Steel Soviet Union

Chapter 2281 Prelude to the King

In order to successfully accommodate this semi-automatic loader in the King Tiger's turret, the Germans have also made enough corresponding adaptability improvements. Google search reading

The first ammunition rack at the end of the turret, which bears the brunt of the attack, is naturally the first ammunition rack at the end of the turret that has been banned by almost all frontline armored force commanders because of its high explosion rate and bad reviews.

Judging from the battlefield reports of the Germans, heavy tanks such as the King Tiger with strong armor and powerful guns, except for those that were abandoned due to lack of fuel or mechanical failure, were actually completely and irreparably lost due to enemy attacks. In Tiger King, more than half of the Tiger King died from "fire"-related problems. To put it simply, the ammunition exploded after being penetrated or the oil caught fire.

As for the ammunition explosion, the absolute main cause of the "Tiger's death" was the explosion caused by the destruction of the first ammunition rack in the turret, so that the first ammunition rack at the end of the King Tiger turret had a terrible chance of explosion. The German armored soldiers on the front line compiled a RAP to complain about it, which can be regarded as a classic.

"Don't give me a Tiger King, don't give me a Tiger King, hey! I don't want a lame Tiger King, hey! My head is full of cannonballs exploding, don't give me a lame Tiger King, hey!"

A RAP song criticizes two of the most fatal shortcomings at once. Fortunately, one of the shortcomings can be quickly solved through human intervention.

Since the first ammunition rack in the turret loves to explode, shouldn't I just empty the first ammunition rack in the turret? In fact, the vast majority of front-line German armor commanders did the same.

Emptying the first ammunition rack of the turret will of course cause some foreseeable problems, and the decrease in reloading speed is a very direct one. It is faster to go to the ammunition rack on the car body to extract the shells and then carry them back to the turret basket to lift them for loading. It is not as fast as turning around to pull out a round of ammunition directly from the rear end of the turret, then turning around and stuffing it into the breech block to complete the loading.

But there's actually nothing you can do about it. The prerequisite for you to continue fighting is that you have to live. The Tiger King has become a "tiger dead", so how can you continue to fight?

Under the premise that the explosion rate of ammunition remains high, and the turret is almost bound to explode as soon as it is penetrated by Red Army ammunition, it is obviously quite unrealistic to talk about combat effectiveness and combat efficiency. It is like a castle in the air and a mirror in the mirror. It's pure bullshit.

In a sense, this is a blessing in disguise for the Germans.

The team of Henschel engineers who embarked on the modification project of the King Tiger loader discovered that the first ammunition rack of the King Tiger's turret was so badly criticized by front-line soldiers that it was already useless, abandoned and empty in most front-line troops. . Then I realized that if this useless first ammunition rack was completely removed, it would actually free up more valuable space in the turret for the loader modification project. It could even be said that the space capacity was more than enough.

Although the Germans have a lot of brains, especially when they are engaged in military design, this is a fact, but it does not mean that they are stupid. They can still understand simple principles that can be understood at a glance. You know it well and can turn it into practical actions.

The German engineer team did what they said and immediately removed the redundant first ammunition rack of the turret on the test prototype vehicle, freeing up a considerable amount of available space in the King Tiger's turret.

As a result, not only the newly designed semi-automatic wheel loader can be inserted smoothly, but even the loaders who participated in the test of the prototype vehicle reported that their activity space in the car was much wider, and they did not feel it at all. Because of the space congestion caused by adding an extra loader.

Not only is the work much easier and more convenient than before, people are also more comfortable, and the human-machine efficiency and actual combat effectiveness have been improved. This design is so conscientious that the loader who often helped repair the King Tiger road wheels could no longer bear to greet the Henschel designers and their families. In fact, the Henschel engineers who recorded the test feedback were extremely embarrassed.

At the same time, another King Tiger firepower system modification project, which was carried out in parallel with the loader modification project, was also carried out by a team of engineers composed of Henschel and Krupp in the face of indiscriminate bombing by Allied bombers all day long. It was almost completed under tremendous pressure.

Perhaps it is a coincidence that these two renovation projects were carried out in parallel without interfering with each other. During the exploration of the renovation plan, they finally reached a common point.

All have canceled the much-criticized Tiger King's turret first ammunition rack design, which can be said to trade battlefield survival rate for loading speed, and have returned to the traditional German tank design like the Tiger 1, which only has body ammunition racks.

A problem that was not realized at the time is that these two unrelated renovation projects will eventually be combined one day in the near future. The two renovation projects will be unified and merged in a literal sense, and finally It was integrated very well and became the "Ultimate Tiger King" that truly made the Allies on the Western Front "change their minds". It was also the most powerful mass-produced heavy tank that the German armored forces actually received before the end of the empire.

Of course, it was indeed premature to talk about this unanticipated "Ultimate Tiger King" transformation plan at that time.

Whether it was Malashenko as his opponent on the Eastern Front, or a certain SS ace commander who fought and retreated on the Western Front, but was still able to kill weak Allied tanks, no one expected it. What will the ultimate version of Tiger King be like?

Looking back at the moment, Malashenko, who was playing with all kinds of trivial matters inside the body of the King Tiger, actually did not expect that the King Tiger in front of him with a semi-automatic loader was actually just an "Ultimate King Tiger" plan. Too half-finished.

It is true that the combat power has been enhanced, but compared to the "Ultimate Tiger King" plan, this combat power bonus is actually less than half.

There is often an almost universal "objective truth" in the transformation and upgrading of large-scale technical equipment: the larger the platform and the heavier the tonnage, the more redundant space it has for upgrading and transformation. Just like the navy's 10,000-ton ship is renovated, it will definitely have more room for improvement than your 3,000-ton boat. The same is true for the army's large-scale technical equipment renovation and upgrade.

No matter how restrictive it is to change Tiger King, it can never be more difficult than changing No. 4.

After all, the advantage of a large platform brought by its huge size is here. If you are given a larger drawing paper, you can always draw more things and have more room to use. The principle is the same.

So, with relatively more ample space for transformation, what kind of "German treasures" can ultimately be born?

It's really hard to say, just like "Which Allied Forces on the Western Front hit this precious thing first? Or did the Red Army on the Eastern Front hit this precious thing first?" It's also hard to say. All we can do is wait for the passage of time to finally witness it. .