The artillery range of the .rc research base is located on the eastern side of the valley where the base is located, about 5 km from the Elbe, and about 5 or 6 km east of the rolling hills. When Chen Tian and the others took their seats on the viewing platform on the side, the 10-tube 150-millimeter "smoke screen launcher" supported by a simple gun carriage had already been loaded with ammunition, and the barrel was aimed at the hill more than 200 meters high directly in front of it at an elevation angle of about 30 degrees, and six soldiers wearing gray army uniforms and steel helmets stood in a simple bunker made of sandbags 20 meters away from the launcher, and the electronic ignition switch similar to the explosive button was in the hands of one of the soldiers. Behind the bunker were several long wooden boxes, and in the open one were a cylindrical in the front and a tail in the back that resembled an elongated and reduced aerial bomb.

"Your Majesty, can you begin?"

The head of the weapons project, Dornberg, came to report that everything was ready.

This is not the first time Chentian watched the so-called "smoke screen launcher" live fire demonstration, as early as 1921, experts have begun to develop the first multi-barreled gun, in July 1923, the first 110 mm special rocket was tested here, Chen Tian flew from Berlin to watch, but the biggest problem at that time was that the impact point of the rocket was too large, and it would greatly affect the combat effect if it was used in actual combat.

Fortunately, the relevant project of the RC research center is directly under the Supreme Command, and the detailed analysis report was submitted to Chentian soon after, and Chentian gave some suggestions to the experts according to what he knew, the most important of which is that the rocket uses a tail instead of rotation to stabilize the direction, this method is really effective, after solving the problem of hit accuracy, the experts have successively solved some other technical problems, and finally developed a satisfactory "150 mm smoke screen launcher" in 1927”。

The so-called smoke screen launcher is nothing more than a cover-up, its official name is the "Type 1927 150-mm multiple rocket launcher", and if this demonstration is approved by the Kaiser and the technical experts of the General Staff, this rocket artillery will enter the stage of mass production and mass equipment. The experts will also work on various modifications, different calibers and rocket artillery for the Navy and Air Force, which will be completed in a short period of time, which is what the Kaiser initially expected for this project.

"Let's get started!" Chen Tian nodded, and then took the high-powered telescope from the attendant, there was a clear white target on the hillside at the other end of the range, surrounded by simple trenches, bunkers, and two dilapidated trucks.

The order to shoot was quickly conveyed, and after the gunner pressed the transmitter switch, it was ......

Shout...... Shout...... The sound rang out 10 times in just a few seconds. The launcher was suddenly enveloped in the smoke of the propellant, with dazzling flames, rocket after rocket came out of the white smoke screen, and the rumbling explosion began to come from the hillside where the target was located, and a large area was immediately enveloped in fire and smoke.

Chen Tian has watched this scene many times on TV, but it is already a very distant memory.

Fifteen seconds later, the live-fire demonstration was over, and the viewing platform was silent, and the smoke around the launcher and target dissipated very slowly, and it took them a while to see the effect of the shot through the telescope.

"Good!" Chen Tian's expression was calm. But the heart was very happy. The effect of this rocket artillery salvo is in no way inferior to that of all the guns of an army light artillery company, and the density of fire exceeds that of the latter. Judging from the scene of this shelling, at a range of 6,000 meters, the farthest rocket from the center of the target was also within 150 meters. Meets the technical requirements of the Department of the Army for this weapon.

"Loading, Ready!"

With the gun commander gave the order to reload again, the gunners used a small cart to push two boxes of rockets to the launcher, and then filled the rockets with flying wings into the round barrel, under the advice of Chen Tiandi, the experts also developed two firing modes using guide rails and iron launch boxes, although the launchers are completely different in appearance, but the basic technology is universal.

A few people around him were talking about the future of this weapon, and Chen Tian watched with great interest as the soldiers loaded their ammunition - the speed of reloading is also a factor that considers the merits of a weapon, and now it seems that although those 30 kg rockets are a little heavy, the sturdy soldiers still reload 10 rockets in 2 minutes.

The next three shots and reloads were uneventful. Judging by the expressions of Ollie, Hoffman and the artillery experts, the performance of this rocket launcher has also been recognized by them. If you look at the target area, the proposed fortifications and the two abandoned trucks have been destroyed, and that's just the power of 40 rockets that cost less than 25 euromarks per shot!

After that, Chentian called Dornberg and the members of the project team to him, gave them a high evaluation and affirmation of their work results, and encouraged them to continue to develop more and better products in the field of rocket artillery.

Next, Chen Tian said to his Minister of War, Quartermaster General, and artillery experts:

"This is a versatile and promising weapon, and we need rocket artillery of all calibers.

80 mm, 110 mm, 150 mm, 210 mm, all kinds of rocket artillery are suitable for the combat needs of different environments, 6 tubes, 10 tubes, 16 tubes, 24 tubes can be tried to develop; We need rocket artillery for all purposes, land air defense, ship air defense, ship to ship, aircraft to ground, aircraft to air, I guess their role is in no way inferior to traditional machine guns and artillery, but by no means a replacement for machine gun artillery, but a useful addition! ”

Ollie and others agreed.

"Before Barbarossa starts, we need a large number of these rocket artillery, and it is best to use rocket artillery on various battlefields on a divisional, brigade, and regimental scale, generals, the intensive firepower of these rockets will give us unexpected gains, and even allow us to easily win a war!"

Chen Tian looked forward to the future with joy, until Hoffman reminded him, "Your Majesty, do we use a simple name as the code name for this weapon, the name '1927 150mm multiple rocket launcher' is too long!" ”

Thinking of the Katyusha in history, Chen Tian said without thinking: "Uh, that's very simple, let's call it 'Sasha' rocket artillery!" I think our Princess Sasha would be more than happy to be the favorite of the German Army! ”

"Princess Sasha? Salsa rocket artillery? Hoffman muttered alone, not expecting the enemy to scurry under the threat of hundreds of "salsa rockets", but not long after. He would have known how wise it would be to develop such a new weapon—in terms of momentum, the power of rocket artillery was no less powerful than that of Stuka's roar.

In fact, rocket artillery can be said to be just a "by-product" of Dornberg's rocket experts, regardless of nationality or age, that is, to use rocket theory to create a large rocket that can fly long distances and even fly out of the earth. The annual research funding of 11 million Euromarks for this RC research base is an astronomical amount from a scientific point of view, but only one-third of it is used for rocket artillery and RPGs (rocket-propelled grenade launchers), and the rest of the funds are invested in the research of "big rockets".

After a 15-minute walk. Chen Tian and his entourage came to a four-storey independent building on the north side of the base, which was even more strict than the guards in the base, also known as the secret area of the middle of the ground.

After entering this oval building, Chen Tian saw the true face of the new big rocket land Lushan. When he came here the year before last, Hermann. Aubert and they are building a solid-fuel rocket A3 with a height of 46 meters and a diameter of 016 meters, which was launched in November 1926, and according to local measurements at the time, the A3 flew at an altitude of 160,000 kilometers and a speed of 370 kilometers per hour; This time. The rocket, designated the A4, uses the liquid fuels that Goddard has always admired – kerosene and liquid oxygen. And it is ready to use gyroscopes for controlling the direction of rockets, as conceived by Goddard. Because this kind of big rocket doesn't seem to have much to do with the war, the American "patriot" will also come to the scene from time to time to come and talk about this kind of scientist with a strange temper. As long as he does not engage in sabotage and does not escape, the al-Qaeda authorities will let him go.

At this time, in front of Chentian, is a height of nearly 9 meters, a diameter of almost 1 meter of large rocket, it stands head-up, more than half of which is located in the cement tunnel under the ground, according to Obert, this is to minimize the damage caused by the rocket explosion in the event of an accident, because Chen Tian is going to visit, yesterday the fuel in the rocket was temporarily taken away, and now there are only thermometers, altimeters and cameras and other instruments. Basically an empty shell without any danger.

Although most of it is underground, Chen Tian still has to raise his head to see its spiky top, in this era, in 1928, it should represent the top level of rocket development in the world!

"When are you going to launch?" Chen Tian asked.

"Back to Your Majesty, it will take at least 3 months!" Aubert replied.

Chen Tian nodded, even if he could catch up with Barbarossa, it seemed that it would be extremely cost-effective to use such an expensive weapon to bomb Russian targets, and it seemed that it would be left to play a role in the future when dealing with a certain obscene nation.

At this time, the rocket laboratory was far less elaborate than later. After a small turn of two minutes, he could take a look around the place, so Chen Tian continued: "Doctor, this rocket project is really breathtaking! I really hope to see the day it lifts off, but it's a pity that those of us are laymen, and weapons may be more in line with our appetites, so let's see how the individual bazooka project goes? ”

Such a statement did not disappoint the scientists too much, because it was the Kaiser who came in person, Obert did not dare to slack off, so he personally led Chen Tian and his party out of this rocket manufacturing workshop to the RPG research room, and chattered along the way about what a great thing a rocket is, so that it can completely change the mode of human life, and Chen Tian had to smile at it. As a person who has come over, he knows that the greatest value of rocket technology at present lies in rocket artillery, air-to-air and air-to-ground rockets, air defense rockets, and individual rocket launchers.

After walking into the research room of individual rocket-propelled grenade launchers, Chen Tian really saw no less than 20 different styles of rocket launchers, some as small as submachine guns, some as long as 75 mm barrels, and their warheads are also of different sizes, some are larger than grenades, and some are as big as 105 mm field gun shells.

Here, the commentary task was changed to Helmutwalt, and he told Chentian that nearly half of the individual rocket launchers here were developed by Goddard and his two assistants, but since the outbreak of the German-American war, they refused to participate in the research of the project here, which made the research of the individual rocket launcher come to a standstill, but fortunately, the previous technical drawings have been preserved, and the research base has recruited some good researchers from Germany, Britain and France in the past two years, and the project has developed rapidly.

"Didn't you tell them that Germany had signed a contract with the United States? The war is long over! Chen Tian said with some depression that although Germany's scientific and technological strength is not as leading the world as those Yankees, not only this RC base, but also in another top-secret research center, American experts have also seen the same situation in the past two years, and some projects that were originally progressing rapidly have been slowed down by human influence.

Walter shook his head, "They feel that the weapons here may endanger the United States again, although the United States is a country of immigrants, but they say that since their predecessors can shed blood and sacrifice for the independence of the United States, they should also defend the dignity of the country as future generations!" ”

"Dignity? Great dignity, or ridiculous dignity? ”

Chen Tian said as he took a test specimen from the weapon rack, this thing is not big, but it is quite heavy in his hand, about 6 or 7 kilograms, the caliber is close to 100 mm, and there is a conical warhead like a mortar shell in front.

"This is our own self-developed individual rocket launcher, which has great destructive power for infantry, bunkers and even tanks, the only drawback is that the range is too close, only 50 meters!"

Chen Tian felt that this was very similar to the legendary Iron Fist Type 30, and there was not much future for development, so he put it down again.

"We need an armor-piercing projectile that can fire armor-piercing shells against enemy medium tanks and fortifications, with a range of more than 200 meters, easy to carry and easy to operate!" Chen Tian reiterated his request, which he had made five years ago.

Walter pointed to one not far away and said: "It was designed by Dr. Goddard, it is an improved version of the kind of grenade launcher he designed in 1918, with a caliber of 50 mm and a maximum range of 400 meters, which is equivalent to the power of three M24 grenades!" ”

Chen Tian took it in his hand and took a closer look, this one was a bit like Bazooka, after all, it was also designed by the Americans. In terms of power, it may be a little difficult to deal with heavy tanks, but it is easier to deal with medium and light tanks and armored vehicles, and it is said that the tanks of a certain garbage nation are thin iron, and that is just right!