Battle of the Third Reich

The crews involved in the test have long been waiting to be on standby. These are veterans selected from the active duty, and each has the qualification to serve as a subject instructor. Because the "Scorpion" was classified as a tank destroyer, the crew members wore black armored uniforms and hung their medals on their chests. At first glance, they looked like an elite.

"Can you start?" After turning around the car twice, Yodel asked impatiently, there was still a lot of work waiting for him in the combat bureau, and he was not prepared to spend all of this morning. on.

"Okay, start right away, General." Kreinberg quickly agreed.

To say that the list of generals that can not be offended in the National Defense Forces today, General Yoder has always ranked in the top ten. The power directly controlled by the chief of operations is not very large, but he is qualified to meet the head of state alone, so the deterrent effect is completely different.

Under the guidance of the experimenters, the two generals took their entourage and boarded the observation stand built by the test site. A green flag indicating safety rises to the top of the flagpole, which means that the periphery of the shooting range has been cleared, and a non-commissioned officer fired a red signal flare into the sky, heralding the official start of the weapon display.

The car group jumped into the chariot quickly, and the skill was very agile and vigorous. With the roar of the engine starting, the exhaust pipe sprayed a blue smoke, and the small tank destroyer started slowly.

It stands to reason that the engine of this car should be front-mounted, just like the M50 of the US military, but the changes to the 38T chassis are too large in this way, and the meaning of modification is lost. The use of the old weapon chassis was originally intended to be more economical.

Because the artillery is not installed, even if the height of the car is lowered, the space inside the car body is not narrow at all. The position of the entrance and exit is actually similar to the layout of the hunter, but the vertical opening of the cover is changed to horizontal. In order to facilitate the entry and exit of the car group, some pedals and handles are added to the rear body. The position of the artillery was left to the radio operator, which freed up the space behind the captain and made it possible for the exit to run sideways.

The captain and gunner had no separate hatches, and above their heads was the gun mount base. The six artillery pieces are arranged in groups of three in the shape of a character, one left and one right are placed on the gun mount, and the gun mount is connected to a disc-shaped rotating member and connected to the circular opening on the top of the car body. This rotating gun mount can be hydraulically or manually driven to rotate at an angle of 160 degrees, and can also perform a pitching motion from minus ten degrees to plus forty-five degrees. Both the commander and the gunner can control the rotating gun mount on their battle position and turn the gun to the direction of the target.

This car has the same optical observation and aiming mechanism as the No. 3 tank. At the same time, one MG34 machine gun is installed on the side of the uppermost barrel of each side. The two machine guns are in the same direction as the artillery axis. Theory As long as the bullet of the machine gun can hit the opponent, then the artillery can also hit the target.

The early M40 recoilless gun of the US military was equipped with a 12.7 mm caliber test machine gun to fire tracers of the same caliber. Until a new generation of range-finding equipment was used to equip troops, this primitive aiming method was eliminated from the army. It cannot be denied that in the era without laser rangefinders, this method is quite practical.

The Germans can't come up with laser rangefinders now, but new optical distance measuring devices are under development. It is likely that they will be equipped with a new generation of heavy tanks in the future.

The car drove forward on the soil runway at a speed of 55 kilometers per hour. Whenever it encountered the top of the slope, it even jumped like a antelope. It could not be seen that it was a pile of 13 tons. Steel.

"Mobility does not seem to be a problem, and it can operate with light tanks and motorized troops." Goodrian said happily.

In addition to flexible maneuverability, armored force experts also saw more. The medium size of this tank destroyer is very suitable for activities in mountain jungles, and it is very light in weight. It is easier to pass in muddy areas, such as the wetlands common in the southwestern Soviet Union.

At the same time, although the speed of this car is not particularly fast, it can keep up with the speed of the motorized troops. This can just make up for the lack of firepower of the lightly armored assault forces in the mobile defense operations that Goodrian admires. Under normal circumstances, the self-propelled artillery or tank units of the same level of firepower as the scorpion cannot meet the accompanying requirements at all, and the long-distance high-speed march wears equipment very seriously.

This low-profile and oddly shaped small tank destroyer is very suitable for ambushing opponents, especially troops on the road march. Once suddenly covered by sudden and dense artillery, even a powerful army will fall into collapse instantly.

This artillery has a small pitch angle, and the tracked chassis is also suitable for deployment at all angles of the slope. Guderian can imagine this kind of picture in his mind. Ten "Scorpion" destroyers painted in jungle camouflage, quietly Buried in the woodland on both sides of the road, a team of enemy tanks swaggered along the road, and the whole road became a burning crater. At the same time, he was bombarded by 60 rounds of 105mm shells. Guderian could not think of any force in the world that could be attacked by this kind of attack, but could retain the complete organizational structure.

As described in the written information, the German LG40 recoilless gun has a strong firepower that does not match the appearance completely. This gun with a wheeled gun mount, which has a total weight of only 300 kilograms, can launch German Army equipment. The ammunition of the leFH18 howitzer has a maximum range of about 7,900 meters.

The core technology of the German recoilless gun is a special launching cartridge, but the Germans have a different design idea from Anglo-American. They use a split combustible medicine package, and did not create an integrated charge with a perforated cartridge case. But now with the "revelation" of the head of state, the situation is quite different. The new ammunition specially developed for LG40 has been finalized, which not only increases the initial velocity of the warhead, but also adds a lot of ammunition power.

The LG40 installed on the "Scorpion" is now the latest improved version. The number is changed to LG40/41, the barrel length is 30 cm, and the newly developed overall ammunition is used. And according to the purpose. Ammunition is also divided into high-explosive armor-piercing shells, high-explosive grenade shells and smoke incendiary bombs.

As the name implies, the former one deals with enemy armored vehicles, and the latter two deal specifically with enemy positions and vital forces. Of course, if it is a light armored target, the latter two also have enough lethality. After all, the caliber and the amount of charge are placed there. There should be no pressure to overturn a bean chariot.

After completing the road running circle and off-road driving performance, "Scorpion" slowly entered the shooting bunker and began the last weapon power demonstration activity.

In order to leave a deeper impression on the audience, the crew came up with a round of six rounds of volley, and the huge fire dragon sprayed from the muzzle and the tail of the car suddenly caught everyone's eyes.

The recoilless gun has a safe shooting distance. It is forbidden to stand in the fan-shaped area of ​​50 meters behind the artillery, and it will cause serious damage to the shooter's hearing during open fire. However, "Scorpion" certainly does not have such a problem. The layer of steel plate gives the crew a fairly complete protection, completely isolating the toxic gunpowder gas and noise from the car, except for the temporary obstruction of sight, there will be no other Negative effects.

Because of the range of the test gun, the shells accurately hit the armored target 800 meters away. In theory, the effective range of the LG40/41 is about one kilometer, but in order to avoid accidents, the project team deliberately narrowed down. Shooting distance. But this result has made Guderian very satisfied. This is the most common combat distance of German light tanks. Even if the distance is farther, it does not mean that it can't hit the target, but it is difficult to penetrate something.

"It was completely broken down!" Gudrian stood up excitedly when he saw the target shooter raise the green flag from the high magnification telescope.

"Prepare my car, I'm going to see it on the spot." Goodrian commanded the adjutant loudly.

"Don't worry, Goodrian." Yodall hurriedly stopped the impatient colleague.

"The demonstration is not over yet, at least wait for them to finish this round of shells." There was a trace of helplessness on the director's face.

PS: Thank you for your support, the author is still working hard.