In the conference hall of the Ministry of Defense and the National Defense Technology Research Center on Berlin's Elector Strasse, the generals of the three armed forces of the German Federal Republic are engaged in a fierce debate on free-style national defense. At the same time, dozens of BF-10 fighters and eight HS123 bombers from the temporary air base in Bremen targeted the No. 49 sea area in the northwest of the North Sea and once again launched long-distance training.

Also entering the North Sea for training were the aircraft carrier F/A-01 Hannover, as well as the entire destroyer, escort, and submarine strike group.

At this time, a number of BF-10C carrier-based fighters were already parked on the deck of the F/A-01 Hanover aircraft carrier, and the service personnel were making various preparations before going to sea. It is very obvious that the main subject of this exercise will be to conduct training on the take-off and landing of carrier-based aircraft carrier platforms.

Reinhardt Schell, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Federal German Navy and Commander of the North Sea Fleet, personally commanded the naval exercise. The battle-hardened veteran has grown stronger and refreshed since he was appreciated by Eric.

With the removal of the off-dock deployment, the huge aircraft carrier strike was in good order to escort the Hanover to the exercise destination.

The troops in the north are training intensively, and at this time, the tank training camps in the south have also been carrying out difficult problems and testing new tanks under the leadership of Rommel.

Because Rommel could not go to Berlin to participate in the debate, Eric called the training camp in Frankfurt early in the morning and asked the troops to focus on finding the elements of a fast, accurate, and ruthless military strike, especially to solve the problem of rapid tank assault.

Since the First World War, the tank has been on the stage of history, has dominated half of the land war, although there are still many shortcomings and shortcomings, but the tank is still the most balanced offensive and defensive assault weapon in the ground war of various countries.

Seemingly indestructible ironclad tanks, in fact, there are also quite a few nemesis, now, there are attack aircraft in the sky, hostile tank battles on the ground, anti-tank mines, and so on. The risks on the battlefield are unpredictable, but the most annoying thing for tanks is those ditches and bumps, and sometimes there are overturns on the training ground.

Following Eric's instructions, when Maninstein and Guderian went to Berlin to participate in the defense debate, Rommel had to take the initiative to provoke the technical research and daily training of the troops.

The tank was built to overcome the trenches and barbed wire typical of World War I, and two (and sometimes four) tracks gave it strong off-road mobility, and many people would not believe it to say that it would be brought down by ditches and bumps. In fact, there are limits to the tank's cross-country performance and strong passing performance. If the trenches and obstacles are wide enough and high enough, they can still effectively restrict the maneuvering of the tank. Therefore, Rommel planned to make the crew record the width of the trench, the height of the vertical obstacle and the maximum driving slope as much as possible in the basic training of the tank, so that these factors could be taken into account when upgrading.

Benjamin Sheridan is a World War I tank and combat vehicle sergeant major from the Berlin Military Garrison School, who has participated in many wars on the Eastern Front and has gradually grown into a military instructor in a tank training camp. Through the accumulation of long-term driving experience, he believes that the trench crossing ability of the tank is mainly related to the length of the tracks, the design of the front end of the hull, and the height of the center of gravity.

And Jarvis Laurie, who participated in Operation Paris with Benjamin Sheridan, doesn't think so.

"When the British tanks crossed the anti-tank trenches on the western front of our army, they used bundles of firewood to fill the trenches and successfully crossed the obstacles, which shows that external forces also solved this problem." Yalvis said.

"An anti-tank trench is a variation and extension of an ordinary trench that is mainly used to limit the maneuver of tanks, thereby delaying the advance of enemy armored forces. If you lose speed, you delay the fighter, and if the tank itself has the function of overcoming trenches, it will naturally fight for speed, isn't it. Benjamin still stands by his opinion.

Rommel rubbed his chin in his right hand and listened quietly to the two of them's reasoning.

"Mr. Captain, I don't disagree with your three-point proposal, but it is very difficult to improve thousands of tanks, and it is impossible to do it in time." Yalves reminded.

"You're right lieutenant, but anti-tank trenches are usually dug very deep and very wide, and there is a certain height difference between the ditches on both sides, and if possible, mines and other explosives are planted to increase the chance of damaging the tank. Although it is difficult for anti-tank trenches to destroy tanks directly, by restricting the maneuverability of tanks, on the one hand, it can prevent tanks from breaking through the line quickly, and on the other hand, it also provides an opportunity for infantry to approach and destroy them, so we will eventually solve this problem as well. Benjamin turned back to Jarvis, and of course to Rommel.

Rommel laughed but didn't answer, because Eric's emphasis on the phone in the morning was similar to Benjamin's idea, although Yalvis's idea was more economical and simple, but it was only a stopgap measure, not to mention where to find so many sheaves of firewood in wartime, so in the end, it was better to solve the long-term fundamental problem.

"Your Excellency General, the Type 3 tank is a typical example of the worst center of gravity control, and it is easy to cause it to overturn when turning and accelerating, if the Type 4 tank has not been finalized, it is better to solve these problems first and then carry out mass production." Benjamin was very clear about Rommel.

"In this case, we can only let the Type 3 tank continue to be the main force for the time being." Yalvis also seems to be uninterested in the Type 3 tank.

Rommel nodded helplessly. According to the president's vision, only the Type 4 tank can be completely overhauled, otherwise, there will be hidden dangers in rushing into service.

Eric's repeated demands on the speed of the Wehrmacht's offensive were tantamount to sending a clear signal to the officers and men of the troops. Many people in the military began to talk quietly and regarded the possibility of a "blitzkrieg" as a topic of discussion after dinner. Although Rommel was also speculating about the president's vision, as a senior commander, he could not run the train like an ordinary soldier.

At the moment, there are many constraints to consider in the speed of the tank offensive, and Rommel is afraid that the time will disappoint the president.

In fact, although the trench crossing ability of tanks was highly valued from the beginning, all countries were hastily manufactured and drove to the battlefield, and in addition to the protection of the crew, there was not much consideration for factors such as speed and obstacle crossing. And Germany has no experience to learn from at present, so it can only slowly explore, which is why there is the current embarrassment. Rommel felt that he should really have some calculations.

The First World War has not been too long, and the more typical of them are the British and French tanks, the diamond-shaped over-the-top track design of the British MK series, although it cannot be huge, but the passing performance is really good, and most of the obstacles can be overcome. In contrast, the French Schneider tank and the Saint-Chamont tank are much inferior, both of which continue the design of the tracked tractor, although this conventional design can provide more possibilities for the tank, but the short track makes both of them very poor, especially the Saint-Chamont tank, which is extremely long, will be erected by both ends of the trench if you are not careful.

According to data provided by the Military Intelligence Agency, the Renault M1917 tank, designed by France at the end of the war, was relatively better, and although the hull was short, a rocker was installed on the rear of the car, which could compensate for the shortcomings of the hull.

The most important thing is that although the Renault M1917 adopts a conventional design, the suspension and track design are much more advanced than the previous two "predecessors", plus the vehicle has a low center of gravity, so it will not fall headlong and get stuck when crossing the anti-tank trench. The Renault tank changed the basic structure of the old tank, which is very worthy of reference.

Rommel, Maninstein, Guderian, Benjamin and Yalvis, among others, liked to read and be inspired by the military magazines that Eric sent them, including the many relevant materials provided by the CIA and the Military Intelligence Agency.

Rommel found that after the Renault M1917, although there was still a backward design of overhead tracks, it was basically short-lived, although the height and center of gravity of the tank were also carefully controlled, but all this was only to better cross those non-standard trenches on the battlefield, but at the same time it was easy to "drop the chain", especially when the track was directly hit, the whole tank became a beating gas bag.

According to Eric's sand table deduction in the Ministry of Defense, on the Eastern Front, after crossing the Ness River, in addition to the vertical and horizontal strip of the water network, the western part of Poland can be seen everywhere with the trenches left over from the First World War, and if the tanks do not cross the obstacle well, the advance of the troops will be blocked. In contrast, the Western Front was similarly left with more trenches, and the troops faced the same dilemma.

Rommel immediately ordered Benjamin and Jarvis to jointly draft an application report to the Presidency and the Ministry of Defense, hoping to get approval from the Presidency as soon as possible.