Iron Cross

When the second type of weapons came on the scene, everyone was stunned, because these strange-shaped things far exceeded their imagination. Although the STG43 just displayed looked a bit weird, it could be seen at a glance that it was a kind of weapon. New firearms, but what are these on the market now? The first one is an iron thin cylinder with hollow front and rear, with a tail rod next to it, and a tapered mushroom head-like thing in front. The second one is a slightly thicker hollow steel pipe, and it seems to have a shield on the front. Finally, the third product displayed has a bracket similar to a light machine gun, but what is that pointed thing in the front? Rockets?

Many people felt that these things were more like a batch of musical instruments than weapons. I heard that they were designed by the head of state himself, and the scene suddenly erupted in whispers.

Speer whispered in Hoffman's ear: "Führer, you designed this? Why do I feel that it is not in line with your aesthetic orientation? Well... it's really a bit..." He originally wanted to When I said "ugly", I thought about it and replaced it with "original".

"Speer, don't underestimate him. Although he looks inconspicuous, the results will surprise you." Hoffman was not moved at all. Instead, he said to the designer next to him, "Langweiler ) Doctor, could you please introduce the relevant principles and design concepts to everyone.”

"Everyone, after accepting the Army Weapons Bureau's plan to develop infantry anti-tank weapons in May, we invested a lot of energy in research and discovered the principle of the 'hollow charge energy gathering effect' - armor-piercing bullets are loaded on the front of the warhead. After putting on the conical metal cover (copper alloy), the cone mouth faces forward and the cone tip faces backward. There is explosive behind the metal cover, and the front is empty. When the warhead explodes, the metal cover is melted by high temperature into high-speed liquid metal. The jet is focused to the center of the hollow part like a lens. If it hits the tank armor, it can punch a hole in the armor and quickly damage the equipment and anti-personnel inside," Langweiler said, "It's like using high pressure. Based on this principle and based on the drawings designed by the head of state himself, we have obtained three very valuable anti-tank weapons, which are currently named Armored Killer No. 1 and No. 2. No. 3.

"How much penetration does this weapon have? Is it comparable to the penetration depth of the PAK 37mm anti-tank gun?" Someone asked. The subtext of this sentence is obvious: If it cannot even compare with the 37mm anti-tank gun, then this weapon has no chance of defeating the PAK 37mm anti-tank gun. It has no development value, because the poor penetration depth of the 37mm tank gun has become a "stepping stone" and was ordered to stop production.

"Of course it's no problem. According to our test results, the maximum penetration depth of No. 1 is 140mm for homogeneous armor."

"What?" the crowd exclaimed, "Did we hear the distance unit wrong?"

"That's right." Hoffman said with a smile, "Doctor, please show us the results of our research."

Dr. Langweiler is the chief research expert of HASAG (Hogo-Schneider-AG). In accordance with the requirements of the Army Weapons Agency, he led his staff to develop a super-caliber armor-piercing warhead located in the launch tube based on the principle of a recoilless rifle. It's a weapon with a propellant inside, but looks more like a grenade. Just when he was about to continue improving, an urgent call came from Berlin saying that the head of state had summoned him. After half an afternoon of communication, he got three design drawings. The weapons depicted above were all based on the principle of this "hollow charge". Although the drawings drawn by Hoffman were a bit rough, Dr. Langweiler was not troubled by anything. He led his staff to work overtime and turned the three designs into reality in three weeks.

Killer No. 1 is the "Iron Fist" in German history. It is essentially an ultra-light recoilless gun: a steel gunpowder tube provides the power for the anti-tank grenade to exit, and the anti-tank grenade is inserted in front of the gunpowder tube. When launching, buckle the ignition needle outside the gunpowder tube, activate the impact cap to ignite the propelling gunpowder in the tube, causing the anti-tank grenade to leave the launch tube. The spring tail of the grenade then unfolds and makes it fly stably towards the target and explode. The airflow that propels the gunpowder can pass from The rear thrust of the gunpowder tube makes it completely recoilless. The grenade contains a 50:50 mixture of explosives and passivation. It weighs only 54 grams, but it is enough to launch the warhead 30 meters at a speed of 28 meters/second.

No matter how good the words were, they could not compare to the actual demonstration. The doctor signaled his men to take the Killer No. 1 and run towards a scrapped T-34 tank on the shooting range. The experimenter walked about 25 meters away from the tank and tilted his head slightly upward. At first, after a little operation, it was discovered that a grenade was flying towards the tank dragging flames. After the explosion, everyone on site held their breath to check the results. As a result, they neither heard the sound of the armor cracking nor saw any obvious dents or damage. Dong, everyone's expressions looked very funny, they wanted to laugh but didn't dare to laugh.

After seeing the success signal sent back by the experimenter who immediately ran over to check the results, the doctor confidently reported: "The test was successful. The tank and the personnel inside have been destroyed. Please move and check."

Everyone was surprised, but they still studied the tank carefully. At first glance, they were shocked to see that the T-34's front armor, which could withstand many anti-tank guns, had been penetrated by high-heat metal flow, leaving only a hole as thick as a finger. , and the dummy simulating the crew inside had burn marks all over its body. It was so horrible that it was impossible to imagine that anyone could survive in such a situation.

The scene was abuzz with everyone praising with curiosity. Although the anti-tank range was a bit short, the effect was really good. It was the best partner for infantry to fight tanks.

Only Hoffman stood there motionless, as if he had expected this result. Speer, who had seen the scene, had changed his expression from the initial ridicule to shock, and stammered: "Führer, this is really a genius and amazing idea."

"What's the matter? It's far from what I asked. What I designed should be at least 150 meters away. He needs to improve it further." Hoffman thought: What a joke. The power of the Iron Fist can only be blocked by a mere T-34?

Seeing that the scene had become abuzz, Dr. Langweiler immediately struck while the iron was hot and showed Killer No. 2.

The original name of Killer 2 in history was "Tank Killer". It was a German imitation of the US military's bazooka rocket launcher. As a large weapon used by anti-tank teams in infantry units, it required special shooters and ammunition handlers as well as necessary cover personnel. The drawings Hoffman provided to Dr. Langweiler were directly improved versions with shields installed, so that shooters no longer needed to wear protective clothing. The rockets used had an effective range of more than 150 meters, a total weight of about 10 kilograms, and an armor-piercing power of about 200mm.

"200mm?" The scene exclaimed again. I haven't heard of any country whose tanks have frontal armor exceeding 200mm. This thickness is even greater than the armor thickness of ordinary cruisers.

"Can he really penetrate 200mm?"

"No problem, at least our Tiger tanks can't stop it." Speer's expression froze, and it took him a long time to react, "Führer, this news is not good."

"The Americans have developed similar weapons, and I was influenced by them." Hoffman nodded lightly, "What the enemy has, we should have too."

The two experimenters squatted on the ground with their weapons. This time they challenged a distance of 100 meters, and the object was replaced by a scrapped British Matilda tank. The thickest part of the front armor of this tank was as high as 78mm. In the Battle of France, Rommel's armored division suffered a lot, and finally relied on the 88 gun to deal with them. But now this thickness of armor is completely vulnerable to the power of Killer No. 2, and the results are as ordinary as the fight against T-34 just now.

Many people, especially staff officers and generals with front-line combat experience, began to think about it after applauding. The killing effect of the two weapons is of course shocking, but there are also obvious defects. If the first weapon is simple enough, but the operating distance is too close, it may cause a large number of casualties in actual combat; the second weapon is satisfactory in power and distance, but the operation process is slightly cumbersome, and it also requires cover personnel and a two-person gun crew, which occupies too many positions and is not conducive to the firepower balance at the squad and platoon level. I hope that the third weapon of the Führer can have better results.

Killer No. 3 is a schematic diagram of the Soviet RPG-7 drawn by Hoffman using the advantage of crossing. He has high expectations for this. Dr. Langweiler also agrees that this design has both the advantages of the previous two and avoids the defects of both, but the problem is that it is very difficult to manufacture. In three weeks, at least two-thirds of his energy was put on it, but the design results were still not satisfactory. There is a big gap from the Führer's requirements, and it can barely be regarded as a semi-finished product.

The test results also show this point. The experimenter fired a total of 3 rounds, and only the last one was successful, and the firing distance was less than about 50 meters. Everyone at the scene expressed their approval. It is impossible for a new weapon to be perfect right away. After this demonstration, everyone's admiration for the Führer's creativity and foresight rose to a new height.

Colonel Vincent was overjoyed. He originally thought that if one of the three devices was barely effective, it would be enough for the Army Weapons Bureau to adopt it. Now all three have made achievements and greatly exceeded the best expectations. He was very happy and waited eagerly for Hoffman to name them.

"You can call them Panzerfaust, and name them Panzerfaust No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, to symbolize that all enemies tremble under the iron fist of Germany." Hoffman finally revealed the name.

Another majestic weapon is ready to appear!