"Bang! Bang! After tank 231 had been out of cover for a long time, Poulter finally heard an explosion from the position. He pursed his lips disdainfully, scornful of the sluggish reaction of the French. At this time, he had been away from the spot for more than half a minute, and the French fire coverage was late, which had to be placed in the German armored corps, which was definitely an achievement that a pure rookie would have.

Under the command of Boult, the tank slowly circled the depression in front of him, and the figures of the French tanks in the distance gradually appeared in the field of vision, most of which were fiercely firing at the four tanks under Boulter's command. Due to the lack of APCR (Gold Coin Shells), these lynxes have rushed forward to a position about 300 meters away from their opponents, and the battlefield is filled with gunsmoke, sand and soil are splashing, and it is impossible to see the winner for a while.

Seeing this, Boulter knew he could not delay any longer. Although he has not yet moved to the best attack position, his comrades are fighting the enemy, how can Boult, as the commander, continue to wander outside the battlefield?

"Parking! The gunner prepares, the target H-294 in the 35th azimuth! Boulter yelled and kicked the driver in the back. The moving tank immediately stopped, and the gunner began to shake the handwheel violently, driving the 2.3-ton turret to rotate in the direction of the target. Boult looked serious and said to the gunner on the left: "The tungsten core armor-piercing shell is not as stable as an ordinary shell, you must aim carefully, and you must not let this precious shell miss!" ”

"Understood, sir!" The gunner replied awe-inspiringly, his eyes pressed to the scope to confirm the distance. In the optical sight with 4x magnification, the H-35 facing itself occupies about 2 squares in the transverse scale, each with 2 dense positions, and it is known that the total width of the H-35 is 1.95 meters, so the target distance should be 1.95÷2÷2×1000=487.5 meters. At the same time, according to the feedback from the gyroscopic stabilizer, the tank parked in the field at the moment has an inclination of 7 degrees to the left and 3 degrees before it, and in combination with the aiming direction of the current turret, a composite angle must be obtained to correct the pitch angle of the gun.

In the flash of light, the gunner reviewed all the data, and then decisively pressed the button to hit the generator. In an instant, a long, black bolt shot out of the muzzle, spun rapidly and flew towards the target. Because its weight is much lighter than that of ordinary armor-piercing shells, the velocity of this 50mm APCR exceeded 1 kilometer per second, and in the blink of an eye, Poulter saw a black light flash from the target tank!

"We have struck the enemy!" The gunners cheered loudly and could not help but wave their fists fiercely inside the cramped tank. In the magnified scope, he could clearly see that the shell had pierced the front of the target tank, and the damned enemy had finally been penetrated. And the gun he fired just now definitely showed excellent professional quality - this is much more difficult than shooting a fixed target on flat ground during training!

"Well done!" Boulter also spoke excitedly, and his words were full of praise for his comrades. He carefully observed the target in front of him and said in a loud voice: "Load a conventional armor-piercing bullet, and then drive it to a distance of 300 meters to destroy it completely." We have very few tungsten core shells and cannot be wasted on this one tank. ”

Unlike most people's imagination, the lethality of the sub-caliber tungsten core projectile APCR is actually far inferior to that of the AP. Because the diameter of the former's bullet is very thin and it is a dense solid body, even if it is broken into several pieces and fired in four times after penetrating the armor, it cannot guarantee complete damage to the target in the vehicle. If it hits the driver's seat, then it is likely that only the driver will die, and the commander, gunner, etc. will survive, and the tank will still have the ability to fight back.

This is not the case with AP shells. This orthodox armor-piercing projectile is derived from the ammunition of naval guns, and is filled with explosives; Once it successfully penetrates the armor and detonates, it can instantly unleash a metal storm of death inside the cramped tank. Basically, as soon as a tank gets a shot, it loses all combat effectiveness; Even if a few members survive by chance, all major equipment parts will be destroyed and will no longer be able to be used in combat.

During the reloading of the shells, the driver had already stepped on the accelerator and rumbled towards the target. The French tank seemed to have lost its combat effectiveness, and the whole vehicle stopped on the ridge in a daze, unresponsive to the approaching enemy. Seeing this, Boulter was relieved, and his attention gradually shifted from the tank to the surrounding battlefield. Suddenly, without warning, its turret spun and quickly caught Boult's line of sight. Poulter, who realized that the situation was wrong, only had time to kick the driver's right shoulder, and a ball of fire bloomed in front of his eyes!

"Ding!" The sharp sound was like a stone scraping against the wall, and Poulter only felt the tank shake slightly, and then returned to normal, and the boulder fell to the ground in his heart. Having lived through the Polish campaign, he knew this voice all too well: it was a sign that the enemy shells were bounced off by their own armor and failed to penetrate.

It's just that...... The French shells are too powerful, right? This thought instantly came to the mind of Poulter, who was a little settled in his heart. Just now, the whole impact of the tank when it was hit was worse than hitting a slightly larger rock on the side of the road, and the sound was very slight; Not only was it far inferior to the 37-mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns of the Poles, but even the 7-mm guns on the Polish 20TP tanks were inferior. This level of attack is not to mention frontal, even the weakest 20 mm rear armor of the Bobcat tank cannot penetrate it, and the distance between the two sides at this time is less than 400 meters!

"So that's how strong the French tank is? What a waste of the gold coin bullet just now! Poult, who ordered the gunners to fight back, instantly gained confidence and regretted his cautious behavior. I should have realized that the H-35 could not have been equipped with a long-barreled artillery gun to have much anti-armor strength, and with the defense of the Bobcat, it was enough to rush to the close range to fight it. Within 300 meters, the penetration depth of a 50 mm caliber AP shell can also reach 48mm, as long as the angle of incidence is not large, there is definitely a chance to penetrate the enemy!

In fact, the strength of the French tank was even worse than Boulter thought.

As the equipment selected by the French cavalry unit, the Hatch Cash-35 tank did not have the speed and sharpness of the cavalry. It weighs 11.4 tonnes and has an engine power of only 78 hp, which makes it have a thrust-to-weight ratio of only a measly 7.1 and a cross-country speed of 13 km/h. In addition, due to the construction of the Maginot Line, the French Army, which lacked funds, only equipped this tank with a 37mm L21 short-barreled howitzer - this gun was the main gun of the Renault-17 tank during World War I, and it is still used by the French today!

Although the 50mm L40 main gun on the German Lynx tank is also an old naval model for more than two decades, it is a genuine cannon, and the caliber is larger, and it has a clear advantage in anti-armor. The German military factory slightly enlarged its medicine room, sacrificing part of the life of the body, and suddenly it was a qualified tank gun with a depth of 43mm at 500 meters. Its grenades are also very powerful, and it helps the infantry to fight fortifications made of sandbags and earth without stress.

In contrast, this gun of the French H-35 tank can only be described as miserable. Even if the APCR shell is fired, its penetration depth at a distance of 100 meters is only a pitiful 21mm, and if the AP shell is used, it can only hit the armored vehicle in the face at most, and even the No. 1 tank can smile proudly in front of it. After all, this is just a short-barreled howitzer, which was originally designed to support infantry, and anti-armor work should not be done at all!

After two years of use, the French themselves felt that the cannon was too weak and that it was time to find a replacement. Therefore, from 1937 onwards, the newly produced H-35 was replaced with the L35 long-barreled 37mm gun, and its AP penetration depth at a distance of 100 meters was barely increased to 30mm, which was basically equipped with anti-armor capabilities.

At the same time, the newly produced tank was replaced with a 120-horsepower engine, and its maneuvering finally got rid of the maddening turtle speed class. Due to the considerable changes in the vehicle, the total weight has risen to 12.1 tons, and the tanks have been renamed H-39, which is quite refreshing. However, in front of the Bobcat's armor, the H-39's firepower was still weak like a stepping stone.

The only thing that is commendable about the Hatch Chase tank is its protection. The hull and turret have omnidirectional 40mm armor, which is still arranged at an angle at the front of the hull, and the defense level behind the side is stronger than that of the Bobcat. It's just that the tactical concept of this infantry fortress is completely behind today's mechanized age, and one sentence may suffice to say that the H-35 is the most excellent breakthrough weapon in trench warfare.

Due to the unsatisfactory performance of the Hatch Chase series of vehicles, the French cavalry (mechanized units) did not put the treasure on them. The S-35 tank produced by Soma was really relied on by the French. The latter formed a high-low match with the Hatch Chase series, and at this time there were more than 200 vehicles engaged with the German army.

The tank weighs 19.5 tons, has a power of 190 hp, and is mainly armed with a 47mm L35 cannon that can penetrate 45mm armor from a distance of 100 meters. Its defense has also been improved on the basis of the Hatch Chase tank, with the front armor increased to 47mm, and the maximum equivalent thickness can reach about 65mm with the addition of inclination.

On paper, although the -35 is a scumbag, the improved H-39 can barely be handled; The S-35, which weighs nearly 20 tons, is even better, and has its own strengths with the German Bobcat, which is almost a comparable opponent. However, the advantages and disadvantages of a tank cannot be weighed by a few simple performance figures. At present, all French tanks have a fatal flaw, and that is that there is a big problem with their ergonomics.

Throughout the 30s, the French economy failed to get out of the shadow of the Great Depression, coupled with the construction of the hugely expensive Maginot Line, which made the French Army, already shy, extremely stingy in purchasing tanks. The top brass of the French army recognizes only one word for the tanks produced by domestic military enterprises: money, as long as the performance requirements put forward by the army are met, whoever has the cheapest tank will order from whomever it wants. In order not to lose money, the military-industrial complex can only swing a file and chop, and the first thing to bear the brunt of is the turret part of the tank head.