In Berblingen, just outside Stuttgart, there is a large army reserve warehouse. Long before the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, it was built by Prussia as an ammunition storage warehouse.

Due to its proximity to Alsace and Lorraine, which had captured France, the Berblingen Army Depot was further expanded after the Franco-Prussian War. From the original only ammunition reserves, it has become the three main combat warehouses close to the French border. Before the outbreak of the Great War, at its peak, it had nearly 200,000 guns, more than 1,000 cannons, and nearly 100,000 tons of ammunition.

After the end of the war, it was also designated by the Allies as a storage point for weapons after the surrender of the German army. Therefore, at present, the weapons and ammunition here have reached a new peak, and the equipment of nearly 400,000 German troops has been placed here in different categories.

The main German rifle Mauser G98 can be seen everywhere in the warehouse, and the 1888 Commission rifle can also be seen from time to time. The G08 heavy machine guns that caused the Somme tragedy were piled up to tell others about their great exploits. All kinds of cannons are also removed from key parts such as running bolts and scopes, and placed neatly here. To guard the armament, a Canadian division was stationed in Berblingen.

On weekdays, the warehouse management personnel here are relatively idle, except for the need to pay attention to the random inspection of materials by the representatives of the Entente countries stationed here, there is nothing superfluous, which is really a rare and good position.

Today, however, there is something unusual about Berblingen. Today, a large number of high-ranking Allied officials have come to this reserve warehouse. Plock, the German supervisor who currently manages the warehouse, is explaining to this group of senior officials the current situation of materials in the warehouse.

"We just went past an ammunition warehouse, which mainly stored 7.92 caliber pointed bullets."

As he spoke, he pointed to a huge warehouse in front of him, and continued to the crowd: "In front of us is an artillery reserve warehouse, which is mainly used to store large artillery with a caliber of more than 100 mm. ”

Plock's words aroused the interest of everyone present, and one of the generals spoke. "Then let's go in and have a look."

"I'm going to open the door."

After Plock finished speaking, he waved his hand and motioned for his subordinates to go and open the warehouse in front of him.

Within two minutes, the group came to the door of the warehouse. The door of the warehouse has been opened, and from the door, you can see the cannons covered with cannon clothes on the doors inside, and you can feel the breath of slaughter for a while.

"Then let's go in and have a look."

At the beginning, the general, who offered to go and see, told everyone that he wanted to go in and out.

"Okay."

"It should."

A group of people replied and walked with him into the warehouse.

From their conversations, Plock had already discovered that among this group of high-ranking officials of the Entente powers, the opinions of the general were faintly predominant. Through the identification of the military uniform on his body, it was discovered from memory that the general was from Romania. The reason for this is simple: the medal on its chest bears the emblem of Sigmaringen attached to the Hohenzollern family, and there is a medal with a golden eagle with its head to the left and wings outstretched, with a golden Orthodox cross in its mouth and a silver sword and scepter in each talon. This is the coat of arms of Romania.

Plock guessed correctly, this general was indeed the former chief of staff of the Bulgarian Army Group in Romania, Major General Salda. Of course, now Major General Salda, it is impossible to serve as the chief of staff of the long-disbanded Bulgarian Army Group. His current position is the head of the Romanian military mission to Germany. It was primarily responsible for liaison with the Allies in Germany.

And this time Major General Salda came to the army warehouse in Berblingen, and it did have a purpose.

The group looked at the neatly arranged artillery in the warehouse, and from time to time asked people to remove their overcoats. At this time, Major General Salda would come forward to carefully check the condition of the artillery, and other high-ranking officials of the Entente would also come forward to evaluate the condition of the artillery.

Plock, who accompanied him throughout the process, discovered a problem through the conversations of these Allied generals. The same is an artillery, and the Romanian general can finally show a lot of problems, what gun wheels are damaged, the rifles are badly worn, the seals are not tight, there are small gaps, and so on. And the other Entente officers did not affect the use, and this part could be replaced, which was all the words of the round field such as Xiao Reverie. It's as if two gangs are doing business, one lowering the price and the other raising the price.

The group talked all the way to the back half of the warehouse, when a number of large, one-legged guns in overalls appeared in front of them.

Rear Admiral Salda pointed to one of the guns of the same style and said, "Lift the gun jacket." ”

With the gunlivery uncovered, it was a K16 Krupp 150mm cannon.

At this time, the French representative, Colonel Fil Lens, stepped forward and said: "This is a German K16 cannon, although it is not as good as my country's Schneider artillery, but it is also a good suppressive long-range artillery. ”

Major General Salda, who knew the artillery of various countries well, of course knew that what Colonel Fillens said was the truth. The K16's range of up to 22 km is quite surprising, but its total weight of up to 10,870 kg also greatly affects its transportation. After all, at this time, there were no vehicles with a transport capacity of more than 10 tons.

Major General Salda looked at the K16 guns for a moment, then continued inside. At this time, a much smaller gun appeared in front of everyone, and the bipod, which was relatively rare in this period, aroused his interest.

After the cannon suit was uncovered, a new type of artillery appeared in front of everyone. This is the LeFH18 type that Germany has only been equipped with for a long time, as a German artillery that is familiar to military fans in later generations, it can be said that the LeFH18 type can be regarded as a big name, but for Major General Salda, which belongs to this era, it is not bad. The best 105 howitzer is currently recognized as the Schneider M1913 type 105 howitzer from France.

Defy?

Let's compare.

This newly designed German LeFH18 howitzer of the 105 type. As the freshest 105 howitzer, it has a barrel caliber of L28 and a firing range of 10675 meters. Its performance is one of the best guns of its time, but only one of them.

The Schneider M1913 105 howitzer has a barrel caliber of L28, and its range reaches an astonishing 12,000 meters, which can be used as the main division-level support weapon in World War II (in fact, many countries used it in World War II).

Of course, some people will say that the later version of the LeFH18 can also reach 12 kilometers (L31 caliber), but there is a more perverted Schneider 1930 Type 105 howitzer in the later period, which has a range of an astonishing 17 kilometers. (Although this cargo weighs 3810 kilograms, compared with the weight, there is really no one who can compare to its range, which is simply a perversion).

During the period from World War I to World War II, French artillery was indeed unique in the world in small and medium-sized (65-155 mm) calibers. With the same weight, he can achieve the farthest range, and with the same range, he can achieve the lightest.

Major General Salda then looked at the situation in other warehouses, and basically the guns and artillery that were kept could continue to be used. True, Romania intends to buy a part of what it needs to replenish its troops. All this is to blame for Eder, who is guilty of a phobia of fire density in later generations.

Although the firepower of the main Romanian divisions is already good, they are afraid of comparison. Compared with the divisions of the great powers (mainly the United States, Germany and Britain) that are generally equipped with a caliber of more than 100 mm, most of the divisional artillery in Romania is still 75 mm mountain artillery, which is too far behind. Therefore, it has become a proper duty to use war reparations to purchase the artillery needed from Germany.

Whoever defeated Germany, these weapons were compensated to the countries that participated in the war. The United States, Britain, and France do not lack German artillery, and the difference in caliber is completely increasing the logistical burden. Moreover, compared to the economic collapse of other countries, Romania still has a lot of financial surpluses. Romania, which uses the same weapons as Germany, came to pick up the ocean.

Therefore, after Major General Salda inspected the weapons and equipment in the German warehouses, the list of these weapons that Romania wanted to buy was sent to the United States, Britain and France. As far as Britain and France were concerned, they wished that Romania would take all these German weapons away. And the United States could not use German weapons because of the need for major disarmament after the war. Therefore, Romania's requests for purchase were all agreed, and for a time, a large number of weapons and equipment from various warehouses in Germany were loaded and shipped to Romania.

According to later statistics, a total of nearly 400,000 G98 rifles, more than 5,000 G08 heavy machine guns, and more than 1,000 LeFH18 and K16 cannons were transported to Romania. Together with nearly 30,000 tons of other military supplies such as gas masks, field telephones, sapper shovels, etc., Romania spends around $140 million on these arms. This is still to take advantage of the Entente's side of the cheap fire sale, otherwise according to the cost alone, these arms and materials can reach 410 million US dollars.

These military materials also greatly enhanced the strength of the Romanian army and made a powerful contribution to the subsequent confrontation with the Soviet Union.