The Rise of the Third Reich

On May 10, 1942, Hersmann, the Minister of Defense of the German Empire, left Berlin, the German capital, and arrived at the Dolesheim military camp near Vienna together with Marshal Kleist, the Director of Armored Forces.

This was the training ground of the former Austrian Army. After Austria was annexed to Germany, it came under the management of the German Armored Forces Directorate. After some reconstruction, it became a secret base for the Armored Forces Directorate to test new equipment. The surrounding area has become a military restricted area. A barbed wire fence has been set up 10 kilometers away from the tank test site at the core of the base, strictly prohibiting the entry and exit of any unrelated personnel without a pass.

Hersmann and Kleist came from Vienna by special train via a special railway. Then, accompanied by Armored Corps General William von Thoma, Director of the Army Ordnance Bureau, he went to the tank proving ground to watch the 501st Heavy Armor Battalion's demonstration of the performance of the No. 6 tank, the Tiger heavy tank.

The No. 6 tank named "Tiger" and the No. 5 tank named "Panther" have been secretly projects for many years, and preliminary development work began in 1935. According to the requirements put forward by Hessmann, who was the first munitions director at the time, the No. 5 tank was defined as a new 40-ton tank, with the project code VK4001. The No. 6 tank is defined as a new 50-ton tank, with the project code VK5001 - this is very different from the historical process in which the No. 5 and No. 6 tanks gradually evolved from 20-ton and 30-ton projects. While Hessmann put forward "excessive" requirements, which caused the project to progress slowly, he also avoided many detours, allowing the development of tanks No. 5 and No. 6 to take longer.

In addition, Hersman also put forward some very "advanced" requirements for these two tanks. For example, using tilted armor and a 700-horsepower gasoline engine (diesel engines at that time took up space and were heavy, so they were not necessarily suitable for tanks. Moreover, when the VK4001 and VK5001 projects began, Germany had not yet conquered the Middle East. These two tanks The only fuels that can be selected are synthetic gasoline), 80mm/100mm frontal armor, 50mm-85mm side armor and 100mm-150mm mantlet armor, as well as the use of 75mm/88mm large-caliber main gun with certain upgrade possibilities (No. 5 can Upgraded to 88mm gun).

After six years of development and testing, the two projects VK4001 and VK5001 were finally finalized in early 1942 and began to enter the trial production stage. At the same time, the German General Staff also ordered the formation of the 501st-509th, a total of 9 independent heavy armor battalions, all equipped with officers and soldiers with the most outstanding technology and experience, for trial use of No. 5 "Panther" tanks and No. 6 "Panther" tanks. Tiger tank.

According to the plan, each of these nine independent heavy armor battalions has a tank company equipped with Tiger tanks and a tank company equipped with Panther tanks, as well as a command company and a repair company. The equipment organization of each tank company is the same as that of a standard tank company, with 22 Tiger tanks or Panther tanks. The 9 battalions have a total of 198 Tiger tanks and 198 Panther tanks.

The 501st Battalion is the first of all nine independent heavy armor battalions to complete equipment and training. According to the plan of the Directorate General of Armored Forces, the 501st Battalion will be shipped to Poland in mid-May to test the performance of Tiger and Panther tanks in the upcoming actual combat.

Now, the 44 large tanks belonging to the 501st Battalion were all painted in standard olive green field paint, arranged in two rows with opposite muzzles, and appeared in front of Hessman and Kleist.

Among them, the Panther tank is almost the same in appearance as the historical Panther G tank. It looks a bit like an enlarged version of the T-34 tank. The appearance of the Tiger tank is very different from the historical Tiger because of its sloped armor. It is a bit like an enlarged version of the "Panther" tank. It is similar to the historical Tiger 2 heavy tank, but not as heavy. big.

General Thomas, the director of the Army Ordnance Bureau, has been at Doleshem Barracks for a week and has personally driven Tiger and Panther tanks. Judging from his current appearance, it is obvious that he is extremely satisfied with these two tanks.

"Imperial Marshal, Marshal, the performance of these two tanks can absolutely be described as perfect. There are no problems with defense, firepower, speed and reliability." General Thomas said, "I believe that before the E plan is completed, there will be no tanks in the world. There will never be a more powerful tank."

Plan E was proposed by a chief engineer named Heinrich Knekamp from the arsenal affiliated to the Army Ordnance Bureau. He suggested finding a integration point between existing tanks and armored vehicles and future tanks and armored vehicles, and developing future tank/armored vehicle development plans that have high versatility in components and are convenient for mass production.

In May 1942, the plan was approved by Hersmann and Kesselring and has now been implemented.

According to the E plan approved by Hersman, four series of tanks/armored vehicles, including E-10, E-25, E-50 and E-75, will be developed in the future to replace the existing various types of tanks. /armored vehicle. Moreover, the only tank/armored vehicle projects that can receive development contracts from the National Defense Forces in the future are these four series (there was originally an E-100, which was a 100-ton tank/armored vehicle, but it was canceled by Hessmann).

In other words, the Panther tanks and Tiger tanks now shown to Hessmann will also be replaced by E-50 tanks and E-75 tanks in the next two to three years. The 38t, No. 3, No. 4 and other series of tanks/armored vehicles will be replaced by E-10 and E-25.

However, the E-50 and E-75 must be developed on the basis of the Panther tank and the Tiger tank, so the technology and experience gained through the VK4001 and VK5001 projects are also very valuable.

"I also hope that the performance of the Tiger and Panther tanks are superior enough." Hersman nodded and said to Marshal Kleist, "Marshal, if today's test really meets expectations, then organize mass production as soon as possible Right. Now that the Soviet Union is ready to move, I'm worried that the Type 4 H tank can't stop Stalin's T-34 and KV-1."

The T-34 and KV-1 were top-secret projects in another time and space, but now the German armored forces have long known of their existence (mainly Hessmann), and even their approximate performance indicators.

Therefore, Germany has launched an anti-tank gun upgrade plan since 1941. All 37mm, 47mm, and 50mm anti-tank guns belonging to the anti-tank companies of the Wehrmacht/SS Army were replaced by the Park40 anti-tank gun finalized in 1940. .

The ordinary armor-piercing projectiles launched by this anti-tank gun can penetrate 116mm of homogeneous steel armor at a right angle at a distance of 1,000 meters. When the impact angle is 30 degrees, it can also penetrate 94mm of armor. If replaced by tungsten alloy armor-piercing bullets that are almost openly available in the current German Wehrmacht, the power of the Park40 anti-tank gun will be enhanced, and it can completely penetrate the armor of the KV-1 heavy tank at a distance of 1,000 meters.

At the same time, since the Mediterranean Campaign in 1941, the No. 4 tanks belonging to the German Wehrmacht armored forces have also been upgraded. The G-type, which was originally commonly equipped, was eliminated and given to Germany's allies such as Italy, Croatia-Hungary, Spain and Bulgaria. All the No. 4 tanks of the German Wehrmacht armored forces were replaced by H-type tanks with a 48-caliber 75mm gun, and the firepower was enough to penetrate the KV-1 armor.

"Marshal Reich, I am not worried about the Soviet tanks on the Eastern Front at all." Armored Forces Director Kleist, like most generals of the German Wehrmacht, did not think highly of the combat effectiveness of the Soviet Red Army, even if they had T-34 and KV -1.

Kleist said: "Our No. 4 H-type, Park40 and Iron Fist anti-tank grenade launchers can deal with it. And we also have an aircraft designed to fight tanks, the Hs129 attack aircraft. I was in Courland last week The Air Force Weapons Testing Ground on the Peninsula has seen its power... It is a No. 3 tank with wings. Key parts are armored, and it is difficult for a 20mm gun to shoot it down. It also has a 50mm anti-tank. gun, enough to deal with T-34 and KV-1 tanks.”

The early birth of this anti-tank attack aircraft, which the Germans called a tank can opener in another time and space, was not due to Hessmann's administrative instructions, but because of France's full surrender and the substantial improvement in resource supply after the Mediterranean Campaign. The production capacity of aircraft and aircraft engines on the German side suddenly became very abundant. Therefore, many projects that the General Staff had long wanted but could not launch due to insufficient production capacity were launched.

The Hs-129 attack aircraft used to replace the master's Hs-123 attack aircraft was a project that was launched in early 1941.

And because Germany’s production authorization for more advanced engines such as 1WW801 and DB601 was given to the French land god Rhône Company and Spanish-Swiss Company, what Hs-129 now gets from the French is not the 700-horsepower G.R.14M type engine, but a more powerful 1,000-horsepower BMW601 engine - the small twin-row 14-cylinder engine used by the Fokker Zero.

Therefore, the performance of the Hs-129 attack aircraft in this time and space is more powerful than the original Hs-129 in history. After being equipped with a heavy 50mm anti-tank gun, it can still fly at a top speed of 440 kilometers per hour (at an altitude of 3800 meters).