The experts of the seven review committees are all talking to each other, the Krupp company is worthy of being the oldest and most powerful arsenal in Germany, although it has not yet developed a tank, but only in terms of these two design schemes, it is really good, from the design point of view it is much stronger than some tanks in the world at present, of course, whether it can be realized is another matter. In addition to the advanced nature of the design scheme, the judges should also consider the feasibility.

The second to come to power was Ferdinand Porscher, the founder of the famous Porsche AG. The old man, who was nearly sixty years old, walked with a tiger's step, and when he arrived at the podium, his self-confidence was fully reflected, and after hanging up the big picture, he spoke calmly: "Your Excellency, Distinguished Minister, judges, although we Porsche are a car manufacturer, in response to the call of the Ministry of Defense, we have designed two tanks that use the latest technology. Our light tank, called the Mole, that is to say, it is extremely mobile and concealed, please see its detailed data, the total combat weight is 12,800 kg, the crew is 5 people, the length is 4.85 meters, the width is 2.25 meters, the height is 2.45 meters, the thickness of the armor is 10 to 40 mm, the firepower is a 37 mm main gun, 2 7.92 mm machine guns. The front and side armor plates of the hull are arranged at an angle, and the interior of the vehicle is divided into a cab, a fighting compartment and a power compartment from front to rear. There are 5 crew members in the car, including the commander, gunner, loader, driver and front-mounted machine gunner. The driver and front-mounted Heavy are located in the cab, with the driver on the left and the Heavy on the right, each with a hatch above them, each with a periscope mounted on the door. The fighting compartment is in the middle of the hull, on which a turret is mounted, and the commander, gunner, and loader are located in the turret, with the commander on the right and the gunner and loader on the left. Each of them has a hatch above them. The power compartment is located at the rear of the body, and the engine is a 250 horsepower air-cooled gasoline engine, and the power is transmitted to the driving wheels at the front of the body through the gearbox and propeller shaft. ”

Everyone thought it was incredible, the tank had a unique shape and was lightweight, about five tons lighter than the Krupp solution. However, the power of both is the same, so that the Porsche light tank will have better mobility, but it will be weaker than Krupp in terms of armor and firepower, so it will be lighter. As a professional car maker, Porsche is indeed much stronger than Krupp in terms of vehicle design and manufacturing. Ferdinand Polscher had worked for Gallen-Benz and Steyr in his early years, and on April 23, 1931, Porsche Design was registered in Stuttgart as a company for "construction, engine and vehicle construction consulting", in layman's terms. It is responsible for the design and development of engines, vehicle structures and even complete vehicles.

Polscher continued: "Let's take a look at our medium tank, which we call the Armadillo, which means that it has both a sturdy carapace and a quick movement. With a length of 6.35 meters, a width of 2.95 meters, and a height of 2.45 meters, this medium tank is relatively compact and exquisite. The total weight from the combat was 27 tons. The crew is 4 people. Structurally, its biggest feature is: In addition to the 1 main turret, there is also a small machine gun turret on the left side of the front of the hull, which can be rotated independently on a limited basis. The main armament was 1 caliber 57 mm gun. The ammunition base is 100 rounds, and the main ammunition type is armor-piercing. ”

"The secondary armament is two 7.92 mm machine guns, one is a side-by-side machine gun and one is a machine gun in front of the hull. Mounted on a small machine-gun turret, it was fired by specialized hull machine gunners. The ammunition base of machine gun shells is 5000 rounds. The power plant is a V.-type 12-cylinder gasoline engine, located in the rear power compartment of the hull, with a maximum power of 400 horsepower. The unit power reached 15 hp / ton, and the transmission was a fixed-shaft gearbox. Fuel tanks were arranged on both sides of the engine. The power of the engine also drives the compressor and hydraulic pump. High-pressure air drives the controls and brakes. The hydraulic pump drives the turret to rotate. However, the high and low pitch of the gun does not use a high and low machine, and it is a free swing type, that is, the gun commander controls the high and low aiming angles of the gun over his shoulder. The power-drive is rear-mounted, and the action unit adopts a Christie-style action unit with 5 large-diameter load-bearing wheels on each side, with the driving wheel in the rear and the inducing wheel in the front. The hull and turret are mainly riveted structures. The thickness and inclination of each part of the armor are 30 mm / 7 degrees in the front of the hull, 20 mm / 0 degrees in the sides, and 30 mm / 0 degrees in the rear; The turret is 50 mm / 9 degrees front, 30 mm / 40 degrees on the sides, and 30 mm / 25 degrees in the rear. ”

As soon as Porsche's two solutions were demonstrated, everyone immediately understood that unlike Krupp's plan, Porsche's designers were obviously more inclined to the mobility of the tank, because their two tank solutions were relatively light and smaller, and the caliber of the main gun was also smaller than that of Krupp. This is in line with the historical tradition of the two companies, after all, the Krupp company is mainly engaged in artillery, especially in heavy artillery, so their tanks have a large body and a large caliber of artillery, so the weight of the entire tank is relatively large. Porsche, on the other hand, makes cars, and the designers want their vehicles to run faster, and they don't know much about armor and firepower, so their solutions are naturally good at mobility.

In fact, after receiving the tender from the German Ministry of Defense, the designers of several companies felt very puzzled, because in the German Ministry of Defense's tank tender, the required tank performance data was too advanced, after all, Germany only learned from the Soviet Union during World War I to design and manufacture ultra-light tanks weighing several tons, and now the world's main tanks weigh less than 15 tons, and they do not understand why the German Ministry of Defense wants to engage in 30-ton tanks.

Porsche, in particular, has never been involved in weapons, and they have always focused on designing cars, especially sedans. Dalem Benz and Henschel were also engaged in automobiles and railway locomotives, and although these companies also designed and manufactured weapons during the First World War, that was more than a decade ago, and after the defeat of Germany, these companies switched to civilian products.

However, Porscher had designed a number of military vehicles during the First World War. In 1914, when the First World War broke out, the Austrian company Daimler became a supplier of military vehicles, and Polscher, who designed many practical military vehicles, was promoted to chief designer in 1916, and then in 1917, Ferdinand, who did not receive formal higher education, was promoted to chief designer. Mr. Polscher received an "Honorary Doctorate" from the Vienna University of Technology. So Polscher was still very confident in their tank design, even though he was not keen on weapon design. (To be continued.) )