"Yes, it's not a moving fortress or a moving fortress, it's supposed to be a moving artillery!" Jochen, who straightened out his thoughts, said excitedly: "The biggest problem facing our infantry offensive now is the inconvenience of support fire, if there is a walking artillery that can accompany the soldiers to attack and provide support fire for the infantry in time, then it will clear the way for the infantry to attack!" ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, we designed this armored vehicle to help the infantry clear obstacles." Schlieffen on the side replied a little confused, there is no difference between what the emperor said and what the army requires.

"No, no, no, Alfred, at least from what I've heard about this vehicle, I don't see what it can do to support the infantry." Shaking his head, he repudiated Schlieffen's words: "If the firepower of this infantry support weapon is installed with an MG3, a 37-mm field gun, then it is not a qualified infantry support weapon at all.

In the future, with the recoilless gun and the HK1904 equipping the troops, the infantry will have direct aim firepower above this armored vehicle, will it support the infantry or the infantry will support it? Do the targets that the infantry can solve with a 60-mm recoilless gun still need its support? Could it be that its value is only to use its size and armor to provide some cover for the infantry?

It's too wasteful for a big, well-made, complex, and expensive guy to build. ”

"Your Majesty, do you mean that it lacks firepower and needs to be equipped with more powerful artillery?" Schlieffen understood.

"That's right, the reason why we eliminated the 37-mm field gun was because of its low power, heavy weight, short range, and inconvenient infantry movement. That's why we need a 60mm recoilless gun, which is more powerful and lighter, but it also has its own problems, that is, the range is too close. Therefore, as an infantry support firepower, it should have a stronger power and range than a 60mm recoilless gun.

The main heavy support firepower of our assault infantry is 75 mm field guns, and I think it is completely possible to load this kind of artillery on the vehicle, so that the field guns and infantry can attack together, so that they can provide high-power artillery support for the infantry in time. And the 75-mm field gun can play a good role in firing armor-piercing shells against fortresses and grenades against infantry. Jochen smiled and made his request.

However, this requirement, like the standards mentioned earlier, made the technicians put on a bitter face one by one: "Your Majesty, according to your requirements, the new design needs to be equipped with 75mm field guns." This meant that we needed a larger turret, which would increase the weight of the turret and make it difficult to rotate it by manpower, so we needed to install a rotating motor for the turret.

The frontal armor can withstand direct fire from 37 mm field guns, which requires more than 25 mm of armor, and to be able to meet the trench crossing capacity of 1.5 meters, the length of the hull will not be shorter than 4.5 meters, so this will undoubtedly greatly increase the weight of the vehicle!

As a result, both the load-bearing system and the mechanical stability will face a more severe test than the current one. Even with a more powerful engine and the suspension system you are talking about, it is still difficult to guarantee the reliability and maneuverability of such a vehicle. ”

In response to this question, Yoheng immediately threw out the construction he had already thought of: "Then why don't we just cancel the turret and install the gun directly in the fixed fighting compartment on the hull?" The elimination of the turret saves weight, while the larger space in the fixed fighting compartment allows for larger caliber guns, and without the turret, we can significantly reduce the height of the vehicle, which saves weight, which can be used to increase protection. ”

"Mounting the gun directly inside the hull really saves the weight of the turret and the complex rotation mechanism. But in this way, the firing range of the artillery will be greatly limited, and it will not be very convenient in combat. Schlieffen responded immediately.

Jochen has his own say for this: "Alfred. I said that what the army needs is not to move the fortress, but to move the artillery, the artillery only needs to have a certain angle of firing in front of it, and it is really necessary to adjust the firing direction at a large angle to turn the hull, even if it is inconvenient, it is more convenient than the artillery in the rear, and it can accompany the infantry to attack. With a vehicle capable of withstanding direct fire from 37mm field guns and providing infantry with 75mm field gun support at all times, it was worth sacrificing a little range. ”

"Well......" While Schlieffen was still considering the usefulness of this weapon, Jochen continued to paint a more detailed picture of the equipment in his mind.

"This weapon was supposed to be self-propelled and armored of light artillery, and the main task was to accompany the infantry offensive. Clear targets that pose a threat to infantry, clear the way for attack, and use it as direct fire in this type of combat. It can also be used in defensive operations and as intermittent firepower.

In offensive operations, the main combat mission is to engage the enemy's infantry heavy weapons that cannot be quickly and effectively suppressed by infantry weapons, and in defensive operations, the enemy infantry is the main target of attack, and like artillery, the artillery positions must be concealed, and their mobility must be used to shift positions before the enemy artillery returns fire.

It belongs to artillery in terms of establishment, and must be accompanied by infantry in battle, because of the limitations of performance, as well as its nature as artillery, it is used as intensively as possible to provide sufficient fire intensity. ”

Jochen said that these requirements were exactly how to use the assault gun, which was the equipment and concept of the assault gun that came from a letter of advice presented to the army commander-in-chief, General Fritsch, in 1935 by Lieutenant General Manstein, then chief of operations in the German Army Staff.

Man Buqun believed that infantry divisions should have company-level assault gun groups, and this kind of self-propelled artillery was not the self-propelled version of large-caliber heavy artillery, but the self-propelled version of the German elite light artillery in World War I, that is, the infantry support firepower in commando tactics.

This line of thinking fits perfectly into the context of World War I, which had no concept of armor clusters at all, and tanks were not used intensively as assault forces.

The difference between the positioning of tanks and assault guns in World War II was enormous, and Manbuqun understood the task of tank units in Fritz's construction as follows: "The main task of the tank is to break through the enemy's infantry lines and attack enemy artillery, headquarters and reserves in the deep direction. ”

This tactic leads to the loss of mobility of the tank in order to support the infantry. But the infantry also wanted to be supported by armored units such as tanks in their theater of operations. This need is common in all countries, such as the British tanks, which are divided into high-speed cruiser tanks and slow infantry tanks, and the name infantry tank indicates their combat mission.

However, it is undoubtedly overkill to let tanks do the work of supporting infantry, and the lessons of the French in the early days of World War II proved this idea to be incorrect. Of course, the so-called tanks of World War I and tanks of World War II are not the same concept, they are infantry support weapons, so assault guns are obviously more suitable for this kind of equipment.

Of course, it wasn't that Jochen didn't want to develop a real tank and self-propelled guns equipped with more powerful warp firepower, but some of the problems were a huge hindrance.

First of all, the tank, with the current level of technology, it is not impossible to achieve the balance of mobility, firepower, and protection, and the requirements are a little lower, and the level of things like the Japanese Army's 89 A medium tank can be fully realized even with the current technical level of Germany.

However, as an infantry support tank, the 89 armor has no much difference in combat mission from the assault gun, and the firepower and protection are even inferior to the assault gun, and the only advantage is that there is a turret that is more flexible in combat.

Therefore, if you want to use the tank as an assault force, it must be more technically perfect and more excellent in performance, so that its combat capabilities and assault guns do not overlap before it is of practical significance.

The large-caliber self-propelled artillery is the tank under the current technical conditions, even if it uses a fixed fighting compartment and thin armor, the requirements for mobility are low, and the army's large-caliber artillery is still too difficult for the current chassis.

Therefore, compared with the assault guns that are easier to achieve, it is not impossible for tanks and self-propelled guns to be forcibly launched, but they are too reluctant, and they are expensive and difficult to produce. In contrast, assault guns are cheap, produce huge quantities, and have technical commonalities with tanks and self-propelled guns, making them the best choice for the early development of armored forces.

As for Jochen's positioning and use of the vehicle, Schlieffen said that it was indeed very practical, and the rest asked for the development of new vehicles according to this positioning.

In order to give them a more detailed direction of study, Jochen proposed a design index: "The design of the new vehicle had the following requirements that had to be achieved:

1. Carry at least 75 mm caliber guns.

2. If possible, it is best to reach more than 30 degrees in the direction of the artillery when the vehicle is stationary.

3. The elevation angle of the gun should be able to meet the intermittent shooting of 6 kilometers.

4. The height of the vehicle should not exceed the height of a normal person.

5. The vehicle is equipped with a suspension damping system to improve the driving ability.

6. The height of the obstacle shall not be less than 1.2 meters, and the width of the trench shall not be less than 1.5 meters.

7. The top of the hull is closed, which can withstand the fire of 37 mm anti-aircraft guns, and the sides and rear should be able to withstand the fire of MG3 machine guns.

8. An MG3 needs to be installed in front of the hatch above the fixed fighting compartment, which can be operated by the tank commander to attack the enemy infantry. ”

Jochen's requests were jotted down by the technicians, and they would become the next steps of their research.

However, Jochen didn't expect them to make a No. III assault gun, considering that the No. III assault gun A also weighed 19.6 tons, and the Maybach 120TR engine used had an output of up to 300 horsepower, and more importantly, the armor of this thing was welded!

So a thing that weighs less than 15 tons, has an engine output of about 120 horsepower, and has rivets all over the body doesn't look like a triple protrusion, and Jochen can imagine what this thing will definitely look like. (To be continued......)

PS: So many people think it's a three-stud son, how can I follow your wishes?

As for what the prototype of this thing is, I guess some friends will know which one I'm talking about if I look at the title