"Colonel!" While Shulka and Katukov were having a headache with the tanks, an officer walked in with an interpreter.

Shulka looked at him and saw that it was an American major.

"Oh, are you discussing military intelligence?" The U.S. military major said, "I'm sorry, I can come back later!" ”

"No, Major!" Katukov stopped the American major and said, "Let me introduce you, this is my subordinate Captain Shulka!" ”

The US military major couldn't help but be stunned when he heard this, and then immediately laughed: "That's what they're talking about, right?" 'Breakout Heroes'...... Wow, you're so bad! Especially in the recent battle, which sank nearly a hundred tanks of the Germans in the lake, it is simply a miracle! ”

"Hello, Major!" Shulka stepped forward and shook hands with the American major.

"Hello, Captain, nice to meet you!" The U.S. military major introduced himself: "My name is Johnson, the commander of the American advisory group!" ”

In comparison, American officers were much easier to get along with than British officers.

This seems normal, though.

First of all, from the perspective of national interests, the United States at this time sincerely wanted to help the Soviet Union defeat Germany...... Britain was clearly selfish in this regard, and Churchill's calculation was to let both the Soviet Union and Germany lose out, and the longer the war was fought, the better, so that Britain would have more chances to recover from the German siege.

At this time, the United States is thinking about how to pull Britain down and sit on the top spot in the world, and from this perspective, the United States should actively respond to the war and expand its influence in the world.

Secondly, the mentality of the British and Americans at this time is different...... Britain is an established power, while the United States is an emerging power.

Britain has been the hegemon for more than a hundred years, and after staying in the first position in the world for a long time, it is natural to be arrogant.

The United States, on the other hand, is an emerging power that is despised and guarded against by the British, and it can even be said that it lacks experience in military command, so of course it will not and has no confidence to look down on others.

"We are talking about tanks!" Katukov frowned and said: "Comrade Captain thinks that your tanks are not capable of fighting the enemy!" ”

Johnson nodded in agreement: "I'm here to report this to you, Colonel!" ”

As he spoke, Johnson took out a document from his bag and handed it to Katukov, saying: "The M3 medium tank has been used in the African theater, and we think we should report to you the problems it has in actual combat!" ”

Katukov looked at it for a while, then nodded and handed it to Shulka.

Shulka took the document and looked at it, and what he said was still very pertinent, such as the 75MM gun firing range is too small, and many times you have to rely on the tank to turn to aim at the enemy, and for example, the rivet will jump out to kill and injure your tank crew after being hit by an enemy shell, and it is very difficult to control the tank crew too much, etc.

Johnson said apologetically: "As for the other tanks...... Sorry, we can't get the data! ”

"Thank you very much!" Katukov bluntly said: "You are much better than those British!" ”

"This is what we should do!" Johnson replied: "We admit that this is not a good tank, in fact...... IT WAS ORIGINALLY DESIGNED WITH ONLY ONE 37MM TANK GUN, BUT KNOWING THE DATA OF THE GERMAN'S TANKS, HE KNEW THAT THE 37MM GUN WAS NOT ENOUGH TO DEAL WITH THEM, SO HE ADDED A 75MM GUN, WHICH IS THE M3 MEDIUM YOU SEE. This inevitably has many flaws, sorry! ”

"It's okay, Major!" Katukov said: "This is the greatest support for us! ”

"Major!" Shulka asked: "Do you know some examples of M3 tanks and British tanks working together?" ”

Johnson shook his head and replied, "We don't know anything about it, I asked Stephen before, but Colonel Stephen didn't think it was related to the mission of our trip...... That's how he answered! ”

This is entirely to be expected.

It was in the interests of the British, who wanted the war to be a war of attrition, and at the same time they would not say how their tanks were beaten by the Germans in North Africa in order to save their face.

"Do you have any good advice, Major?" Katukov asked Johnson.

Johnson shook his head helplessly: "If there were, the British should have the initiative in North Africa, but this is not the case!" ”

Command fell silent again.

After thinking about it, Shulka said: "If we can't increase the combat effectiveness of the tank, then we should consider increasing the anti-tank capabilities of the infantry, so that we don't lose a thousand miles when attacked by the enemy's armored forces!" ”

"You mean increasing the density of anti-tank guns?" Katukov shook his head and replied: "No, Captain, first of all, we don't have many anti-tank guns, and secondly, even if we have enough anti-tank guns...... These anti-tank guns are also easily suppressed by enemy fire and air power! ”

This is the weakness of the anti-tank gun, it is not like a tank that can fight quickly and retreat quickly and has armor cover, so it is more useful in defensive warfare, that is, it is deployed in concealment and waiting for the enemy tank to come up and suddenly attack.

Otherwise, it would be easy for the enemy to suppress it with mortars or howitzers.

But that's not what Shulka said.

"No, Colonel!" Shulka said: "I would like to have a piece of equipment capable of destroying enemy tanks with a single launch......"

"Are you kidding?" Katukov interrupted Shulka with some dissatisfaction: "Captain, we don't have such a thing, it's useless to just hope!" ”

But Johnson looked at Katukov with his mouth half open and said: "Colonel, we seem to have such equipment!" ”

"You have?" Katukov looked at Johnson suspiciously.

"I'm not sure, Colonel!" "I don't know much, it's still in the development ......phase," Johnson said.

A hint of disappointment flashed in Katukov's eyes, and the little interest he had just ignited was immediately extinguished by Johnson's words.

But Shulka won't let go of this opportunity so easily, because he deliberately stirred up the topic to get Johnson to say what Shulka wanted......

Bazooka.

There is a saying from World War II that is considered a classic: "The tank is the most effective weapon against tanks." ”

But with the advent of the Bazooka, that phrase became a thing of the past...... No matter how thick the armor and firepower of the tank are, it will not be able to withstand a single rocket.

Shulka knew that the Bazooka had been invented by an American captain, but it was not taken seriously by the American military, because no one believed that such a simple, cheap thing could work on the battlefield.

Until this US captain took it to the test site without anyone's consent and easily destroyed a tank in front of high-ranking military figures.