Iron Sonata of World War II

To solve these problems in the Soviet T-72 tanks in history, increasing the number of gears and adopting dual-flow transmission is certainly the most perfect method from a purely technical point of view.For example, the King Tiger tank developed by Germany in World War II on the last plane has eight forward gears and four reverse gears, and also divides the direct driving power and steering power of the tank into two independent paths, forming a zero-independent Dual-flow drivetrain.However, this overly complicated transmission scheme is obviously not Helena's ideal type. After all, the great revolutionary mentor Comrade Lenin once said: "Quantity itself is also a kind of quality." And the No. [-] tank is the future German mechanization envisioned by Helena. As the middle force of the army, the mechanical structure naturally cannot be designed too complicated.Within the framework of the double-sided planetary transmission and steering device, it is a more rational and practical approach to overcome the defects that existed in similar products in history as much as possible.

Helena first started by optimizing the design of the planetary gear mechanism of the gearbox. She came up with a planetary gear design that was later called "Ravina-style".This is a compound planetary gear mechanism composed of two planetary rows at the front and rear, but the two planetary rows are connected by a common ring gear, a common planetary carrier, and a common long planetary gear.Specifically, the outermost ring gear meshes with the long planetary gear, and then the front sun gear directly meshes with the long planetary gear to form the front planetary row, and the rear sun gear meshes with the short planetary gear first, and then the short planetary gear meshes with the long planetary gear The meshing constitutes the rear planetary row.These two planetary rows can provide four forward gears and one reverse gear through the actuators formed by two brakes and four clutches.

This Lavina-type planetary gear mechanism has many unique advantages: first, because the ring gears, planet carriers and long planet wheels of the front and rear planetary rows are shared, so the number of components is small; secondly, because the common ring gear and The combination of the shared planet carrier is like a birdcage that includes all the components, so the axial size can be made very compact; finally, because there are more teeth meshing with each other, it can be used to transmit very large torque, and can The range of reduction ratios provided is also very large.Therefore, in the field of civilian vehicles in later generations, the Ravina planetary gear mechanism is widely used in the transmission system. For example, the famous Volkswagen Santana uses this structure of planetary gear system in the gearbox.

However, considering that the Lavina-type planetary gear mechanism can only provide four forward gears, it is difficult to ensure the stability of the engine speed when changing gears with relatively few gears, so the power flow drawn from the engine of the No. 56 tank on this plane will first After passing through the hydraulic torque converter, it is evenly distributed to the "Ravina" planetary gear sets on both sides through the bevel gear. This is somewhat similar to the transmission structure of the later American M56 self-propelled anti-tank gun, except that the M[-] two The gearbox on the side is simpler, with only two forward gears and one reverse gear.

Because the hydraulic torque converter can provide the function of infinitely variable torque within a certain range, it can play the role of expanding the torque range, stabilizing the engine speed, and absorbing the rigid impact between the engine and the transmission system.In this way, even if the double-row planetary gears on each side of the tank can only provide four forward gears, it can still provide a wide enough torque range for the tank after combining the hydraulic torque converter, and the reduction ratio of each gear can also be designed It is more reasonable, so that the maximum turning radius falls on the highest fourth gear, which greatly alleviates the embarrassment of the Soviet T-72 tank turning difficult when driving in high gear in history.The hydraulic torque converter of the No. [-] tank is equipped with a locking mechanism, which is to lock the hydraulic torque converter when driving at a constant speed, so as to improve transmission efficiency and reduce fuel consumption.

The transmission system of the No. [-] tank on this plane can also provide the tank with the functions of central steering, afterburner driving and high-speed reversing.Because the reduction ratio of the reverse gear of the gearbox is basically the same as that of the first gear, the driver only needs to put one side of the track in reverse gear and the other side of the track in first gear to make the tracks on both sides rotate in reverse at the same speed, so that the tank can move around Body center steering.In later generations, many military fans like to regard the central steering as a feature of dual-stream transmission, but in fact, single-stream transmission can also fully realize this function.

As for the two functions of afterburner driving and high-speed reversing, the No. 1.25 tank on this plane is realized through the simple reversing reduction gear behind the hydraulic torque converter. The reversing reduction device is usually disconnected, but connected After that, it can change the direction of rotation of the engine output shaft and provide an additional reduction ratio of 80.At this time, the original reverse gear of the tank will be transformed into an afterburner forward gear, and the original forward first gear will be transformed into an afterburner reverse gear, and the original forward second to fourth gears will be transformed into a high-speed reverse gear. Among them, the maximum reverse speed can reach [-]% of the maximum forward speed.This is because the reversing deceleration device not only changes the rotation direction of the track, but also slows down and increases the torque.

To sum up, the No. 72 tank on this plane only needs two planetary rows on each side of the gearbox, which can have a wider torque range than the T-72 tank with four planetary rows on each side in history, and eliminates the T- The defect of the [-] tank's transmission device that it is difficult to turn when driving in high gear, by the way, three functions of central steering, afterburner driving and high-speed reversing have been added to the tank.

Although this kind of transmission system still belongs to the category of single-stream transmission, due to the limitations of single-stream transmission itself, it cannot achieve true stepless steering like the tiger and leopard tank with dual-stream transmission in the previous plane. The matching is also far from perfect length.However, the No. [-] tank on this plane can use such a simple design to achieve most of the functions that originally required the use of a very complicated mechanical structure, which is a very remarkable achievement.

Moreover, there are basically no components in this transmission system that exceed the current German industrial production level. Although the Lavina-type planetary gear structure requires higher processing and assembly precision than the fixed-shaft gearbox, for the current processing capacity of Germany It's not a problem at all.The only thing that makes Helena have doubts is the use of hydraulic torque converters on heavy-duty tanks. Although historically, the aero engines produced by Mercedes-Benz during World War II, such as the DB601/605 series, basically have hydraulic torque converter devices. , and the total output may exceed the level of [-], but although the hydraulic torque converter of the aero-engine transmits much more power than the tanks of the same period, it does not need to be used as frequently as the hydraulic torque converter of the tank. Withstand the impact of momentary load.

Although the executives of the Mercedes-Benz company assured Helena that their torque converters would never have any problems even if they were used on tanks, Helena still demanded that there must be a plan B, that is, to be on the safe side. Design a purely mechanical transmission scheme as a backup, specifically, remove the torque converter and add a planetary row to each side of the gearbox to increase the number of forward gears from four to six, so that in case At that time, Mercedes-Benz really has a problem with the hydraulic torque converter, and it will not seriously affect the progress of engineering research and development. Helena is still very clear about the reason for not putting all eggs in the same basket.

The author has something to say: Tomorrow's chapter has been published in advance today. In addition, at the request of readers, all the equipment and character pictures have been moved to the beginning for your convenience.

Chapter 3 Disc Springs

In addition to having a simple and efficient transmission system, the suspension system of the No. [-] tank on this plane is also unique.The Ferret and Fox tanks previously developed in Germany used independent leaf spring suspensions. Although this type of suspension has a simple and reliable structure and a strong load-bearing capacity, the short stroke and high rigidity of the leaf spring suspensions still This limits the tank's high-speed off-road capability and ride comfort.So as early as when the Fox tank was still under development, German designers, at Helena's request, used the Fox tank's body as a test platform to compare and test almost all the suspension forms that they and Helena could think of.

However, the final winner in the suspension selection of the No. [-] tank on this plane was not the Christie suspension and torsion bar suspension, which are familiar to military fans in later generations, but the relatively rare dish shape in the development history of tanks in the previous plane. Spring suspension.Disc spring was first invented by French engineer Belleville, so it is also called Belleville spring washer in later generations.Disc spring is a flat truncated cone-shaped annular elastic device, which looks like a dish without a bottom, but when the disc spring is subjected to external axial stress, it will be compressed more flat and store elastic potential energy at the same time. .

The elastic stroke and load value of a single disc spring are generally limited, so it is often necessary to arrange multiple disc springs into a combined spring in actual use.Combined springs can be subdivided into three types: stacked combined springs, combined combined springs and composite combined springs according to the specific combination of reeds.Among them, the superimposed combined spring is to arrange multiple reeds in the same direction like a stack of plates. This combination can increase the total load capacity of the entire spring group, and at the same time, the friction between the discs can also play a damping effect. .The paired combination spring is to arrange the reeds in pairs. This combination can increase the working stroke of the whole spring group, thereby overcoming the limitation of the short working stroke of a single reed.As for the composite combined spring, two arrangements of superposition and inversion are adopted in the same group of spring sheets, so that the effects of these two arrangements can be obtained.

The suspension system of the No. [-] tank on this plane is based on the composite disc spring group as the elastic component. The guide sleeve is connected.When the road wheel swings up due to the force on the ground, the connecting rod will compress the disc spring assembly in the guide cylinder to provide support for the car body.Each road wheel and its connected swing arm, connecting rod and guide cylinder equipped with disc springs together constitute a complete suspension unit, and each suspension unit is directly installed on the outside of the tank body, and can be disassembled or installed as a whole .

Since Helena chose the disc spring suspension for the No. [-] tank on this plane, it is naturally because the disc spring suspension has unique advantages compared to other forms of suspension.The first is that disc springs can be combined to obtain good load-bearing capacity and stroke. In this regard, disc springs can be said to combine the advantages of strong load-bearing capacity of leaf springs and long working strokes of coil springs, without short strokes and strokes of leaf springs. The defect of the weak load capacity of the coil spring.

Secondly, the reliability and damage resistance of the disc spring are much stronger than that of the coil spring, because the disc spring group is composed of many independent reeds, so even if some reeds fail or are damaged, the suspension unit The performance impact is also limited.As long as the coil spring breaks due to damage somewhere, the entire suspension unit may directly fail.

Finally, through a reasonable combination of disc springs, the own vibration damping effect can be obtained through the friction between the reeds.Friends who have driven a car should know that if the suspension of the vehicle has only elastic elements but no damping elements, it will bounce because of the repeated conversion of elastic potential energy and gravitational potential energy when crossing a ditch.This kind of bouncing is very unfavorable to the combat of tanks. It is important to know that tank shooting in World War II was mainly based on short-stop shooting. If the suspension of the tank does not have enough damping and vibration reduction effect, the tank will need a short time after the driver steps on the brakes. You have to lean forward and backward to stop, which will not only seriously affect the gunner's aiming speed, but also make your own tank an immobile target for a longer period of time.

And if there is enough damping to absorb energy, the time required for the tank to stop can be shortened. Therefore, the damping and vibration reduction of the tank suspension is not only related to the comfort of the tank crew, but also greatly helps the combat performance of the tank itself.It is worth mentioning that in addition to the disc spring suspension, the leaf spring suspension can also obtain vibration damping through the friction between the reeds, so these two suspension systems do not need to be equipped with special shock absorbers, but use coil springs and Tanks with torsion bar springs generally need to set shock absorbers on some suspension units due to insufficient damping of the elastic elements themselves.

Many military fans in later generations are fond of talking about the Christie suspension used in the T-34 tank developed by the Soviet Union in history, but Helena believes that the suspension system of the T-34 may be the most serious failure of this famous tank.First of all, its coil springs are placed in the long armor box on the inside of the car body. Although this can obtain the protection of the side armor of the car body, it severely squeezes the not-so-abundant interior space of the car body. Suspension system maintenance brings unnecessary trouble.Moreover, the armor box also limits the maximum diameter of the coil spring, which in turn limits the potential of the T-34 tank to improve its weight gain. As a result, many improvement plans to enhance the frontal protection of the T-34 in the later period were shelved because of the suspension of this Achilles heel. .What's more serious is that in the case of insufficient damping and damping of the coil spring itself, the Soviet Union did not install a special shock absorber for the T-34 tank, which seriously weakened the short-stop shooting ability of the T-34 tank.

In contrast, the suspension system of the No. [-] tank on the original plane has achieved a balanced performance in all aspects. Although its road wheel travel cannot be compared with the torsion bar suspension, it is on the same level as the Christie (coil spring). Ferret and Fox tanks with leaf spring suspension have made considerable progress, and due to the high energy storage density and flexible combination of disc springs, the Panzer III tank on this plane has considerable improvement potential in the future. After all Disc springs are similar to leaf springs: simply stack more reeds to account for the improved weight gain.Coupled with the extremely strong damage resistance of the disc spring and its own damping and vibration reduction effect, this suspension is more suitable for the battlefield environment of World War II than the Christie suspension using coil springs.More importantly, the manufacturability of the disc spring is also quite good, and it can accept a higher scrap rate, which is a significant advantage compared to the torsion bar spring with better performance but complicated production process.

In fact, in history, Germany also realized the advantages of disc springs at the end of the war. Therefore, on the doomsday tanks that did not come out, including E-25 and E-50, German designers abandoned the difficult-to-manufacture ones. The torsion bar springs are replaced by disc spring suspension designs.Although the disc spring suspension failed to achieve greater development on tanks after the war because of the increasingly mature production process of torsion bar springs, Switzerland, a small mountainous country in Europe, was influenced by Germany and India in the process of participating in the "Indian Tank Project". Part of the influence of the design ideas of the German doomsday tank, so the disc spring suspension was used on the PZ-58/61 main battle tank designed by myself, and it received good evaluations in actual use, so Helena is still very good. It is hoped that the design of the disc spring suspension, which was buried in the dust of history in the previous plane, can radiate its due light in the history of tank development in this plane.

Chapter 3 Balanced Artillery

After Helena and the designers completed the selection of the No. 56 tank's engine, transmission system, and suspension system on this plane, the technical framework of the entire tank was basically established.In the last plane, Germany tended to focus on the firepower system when designing tanks, that is, to select a powerful enough main gun first, and then design a platform around this main gun that can accommodate it, such as the Tiger tank in history. The bidding is basically a competition for the platform on which the 88-caliber [-]mm gun is mounted.The propulsion system is the core of Helena's chariot design idea: first develop a chariot propulsion system with good versatility, then develop a general vehicle platform based on the propulsion system, and finally equip appropriate weapons and equipment according to combat needs.

The reason why there is such a significant difference in design ideas between the two planes is not only because Helena has an understanding of weapon design that transcends the times, but also because the tanks newly designed by Germany during the war in history are basically the product of grinding guns in battle.

因为德国坦克设计部门战前对盟军坦克的防护性能存在严重低估，结果无论是在法国战役时遇到的法国夏尔B1坦克和英国玛蒂尔达2步兵坦克，还是在巴巴罗萨行动时遇到的苏联KV系列坦克和T-34坦克，都让德国佬那些仅装备37/50毫米牙签炮的三号坦克以及装备75毫米短喷子的四号坦克很难与之正面抗衡。

Therefore, after the Battle of France, while improving the No. [-] and No. [-] tanks, Germany hurriedly started the development of the Tiger tank, and after Operation Barbarossa, it hurriedly started the development of the Panther tank.Therefore, the tiger and leopard tanks that later generations of military fans talk about are essentially a hasty chapter created by Germany to suppress the heavy armored tanks of the Allies as soon as possible. give up.

In other words, the Allied tanks exceeded the German expected protection capabilities. Although they failed to prevent their defeat in the early stages of the war, they were very successful in interrupting the normal development rhythm of German tanks, causing the design of German tanks to completely deviate from the balanced track. : Since destroying the heavy armored tanks of the Allies at a long distance has become the overwhelming design goal of German tanks, it is logical to develop new tanks around powerful artillery. Due to design limitations, it is difficult to carry new types of more powerful artillery.

However, it is impossible for Helena to make this kind of situation reproduce in this plane. Although she cannot guarantee that the development of tanks in other countries in this plane will completely reproduce the history, she has a good idea of ​​the general development of world tank technology in each period, so in When choosing firepower for German tanks on the plane, Helena can basically know herself and her enemy.With the No. 48 Fox tank on this plane already equipped with a 75-times-diameter 48mm main gun, Helena was not in a hurry to equip the new tank with a larger-caliber main gun, but chose a more powerful 75-times-diameter 60mm gun. The slightly improved 75-fold [-]mm gun is also a continuation of the idea of ​​alternately upgrading weapons and platforms.

This type of gun uses the same ammunition as the 48-caliber 75mm gun, but the barrel is extended and the muzzle brake is canceled, so the recoil travel of the barrel is slightly increased.Although the volume of the propellant chamber has not increased, the longer barrel gives the shell a longer acceleration distance, because the energy burned by the propellant can be more fully utilized to obtain a higher muzzle velocity.It is also a 7.2 kg hooded cap armor-piercing projectile. The initial velocity of the 48-diameter 75mm gun was 800 meters per second, while the muzzle velocity of the 60-diameter model was increased to 865 meters per second.The higher muzzle velocity also increases the penetration of the projectile by about 48% compared with the 10-diameter model, and can penetrate a 1000mm homogeneous steel plate inclined at 30 degrees at a distance of 110 meters.

如果和历史位面二战时期同口径级别的其他坦克炮比较，本位面的60倍径75毫米炮在使用常规弹药时的穿甲能力算是比上不足，比下有余：远远超过德国四号坦克使用的kwk40型48倍径75毫米炮以及美国“谢尔曼”坦克使用的M1型52倍径76.2毫米炮，略逊于黑豹坦克使用的kwk42型70倍径75毫米炮，和英国“萤火虫”坦克使用的55倍径76.2毫米17磅炮相比差距较大，约翰牛的那款丧心病狂的嗑药炮仅用常规的被帽风帽穿甲弹，就能在1000码（914米）的距离贯穿倾斜30度放置的131毫米均质装甲板，如果采用脱壳穿甲弹时该数据更是能达到惊人的192毫米。

However, in the eyes of Helena, the 17-pound gun in the historical plane is hardly a successful work. The power of the 17-pound gun is not worth its weight at all: the weight of the towing model of this thing is as high as 3050 kg, which is twice that of the German pak40 46-caliber 75 mm gun, and even the 43 kg of the famous pak71 88-caliber 3400 mm gun It's just one step away.Although the armor-piercing power of conventional ammunition of the 17-pound gun is indeed outstanding among the 3-inch tank guns, it is still far behind the 71mm gun with a diameter of 88 times. Arm wrestling, but the shooting accuracy is far less than that of the Chang 88 gun.Therefore, relying on drugs to increase the power of the artillery must also pay attention to the limits, otherwise it is very likely that the gains will outweigh the losses.

The 60mm gun with a diameter of 75 times in this plane is a tank gun with relatively balanced performance in all aspects. It does not pursue the ultimate in diameter or charge, so its power is only moderate compared to the guns of the same caliber in the historical plane. However, this also makes the suitability and manufacturability of this type of artillery both take into account.What's more, the power to penetrate a 1000mm homogeneous steel plate inclined at 30 degrees at a distance of 110 meters is enough to fight the entire field in World War II on the previous plane.

What's more, Helena also requires that the No. 60 tank on this plane retains the potential to upgrade the artillery during the design. In the future, if the opponent comes up with a tank with stronger protection than the past, the No. 90 tank on the plane can also be replaced with a powerful [-]-caliber tank. [-]mm artillery counter.Therefore, although the firepower of the No. [-] tank in this plane is not much upgraded compared to the No. [-] tank, it is still unlikely to encounter a firepower crisis similar to the historical plane in the foreseeable future.

Chapter 3

The overall layout of the new tank is nothing new, and basically continues the experience of the previous two generations of tanks: the left side of the front of the car body is the ammunition rack on the right side of the cab, the middle part of the car body is the turret seat ring and the turret basket, and the rear part of the car body It is the power compartment and fuel tank.However, in order to install a more powerful engine and a larger diameter turret seat ring, the hull of the new tank is significantly more burly than the Fox tank: the length of the hull has increased from 5.68 meters to 6.42 meters, and the width of the hull has also increased from 2.95 meters. To 3.2 meters, the total combat weight has thus increased to about 32 tons.In addition to enhancing power and armaments, these extra combat weights are mostly used to continue to improve the tank's protection level.

The previous Ferret and Fox tanks were subject to limited combat weight, and the method of weakening the side and rear protection was used to ensure a sufficiently strong frontal armor. This approach did make the frontal protection of the Ferret and Fox tanks considerable, but the thickness Only 20 to 30 mm of side and rear armor also left hidden dangers for these two tanks: in history, the Soviet Union's 1937-type 45mm anti-tank gun could penetrate 800 meters away, and when there were no side skirts , the more powerful anti-tank rifles can try their luck at close range.

The problem of weak side and rear protection in defensive operations may not be very serious, but the tank is easily attacked from the side when performing offensive breakthrough tasks. At this time, the disadvantage of streaking side and rear becomes difficult to tolerate.Therefore, if the No. [-] tank in this plane wants to become the main equipment of the German armored forces in the future, it needs to continue to improve the frontal protection while distributing more weight to the side and rear armor. At least it cannot be defeated by light anti-tank guns or even anti-tank rifles. Bully casually.

The thickness of the frontal armor of the No. 60 tank on this plane is the same as that of the Fox tank at 60mm, but the inclination angle of the upper armor has increased from 68 degrees of the Fox tank to 50 degrees, and the inclination angle of the lower armor has also changed from that of the Fox tank. The tank's 56 degrees has been increased to [-] degrees.Although this will increase the utilization of the front space and cause some trouble, but considering that the increase in the thickness of the armor plate will cause a lot of inconvenience to welding, it is very worthwhile to increase the equivalent protection capability without increasing the thickness of the armor.

新坦克的侧后防护相比狐式坦克有了很大提高：两侧是垂直布置的60毫米主装甲板再加外侧厚度5毫米的裙甲，后部则是向后倾斜20度布置的60毫米装甲，这个防护强度基本能免疫口径45毫米以下的常规穿甲弹。三号坦克车体顶部和底部防护也比狐式坦克有所加强，装甲板厚度从10毫米提高到了15毫米。

It should be noted that in order to increase the interior space of the Ferret and Fox tanks as much as possible, part of the car body was built above the track fenders like the historical Soviet T-34 tanks.However, the No. 54 tank in this plane did not continue this design, but designed the car body in a square box shape like the historical T-[-] tank.This is because this design can simplify the cutting and welding process of the car body armor plate to the greatest extent when the space in the car is basically enough.In this way, the armor plates at the front and rear of the car body can be made into a regular rectangle, and the side armor is also changed from a two-stage stepped type to a complete armor plate, which not only saves the armor plate cutting process, but also greatly shortens the weld seam of the car body The overall length, which is conducive to shortening the production hours of the car body.

The turret of the No. [-] tank on this plane is still formed by casting and welding, but the proportion of the casting part is much higher than that of the Ferret and Fox tanks, and the bulletproof shape of the turret has also been greatly adjusted.Ferret and Fox tank turrets are shuttle-shaped, in which the thicker and complex curved areas of the front and seat are cast, while the thinner and relatively flat side, rear and top are armored with different thicknesses The plate is welded.This process is mainly used because the side thickness of the turrets of Ferret and Fox tanks is not large, and large thin-walled castings such as tank turrets are prone to tissue shrinkage due to poor exhaust or uneven heat dissipation during the production process. Quality defects such as loose and deep pores, at this time, it is easier to mass-produce by welding than by casting.

Therefore, some military fans in later generations simply think that casting turrets are more productive than welding turrets, which is actually inaccurate, because welding technology and casting technology each have their own advantage range, and the advantage range of these two processes is largely exactly the same Complementary: the welding process is easy for thin plates but difficult for thick plates, and the casting process is easy for thick walls but difficult for thin walls. Which manufacturing process to use must be analyzed in detail.

The No. 54 tank did not use the ferret and fox-shaped shuttle-shaped turrets, but adopted the design of an oval front and a square tail compartment. It looks like a tail compartment was added to the turret of the later Soviet T-185 tank. The turret Except for the top armor, which is welded, the other parts are cast in one go.The reason why the No. 95 tank turret should use an oval front is because compared with the Ferret and Fox tanks that only need to strengthen the frontal protection capability, the No. 65 tank's turret needs to maintain a sufficient level of protection within a larger sector, and Oval turrets can do this at a lower weight cost than fusiform turrets.The front of the turret is 20 mm thick at its thickest point, the sides of the turret are [-] mm thick, the rear of the turret tail compartment is [-] mm thick, and the top of the turret is [-] mm thick.

Chapter 311 Fire Prevention and Explosion Suppression

The protection of tanks and armored vehicles not only depends on the thickness and inclination of the armor of each part, but also the fire prevention and explosion suppression measures are very important to improve the survivability of the tank. If the solid armor is to ensure that the tank is not penetrated as much as possible, then the fire protection The anti-explosion measures are to reduce the secondary killing effect after the tank is broken down.When the tank is hit by anti-armor ammunition, fragments of the projectile body and armor or high-temperature metal jets will invade the vehicle body, directly causing casualties to the crew or damage to the equipment in the vehicle, but such a killing effect may not be devastating to the tank Yes, what can really completely destroy the tank is often the secondary damage caused by the ignition of the flammable and explosive materials carried by the tank itself, which is exactly what the fire prevention and explosion suppression measures need to prevent and save.

In the historical plane, tank designers from various countries did not pay special attention to the fire prevention and explosion suppression of tanks at first, but the brutal armor confrontation in the subsequent world wars made the designers realize that the impact of fire prevention and explosion suppression measures on the survival of tanks is no less than that of armor Defense, preventing the secondary damage caused by the explosion of oil bombs has since become an issue that cannot be ignored in tank design.In fact, Helena can't produce technology beyond the times in terms of tank fire prevention and explosion suppression, but her advantage is that she realized the importance of this problem earlier than others, so she was able to conduct related experiments in advance and avoid common problems in this field. Design loopholes.

Therefore, as early as when the Ferret and Fox tanks were developed, Helena required that the fuel and ammunition be arranged separately and that a water jacket be installed outside the ammunition rack to protect the ammunition. At the same time, multiple sets of thermocouple automatic fire extinguishers were equipped inside the car body. Equipment, these measures were also carried over when designing new tanks.The power system and fuel tank of the No. 10 tank are installed in the compartment at the rear of the car body, and are separated from the front fighting room by a 160 mm thick armored wall; four sets of thermocouple automatic fire extinguishers are also installed in the car , after sensing a heat source exceeding 5 degrees Celsius, it can spray a fire extinguishing agent containing methyl bromide within [-] seconds.These fire prevention and explosion suppression measures are basically the successful experience accumulated in the improvement process of tanks from various countries in the previous plane.

However, due to the technical limitations caused by the times, there are still many loopholes in these anti-explosion suppression measures, and the most fatal problem is that if the fuel tank and engine compartment are broken down, the fuel vapor accumulated inside is likely to be destroyed before the automatic fire extinguishing device is activated. Deflagration occurs.This is because the reaction time of a thermocouple type automatic fire extinguisher needs at least a few seconds, while the fireball of an oil and gas explosion can sweep across the entire interior of the car body in only a few hundred milliseconds.According to the recent test results obtained by German experts in the experimental field, the destructive power of the oil and gas explosion can even directly destroy the thin armored partition between the combat room and the power cabin.

Many military fans in later generations thought that the ammunition stored inside the car body was the main culprit of the tank's death, but in fact, the propellant of the tank shell was difficult to be detonated directly after passivation treatment.And the famous scene where the tank ammunition exploded and caused the turret to be blown up into the sky, most of which were caused by the loss of control of the internal fire of the tank, the ammunition was burned by the high temperature of the flame or the shock wave of deflagration. And then there is an explosion, which is why the tank explosions we see usually occur within a few seconds to ten seconds after the tank is hit, instead of the ammunition explosion occurring at the moment of being hit.

According to the statistics of tank loss data during World War II, about 40% of the tanks will catch fire after being hit, and more than 80% of the tanks that caught fire were burned or completely scrapped, so the tank designers of later generations The widespread perception of fire as the number one threat to tank survival is by no means unfounded.Some military fans of later generations mistakenly believe that diesel is safer than gasoline, but this understanding is not completely accurate. Although diesel is indeed less volatile than gasoline and has a higher flash point than gasoline, the lower limit of the explosion limit of diesel is only 0.6%, even less than half of the lower limit of gasoline explosion limit.According to the statistics of tank losses in the Battle of Kursk by the Soviet Union, the fuel tank fire probability of T-34 tanks using diesel engines is even higher than that of T-70 light tanks using gasoline engines. In fact, it is just a beautiful fantasy of netizens in later generations.

The fire in the tank can be divided into two situations: slow burning and deflagration. The slow burning situation is relatively easy to deal with. Helena’s measures on the tank on this plane include restricting the mixing of fuel bombs, setting up armored partition walls, and installing automatic Measures such as fire extinguishing equipment have a good effect on coping with this situation.But the situation of deflagration is a bit unreasonable. The expansion speed of the explosion fireball far exceeds the sensing speed limit of the existing thermocouple sensor, and the photoelectric flame sensor that can outrun the speed of life and death is in the historical position. The surface is a proper post-war technology, so it is impossible to expect the automatic fire extinguisher to extinguish the fire in time.

Fortunately, Helena's pursuit of tank fire prevention and explosion suppression is not absolutely invulnerable. As long as she does better than other countries at the same time, it is enough to form a tactical advantage within a certain period of time, even if the fuel tank is hit. The probability of deflagration is lower A percentage point can also change the situation on the battlefield to a large extent.So she tried two simple anti-explosion measures on the No. [-] tank: the first is to fill the fuel tank with mesh aluminum alloy, this alloy mesh can divide the original complete space in the fuel tank into countless small pieces, thereby hindering the spread of flames speed and absorb the energy released by combustion at the same time, so as to gain enough reaction time for automatic fire extinguishing equipment.Its this is to install a spring type pressure relief plate on the top of the fuel tank, so that energy can be discharged in time when a small-scale deflagration occurs.

The above two methods are low-cost but very effective measures. Although Helena does not expect such a simple trick to prevent the tank from igniting, as long as the tank is hit. When the tank catches fire, it significantly reduces the probability of being completely destroyed, which can still be regarded as a profitable business.

Chapter 312 Five Sided Warriors

Looking at the new tank prototype that had just left the Daimler-Benz assembly workshop and was about to undergo initial testing, Helena gradually showed a satisfied expression on her face. It will take many years of testing to be finalized, but at least this avant-garde and fashionable shape can still shock the aesthetics of this era.Although the appearance of a weapon does not directly determine its combat effectiveness, but under the same circumstances, weapons with a handsome appearance are more likely to be favored by decision makers, and then to obtain development resources. After all, there is no shortage of handsome dogs in this world The presence.

For example, Hitler even suggested in private that Helena design the appearance of weapons more beautifully. The reason is that beautiful equipment can not only fully stimulate the enthusiasm of German youths to join the army, but also make soldiers more consciously love the weapons in their hands. There are also handsome military uniforms that have a similar effect.Helena has never disappointed Moustache in terms of the appearance of weapons. After all, Helena herself is considered a half-face control in terms of weapons. She is still happy to improve the appearance of weapons under the premise of meeting the performance requirements.

If you look at it from the perspective of future military fans, the appearance of the new tank prototype in front of Helena undoubtedly reflects a very distinctive mix-and-match style.For example, each side of the new tank has five steel rim-mounted rubber road wheels with a diameter of 720 mm, but it is not the style of the five-pair wheel family of the Eastern camp in later generations. It is responsible for supporting the track; again, the oval turret front of the new tank is indeed reminiscent of the pot head of the Soviet T-54 tank, but behind the turret is connected to a striking square tail compartment.In short, every time you feel familiar, you can toss some sudden changes in the style of painting.

However, this is not because Helena deliberately acted as a demon, but the product of the game between various design requirements.Through careful selection by Helena and the designer, the performance of the No. 1943 tank on this plane has finally reached a perfect balance at a very high level.In terms of the combat performance of the tank itself, the new tank can even reach the level of the Panther tank equipped by Germany in 44 in the historical plane or the T-[-] tank equipped by the Soviet Union at the end of the war. The above two tanks can be regarded as the top-performing medium tanks during the war on the historical plane.

我们先来具体比较这三款坦克的火力，新型坦克装备的60倍径75毫米坦克炮能在千米距离上击穿倾斜30度放置的110毫米均质装甲，该数据远远强于历史位面中苏联T-44坦克装备的54.6倍径85毫米坦克炮同等情况下所能击穿的83毫米，相比德国黑豹坦克装备的70倍径75毫米炮同等情况下的112毫米穿深也仅有一线之遥。所以就对坦克最关键的反坦克火力而言，本位面三号坦克略逊于历史位面的黑豹坦克，而远强于历史位面的T-44坦克。

我们再来看这三款坦克的防护能力，新型坦克拥有60毫米倾斜68度的车体正面防护和185毫米的炮塔正面防护，T-44坦克则有90毫米倾斜60度的车体正面防护和120毫米的炮塔正面防护，综合来看新型坦克的炮塔能力稍强于T-44坦克而车体防护稍弱于T-44坦克，基本可以称得上是各有千秋旗鼓相当。不过黑豹坦克80毫米55度的车体正面装甲和110毫米的炮塔正面装甲在这三款坦克中排就只能名垫底了，如果考虑到黑豹的战斗全重比新型坦克以及T-44重了10吨以上，历史上曼恩公司在这款坦克的结构紧凑性上确实没有做好。

最后再看这三款坦克的机动性。战斗全重为32吨的新型坦克采用480马力的柴油机，单位功率其实还不如历史位面的T-44坦克以及黑豹坦克。战斗全重只有31.8吨的T-44坦克拥有功率520马力的柴油机，而黑豹坦克战斗全重虽然高达45吨，但是那台功率高达700马力的汽油机让它的单位功率维持了较高的水准。然而坦克的机动性并不仅仅取决于单位功率，传动系统的传动效率、变矩范围及转向机配置、悬挂系统的性能等都占有很高的权重。

The performance advantages of the Panther tank in the transmission and suspension system are very obvious. The advanced zero-independent double-flow transmission combined with the double torsion bar suspension with excellent movable travel and the design of overlapping road wheels make the comprehensive mobility of the Panther tank in the These three tanks are far ahead, but the heat dissipation of the engine of the Panther tank makes the driver often need to use the governor to limit the engine speed, which will more or less limit the mobility advantage of the Panther tank, and the complex transmission and Suspension can also cause logistical headaches.

Although the double-sided planetary transmission and steering device of the new tank is also in the category of single-stream transmission in essence, it has a larger torque range and more intermediate steering radius than the T-44 tank. The lack of high-speed reversing and central steering functions more or less make up for the disadvantage of a slightly lower power-to-weight ratio. The original 44 kilometers per hour has been increased to 45 kilometers per hour.In addition, although the transmission design of the T-55 tank is not as good as that of the new tank, the torsion bar suspension it uses has a larger movable stroke than the disc spring suspension of the new tank, so the high-speed off-road capability of the new tank is still not as good as the T-44 tank.Generally speaking, although the mobility of the new tank is not as good as the Panther tank in the historical plane, it has its own advantages compared with the T-44 tank.

If you think that the advantages of the new tank are that it can compete with the top medium tanks in the historical plane during World War II in terms of firepower, protection and maneuverability, then it really disappoints Helena's dedication to this tank The painstaking efforts of the new tank actually lie in its ease of production and maintainability.Cooperating with the tank production line under construction in Bavaria, the new tank has been actively adapting to the needs of future industrialized mass production as early as the beginning of its design.Therefore, although the performance indicators of the No. [-] tank on this plane are quite impressive, its low manufacturing cost and simple production process have reached an astonishing level.

The important reason why many military fans in later generations admired the Soviet T-34 tank is because the T-34 tank has good productivity based on basic enough performance, but in Helena's eyes, it is not so much the T-34 tank. The designer Comrade Mikhail Ilyich Koshkin's far-sightedness, Mo Ruo said that his fellow German designers set off well enough. After all, there are limited-edition models such as the Black Panther Tiger King. The chariot you designed As long as the production performance reaches the passing line, it is quite excellent.But in Helena's eyes.Historically, the T-34 tank of the Soviet Union was such a work that could reach the pass line in production performance. After all, if we really want to dig deeper, the T-34 tank still has a lot of slots in terms of productivity.

In order to let the future military fans of this plane understand what a tank that is truly suitable for mass production should look like, Helena finally decided to hand over the real top student answer sheet on the No. 34 tank of this plane.The final result is that according to the estimation of Daimler-Benz, Helena found that when the new tank is produced in an assembly line, the total man-hour is only four-fifths of that of the historical plane T-34 tank, and the final assembly man-hour is only T Two-thirds of the -[-] tank is stronger.Please don’t be surprised why Helena can do this. As early as the Panzer III was still on the blueprints, Helena and the designers started to systematically improve the productivity of this type of tank from two levels.

The first is to optimize the manufacturability at the level of each subsystem.For example, a 500-horsepower diesel engine can be done with only a V-shaped eight-cylinder. Why use a small-bore V-shaped 34-cylinder like the B-2 engine of the T-12 tank?If you have four more cylinders, you need to use 50% more pistons, cranks and air distribution components; for example, the engine cylinder can obviously be made of cast iron, why do you have to use cast aluminum like the T-34 tank?Although the engine of the T-34 tank is actually derived from an aero engine, the tank engine does not need to be as strictly weight-reduced as an aero engine; another example is the double-sided planetary gearbox designed by Helena for the new tank. Planetary gear construction, requiring only 12 main gear members in each side of the gearbox...

Secondly, from the optimized producibility of the car body assembly process, Helena knows that the productivity of a certain weapon during the war is not only based on the total production man-hours, but also how so many man-hours are composed.Helena’s principle in this regard is to shorten the time spent on the final assembly of the product as much as possible when the total man-hour is fixed. All processes that do not need to be completed on the final assembly line should be completed in other places before returning to the final assembly line. integrated.This is because the construction cost of the final assembly line is high and the cycle is long, and it is more vulnerable to enemy attacks during wartime, while the production line of the subsystem is much more flexible.

For example, the T-34 tank in history had to install 10 spring grooves at the welding place on the inside of the car body in order to install the suspension system. This wasted all the time the car body stayed on the final assembly line, while the No. [-] tank on this plane can be placed elsewhere. After the entire suspension unit is produced, the workers on the final assembly line only need to fix it directly on the car body.

Another example is that the No. 34 tank on this plane adopts a box-shaped body. The upper body, the lower body, and the rear of the body are all rectangular armor plates with the same thickness and width, and there is no need to process any parts on the entire armor plate. The openings can be obtained by continuous cutting of rolled steel plates of the same width specification, and the same is true for the armor plates on both sides of the car body.The front and rear armor plates of the T-[-] tanks in the historical plane are relatively complex "T" shapes, and in order to install the heading machine gun and the driver's hatch, openings must be dug out of the thick steel plate, which weakens the The protective strength of the frontal armor of the car body complicates the production process.

The maintainability of the No. 720 tank on this plane also inherits the advantages of the Ferret and Fox tanks. The power pack and suspension device can be replaced as a whole, and the artillery can also be pulled out and replaced without lifting the turret.Another interesting thing is that the diameter of the road wheels of the No. [-] Tank on this plane is the same as that of the Ferret and Fox tanks, [-] mm, but the width of the rim of the No. [-] Tank is larger and the load-bearing capacity is stronger. In fact, the two can be temporarily interchanged for each other's use. This is mainly to prevent the situation that spare parts cannot be found suddenly during emergency repairs on the battlefield.

All in all, the No. 85 tank on this plane is a tank that achieves a nearly perfect balance in the five aspects of firepower, protection, mobility, productivity, and maintainability. A good student with a score above .In World War II on the last plane, there were tanks with stronger firepower, thicker armor, faster running, and cheaper and simpler structures than it.However, although one or two subjects of these tanks exceeded 90 points or even full marks, they often failed to reach the passing line in more subjects at the same time. Of course, this would not be the work Helena wanted.After all, the most successful weapons and equipment are not necessarily the most powerful equipment, but equipment with a high level of balance in quantity and quality.

The No. 1940 tank in this plane is a work with a small weapon upgrade and a major platform upgrade. It is destined to spend more time testing its platform performance than the Fox tank, which largely continues the ferret tank technology. The development progress of the tank is not very urgent. The ferret tanks that have been in service and the fox tanks that will be delivered to the troops on a small scale are sufficient to meet the current needs of Germany. However, if there are no major problems in the overall design, the No. into mass production.Although there are still many experiments to be done, the Panzer III has already received the nickname "Jackal" from the military in advance according to the naming habits of German tanks, and the zoo of German tanks has thus ushered in another new member.

Chapter 313 Breaking promises

Since Italy declared war on Ethiopia in October last year, the flames of war on the East African plateau have been burning for more than half a year. The once-smug Italian army has long since become exhausted. The rocky mountains and sparsely wooded grasslands here are becoming increasingly engulfing Italy. The quagmire of wealth and blood, but the rising image of Italian East Africa promised by Mussolini is getting farther and farther away from them as the Italian army's offensive steps gradually stagnate.What Mussolini declared during the mobilization of the war: "Adua's shame has been washed away. Now not only 10 soldiers are marching, but 30 million Italians are also marching together to eliminate past injustice and win for Italy. A place in the sun." Looking back, it looks increasingly ironic.

Earlier, because Mussolini was dissatisfied with Marshal Bono's prudence in command, he sent Marshal Badoglio, who was more ruthless, to replace him as the commander-in-chief of the African Army. What can be solved, although Marshal Badoglio launched a new offensive to show his own value, although the Italian army finally captured Makare, the capital of Tigray State, the Italian army paid a large number of casualties. , also lost a considerable amount of heavy equipment in this round of attack.Marshal Badoglio had no choice but to slow down the pace of attack, and asked Rome to support more troops and weapons and equipment.

However, the domestic situation in Italy is also not optimistic. Although France tried its best to protect Italy in the League of Nations, the final sanction passed did not prohibit other countries from exporting vital coal, oil and steel products to Italy, but international sanctions still weakened Italy. The ability to exchange foreign exchange for exports, coupled with the continuous consumption of the Ethiopian war, caused Italy’s gold reserves to drop sharply from 58 billion lire before the war to less than 20 billion lire at the beginning of this year. If this consumption rate continues, Italy’s Foreign exchange reserves will be depleted within five months.The more serious problem is that Italy's coal reserves are only enough to last for two months, and a serious energy crisis is imminent.Under such circumstances, if the war investment in Ethiopia is to be increased, the officials of the Italian Ministry of Finance, who have been driven to mental breakdown, may have no choice but to submit a collective resignation report.

However, when Mussolini was forced into a dilemma, the French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval, who was in charge of negotiating and signing the "French-Italian-Roman Agreement" with Italy, gave him warmth.In order to keep Italy, the southern bridgehead to contain Germany, Laval even went so far as to intimidate British Foreign Secretary Samuel Hall, saying: If sanctions against Italy continue, Italy may turn its attack on Britain in the future, and France is in this situation. The next probably won't help Britain.Although the United Kingdom does not want to see Italy completely occupy Ethiopia at this time, if it can appease France and Italy by selling off part of Ethiopia's interests, the old British gentlemen think it is still acceptable.So Laval and Hall appealed to Italy and Egypt to return to the negotiating table, and concocted a solution known as the "Hall-Laval Plan" through secret negotiations.

The general content of this plan includes Ethiopia's cession of 15 square kilometers of territory to Italy. At the same time, Italy can also exclusively enjoy the economic privileges of 40 square kilometers of land in southwest Ethiopia. These areas still belong to Ethiopia in name, but Italy has full power to implement the administration. manage.The Italian side only needs to allocate about 7500 square kilometers of territory in the south of Italian Eritrea to Ethiopia as compensation, allowing Ethiopia to obtain access to the sea there.Laval and Hall originally agreed to keep this secret to the outside world, but before Britain and France handed over the plan to Ethiopia, it was leaked in Paris, which immediately caused an uproar in the international community.

Because this plan is too frenzied. To put it simply, it is to let Italy take out 7500 square kilometers of territory in exchange for Ethiopia's 55 square kilometers of territory. You must know that the total area of ​​​​Ethiopia is only more than 110 million square kilometers. The so-called solution given by France directly sold half of Ethiopia's country. What's even more absurd is that this plan was proposed when the Ethiopian army performed well on the battlefield.You must know that Italy has been fighting hard in Ethiopia for more than half a year, and it barely occupies 10% of Ethiopia's territory. Now, Britain and France, which are permanent members of the League of Nations, are trying to help Italy get them on the battlefield through despicable secret room transactions. In the eyes of the uproarious international public opinion, this is simply blatant treachery.

Helena is no stranger to this drama played by Britain and France, because that's what Britain and France did in the last plane.Although the actual plane has been delayed a bit, it will come eventually even if it is late.However, this is a good thing for Germany, because this incident has dealt a great blow to the international reputation of Britain and France, and its negative impact far exceeds that of the subsequent Munich conspiracy.Although the Munich Conspiracy is bad enough, at least it can still use the Sudetenland as a concentrated area of ​​the German nation, and Bohemia has historically been the elector of the Holy Roman Empire of Germany. No fig leaf.Coupled with the background of the colonial people's growing sense of independence, the exposure of the British and French conspiracy even triggered demonstrations in support of Ethiopia in India, Egypt, and French West Africa, just like in the historical plane.

Of course, the German foreign affairs and propaganda department will not miss such a golden opportunity. The head of the German foreign ministry, Wright, and the propaganda minister, Goebbels, not only highly praised the heroic anti-colonial struggle of the Ethiopian people, but also fiercely criticized Britain, France and the United Kingdom. Italy's collusion on the Ethiopian issue, claiming that the colonists of the world are essentially the same in oppressing the colonized countries, so the people of all the colonized countries must unite to obtain the final liberation, etc. The messy face made British Prime Minister Baldwin almost want to close the channel for Germany to aid Ethiopia through Kenya, but his reason told him that he could not do so.The top priority now is to quickly deal with the adverse political consequences caused by the leak of the "Hall-Laval Plan" midway, rather than to further confirm the German accusations.

Therefore, when Ethiopia submitted a harshly worded diplomatic note to Britain and France, expressing that any solution to the dispute, as long as it is beneficial to the aggressor, Ethiopia is unacceptable.Britain and France quite tacitly declared that the so-called "Hall-Laval Plan" was just a plan made by Hall and Laval, two idiots, and it definitely did not represent the official position of Britain and France. It ended with the forced resignations of Hall and Laval.But Italy may be the most saddened by the bankruptcy of the plan, because this time it seems impossible to lie down and win, and the war in Ethiopia can only be continued. Rini finally decided to agree and decided to desperately agree to Marshal Badoglio's request for additional troops, but at the same time he ordered Marshal Badoglio to speed up the end of the war, and he did not hesitate to use all means. .

Chapter 314 The Arrival

Italy’s increase in troops to Ethiopia not only made up for the loss of heavy equipment in the early stage, but also brought the size of the Italian East African Army to an unprecedented 60 troops. However, such a long-term expedition also made Italy’s weak economy even more overwhelmed. The Italian financial authorities The special expenses allocated for the Ethiopian war have exceeded 90 billion lire. Queen Irina of Italy even launched a call to encourage women across the country to donate gold jewelry, and took the lead in donating her wedding ring to alleviate the country's gold reserve crisis. The financial hole brought about by the war is just a drop in the bucket.

Because the coal reserves have fallen below the red alert line, the Italian government is forced to strictly limit the electricity consumption of residents. Many citizens who originally had an attitude towards Mussolini’s imperial ambitions are only watching melons and watching the show. After the level dropped, he began to complain more and more about this damn war.Mussolini was well aware that the economic situation in Italy's domestic economy could not support a long-term war. If the people's living standards continued to decline, it would inevitably threaten the stability of his rule and development. Therefore, he proposed the first proposal to Marshal Badoglio, commander-in-chief of the Italian African Army. The requirement is to resolve the Ethiopian issue in the shortest possible time.

And Marshal Badoglio also felt that he was finally capable of launching a new offensive against Ethiopia after receiving a supplement of domestic equipment and soldiers.This time he chose the Tempion Mountains in the southwest of Tigray State as the target of his attack, because as long as he breaks through the Ethiopian army's defense line in this area, he can directly take Gondar, an important city in northwestern Ethiopia, and attack the core of Ethiopia through the right wing. area roads.

Interestingly, the Ethiopian side is also preparing to launch a counterattack against the Italian army here, because it is difficult for the Italian army to fully deploy and support each other in the Tempion Mountains. Choosing to counterattack here is not only conducive to the concealment of the Egyptian army, but also has Greater certainty formed a siege to the Italian army. So far, the outbreak of the Battle of Tempion can be said to be imminent.In fact, the Italian and Egyptian armies in the historical plane also fought many battles around the Tempion Mountains, but because the progress of the Italian army's attack on this plane was too slow, the Battle of Tempion, which should have erupted at the beginning of the year, ended in this plane. It was literally delayed until early May.

In the historical plane, Ethiopia’s performance in the Battle of Tempion can basically be summarized as victory first and then defeat. In the early days, the 20 Egyptian troops not only killed and wounded more than 8000 Italian troops under the personal command of the Minister of War, Mulujita, but also recovered The city of Abiadi surrounded a considerable number of Italian troops, and even rumors that Mussolini might step down began to spread on the streets of Rome. However, the Italian army, which recovered from the panic, quickly dispatched 4 of the most elite black The shirt army cut off the supply of the Egyptian army, so that the Egyptian army had to retreat sadly.

After that, Ethiopia made serious dogmatic mistakes in the command of the army. They insisted on sticking to the hilltop position when their strength and equipment were at a disadvantage. They were named and eliminated one by one, and the Ethiopian Army Minister Mulujita who commanded the operation was also killed in the battle. So far, Ethiopia has lost an important natural barrier, and the heavy loss of the Egyptian army is no longer able to stop the Italian offensive.

Although the level of equipment in Ethiopia on this plane has been improved due to Germany's aid, Mulujita, who is in charge of the command, is full of confidence in this counterattack, but Helena knows that it is wrong to completely defeat the 60 Italian army with Ethiopian military strength. Mission impossible, even with the help of the German Air Volunteer Corps.But what Helena needs is not to wipe the Italian African Army from the combat map, what she needs is only a fuse that can detonate the Italian currency market.

So Ethiopia only needs to play enough bright spots in this counterattack. She has her own way to convince the world that Italy's actions in Ethiopia are failing.As long as the international exchange rate of the Italian lira is broken, she does not believe that Italy will be able to continue this war. After all, even a tyrannical fascist regime like Mussolini needs a sufficient foundation of public opinion to continue.At that time, even if the Italian African Legion is still capable of fighting, if there is no domestic economic support, it will still have to pack up and get out of Ethiopia.

According to the experience and lessons of the historical plane, the key to Ethiopia's successful counterattack in the Tempion area this time is actually whether it can prevent the surrounding Italian reinforcements in time after encircling some Italian troops.This problem is actually very similar to the difficulties faced by the Republic Volunteers when they first entered Korea to fight. Due to the huge gap in firepower between the two participating parties, it is difficult to completely wipe out some enemy troops even if they complete the encirclement: the besieged enemy chooses to stick to it If you can't move for a while, you can't stop the surrounding enemy troops when they come to break out of the siege, and they can't stay when the besieged enemy troops want to break out of the siege.

Therefore, in order to ensure the smooth progress of the Egyptian counterattack, the top priority is to enhance Ethiopia's battlefield interdiction capabilities, and this can be achieved either by heavy artillery or tactical attack aircraft.At this time, the Ju-87 dive bomber developed by Junkers was still under development, but the German Aviation Volunteer Team stationed in Ethiopia still ushered in a complete dive bomber wing, but the wing was equipped with 124 Henschels The Hs-123 biplane dive bomber developed by the company was also an excessive product purchased by the Luftwaffe before the Ju-87 entered service. After all, the training of personnel and the exploration of tactics could not wait for Junkers to complete the development of the Ju-87, so we had to purchase it first. The Hs-123 with more mature technology set up the shelves of the troops. I did not expect that Ethiopia would become the stage for the debut of this excessive equipment.

Chapter 315 I Have to Post