"Hasuo, you don't know, these fourteen E-40 tanks make the commanders of many armored divisions of the army jealous of you, don't be too greedy."

It was Guderian who spoke.

As the father of German armored forces and the old superior of Mandolfel, Guderian was very interested in the installation of the E-40 tanks, and he accompanied them to Warsaw to see the actual performance of the E-40.

"I don't know how many, but I don't think there will be more than twenty-four division commanders." Mandolfil said.

The German Army had only twenty-four panzer divisions in total, and Mantofil's answer was full of dry humor.

"It doesn't matter, after the war breaks out, you can use your achievements to pay tribute to those division commanders, and let those division commanders know that the E-40 tanks are prioritized to equip our division because we have strong strength and can give full play to the combat effectiveness of these tanks." Chen Dao said.

In the French campaign, Guderian used to be Chen Dao's top boss, and he was Mandolfel's old superior, he had a good relationship with the two, and he didn't beat around the bush at the moment, and asked Chen Dao bluntly: "You say, how long will it take for the production of E-40 to be enough to equip all our armored divisions." ”

"It will be half a year at the earliest, and in this time, you should honestly study your heavy armored battalion." Chen Dao replied with a wicked smile.

Guderian smiled wryly.

"When our army's heavy armored battalion is formed, in the next war, I will tell you who is the real tank combat expert."

"Even if you let the horses come, I'm not afraid." Chen Dao's needle pointed at Guderian's Maimang, and the two looked at each other without giving in.

"General Rosen, you've finally appeared." An exclamation sounded behind Chen Dao.

Chen Dao looked at Knikamp with a surprised face helplessly, and said in his heart I have been fighting Guderian here for a while, and you only noticed my arrival, did you forget to install the glasses on the bridge of your nose?

Without waiting for Chen Dao to speak, Kniekamp rushed to Chen Dao's eyes, opened his arms to Chen Dao is a bear hug, and held Chen Dao after two circles in place. Knikamp gasped and said: "Thanks to your reminder, we found a big hidden danger on the E-40 before mass production, otherwise it would be unimaginable to let the armored corps drive tanks with major hidden dangers to the front line." ”

Guderian and Mandolfer asked at the same time, "What is the hidden danger?" ”

Knikamp said indignantly: "If it weren't for General Rosen reminding us of the measured performance of the E-40 tank engine. We were almost deceived by the Maybach product. The HL210P45 engine they supplied us with was an overclocker, and at maximum horsepower the engine reached 3,000 rpm, and at this maximum speed, the engine of the E-40 was very prone to failure due to excessive temperatures and then strike. Fortunately, there was a reminder from General Rosen. We found out early, installed a speed limiter on the engine, and controlled the maximum speed of the engine at 2600 rpm, so as to solve this problem in time. ”

Guderian said: "If the maximum speed drops, the speed of the tank will definitely be affected, have you thought about this question?" ”

"Of course, the speed of the tank will suffer, but Maybach is already improving the performance of the engine, and soon a more powerful engine will be installed on the E-40 tank."

Hearing that there was a substitute, Chen Dao and Guderian's hearts were put back in their stomachs.

After another show of E-40 tanks at the training ground, Chen Dao and Guderian returned to Warsaw.

On the road. Guderian and Chen Dao naturally talked about the impending war and the army's war readiness.

At the end of June 1940, since the end of the French campaign, the German Army had not experienced a large-scale war for a year and a half, and all the time was spent replacing new equipment and summing up the experience of the French campaign.

Twenty-two of the 24 armoured divisions in the establishment have already completed the rearmament work, and the 23rd and 24th armored divisions that have been formed will also complete the refitting by mid-March at the latest.

All 30 Assault Gun Battalions No. 3 have been formed, 25 battalions have now reached full strength, and the remaining five battalions are expected to be replenished by the end of February.

Tested by the Polish and French campaigns, the combat effectiveness of the German armored forces has been tested and confirmed.

Under the strong advice of Guderian, Chen Dao and other armored commanders, the establishment of armored troops finally underwent a qualitative change.

The most representative move is: The formation of the Panzer Group at the time of the French campaign disappeared, and it was replaced by the formation of the Panzer Army.

The two establishments are not only different in name, but also represent the fact that the German armored corps is truly independent of the infantry and is no longer subordinate to the infantry.

At the time of the French campaign. The armored group commanded by Kleist was subordinate to the 16th Army under Army Group A, and was subject to the constraints of the 16th Army both logistically and in command.

The Panzer Army, on the other hand, has its own logistical system and is no longer under the command of the commanders of the infantry armies, but is on an equal footing with them, and only obeys the commanders of the army groups to which they belong. The status has been qualitatively improved.

Talking about the recent changes in the armored corps, Guderian couldn't help but be elated, and he gave Chen Dao a glimpse of the power that the armored corps would play in future wars.

When asked about the performance of the newly formed air artillery divisions of the Waffen-SS, Guderian said: "The Second Panzer Army under my command was assigned to the 14th Waffen-SS Air Artillery Division. And most importantly, this air artillery division is always subordinate to our 2nd Panzer Army and can be called on call, and there will be no situation where you will be called to perform other tasks and will not be able to support us. I have to thank you for thinking of this method to increase the combat effectiveness of the armored forces, and more importantly, you can not only think of it, but also do it. Because of your existence, the construction of the German armored forces saved a lot of trouble and took a lot of detours, and I really want to thank you. ”

"Do you really want to thank me? In a future war, killing a few more Russians would be the best thank-you gift. Chen Dao said.

"I'm waiting to test the results of the construction of our troops with the Russians, well, can't wait." Guderian said.

Guderian did not stay long in the Governor's Palace in Warsaw, and only had lunch with Chen Dao before leaving and returning to the headquarters of the Second Army.

After seeing off Guderian, Chen Dao flipped through the schedule and rushed to the port of Danzig to fulfill his duties as commander of naval aviation.

In the port of Danzig, there is only one aircraft carrier, which is the new aircraft carrier of the German Navy. Strasser.

Although it is the second aircraft carrier in the Zeppelin-class, it is completely different from its sister ship, the Zeppelin.

At the beginning of the design of the Zeppelin-class aircraft carrier, considering the possibility of a single attack of the Zeppelin-class aircraft carrier, eight twin 150-mm guns were installed on both sides of the ship's side.

These eight twin 150mm guns took up a lot of internal space, and under the command of Chen Dao, the German aircraft carriers would never have a ridiculous situation of a single ship sortie. Improvements were made during the construction of the Strassel, eliminating the eight 150mm guns that were neither desirable nor useful, and adjusting the interior layout to increase the number of aircraft.

At the same time, the Naval Design Bureau redesigned the bow with a closed bow that was more resistant to storms.

After the remodeling, Peter. The number of carrier-based aircraft of the Strassel has been increased from 42 to 64, and the combat effectiveness has been qualitatively improved.

After the new design was tested aboard the Strassel, the USS Zeppelin was sent to the shipyard for refit.

The construction of the aircraft carrier Sedlitz, converted from the heavy cruiser of the same name, has not yet been completed, and the Strasse has become the only aircraft carrier currently in service in the German Navy, and the task of training pilots for carrier-based aircraft of the German naval aviation is all on its shoulders.

Standing in the bridge and looking at the carrier-based version of the HE-100D1 fighter that kept rising and falling on the deck, Chen Dao said to Chief of Staff Leibniz with satisfaction: "Its speed is faster than the ME-109T, its range is longer, and its firepower is similar. ”

"In two months at most, the Zeppelin and the Sedlitz will join us in the battle sequence, and our strength will easily overwhelm the Soviet Baltic Navy." Leibniz said.

"Our imaginary enemy is not the Russians, they are not qualified, the real imaginary enemy is the US Navy. If we want to confront the US Navy, we are far from strong enough now. The good thing is that the Americans are fighting the Japanese, so let's have at least two more years to complete Plan Z. When the new version of Plan Z is completed, we will be in a very different situation, and by that time, we will be going out of Europe and expanding the battlefield to the whole world. Chen Dao said. (To be continued.) )