Iron Sonata of World War II

The first round of "quantitative easing" was from the end of 1929 to the beginning of 1930 when the crisis just broke out. The Federal Reserve lowered the benchmark interest rate from 6% to 2.5%, and injected $5 million in liquidity into the market. However, a mere $5 million was not enough at all. Resisting the menacing crisis peak, the U.S. stock market turned around again after a rebound.

The second round of "quantitative easing" was two years later, at the beginning of 1932. The U.S. Congress passed a bill allowing the Federal Reserve to use U.S. Treasury bonds as the base currency in addition to gold. Liquidity is injected into the market.At this time, the momentum of the stock market's plunge has begun to decay. After the second round of "quantitative easing", the US stock market finally stopped the momentum of the plunge and began to build a bottom.

The "quantitative easing" launched by Roosevelt after he took office is actually the third round, but it is larger than the two "quantitative easing" conducted during President Hoover's administration.This time Roosevelt directly stopped the bank's gold exchange, and forced the purchase of gold in the hands of the people at a low price of $20.67 per ounce.After all the gold in the hands of the people was handed over, Roosevelt passed the "Gold Reserve Act" to directly depreciate the exchange rate between the US dollar and gold to US$35 per ounce. This exchange rate continued until the disintegration of the Bretton Woods system in 1971, and the international gold exchange standard end.

In Helena’s view, the so-called “Roosevelt’s New Deal” is not new at all. Not only is the “quantitative easing” left over from President Hoover’s play, but even the policy of expanding public spending is not original to Roosevelt. During the Hoover administration, the United States The federal government's expenditure has already expanded by six times, and Roosevelt is just further expanding the scale of investment on the basis of Xiao Guicao's follow-up.

In short, the monetary easing policy was initiated by President Hoover, and the large-scale public works construction was also initiated by President Hoover. Even the sharp decline in the US stock market bottomed out in the last few months of Hoover's presidency.President Roosevelt simply continued and further expanded President Hoover's anti-crisis measures.

But the final result was that Roosevelt was regarded as the initiator of American state intervention in the economy and the great savior of the American capitalist system.But President Hoover was regarded as a conservative who stubbornly pursued the "laissez-faire" policy and a president who brought crisis and hunger to the United States.It has to be said that this is a kind of political profiling under the logic of "winner and loser".

In any case, unlike many seniors who crossed Germany who wanted to assassinate Roosevelt in advance, in Helena's eyes, the coming of President Roosevelt would definitely do more good than harm for Germany!Helena is not only planning to use Roosevelt's monetary "quantitative easing" to increase the value of Germany's overseas assets, but also to use Roosevelt's hand to once again crush the real economy of the United States and make the world In one plane, the second economic recession that occurred in the United States from 1937 to 1938 turned into a real second catastrophe.

In the small goals set by Helena, if all her plans can be successfully completed, the industrial output value of Germany in 1938 should be about twice that of the United Kingdom in the same period, surpassing the Soviet Union in the same period, and reaching more than 70% of the United States in the same period (above) In 1938, Germany’s industrial output value in 144 was 75% of that of the United Kingdom, 46% of that of the Soviet Union, and 4.2% of that of the United States. The combined industrial output value of the United States, the Soviet Union, and Britain was [-] times that of Germany. ).

If this small goal is not achieved by then, then Helena thinks that it is better for Moustache to resign early in the end and obediently go back to marry Eva. In this case, at least he can rely on his achievements in saving the German economy to leave a good reputation in history .Although if there is no war, in the international trade environment where the US dollar zone, the British pound zone, and the French franc zone are separated, the German economy, which is difficult to open up external markets, will definitely experience a second recession due to insufficient domestic demand, and the hole left by the employment bill will eventually have There is a high probability that it will explode, but this pot can be thrown to the next unlucky person who takes office.

But Helena can only think about this matter, it is absolutely impossible for a power-hungry mustache to retreat bravely...

After finalizing the issuance quota of employment bills for this year, Helena finally has time to pay attention to weapon design again. Since Helena crossed, she has never seriously cared about German light weapons. Now is almost the time up.After all, although the 1898 series rifles have been continuously improved over the years, the foundation is indeed too old...

Chapter 94 Infantry Squads

In Helena's eyes, if she wanted to improve the German army's individual weapons and equipment, it was by no means simply replacing the Kar98K bolt-action rifle that was commonly used by the German army in history with a fully automatic StG44 assault rifle.Any improvement of individual weapons and equipment must focus on the overall optimization of the firepower of the entire infantry squad; and the overall optimization of the firepower of the infantry squad must adapt to the combat background of this era and the national conditions of Germany.

In the last plane, when talking about semi-automatic rifles, military fans may immediately think of the American M1 Garand; when talking about automatic rifles, military fans may immediately think of the German StG44.That's right, the first time semi-automatic rifles and automatic rifles shined during World War II, but a fact that cannot be ignored is that semi-automatic rifles and automatic rifles actually appeared during World War I, and the appearance time of semi-automatic rifles even Dating back to the late 19th century.So the question is, why didn't semi-automatic and automatic rifles shine during World War I?

This is mainly related to the battlefield environment at that time. The typical battlefield environment of World War I is undoubtedly static, linear, and flat.In the offense and defense around the trench system, the machine gun is naturally the protagonist.In particular, the Maxim heavy machine gun with a water-cooled barrel, belt-fed ammunition, and a heavy-duty gun rack is the absolute firepower support point for the entire trench. That's enough, the effect of higher rate of fire is not obvious on the rifles of this period. Are you still trying to compete with machine guns?

As for the task of cleaning up the remaining enemies when breaking through the local trench system, it mainly depends on "trench brooms" such as pump-action shotguns or submachine guns.At this time, what the infantry cleaning the trenches needs is a "bullet sprinkler" that can spray enough firepower in a short period of time, and accuracy and range are not important.In order to facilitate combat in narrow trenches, this "bullet sprinkler" should preferably be short in length and light in weight.Automatic/semi-automatic rifles certainly cannot compete with pump-action shotguns and submachine guns in this regard.

To sum up, the reason why semi-automatic rifles and automatic rifles were in an embarrassing situation in the battlefield environment of World War I was that apart from the immaturity of their own technology, the more important reason was the lack of ecological niche: the advantages of squatting in pits were not obvious, Worse than pump-action shotguns and submachine guns for trench clearing.Therefore, during World War I, although semi-automatic rifles and automatic rifles did not lack eye-catching works, such as Mauser M1916 semi-automatic rifles, such as Fedorov M1916 automatic rifles, the number of equipment was very scarce, and naturally it was impossible to What decisive role does it play on the battlefield.

The situation began to change during World War II. One of the most obvious differences was that the linear, static, and flat trench warfare during World War I was no longer the mainstream form of warfare.Technological advances in tanks and aircraft have made mechanized warfare possible. The armored group under the cover of the air force has a very powerful assault capability, and the static trench system is difficult to resist such a concentrated breakthrough. After all, on a front of hundreds of kilometers, no matter how It is impossible for a complete static defense system to be flawless.This change not only promoted the evolution of war in a moving, non-linear, and three-dimensional direction, but also released a new ecological niche for individual weapons.

We all know that changes in the earth's ecological environment will directly lead to the rise and fall of a certain type of species.For example, because of the huge catastrophe that occurred 6500 million years ago, the huge dinosaurs that dominated the earth for hundreds of millions of years went to extinction (the ones that did not become extinct also evolved into birds), and the mammals that had been unknown in the shadow of dinosaurs before Leaped into the new aristocratic group of the biosphere and became the ruler of our earth until today.

The evolution history of firearms is actually similar to the history of biological evolution. The arrival of the mechanization era is undoubtedly an ecological upheaval for firearms that is no less than an asteroid hitting the earth.During World War I, the water-cooled heavy machine gun became the most important firepower support for the entire trench system with its unparalleled continuous firepower.But after the advent of mechanized warfare, with the acceleration of the pace of warfare, not only were cumbersome dinosaurs like water-cooled heavy machine guns unable to accompany infantry charges at all, but even their own survivability became a problem.After all, except for those specially reinforced reinforced concrete fortresses, there is no fixed firepower point that a dive bomber can't solve with a single aerial bomb. If there is, then another one!

The water-cooled heavy machine gun has changed from a leading role in World War I to a supporting role in World War II.After the decline of the status of water-cooled heavy machine guns, how to make the infantry squad have enough firepower and enough mobility has suddenly become a problem that military experts from all over the world must think about.

In Helena's view, in the research and development of light weapons in Germany on this plane, in addition to focusing on improving the firepower of infantry squads and enhancing the mobility of infantry squads, there may be one more thing: not to cause too much burden on logistics.

As mentioned earlier, in World War II, Germany's troops that could truly mechanize were very rare.Not to mention mechanization, it is too extravagant for Germany to be fully motorized. Fully mechanized or motorized troops are like fuel black holes.In the last plane, the only people who can fully realize motorized driving are American local tyrants who are not bad at fuel.

In this plane, Helena relied on her golden finger to promote the maturity of Germany’s indirect coal liquefaction technology. Since the coal indirect liquefaction process is very suitable for the production of high-quality diesel oil, the German coal direct liquefaction process in the previous plane is not suitable for the production of diesel oil. Made up by Helena.Although Mustache and Schacht made the construction of a coal indirect liquefaction plant the highest priority investment project when formulating the economic recovery plan last month, it is estimated that in a few years, the degree of mechanization and motorization of the German army will be higher than that of the previous plane , but Helena still does not think that Germany will be able to throw the hat of "oil-poor country" into the Atlantic in a few years.

Therefore, Helena predicts that for a long period of time, the ordinary German infantry division can only be a half-motorized and half-mule unit.Precious motorized power is needed to tow heavy artillery.And the logistics at the platoon level is estimated to be the same as the previous plane, relying on soldiers carrying shoulder resistance and horse-drawn carriages.

In the last plane, each infantry platoon of an ordinary German infantry division usually has a carriage drawn by two horses to provide supplies. Therefore, it is impossible for some traversers to equip all German infantry squads with StG44 assault rifles. completed task.The ammunition consumption of automatic rifles is so high, how many of the past traversers have considered the feelings of mules and horses?The logistics supply is not available, you can't let the ordinary infantry divisions of the German army play "weekly offensive", right?

Therefore, when optimizing the firepower configuration of the German infantry squad, for the few fully mechanized and motorized troops, Helena naturally agreed to have an assault rifle or a squad machine gun developed from the assault rifle family.But what about ordinary infantry divisions?You know, they are the majority of the German army. Although ordinary infantry divisions cannot get the same equipment priority as mechanized troops, they can't just give up treatment, right?

Therefore, when Helena configures the firepower for the squads in the ordinary infantry division, it must be based on the premise that the ammunition consumption cannot be much higher than the standard infantry squads of the German army on the previous plane.After all, the glorious tradition of the "German Holy Mule Empire" cannot be lost. The legal rights of mules and horses need to be protected. Helena does not want to receive a lawyer's letter from the Animal Protection Association.

Chapter 95 Squad Machine Gun

To discuss the improvement of the weapon configuration of the German infantry squad, it is necessary to understand the firepower configuration of the German infantry squad in the previous plane and find out the problems, so as to determine the direction of improvement.

During World War II on the last plane, in the German ordinary infantry division, a standard infantry squad usually had ten people, consisting of a squad leader and nine infantrymen.Among the nine infantrymen, a more experienced soldier will be selected as the deputy squad leader to assist the squad leader in his daily work, and can also take over the squad leader to command operations in the event of the squad leader being injured or killed in battle.In the early days of the war, apart from two machine gunners who jointly operated an MG34 general-purpose machine gun and each carried a self-defense pistol in such a standard infantry squad, the other eight people, including the principal and deputy squad leader, all carried a 98K bolt-action rifle as their main weapon. arms.

当然后来随着德军武器装备的更新和战场局势的变化，上面所说的这个配置也随之进行了一些调整。比如说一些机枪手手里的MG34通用机枪被更加便宜轻便的MG42通用机枪所替代；比如一些班长手里的98K栓动步枪被MP38/40冲锋枪所替代；比如一些副班长手里的98K栓动步枪被G43半自动步枪甚至StG44自动步枪所替代；再比如班组中的步兵们开始在力所能及的范围内带上几枚“铁拳”系列火箭弹用于攻坚和反坦克……

The specific weapon configuration of German infantry squads will also be adjusted in different periods and battlefield environments, but one thing has not changed, that is, general-purpose machine guns always occupy the core position in the firepower output of German squads.We can even say without exaggeration that the infantry squad tactics of the German army in World War II on the last plane basically revolved around the MG34 or MG42 general-purpose machine gun.

The general combat mode of the German infantry squad is as follows: the squad leader is responsible for commanding the entire infantry squad and directly orders the firing direction of the machine gun.Two machine gunners are responsible for manipulating the machine gun to suppress or destroy the enemy's firepower (the main shooter is responsible for shooting, and the deputy shooter is responsible for assisting and providing ammunition), and a strong ammunition soldier will be assigned to the machine gun chain to load and When the machine gunner shoots, use the rifle in his hand to "check for leaks" for the machine gunners.The remaining six soldiers, including the deputy squad leader, divided into two three-man squads and moved to both sides of the machine gunner.When attacking, they go forward and outflank, and when defending, they cover the flanks of the machine guns.

Although the infantry squad tactics of the German army achieved great success at the beginning of the war in the last plane; although the high-density burst fire of MG42 was still a nightmare for the Allied soldiers in the squad confrontation until the end of the war, but here Helen Na still wants to unequivocally state her point of view: MG42, a general-purpose machine gun that relies on the belt to feed ammunition and fires full-power ammunition, is not suitable for use as a support weapon in infantry squads. To put it more clearly, it is a general-purpose machine gun like MG42. The machine gun is not very suitable as a squad machine gun.The specific reasons are as follows:

First, the general purpose machine gun was too heavy to be used as a squad machine gun.Let's take MG42 as an example. Although the lightweight level of MG42 is quite good compared with its contemporaries, the weight of MG42 (equipped with a bipod) in the light machine gun state still reaches 11 kg.This weight greatly limits the mobility of the machine gunner carrying the MG42 when he leaps forward with the riflemen in the squad, and it is difficult to complete many tactical actions.

Second, the ammunition consumption of a general-purpose machine gun using full-power ammunition is too high. MG42 has a super high rate of fire of 1200 to 1500 rounds per minute, but high rate of fire also means high consumption.The main shooter of the machine gun in the German infantry squad needs to bring a 50-round capacity bullet chain box, and the machine gun sub-shooter needs to bring four more 50-round capacity bullet chain boxes plus a 300-round capacity bullet chain box (so the standard for the deputy shooter The only weapon that comes with it is a pistol).In addition, the strongest ammunition soldier in the class had to carry two ammunition boxes with a capacity of 300 rounds in addition to their own weapons.In other words, in an infantry squad of only 10 people, at least three people have to be pulled to serve the machine gun full-time.

Third, the weight of general-purpose machine guns in squad fire output is too high.In addition to the MG42 in the German infantry squad, there are eight 98K bolt-action rifles. However, the combined firepower of the eight 98K bolt-action rifles is far less than that of an MG42 machine gun. The weight of MG42 in the firepower output of the squad is too high, so that all the actions of the German infantry squad must revolve around that MG42. Once the MG42 fails for some reason, the entire squad will enter a "shock" state.Therefore, the firepower output of the whole squad relies too much on the only one machine gun, which not only reduces the tactical flexibility, but also weakens the squad's resistance to damage.

Fourth, the cost of learning a general-purpose machine gun like MG42 is too high.We know that the rate of fire of the MG42 general-purpose machine gun is astonishingly high as 1200-1500 rounds per minute. However, this rate of fire is not adjustable and can only be fired at the highest rate of fire. In addition to using the stamping spot welding process, the Germans also cut off the speed of the MG42).

You may wish to imagine that the shooter must be proficient in various basic tactical shooting modes including short-point shooting, long-point shooting, fan shooting, and scattered shooting at an ultra-high rate of fire of 1200 rounds per minute, and he must not waste more bullets. What a heaven-defying touch is needed!If you let a rookie go up, it only takes two breaths (about 6 seconds), and a 125-round ammunition belt will be used up.Therefore, even with the training level of the German army, there are generally only two main and deputy shooters in the infantry squad who can master the MG42 shooting method proficiently.

In short, in Helena's eyes, when a general-purpose machine gun like MG42 is used as a squad machine gun, although its firepower is extremely powerful, it brings more problems to the infantry squad.For the sake of overall optimization, Helena is not optimistic about the practice of using general-purpose machine guns on duty by the German army on the previous plane.

However, Helena does not deny the general-purpose machine gun. In Helena's eyes, the best place for a general-purpose machine gun that fires full-power bullets is as a "platoon machine gun" or "continuous machine gun." .That's right, the direct descendant of MG42 who is still in service in the 21st century-MG3 does this (MG3 is actually an improved MG7.62 with NATO 51x42mm ammunition).

In Helena's view, if the general-purpose machine gun is positioned as a "platoon machine gun" or "continuous machine gun", then the restrictions on weight and cost can be relaxed a bit.In this case, many of the shortcomings of the MG42 can actually be improved, such as adding the speed switch back, such as replacing the barrel with a heavier and longer barrel, etc.If it is not like pursuing the ultimate rate of fire, it is actually a good choice to learn from the PKM developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

However, if the general-purpose machine gun that fires full-power ammunition is upgraded to the company platoon level, the infantry squad still needs a machine gun to fill the vacancy. After all, the current infantry squad tactics are still unlikely to be separated from the machine gun.

Chapter 96 Intermediate power

Based on the various problems of the MG42 used as a squad machine gun in the previous plane, Helena believes that the machine gun using 7.92x57mm full-power bullets is not suitable for the future squad support firepower of the German army. Although the 7.92x57mm full-power bullet has powerful power, for a machine gun using full-power bullets, it is impossible to satisfy the three factors of easy-to-carry weight, relatively economical ammunition consumption, and sufficient firepower output at the same time.

Helena's solution was to redevelop an intermediate power ammunition as the standard ammunition for future German squad weapons.In the previous plane, the original design intention of "intermediate power ammunition" was to solve the control problem of individual automatic/semi-automatic weapons.Although the full-power ammunition used by the old-fashioned bolt-action rifles is powerful, the recoil is also very large. When used in automatic/semi-automatic individual weapons, it will be difficult to control the weapon.

In order to solve the problem of automatic weapon control, in 1918, when the French were developing the "Liberol" automatic carbine, they developed a new type of 8x35mm rifle ammunition for it. Small, but more powerful than pistol and submachine gun rounds.It can be said to be the originator of the intermediate power bullet.

虽然中间威力枪弹的起步并不算晚，但中间威力枪弹的真正大规模成功应用却要等到上个位面的40年代了，比较成功的代表有德国的7.92x33mm弹和苏联的7.62x39mm弹。相比那些枪口动能动辄在3000焦耳以上的全威力弹药，7.92x33mm弹和7.62x39mm弹的威力虽然被大幅降低到了2000焦耳左右，但正因为如此使用这两种枪弹的自动武器的连发后坐力才被控制在人体可以接受的范围内。至此，突击步枪终于有了合适的“粮草”。可以毫不夸张地说，如果没有7.92x33mm弹和7.62x39mm弹这样的中间威力枪弹，就不会有后来名满天下的StG44和AK47系列步枪。

Of course, there are also "hard bones" who refuse to surrender to intermediate-powered bullets, such as the United States.From the Western Front battlefield of World War II to a series of local wars after the war, although Uncle Sam has repeatedly suffered in front of the StG44 and AK47, which use intermediate-power ammunition, he has stubbornly insisted on using full-scale ammunition on his rifles out of his persistence in accuracy and power. Powerful ammunition until the era of small calibers.

由于美国是整个北约的老大，美国对全威力弹药的坚持顺便把整个北约也拉上了贼船。虽然美国开发的7.62x51mm弹药作为通用机枪和狙击步枪的弹药时表现良好，但作为单兵自动武器的弹药确实存在很大的问题。北约自动步枪中的“三剑客”：美国的M14步枪、联邦德国的G3步枪和比利时的FAL步枪都在不同程度上存在连发时枪口跳动难以控制的问题，这在很大程度上要拜“威力过剩”的7.62x51mm弹所赐，毕竟7.62x51mm弹的枪口动能高达3500焦耳左右。

Entrusted by Helena, the Mauser company in this plane started to explore the middle-power bullets early on. After repeated tests, the 7.92x42mm ammunition was finally selected as the unified standard bullet for future German infantry squads.This cartridge will be suitable for squad machine guns, semi-automatic rifles, assault rifles and short assault rifles (for paratroopers).

新型枪弹使用重量为8.2克的铜甲铅套钢芯弹头，发射药重量从7.92x57mm全威力弹的3克左右下降到了1.8克。在使用班用机枪和半自动步枪的560mm长枪管发射时，弹头初速达780米/秒，枪口动能约为2500焦耳；在使用突击步枪的445mm枪管发射时，弹头初速为750米/秒，枪口动能约为2300焦耳左右。

和上个位面的同类弹药对比，新型中间威力弹2300焦耳的枪口动能略高于7.92x33mm弹的1900焦耳和7.62x39mm弹的2000焦耳，但大大低于7.62x51mm弹的3500焦耳和7.92x57mm弹的3700焦耳。

The reason why Helena made such a choice is mainly because in the future light weapon equipment system, squad machine guns and semi-automatic rifles are the major users of new ammunition after all. The performance of semi-automatic rifles should be optimized before taking into account the controllability of assault rifles.Moreover, the muzzle kinetic energy of the new intermediate power ammunition is not much higher than that of the later 7.62x39mm ammunition. When designing an assault rifle in the future, the muzzle device with both flame suppression and recoil functions will be used to make the rifle's burst stability Helena still has confidence in surpassing the level of the Soviet AKM.

In order to save copper, the new intermediate power bullet does not use the brass shell of the 7.92x57mm full power bullet, but uses a painted steel shell.After all, in the future, the 7.92x57mm full-power ammunition will be mainly used for general-purpose machine guns at the platoon level. At that time, the ammunition can be made into a 25-round semi-scatter chain, and the brass shells can be recycled and reused after shooting.The middle-power ammunition is for the team's weapons, and it is estimated that no one has the leisure to pick up the shell casings scattered on the ground after shooting.If the middle power bullets also use brass shells, it will be so distressing to spread all over the ground...

The specific processing method of the painted steel shell is also relatively simple, as long as the carbon steel bar is sent to the punching machine to be cold cut into sections of cylindrical blanks, then the two ends are flattened, annealed, phosphated and saponified, and then sent to a closed mold for extrusion. Press them into steel bowls one by one, and finally paint them with electrophoresis.

However, the ductility and self-lubricating effect of the painted steel shell is not as good as that of the brass shell. If it is made into a cylindrical shape like the brass shell of the 7.92x57mm bullet, it will easily lead to poor extraction.Therefore, under Helena's suggestion, Mauser designed a smaller taper for the shell of the new intermediate power bullet, which can reduce the resistance of the shell to a certain extent.

The ammunition for the future squad machine gun has been determined in this way, and now there is only one major issue to be decided.That is, is it more reasonable to use a belt to feed bombs like the RPD machine gun of the Soviet Union or the Type 56 squad machine gun of the Republic, or is it more reasonable to use a drum feed like the RPK machine gun of the Soviet Union or the Type 81 squad machine gun of the Republic? appropriate?

Chapter 97 Two Flights

After the end of World War II in the last plane, and on the basis of summarizing the experience and lessons of the war, weapon designers from various countries finally had time to sort out the development ideas of the squad machine gun.After a period of intense ideological collision, the design of post-war squad machine guns generally formed two major design schools.

The first major design school is called "small belt machine gun school" by Helena.As the name suggests, this genre of squad machine guns is actually a miniaturized version of those chain-link machine guns that use full-power ammunition.In terms of structure, this type of squad machine gun is also similar to the general-purpose machine gun in the state of a light machine gun. They all use bipod supports and ammunition belts to feed ammunition. Some models even support quick barrel replacement like general-purpose machine guns.

Although the muzzle kinetic energy and maximum range of the squad machine guns of the "small bullet chain machine gun school" have decreased compared with their predecessors who fired full-power bullets, due to the use of intermediate-power bullets with relatively small recoil or small-caliber high-speed rifle bullets , its figure is still much slimmer than the big brothers who fire full-power bullets.The reduction in the weight of the gun body and the weight of the bullets has greatly reduced the carrying burden of the squad. Finally, the infantry squad does not need the whole squad to circle around a machine gun.

In the last plane, the American M249, German MG4, Soviet RPD, and the Republic’s Type 56 squad machine gun (actually a copy of the RPD) can all be classified as "small chain machine guns".

The second major design school is what Helena called "heavy assault rifle school".As the name suggests, this genre of squad machine gun is actually a heavy version of the assault rifle.This type of assault rifle is the product of the post-war "gun family" design idea. The specific method is generally to use a larger-capacity ammunition supply (long magazine or large-capacity drum) on the basis of the assault rifle of the same gun family. , longer and heavier barrel and bipod stand.The purpose is to make it have stronger firepower persistence, higher muzzle velocity and better shooting accuracy than the assault rifles of the same family.

There are three main advantages of the squad machine gun of the "Heavy Assault Rifle School": the first is that it is easy to operate and only needs one machine gunner to operate, while the belt machine gun generally requires a deputy shooter to provide assistance and organize ammunition; the second is Strong versatility, this type of squad machine gun was originally developed from the assault rifle according to the idea of ​​gun family, and naturally most of the parts can be used in common with other members of the gun family; the third is strong mobility, this type of squad machine gun The empty weight of the machine gun can basically be controlled at about 5 kg. In contrast, the empty weight of the general-purpose machine guns of the "small bullet chain machine gun school" is basically more than 7 kg.

Although the squad machine guns of the "Heavy Assault Rifle School" have various advantages, there is still one disadvantage that must be mentioned, that is, the firepower persistence is not as good as the belt machine gun.This is due to the fact that the capacity of the magazine or drum is not as good as that of the ammunition belt, and the factor of the firearm structure itself. Although the squad machine gun of the "heavy assault rifle school" has been improved for the persistence of firepower, it is still the foundation of the assault rifle after all. The continuous shooting ability is still slightly inferior to guys from orthodox machine gun backgrounds.

In the last plane, the American M14A1 rifle (actually used as a squad machine gun), the British L86 light machine gun, the Soviet RPK squad machine gun and the Republic’s Type 81 squad machine gun can all be classified as "heavy assault rifles". to go.

A more interesting phenomenon in the previous plane is: in the early days of the Cold War, the Soviet Union was a fan of the "small chain machine gun school" and produced classic works such as RPD, but later the Soviet Union switched to the "heavy assault rifle school". Embrace the RPK and go.The United States is exactly the opposite of the Soviet Union. It first produced the M14A14 as a squad machine gun based on the M1 automatic rifle, but then converted to the "small chain machine gun school" and fiddled with the M249.

In Helena's view, the reason for the "rebellion" of the Soviet Union was, on the one hand, the guiding ideology of gun familyization, and on the other hand, the importance of the squad's machine guns accompanying the assault exceeded the importance of continuous output during mechanized deep-dive operations. Sexuality (continuous firepower can be provided by vehicle-mounted machine guns or cannons).As for the reason why the United States turned around, on the one hand, it was because the M249 just took advantage of the small-caliber ammunition, and on the other hand, it was estimated that Uncle Sam lost confidence in the "heavy assault rifle faction" for a while because of the cheating degree of the M14A1. On the basis of the M14, a bipod was added, a muzzle anti-jump device was added, and the grip was changed to make a difference. It is impossible to use it just because of this perfunctory attitude).

In this plane, Helena, who is well aware of the benefits of gun familyization, still prefers the squad machine guns of the "heavy assault rifle faction" subjectively, but the continuous suppression ability of the squad machine guns of the "heavy assault rifle faction" is relatively weak The problem, but Helena couldn't ignore it. After all, traditional German squad tactics revolved around machine gun fire.If the firepower of the machine guns in the squad suddenly shrinks from a general-purpose machine gun that fires full-power bullets to a drum machine gun that fires medium-power bullets, the gap in firepower in the middle is too great, so that it is difficult to rely on the tactical mobility of the squad. increase to make up for it.

However, Helena will not give up on this. After studying the team firepower configuration of the countries in the previous plane, the team firepower configuration of the Democratic Germany has entered Helena's field of vision...

When the troops of the former Warsaw Pact member states, including the Democratic Republic of Germany, needed a master and a pair of two shooters when operating the RPD squad machine gun fed by the ammunition belt.Now the RPK squad machine gun fed by magazines or drums does not need a deputy shooter, so the Democratic Germany, which attaches great importance to machine gun firepower, added an RPK squad machine gun to the infantry squad.

Compared with two machine gunners serving a machine gun together, the advantages of each machine gunner operating a machine gun are self-evident.Although the firepower persistence of a single RPK machine gun is not as good as that of an RPD machine gun, two RPK machine guns can fire alternately, which can provide continuous fire suppression.What Helena is going to adopt is exactly the method of the previous plane, the Democratic Germany, replacing the MG42 in the German infantry squad with two squad machine guns that use drums or long magazines to feed ammunition.As for the rest, you only need to borrow the configuration of the Republic infantry squad in the early 60s: the squad leader and deputy squad leader use assault rifles, and other soldiers use semi-automatic rifles.In the 60s of the last plane, the army of the Republic had just been turned into mules.The common configuration of the infantry squad is that the squad leader and the deputy squad leader each have a Type 56 assault rifle (imitated AK, which was called a submachine gun in China at the time), two machine gunners operate a Type 56 squad machine gun (imitated RPD machine gun), and others use Type 56 Semi-automatic rifle.

At this point, the firepower configuration of the future German infantry squad can almost be determined: one squad leader, carrying an assault rifle; one deputy squad leader, carrying an assault rifle; two machine gunners, each carrying a squad machine gun; Six riflemen, each carrying a semi-automatic rifle.

In general, Helena's firepower configuration plan is basically a product of adjusting the firepower configuration of the infantry squad of the Republic of the 60s on the previous plane by learning from some practices of East Germany in the previous plane.Compared with the Republic infantry squad in the 60s, the plan changed two machine gunners to operate a belt machine gun together into two machine gunners each operating a drum machine gun.

Chapter 98 Having both fish and bear

The biggest advantage of Helena's team weapon configuration with two squad machine guns as the core is that it greatly improves the flexibility of team tactics.The squad no longer needs to pin the hopes of the whole squad on the only general-purpose machine gun, and can allocate the firepower of the machine gun very flexibly.Let's take a look at a few examples below:

First, when performing fire support missions, the two machine guns can fire simultaneously or alternately.The former can obtain a higher firepower density in a short period of time, and the latter can prevent the machine gun from breaking fire when changing the ammunition supply.

Second, when carrying out defensive combat missions, the two machine guns can not only shoot at the same area to form crossfire, but also shoot at different areas to expand the defensive sector.The former can form a deadly fire net without dead ends in a certain area, while the latter can take into account enemies from different directions and eliminate the blind fire area caused by the limited shooting range of a single machine gun.

Third, when performing offensive combat missions, since this squad machine gun originally evolved from an assault rifle, it is relatively light in weight.When the riflemen charge, the machine gunner only needs to put away the bipod, and the squad machine gun can be turned into an assault rifle again. At this time, the two machine gunners can charge with the whole squad.If encountering enemy fire resistance, the two machine gunners can also cover and suppress at the rear, and charge forward at the front, so as to implement alternate leaps.

With the flexible firepower of dual machine guns, paired with two assault rifles and six semi-automatic rifles, this kind of squad has an additional advantage in addition to its own considerable offensive and defensive capabilities.The advantage is that when such a ten-man squad is divided into two or three combat teams, each team still has a strong independent combat capability, which is impossible in the ordinary German infantry squad in the previous plane. did it.

But at this time, some people may question Helena: Although such a squad weapon configuration improves the combat effectiveness of the squad, will it lead to a soaring cost of weapon procurement or an increase in the burden of carrying ammunition?In this regard, Helena said: Higher combat effectiveness is a must. On the premise of achieving stronger combat effectiveness, lower equipment costs, less resource consumption, and lighter logistical burdens are also necessary.

Don't think that it is impossible to achieve higher combat, lower equipment costs, less resource consumption, and lighter logistical burdens at the same time. In Helena's eyes, these goals can actually be achieved at the same time.

Let's look at equipment costs first.In the last plane, the most expensive equipment in the German infantry squad was undoubtedly the general-purpose machine gun. Although the MG42 general-purpose machine gun adopted technologies such as stamping and spot welding to greatly reduce production costs, the cost was still as high as 250 Reichsmarks, and stamping was not used. The crafted MG34 general-purpose machine gun is more expensive than the MG42, more than 300 Reichsmarks!In contrast, the cost of a 98K bolt-action rifle is 65 Reichsmarks, while the purchase price of a mass-produced StG44 assault rifle is more conscientious, only 70 Reichsmarks!You are not mistaken, in the case of large-scale application of stamping and spot welding technology, the cost of an assault rifle is not much more expensive than a bolt-action rifle!Even considering that the 98K handguard is made of more conscientious walnut wood, this data is amazing enough.

To sum up, Helena believes that in the case of mass production, although semi-automatic rifles and automatic rifles will be more expensive than bolt-action rifles, since the most expensive general-purpose machine gun in the entire squad was taken away and replaced with Two squad machine guns that are not much more expensive than the automatic rifles of the same gun family, the purchase cost of the entire squad weapon should be lower than that of the previous plane, if the production cost saved by the gun family is considered, it is even more That's it.

Next, look at resource consumption.We must know that the major resource consumption of an infantry squad is not the weapon itself, but the ammunition fired. The weight of ammunition consumed by a rifle before the barrel is replaced is dozens or even hundreds of times the weight of the barrel.And Helena unified the ammunition used by the infantry squad into a new type of intermediate-power bullet that uses painted steel shells. The shells of this bullet are stamped from very ordinary carbon steel, and the warheads are only covered with steel cores. The wrapped lead sleeve needs a little lead, and the outermost copper jacket of the warhead needs a little copper.

In contrast, the German infantry squads on the last plane generally used 7.92x57mm lead-core bullets with brass shells. The shells were rolled or pressed with brass. The entire bullet core is also made of lead, and the shell and head of the 7.92x57mm bullet are larger than the 7.92x42mm intermediate power bullet on the plane, so the consumption of each 7.92x57mm lead-core bullet for non-ferrous metals is The new intermediate power of the original plane is several times that of the bomb.

最后我们再来看后勤压力。上个位面的二战初期，一个装备一挺MG34通用机枪和八支98K栓动步枪的步兵班所需要携带的弹药是多少呢？一挺班用MG34的标准携弹量是1150发7.92x57mm弹，每支98K的携弹量是60发7.92x57mm弹，八支98K一共带弹480发7.92x57mm弹，因此上个位面每个步兵班组的标准携弹量是1630发7.92x57mm弹。由于每枚7.92x57mm重尖弹的重量是26.7克，所以上个位面中每个步兵班的标准携弹总重量是43.5千克。

In this plane, the squad leader and the deputy squad leader carrying an assault rifle both carry five 30-round magazines, each with 150 bullets, for a total of 300 bullets.The other six soldiers with semi-automatic rifles carried five 20-round magazines of 100 rounds each, for a total of 600 rounds.Two machine gunners have two ways of carrying ammunition: one is to carry four 75-round drums, each with 300 rounds of ammunition, a total of 600 rounds of ammunition; the other is to carry five 5-round long magazines, each with 40 rounds of ammunition, A total of 200 rounds.It can be seen from the above that the infantry squad of this plane carries 400-1300 rounds of bullets. Since each 1500x7.92mm intermediate-power bullet weighs about 42 grams, the standard total ammunition carried by each infantry squad on this plane is only 19 kg. Only two-thirds of the previous plane.

The reason for this situation is that on the one hand, the weight of each 7.92x42mm intermediate-power bullet is much lighter than that of the 7.92x57mm heavy-pointed bullet, and on the other hand, it is because the general-purpose machine gun with a huge ammunition consumption is replaced by two small ammunition-consuming ones. Many more squads were replaced with machine guns, and after offsetting the increased consumption of assault rifles and semi-automatic rifles, there was a surplus.

To sum up, the new team weapon configuration not only improves the combat effectiveness of the team, but also brings lower equipment cost, less resource consumption and lighter logistical burden. It can be said to have both fish and bear's paw!

Of course, Helena's team weapon configuration also has some shortcomings compared to the previous plane.

The first disadvantage is that the extension distance of the firepower of the squad has decreased. The fire suppression distance of the MG34 or MG42 general-purpose machine gun can reach 800-1000 meters. After using two squad machine guns instead, although the flexibility has increased, the squad machine gun The firepower suppressing distance can only reach 600-800 meters.

The second disadvantage is that the continuity of machine gun fire is reduced. The MG34 or MG42 general-purpose machine gun has almost twice the total amount of ammunition prepared by the two squad machine guns, and it also has a design that can quickly replace the barrel.The large amount of ammunition and the replaceable barrel give the general-purpose machine gun a strong firepower persistence, which is difficult to match even two squad machine guns.

Although the new firepower configuration of the squad has these shortcomings, speaking from the conscience, the firepower of the infantry squad needs to be extended beyond 800 meters. Na considered these shortcomings to be tolerable.

Moreover, regarding this shortcoming, Helena said that it is not completely irreparable. Each platoon can add a three-person platoon-owned machine gun team to serve a "full blood version" general-purpose machine gun. The required infantry squad is a good choice.

Although there has never been a perfect team weapon configuration in this world, Helena believed that, under the constraints of existing technical conditions and Germany's national conditions, her plan was already very close to the optimal solution.

Chapter 99 Above the Shooting Range

Unsurprisingly, the research and development of a new generation of German squad weapons caught Hitler's attention. Mustache, who always liked to ask about the development progress of new weapons, could no longer hold back after listening to the vivid report by chief designer Hugo Schmeisser. The beating heart in his chest belongs to an ordnance fan. Although Mustache, who has not yet taken the position of general manager these days, is already busy with saving the German economy in crisis, he still decides to go to the shooting range to see the development of new guns. schedule.

说到新枪族的设计总师胡戈·施迈瑟，在世界枪械设计史上，这家伙可是数得着的几位大神级设计师之一。在上个位面中，施迈瑟的代表作包括MP18冲锋枪、MP36冲锋枪和StG44突击步枪。其中MP18冲锋枪虽然时间上比意大利的“维拉尔佩罗萨”晚，但却是现代冲锋枪的鼻祖；MP36冲锋枪则是二战中德军大量装备的MP38冲锋枪和MP40冲锋枪的直系祖先；StG44突击步枪的诞生更是为此后突击步枪的发展指明了道路。

In this plane, history has undergone a slight deflection under the influence of Helena. During the communication with Helena, Schmeisser found that many of Helena's suggestions and his own mind have been in his mind for many years, but he has never had a chance The idea of ​​practice coincides with each other.Not only that, but Schmeisser found that some of Helena's suggestions were even more perfect than he imagined!

After all, the master is a master. Helena didn't even need to explain her vision for the new gun family. Schmeisser had already fully understood it. Now the master designer has devoted all his energy to the development of the new gun family. up.Helena reckoned that Schmeisser probably didn't have time to tinker with the MP36 submachine gun in the previous plane in the past few years.However, Helena is not very worried about this point. When this plane is equipped with an assault rifle with the function of "combining assault and assault", although the assault rifle may not be withdrawn from the German army's equipment sequence, it is inevitable to be marginalized. trend.

……

When Hitler's car arrived at the shooting range near Berlin, Schmeisser had been waiting there for a long time, and at this moment his mood was both excited and a little apprehensive.Although Germany's defense budget this year is still only a negligible 19 billion marks, as a designer with a keen sense of business, Schmeisser has already smelled signs of Germany's imminent large-scale military expansion from various policy trends after Hitler came to power.Schmeisser believes that if this judgment is true, it means that once the gun family he designed becomes the standard equipment of the German army, large orders will follow.

After a brief handshake and greetings, Hitler, accompanied by Schmeisser and the others, sat down on the seats in the shooting range. While watching the firepower display in the shooting range, Hitler listened to Schmeiser next to him explain the performance of the new gun.Schmeisser took a new semi-automatic rifle with no bullets from someone else, and handed it to Hitler: "This is the semi-automatic rifle in our new gun family, Your Excellency, General Manager." Hitler took the gun happily and held it in his hand. Played it up.

"The semi-automatic rifles in the gun family are almost finalized, and the submachine guns and squad machine guns are still undergoing final reliability tests." Schmeisser reported.The reason why Schmeisser deliberately called the assault rifles in the gun family "submachine guns" is because in a small chat with Helena, Helena told Schmeisser in a joking tone: Moustache may not like "long guns" very much. A rifle that doesn't look like a rifle".In line with the mentality of preferring to believe what is there, and not to believe what is not, Schmeisser did not dare to call the assault rifle a "rifle" at Hitler's current time, but just called it a "submachine gun".

Of course, Helena was just joking with Schmeisser, but the joke was not completely unfounded.