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In the open and uneven proving ground, Jochen saw the main purpose of the trip, but unlike the imaginary tank, the strangely shaped vehicle in front of him did not in any way conjure up the idea that it was a combat weapon.

This iron lump is not as good as the motorcycle that is speeding back and forth on the proving ground in the distance for long-distance off-road testing.

"This is what you call a tracked combat vehicle? All I saw was a boxy iron box, Alfred. Jochen asked Schlieffen with a puzzled expression.

Speaking of tanks, even if you don't look like World War II tanks like the T-34, Tiger, and M4, you should look like World War I tanks like Mark-I and A7V, right?

However, what Jochen saw was really an angular box, the only thing special was that it was a box with a tractor's running mechanism, although Schlieffen called it an armored car, but Jochen thought it was a tractor.

"Your Majesty, this is just a test vehicle, it is only used to test its driving ability, so it is not equipped with weapons, but in fact it can be installed in the middle of the body with a rotating weapon tower, just like an armored car." Schlieffen hurriedly explained on the side.

Most of the current armored cars in Germany are modified from trucks, and there is no special model designed, because the load capacity of the truck is relatively good, so it can install steel plates and weapons, while the engine and cab of the truck are in the front, and a cylindrical can be installed in a wide space behind it. Weapon towers with armor protection.

Obviously, the tank in front of you is to be equipped with the same things as armored cars, not some tall rotating turret.

"Because of the tracked way of walking, the vehicle is heavier and more stable. Therefore, we considered that it could be equipped with a 37-mm field gun, the recoil of which would not have any effect on the attitude of the vehicle, and on the sides of the hull we could install a gun profile similar to that of a battleship, and install machine guns, so that it could be used against infantry, and the armor on the body was 15 mm thick, which was enough to withstand rifle and machine gun fire.

This would act as a movable fortress to cover our infantry attacks and provide them with direct fire support. Schlieffen was clearly looking forward to the weapon. It is also believed that this weapon will play a great role in the offensive capability of the German Army.

Jochen disagrees with this design idea, the historical British research on the tank was carried out under the leadership of the navy, so it hoped to build the tank into a land cruiser, and equipped the tank with multiple guns and machine guns, in order to obtain a full-angle firing range without firepower.

To achieve this, British tanks arranged their firepower symmetrically on both sides of the hull, and a further development of this idea was the multi-turret tank.

However, such a design would obviously lead to an increase in the number of tank crews. After all, every weapon needs to be operated by a special person. This will cause a crowded space in the car and a poor environment for the occupants. None of this is the biggest problem. The biggest problem was the slowness of travel, poor mechanical reliability, rising costs, and weak armor due to the increase in the volume and weight of the guide with a large number of crew members and weapons piled up on one tank.

What is even more excessive is to pay such a price, but it is useless, the combat capability of the tank not only does not rise, but decreases.

A tank is not more likely to survive because you have two guns, 4 machine guns than a tank with 1 gun and 1 machine gun.

"Let's not think about the weapon part for now, how effective is the walking? Let's get this thing moving, and I'll see. Jochen decided not to discourage Schlieffen for the time being. Let's see how well this thing can drive. But looking at the structure of the walking part of the thing, Jochen wasn't very hopeful.

Sure enough, the driving performance of this iron box was really difficult to satisfy Jochen, and the power provided by the installed 80 hp gasoline engine was quite sufficient, but at this time sufficient power was not a good thing. Since the unarmed iron box weighs only 10 tons, the 80 hp power allows the thing to drive at 9 km/h.

This speed does not seem to be fast, but in the potholed test site it seems to be a little choking, and the load wheels rigidly connected to the car body do not have a trace of cushioning effect, watching this thing toss and turn on the field, you can imagine the feeling of the occupants inside, it is estimated that the stomach is going to be upside down.

And that's not all, just as the iron box crossed the 1.2-meter trench, just as Schlieffen looked at the trench with satisfaction and could not stop the moving fortress, an embarrassing thing appeared, a step less than half a meter high blocked the way of this thing, and the steps made of cement and the tracks made of metal rubbed against each other and made a screeching sound.

However, despite the fact that the iron box swayed from side to side in front of the steps, it still couldn't go up, and this scene reminded Jochen of the ridiculous and famous anti-tank cement pier.

After being stuck for a long time, only to hear the sound of Kala, the track on the right side broke and fell off, and the iron box immediately lay down.

Seeing this scene, Schlieffen's face collapsed suddenly, this kind of height difference can't go up, and there is nothing to talk about crossing the enemy's defense line, and now the height of the breast wall of the trench built by the German army is more than one meter.

The maintenance personnel waiting next to him immediately rushed up with various tools, and began to change the tracks, and the four occupants in the car also hurriedly climbed out and began to help.

"Call the driver to me." Jochen said lightly, his face was calm, but the escorts on the side all reminded him of his fear, for fear that His Majesty would get angry, and Schlieffen was worried that such an unsuccessful demonstration would make Jochen cut the project in one bite, and his face was as black as the bottom of a pot.

The driver who was called over ran to Joheng in a panic and saluted His Majesty the Emperor, straightened up and looked uneasy, Yoheng reached out and patted him on the shoulder and asked: "I just saw you climb out of the roof of the car, and if you want to enter the car, is this the only entrance?" ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, the armored car because the front and sides are armored, and the rear is equipped with an engine. Therefore, there is only a hatch at the top to get in and out. The young driver replied immediately.

"So after this armored car is destroyed, will it also be possible to climb out of the hatch at the top? And then exposed to the enemy's guns to become a target? Jochen turned back to the technicians at the test site.

"Your Majesty, this armored car has steel plates 5-15 mm thick on the front and left and right, so it will not be ......"

"I didn't ask what kind of attack this armored vehicle could withstand, I only asked if it had to be destroyed from the top to get out of the vehicle?" Jochen interrupted the answer in annoyance.

"Yes...... Yes, 陛xià. The interrupted technician replied in a trembling voice.

"Didn't you even think about opening a hatch under the car? Do you want people to climb out from under the car if necessary? In this way, the entire hull can provide cover for the occupants to escape, and this design is written down for me. After Jochen finished speaking, he ignored the technicians and continued to ask the driver: "Just now I saw that the armored car stopped first and then turned when turning, it should be that one side of the track stops rotating, and the other side continues to drive and use the differential speed to steer, but why can't it turn while driving?" ”

Jochen felt that there was some progress in this regard, because the early tanks in history did not think that differential steering was unreliable, so they had to install steering wheels on the rear of the vehicle, and the Germans have now begun to use differential steering is already a big improvement, but not being able to steer while driving is also a big problem. This means that parking has to be stopped, which is not only inconvenient, but also easy to target.

Being able to block a 7.62mm rifle bullet does not mean that it can block a 12.7mm machine gun bullet, or a 37mm field gun shell, let alone a 60mm recoilless gun.

"Your Majesty, to turn must be carried out by the cooperation of multiple people, in which direction to turn, you must let the shift clerk on which side of the track on this side hang neutral. Then I need to pull the hand brake on one side and brake the track. Then let the track on the other side turn to complete the steering. Directly hanging the neutral gear handle brake while driving, it is easy to break down, such as the current track breakage. ”

Knowing that His Majesty the Emperor would definitely say something critical again, the technician on the side immediately added wittily: "We are now trying to find a way to solve this problem, and we are going to install a differential to solve this problem." ”

Jochen nodded. The instructions said: "It is too troublesome to reduce the number of passengers as much as possible, and it is too troublesome to make a turn with three crew members, which is not only extremely detrimental to the handling of the car, but also causes problems for the occupants in the car to cooperate with each other." ”

Although Jochen knew, even with a differential. In terms of the reliability of its current differential and crawler running mechanism, it is impossible to suddenly brake one side of the track to rely on the differential during full speed driving, and it is very easy to break down in this way, so it is not demanding.

However, it is too much trouble to rely on 3 crew members to change directions, and reducing the number of crew members is also conducive to improving space utilization.

"So what does it feel like in the car while driving? At least in my opinion, the vehicle is very bumpy, and the occupants of the car must feel it more deeply, and I want to hear your opinion. Jochen turned back and asked kindly.

"Your Majesty, in fact, such bumps are quite bearable, because this armored car has a large track ground contact area, a high body weight, and a relatively slow ride, so although there are indeed some bumps in the car, compared to trucks and motorcycles, this bump is relatively small." Jochen's answer was somewhat unexpected.

It's no wonder that even if the current crawler type is bumpy, it is much better than the wheeled type, and it is naturally acceptable to compare. Jochen thought about the future when he could travel at speeds of more than 30 kilometers per hour, but World War II tanks with well-developed suspension systems naturally thought that rigid suspension was too rough.

However, the emperor is the emperor, even if others think it is acceptable, the emperor says that if he can't accept it, he can't accept it: "In the future, we will have more powerful engines, and we can't look at this problem from the current perspective, and it will be too late to think about it then."

This way of rigid connection between the load wheel and the car body is not suitable for the case of increasing the speed of the vehicle, and learning to prepare an independent spring suspension for each load wheel like a car can greatly improve the driving ability of this vehicle on the terrain of this environment. (A pie-in-the-sky event, cool phones are waiting for you!) Follow from ~ Dian/Chinese network public account (WeChat add friends - add public account - enter ddxiaoshuo), participate now! Everyone has a prize, now pay attention to ddxiaoshuo WeChat public account! (To be continued......)