"Andrey, are you looking for me?"

A cigarette kung fu, Captain Tukhachevsky has come to the battalion of the French instructor Charles? Andre? Joseph? Mali? In front of the "bush" where Captain de Gaulle was.

"Hello, Mikhail? Nikolayevich, I have just received an order that from today I will fight alongside you as an adviser to a separate heavy tank battalion. ”

Captain de Gaulle, with a high nose, big bright eyes and a pair of big ears, extended his hand to Tukhachevsky expectantly.

"I hope we have a good time together."

Tukhachevsky clasped de Gaulle's hand and expressed his excitement: "Long live France, this is the best news I have heard in three months. ”

De Gaulle tilted his head, let go of his hand, and suddenly made a straight face again: "Don't be too happy too soon, the first thing I want to confirm is what you know about our 'Saint-Chamond'."

The "Saint-Chamon" in De Gaulle's mouth was the main equipment of the FCM "Saint-Chamon" assault tank disguised as a bush behind him, the main equipment of the separate heavy tank battalion commanded by Captain Tukhachevsky.

Without thinking, Tukhachevsky opened his mouth and said: "The 'St. Shamon' M1916A tank in this battalion is a heavily armored assault tank greatly improved on the basis of the 'St. Shamon' M1915 type, and the main improvements include: strengthening the armor, shortening the body, lengthening the tracks, canceling 2 of the 4 side machine guns, installing the front machine gun, installing the conning tower and the artillery mirror, and installing a small number of command tanks with radios. ”

"One of the most important improvements is the enhanced armor, the 1916 standard model offered by your country compared to the 1915 model, the inclined front armor has been thickened from 11 mm to 22 mm, and the vertical side armor has been thickened from 8.5 mm to 19.5 mm. The 1916A type equipped by our battalion is an emergency modification type with a layer of 17 mm steel plate riveted on the front of the hull of the 1916 standard type, and the maximum armor thickness reaches 39 mm. ”

"Using captured enemy artillery to shoot steel plates of the same thickness, material, and structure as the tank armor, the experimental results show that the current main anti-tank guns of the Chinese army and the German army, the 45-fold-diameter 37-mm long-barreled gun, cannot effectively penetrate the front armor of the 'Saint-Shamon' 1916A at a distance of 500 meters by using high-explosive armor-piercing shells, while the 30-fold diameter 37-mm short-barreled guns equipped with the old tanks and infantry battalions of the Chinese army are also difficult to penetrate its side armor at a distance of 300 meters."

"On the other hand, firing experiments with the Type 1897 36x diameter 75 mm field cannon mounted on the nose of the St. Chamon tank with captured enemy combat vehicles as a target showed that the use of high-explosive grenades could easily destroy the main light tanks of the Confederate camp - the 'Fox' and 'Wolf' - at a direct range of 1,000 meters. As for the few 'Leopard' heavy tanks unique to the Chinese army, although it is difficult for 75 mm grenades to directly penetrate their 30 mm thick inclined front armor, they can still effectively penetrate at a distance of 1,000 meters using special concrete piercing bullets. ”

"There are gains and losses, and the constant thickening of the armor has also increased the weight of the hull significantly: the total combat weight of the Type 1916 has increased from 22 tons to 25 tons of the Type 1915, and the total combat weight of the Type 1916A has reached 26.5 tons. Although the suspension system was improved and the engine output was increased from 90 to 105 horsepower, the maneuverability of the 1916A was significantly reduced compared to that of the 1915 model: the maximum road speed was reduced from 8.5 km/h to less than 7 km/h, and the off-road speed was reduced from 5 km/h to 4 km/h – slower than the normal walking speed. ”

"The decline in mobility, coupled with the lack of trench crossing capabilities and the inconvenience of artillery rotation, has greatly limited the battlefield use of this type of tank, and in fact, it is more suitable to assume the role of self-propelled artillery than an 'assault' tank to guide and cover infantry attacks."

"Given its excellent protection and firepower, you, my dear Captain de Gaulle, suggested that we use it as a tank destroyer – we prefer to call it a 'tank hunter.'"

At this point, Tukhachevsky tilted his head at the "bush" beside de Gaulle, winked and smiled, and continued to speak.

"Our battalion tank hunters should give full play to the power of the Type 1897 field cannon under the cover of anti-tank obstacles, sniping enemy tanks head-on at a long distance, and at the same time try to avoid getting caught in hand-to-hand combat with the fast and agile Chinese tanks."

"In order to prevent the roundabout approach of the Chinese light tanks and the infiltration of the infantry, in addition to two companies of St. Chamond 1916A, our battalion was also incorporated into one company of Renault FT-16 light tanks."

"As an improved version of the FT14 tank, the hull and turret frontal armor of the new Renault tank was thickened to 22 mm, which was enough to withstand the fire of the Chinese army's 37 mm short-barreled gun at a distance of 300 meters. The new octagonal turret of the FT-16 tank was equipped with both a Hatch Chase machine gun and a Pito 21x 37mm short-barreled gun, which almost doubled the firepower of a single tank compared to the FT-14, which could only be equipped with one of these weapons. ”

"The FT-16 tank also upgraded the 35 hp engine on the FT-14 tank to a new 45 hp engine, and improved the suspension system, so that although the weight of the vehicle was increased from 6.5 tons to 8 tons, the maneuverability was improved, and the maximum road speed was increased from 7 kilometers to 8.5 kilometers per hour, and the off-road speed was increased from 4 kilometers to 5 kilometers per hour......

Hearing this, de Gaulle couldn't help but applaud: "That's it, Mikhail, you remember better than me, you should be my instructor in the future." ”

Tukhachevsky smiled and shook his head: "No, you are too modest, no matter how hard I try, there is one thing that I can't learn from others anyway." ”

"Oh, what is it?" De Gaulle asked curiously.

"That's it...... Experiences on the battlefield. ”

"That's right, the experience on the battlefield."

Behind the two of them, a ghostly slender figure emerged. Tukhachevsky looked at it: this man had the same captain's badge as Tukhachevsky's collar on his neckline, a wide forehead, a long face, and thick eyebrows; There was a sense of ambition in his eyes, which did not need to be concealed, and was naturally revealed.

"Vladimir? Kiriakovic, why are you here? ”

"What? Not welcome? The other party smiled faintly and already stretched out his hand to Tukhachevsky.

De Gaulle, who was on the side, also greeted him with a smile: "Captain Andafilov, it's a pleasure to see you, is the Montgomery instructor of your battalion okay?" ”

It turned out that this Captain Andafilov was the commander of the 1st Tank Battalion of the 1st Tank Brigade under the 1st Panzer Army, and he was only 23 years old - a year older than Tukhachevsky. In another history of time and space, he and Tukhachevsky were the founders of the Soviet Red Army's theory of large-depth campaigns, and many of the operational theories he put forward were verified in the later Soviet-German war, and he can be called the father of the Soviet army's combat art. And here, at this moment, he is a gifted field commander who was a seminarian, who had been promoted to battalion commander less than two years after joining the army, and was in charge of one of the two most elite tank battalions in the Russian Empire.

Unlike Tukhachevsky's separate heavy tank battalion, Andafilov's 1st Tank Battalion was equipped with equipment and instructors from the United Kingdom, with two of its three tank companies equipped with MK-3B "Queen" heavy tanks and one company with MK-2B "Wolfhound" medium tanks.

The MK-3B "Queen" is an improvement on the MK-3 "King" tank that the British Army put into the Western Front in 1914, and is classified as a "cruiser tank" in the British army, and the Russian army classifies it as a "heavy tank" according to its weight.

Compared with the prototype of the "King" tank, the main improvements of the "Queen" include: reducing the height of the hull, widening the tracks, replacing the suspension system with new springs; The main gun was replaced by a 26 x diameter 57 mm short-barreled gun to a 40 times diameter 57 mm long-barreled gun; 1 tail machine gun in the rear of the turret; The frontal and turret armor of the hull has been thickened from 15 mm to 25 mm, and the side armor of the hull has been thickened from 10 mm to 15 mm; The power was replaced by two Foster-Daimler 105 hp gasoline engines and two new 125 hp engines; A small number of tanks installed radio stations at the expense of reducing the reserve of the main guns.

Compared with the "King", the total combat weight of the improved "Queen" tank has increased from 25 tons to 28 tons, and the maneuverability is not much different, and the maximum speed on the road is the same 10 kilometers per hour - the off-road speed does not exceed 6 kilometers per hour.

The MK-2B "Wolfhound" is an improvement on the British army's "destroyer tank" MK-2 "Racing Dog", and the Russian army also divides it into "medium tanks" based on weight.

Compared with the "Racing Dog", the main improvements of the "Wolfhound" include: improved suspension system; Retrofit with a new octagonal large-diameter turret; While retaining the machine gun in front of the hull, a coaxial machine gun was added to the new turret; The main gun was replaced by a 40-diameter 1-pounder (37 mm) naval gun to a 40-diameter 3-pounder (47 mm) naval gun; The frontal armor of the hull and turret was thickened from 10 mm to 19 mm; The power has been upgraded from a 60 hp gasoline engine to a new 90 hp engine; A small number of tanks were converted into radio communication vehicles and artillery observation vehicles after removing the main guns.

Compared with the "Racing Dog", the improved "Wolf Dog" has increased its combat weight from 10 tons to maneuverability, but there is little difference in maneuverability, and the maximum road speed is 15 kilometers per hour - off-road speed does not exceed 9 kilometers per hour.

In fact, in the entire Russian armored forces, only Captain Tukhachevsky's independent heavy tank battalion and Captain Andafilov's 1st tank battalion are equipped with the latest main tanks of the Entente such as the "St. Chamon" 1916A and MK-3B "Queen", while the main equipment of other tank units is mostly the old models such as Renault FT-14 and MK-2 "Racing Dogs" that have been eliminated from the British and French armies, and their comprehensive performance is far inferior to the current main tank of the Chinese army, the "Wolf" extremely improved version.

In this way, the independent heavy tank battalion and the 1st tank battalion have become the treasures of the Russian armored forces and the Volga Front, and it is natural that they have received special attention from the commander of the armored forces and commander of the front, General Nakashize.

General Nakassi not only promoted Tukhachevsky and Andafilov, two young and brilliant "mobile combat geniuses", to be the commanders of these two elite units, but also sent two of the best foreign instructors of the Ryazan Tank School, De Gaulle and Montgomery, to two battalions in order to forge two "swords of destiny" that could lay the foundation for victory in the last moment.

Of course, Nakasidze didn't know how the four officers he arranged, as well as a seemingly ordinary tank commander in the independent heavy tank battalion that he did not arrange, Corporal Zhukov, were famous in the history of another time and space; It is even more impossible to predict the unknown fate of these five people .......

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