After a lunch at the SS headquarters, Chen Dao took a short break and then set off with Himmler to the weapons test site of the Army Ordnance Bureau on the outskirts. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Not long after the two arrived, another long motorcade rushed into the test site.

Hitler was at the forefront, Goering followed behind, followed by Marshal Reichenau, the new commander-in-chief of the army, and Guderian, the director of the armored forces.

Surrounded by a crowd of people, Hitler walked up to Chen Dao and Himmler.

Hitler surveyed the crowd and said, "Now that everyone is here, let's get started." ”

Chen Dao and the chief engineer of the Ordnance Bureau, Knikamp, led the group to a table.

Chen Dao pointed to a pile of tank models on the table and said: "First of all, let's take a look at what enemies we may encounter in future wars. ”

Chen Dao picked up a tank model with both hands and said: "This is the intelligence that our agents from the Military Intelligence Bureau, obtained from the Russians, the Russians are upgrading their T34 tank, I have given this new tank two names, the official name is T-34-85, and the nickname is the big head T-34." The specific changes were a large turret and the gun was upgraded from 76 mm to 85 mm. With this gun, the members of the big-headed T-34, as long as they are not rookies, can basically suppress our No. 4 tank, and the 80 mm thick side armor of our E-40 tank will not be as difficult as in previous wars. ”

Hitler glanced at Chen Dao approvingly.

"Heinz, you're the boss of Abbeville, you're very productive, good, go on."

Chen Dao pointed to the other two models and said: "These two weapons are what we need to be careful with, one is called SU-85, and the other is called SU-152, SU-85 is a tank destroyer made by the Russians by copying our No. 3 assault gun, equipped with an 85 mm gun." The SU-152 was a very formidable weapon with a 152-mm gun on the chassis of the KV tank. ”

A group of people pointed around the model and had a heated discussion, and Hitler pointed to the fourth model on the table and asked, "What is this tank?" It is larger than the big-headed T-34 and looks powerful. ”

Chen Dao said solemnly: "This tank will become the most dangerous enemy of our tank in the future." It was named after Joseph Stalin, and it was called the IS-2, and it was a heavy tank with strong defense, more powerful firepower, and was armed with a 122mm gun, but this tank should be under development, and I don't know when it will appear on the battlefield. ”

Hitler was clearly shaken by the caliber of the guns of the IS-2 tank.

"122mm guns? How much does this tank weigh? Sixty tons? Seventy tons? ”

Chen Dao shook his head.

"Neither, if the intelligence is not wrong, it should weigh about 45 tons."

"A weight of 45 tons for a 122-mm gun, our E-40 tank is also 45 tons, but it can only hold an 88-mm gun, how did the Russians do it?" Hitler asked in surprise.

"It's an extreme flow of design, and a 45-ton weight for a 122-gun means a small ammunition load, and the gun will inevitably have split ammunition, which will increase the reload time and lead to a slower rate of fire, which I don't think is a brilliant design," Dr. Kniekamp said. ”

Hitler stared at the IS-2 for a few seconds, then said: "Well, we already know the enemy's new equipment, now it's time to take a look at our new equipment." ”

Chen Dao and Knikamp led the group to a large, cool-looking tank.

Knikamp pointed to the tank and said proudly: "This is the strongest land weapon that has been developed from the essence of our Germanic military industry, the E-50 heavy tank, and of course, he has another majestic name, the Tiger."

With a net weight of 54.5 tonnes and a combat weight of 56 to 57 tonnes, the tank is equipped with a 900 hp diesel engine that can reach speeds of up to 54 km/h on the road and 36 km/h off-road, depending on the road conditions, of course. When the fuel tanks are full, the maximum range is 320 km. ”

Hitler and others were talking about the huge body of the E-50 tank, and Hitler pointed to the turret of the E-50 and said, "This turret was designed by Heinz?" It really has an extraordinary sense of beauty. ”

Knikamp nodded and said: "Not only the turret, but also the hull structure, General Rosen also provided a lot of constructive suggestions, let's start with the chassis."

The chassis has seven pairs of load-bearing wheels, 6.3 meters long and 3.7 meters wide. Everyone, please see, did you find anything, what is so special about the tank chassis? ”

Hitler took a few glances and quickly pointed out the characteristics of the tank chassis.

"The rear of the chassis is one block higher than the middle front, what's the rationale for that?"

"The aim was to compress the height of the tank as much as possible. According to the feedback of front-line soldiers, the lower the height of the tank, the less likely it is to be detected by the enemy. Moreover, the height of the tank chassis is the biggest factor affecting the weight of the vehicle. So we designed the chassis with the idea of controlling the height as much as possible.

Without Heinz's reminder, the chassis of the tank would be unified to the same height as the tail, so that the height would increase by at least fifteen centimeters, and the total weight would exceed sixty tons. ”

"How?" Hitler asked.

Heinz's suggestion was to design a seat for the driver and radioman that could be angled so that they could go into battle in a semi-recumbent position when fighting, which would reduce the need for chassis height. Moreover, in order to make it easier for the driver to maneuver this big guy, we have also eliminated the driver's joystick and replaced it with a steering wheel. The driver can drive the tank as if it were a car. Knikamp gushed.

Hitler smiled and said to Chen Dao: "Heinz, I can't see that you still have this kind of talent for design. ”

"My brain is pretty nimble." Chen Dao said modestly.

"Now, tell me what's going on with this turret? Where do you get your inspiration from? Hitler asked, pointing to the turret on top of the tank, almost two-thirds the length of the tank's chassis.

Where does the inspiration come from? I won't say that the shape of the turret is inspired by the American M1 tank, and it is necessary to take care of the Führer's self-esteem.

Chen Dao made up his mind to be "original", and said without changing his face and heartbeat: "In our previous tank design concept, we always used a narrow turret, in order to reduce the projection area in front of the turret and reduce the rate of hits. However, this creates the problem that the front of the turret is vertically armored, and the turret has little room to move. The most important point is that it has caused the problem of large carts carrying small cannons. ”

"Big cart carrying small cannon? What are the characteristics of the IS-2 tank of the Russians, weighing 45 tons and carrying a 122-mm gun? Hitler asked.

Chen Dao said without hesitation: "The Russian style is to carry cannons in small cars, and this style is also undesirable. We reduced the chance of the tank being spotted by lowering the vehicle height, and at the same time changed the concept to the large turret, not so that the opponent misses, but the opponent hits but can't penetrate. The thickness of the front armor of the turret of the tank was 150 mm 55 degrees of inclination, and the side armor was also 120 mm 35 degrees of inclination.

The front armor of our E-50 tank chassis is only 120 mm in front and 55 degrees in the front, and 80 mm in the sides without inclination. This turret is not only good-looking, but also easy to use, which is very much in line with my violent aesthetics. Not counting the commander's conning tower, the height of the combat vehicle is 2.68 meters, which is shorter than the E-40. ”

Hitler sighed at the E50, which was seven points similar to the M1 Abrams tank, and suddenly sighed.

"It's a pity, it would be nice if it was armed not with 105-mm guns, but with long-barreled 88-mm guns."

Here it is again, Lao Xi's obsession is really powerful.

Chen Dao slandered Lao Xi.

When the E50 stopped on the drawings, Hitler and Chen Dao began an argument on the issue of tank guns.

Hitler wanted to use the 88 mm L71 tank gun, and Chen Dao insisted on using the K18 105 mm L52 cannon modified tank gun.

The two argued for a long time, and finally Chen Dao persuaded Hitler on the grounds that the Chang 88 artillery was produced with high technical requirements and did not conform to the principles of wartime economy.

Today, Hitler's old story was brought up again, and Chen Dao was very annoyed, and immediately decided to lash out at Lao Xi.

Chen Dao looked up at the sky and said faintly: "Every E50 is an angel who has fallen into the world, and the E50 equipped with a 105mm tank gun is an angel whose feet hit the ground first when landing, elegant, and dusty." The E50, which is equipped with a length of 88, is an angel that lands first when landing, and has a crippled beauty. ”

Knikamp would turn his head away, stifling his laughter.

Reichenau and the others pointed at the E50 tank, pretending not to hear.

Hitler blinked, his mouth opened, and he didn't speak for a long time.

After snickering for a while, Goering hurriedly said: "In addition to these advantages you said, what other advantages does the E50 have?" ”

"That is, with a vertical stabilizer and a mechanical loader, the rate of fire of the tank gun can be maintained at six rounds per minute."

At this time, Hitler finally recovered from Chen Dao's blow.

"Okay, the E50 is so finalized, it's a matter of improvement in the future, let's look at the next weapon."

Chen Dao and Knikamp led the crowd to five chariots of different appearances.

Knikamp pointed to the five tanks and said, "These five tanks are all based on the Type 4G tank. The first tank was the Type 4H, which was based on the Type 4G tank with additional armor 30 mm thick in front of the hull, after all, it would encounter the T-34-85 in the future, and the survivability would be increased after the armor was strengthened. ”

There was not much change between the No. 4 H and No. 4 G, and after a cursory understanding, everyone walked to the second deformation car.

"This weapon is a Wolf heavy infantry fighting vehicle, a modified version of the chassis of the No. 4 tank," Knikamp said. The power compartment is all front-mounted, freeing up space in the rear. A small turret was replaced, equipped with an Erlikon 20mm high-level dual-purpose gun with the main armament, an MG34 coaxial machine gun as a secondary armament, and a crew of three people, namely the driver, the commander and the communicator. The rear compartment could carry ten infantrymen. Compared to the SD KFZ 251 armored car, its interior space is rich and less cramped. ”

Hitler said: "When this weapon is on the battlefield, the wolf pack tactic will no longer be the preserve of General Dönitz." ”

Hitler said as he walked over to the third shape-shifter.

The third deformation was a No. 4 tank with a bulldozer blade mounted on the front of the hull.

"This is a bulldozer?" Hitler asked.

"Yes, taking into account the construction of sappers on the battlefield and the possibility of encountering enemy anti-tank trenches, this weapon can reduce the workload of the sappers." Knikamp said.

Hitler was not very interested in this non-mainstream weapon, and after asking a few questions, he walked to the fourth transformer.

"What is this?" Hitler asked, pointing to the fourth transformer.

The fourth tank No. 4 had a bracket sticking out of the front armor on either side, and at the end of the bracket was a drum with many arm-thick metal chains hanging from the drum.

"This is a drum minesweeper, and when activated, these chains will rotate at high speed under the drive of the drum, slap on the ground, and detonate the mines buried in the ground."

"Oh." Hitler nodded, very coldly, without asking any more questions, and instead walked to the last transformer.

"Is this an 88 gun?" Hitler asked, pointing to the last transformer.

Chen Dao said: "Yes, this weapon is called the Scorpio self-propelled cannon, but although it is installed in the ranks of cannons, it is a multi-functional weapon with anti-tank functions. ”

"The Scorpion is a good name, that 88mm cannon is like the tail of a scorpion, and the Russians will be stung by it if they are not careful."

"This weapon is designed in the middle and rear of the chassis of the No. 4 tank, with an open turret and an 88 mm L56 gun. Our anti-aircraft guns are currently available in three variants: the lightweight Gatling 20-mm anti-aircraft gun, the medium-caliber Bofors, and the large-caliber 128-mm anti-aircraft gun. The FLAK 36 88mm anti-aircraft gun was an excellent anti-aircraft gun, and I thought it would be a shame if it was discontinued, so I proposed a design for this deformation car.

In normal combat, this weapon is used as a cannon in the rear, providing suppressive fire for soldiers fighting in front, although its caliber is small, but the rate of fire is fast, the rate of fire can reach 15-20 rounds per minute, and it can be used as suppressive firepower.

If a tank battle breaks out and there are no tanks nearby or there are not enough tanks, it can be used as a tank destroyer, making it a cost-effective self-propelled gun. ”

"You have a great idea. In the agricultural era, military horses were indispensable war resources, and in the industrial age, we must also keep pace with the times, and I think that the No. 4 tank is a well-deserved German military horse in the industrial age, and as long as there is a German army, there will be its existence. Hitler said.

Seeing that Hitler trusted the No. 4 tank so much, Chen Dao retracted the original comment that "tigers and leopards are everywhere, and No. 4 is not as good as a dog", and changed his words: "This winter, after our troops complete the refitting and upgrading, they will evolve to the level of 'No. 4 is everywhere, and tigers and leopards are always there', and we are the real No. 1 army in the world." ”

"We live up to our name, and the French have the first army in the world is a joke. However, it is not enough to have new weapons, but also to have the organization and tactics to maximize the performance of weapons. Hitler said contemptuously.

"When I go back, General Guderian and I will report to you on the new establishment of the armored forces." Chen Dao said.

"Well," Hitler nodded, then pointed to the last two cars and asked, "What are these two weapons?" Self-propelled rocket artillery? ”

"Yes, the first one was made by us using an Opel truck, imitating the Russian Katyusha rocket, and we gave it a name, the Führer Organ," Knekamp said. The rockets are fired from 8 rails and can fire 16 150 mm rockets at a time in just 10 seconds. ”

Hitler asked Chen Dao suspiciously, "Isn't it the zoo project?" Why the name? ”

"Because the Katyusha rocket was called the Stalin organ by the front-line soldiers, we gave this name-for-tat, and we wanted the front-line soldiers to know that the organ was not Stalin's patent, and the Führer also had an organ."

"Well, we can't just let Stalin be in the limelight."

Hitler said as he walked to the last car, a half-track armored car with a two-tiered roof of ten rocket tubes.

Chen Dao introduced: "This is a product of the Opel company, a 42-type 150mm self-propelled rocket launcher, ten salvos, a crew of three people, and 20 rockets can be loaded in the cabin. ”

"Oh," Hitler asked, after a moment's scrutiny, "what is its name according to the zoo's plan?" ”

Chen Dao said: "We have a rocket launcher for sappers, nicknamed the Roaring Cow, so we gave it a name of the same series based on the sound of this rocket launcher. ”

A strange feeling welled up in Hitler's heart, and he asked vigilantly: "So, his name is ・・・・・・"

"Donkey, its name is Donkey Self-Propelled Rocket Artillery."