tanks left on the battlefield one by one and go back to blow them up afterwards. After all, the armored company was not assigned too much. Lots of explosives.

As for why the research report of the combat order is so worthy of attention, there is actually another reason involved - this document repeats word for word the wording in the "Special Edition" combat order regarding the command and deployment of the "Tiger" company or battalion.

In most cases, infantry units do not have them at all, or even if they have them, they will not take a look at the data sheet of the tank to understand the combat performance of the tank. This problem often occurs because the commanders of some infantry units Simply think of infantry as bearing the brunt of combat.

The tanks were just sent to the front line to support them.

This situation can only be improved after the introduction of Panzergrenadiers. After all, Panzergrenadiers themselves are mechanized combat units.

In addition, command authorities have no choice but to create more information circulation opportunities to convey these important research results.

Unlearned commanders usually give some faulty orders, such as deploying the Tigers in a defensive position, or lining up the Tigers in "defensive" combat mode, or even They will also forcefully order the "Tiger" not to leave the position.

Even in a defensive battle, keep the tank ready for action at all times so that you can defeat the gathering enemy head-on during a counterattack, or even maneuver to the enemy's flank and outflank it through fine and careful micro-control. Outflanking and causing heavy losses to the enemy is always more effective than letting tanks squat motionless on a fixed position.

Dispersion of the armored forces must be avoided under any circumstances, as only in this way can the core strength of the armored forces be maintained.

Tanks should not just be content with standing in a good shooting position and repelling attacking enemy tanks, but should completely eliminate the enemy troops from the area where they can be observed or believed to exist. Erase completely.

To do this, one must attack again and again.

When you really encounter a situation where it is necessary to grasp the situation, you can devote as many armored troops as possible to defense.

Armored warfare can only be carried out when there is depth.

At any time, the commander must have a group of tanks ready for deployment as a reserve, especially large-caliber tanks, such as No. V tanks and No. VI tanks.

The "Tiger" main gun has a long range. Therefore, for the commander, there are many "Tiger" deployment positions to choose from.

In other words, only a small number of armored troops can be used to block the frontline position, and then most of the remaining armored troops can be deployed diagonally behind the position or on high ground to deploy cross fire, thereby forming a very flexible defensive position. .

The "Tiger" type fires at the enemy from a long distance to intimidate the enemy. It can also disrupt the enemy's offensive formation and affect the depth of its formation.

This will cause a big blow to the attacking enemy. After all, when the "Tiger" fires rapidly, the enemy will suffer huge losses, thereby slowing down the momentum of the enemy's attack.

There are numerous accounts that show that even with only a few Tigers on a local scale, they can often drive away enemy forces by their mere presence.

If the defensive position has been confirmed to be clear of enemy forces, or the enemy has been forced to stop attacking, it is unwise to leave all tanks in their original positions because the enemy will be able to easily detect them. The arrangement of our defensive positions.

A small number of armored vehicles can be left for observation and warning, and most of the armored vehicles can be withdrawn to hidden bunkers. If conditions permit, the bunkers can be well camouflaged (such as densely wooded forest areas).

It should be noted that these bunkers must allow armored vehicles to quickly leave and drive into the positions they are responsible for when the alarm sounds.

If necessary, routes to these positions can be marked.

The crew must determine the distance from their position to specific landmarks within the field of view as accurately as possible so that the gunner can calibrate the distance more quickly and strike more accurately against detected enemy targets.

Such pre-battle preparation was usually done with the help of range charts, that is, on a sketch of a position map, important landmarks and the distances between these landmarks and the position were marked.

Towards the end of the war, the troops completely switched to the combat mode of delayed operations, but this combat mode was not explicitly mentioned in the German combat regulations.

Obviously, rapid transfer by means of long-distance marches and large-scale retreat operations are not the strengths of the "Tiger" unit. After all, the "Tiger" itself has technical problems and limited range. style combat mobility.

Long-distance marches would put tremendous pressure on logistics units and eventually turn into an insurmountable challenge. This was one of the reasons for the losses of the "Tiger". In the later stages of the war, many "Tiger"s were lost due to lack of Fuel and mechanical failure caused by overload operation and abandoned by the crew.

In hysteresis operations, multiple alternating positions are arranged to allow the attacking enemy to pass through in order to slow down its advance and, if given the opportunity, to slow down the enemy by inflicting heavy losses on it.

This means giving up some ground intentionally.

But it can also provide an opportunity. You can take advantage of the enemy's busy pursuit to launch an unexpected counterattack. Of course, it will be more effective if you can launch an attack on the enemy's open flank, so that you can crush these assembled enemies. army, or force them to retreat.

Many German commanders cleverly used this so-called "post-strike" strategy to overcome or stabilize critical situations.

However, the vast majority of tanks were lost in this tactical form of combat, or had to surrender to the Allies due to lack of fuel or mechanical failure.

Matched with the Tiger is the Panther tank.

As a medium tank, it was a new tank developed and produced by Germany in response to the Soviet T-1941 medium tank after Operation Barbarossa in 34. The standard number is Sd.Kfz.171.

The tank adopted new 55° sloped armor and a long-barreled L/70 Kwk42 75mm main gun. It was one of the most successful medium tanks in the Second World War.

The Panther tank saw actual combat for the first time in the Battle of Kursk in 1943, and served until the end of World War II. In the later stages of the war, it was the main armored force of the German army alongside the Tiger tank.

In 1938, Germany proposed a research and development plan for a new tank and named it VK2001, where VK stands for tracked vehicle and 2001 stands for the first 20-ton tank. The German army plans to use this new tank to gradually replace the Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks.

However, when all aspects of the development work of VK2001 were in full swing, the appearance of Mao Xiong's T-34 tank disrupted the German army's planned plan.

The analysis results of the technical department concluded that the development of the new tanks under development could not eliminate the threat from the T-34 at all. The Supreme Command had to scrap the 20-ton tank plan and change it to a 30-ton tank plan.

The Panther D medium tank was approved for production only one year after the early version of the Panzer V medium tank entered combat.

The reason was that the power system of early versions of the Panther tank was extremely unreliable.

The Panther D made its combat debut during the Battle of Kursk.

Compared with the early version of the No. 5 medium tank, the Leopard Tank D has made great improvements in its basic design.

Although the basic design does not sound that important, as the basic design improved, the tank reliability also increased, and the "Panther" medium tank began to play an increasingly important role in the armored forces.

The core of this tank is actually very similar to other German tanks, and has the same layout as the later "Tiger" tank.

Its power system consists of a Maybach gasoline engine placed behind the cabin, and the front wheels also play a good driving role.

The turret is centrally mounted on the upper part of the cabin.

For other German tanks, the innovation of the Panther Tank D was the addition of large wheels, which made it more maneuverable. The most revolutionary technology, at least for German tank design, was the Panther D's sloped armor.

This was urgently developed after the Soviet T-34 tank.

This technology has been used on the "King Tiger" heavy tank: it increases the effective thickness of tank protection, making the protection capability of 80 mm sloping armor at 55 degrees equivalent to 140 mm vertical armor.

The "Panther" D type also has two other main functions: it is equipped with a system that can directly communicate with the tank commander, and it replaces most of the tank windows with periscopes - later the German military also carried out many experiments in this regard. Improvements were made until the windows were all replaced by periscopes.

In August 1943, after improvements (such as the gearbox), a new model was produced - the Type 8 Medium Tank Type A. The Type Medium Tank Type A was a powerful weapon.

Compared with the D type, the firepower and protection have been enhanced. The armor thickness on the front of the turret has reached 100mm. The commander's command tower adopts a cast type. Armor skirts are installed on both sides of the car body. An MG1 anti-aircraft gun is also added to the auxiliary weapons. machine gun and an MG34 front machine gun, the front machine gun uses a spherical gun mount.

In addition, the road wheel structure has been strengthened and the exhaust device has been improved.

In the Battle of Normandy, the German Army used the largest number of Type V medium tanks. In this battle, the German army lost 400 Type V medium tanks of various types.

从1943年8月到1944年5月，MAN、戴姆勒-奔驰、德玛格和MNH公司一共生产了2000（一说2200）辆，底盘编号为151001-160000和210255-211000。

The Panzer V medium tank G type is the final version of the Panzer V medium tank. During the second station, more were produced than all other previous "Panther" tank models combined.

五号中型坦克G型的生产始于1944年3月，尽管生产目标降低到每月300辆，但它却一直生产到了战争结束，只有1944年10月和12月的生产数量较低。

Compared with the early centralized production model of the Type 11 medium tank, the Type medium tank G has many design changes: most of the armor is changed to vertical armor, and the angle of the inclined armor on the turret is reduced by degrees, making it more effective against anti-reaction weapons. Not as effective as a tank gun.

So in order to deal with this problem, the width of the tank's front side armor was increased from 40 mm to 50 mm to compensate for the reduction in the thickness of the rear and lower parts of the tank armor.

The driver's vision window was eliminated and replaced by a periscope window.

A new driver's seat has been added to assist so that the driver's head does not stick out of the hatch, creating better visibility and safety.

Designers during the production run made several modifications to the Type V medium tank G-type ballistic shield.

Therefore, in the early days, tanks had a rounded outline to leave space in the lower cavity.

And there is the issue of the incoming wheel possibly wearing into the ballistic shield. The designers transferred most of the ballistic shield to the thin armor on the turret.

The ballistic shield is generated into a wedge-shaped lower half, thus eliminating this problem.

The shortage of raw materials meant that the number of all-steel gears running on the Panzer V medium tank G chassis needed to be reduced, and the tank chassis underwent many improvements as a result.

During the production run, the configuration of the medium tank Panzer V Type G continued to change, including the replacement of the transmission oil cooler, the addition of an armored ammunition box and a fighting compartment heater, while the operating system of the medium tank Panzer V Type G did not occur. Variety.

As the number of combat attrition increased, the reduction in the number of tanks in the army left a lot of space for the Type V medium tank G, which could play a huge battlefield role, and it therefore became the fifth type of equipment of the Nazi SS by the end of the war. The most common version of the German medium tank, more than half of the German armored tank forces were equipped with it.

1944年5月，德国又开发了五号中型坦克F型，也就是黑豹，增加了装甲厚度并安装了戴姆勒—奔驰公司设计的新炮塔，安装一门75mmKwK42/1型或者斯考达的75mmKwK44/1L/70型火炮（甚至还有准备安装更长身管的75mmKwKL/100型火炮），其火炮防盾采用了“猪头”式。

Its road wheels adopt steel rim type.

In October 1944, Germany planned to start manufacturing the F-type at Daimler-Benz in Berlin in March 10.

By the end of the war, only a few prototypes of the new turret and eight chassis had been built.

At the end of the second station, for the success of the Battle of the Ardennes, Uncle Xi trained an assault force by Otto Skorzeny to infiltrate the Ugly Army's positions to seize key bridges and create as much chaos as possible behind the enemy's rear. .

Otto Skorzeny, who became famous for his successful airborne rescue of Uncle Mo in September 1943, this time he formulated a two-part plan.

The first part is to organize German soldiers who can speak English to infiltrate the enemy lines and create chaos.

At the same time, the second step is carried out, that is, the 150 Armored Brigade will seize important bridge hubs to ensure the smooth flow of the offensive route.

In order to ensure the successful completion of the mission, almost all German soldiers returning from the United States were collected into the 150th Armored Brigade.

But what disappointed Skorzeny was that there were no captured Ugly tanks on hand and only a few armored vehicles.

In order to recharge, Skorzeny managed to get 5 Panther tanks and Type III G assault guns.

The Panther tank was disguised as a US Army M10 tank destroyer, while the Type 7G assault gun tried to be disguised as an M Priest self-propelled gun. All vehicles are painted in the Army's green color and feature the Army's white star identification logo.

Although these disguises cannot be called perfect, at least Skorzeny already has the capital leading to the Meuse River.

Throughout the entire war, in addition to the T34, Tiger, and Panther in land warfare, the IS-2 tank must also be mentioned.

IS2, also called Stalin 2, is a heavy tank. It is a heavy tank specially developed by Mao Xiong to fight Tiger tanks.

The IS-2 embodies the design style of the Woolly Bear tank, which is simple and practical, and its weight is 46.25 tons.

Production began in April 1944, with a total of 4 vehicles built.

The IS-2 has a crew of 4 people, uses 10RK model communication equipment, has an engine power of 520 horsepower, a maximum speed of 37 kilometers per hour, and can cross vertical obstacles of 1.0 meters. The thickest part of the armor reaches 120MM.

Its main weapon is a 122mm gun with a barrel length of 43 times the caliber. It can penetrate 1000MM armor at a distance of 160 meters. It can fire tracer armor-piercing projectiles and anti-personnel explosive grenades. Its firepower is better than the German Tiger heavy tank. .

In terms of steering mechanism, a new technology "secondary planetary steering gear" is adopted, which can improve the maneuverability of the tank. Mao Xiong's later T-54/55 and T-62 also adopted this steering mechanism.

The most incredible thing about the IS-2 heavy tank is that its total weight is only 46.25 tons, which is similar to the German Panther medium tank and much lighter than the Tiger and King Tiger tanks of the same level. This gives it the rare maneuverability of heavy tanks. .

There are also many flaws. The driver of the IS-2 does not have his own access hatch. Once the tank is hit, the driver has a much smaller chance of escaping.

The IS-2 is the sharp weapon of the Mao Xiong Red Army and one of the tanks most feared by German tankers. It and the T-34/85 medium tank formed the backbone of the Mao Xiong tanks in the late World War II.

In February 1944, the IS-2 tank participated in the war for the first time. Since then, it has gone through many major battles, from Mao Xiong to the city of Berlin.

After the war, the IS-2 tank remained the main tank equipment of the Mao Xiong Red Army.

After Germany surrendered at the second station, in order to force Neon to surrender unconditionally, the Mao Xiong Red Army entered the Northeast. The IS-2 was a tank that Neon's most elite Kwantung Army could not resist.

During the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, the Volunteer Army also drove this type of tank to bravely fight against imperialism such as the U.S., and the IS-2 was also one of the main equipment of the tank force in the early days of the founding of New China.

The German King Tiger tank, the Tiger 2 tank, was developed to deal with Mao Xiong's IS-2 heavy tank.

The King Tiger heavy tank weighs 70 tons and has a crew of 5 people.

装备一门88MM KwK 43L/71火炮和2挺MG34机枪，弹药基数80-86发。

The thickest part of the armor reaches 180MM, and the top armor also reaches 40MM.

There are 8 forward gears and 4 reverse gears. The engine has a maximum power of 700 horsepower and a maximum speed of 38 kilometers/hour.

The body and turret of the King Tiger tank are steel armor welded structures, with good bulletproof appearance.

The thickness of the frontal armor is much higher than that of the Tiger 1 tank, making it a difficult tank for the Allies to deal with.

The King Tiger tank is equipped with a KwK 43/L71 88mm cannon. This artillery was the most powerful artillery among the German tanks during World War II. It has a barrel length of 6.3m and can directly penetrate the American M2000 Sherman at a distance of 4m. The main armor of the tank uses armor-piercing bullets, armor-piercing bullets and grenades. Not only the Sherman tank, it can penetrate almost all Allied tanks in World War II.

The weakness of the King Tiger is its poor maneuverability, even worse than that of the Tiger, its mechanical failure rate is high, and it consumes too much fuel.

Because of its slow speed and clumsy movements, the King Tiger was sometimes used as the command tank for Tiger tank units.

The most famous of its variants is the "Zagtiger" anti-tank destroyer. Although it has poor maneuverability, in the hands of some experienced tanks, the "Tiger King" is a very powerful tank. It has powerful firepower and excellent protection. Therefore, like the Tiger tank, the King Tiger also has an impressive Achievements.

The top leaders on the King Tiger tank were Karl Köner and Karl Bormann of the Waffen-SS.

In a battle on the east side of Berlin, Karl Kerner destroyed 13 Soviet IS-2 heavy tanks and 26 other tanks with just one of his King Tigers.

In a battle in the Danzig and Sopot areas, Karl Bowman, driving a King Tiger, destroyed 65 tanks (including some T-34s of the Polish 44st Tank Brigade) and self-propelled artillery, as well as 15 artillery positions and other vehicles.

However, due to the small number of King Tiger tanks produced, a pitiful 489 units, and the short time it took to participate in the war, it did not have a great impact on the final results of the second station.

There are many types of Panzer IV tanks, among which type H is the most mature. The main performance data of type H are now given.

Weighing 24 tons, it is a medium tank with a crew of 5. It is equipped with a 75mm KwK 40L/48 gun, 87 rounds of ammunition, and 2 MG34 machine guns.

Maybach HL120TRM engine, power 300 horsepower, maximum speed 40 kilometers/hour.

It has 6 forward gears and 1 reverse gear, and can cross 0.6-meter vertical obstacles, 2.2-meter trenches, and a turning radius of 5.92 meters.

Equipped with FuG5 communication equipment.

The car body and turret are welded with steel, with a thickness of 90MM at the front, 20MM at the rear, 90MM on both sides, and 15MM (maximum) on the top. The No. 4 tank was the main equipment of the German armored divisions in the middle and late stages of the war.

It is worth mentioning that the No. 4 tank was the first tank in the world equipped with two-way communication equipment. It had life-saving significance at the time. It greatly improved the German army's collaborative combat capabilities. The German army achieved a series of brilliant achievements in the early days of the second station. Achievements cannot be separated from its relationship.

The flaw of the Panzer IV was its slightly insufficient firepower.

从1937年10月到1945年3月，德国一共制造了8600辆PzKpfw IV型系列坦克。

This tank was put into battle on all fronts. Not only the German army, but also the Allies had a good evaluation of the Panzer IV.

On February 1944, 2, the German 7th SS "Viking" Armored Division used a small number of Panzer IV tanks as the vanguard in an attempt to break out of the "Cherkasy Pocket" encirclement formed by the Soviet Union's superior forces.

In the breakthrough operation, Second Lieutenant Kurt Schumacher commanded two Panzer IV tanks to destroy 8 Soviet T-34 tanks in a counterattack against a Soviet tank company.

The next day, Lieutenant Schumacher fought alone against a Soviet tank company, destroying a total of 21 Soviet combat vehicles in these two battles.

For this, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, and there were many similar battles.

The Germans fully exploited the potential of the Panzer IV tank, which was converted into a fire-breathing tank, a submersible tank, a mine-sweeping tank, a repair tank and even an amphibious tank;

The chassis of the Panzer IV tank has also been used to convert into special-purpose vehicles such as bridge erecting vehicles and ammunition supply vehicles;

There are also many variants of the Panzer IV tank, including self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, self-propelled artillery and other weapons transport vehicles. Only self-propelled artillery variants include: Bee self-propelled howitzer, Bear self-propelled howitzer, Rhino tank destroyer, STUG IV assault vehicle. Cannon, Type IV tank destroyer, etc.

There is no doubt that the Panzer IV is excellent and deserves the title of "German Army Horse".

After World War II, Bulgaria, Finland, Egypt, Spain, Syria, Jordan, Turkey and other countries still used Panzer IV tanks until 1967.

The real code name of the Sherman tank is M4, so it is also called the M4 tank or M4 Sherman tank.

The name of the Sherman tank comes from William Sherman, who was a general in the Union Army (Union Army) during the American Civil War. It is the custom of the Army to name tanks after famous generals, such as "Grant" ", "Patton" tank, "Bradley" infantry fighting vehicle, etc.

The Sherman tank, with a total weight of 31.55 tons, is a medium tank.

It has a crew of 5 and is equipped with a 75mm gun, which can fire armor-piercing shells, grenades and smoke grenades, and has a high and low gun stabilizer.

The armor thickness is 15-100mm. Its power unit is a 368-kilowatt water-cooled gasoline engine. It uses small road wheels and a horizontal coil spring suspension device. The maximum speed can reach 42 km/h.

Sherman's strengths are reliability, ease of maintenance and versatility.

Some add 60 4.5-inch rocket launchers to the turret; some add flamethrowers to become fire-breathing tanks.

Although the M4's firepower is slightly lacking, it is renowned in the military community for its sturdiness, reliability and durability.

The Sherman is a famous tank in the late World War II. The total production volume reached 49234 units, second only to the 34 Bear T-53000 tanks. Some places say that the Sherman was the most produced tank in World War II. That is because Sherman Mann comes in many models and variants.

The Ugly Army used the quantitative advantage of Sherman tanks to counter the qualitative advantage of German tanks, which coincided with the Mao Xiong.

Throughout the war, Shermans could be seen everywhere, whether in the European battlefield or the Pacific battlefield. It was the backbone of the US tank force. The main equipment of the US armored division under the command of General Patton was the Sherman tank.

Sherman tanks participated in the Normandy landings and a series of subsequent battles in France and Germany until Germany surrendered.

The first tanks to land in Normandy on D-DAY were hundreds of Shermans, becoming the vanguard of the Allied forces' march towards victory.

In the tank battle at the end of the Second Station, the Sherman tank played a major role, and thus occupies an important position in the history of world tank development.

The Sherman's main shortcoming is that there is a considerable gap in firepower and armor defense compared with the famous German and Soviet medium tanks.

The armor protection around its gasoline engine is particularly insufficient. It is easily hit by bullets, catches fire and explodes when facing off against German opponents. The crew in the tank only has a few seconds to escape, so the US military gave it a nickname - "Ronson". Brand-name lighters.

In short, the Sherman tank is not the best-performing medium tank in the second station, but its huge amount of equipment and the shrewd use of famous generals such as Montgomery and Patton make it occupy an important position in the Allied weapons and equipment sequence.

The KV-1 tank weighs 43-48 tons. It is a heavy tank with a crew of 5 people.

It is equipped with a 76.2mm Gun ZiS-5 artillery and three 3mm DT machine guns, with a base ammunition count of 7.62 rounds.

The V-2K model engine has a maximum power of 600 horsepower and a maximum speed of 34 meters/hour.

Its improved models are more famously called KV-1C and KV-2.

The turret frontal armor is 120MM, and the production volume is approximately 1753 vehicles.

Disadvantages: The speed is too slow, the survival rate is not high, and it provides a lot of time for the anti-tank gun or tank to lock the target and the anti-tank hand to get closer.

(End of this chapter)