Iron Cross Fire

The evening of September 10, 1914

A train slowly entered the Vienna train station from the east, with roaring noises and thick black smoke, and finally stopped with a screeching sound. As soon as the car door opened, all kinds of people stepped out.

Franz was sitting on the bench, eating roast chicken, looking at Vienna outside the window, and couldn't help but sigh:

"It's so damn beautiful. It's the center of the empire! Country bumpkins like us have never been qualified to enter!"

Kuster on the side was a little worried:

"It looks good, after all, it is the home of those princes and nobles. However, the war burned the whole Poland, and it still makes it so prosperous. Is it really okay?"

"Never mind it, the frontline matters have nothing to do with us anyway."

Franz killed the roasted chicken in a few quick strokes, threw it away, and let Maitian help him out.

Kuster laughed uncontrollably, then straightened his clothes, put on his military hat, and walked out.

As soon as they went out, they saw Franz jumping away with the support of Wheatfield. His already disheveled clothes were even more ruined at this moment.

The people around him looked at him in amusement, but after seeing his fish-gray military uniform, their expressions turned into contempt and arrogance. If he hadn't seen the gun on Maitian, he might have gone to argue with Franz, and then been beaten up by him.

Kuster walked up to Franz and stared back with sharp and fierce eyes. Soon, few people dared to look at them.

The three of them walked all the way to a closed building that was rare in Vienna, and Kuster knocked on the door politely. Soon, the door was opened.

As soon as they entered, a group of people appeared, and one of them shouted:

"Salute to the great general, he will lead us to a glorious and glorious moment!"

Everyone also spoke together:

"Long live the great general!"

"Long live the great general!"

...

Franz smiled at him and said:

"I didn't know, you actually have a background in arsenal. Brother, you actually kept it from me for so many years! I'm very angry, so you can buy me another roast chicken, okay?"

What responded to him was Kuster's blank eyes, his mouth slightly open, not knowing what was going on.

The person who had just spoken looked at Kuster with confusion on his face, then walked out and said:

"General, we have been notified by the empire in advance. He told us that a general will come soon to lead our work.

After the people we sent out saw you, they were sure that you were the general. So we quickly prepared this welcome ceremony and hope you will be happy.

Oh, by the way, I'm Fox-Meliason, you can call me Lieutenant Colonel Fox. "

After his explanation, Kuster nodded suddenly, looked at Franz beside him, then looked at Fox, who was shorter than him, and said:

"So, why are you doing such an interesting ritual? Do you welcome me to convert to a cult?"

"Misunderstood, General! We are just extremely excited for your arrival. The full name of our arsenal is the 'Fifth Imperial Arms Depot in Vienna'."

"So, what do you want to express, please tell it clearly as soon as possible."

Fox said quickly:

"The empire has a lot of armaments in Vienna and surrounding areas. We are the youngest and are not taken seriously, so we are decadent all day long. We will only pretend when senior officials of the empire come to inspect the work; if we are caught off guard, then Just bribe some money, and those high-ranking officials won't care.

But a few days ago, we regained our confidence when we heard that a general who had been on the front line was injured and came to lead us. After meeting you, we are even more motivated and ready to complete one of your tasks one after another! "

Kuster nodded and let Fox take him to the center of the arsenal.

This is also the most hidden place in the arsenal, which contains various weapons and ammunition. Fox took out a map from the box, which marked various important buildings in Vienna.

Fox pointed at the map and said:

"Our arms depot is located in the south of the city, which is relatively remote and far away from the center of the city that is crossed by the Danube River. Therefore, we are not taken seriously, but there will not be too many problems."

"Then how much weapons, equipment, ammunition and shells do we have?" Kuster asked him

"Well, uh... I'm sorry, General, we haven't done an inventory for a long time. I'm going to have someone check it out right now."

Seeing this group of people, Kuster had a headache, waved his hand and said:

"No, those equipment and ammunition are of little use now. I plan to produce some new equipment now, and I hope you can put it into production immediately."

As he spoke, Kuster took out the drawings and showed him a few that were easier to make.

Fox stretched his neck to look, and said with some surprise:

"General, what is this?"

"This is a new primer I designed. I call it 'lead astringent' (lead trinitroresorcinol). It is combined with subfired tetrazene and some oxidants to form a stable primer. I am inventing a new type of weapon. When firing, the safety of the weapon must be ensured, otherwise it will explode while firing, which is not good. "

Then, Kuster pulled out a drawing showing the structure of the MG34, a German machine gun that did not yet exist.

"Our machine guns are too bulky and cannot effectively support infantry attacks. So I plan to develop a multi-functional machine gun that is easy to carry for infantry squads and can also be used for erecting defenses. Let me call it a 'universal machine gun.'

Oh, by the way, I plan to use metal stamping to make the barrel of this machine gun. "

Kuster chatted with Fox for a long time. His various surprising research and development opened Fox's eyes. He had to admire him again and again, and said with shining eyes:

"General, you are here, we are really saved! You are indeed a commander who has been to the front line personally and knows what the troops on the front line need!"

Fox quickly took the drawings and ran away excitedly. Kuster leaned against the wall, sighed in relief, and thought over his plan.

Based on his invention of the primer, he developed a new rifle. To be precise, it is a semi-automatic rifle. This rifle uses the principle of long-stroke piston transmission based on the gas-guided principle.

This semi-automatic rifle has a gas tube on the top and a bayonet on the bottom. The gun body is 10~20CM shorter than a normal rifle. It uses Austro-Hungarian standard 8×50mm rifle ammunition. The range is about 600M, which is enough on the real battlefield.

Compared with the M1895 rifle currently installed in the army, this semi-automatic rifle will have great advantages on the battlefield. If the Austrian infantry is replaced with it, the combat effectiveness will be greatly enhanced.

He also tried to develop an easy-to-carry fully automatic submachine gun using the free-action principle.

This submachine gun is about 50CM long, uses 8MM pistol bullets, and has a range of about 250M.

He designed two artillery pieces, one 75MM and one 88MM. They both used horizontal wedge-type gun tails, which had the advantage of fast ammunition change and flexible structure.

The screw-type breech, which is now the mainstream of artillery, has a strong structure but is somewhat bulky, so it is suitable for large-caliber artillery.

Kuster believes that the arsenal currently developing these weapons is sufficient.

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