In order to achieve the armored forces required for Army Group A in the Scythe Harvesting Plan, the 1st SS Panzer Division was assigned to Army Group Rundstead.

In the sortie positions near southern Belgium, more and more men and tanks followed. As part of the SS's supply to Army Group A, Wittmann's 111 crew had also arrived at the sortie position a week earlier.

Weitmann's 1st SS Panzer Division had just been reequipped with its latest No. 5 tank two months earlier, and was now in a state of high morale. And Wittmann, who had just finished a meeting at the battalion headquarters, was sure that the day when they would drive this tank, called the "Leopard", into the battlefield would not be too far away.

Although it is called the Leopard tank, the current No. 5 tank has changed a lot from the historical one.

With the accumulation of T3 tank technology as a transitional product, the new version of the Leopard tank uses 55° inclined armor, which increases the likelihood of incoming shells ricocheting.

In addition, the Leopard tank's L/70 KK42 75 mm gun, due to the availability of better shells, is also more powerful than in history.

After all, equipped with ammunition and Austrian tungsten, a large number of hard-core armor-piercing bullets can be used. Therefore, the 1st SS Panzer Division selectively eliminated armor-piercing grenades in the allocation of ammunition to optimize logistics and reduce logistical pressure.

In particular, the new version of the Leopard has only four members. That is, Lucas is the driver, Leo is the gunner, Lecht is the loader, and Wittmann is the commander. And the absence of the historical machine gunner also canceled the historical version of the first machine gun.

The new version of the Leopard machine gun firepower is equipped with one 7.92mm coaxial machine gun, and the roof commander machine gun is a 20mm machine gun (97.16 times the diameter is about 2 meters long).

The standard reserve of the 20mm cannon is 550 pieces, and the chain is configured for hard-core armor-piercing shells, high-explosive shells, and armor-piercing incendiary tracer shells. The suppression or destruction of infantry with its firepower is correspondingly much better than the historical 7.92mm machine gun.

As for the suspension system, the Leopard tank uses five pairs of large-diameter load wheels, which reduces the cost of the original history. The height of the vehicle is 30 centimeters lower than in history, and it is only 2.7 meters high. After all, the combat distance of the real battlefield during World War II was basically within 800 meters, and this distance of 5 times that the gun mirror saw was already very small, and reducing the body height can further reduce the probability of being hit.

On the other hand, with a 20mm cannon, the distance of 800 meters is just enough to shoot at a distance, so it can be used to the fullest.

Then there are 20mm thick side skirts on the side of the Leopard tank to increase the defensive power.

For the French campaign, the 20mm machine gun used in the current version of the Leopard tank roof machine gun also has great targeted lethality for the French tank Renault FT17.

The weight of the Leopard has been reduced to 42 tonnes due to changes to the suspension system and reduced vehicle height, with a thrust ratio of 16.67 hp/tonne, a top speed of 56 km/h, and an engine with 700 hp. Although the height of the body is reduced, the engine compartment cannot be lowered by as much as 30 centimeters, so the engine compartment is a section higher and extremely ugly.

No matter how it looks, after all, you still have a better tank.

But the task they received did not become more difficult.

Compared with the previous attack on Poland, the offensive tasks assigned by the battalion headquarters were different. This time, it seems that more of the arrangement is paving.

Yes, just paving the way, the task is as simple as that.

The task assigned to Wittman's crew was nothing more than to operate the tank to knock down when it encountered some small trees. Using the latest Leopard tank as a bulldozer is a safe task, but it makes people laugh and cry.

When he heard the news that Wittman brought back, Lucas's head immediately shook like a rattle: "No, you can't do this kind of task if you say anything." It's stupid to drive a tank into an obstacle. ”

"Stupid enough?" Wittman smiled slightly, and continued, "If you knew about the mission that Victor and their No. 112 crew received, maybe you wouldn't think the current mission was stupid. ”

"The mission of the 112 car crew, what is that?" Lucas cast his gaze curiously at Wittman.

"Attach the leash, pull the trees we knocked down, clear the road." Wittman said slowly.

"Oh my God, driving a Leopard tank as a cleaner, there is still this kind of security platoon." Lucas looked incredulous.

In addition to the tasks assigned to the 111 and 112 car groups, other units of the 1st SS Panzer Division were assigned similar tasks. As the vanguard of Army Group A, their worst enemy was not the British Expeditionary Force, not the French garrison, nor the Belgian Army, but the poor traffic profile of the Ardennes Forest.

"Forget it," after listening to the task arrangement of the 112 car crew, Lucas suddenly felt that his task was not so unacceptable: "Let's complete the current task with peace of mind."

"Speaking of which, our mission is very different from the last war." Leo, the gunner on the side, patted Lecht on the shoulder and smiled maliciously: "Lechte, didn't you ask some gossip from your uncle and ask why we are drilling into a dense forest?" ”

Glancing at Leo, Lecht shook his head and sighed, "This kind of secret, how can I ask." Even if I asked, my uncle might not be able to say it. ”

As the nephew of Lieutenant General Guderian, the most famous armor master of the Third Reich, Lecht has always been one of the more well-informed celebrities in the battalion headquarters. Like the good news that the 1st Panzer Division could be replaced with No. 5 tanks, Lechte announced a full two weeks in advance for the battalion headquarters.

In addition, this time the 1st SS Panzer Division happened to be temporarily incorporated into the 19th Panzer Corps under Guderian, and all combat missions were directly arranged by Guderian. As a result, many people were counting on Lecht to draw some future policy from his uncle.

"Leo, you're still embarrassed by Lecht." Wittmann promptly relieved Lecht and said: "Do what we have to do, and after a while, when all the results come out, we will naturally know why we are drilling into the forest now." Now ask these questions, that is spying on military intelligence and leaking military secrets. ”

Or Wittmann can talk. These days, many people from the battalion headquarters and even the regimental headquarters have made a special trip to meet Lecht quietly. Their purpose was the same, they all wanted to see if they could understand the strategic purpose of the 1st Panzer Division to drill into the forest through Lecht, Guderian's nephew.

For the battalion commanders, deputy regiments, staff officers with biscuits, cans, cigarettes, Lecht remembered that they were all about to grow gray hair. He only knew that he didn't know, but the other party just didn't believe it. What's more, the more Lechter said he didn't know, the more the other party felt that he knew.

Why didn't I think of putting a high hat on military secrets, in that case, who would dare to ask.