After listening to the name and looking at the real thing, Major Lüdel had a preliminary judgment about this new thing in a daze, but he didn't know what the situation was on the ground. www.biquge.info Seeing that he was suspicious, the engineer simply pulled him directly to the "bulldozer", and a professional sergeant skillfully turned on the device, and after a while, he suddenly found that a clear and vague shadow of a tank appeared on the screen in the distance, which was intuitively judged to be a No. 4 tank.

It is said to be clear because the outline and shape can be seen very clearly, especially when you can't see your fingers, which is simply a big goal; I say it's blurry because the image I see on the screen always feels a little weird, and it doesn't fit my daily cognition like direct visual observation.

"You can jump out of the car and see, can you spot us 200 meters away?"

Rudel shook his head, the bulldozer did not leak any light, 200 meters away, except for the sound of the engine can vaguely tell that there is a tank, without lighting it is not clear at all.

"The maximum detection distance of this vehicle is about 2,000 meters, which is the limit of the accurate hit of the Tiger tank gun." The engineer said proudly, "We think this thing is a perfect match for the Tiger, and with it, the dark night will no longer be an insurmountable challenge for tanks." ”

Ruddell became excited, since there were tanks, there was no shortage of tactical ideas for night battles, but the tank's observation ability was not strong, and if you brought a searchlight at night, it would be a bright target, so night battles could only be imagined in your head at most, and if you could really engage in night battles as the engineers said, it would be too helpful to the German armored troops.

The engineer did not brag at all, the code name "Owl" is the latest infrared night vision device developed by Germany. Germany has been systematically exploring night vision devices since the early 30s and is actively preparing them for the battlefield. In 1936, the Sixth Experimental Section of the German Weapons Agency and the AEG Company discussed the development of infrared night vision technology on reconnaissance and sighting optical instruments for use by pilots, and reached a consensus: Since the reflection characteristics of infrared rays are no different from ordinary visible light, it was decided to use infrared rays to irradiate and convert the reflected infrared light waves into visible light through special devices -- its academic basis is basically the same as that of radar.

The whole set of equipment mainly includes two devices: one is a searchlight with a filter device to emit infrared rays; The other is an image display that receives infrared light and converts it into visible light. The installation of high-power searchlights is called an irradiation vehicle, which at first uses a half-track armored vehicle, equipped with a 60 cm diameter arc searchlight with an infrared filter and a corresponding high-voltage device, which is equivalent to a powerful infrared irradiator, and the scout can operate the irradiator for 360-degree irradiation, which can be easily folded in the car during the daytime march, making it look less ostentatious. When using the maximum power, the irradiator is 10 times the magnification and the searchlight distance is up to 1500 meters.

Since the Germans had modified a large number of Sherman tanks to serve as service vehicles, a logistics officer habitually muttered, "Since this thing requires a lot of electricity, why don't you install it on a bulldozer with more power?" Compared with the 251 type half-track car, the irradiation vehicle transformed by Sherman is slightly inferior in speed, regardless of defense, interior space, and power are far exceeded, experts switched to use two 800-watt incandescent lamps as projectors instead of arc lamps, the working voltage is reduced to 36 volts, and the new facilities after the transformation have reached 14 times the magnification, with a maximum detection distance of 2000 meters, Coupled with Sherman's 500 hp engine (the HL42TRKM engine used in half-track armoured vehicles is usually only 100 hp), it can continue to work even without a battery.

The receiver is installed in front of the vehicle, there is a protective device similar to the windshield to avoid damage to the equipment, the cathode radiation tube converts the received infrared image into a visual image under the action of high voltage (working voltage up to 17,000 volts), and what Rüdell saw was only a single receiver, that is, it could only provide images for the commander alone, and the engineer told him that he was currently working on a transformer for three or four in order to provide energy for multiple receivers, so that the driver, Other members of the team, such as the Heavy, can see their surroundings at night in the same way as the Commander.

This set of night vision devices began to be tested on a small scale at the Falin Post Tank Military Academy half a year ago, and has been unanimously praised, and has been improved many times according to practical opinions, not only can the commander use the night vision device for 360-degree reconnaissance, but also make the device have an aiming function, which can be directly used to open fire. Originally, this device could be put into actual combat in the troops more quickly, but as a result, a Junker-born and brain-broken major general in the High Command said: "We don't need such things, our soldiers will win this war with fair chivalry." "It was postponed for more than one month to put it into the field.

Although Speer had already covered the sky in the production of armaments, the military of the East and West produced would have no choice but to run to Hoffmann to complain if he did not adopt it, because he knew that the Führer had always been interested in new technologies. Unexpectedly, the latter's reaction was more violent than his, and in a fit of anger, he called Keitel over and trained him directly for more than half an hour, scolding the other party so much that he didn't dare to make a sound. The next day, this hapless major general was dismissed from his post and thrown into the reserve by the chief of the general staff, and everyone did not expect that the matter would not be over at this point -- Bowman did not know how to hear the news, and thought that this guy was suspected of "collaborating with the enemy", so he took him directly away for investigation, and tossed for two weeks before he was released due to lack of evidence.

When the engineer told Guderian about this experience, he couldn't help but nod his head: "Some officers have rotten brains and outdated ideas, and this is also the virtue when we studied tank warfare back then, and it is indeed time to clean up......

He told Rudel: "Give you a night to study tactics and run in place, tomorrow you have a good rest during the day, go to fight the Americans at night, and surprise them." ”

Considering the tacit understanding, Ludell did not choose the best 4 cars in the end, but chose a platoon of 5 Tiger tanks, and the technical sergeants moved quickly, not only modifying 2 bulldozers on the spot, but also modifying the Tiger muzzle and smoke exhaust device, and the flash flame after firing the cannon could not be seen in the distance, which greatly reduced the probability of being discovered by the enemy.

The engineer told Ruddell that in addition to the special irradiation vehicle such as the owl, technical experts are also studying the trial production of the "Sparrowhawk" FG1250 night vision device, preparing to install the infrared headlights directly on the tank, to avoid the need for special irradiation vehicles, but due to power limitations, the night vision distance of this system is only less than 400 meters, and the field of vision range does not exceed 100 meters when maneuvering at high speed, and the practicability is relatively poor.

Through the understanding of the characteristics of the owl, the 501st battalion quickly developed a targeted tactic: the bulldozer equipped with the owl will remotely guide the Tiger tank and indicate the target, and then the Tiger will shoot blindly, only to ensure a distance of 10-15 meters behind the bulldozer.

The next night, the Tiger tank with everyone's expectations was discharged, the tracks rumbled and turned, the platoon commander Link's 5 tanks lined up in 2 columns, followed by 2 owls, the driver saw 3 lamps wrapped in cloth behind the bulldozer when driving, which was used to remind him of the direction, and the coaxial machine gun observation port was also locked in advance: only seeing all 3 lights at the same time was to maintain a straight line with the car in front, if he could only see 2 lights on the left, it meant that he was on the left, If you can only see 2 lights on the right, it will be to the right.

Although there are such and such inconveniences in use, compared to the previous scenes of night battles, Link feels that he is completely confident now.

After more than two hours, the German tanks had reached a distance of less than 2,000 meters from the American position.

"1 o'clock, 1700 meters, tank a ......" Owl One relayed the message to the tank behind it via the radio.

Immediately behind, the No. 1 car, which was personally commanded by Link, automatically added a distance of 15 meters to itself, and the gunner, who had been prepared, immediately fired a shell, and after a while, the message was returned, "10 meters to the right",

Car No. 2, which was following behind, immediately re-fired according to the revised trajectory, and this time the shell accurately hit the enemy tank, and one of the Shermans was pierced by an 88mm armor-piercing bullet, causing a large fire that quickly brightened up the surroundings.

The American soldiers on the opposite side of the position, who were guarding in the trenches, began to get nervous, how did the Germans destroy the tanks in the circular defensive positions at such a distance? They also thought that some German infantry had touched the close range, because the several iron fist anti-tank weapons that Germany had put into use were very difficult to mess with, and both the British and Americans had suffered enough, compared to the Bazooka that the United States had obtained in the African theater, it was not so useful.

Intense fire began to fire heavily in all directions, and even the Browning machine guns began to pour fire.

"Straight ahead, 1650 meters, one high-explosive bomb ......" Owl No. 2 issued an order, and car No. 4 immediately carried it out, and after a "boom", the whole world was cleared.

Some unwilling American soldiers tried to turn on the searchlights to see what was going on, but they didn't see anything, and the bright target was directly blown to pieces by the shells flying from a distance.

In just 2 minutes, Link's tank platoon took out a forward position. This undoubtedly stabbed a large hornet's nest, and immediately caused the overall turmoil in the US deep position, all kinds of artillery fire first sparsely smashed forward, and then became more and more dense, as if they did not want money, and fired wantonly, but in their field of vision it was completely pitch black, and any act of firing had no effect except to expose their own targets - the most recent shell was more than 200 meters away from the German tank.

After a night of hard fighting, Link achieved a fruitful victory of 6 tanks, 4 armored vehicles, 3 anti-tank guns, 4 machine-gun fire points, and about 100 infantry troops, without losing anything, not even a single hit, the whole process was almost as easy as a fixed target at night.

Guderian smiled when he heard the news, very satisfied, as if he saw a new tactic slowly open the door in front of him...... (To be continued.) )