With a 12-cylinder V-cooled four-stroke diesel engine with a whopping 400 horsepower, the "Teutonic Knight" was finalized in series production at the end of 1930 like a nimble lion marching through the fields of North Wales, and the black and white Iron Cross emblem was as striking as it was in the sun. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

"Teutonic Knights" was a title given by Kaiser Wilhelm II, and its official designation was PK. KW。 30/75, that is, "Kaiser Wilhelm 75 with a 30-mm gun". Favored by the Kaiser and the army's top brass, this heavy tank quickly replaced the early Hubert series and the "Moltke chariot" that was installed in large numbers in the mid-to-early 20s, and became the main model of the German Army's armored corps, with a total production of more than 1,200 units in just three years, far ahead of any other tank that appeared in the same period.

"Attention! There is enemy activity in the area of 500 meters in front of the right, and we can be attacked at any time! ”

In the relatively spacious turret of the vehicle, Second Lieutenant David Rost of the Royal German Army sits in the captain's seat, his eyes fixed on the forward-facing observation glass. Diesel engines have many advantages over gasoline engines, but they are a headache for users, and if the wired communication equipment in the car fails at full speed, the driver can hardly communicate with his driver with sound.

Hearing the commander's reminder, the gun commander of this tank, a German non-commissioned officer who was not old and bald, immediately drove the turret to turn right - the front of the turret is the thickest position of the armor of this combat vehicle, plus the 30 mm thick arc gun shield, which is basically an inexplicable existence on the current battlefield, and facing the enemy with the turret is like a soldier in the era of cold weapons using a shield to prevent the enemy's attack, which is a very correct instinctive reaction.

In his sight, Second Lieutenant Rost was alerted to a British position along a sandy road, where the enemy did not have time to build trenches, but only dug individual bunkers based on the terrain, where the flat-topped steel helmets of British soldiers were faintly visible. If it was just a small number of infantry units, a few "Teutonic Knights" could easily be crushed by driving straight through, but Ensign Rost's intuition sent him a dangerous signal. As he continued to advance, he gradually discovered that the British position was different: behind the sandy road there was not a coherent field, but a natural ravine!

In the fields west of Abersoch, the criss-crossing ravines are very unique features, narrow as a stream and wide enough for two or three trucks to fit side by side. In aerial photographs, these naturally formed ravines resemble giants playing with celestial branches drawing lattices on the ground, and these irregular lines are completely impractical.

The feeling of danger intensified, and Second Lieutenant Rost pressed the communication switch in his throat and said loudly: "Ruud, move forward in second gear!" ”

The driver skillfully shifted gears and slowed down, and the lion running through the field slowed down, followed by the "Teutonic Knights" and the beloved "Heavy Cavalry" half-track armored vehicle also sprayed with the Iron Cross logo.

"Peter, machine gun attack!"

The order to fire was given to the gun commander, and the young bald non-commissioned officer immediately controlled the coaxial machine gun to fire at the British position, and the series of bullets immediately made the place where the flat-topped steel helmets were located, and from the perspective of Second Lieutenant Rost, all the flat-topped steel helmets disappeared.

"Here's a high-explosive bomb...... Short stop shooting! ”

Following the second lieutenant's command, the loader stuffed a high-explosive shell into the chamber of the gun, and then shouted "Finish", the driver immediately braked, and the gun commander drove the coaxial machine gun to fire again, making the final calibration for the fire of the tank gun, and then the machine gun stopped firing and the gun fired...... All in a matter of seconds.

With a bang, the cannonballs fired by the "Teutonic Knights" blew a gap in the western side of the dirt road, laying eggs under the nest and destroying a bunker next to the roadbed. The smoke of the explosion gradually dissipated, and a smashed British steel helmet fell from the sky, bounced twice on the ground, and lay there with its bottom facing the sky.

In the usual training, the driver started directly after the vehicle made a short stop to shoot, but when it came to the battlefield, especially when the enemy situation was unknown, he did not make his own decisions, but waited for the commander's instructions.

The excessive silence of the British position made Second Lieutenant Rost feel that something was wrong, and he asked the messenger to convey the battle order to the whole company of vehicles - assuming that the British position in front of him was a difficult stronghold, and he uprooted it with the tactics of steady advance.

The 12 Teutonic Knights were quickly reorganized into two humanoid attack formations stacked in front and rear, 10 half-tracked armored vehicles stopped behind them, half of the infantry dismounted, ready to attack and advance on the basis of the tanks and armored vehicles, and the remaining infantry would act accordingly depending on the development of the battle.

German half-track armored vehicles were not only used to carry combat infantry, 80 mm mortars were a common configuration, and their effective range covered a range of two kilometers, which was more effective against enemy targets behind obstacles than direct-fire artillery.

Following the instructions of Second Lieutenant Rost, the six combat vehicles in the front row were the first to start, and when they slowly moved forward, the rear vehicles were covered by artillery, and all the half-track armored vehicles stayed in place for the time being, and the heavy mortars repeatedly dropped shells at the British positions, and the scene of the mortar shells exploding also proved Second Lieutenant Rost's speculation from the side - there was a ravine behind the British position!

What is hidden in the ravine?

With deep doubts, Second Lieutenant Rost led the front row of tanks to advance 100 meters, stopped to shell and strafe the British positions, and the rear tanks, armored vehicles, and infantry that had already disembarked followed the situation, and the offensive line steadily pressed forward. The heavy mortars carried by the half-track armoured vehicles may not have been enough to force out the hidden forces behind the dirt road, and the Coalition fighters cruising the battlefield added fire at the right time: they flew low along the dirt road, dropped aerial bombs directly opposite the German armoured unit, and then turned back and fired a heavy machine-gun fire.

At this time, a puff of green smoke finally rose from the rear of the British position, and the roar of the engine was heard.

Ensign Rost, who was in a noisy environment, did not hear the roar of the enemy's engine, but seeing the bombing and strafing of his own fighters with such fanfare, and seeing the strange green smoke behind the sandy road, this high-achieving student from the Danzig Naval Combat Vehicle Academy could already guess seven or eight, and he decisively ordered: "All stop advancing, the gunners reload armor-piercing shells, and are ready to fire at any time!" ”

At a distance of about 200 meters from the British position, the six "Teutonic Knights" in the front row quickly stopped and were ready to attack, and the other six combat vehicles and armored vehicles were 100 meters behind them, all artillery and machine guns aimed at the British position.

With an unusually dull roar, a slender barrel peeked out from behind the dirt road, and just when it was thought that two rumbling tracks and a thick hull would appear, the slender barrel was quickly flattened, and all one could see was a turret shaped like an inverted bathtub, the stocky hull hidden beneath the ground level by the terrain.

"Fire!" Second Lieutenant Reutt impatiently gave the order to shoot.

An excellent gunner should have the psychological quality of not being chaotic in the face of the enemy, and he saw the gunner's expression calmly while aiming and adjusting, and before firing the artillery, he did not forget to use the coaxial machine gun to conduct a short firing test, and all the actions were done in one go.

The roar of the chariot cannon echoed in the cabin at such close range, and the results of the shot were already evident - despite the first hit, Ensign Reut's clenched fist did not rise, but slammed into the armrest of the seat, because the invincible cap-piercing shell did not penetrate the turret of the enemy chariot, but was bounced off by its curved shield!

The German tank unit had a 12-to-1 advantage before more British tanks appeared, with the gunners quickly and calmly aiming at their targets, and the machine-gun bullets used for firing hit the British turrets and caused countless sparks. Although the area of the turret was only a fraction of the cross-section of the tank, after coaxial machine gun correction, the firing hit rate of the German tank reached an impeccable level, multiple armor-piercing shells were fired from different angles, and the "inverted bath" was instantly rushed up by a violent explosion!

In the blink of an eye, several turrets of the same silhouette emerged from behind the dirt road. One, two, three...... Counting them up, there were seven British chariots lying in ambush, and they were all heavy chariots named after the former British War Secretary of State Horatio Herbert Kitchener, which were similar in size and weight to the "Teutonic Knights", but the shape and silhouette belonged to two completely different systems. The production model of the "Kitchener" has unparalleled frontal protection, and the side and rear armor are heavier than the "Teutonic Knight", which fully reflects the design concept of "protection first", but the key to whether a weapon can dominate the battlefield and become a classic work that dominates a battle or even a war is not whether its technical data is beautiful, but whether its practicality and the user's tactical strategy are correct. If the "Kitchener" was on flat ground and bombarded the "Teutonic Knights", the German tanks equipped with the 75mm KwkL/50 tank guns had a good chance of killing them instantly; If the "Teutonic Knights" had not hesitated to drive across the dirt roads, exposing the bow and even the chassis of the car to the guns of the "Kitchener", the British would have easily won the battle.

Now, the British heavy tanks were forced to leave the excellent ambush sites by the bombing and strafing of allied fighters and repeated attacks by vehicle-mounted mortars, and the German heavy tanks benefited from the vigilance of their commanders and did not rush rashly, and the battle was again in suspense. The power of the 37 mm gun of the "Kitchener" is weak, and the frontal armor of the "Teutonic Knights" cannot be threatened at all from a distance of 500 meters, but the distance between the two sides is only two or three hundred meters, and some weak positions of the German tank are completely possible to be penetrated by the 37 mm gun, and the curved shield on the front of the "Kitchener" turret brings additional protection, so that the German KwkL/50 tank gun with a penetration depth of 90 mm at a depth of 500 meters has a high probability of ricocheting. Changes in the battlefield environment and some unpredictable fortuitous factors.

(End of chapter)