Lieutenant General Hovald's headquarters for the North African Corps was located in the former Libyan Governor's Palace, one of the most imposing buildings in Tripoli. Lieutenant Colonel Melzin followed Lieutenant Colonel Sheitt, the lieutenant general's aide-de-camp, into the war room of the headquarters. General Hovald was chatting at the map table with several generals, and when he heard the adjutant's report, he stood up and waved to a shorter general.

The two generals walked over, "Report to the general, Melzin, commander of the 5th Tank Battalion of the 1st Armored Brigade of the 3rd Division of the Imperial Army, has been ordered to report to you!" Melzin gave a military salute to the two generals.

"This is General State, the commander of the 7th Croatian Division." He gestured to the stocky major general beside him and introduced, "Okay, sit down here first!" General Khova pointed to a row of couches against the wall, and the three of them sat down on the couches, and the orderlies served three cups of black tea.

"How's it going on the road?" The general asked.

"It's very smooth, but I'm a little unaccustomed to taking a boat." Melzin replied.

"Well, the first time no one is used to it." General Hovald said, "Are all your men here?" ”

"Not yet, I and a dozen officers rushed over by destroyer after receiving the order, and the whole battalion will arrive about tomorrow, but they are not equipped." Melzin said.

"Very well, I think you may have heard that the Croatian 7th Infantry Division will be reorganized into an armored division." General Hovald said, "I need you to help General Stett train the 7th Panzer Division. ”

"No problem." Melzin stood up and replied.

"How long will it take?" General Statech asked.

"It could take half a year." Melzin said that he saw General Hovald frowning inadvertently, so he explained: "The armored corps is a technical branch, and it may take only a month for soldiers to get familiar with the vehicle, but tactical coordination and operation will never form combat effectiveness without half a year, general." ”

"Well, well, that's all, it looks like we need to postpone the offensive plan back." General Howald spread out his hands and said to General Stavet with some helplessness.

Melzin followed General State to the Croatian 7th Division, which was located outside the city, and some tanks and armored vehicles had already been transported from the port. The soldiers in the training ground, who were hiding behind the car to take a cooler, saw General Staett coming from outside, and hurriedly stood up one by one, ran to the side of the station car, and stood straight.

Seeing that Melzin's eyes were fixed on a few tank cars, Stett put his hands on his waist, half-turned to face the tank soldiers standing upright towards them, and said with some pride: "Why, haven't you seen it?" These are the latest Empire to develop the Islaya III tank, and according to the Crown Prince's order, the Afrika Korps will be the first to equip this new tank. ”

"Well, it's very good." Lieutenant Colonel Melzin said as he carefully observed the structure of the tanks. Outwardly, the tanks were larger than the Islaja 1913 he had previously flown and had much wider tracks. It is still equipped with a 37mm gun, but it must have been lengthened. According to his estimates, the full weight of such a car should have exceeded 10 tons.

"Can you show me the manual?" He said to a tankman with a combat manual in his hand.

"Yes, sir." The tankman panicked and handed over the somewhat crumpled combat manual in his hand.

Melzin took the manual from the soldier's hand, opened it and found the page of technical parameters and looked at it carefully: the length of the car is 4.86 meters, the width of the car is 2.42 meters, the weight of the vehicle (excluding ammunition) is 11.2 tons, and the crew is 4 people. Engine: Steyr 1915 V12 diesel, 146 hp, 42 km/h (road) / 25 km/h (off-road), 140 km travel. Armament: Israia Model 1914 37 mm 42 x caliber cannon, one synchronous machine gun, one roof machine gun. Armor thickness: frontal 15 mm, side 10 mm, rear 8 mm.

"How many of these tanks will we have?" Melzin asked General Staett.

"Oh, let me see." Stett took out a compilation sheet from his jacket pocket and looked at it: "Our division has a total of 182 tanks, 118 armored vehicles, and 24 self-propelled guns...... What is this? ”

"That's a cannon on a tracked vehicle." "What is the caliber of these guns?" ”

"Hmm...... is 75 mm. "There are also truck-towed heavy guns, with a strength of 36 guns, including 12 150-millimeter guns." ”

"Very powerful firepower, such a firepower configuration is enough to break through the defense line guarded by an army." Melzin said, "I suppose the infantry regiment is also transported by car, right?" ”

"Well, we have a total of 626 trucks, some small cars, two motorized infantry regiments, an armored regiment, and a divisional artillery regiment, with a total staffing of 18,670 people, which seems to be less than the current number?" Stett frowned slightly.

"But it's almost three times more powerful, general, these tanks are equipped with artillery, and each armored vehicle has two machine guns." "It should have three times as much attack power as the current infantry divisions." ”

"It's surprising to say that, and I'm now looking forward to seeing it for the first time." Stett laughed, "At least we ran much faster than the infantry divisions." ”

The impact of tanks on infantry positions has been proven, and in fact the open desert areas of North Africa are the best places to make use of the characteristics of this new weapon. The dense trenches and numerous rivers, swamps, and forests on the Western Front were not suitable for such armored weapons.

By this time, tanks made by the British and French had already been put into the Western Front, but they did not play much of a role. The Germans, having received a sample of the tank provided by Lecheldon, improved the tank while also developing new weapons to restrain this armored weapon: a 12.7 mm machine gun and a 20 mm machine gun, and equipped them with a small amount on the front line.

The first use of tanks by Britain and France was not very successful, but it showed some promise. At least the infantry could not withstand its attack, and according to the British assumption, the tanks were put into battle as saboteurs of the wire mesh and machine-gun positions of the volleys, and although they suffered great losses due to the inadequacy of mechanical transmissions and engines, they were still able to cope with some tasks.

And in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, tanks were used as the main assault force, and although the Austro-Hungarian tanks were much inferior in armor thickness and weight to British tanks, they were the best in the world in terms of mobility. This was also the purpose of Lehedon's attempt to establish an experimental armored division in North Africa.

In fact, the German front line on the Eastern Front was also a good place to test this weapon, but this opportunity should be given to the Germans. There will certainly be a lot of non-combat wear and tear on the muddy roads of Ukraine, and the Carpathian mountains are not suitable for the large-scale application of tanks.

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