This time, Student could not control the armament of the German paratroopers, for the simple reason that in order to transport these big guys, it was first necessary to obtain the consent of the air force, that is, only the weapons that the transport aircraft could be equipped with were maneuverable. As a result, the choice of heavy weapons became, first the transport aircraft was set, and then the issue of weapons was considered. And the German paratroopers were transported by nothing more than two points, one was an ordinary transport aircraft, and the other was a glider.

The Germans used the most in the ordinary transport aircraft is the JU52 transport aircraft, which is one of the most important carrier aircraft of the German Airborne Forces in history, and is still the preferred aircraft of the German Airborne Forces, which has an empty weight of about 4 tons and a maximum transport capacity of 2 tons. At the same time, after the capture of the airport, it is responsible for subsequent transportation. This kind of thing obviously can't be airdropped vehicles and complete light artillery, of course, if you say that the mortar is dismantled and packaged and transported, but it is clear that neither a light howitzer nor an anti-tank gun can be airdropped. Or rather, it is inconvenient to airdrop.

The reason is very simple, no matter how simple a gun is, there are more than 5 large parts, and it is not a problem to throw it down, but considering the wind or other reasons, the parts of a gun may be very scattered. And even if the parts are light, they weigh more than a few tens of kilograms. For example, a light artillery piece can be divided into 9 large parts, scattered within a few hundred meters after the empty head, when the paratroopers find 8 of the parts, and after assembling, there is only one part that cannot be found or falls into the place where it cannot be reached, what a sad thing. Of course, if you can control zhì walking. It is also possible to do this, but at least the German Airborne Forces of this era cannot do this, so it is inconvenient to say that artillery parts are not convenient for airdropping. Artillery does not work. Cars are even worse.

If the paratroopers in the first wave could only rely on their own weapons, they might not be able to destroy some targets, such as light tanks and armored vehicles. And if you wait until you need to occupy the airfield, let the plane land and then unload the weapon, I'm afraid the daylily will be cold. So the top of the German paratroopers began to rack their brains and think about how to put some artillery in the first wave of raids, when there were no airfields available. In particular, artillery with anti-armor capabilities was sent to the combat zone.

Thus, gliders, which could transport small cars and artillery in large bodies, came into the field of vision of the Luftwaffe, which were not powered by themselves. It is towed by transport aircraft or other multi-engine aircraft, and then after reaching the target area, it is thrown to the towing equipment, and then lands on its own. This kind of thing is transported in a large amount. The result is also very simple, the cargo compartment is also relatively large, and you can drive directly into a small car, or place a full small gun. At present, a glider commonly used in Germany is similar to the GO242 glider of later generations, except that the speed is slower, and the size and cargo volume are about the same. You can drive into a small jeep-sized vehicle or a small gun. This transport aircraft has a wingspan of 24.5 meters, a length of 15.8 meters and a height of 4.4 meters. Empty weight 3200 kg. THE MAXIMUM LANDING WEIGHT IS 7100KG. The aircraft could be towed by a twin-engine bomber and dropped the landing gear directly after takeoff. At the time of landing, I land with a sled on the belly. The rear can be used for small vehicles to get on and off.

HAVING THE AIRCRAFT, THE GERMANS BEGAN TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT ARTILLERY FROM THEIR OWN LIST OF WEAPONS, AND THE 60MM MORTAR WAS EXCLUDED, BECAUSE GERMAN ALREADY HAD A 50MM GRENADIER CANISTER, AND THERE WAS NO NEED TO EQUIP SUCH A WEAPON WITH SIMILAR FUNCTIONS, SO THE GERMAN AIRBORNE FORCES DIRECTLY CHOSE THE 80MM MORTAR AND THE 120MM MORTAR AS THEIR OWN MORTAR WEAPONS.

THE SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE OF THE 80MM MORTAR IS SIMILAR TO THE HISTORICAL SOVIET MAS PM41 MORTAR, WITH A GUN WEIGHT OF 45KG, A BARREL LENGTH OF 1.32 METERS, A MAXIMUM FIRING RANGE OF 4100 METERS, AND A SHELL WEIGHT OF ABOUT 3.4KG. AND THE 120MM MORTAR IS SIMILAR IN PERFORMANCE TO THE HISTORICAL SOVIET PM42 mortar. (Historically, Germany also copied this mortar, known as the GR.W.42 mortar.) THE WEIGHT IS 285KG, AND THE LENGTH OF THE BODY TUBE IS 1.865 METERS. The maximum firing range is 6050 meters. THE WEIGHT OF THE SHELL IS ABOUT 15.8KG. WHILE THE GRENADE CHARGE IS UP TO 3.1KG. Of course, it was certainly inconvenient to transport such a heavy artillery by manpower, so the Germans prepared a small tractor for him, for example, a barrel truck of the Type 166. THE TOTAL WEIGHT IS ONLY 685KG, AND THE MAXIMUM OUTPUT IS 23.5 HORSEPOWER. If the terrain is not good, it can also be replaced with a German sdkfz2 half-track tractor similar to the later generations, and both tractors can be loaded into the GO242 aircraft and can participate in the assault at the first time.

In addition to mortars, the German Airborne Forces needed a certain amount of anti-armor firepower, and the anti-armor fire of the Airborne Forces consisted mainly of two parts. ONE IS A 75MM RECOILLESS GUN, WEIGHING 175KG, WITH RUBBER WHEELS THAT CAN BE TOWED WITH A BARREL TRUCK. THE SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE IS COMPARABLE TO THE 75MMLG42 RECOILLESS GUN USED BY THE GERMANS IN HISTORY. The weight is good, the theoretical firing range is quite long, but the effective firing range is relatively short, and the danger zone of this artillery is too large, it is said that it reaches more than 50 meters. More importantly, the technology of armor-piercing shells at that time was very immature, and the theoretical number was much higher than the actual number. (The number of German recoilless guns is found on Baidu-!) ）

So the Germans, thinking about it, decided to carry a standard anti-tank gun. STUD RUMMAGED THROUGH THE GERMAN ARSENAL AND FINALLY CHOSE THE 50MM ANTI-TANK GUN. THE REASON IS SIMPLE, THE 37MM ANTI-TANK GUN IS TOO SMALL, AND THE 75MM ANTI-TANK GUN IS TOO HEAVY. THE 50MM ANTI-TANK GUN WEIGHS MODERATELY, AND NO MORE THAN A TON CAN BE TRANSPORTED BY GLIDER AS A WHOLE. But that's a bit too much. So the Germans carried out a series of weight reductions, such as replacing solid rubber tires with hollow pneumatic tires, removing the front gun shield or something, and reducing the weight of the gun itself as much as possible.

In fact, the Germans also had a conical gun. The lethality of the lower conical gun of the same caliber is better than that of ordinary cannons, but this weapon can only shoot armor-piercing shells and cannot hit high-explosive shells, the function is too single, and it is normal for the airborne troops to fall behind the opponent and encounter tanks, but it is not normal to encounter many tanks, and the result of encountering such a result is either the commander's brain-dead. (Take, for example, the historic Market Garden Operation.) Or maybe it's too bad luck for the paratroopers to go head-to-head with the heavily armored troops, no matter how powerful they are! Therefore, weapons with too single functions still cannot be considered.

Mortars, recoilless guns and anti-tank guns were there, and then the Germans began to struggle with whether they needed a light howitzer. BECAUSE OF THE PROBLEMS WITH THE CARRIER AIRCRAFT, THE MAXIMUM CALIBER HOWITZER DID NOT EXCEED 75MM. And the lethality of this howitzer is also relatively limited, and it cannot be used to hit tanks. IF IT WERE JUST ANTI-INFANTRY OR BUNKERS, THE 120MM MORTAR WOULD BE LIGHTER AND MORE POWERFUL THAN THE 75MM HOWITZER. (THE LIGHTEST 75MM HOWITZERS OF THE UNITED STATES OF WAR 2 ALL HAVE 635KG.) The only advantage of the howitzer is that it hits farther and with higher accuracy. HOWEVER, THE WEIGHT PRICE AND MANEUVERABILITY PAID ARE A BIT LARGE, AND THE WEIGHT OF A 75MM HOWITZER CAN BE EXCHANGED FOR AT LEAST TWO 120MM HEAVY MORTARS. Although the 50MM anti-tank gun is heavier, this thing is the backbone of the anti-armor and is indispensable, and there is nothing to replace it, so it is naturally necessary.

"According to our intelligence, the Allies and Italy did not have heavy armoured units on the eastern seaboard, and the Italian marines, although well-armed, were not specialized land forces after all, and their most powerful weapons were only wheeled armored vehicles and medium tanks. And there won't be a lot of them. Entente? They may have some heavy tanks, but they will not be numerous, and they will be deployed in deeper places. The chances of us running into them are not great. Student said confidently.

"It doesn't matter if you run into it, after all, the paratroopers are under the Air Force, and we will give you the best support." Richthofen said nonchalantly. "THIS TIME WE WILL PUT IN TWO SPECIAL ATTACK AIRCRAFT TO PROVIDE YOU WITH DIRECT FIRE SUPPORT, THE FIRST ATTACK AIRCRAFT IS MODIFIED FROM THE DO17 BOMBER, THIS ATTACK AIRCRAFT IS EQUIPPED WITH A 50MM CANNON IN THE NOSE POSITION, WHICH CAN COMPLETELY PENETRATE THE TOP ARMOR OF ALL CURRENT TANKS. As for another kind of aircraft? I can assure you that this is an unprecedented weapon. We called it the Air Gunboat Machine, which was designed to deal with infantry and lightly armored targets. ”

"Gunboat planes in the air?" Studentt wondered if he had never heard of such an aircraft since he joined the Air Force. "Boy, you're lucky, these things were originally intended to be used in the mountains of northern Italy, but after the army abandoned the battle plan in the mountains of northern Italy and left it to Austria-Hungary, these planes naturally lost their usefulness, so we used them to support the paratroopers." Richthofen said with a smile.

According to the original plan, Germany planned to enter Italy from the north after a certain period of war, but in the face of complex terrain, the role of ordinary bombers was really limited, the accuracy of horizontal bombing was not high, and dive bombing was also limited by the mountains and terrain, and more importantly, the role of heavy weapons in mountain warfare declined, and the most terrible thing was not a small number of howitzers or mortars of the other side. It's the elusive elite mountain infantry. Dealing with special enemies on a special battlefield naturally requires special weapons.

The best weapons against infantry are always all kinds of weapons with a high rate of fire, such as machine guns and machine guns, the so-called recruits are afraid of artillery, and veterans are afraid of machine guns. THEREFORE, IN ADDITION TO THE TWIN 13MM MACHINE GUNS IN THE NOSE, THE AIRCRAFT ALSO INSTALLED TWO 20MM CANNONS AND TWO 13MM MACHINE GUNS ON THE LEFT SIDE. THERE ARE ALSO 2 7.92MM MACHINE GUNS IN THE SPHERICAL MACHINE GUN TURRET IN THE REAR OF THE FUSELAGE. IN THIS CASE, THE AIRCRAFT WILL HAVE A FLANK FIREPOWER OF 6 13MM MACHINE GUNS AND 2 20MM CANNONS, AND BECAUSE IT IS MODIFIED FROM A TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT, IT CAN CARRY A HUGE AMOUNT OF AMMUNITION, AND IF NECESSARY, IT CAN HANG BOMBS UNDER THE WINGS!

There is a more ~~~~ New Year's eve this afternoon.,The author has been busy for a year and it's been very hard~~~.,Ask for subscriptions and support ~~~~~.。 (To be continued......)