The reason why the DV tank, which was designed and completed in 1922, improved and put into production in 1923, and was already massively equipped with the German Army by 1924, was respectfully called the Royal Knight of Germany by German officers and soldiers has a lot to do with its appearance.

The DV tank, also known as the "Monster DD" medium tank, is 5.8 meters, 2.9 meters and 2.6 meters in length, width and height respectively, with a total weight of 22 tons, and its volume and weight are nearly one size larger than the "Monster D" type. With the increase in the number of such tanks and equipment, the independent tank battalions and armored regiments in some infantry divisions gradually appeared in the Han tank, and this nickname was widely spread in the German Army.

As the first German team to invade the United States, the ratio of DDD tanks to DV tanks in the German Royal Combat Army was roughly 2 to 1, but the number of equipment of each grassroots unit was slightly different. In total, General Guderian's Panzer Corps was armed with eighty percent of the entire army group of DDD and DV tanks, and these more than 200 tanks formed the core strength of the German Panzer Vanguard.

The appearance looks cool, but the DV tank is not a virtual appearance, although the structure has not completely gotten rid of the precision and complexity of traditional German weapons, but under the repeated requests of the army leadership, the designers have simplified the structure of this tank as much as possible, the manufacturing time of a tank such as the design is reduced by 1/3, from the weight point of view, the DV tank and the DDD tank are the same medium tanks, but the armor is 10-20 mm thicker than the latter, and the frontal armor of the hull is 55 mm thick, The armor reached 65 mm with the gun shield on the front of the turret, 30 mm on the sides of the hull and 20 mm on the back. The roof and bottom armor are both 15 mm, and the overall defense has been upgraded to a level.

(Regarding the manufacturing hours of tanks in various countries, various materials can be said to be different, and the difference between the numbers between different materials is still very large, so the sky is not included here in the specific manufacturing hours of the DV tank, I personally think that the more reasonable data of World War II Germany's DV type cost about 8,000 man-hours and 100,000 Reichsmark funds, while the standard version of the T-34 is 10,000 man-hours, and the simplified version of the manufacturing man-hours is less than 5,000.) The cost is slightly higher than that of the German DV tank)

In terms of weapons, the DV tank uses a 40 times diameter 75 mm gun, which is much stronger than the DDD 45 times diameter 50 mm tank gun, due to the continuous development of diesel engine technology, the DV tank is only a little slower than the DDD tank while increasing its weight, of which the road speed reaches 30 kilometers per hour, and the off-road speed is close to 15 kilometers per hour.

Returning to the battlefield, a second lieutenant wearing a domed steel helmet and a yellow-green khaki military uniform was bent back and forth in the trench to convey orders:

"Everyone be ready for battle, no fire is allowed without an order!"

The soldiers lying in the trenches were dressed in the same way, but they wore different armbands because of their ranks. Although they were all tired. The American soldiers were still staring intently ahead. The Springfield rifle, Colt pistol, and light and heavy machine guns were also ready to shoot. On two anti-tank gun positions about 50 meters behind the forward trenches, gunners of more than 20 28-mm anti-tank guns and 37-mm anti-tank guns were equally on standby.

It is a U.S. defensive position about 150 kilometers from Houston and more than 250 kilometers from Dallas, between two towns of 1,000 people. That is, the so-called "line" in the Pershing Line, which is guarded by 2,104 soldiers of the 11th Infantry Regiment of the 33rd Division of the United States, of which nearly 300 are wounded. In order to demonstrate the great national strength of the United States, the US Army organized one of its army divisions into a "square division" with 25,000 men, about twice as many as the infantry divisions of other countries, and adopted the establishment of two brigades and two regiments. An infantry regiment usually has more than 3,000 combatants, and the artillery regiment also has more than 2,000 people, and the equipment is quite good, the Springfield rifle is almost the same as the performance of the German Mauser rifle, the Colt 1911 pistol distribution rate is higher than that of the German Army, in addition to the infantry regiment is also equipped with a large number of light and heavy machine guns and mortars, because the Browning was poached by the Germans, The U.S. Army is currently armed with Colt's M1916 heavy machine gun imitating the Vickers-Mark and the Lewis infantry light machine gun invented by the American Isaac Newton Lewis, both of which are 7.92 mm caliber.

In terms of anti-tank weapons. Having learned from the British, the US Army abandoned the less effective anti-tank guns and focused on the development of anti-tank guns, anti-tank mines and grenades. By the time the war broke out, the U.S. Army had formed its own unique anti-tank system, developed a series of anti-tank guns with calibers of 20 mm, 28 mm, 37 mm and 45 mm, and had been equipped with front-line troops in batches.

As for the tanks of the US Army, it remains a mystery to observers of various countries of the world. Due to the extremely strict secrecy measures taken by the US side, all that is known at present is that the United States has established an independent tank armored unit, which is organized as an armored corps directly under the Department of War and is stationed in the relatively remote state of Missouri. After the outbreak of the war, the ground forces of Germany and Mexico, which invaded from the south, did not encounter the American armored corps, which made the American armored forces full of mystery.

Under the scorching sun, the US officers and soldiers lying in the trenches waited anxiously. It didn't take long for a slight rumbling sound from the west, sounding like the galloping of thousands of horses, but there was a screeching sound of metal grinding, and the American soldiers who had experience in border operations knew that the German armored units were coming!

Gradually, small black dots could be seen on the ground line, due to the dry weather for several days, the marching German troops also raised puffs of dust, making it impossible for the US officers and soldiers to determine their number and size by visual inspection, coupled with the hot weather and psychological tension, several US soldiers actually fainted.

In a thick-roofed bunker on the position, which was covered with wooden frames and earth and stones, the American major anxiously picked up the phone and shook it vigorously a few times.

"Hey, hey. Give me the division! …… I am Major Michel of the 11 Infantry Regiment, and a German armored unit appeared in front of our positions, and it is estimated that they are ready to attack from me! …… No, no, no, it can't be reconnaissance, the number of opposing places is by no means like a reconnaissance unit, we need artillery support! …… Oh, General, hello! Yes. The Germans appeared, we needed support, the more powerful the artillery fire, the better! Yes, we will do our best to hold our ground, don't worry! Right now? …”

The Major left the telephone and walked to the periscope, then walked back to the telephone two seconds later and picked up the microphone.

"General, about 15,000 yards, yes, yes! Be! ”

After putting down the microphone, the anxiety and uneasiness on the Major's face had subsided considerably. The artillery support promised by the division headquarters was undoubtedly a shot in the arm for him. Maybe after a burst of heavy artillery fire. The Germans would have given up the attack, at least that's what Major Michel thought.

In a standard American infantry division of the 20s, there were a total of 3 separate artillery regiments, namely two 105-mm artillery regiments and one 155-mm artillery regiment. A total of 48 105-mm howitzers and 24 155-mm howitzers, as well as about 50 75-mm and 37-mm infantry guns, were twice as many guns as an average German army division.

Major Michel stared at the periscope with his eyes firmly on the periscope, silently calculating the distance of the other party, as long as he entered the distance of 10,000 yards, the divisional 155mm artillery regiment hidden in the town would fire, and if the distance was closer, the 105mm artillery regiment would also fire, and the American major seemed to be able to see the scene of the Germans being bombarded. The corners of his mouth couldn't help but show a smug smile.

But it was not too early or too late, when a different engine sound came from the western sky, like the lingering buzz of flies on a plate, and Major Michelle frowned, and he walked to the observation port of the bunker and raised the telescope hanging from his chest. As expected, this sound came from a flock of silver-gray "big birds".

At this moment, with an unfortunate face, all Michelle's mood turned from the ground to the air, and he hurriedly ordered his adjutant:

"Prepare for an air raid!"

More than a week after the start of the war. Before the German ground offensive began, the US army's logistics and transportation lines and important material assembly points were bombed to a pulp, and the average loss of troops on the front line in the air raid reached nearly 5 percent. In the ensuing strategic retreat, the American soldiers had to retreat to the rear with heavy legs instead of taking a train or car, and lost a lot of heavy equipment. Thinking of this, Michel suddenly doubted what kind of fire support the division headquarters could give him—presumably those artillery regiments had also suffered serious losses in the previous battles!

Michelle thought in vain, and in less than ten minutes, more than forty vulture dive bombers from two squadrons began to ravage the positions of their regiment. Although the American infantry was scared to death, the resistance was still presentable, the gunfire on the entire position was very intense, hundreds of bullets flew into the air every second, and the anti-aircraft guns stationed in the town not far away also opened fire, and the gorgeous fireworks continued to bloom in the air, dotted with countless dark red machine guns and rifle bullets.

With the characteristic whistling sound of a dive, the German warhawks began to do their best. Aerial bombs accurately landed on the US field defense line and the towns where they were stationed, and although the US troops kept their artillery positions as concealed as possible and put camouflage nets on their artillery, some of them still did not escape the keen eyes of the eagles. In the continuous explosion of aerial bombs, the US ammunition that was detonated also participated, and together played a battle overture one after another.

Standing on the armored command vehicle, Guderian calmly looked through the telescope at the American positions bombed by the aircraft group, and gathered around him was a powerful armored force consisting of 85 DDD tanks, 40 DV tanks, 51 assault guns, 82 full-track infantry fighting vehicles and 172 half-track armored personnel carriers, and more than 3,000 motorized infantry of the 3rd Mechanized Division of the Panzer Corps as a countermeasure.

Such a strong force, led by Guderian himself, was of course not only to break through the improvised American defense line. Since Pershing had deployed such a dotted and line-based defensive line with a width of more than 400 kilometers, Guderian was unceremoniously ready to show the other side what was the essence of the armored forces. In the wide plains from Houston to Dallas, Guderian's armored corps had been divided into more than a dozen assault groups, and when the air force bombarded it was over, they would strike hard at the enemy's vital parts to ensure that the Americans would bleed.

Wait until the silver-gray vultures are satisfied with the whole team leaving. Guderian looked at his watch, and at 11:20 a.m., his troops hoped to end the fighting here before lunch, and the next thing to do was to leave the American commander stunned.

"Forward!"

Guderian personally gave the order to attack, and at a distance of 10,000 yards, 51 assault guns were the first to stop and begin barrage fire with 75-mm 43-fold guns and smoke grenades. So far, these assault guns, made from the chassis of a stone DD-type tank, played a role more like a purely fire support gun than an anti-tank gun. Because not a single American tank has ever touched them until now. Assault guns were not only massively equipped with armored units, but ordinary German infantry divisions were also large owners of such assault vehicles. Due to the lack of turrets, they were popular with German infantry due to their low price, long range, and good mobility compared to tanks, and their low hulls and turretless design also made many people prefer to call them Reich-style self-propelled guns rather than the Type 1918 assault guns officially designated by the War Office.

At this distance, it was obviously impossible for the Imperial assault artillery ground shells to fall on the US positions in the distance, and the role of smoke grenades was only to interfere with the sight of the opponent's anti-tank fire and cover the attack. After a large number of smoke bombs, the US soldiers basically "only heard their bodies and did not see their targets."

Under the cover of smoke, the DDD and DV tanks began to accelerate. They were followed by infantry fighting vehicles and half-track personnel carriers armed with 20-mm machine guns.

Without waiting for the German armored forces to approach. The nervous American soldiers opened fire one after another, and it didn't take long for the dense gunfire to burst into one piece. 155-mm and 105-mm shells were also fired from the direction of the town, but after being bombarded by German fighters, the number of artillery shells put into the shelling by the Americans seemed to be very limited. Despite the fact that shells fell one after another near German tanks and armoured fighting vehicles, the German officers and men did not slow down, and they quickly entered the smoke of the cover they had created. As the bullets increased, the commanders shrank into the turret one by one, and could only observe the external environment through the narrow sight of the observation holes and periscopes, but despite this, the tank assault group remained in full formation.

This is Guderian's troops.

On the other side, the US officers and men on the defensive line did not hesitate to shoot at the front with ammunition. The action of pulling the bolt of the gun is done a dozen times a minute for each rifleman. Despite being told to aim and shoot again, the gunners of the 20mm and 37mm anti-tank guns were eager to shoot into the smoke, as if each shell they fired would cost the Germans an extra penny. Major Michel couldn't wait to ask the division headquarters for reinforcements, whether it was firepower or soldiers, in short, he was willing to guarantee with his life that he would hold this position, provided that his superiors sent more reinforcements, and it was better that the entire infantry division would flock here.

This is Pershing's troops.

As the clanging sound of metal grinding got closer, the American soldiers could already faintly see the dark shadows in the smoke. Now they were even more desperate to shoot at those black shadows, but the clear sound meant that all the bullets they fired were useless. Four 37mm anti-tank guns concentrated on one of the most visible shadows, but the opponent continued to advance.

Finally, a DV tank emerged through the fog with its hideous muzzle and compact steel body, and there were several shallow craters in the front hull, which seemed to have been fired by the American 37mm gun. With disbelief, the U.S. anti-tank gunners once again fired at the huge target - this time seeing is believing, and the U.S. gunners watched their 37mm shells bounce off the German tank!

Immediately afterward, one after another DV tanks appeared in front of the eyes of the American officers and soldiers like Teutonic knights, and behind them were DDD tanks and infantry fighting vehicles that could not be counted at a glance. At the edge of the smoke, the German tanks gradually showed their fierce faces like wolves.

At this moment, in the headquarters in Houston, General Pershing was worried about his fierce attack on the defensive line, the speed of the German armored forces was beyond his imagination, and now he could only hope that his soldiers could withstand the German attack as long as possible, even if the "line" was not secured, those "points" must be held. Because he had just received a secret telegram from the War Department, in addition to the backup infantry division that had been rushed south by train, General Peyton March had finally decided to mobilize his precious unit, the 1st Armored Regiment of the United States, and a powerful counterattack force was gathering on the front line.

On the other hand, Rommel's Panzer Division, which had invaded New Mexico, had broken through Oklahoma from west to east, and the most direct route from Missouri to Texas would be through Oklahoma.

I saw some book friends say that the equipment of the German ** team here has reached the level of the middle and late stages of World War II, in fact, the sky wants to say that many weapons such as Germany's DV tank and the American B-17 bomber were designed and produced in the mid-30s, and then shined in World War II and are well known to everyone, and many weapons in World War II are also fully qualified technology in the 30s, or the old saying, technology is not the key, the key is imagination.