Iron Sonata of World War II

In order to continuously obtain funds from Jews through the "Hawala Project", the German government regards Eastern European countries with a large number of Jewish people as its main "purchase" channel. After all, the number of Jews in Eastern Europe alone is Poland. 300 million people, five times the number of native Jews in Germany!

In order to attract more Jews from Eastern Europe to Germany, Hitler not only lowered the entry threshold for Jewish immigrants in Eastern Europe, but also deliberately created an atmosphere of national tolerance in Germany through a series of political shows.In a commemorative event held for the last World War, Mustache also specially invited representatives of the "National Union of Jewish Veterans" and personally hung a medal on the chest of a Jewish veteran who lost an arm in the war.This move moved the representatives of the "National Union of Jewish Veterans" present to the point of tears.

It turns out that the "National Union of Jewish Veterans" is a national mutual aid organization composed of German Jewish veterans. This organization has always tried to prove that Jews, like Germans, love their motherland and are loyal to their motherland.They not only refuted anti-Semitic remarks in Germany for a long time, but also raised funds to publish a commemorative book commemorating the 1.2 Jewish soldiers who died in World War I. recognized.In the eyes of the "National Union of Jewish Veterans", Hitler's actions showed that after years of hard work, the country finally began to face up to the contributions and sacrifices of Jewish people. How could they not be excited by this?No wonder that when interviewed by reporters, the Jewish veteran pressed the newly hung medal on his chest with his only remaining hand, and said in tears: "It turns out that everything is worth it. It's worth it!"

Although it was a political show, Mustache's acting skills during the show were definitely at the level of a movie star, the kind that all major film festivals owed him a little gold medal.Now not only the Jewish people in Germany are moved by Hitler's "sincerity", but also the Jews all over the world believe that mustaches are friendly to the Jewish people. If Helena didn't come from the future, even she would believe it Mustache sincerely regards Jews as equal members of the big German family.

In order to match the mustache's show, Goebbels did a thorough propaganda work. Even the extreme nationalist remarks made by Hitler in the early years were erased from the memory of the Germans. What?You said that Hitler once discriminated against Jews in "Mein Kampf"?Hasn't the current version been deleted long ago?

In earlier versions?Those expressions were written by Rudolf Hess, a fool who did not deeply understand the meaning of the party leader when he took the records. ?Didn't you see that Hess himself has come forward and publicly admitted that he has made serious political mistakes and publicly apologized after accepting criticism from the party leader?

In short, in the face of huge economic interests, all sorts of operations by Moustache emerged one after another, even the self-proclaimed well-informed Helena was dumbfounded.

But having said that, the effect of mustache's performance is quite good. Because the persecution of Jews in Eastern European countries such as Poland is quite serious at this time, the flow of Eastern European Jewish refugees into Germany has doubled, reaching the order of 10 per year. Through the training and transfer of these Jewish refugees, it is expected to bring Germany hundreds of millions of pounds in export income every year.

It is no exaggeration for Helena to say that in this plane, the Jews have become a huge political asset of Mustache, and maintaining a friendly attitude towards ordinary Jews has become a political mask that Mustache cannot get rid of.Even if it is only for the annual foreign exchange income of hundreds of millions of pounds, even if it is only for the revival of domestic industrial enterprises that are starved for food, even if it is only for the potential influence of Germany in the eastern Mediterranean region, even if it is only for the stability of its own ruling position, the mustache will never change. Dare to take off this mask.

……

In the final analysis, the status quo of a country or organization may be created by the game of stock interests, but the direction of a country or organization must be guided by incremental interests.Helena firmly believes that she can grasp the direction of Germany by continuously creating incremental benefits, and then reshape the world pattern.

As for which specific person or political party will rule Germany, Helena doesn't really care about it now. What she has on hand is a political mask based on incremental interests, each of which can be worn by any ruler who cannot refuse, and as long as they wear , the mask will be tightly stuck to the face, and it will never be released.In this case, it makes no difference to Helena whether the face beneath the political mask is an angel or a devil.

Chapter 152 Armor Display

The Kummersdorf Weapons Testing Ground under the German Army Weapons Bureau is located in the south of Berlin. It is one of the most important weapons testing grounds in Germany. Although it is only a few tens of kilometers away from the bustling city of Berlin, the scenery here is But it is very different from other areas around Berlin.There are neither farmhouses full of rural flavor nor factories spewing billowing smoke, but the natural features are preserved to a large extent: grasslands, forests, hillsides, rivers, lakes, swamps and other terrains are all available.

When there is no weapon test task, the huge Kummersdorf weapon test site has almost become a paradise for all kinds of small animals due to the lack of people and the good ecological environment.But today may be an exception. When the first ray of sunlight in the morning just shot out from above the black silhouetted trees in the distance, the Kummersdorf test site became noisy as if awakened from hibernation. People in various uniforms were busy arranging something in an open space.

It turned out that the Army Weapons Bureau will hold a weapons display here today.According to the original plan of the Weapons Bureau, the purpose of this weapons exhibition was to show the top brass of the Wehrmacht the achievements of the army's equipment construction in recent years. Said that he would come to visit the new weapons with the senior officials of the National Defense Forces. This temporary decision made the officials of the Army Weapons Bureau who had not prepared in advance for a while.You know, since the Marquis of Bismarck visited here in 1890, no German national leader has visited the Kummersdorf Weapons Testing Ground for more than 40 years.

At about ten o'clock in the morning, the sun had already risen in the air, and the mist covering the test site was completely dispelled, and the whole test site looked particularly bright in the dazzling sunlight.When Hitler and a group of Wehrmacht generals headed by General Seekert drove from Berlin to the test site, Lieutenant General Oswald Lutz, commander of the Wehrmacht Motorized Forces, and his old partner, Chief of Staff Heinz Guderi Colonel Ann has been waiting there for a long time.

It should be noted that in the eyes of many people in later generations, Guderian, known as the "father of armored soldiers", has always played the role of a lone hero: after he first realized the true meaning of mechanized warfare, he has been suffering from military forces. The suppression of the conservative forces in China finally broke through the old barriers through unyielding struggles, and formed a new type of armored force... I have to say that the above statement has the dramatic conflict required for literary works, but it is not entirely true.

Guderian was of course one of the main creators of the German armored forces in the last plane, but Guderian was not the only one who valued the role of armored forces in the German army and put them into practice.For example, his old superior Oswald Lutz's theoretical contribution to the construction of German armored forces is no less than that of Guderian. In the last plane, Guderian completed the book "Attention, Tank" in 1937. It was also done with the encouragement and help of General Lutz.As for why Guderian has the most famous reputation in later generations, it may be because Guderian has done a better job in "unity of knowledge and action", his theoretical performance is not as good as his, and his theoretical summary is not as good as his.

In fact, as the commander of the National Defense Forces, General Sekt is also a staunch supporter of mobile warfare. This cheap daddy of Helena's life once said: "If an army composed of an elite detachment implements fast maneuvers and rapid strikes, It is bound to achieve encirclement and annihilation of the enemy's large-scale old-style troops."

In the training guidelines drawn up by General Seekert for the National Defense Forces, the suddenness of the battle and the flexibility of tactics are placed in the supreme position.Regarding the suddenness of the battle, Seekert said: "Every combat action should be based on suddenness. Without suddenness, no major results can be achieved." Regarding the flexibility of tactics, Seekert also said: "Under any circumstances, the The reserve team should be deployed at the point where a breakthrough is achieved, even if such use of troops necessitates a necessary change in the original focus of operations!"

From a certain point of view, the blitzkrieg of the German army on the previous plane was the application of General Sektor's military thinking under the conditions of motorization and mechanization. In fact, it must be under the conditions of motorization and mechanization. The general's combat theory can be fully realized.Therefore, whether in the previous plane or in this plane, Guderian is not a lone walker. Relying on mechanization and motorization to achieve mobile operations is the consensus of the German army.

Of course, this is not to deny Guderian’s contribution. In Helena’s eyes, the most commendable thing about Guderian is that he can always closely combine the innovation of war theory with the innovation of equipment technology, and he can personally fight on the battlefield. Check the effectiveness of this combination.It is very rare to be able to do this.

Let's go back to the scene of the exhibition. As the most important and the biggest highlight of this exhibition, Lutz and Guderian's program was the last to appear. They were allowed to show the motorized troops for an hour. latest developments.The troops on display included a platoon of tracked transport vehicles, a platoon of motorized anti-tank guns, a platoon of lightly armored scout vehicles and a platoon of tanks.

The demonstration was a great success. Although the scale of the demonstration was small (only five Panzer [-] B tanks were prepared for a platoon), visitors were impressed by the rapid maneuvering of the mechanized and motorized units on the field. Very impressed. "This is what I need! This is what I think!" When the display was completed, Hitler said this excitedly when shaking hands with Lutz and Guderian if.

General Lutz hurriedly told Hitler, who was in high spirits, that the motorized command was studying the use of existing equipment to organize an experimental training armored division, and planned to conduct systematic exercises at the Münster-Rager exercise site. In order to verify the feasibility of large-scale use of tanks and their supporting equipment, and sent an invitation to Hitler, asking him to come to "observe and guide" at that time.Hitler readily agreed on the spot.

In this way, in this plane, General Lutz was preparing to establish the first German armored division four months earlier than in the previous plane. Not only that, the goods he can use are also much more ideal than the previous plane. .According to his plan, the RS-1 tracked transport vehicle and the improved No. [-] tank B will be the main tracked mobile platform for this training armored division. wickers.

Chapter 153 Perfect Model

At the modern weapons exhibition in Kummersdorf, Lieutenant General Lutz and Colonel Guderian showed the No. [-] tank B type to Hitler and the high-level Wehrmacht. It is an improved model based on the No. [-] tank lineage of this plane, and it is also the first model that is actually put into mass production in the No. [-] tank pedigree of this plane.

Although the performance of the No. 10 Tank Type A made the military very satisfied, due to the long-term lack of experience in tank manufacturing and use in Germany after World War I, and the No. [-] Tank has a large technical span for the German military industry system, it is very useful. Helena, a traveler, helped to check for omissions and make up for vacancies. During the military tests and troop trials, the [-] Type A tanks that were trial-produced earlier still inevitably exposed some flaws in details.

After accepting the military's early trial feedback, Henschel's actions can be said to be quite rapid, and soon after it came up with the No. [-] tank type B with more complete technology, which comprehensively corrected the problems existing in the previous type A.The batch of A-type tanks that Henschel had previously trial-produced (although these trial-production models are collectively referred to as A-type, but in fact each vehicle has some subtle differences) were used as teaching vehicles and given to the car school.

Helena is very happy with Henschel's efforts to perfect the design of the No. [-] tank. As a very complicated technical weapon, it is impossible for the designer to eliminate all the defects on the drawings. All technical problems need to be solved in repeated trials and actual use.Now that we are in a time of peace, as long as there are no directional problems in the design, it is completely worth spending a few months to correct various design flaws than rushing to put the tank into production.

As a negative example, in the last plane, the "Tiger" heavy tank and "Panther" medium tank that the Germans rushed into production during the war invariably screwed up their debut.

In June 1942, the "Tiger" heavy tank was put into actual combat for the first time in the salient of Lake Ladoga, but three of the four tanks that attacked were lying on the front line!That night, the German maintenance troops dispatched nine 6-ton crawler tractors, braved Soviet flares and artillery fire, and took a lot of effort to drag these lame tigers back to the station.

In July 1943, Germany put two battalions of 7 "Panther" tanks into actual combat for the first time in Kursk. However, more than half of the 250 Panthers of the 51st Armored Battalion had not yet reached the battlefield. It broke down, and the situation of the 125nd Armored Battalion was not much better. By the end of the first day of the tank battle, only one-fifth of the Panther tanks could continue to fight. Most of the losses were due to the "Black Panthers". Leopard's own mechanical failure.

It is precisely because the "Tiger" tank and the "Black Panther" tank each had a large number of non-combat losses due to various design loopholes in their early combat experience, which caused some military fans in later generations to form the "Tiger" tank. ", "Black Panther" unreliable impression.In fact, this impression is not entirely true. After the early running-in period, the reliability of the improved "Tiger" and "Black Panther" is still quite good, but the maintenance is still time-consuming and laborious.

……

作为一号坦克家族的第一个投入量产的型号，一号坦克B型在装甲厚度和布置上并没有进行过多的调整。毕竟现在一号坦克上的那块倾斜60度的30毫米正面装甲，已经足够防御上个位面中英国的2磅（口径40毫米）反坦克炮或者苏联的1937年型45mm反坦克炮了，抵挡威力更大的反坦克火力不是一辆战斗全重只有十几吨的轻型坦克需要考虑的问题。

The only change in the armor layout of the No. 10 Tank B is to increase the thickness of the top armor of the car body under the gun mantlet from 20 mm to 15 mm and connect it to the front armor of the car body through a [-]-degree depression angle.The first is to facilitate the tank driver to observe the road conditions ahead, the second is to save a little vertical height of the main armor on the front of the car body, and the third is to prevent local shells from hitting the bottom of the tank mantlet and ricocheting downwards, and then Break through the relatively weak hull top armor.

一号坦克B型的主炮也没有改变，依然采用那门48倍径的60毫米坦克炮。现在该炮系列化发展的牵引型号也已经开始装备国防军系列中的反坦克部队了。在上个位面中，和本位面的48倍径的60毫米坦克炮对应的坦克炮是三号坦克后期型号上所装备的那门KwK39型60倍径50毫米坦克炮（该炮的牵引型是pak38型60倍径50毫米反坦克炮）。虽然上个位面中德国人的60倍径50毫米炮的作战表现还算凑合，但海伦娜依然坚持开发倍径稍小但口径略大的48倍径60毫米火炮。

This is not because Helena wants to continue the 60mm German artillery caliber (Germany was equipped with a 1902-style 27-fold 60mm mountain gun during World War I), but because of the Germans' vision of armored soldiers in this plane and the previous one. The planes are different.

In the last plane, Guderian divided tanks into main tanks carrying high-velocity guns for anti-armor operations, and support tanks carrying large-caliber guns and firing high-explosive ammunition.The No. 42 and No. 60 tanks in the previous plane are actually the products of Guderian's combat scenario.In Guderian's vision, the No. 50 tank is the main tank, equipped with a 24mm tank gun with a long barrel of 75 or [-] times the diameter; the No. [-] tank is a support tank, equipped with a [-]mm tank gun with a [-] times the diameter and a short barrel. .However, Guderian himself may not have thought that it was the No. [-] tank that originally served as a support tank that eventually became the main tank of German armored warfare.

In the last plane, Guderian divided tanks into main tanks and support tanks, the essence of which was the same as the British divided tanks into infantry tanks and cruiser tanks.It is all under the condition that the development of tank technology is not yet mature, trying to achieve learning from each other by splitting the functions of tanks.However, this plane, Helena, is not prepared to do so. Whether it is dividing tanks into main tanks and support tanks, or dividing tanks into infantry tanks and cruiser tanks, the history of the previous plane has proved that it is not in line with the development of tanks. direction.

Therefore, compared to the 60-times-diameter 50mm gun in the previous plane, the 48-times-diameter 60mm gun in this plane is undoubtedly a more balanced choice. The power is even better, and to a certain extent, both anti-armor operations and fire support are taken into account.

Compared with the protection and firepower, the most significant change of the No. [-] Tank Type B is that the full-time tank radio operator has returned to some tanks.Although the crystal frequency stabilization technology adopted by Helena on the radio station of the No. [-] tank has greatly reduced the burden of operating the radio station, making it possible for the tank commander to be responsible for operating the radio station, and the No. [-] tank has also freed up a lot of space due to the lack of one crew member. Space, to achieve a higher tonnage utilization.

However, the Army military quickly discovered through experiments that it is difficult for a tank responsible for company-level or even battalion-level command to be equipped with only one radio station operated by the commander to meet the complex communication requirements.So on the special "command" tank, Henschel removed the 48 rounds of ammunition rack on the right hand side of the driver, and re-added the seat of the radio operator. Reduced from 72 to 24 rounds.

Chapter 154

In addition to the above-mentioned changes that are easier to notice, the No. [-] Tank Type B has adopted a lot of improvement measures that are not so conspicuous compared to Type A, but are still very beneficial to the improvement of combat effectiveness.

For example, the No. [-] tank type B added a machine gun cradle connected to the inside of the tank’s roof machine gun, so that when encountering an emergency situation where enemy infantry is approaching, the loader or the commander can directly turn the vehicle through the handle inside the vehicle. The top machine gun can be fired without risking opening the turret cover and then leaning over to fire the gun.

Another example is that the No. 24 Tank B has added a drive motor to the turret. The gunner can control the rotation of the turret by stepping on the pedals under his feet. Stepping on the left pedal, the turret will rotate to the left; stepping on the right pedal, the turret will rotate to the left. Rotate right.The existence of the electric pedal has increased the speed of the turret of the Type B tank of the No. [-] tank a lot, reaching [-] degrees per second, but the mechanical handle for driving the turret is still retained. It is not only used as a human backup when the turret drive motor fails, but also can be used for electric Fine adjustment after coarse pedal adjustment.

These large and small improvements add up to dozens of items. In order to accommodate the newly added equipment, the body of the No. 2.5 Tank Type B was slightly widened and widened. The width increased from 2.65 meters of Type A to 5 meters, and the length also increased from Type A's 5.2 meters increased to 12.5 meters.In this way, the total combat weight of the No. 13.6 Tank Type B has also increased slightly from 45 tons to [-] tons.However, since the power-to-weight ratio of the No. [-] tank Type B is not low, its maximum speed can still be maintained at [-] kilometers per hour.

总体来说，如果将本位面的一号坦克B型和上个位面中美国在1943年研制成功的M24“霞飞”轻型坦克作对比的话。我们不难发现：机动性方面M24优势很大、防护方面两者基本相当、火力方面两者各有所长（一号坦克B型的48倍径60毫米炮的反装甲能力略强于M24的39倍径75毫米炮，但高爆弹的威力就逊色不少了）。虽然由于采用了并列双发动机和传动轴穿过车体的设计，“霞飞”坦克的吨位利用率并不十分理想。但13.6吨的一号坦克B型在战斗全重比18.4吨的M24“霞飞”轻26%的情况下，综合性能达到只是略弱于霞飞的水平，依然是一个非常了不起的成就，毕竟M24“霞飞”是晚了10年的产品。

Before the end of 1933, Henschel delivered the first batch of 22 Panzer B Type [-] tanks to the Wehrmacht, including twenty basic and two command vehicles.As soon as Lieutenant General Lutz and Colonel Guderian got the equipment, they immediately used these tanks to form Germany's first real tank company after World War I. The company was equipped with four tank platoons, each Equipped with five basic tanks of the Panzer B type, and two command tanks were used as company vehicles.

Because the overall design of the No. [-] Tank Type B is both reasonable and forward-looking, and the preliminary test work is quite sufficient, the performance of the first batch of No. [-] Tank Type B has been greatly praised by the troops using it. However, in training and exercises There are also some interesting episodes.

For example, after a period of confrontational training and actual military exercises, Lieutenant General Lutz of the Motorized Force Command was surprised to find that the two command tanks had a high probability of being "destroyed" during the exercise. To outrageous.For this reason, Lieutenant General Lutz personally went to the grassroots soldiers to inquire about the situation.

It turns out that the command type of the No. [-] Tank B has one more radio station than the basic type. The most obvious difference between the appearance and the basic type is that there is an extra whip antenna on the top of the turret (the basic type has only one radio station, one antenna).After several confrontation exercises, the opponents quickly found the way, so as soon as the command tank with two braids standing upright like a bee appeared on the exercise field, it would immediately become an anti-tank tank that attracted all kinds of opponents. Powerful magnet for fire.Because it is always judged to be injured or killed in the exercise, the command type of the No. [-] tank B quickly became the most hated car of the company commander.

However, this ironic problem is not difficult to solve, and Henschel quickly came up with a remedy: to urgently install a fake antenna on the top of the turret of each Panzer B basic type that has been delivered, All basic models being produced also adopt this design, so that the command and basic models are basically indistinguishable in appearance.The effect of this improvement is still good. Since then, the incident of the command tank being fired by the opposite side as soon as it appeared has never happened again.

……

With the joint efforts of the producer and the user, the No. [-] tank has gradually gone through its own running-in period and has begun to enter the stage of stable mass production, which makes Helena very gratified.However, when it comes to the development of the new generation of tanks, Helena never dares to stop for a moment.

In the previous plane, after the end of the Cold War, due to the reduction of the pressure of the world war and the potential of the existing technology path being tapped, the progress of tank technology showed obvious signs of slowing down.The advanced third-generation tanks that appeared at the end of the Cold War, such as the T-80U of the Soviet Union, the M1A1 of the United States, the Leopard 2A4 of Germany, and the Leclerc of France, etc., even after 30 years, as long as the level of informatization is upgraded, they can still It can be used as the first-line main equipment in the army of most countries.

But now it is the 20s, after the tank has passed its initial period, it has entered an era of rapid development!If the No. 30 Tank B, which just entered service in this plane, is placed in the previous plane, at this point in 1934, the No. 1939 Tank B can be called advanced; but five years later, in 1944, a No. 15 tank The performance of the No. 1949 tank B can only be said to be barely enough; ten years later, in [-], the No. [-] tank B must have been reduced to a supporting role on the battlefield; as for [-] years later, in [-], the No. [-] tank B The model may have become an exhibit in a military museum.

The rapid development of tank technology in the 40s brought a lot of challenges to Helena in formulating the German tank development route.On the one hand, she needs to ensure that Germany is always in a leading position in tank technology, but on the other hand, she must ensure that the army always has stable and mature products available.The former requires her to boldly adopt new technologies on the new generation of tanks, while the latter requires her to control the proportion of technologies that have not been fully verified to a certain extent.

Chapter 155 Alternate Upgrades

When it comes to the research and development of new German tanks, Helena has always had a strong sense of urgency.Therefore, the No. [-] Tank B here has just started to be put into small batch production, and the research and development of the new generation of tanks over there has been put on the agenda by Helena.However, in order to ensure that Germany has mature and reliable equipment available at any time while promoting rapid technology, when planning the technology tree of Germany's future tanks, Helena does not plan to make a technological leap forward in each generation of products. She prefers It is a development route in which gradual improvement and leap-forward development are carried out alternately.

We know that during the Cold War period of the last plane, the Soviet Union was far behind the Western countries headed by the United States in terms of comprehensive economic strength and comprehensive technological strength.But even under this very unfavorable comparison of overall strength, the ground armor of the Soviet Union maintained a double advantage over Western countries during most of the Cold War: not only did it have scale advantages in overall equipment, but it also had advantages in cutting-edge armor. Equipment has a quality advantage.

This double advantage of the Soviet armored forces over NATO countries was maintained until the 80s.In fact, it was not until the US M1988A1HA tank (equipped with a 1mm smoothbore gun and depleted uranium armor authorized by Rheinmetall) entered service in 120 that the tanks of NATO countries really overwhelmed the Soviet Union in terms of firepower, protection and mobility for the first time. period ace equipment.At this time, the tired red giant bear of the Soviet Union was on the verge of death, and it was really unable to complete the research and development of a new generation of tanks.

Although due to the gap between some technologies and the West, and in order to give priority to ensuring the main performance had to make compromises in some secondary aspects, the specific design of Soviet tanks also has many slots and defects. One of the main reasons for parting ways with the Soviet Union.But it is undeniable that in the cruel arms race during the Cold War, the Soviet Union relied on its own relatively limited technical reserves to walk ahead of Western tanks time and time again. This is undoubtedly a very remarkable achievement in Helena's view!

In Helena's eyes, the reason why the tank industry of the Soviet Union in the previous plane was able to achieve such achievements was that in the Soviet Union's military theory and national strategy, the armored forces with tanks as the core had a very lofty status, so that they could obtain huge The resources are tilted outside.It is also inseparable from the relatively reasonable route planning of the Soviet Union in tank development.

Looking at the tank development routes of the two camps in the Cold War on the last plane, it is not difficult to find that: Compared with Western countries, Soviet tanks have the following characteristics in iterations: first, relatively high iteration frequency, second It is that each iteration has a relatively reasonable technical span, and the third is that there is generally good technical inheritance between the next generation of products.

What is even more amazing is that during the Cold War on the last plane, the major upgrades of the Soviet tank platform and the major upgrades of the subsystems were carried out alternately.This generation of tanks will focus on upgrading the weapon platform on the basis of inheriting relatively mature subsystems; the next generation will generally focus on upgrading subsystems on the basis of inheriting relatively mature weapon platforms.This not only ensures a substantial upgrade of the performance of the new tank, but also fully absorbs the mature design experience that has been verified on the previous generation of tanks.

Let's look at specific examples:

In the previous plane, the T-54/T-55 tank was the pioneer of the main battle tank of the Soviet Union during the Cold War (the T-44, which was produced in small quantities, can be regarded as the predecessor of the T-54).This is a major upgrade of the weapon platform, with large-diameter road wheels suspended by five torsion bars on each side, engines arranged horizontally at the rear, and 100 mm inclined frontal armor with almost no holes (the reason for saying "almost" here is that Because the T-54 actually retains a small fixed course machine gun perforation) constitutes a classic five-wheel platform that is enough to become a generation.Compared with the reborn platform, the T-54's subsystems adopt a large number of mature designs. For example, the D-10T artillery it is equipped with is the main gun of the famous SU-100 tank destroyer during World War II (born out of the B- 34 naval gun), obtained through adaptive modification.

The next generation of the T-54/55 tank is the T-62 main battle tank (you can still see the T-62 exhibits in the Revolutionary Military Museum in Beijing, which was destroyed when the Soviet Union invaded Zhenbao Island in the northeast of my country. spoils captured by our troops).As the successor of the T-54 tank with a major platform upgrade, the T-62 well embodies the principle of small platform upgrades and major subsystem upgrades.Basically inherited the T-54 on the weapon platform, but made some small improvements, such as adjusting the position of the load wheel to adapt to the change of the center of gravity of the tank, completely canceling the useless heading machine gun perforation, and enlarging the turret seat ring to accommodate the diameter Larger turrets, slightly increased engine power to offset the increased combat weight and slightly increased tank mobility, etc.But in the weapon system, the T-62 adopted a revolutionary 115mm large-caliber smoothbore gun, becoming the world's first tank equipped with a smoothbore gun in large-scale service.

T-62坦克之后就是世界上第一种三代主战坦克——T-64坦克了，按照前面的规律，这次又到了平台大升级的时候了。正面呈68度倾角放置的复合装甲、转盘式的自动装弹机、每侧六只的负重轮、双侧行星式变速箱的设计再次搭建起一款影响久远的武器平台。子系统方面T-64的初期型号延续了T-62上的115毫米滑膛炮，但弹药被改成了分装式以适应转盘式装弹机（不过从T-64A开始，T-64系列换装了威力更大的125毫米滑膛炮）。

T-64坦克之后就是是T-80坦克了（注意一下，T-72坦克并不是T-64坦克的下代产品，T-72的定位是作为同代产品中的低端产品与相对高端的T-64搭配使用，其中T-64用于和北约争夺质量优势，T-72用于和北约争夺数量优势）。T-80的升级重点再次从平台转回到子系统来：在继承T-64平台框架的基础上，升级了悬挂系统（主要是T-64的小直径负重轮不大靠谱）、燃气轮机、火控计算机、复合装甲等。正是这些子系统的升级，让T-80坦克（尤其是改进后的T-80U）将苏联坦克的性能优势一直保持到80年代末期，也就是红色帝国崩溃的前夜。

Helena is not going to let the specific design of German tanks be on par with the Soviet Union. If a specific combat scenario is used, its combat capability will be greatly reduced.

However, Helena appreciates the Soviet Union's idea of ​​alternately upgrading tanks during the Cold War on the last plane.Therefore, after completing the development of the No. 360 tank, Helena is not in a hurry to develop a new weapon platform (of course, the pre-research work will not be left behind), but is ready to expand and improve on the basis of the No. 6 tank platform: Inheriting the fixed-shaft gearbox, double-sided planetary steering gear and independent leaf spring suspension of the No. [-] tank, but using a more powerful [-]-horsepower V-shaped [-]-cylinder diesel engine and adding a set of road wheels to increase the carrying capacity of the chassis. At the same time as protection and protection, the verification of some subsystems is carried out to make technical preparations for the development of Germany's future "ideal" tanks.

Regarding Helena's suggestion, Lieutenant General Lutz, commander of the German Motorized Forces, also agreed very much. In the last plane, the "No. [-] Tank" as a transitional model was developed under Lieutenant General Lutz's suggestion (at that time The development of the German tanks III and IV was not very smooth), and it turns out that this suggestion is very correct.Imagine, if there is no "Tank II" to fill the vacancy, Germany on the previous plane would have to rely on a small number of immature "Tank III", "Tank IV" and most of the weak tanks like Xiaodouding "Tank One" went to blitz France...

Chapter 156 The Fox Has the Might of the Tiger

Since the new tank uses the same transmission and suspension system as the "No. 1934 Tank", the development work of Henschel Company has progressed quite smoothly. In mid-March 3, the temperature in northern Europe had not yet fully warmed up, and the first prototype of the new tank drove out of the Henschel company's factory amidst the roar of the engine.According to the German naming convention for armored combat vehicles, the German Army Weapons Bureau quickly awarded the new tank an official number: "PzKpfwⅡ", which is the so-called "No. [-] tank".At the same time, the new tank also received an official nickname "Fox".

The platform of "Tank No. 5.2" can basically be regarded as an extended version developed on the basis of the platform of "Tank No. 5.68". "Segment" structure, but the length and width of the car body have a certain increase compared with the "No. 2.65 tank".Among them, the length of the car body has increased from 2.95 meters of the No. 34 Tank Type B to [-] meters, and the width of the car body has increased from [-] meters of the No. [-] Tank to [-] meters. This size is slightly larger than the German No. [-] Tank in the previous plane. Slightly smaller than the Soviet T-[-] tank.

The larger size of the car body brings greater weight. The total combat weight of the No. 24 tank has increased to 22.7 tons. This specification is between the L-type No. 25 tank (6 tons of combat weight) and the No. Tank H type (combat total weight 360 tons).In order to ensure the maneuverability of the tank under the condition of a sharp increase in the combat weight, the No. 1 tank is equipped with a V-shaped [-]-cylinder diesel engine with a maximum output power of [-] horsepower, but the transmission device still uses a five-in and one-out fixed-shaft main gearbox Plus the combination of two-stage planetary steering gearboxes on both sides, that is, the transmission that is being used on the RS-[-] crawler transport vehicle and the No. [-] tank.

At Helena's request, this transmission was designed with a wide range of power from the beginning, which can easily match the in-line three-cylinder ( The maximum power is 150 horsepower), in-line four-cylinder (maximum power 200 horsepower) and V-shaped 6-cylinder (maximum power 360 horsepower) diesel engines are matched.So far, the transmission systems of the four tracked chassis that Germany has developed: the No. 1 tank, the No. 2 tank, the RS-15 light tracked transport vehicle, and the RS-45 heavy tracked transport vehicle are completely universal.Since the power-to-weight ratio of the No. [-] tank is still maintained at the level of [-] horsepower per ton, the mobility has not decreased compared with the No. [-] tank B, and the top speed can still reach [-] kilometers per hour.

In addition to the power and transmission system, the walking system of the No. 360 tank also maintains good commonality with the No. 720 tank: the same specification of [-]mm single-pin track, the same specification of [-]mm diameter double-rim road wheels, and the same specification of independent plates Spring suspension, double ring gear driving wheel of the same specification, idler pulley of the same specification and idler pulley of the same specification.It's just that in order to carry a heavier body, the number of road wheels and supporting pulleys has increased by one each: the road wheels have increased from four to five in the No. [-] tank, and the number of supporting pulleys has changed from three to four in the No. [-] tank. indivual.

It is also worth mentioning that the No. 34 tank not only has a ring gear on the drive wheel, but also has a double-row ring gear on the induction wheel, and mud drains are set on both the induction wheel and the road wheel.This improvement has been adopted on the No. [-] Tank Type B before. Its function is to make the track not easy to slip off from the induction wheel and the walking system not easy to be blocked by raised mud when the tank passes through muddy or snowy roads.The adoption of these improvements and the relatively low track pressure make the No. [-] and No. [-] tanks far more capable of overcoming muddy or snow-covered roads than the T-[-] series tanks of the Soviet Union on the previous plane.The only fly in the ointment is that the movable stroke of the leaf spring suspension is relatively limited, which limits the high-speed off-road capability of the tank to a certain extent.

However, although the leaf spring suspension has disadvantages, it also brings many advantages to the No. 1.7 tank. Although compared with the No. 2.4 tank B type, the average load-carrying weight of a single road wheel of the No. 9.4 tank has increased from 38 tons to 15.8 tons. This suspension system is within the capabilities of the suspension system, so there is no need to make major changes to the suspension system.Even if there is a requirement for further weight gain in the future, for the leaf spring suspension, it is just a matter of adding a few more reeds.If you don’t believe me, just look at the Germans on the previous plane who changed the Czech [-]t tank with a total combat weight of only [-] tons into a "stalker" tank destroyer with a total combat weight of [-] tons, and you will know that the leaf spring suspension increases the load. The potential is so huge.

With sufficient combat weight and body size as a support, the No. 48 tank naturally needs to be equipped with more powerful weapons. The main weapon of the No. 75 tank is a 75-diameter [-]mm rifled tank gun produced by Rheinmetall.The gun is a member of the Helena-planned family of three-in-one [-]mm anti-tank guns.

这款火炮的威力相当可观，在发射被帽风帽穿甲弹的时候，可以在1000米的距离上击穿倾斜30度放置的100毫米均质装甲板，略强于上个位面德国的pak40型46倍径75毫米反坦克炮（同等条件下穿深约为94毫米），1000米穿甲能力基本上和上个位面“虎式”坦克上的那门Kwk36型56倍径88毫米主炮达到了同一个等级（就穿甲威力而言，虎式坦克的Kwk36其实只是略强于pak40，比黑豹坦克的70倍径75mm炮要弱）。

In the last plane, due to the unreasonable layout of the turret layout of the German No. 40 tank (the commander's seat is directly behind the gun tail), in order to control the rear seat distance of the artillery, the Kwk48 type equipped with the No. 40 tank H type The tank gun had to shorten the length of the cartridge, which resulted in the power of this [-]-caliber gun being inferior to the Pak[-] anti-tank gun with the same caliber and slightly shorter diameter.

However, the turret layout of the No. 24 tank on this plane still continues the design paradigm of the No. [-] tank, leaving sufficient recoil travel for the artillery, coupled with the lowered line of fire height and efficient three-chamber brake, so that the battle is full of weight. However, the [-]-ton No. [-] tank can easily carry this powerful tank gun.

Since the total combat weight is only 24 tons, in terms of armor protection, it is impossible for the No. 30 tank to be as comprehensive as the [-]-ton guys. Therefore, under Helena's request, the No. [-] tank did not increase the armor of each part equally. Instead, the increased armor weight was all piled up on the front of the car body and turret, while the armor of other parts of the tank was only very limited compared to the No. [-] tank.

This idea is actually similar to the "Stalker" tank destroyer in the previous plane. Although the "Stalker" tank destroyer with a total combat weight of 15.8 tons has only 20mm side and rear armor, the 60mm front armor tilted at 60 degrees Armor was very strong at the time.Therefore, under Helena's repeated insistence, by appropriately sacrificing the side and rear protection of the tank, it was matched to the low body with a height of 2.25 meters on the top of the turret (although it is much shorter than the 2.7 meters of the No. Only the 2.19-meter-tall T-72 is emotionally stable), and the front of the No. [-] tank has reached the same level of protection as the "Stalker" on the previous plane.

The specific layout of the car body armor is as follows: the thickness of the front armor of the car body is 60 mm, and it is arranged at an angle of 60 degrees backward; The thickness of the upper armor on both sides is 30 mm, and it is arranged inwardly at 5 degrees; the thickness of the armor at the rear of the hull is 30 mm, and it is arranged at an inclination of 35 degrees;

From the appearance, the turret of the No. [-] tank can basically be regarded as an enlarged version of the turret of the No. [-] tank. It is still a shuttle-shaped turret with a tail compartment.The turret still adopts the combination of casting and welding manufacturing process (the elliptical surface structure and the seat ring part of the front part of the turret are integrally cast, and the rest are welded structures).

Like the body armor, the No. 100 tank turret also enhances the frontal protection by appropriately sacrificing side rear protection. The specific thickness and arrangement are as follows: the thickness of the frontal armor of the turret is 35 mm, and it is arranged at an inclination of 130 degrees; there is a wedge-shaped cross section around the gun barrel The thickest part of the gun mantlet reaches 40 mm; the thickness of the armor on both sides of the turret is 35 mm, and it is arranged at an inward slope of 30 degrees; the thickness of the armor at the rear of the turret is 15 mm, and it is arranged at a forward slope of 20 degrees; The armor thickness of the front part of the turret roof is 70 mm, and it is arranged at a 10-degree backward slope; the armor thickness of the rest of the turret roof is [-] mm, and it is arranged horizontally.

In order to cope with the forward shift of the center of gravity brought about by the heavy frontal armor, the five road wheels of the No. 62 tank are not evenly arranged, but the distance between the first and second, second and third pairs of road wheels is relatively short, and the third The distance between the fourth, fourth and fifth pairs of road wheels is relatively large, which seems to be a bit of the road wheel arrangement style of the T-[-] tank on the previous plane.

Although it paid the price of weak side armor (in fact, it is no worse than the H-type No. 20 tank in the previous plane), but the No. 30 tank has obtained unparalleled frontal offensive and defensive capabilities, and it is not only the only one among the [-]-ton tanks. , and there are few opponents in [-]-ton tanks.

Let's put it this way, if you ignore the side that may be penetrated by a 800-type 1937mm anti-tank gun at a distance of about 45 meters, the frontal protection of the No. 24 tank with a total combat weight of 56 tons is better than that of the previous plane with a total combat weight of 48 tons. Tiger tanks are even stronger!And the 75-fold diameter 1000mm gun it carries has no less penetrating ability at a distance of 88 meters than the castrated [-]mm gun of the previous Plane Tiger tank.That is to say, although the name of the No. [-] tank in this plane is "Fox Tank", in an armored group battle, as long as you have teammates covering your side and rear, in the eyes of the opponent, it will be the same as meeting a group of Tiger Tanks from the previous plane. There is really no difference between tanks, maybe even more terrifying. After all, tiger tanks on the previous plane rarely appeared on a scale above the battalion level...

Chapter 157 Battlefield Maintenance

Since the 75mm shell of the No. 60 tank is much larger than the 72mm shell of the No. 52 tank, although the interior space of the No. 24 tank is more spacious than that of the No. 28 tank, the bomb load of the No. 5 tank Compared with the No. [-] tank, there is still a certain shrinkage, from [-] rounds of the No. [-] tank to [-] rounds.Among them, [-] rounds of shells are placed in the tail compartment of the turret in three layers, and the other [-] rounds are placed in the right front of the car body in five layers. The propellants of these ammunition have been passivated and protected by water jackets.

Compared with the 87 rounds of ammunition of the No. 40 tank in the previous plane, the ammunition of the No. [-] tank in this plane has dropped by about [-]%. However, Helena does not think that this will cause too much damage to the combat effectiveness of the tank. Influence, on the contrary, she believes that the bomb load of the last Panzer IV largely exceeds actual needs.

According to the experience of the last plane, even in the most intense battle, the probability of a tank’s main gun ammunition consumption exceeding 52 rounds is very small. For example, the T- 34/50 did not run out of ammunition in the brutal Middle East war.Therefore, in Helena's view, it is more worthwhile to moderately reduce the amount of ammunition on a single vehicle in exchange for a more compact vehicle body layout on 54-55-ton tanks that tend to fight in clusters.

With the No. 1 tank prototype off the assembly line, Helena has created four of the eight tracked standard chassis planned for the future German mechanized troops, namely: RS-150 tractor chassis, equipped with an in-line three-cylinder 2-horsepower diesel engine; The RS-360 tractor chassis is equipped with a V-shaped six-cylinder 200-horsepower diesel engine; the No. 360 tank chassis is equipped with an in-line four-cylinder [-]-horsepower diesel engine; the No. [-] tank chassis is equipped with a V-shaped six-cylinder [-]-horsepower diesel engine.

Since the above four standard chassis adopt the same suspension system and transmission device on the basis of the family-developed diesel engine, these four standard chassis can form a completely standardized chassis family matrix. All internal models can be seamlessly connected with the same set of logistics maintenance support system, which virtually reduces the burden of logistics support and the difficulty of learning for logistics personnel. They only need to learn the support skills for a certain model in the family. Other models in the family can be compared by analogy.

Helena's efforts to improve the logistics support capabilities and battlefield maintenance efficiency of the German mechanized troops are reflected in the development of standardization, generalization and familyization of tank chassis on a macro level, but it does not mean that it is done when it is done.Top-down macro planning is of course very important, but a large number of micro details can also determine the success or failure of things, so Helena also puts the improvement of maintainability in a very prominent position in the design of the tank subsystem .

Unlike fighter planes that are shot down, most of them will fall to pieces on the ground. In combat, a tank with a solid structure will suffer no damage in most cases unless it encounters a devastating blow such as ammunition detonation or the entire vehicle being burned. Save it.There are two reasons why a large number of tanks with repair value are discarded in wars: the first is that one’s own side failed to effectively control the battlefield and cannot repair the damaged tanks; the second is that the failure of the tanks is difficult It is time-consuming and laborious to eliminate on the battlefield and drag it to the rear for maintenance, and the gain outweighs the gain.

The first reason is beyond the control of the designer. It depends on the specific battlefield performance of the troops participating in the war. However, the regret that the repairable tanks caused by the second reason cannot be repaired in time is still worthwhile for designers and logistical support. Personnel and even tank crews worked together to fill it.

Helena has never doubted the technical level of the logistics officers of the German armored forces.Not to mention anything else, let’s just say that in the last plane, in the face of technical equipment such as the Tiger heavy tank with a super-complex structure and an “anti-human” maintenance design, the German logistics officer can still maintain a high rate of its correctness At the same level, it is enough to show the strength of the German logistics officers and soldiers, so the key to improving the battlefield repair ability of German tanks lies with the designers.