Without heavy artillery, then you can only count on explosives!

If you don't have a sufficient number of heavy artillery, the only thing you can count on is sapper explosives. The German army suffered enough www.biquge.info attack on Greece because their front-line troops were not able to nibble on the heavy artillery of the super-heavy fortifications of the Greek Metaxas Line (in the mountainous area, the German heavy artillery could not be transported at all. ), and Stuka, which swept Poland and Western Europe, was largely ineffective on the Greek border.

Using everything from flamethrowers to bayonets, the German mountain infantry broke through the Greek lines with explosives and heavy casualties.

In the concept of a general country, the 150 mm level guy is a heavy artillery, but in Germany and the Soviet Union in World War II, the concept of "heavy artillery" is more for large-caliber guns above 203 mm - large in size and heavy weight, and the heavy power of the shells is also "heavy"!

In World War II, the individual power of the German heavy artillery absolutely reached a terrifying level, and it also played a certain role in the war, especially in some operations that broke through the fortified areas, but because some of the German heavy artillery reached the "dinosaur level", this mobility was sometimes unsatisfactory, and the role played was not outstanding compared with the cost of manufacturing and maintenance.

Now the Soviets were faced with this insurmountable obstacle, the strength of the Finns' "Mannalien Line" was not comparable to that of the Greeks, fortunately, the terrain was relatively favorable, and the Soviets had a sufficient number of effective heavy artillery.

Due to the peculiar reasons of the muddy season in Russia, Soviet heavy artillery designers paid special attention to the mobility of artillery equipment, and the heavy artillery equipped with the reserves of military districts was not "dinosaurized" like the Germans, and the volume and weight were still in the category of being able to "understand". The M1915 305 mm howitzer left over from the Tsarist period is already one of the heavyweight "players", except for those train guns, of course, and the main force of the general heavy artillery units is dominated by heavy guns of 203, 210 and 280 mm calibers.

Some time ago, the artillery test site did some experiments of cannon direct fire on reinforced concrete bunkers, 76.2 mm cannon using armor-piercing shells at a distance of 500 meters can penetrate 500 to 600 mm reinforced concrete structures, and the 122 mm howitzer direct fire effect is slightly better than this data (this is related to muzzle velocity), and the 152 mm howitzer curved fire effect is better than direct fire.

The problem is in front of us: many strongholds on the Finn line estimate that the reinforced concrete on the fronts of many fortified bunkers is more than 2 meters thick, and the shells of the 152-mm howitzers on the top of many fortifications cannot be gnawed at all, even 203-mm heavy shells can withstand one or two rounds!

The terrain of the Karelia region is suitable for the operation of bomber units, but the Finns' fortified roofs are generally resistant to a direct hit by a 250-kilogram aerial bomb (in World War II, the penetration and destructive power of a shell of the same weight was much greater than that of an aerial bomb, and the speed of hit here played a decisive role - in order to directly hit a point target, the air power could only rely on dive bombers to drop bombs at low altitudes, and the speed given to the bomb could not be compared with the large-caliber shells that fell at a wide angle, Although the charge of bombs is generally more than that of shells of equal weight. Although high-altitude bombing can also achieve almost penetrating effect, the hit rate is very pitiful, and it all depends on luck, and this problem can only be effectively solved after the appearance of reliable guided bombs. ）

What if you equip a 122mm or 152mm howitzer with shaped armor-piercing shells? Experiments showed that the fortifications of the Finns were largely ineffective, as Lin Jun had already shown when he openly gathered armor-piercing shells to the Soviet military leadership.

Large-caliber shaped armor-piercing shells were not used in the experiment, because the Soviets did not have them now, and will only develop 122-mm shaped armor-piercing shells in the future, and larger-caliber ones are no longer considered. Experiments were carried out with 76.2 mm cannons, although the theory and practice can penetrate 1.5 meters of reinforced concrete structures, but the effect in actual combat is not as good as ordinary blasting shells - linear small-diameter perforations for bunkers purchased according to terrain cover, often just dig a hole in people's "eaves", the main part is not at all, and this still requires artillery to risk close to the shelling.

Large-caliber guys have no problem, Lin Jun's secret weapon RPG-7 can deal with some small auxiliary bunker fortifications, and those Finnish super fortifications equipped with cannons have to rely on guys above 203 mm to deal with.

Was there such a big guy in the Soviets? Yes, and there were quite a few of them, but the artillery comrades were still not satisfied with the Br-4 Type 1931 Type 203 mm howitzer and the M1915 Type 305 mm howitzer at hand - one was "insufficient" in power, the other was too heavy and inconvenient to maneuver.

You must know that a 203 mm shell falling from a high altitude can drill into a soil layer as deep as 10 meters before exploding, and even a reinforced concrete structure more than 1 meter thick can penetrate it, but think about those fortifications that are so strong that they are "incredible" and you can understand why they are "not powerful enough".

Lin Jun is a layman in the fortress, in fact, in his previous life, most of the soldiers were absolute laymen for the "fortress", and the term "fortress" can be said to belong to its era, which is the end of World War II, but they still played a huge role in World War II.

In fact, after a while, Lin Jun had the idea to see the Sevastopol fortress on the Black Sea coast, which can be said to be the strongest fortress in the world (after the completion of the Belgian fortress in 1935, it was listed as one of the most important defensive positions in Europe and the strongest fortress in the world at that time, that is, the Western capitalist countries did not understand the Soviets: compared to the fortification of the Sevastopol fortress, the Eben-Emar fortress is more like a children's toy. Judging by the strength of Manstein and the casualties of the German army, you can imagine how strong the fortress of Sevastopol was. It is in such a fortress that you can understand the meaning of "fortress".

If you want to conquer it, you must first understand it -- Lin Jun wants to let the artillery commanders who are likely to actually participate in the attack on the "Mannarin Line" in the future know what a fortress is.

But now he is not available, because several specialists from the Heavy Artillery Design Bureau have come to him, and he has several large-caliber artillery designs designed to overcome strong fortifications.

Leading among the experts who came was the famous Soviet heavy artillery designer Ilya Ivanovich-Ivanov, the "godfather" of Soviet heavy artillery.

The main design that Ivanov brought this time can be said to be completely tailor-made for the "Mannalin Line" - the best artillery against a well-defended fortress is a large-caliber howitzer or mortar, because the lethality of shells falling at a large angle is better than that of a direct-fire cannon!

The Soviet Union originally had a 280-mm mortar, but its mobility was not good, and this time it received direct instructions from the National Defense Committee, asking Ivanov and his designers to design a high-power mortar in the shortest possible time. With rich design experience and bold ideas, Ivanov combined the existing Br-4 203-mm improved tracked howitzer mount and 280-mm mortar gun body to become a new type of heavy mortar with maneuverable capabilities.

Through Ivanov's introduction, Lin Jun learned that the mobility of this mortar gun is the same as that of the existing Br-4 type, and it can be effectively maneuvered with the towing of the "Comintern" or "Voroshinov Warrior" tracked tractor, and if there are no two special tractors, the existing high-power agricultural tractor can also make do, but the towing efficiency is not high (in fact, the Red Army often does this).

The existing 280 mm mortars are also somewhat different from those of the First World War, because the barrel length is already about the same as that of howitzers, the muzzle velocity is 356 m/s, and the maximum firing range is only 10,650 meters. The concrete-destroying projectile fired weighed 246 kilograms, which was incredibly powerful, and could penetrate 2 meters of reinforced concrete if fired at close range at an angle of 60 degrees. The gun has a horizontal firing range of 8 degrees to the left and right, a high and low firing range of 0 to 60 degrees, a combat weight of more than 18 tons, and the ability to disassemble into 3 parts when transporting, and if it is a short-distance maneuver, it can be maneuvered by directly hanging on a towing vehicle.

"Comrade Ivanov, when will there be a sample cannon?"

Speed is also what Lin Jun cares about.

"If the experiment is carried out immediately, a sample cannon can be produced in two months at the latest."

The 39-year-old designer is very confident, this is the speed of the Soviets.

Lin Jun took out the trial production order, and signed the order for the trial production of three sample guns with a few brushstrokes, and it was also attached: If the performance meets the requirements, nine more will be produced by the end of the year, all of which will be equipped with the first heavy artillery division directly under the Leningrad Military District.

Lin Jun remembered that there were 1939 280-mm mortars in the history of the Soviet Union, and now it is only a year in advance, and if the forecast is good, these 10 or so mortars will play a big role in the Soviet-Finnish war next year.

The 280-mm mortar was not powerful enough against the French "Maginot Line", and if it was the strongest 'Maxim-Gorky-1' fortress in Sevastopol, the 280-mm shells would have been a drizzle, but it should have been enough to deal with most of the Finns' fortifications.

Ivanov brought more than just a 280-mm mortar, and in order to effectively deal with the Finns' fortifications, the Defense Committee also asked him to experiment with larger-caliber howitzers and long-range large-caliber cannons.

The BR-17 210 mm cannon, using the same gun carriage and tracks as the B-4, is expected to have a range of nearly 30 km, a shell weight of 133 kg, and a muzzle velocity of 800 m/s. The maximum towing speed is 25-30 km / h, a combined barrel is used, and if necessary, the internal barrel can be disassembled.

If the power of this 210-mm guy is "average", then the BR-18 305-mm howitzer will be the most deterrent weapon of the Red Army except for train artillery, the shell weighs 330 kg, can penetrate 2.5 meters thick reinforced concrete at a distance of 1000 meters at a 60-degree angle of fire, the estimated combat weight will reach 35 tons, and the marching weight will exceed 50 tons, which will be disassembled into 3 parts when transported, the barrel, the upper part of the gun carriage and the lower part of the gun carriage. The gun also has a combined barrel, and due to the bulkiness of the gun, it is estimated that it will take almost 3 hours to move from a marching state to a combat state.

"Let go of the test and strive for the early trial production of a successful prototype."

The Red Army now needed these "tailor-made" heavy artillery, although not in large quantities.

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