"I had been hoping that the development of the new tank would be completed by September, but at the moment, not only was the overall progress disappointing, but the current design ideas and details were also unacceptable to me. First of all, they were very overweight, and I saw them in the first show in April and couldn't move, and it's still the same problem five months later. Hoffman's tone was stern, "What's the problem?" The reason is that you don't understand the positioning and requirements of this tank at all, Tank 6 is a breakthrough tank, and its biggest and most critical mission is anti-tank combat, so he doesn't need so much ammunition at present. ”

The Ministry of Armaments has counted tank battles on the Eastern Front, and the average consumption of artillery shells for a tank in a battle is 30-40 rounds, and the highest is about 60 rounds, which is still caused by the grenades fired to cover the infantry attack during the accompanying battle. AS A BREAKTHROUGH TANK, 92 ROUNDS OF AMMUNITION RESERVE IS ACTUALLY FAR EXCESS FOR THE TIGER, YOU MUST KNOW THAT THE IS-1 HEAVY TANK OF THE SAME LEVEL IS EQUIPPED WITH 85MM GUNS WITH A RESERVE OF 59 ROUNDS, AND THE IS-2 IS EQUIPPED WITH 122MM GUNS, AND THE RESERVE AMMUNITION IS ONLY 28 ROUNDS. These data were not clear to German designers, but Hoffmann knew them very clearly.

"The Tiger has about 60 rounds of ammunition to spare, and after reducing the amount of ammunition, the interior space is not so much." Hoffman walked up and pointed to the Porsche prototype on the blackboard with his whip and said, "Although Dr. Porsche's design still has problems of one kind or another, one thing I think is worth affirming, with the same gun and member group, He designed the car to be only 3.3 meters wide, while Henschel's was 3.7 meters wide, and for this 0.4 meters widening, we had to pay not only several tons of defensive armor, but also the consequences of using two tracks and triple staggered load wheels, which was completely unacceptable. IN ADDITION, I CAN ACCEPT A DESIGN WITH A SLIGHTLY WEAKENED FRONT ARMOR THICKNESS, NOT 110MM, BUT 100MM, AND THE INCREASE IN DEFENSE CAN BE ACHIEVED BY CHANGING THE ANGLE OF INCLINATION - THE RUSSIANS DID THIS WITH THE T-34, AND THE ARMOR THICKNESS IN OTHER PARTS CAN BE MAINTAINED WITHOUT CHANGING THE EXISTING DATA. ”

Dr. Porsche nodded in agreement, and the Führer's words finally saved some face.

After exchanging views with Professor Eboan, Colonel Tomalle said: "My Führer, if according to your size requirements and the number of ammunition in reserve, plus the reduction of the thickness of the armor and the adjustment of the angle of inclination, We believe that the width of the modified vehicle can be controlled between 3.2-3.25 meters, the height can be reduced to less than 2.9 meters, taking into account the corresponding reduction of defensive armor and weight reduction, and the suspension design can also be simplified and the design of the outermost heavy load wheel can be removed, so that the pressure per unit area on the ground can basically maintain the original design. Overall, we believe that it is possible to control the weight to less than 50 tons...... It may also be possible to increase the maximum driving speed. ”

"I think the design speed of 38 kilometers per hour is enough, reliability is the first thing we think about, the total weight of 50 tons is not enough, please be sure to control it within 48 tons......" Hoffmann can accept the weight of 50 tons in his heart, but he knows that the German designer loves to be overweight, so he left another 2 tons of leeway.

"In the same way, the corresponding design adjustments can also be applied to the No. 5 tank." Now that No. 6 has been named Tiger, No. 5 has also been given the Leopard code name by Hoffman. Although the Leopard was not the main object of discussion at this meeting, he was clearly not happy with the design of the Leopard as well. The current design shows that the Leopard will use 860 mm diameter load wheels, combined with the twin torsion bar suspension system used to ensure maneuverability, resulting in an exaggerated height of 2.99 meters, which is far higher than the 2.65-2.68 meters of the No. 4 tank, and even more than the 2.93 meters of the Tiger - which is completely unacceptable.

According to Hoffman's requirements, the Leopard tank also needs to reduce the amount of ammunition and reduce weight, and must use the same load wheels and tracks as the Tiger - which can facilitate maintenance on the battlefield, and the Leopard hull is too long and needs to be reduced, Hoffman considered that the No. 4 tank is 6 pairs of load wheels, the Tiger is 8 pairs of load wheels, and the Leopard ideal in between the two is to use 7 pairs of load wheels. On the premise of ensuring maneuverability, the weight has been reduced and the body has been reduced accordingly, and the suspension system with a single torsion bar and an enlarged spring is enough to replace the original double torsion bar design, which can not only reduce the space occupied by the suspension system, but also improve reliability.

"After these measures are effectively implemented, the width of the Leopard should not exceed 3.1 meters, the height should be reduced to less than 2.8 meters, and the overall weight should not exceed 38 tons." Hoffman said that a group of leaders of the Weapons Bureau nodded their heads and raised their hands in favor of the Führer's proposal to use the same load wheels and tracks for tanks No. 5 and No. 6 -- this was their original wish, which would greatly simplify production and reduce technical difficulty, and if it were not for a serious technical demonstration, they would almost stand up and shout long live the Führer.

"Besides......" Hoffman asked, seeing Speer raising his hand, "Speer, what do you have to say?" ”

Speer stood up and said: "My Führer, I have received a report that the Weapons Bureau intends to use 75mm guns with 70 times the diameter for the Leopard tank. This is a new type of tank gun, because the barrel is very long, it is foreseeable that its output is not high, whether or not to consider replacing it with the same 88 gun as the Tiger type, the power seems to be not much different, but it can improve the level of logistics support -- since the Leopard has adopted the same parts as the Tiger type in the engine, load wheels, tracks, and other aspects, there should be no difficulty in adopting the same artillery. IF THIS ADJUSTMENT CAN BE REALIZED, WE WILL NOT BE CONSTRAINED TOO MUCH IN PRODUCTION, BECAUSE THE NEW 75MM TANK GUN MAY NOT BE ENOUGH TO MEET THE DEMAND FOR THE NUMBER OF TANKS YOU REQUIRE. ”

Colonel Tomaler was completely messy, the 75mm KWK42L/70 tank gun originally planned to be used in the Leopard was of course huge, and to some extent even surpassed the 88 gun to be used in the Tiger, but the production process of this 75mm L70 long-barreled gun was very poor, and the Weapons Bureau had originally expressed this concern, and the reason why it insisted on adopting it on the Leopard was entirely because of the Führer's clear instructions to increase firepower.

Now that Speer was repeating the old words, the colonel looked at Hoffman nervously, for fear that the Führer would be furious on the spot, and the hearts of the leaders of the Weapons Bureau were also raised.

To everyone's surprise, the Führer actually did not get angry, but laughed: "Speer, what you said is very good, this is exactly the point I want to express, the Leopard and the Tiger should use the same tank guns, as for the more powerful tank guns and thicker armor, we can leave it to the next heavy tank." ”

He turned his head and asked Professor Alboan, "Professor, what is your opinion?" ”

"I think it's okay, the overall weight of the two tank guns is not much different, and the diameter of the turret seat of the 88mm gun may be slightly larger, but even after adjusting the data, it is still no problem to install it on the Leopard." Aiboan thought carefully and gave an affirmative answer.

There was silence in the audience, and then a heated discussion began: if the Tiger tank is still a small change, then the Leopard is a complete overhaul, but this is the will of the leader, who dares to disobey? Not to mention the fact that the experts agreed with the Führer, and now they only hope that the designers do not collapse.

At a time when everyone was talking, Keitel was distracted, and he had been thinking about a question: according to the Führer's adjusted design, the new No. 5 and No. 6 tanks will have a lot of similarities, engines, tracks, load wheels, guns, etc., and there are not many essential differences between the two except for armor defense capabilities, is it necessary to separate them again? In other words, is it really necessary to produce a Leopard tank that is weaker in defense than the Tiger and at the same time more maneuverable than the Tiger?