My client Li Yunlong

End of April 41.

There are still eight months until the final date of Project Tiger Tiger.

Chi County.

The Japs in the southern Hebei region, the most frontline city.

Shibata looked at the penetrated Type 1 medium tank in front of him and frowned deeply.

This is a Type 1 medium tank that was rescued after being destroyed by the enemy.

The main armor, which was fifty millimeters thick and had a layer of tracks, was penetrated with a large hole. Through the hole, one could even see the scenery behind the tank.

Yes.

The tank was shot through from head to tail.

But luck seems to be on the Locust Army's side.

Although this shell penetrated the main armor, the rear armor, and even passed through the tank's internal facilities, it coincidentally did not completely damage the tank's internal structure, allowing the tank to drive a certain distance before returning to the camp.

That's why they rescued the tank.

Otherwise, in the face of Tubal Road's crazy counterattack, how could a large number of tanks on the front line come back alive?

"The armor needs to be strengthened, preferably with a thickness of 80 millimeters, the inclination needs to be increased, and the chassis needs to be strengthened."

"As a result, the weight will exceed 30 tons, and the engine horsepower will also need to be increased."

"The transmission system also needs a rough outline."

"The last thing is firepower."

"Firepower has also been enhanced, preferably 75mm artillery, which must be able to suppress enemy mortars and provide fire cover for the infantry."

Based on the battle process described by the soldiers who escaped, Shibata integrated the areas that needed improvement.

"empire··"

Looking at the information in his hand, Shibata frowned.

When the technical requirements are added up, a new tank must be developed from scratch.

From chassis to armor to power system.

However, with the empire's current technical capabilities, although its industrial level has increased significantly recently and it has acquired shiploads of foreign dismantling machinery and equipment, its scale and technical level have improved.

It even received technical assistance from the Axis allies.

But still can't do it.

In other words, it is difficult to achieve in a short time and requires a long research cycle and testing cycle. The final product may not be released until two or three years later.

At that time, it was simply too late.

Unless assistance from foreign allies is requested to obtain ready-made tanks, although the axis allies will provide technical support and even send technicians, they are unwilling to provide advanced tanks and will not provide design drawings.

If you want to improve the design and manufacturing level of the Empire's tanks, you must obtain the world's advanced tanks.

It would be great if the empire could purchase tanks from other countries, even if they were destroyed, so that they could be imitated.

With more than 100 million US dollars in funding every month, coupled with the industrial foundation of decades of training, the empire's industrial capabilities have greatly increased.

···
"What kind of tank is this?"

Wuxiang.

In the training camp.

Wang He was stunned when he looked at the Shermans in front of him who had not gone to the front line to let the logistics staff familiarize themselves with logistics maintenance.

As someone who came from the military command, and his position was not low, he had seen a lot of tank information.

Guo Su is not just a bunch of idiots. He still collects intelligence on the international community, especially the Military Control Commission. Boss Dai is relatively concerned about this, and he happened to have read these materials.

Including the German number four.

But I have never seen the tank in front of me.

Judging from the weight, volume, and artillery, this tank will weigh no less than twenty-five or six tons, and may even reach thirty tons.

"Sherman."

The logistics technician who came to attend the class together answered the question from the logistics technician who arrived earlier than him.

He was also handed a technical manual.

"Sherman?"

Wang He frowned again.

He had never heard of the name of this tank. It sounded like an American tank model.

but.

Looking at the technical manual in his hand, Wang He frowned.

Although I don’t know whose tank it is,

But very advanced.

It was pretty much what he expected, with a combat weight of thirty-three tons, a 380-horsepower gasoline engine, a maximum highway speed of thirty-eight kilometers, and an off-road speed of twenty-two kilometers.

It's not fast, but it's much faster than the Japs.

The main armor is 76 mm. With the inclination angle, it is equivalent to a 12.7 mm steel plate. The sides also have pretty good defense and can block machine gun bullets.

It's also much better than the Japs.

The artillery is also of 76 mm caliber, as well as a 12.7 mm machine gun and a 7.92 machine gun.

The firepower is fierce.

If it can be equipped on a large scale...
Thinking of this, Wang He frowned again.

Even if it can be equipped on a large scale, the army does not have enough tank troops, let alone enough logistics personnel, otherwise he, a former military commander, would not be sent to train logistics technology.

Just because he once studied car maintenance and driving.

He was even given the title of technical team leader.

It is because the number of technical personnel in the army is seriously insufficient. The Taihang truck team and aircraft team have absorbed all the technical personnel in the army.

"It is said to be the latest American tank."

One of the soldiers who came first said.

"American tanks?"

"The latest style?!"

Wang He was shocked.

Although he knew that the army's weapons were very advanced.

Taihang trucks alone are far more technologically advanced than foreign countries.

But can the troops actually get the latest American tanks?

It seems that the forces behind the army are probably stronger than everyone expected!
"It seems like an M4?"

said the warrior.

"How did you know?"

Wang He couldn't help but ask.

"Our leader said so."

said the tactician.

'Who is your leader? '

Wang He asked.

"Li Yunlong!"

The incoming soldier chuckled.

"No wonder!"

Wang He suddenly realized.

It is said that these weapons, ammunition and supplies were provided by a friend of Li Yunlong to support the troops in a private capacity.

The independent group will naturally know this information.

but··
Wang He looked at the maintenance manual on the side.

This is a standard training manual for logistics personnel, one copy for each person. It includes all the technical information of the tank, even the internal structural design drawings, including tolerance details of various parts.

With this information, and then obtaining a few tank prototypes, even if it is not complete, it can be relatively easy to imitate this tank.

Or, build a tank with similar performance.

After all, the maintenance manual even contains detailed technical design drawings and manufacturing process details of the tank's engine and gearbox.

This is clearly beyond the scope of a service manual.

but.

Looking at the technical information booklet in his hand, Wang He could understand after thinking about it carefully.

Compared with Taihang heavy trucks, the technical level of this tank is actually not high, or even very low. The engine is almost the same size, even gasoline-powered, but the Taihang truck can produce 750 horsepower, but this tank only has 380 horsepower.

Enough to see the technical gap.

It seems that technicians who can maintain and maintain and use Taihang heavy trucks must also have very strong technical skills.

···
"tank!"

"Captain, enemy tank."

Position south of Ze County.

Old Japanese Yamazaki continued to dig positions.

Old Japanese Yamazaki seems to have been worried and has been repeatedly reinforcing the position, digging anti-gun holes and digging trenches.

After all, he knew it.

In fact, the Locust Army does not have an advantage in terms of military strength or firepower, and the position it occupies at this time is very important. It is the only channel for the Locust Army to attack Ze County.

Tubal Road will definitely be taken, so...

Even when Yamazaki Laoji personally supervised the excavation of the position and constructed the position deployment in detail.

The situation reported to him by the Japanese guard.

Enemy tank spotted!
"tank?"

Old devil Yamazaki was stunned.

tank?

Enemy tanks?
Tanks on Tubal Road?

"Eighth Route Army tanks?"

Yamazaki sounded incredulous.

If there were tanks on Tubal Road... The defensive position south of Ze County was built by him personally. It was formulated in detail by Lieutenant Colonel Yamazaki after gathering more than a month of combat experience on Tubal Road.

Almost every trench and every anti-gun hole was targeted at Tubal Road's firepower.

But he didn't target tanks.

There are not even any defensive measures against the tanks, let alone anti-tank trenches, and even tanks can drive directly onto the position.

If there were tanks on Tubal Road...
"Hi."

"More than thirty tanks."

the alert soldier replied.

"Nani!"

Old Japanese Yamazaki jumped up, walked to the front line, and looked into the distance.

About a few kilometers away, outside the open and flat Ze County, dozens of tanks were driving toward the southern position in a scattered manner. During this period, you could see the Tubal Infantry following closely behind them.

"idiot!"

Yamazaki's expression suddenly changed.

There are actually tanks on Tubal Road.

And there are so many tanks.

Judging from the size of the tanks, Tubalu's tanks seem to be much larger than the Empire's Type 1 medium tanks.

"idiot!"

Everyone, enter the position,
"Gather all the explosives, organize a death squad, and prepare to blow up the enemy tanks."

"Artillery squadron, launch artillery attack on the enemy and block the enemy's tank troops."

"Report to Wing Headquarters, enemy tanks discovered."

Yamasaki quickly deployed his troops, organized artillery fire, and called for help from the rear.

Although Yamazaki is arrogant and arrogant, he is still a low-level junior officer of the Japs. He has climbed up step by step from the bottom, and he still has basic abilities.

His response was spot on.

but.

The tank force can be known as the king of land warfare and the strongest ground offensive force. It not only has powerful firepower and thick armor, but also has speed.

attack speed.

Even in the eyes of later generations, the Sherman was a very backward tank. Even with the late signal of using a high-horsepower gasoline engine, the cross-country speed was only 23 kilometers.

But it is still much faster than attacking on foot.

The distance of just over two kilometers was reached in six minutes.

At this time, the artillery squadron of the Yamazaki Battalion had just opened fire.

The 75mm mountain gun can only scratch a little bit of the Sherman tank's skin. It poses no threat and is quickly suppressed by the tank's artillery.

The artillery of the Sherman tank can be used as a howitzer.

Moreover, the mountain cannons of the Yamazaki Brigade are all Type 41 mountain cannons, with a range of only six kilometers.

The small four-gun mountain gun was suppressed into silence in an instant when faced with more than thirty tanks.

As for the defensive positions carefully laid out and constructed by Yamazaki, they were suppressed by more than thirty 76mm artillery pieces and lost their temper.

Almost without any hindrance, more than 30 tanks rushed into the Yamazaki Brigade's position, driving the Japanese soldiers in all directions. Several rounds of meat-bomb charges only damaged the track of one tank.

At this time, the artillery from the rear wing had not yet arrived.

The Japanese did not have a communication system that had spread to companies and platoons. Many messages were transmitted very late, and the tank troops attacked too fast, and the firepower of the brigade could not be effectively suppressed.

"idiot!
This scene made Yamazaki suddenly dumbfounded.

Although he knew that with the existing position and the strength of the Yamazaki Brigade, it was impossible to stop the more than 30 tanks in front of him.

but,

Isn't this the first time Tubalu has come into contact with tanks?

Why do you feel that the tactical coordination is so skillful?
Most of the suicide squads he lurked underground were killed, and they didn't even have a chance to get close to the tanks. The coordination between the infantry and the tanks was almost perfect.

Thanks to the detailed tank combat tactics system accumulated over the past few decades, the mobile troops of the independent regiment at this time, although lacking combat experience, were definitely well-trained.

In addition, most of the Japanese soldiers in the Yamazaki Battalion were supplementary soldiers. These relatively new Japanese soldiers did not have the fighting will and courage of the old Japanese soldiers. Most of the Japanese soldiers rushed over through Lao Yuanchong while shouting.

Of course there is no chance.

In less than ten minutes, the position that Yamazaki Battalion had worked so hard to capture was easily captured. It did not even cause many casualties to the attacking troops, and it also suffered more than 300 casualties to itself.

The positions built for two consecutive days did not play any role.

"Keep attacking."

"The infantry pays attention to protecting the tanks and paying attention to speed. The tanks mainly protect the infantry and suppress enemy artillery."

"Pay attention to the mission of this battle."

"It is not about destroying and capturing the enemy's positions, but about experimenting and exploring tank tactics. When necessary, tanks can be abandoned."

The offensive troops continue to advance, tank commander Sun Desheng warned.

Sun Desheng knew it.

The tanks they drive now are similar to those of other major powers. In the words of the regiment leader, they are all garbage and can only be used for a period of time.

It is only used to train tanks and train tank tactics.

It won't be long before they have access to more advanced tanks.

···
"Eighth Route Army tanks?"

rear.

When Neji Okamura, who was located in Shimen, heard the news, his expression suddenly changed.

'how much? '

"How's the speed?"

he asked quickly.

Did the Eighth Route Army finally bring out its tanks?

With the technical strength of the forces behind Tubal Road, how powerful are the tanks produced?

How powerful would the artillery be?
How thick will the armor be?
If the Tubal attack all the way, relying on the powerful attack power of the tank troops to attack all the way... Okamura Neiji suddenly felt a chill down his spine.

No wonder Tubal Road did not defend its position. It turned out that there were tank troops.

"More than thirty vehicles."

"but··"

The frontline staff officer said:

"General, according to reports from the front line, the enemy's tanks have a cross-country speed of only more than 20 kilometers, and during the attack, several of them were lying down."

"Nani?!"

Okamura Neji suddenly raised his head. (End of chapter)