On May 10, 1942, Reich Defense Minister Hersmann left Berlin, the capital of Germany, and arrived at the Dolesheim barracks near Vienna with Field Marshal Kleist, the commander of the Panzer Corps. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

This is the former training ground of the Austrian Army, which was managed by the German Armored Forces Directorate after Austria was incorporated into Germany, and after some reconstruction, it became a secret base for the Armored Forces Commandery to test new equipment. The surrounding area has become a military restricted area, and barbed wire has been set up 10 kilometers outside the tank test site at the core of the base, and it is strictly forbidden for any unrelated personnel without a pass to enter or leave.

Hersmann and Kleist travelled from Vienna by special train. Then the head of the Army Ordnance Bureau, William Brown. Feng. Accompanied by General Thoma, they went to the tank test site to watch the 501st Heavy Armored Battalion demonstrate the performance of the No. 6 tank, the Tiger heavy tank.

The No. 6 tank, named "Tiger", and the No. 5 tank, named "Panther", were secretly carried out for many years, and preliminary development work began in 1935. According to the request put forward by Hersman, who was then the 1st Quartermaster General, the No. 5 tank was defined as a new 40-ton tank, project code VK4001. Tank 6 is defined as a new 50-ton tank, codenamed VK5001 – a very different process from the historical evolution of tanks 5 and 6 from 20-ton and 30-ton projects. Hersmann made "excessive" demands, so that the project progressed slowly, and at the same time avoided many detours, allowing the development of tanks 5 and 6 to take longer.

In addition, Hersman also put forward some very "advanced" requirements for these two tanks. For example, the use of inclined armor, 700 hp gasoline engine (at that time, the diesel engine was more space-consuming and heavy, not necessarily suitable for tanks, and at the beginning of the VK4001 and VK5001 projects, Germany had not yet taken the Middle East, and the fuel available for these two tanks was only synthetic gasoline), 80mm/100mm frontal armor, 50mm-85mm side armor and 100mm-150mm gun shield armor, and the use of 75mm/ The 88mm large-scale gun has some upgrade possibilities (No. 5 can be upgraded to 88mm guns, No. 6 can be upgraded to 105mm guns).

After six years of development and testing, the VK4001 and VK5001 projects were finally finalized in early 1942 and began to enter the trial production stage. At the same time, the German General Staff also ordered the formation of the 501st-509th, a total of 9 independent heavy armored battalions, all equipped with the most skilled and experienced officers and men, for the trial of the No. 5 "Panther" tank and the No. 6 "Tiger" tank.

According to the plan, each of the nine separate heavy armored battalions had a tank company equipped with Tiger tanks and a tank company equipped with Panther tanks, as well as a command company and a repair company. Each tank company is equipped with the same number of 22 Tiger or Panther tanks as a standard tank company. The nine battalions had a total of 198 Tiger tanks and 198 Panther tanks.

The 501st Battalion was the first of all nine separate heavy armored battalions to complete equipment and training. According to the plan of the Directorate of Armored Forces, the 501st Battalion will be transported to Poland in mid-May to test the performance of the Tiger and Panther tanks in the upcoming real combat battle.

Now, all 44 large tanks belonging to the 501st Battalion were painted in the standard olive green field livery, lined up in two columns with opposite muzzles, and appeared in front of Hersman and Kleist.

The Panther tank is similar in appearance to the historical Panther G tank, and it looks a bit like an enlarged version of the T-34 tank. The shape of the Tiger tank is very different from the historical Tiger because of the oblique armor, but it is a bit like an enlarged version of the "Black Panther" tank, which is similar to the historical Tiger 2 heavy tank, but not so big.

The head of the Army's Ordnance Bureau, General Toma, had been at the Dolesheim barracks for a week, and had personally piloted the Tiger and Panther tanks, and it was evident that he was extremely satisfied with both tanks.

"Reich Marshal, Marshal, the performance of these two tanks can definitely be described as perfect, there are no problems with defense, firepower, speed and reliability." "I believe that there will be no more powerful tanks in the world than them until the completion of Plan E." ”

Plan E is an arsenal under the Army Ordnance Bureau named Heinrich. The chief engineer of Knikamp presented. He suggested finding a point of convergence between existing tanks and armored vehicles and future tanks and armored vehicles, developing future tank/armored vehicle development programs with highly versatile components and facilitating mass production.

In May 1942, the plan was approved by Hersmann and Kesselring, and implementation has already begun.

According to the E-plan approved by Hersman, four series of tank/armored vehicles will be developed in the future: E-10, E-25, E-50 and E-75 to replace the existing complex tank/armored vehicles of various models. Moreover, the only tank/armored vehicle projects that can be contracted by the Wehrmacht in the future are these four major series (there was originally an E-100, which is a 100-ton tank/armored vehicle, but it was canceled by Hersmann).

That is, the Panther and Tiger tanks that are now shown to Hersman will also be replaced by E-50 tanks and E-75 tanks in the next two or three years. Tanks / armored vehicles of the 38T, No. 3, No. 4 and other series will be replaced by the E-10 and E-25.

However, the E-50 and E-75 had to be developed on the basis of the Panther and Tiger tanks, so the technology and experience gained through the VK4001 and VK5001 projects were also very valuable.

"I also hope that the performance of the Tiger and Panther tanks is good enough." Hersman nodded and said to Marshal Kleist, "Marshal, if today's tests really meet expectations, then organize mass production as soon as possible." Now that the Soviet Union is ready to move, I am afraid that the No. 4H tank will not be able to stop Stalin's T-34 and KV-1. ”

The T-34 and KV-1 were top-secret projects in another time and space, but now the German armored corps has long known about their existence (mainly Hersmann), and even the approximate performance indicators are known.

Therefore, Germany launched an anti-tank gun upgrade program from 1941, and all the 37mm, 47mm, and 50mm anti-tank guns belonging to the Wehrmacht/SS Army were replaced by Park40 anti-tank guns finalized in 1940.

The ordinary armor-piercing projectile fired by this anti-tank gun can penetrate 116mm of homogeneous steel armor at a right angle of 1,000 meters, and can also penetrate 94mm armor at an angle of 30 degrees. If it were replaced with tungsten alloy armor-piercing shells, which were almost freely available in the current Wehrmacht, the Park40 anti-tank gun would be even more powerful, and it could penetrate the armor of the KV-1 heavy tank at a distance of 1,000 meters.

At the same time, from the Mediterranean campaign of 1941, tank No. 4, which belonged to the Wehrmacht, was upgraded. The G-type, which had been widely equipped, was phased out to Germany's friends such as Italy, Croatia-Hungary, Spain and Bulgaria. The Wehrmacht's No. 4 tank was replaced with an H-type with a 48-caliber 75mm gun, and the firepower was enough to penetrate the armor of the KV-1.

"Reich Marshal, I'm not worried about Soviet tanks on the Eastern Front at all." Kleist, the commander of the armored forces, like most of the generals of the Wehrmacht, did not think much of the fighting power of the Soviet Red Army, even though they had the T-34 and KV-1.

"Our Type 4H, Park40 and Iron Fist anti-tank grenade launchers can all deal with it," Kleist said. And we also have an aircraft that specializes in tanks, the HS129 attack aircraft. Last week I saw how powerful it was at the Air Force Weapons Test Site on the Courland Peninsula...... It was a winged No. 3 tank, with armor in key parts, and it was difficult for a 20mm gun to take it down. And it also has a 50mm anti-tank gun, which is enough to deal with T-34 and KV-1 tanks. ”

The early birth of this kind of anti-tank attack aircraft, which was called by the Germans in another time and space, was not because of Hersmann's administrative directives, but because of the comprehensive surrender of France and the substantial improvement of the supply of resources after the Battle of the Mediterranean, the German side suddenly became very rich in aircraft and aircraft engine production capacity. Therefore, many projects that the General Staff have wanted for a long time, but cannot be launched because of insufficient production capacity, have to be launched.

The HS-129 attack aircraft, which was used to replace the old HS-123 attack aircraft, was launched in early 1941.

And because Germany authorized the production of more advanced engines such as BMW601 and BMW801 and DB601 at the beginning of 1941 to the French land god - Rhone company and the Spanish-Swiss company, so the HS-129 now gets from the French not a 700 hp G.R.14M engine, but a more powerful 1000 hp BMW601 engine - that is, the small double-row 14-cylinder engine used by the Fokker Zero.

Therefore, the performance of the HS-129 attack aircraft in this time and space is somewhat more powerful than the original HS-129 in history, and it still flies at a top speed of 440 kilometers per hour (3800 meters altitude) after being equipped with a heavy 50mm anti-tank gun. (To be continued.) )