At the same time that the German Navy is stepping up preparations for war, the German Army is also stepping up preparations for war, and the armored forces, which are relatively unfamiliar to the Germans, are now beginning to step up their planning compared to the already mature artillery and engineering equipment. Originally, there was an opinion in the German Army that the tanks and equipment of the Chinese Army should be directly copied and improved, and then they would be used for improvisation. But then the Germans discovered that this design was not actually suitable for Germany.

First of all, the first problem is that the Chinese Army did not have high requirements for stability and travel when designing these tanks, the reason is very simple, whether the Chinese Army began to break through the Russian positions on the left and right flanks of the Nebuchu fortress or outflank it from the rear, the travel required was actually not very large. And even if it's broken, it's okay, you can pull it back and fix it slowly. But Germany is different, what Germany needs is to constantly break through the Russian positions with strategic depth of the first kilometer, and conduct a war of movement in the vast Eastern European Plain. The requirements for the itinerary are much greater than those of the Chinese Army, and is it stable? Can you imagine the result after a sudden strike by a tank on the Russian wilderness? As a result, more than 90% of them will be discarded.

This was almost unbearable for the Germans, who were relatively poorly resourced! Therefore, Germany had to put the stability and speed of the trip in a more important position, because if the speed was too slow, it would be difficult to support or attack. And all of these things are ultimately limited by one very important thing, and that is the tank engine!

In the history of World War I, tanks only had gasoline engines and no diesel engines, and diesel injection technology was only available in 1922. And tanks in World War I, how to say it. The speed is really slow, and the stroke and stability are enough. FOR EXAMPLE, THE BRITISH TYPE 1 TANK, WHICH IS ARMED WITH TWO SHORT-BARRELED 57MM GUNS. The big guy with 4 machine guns and 8 crew members weighed 28 tons. As a result, only one gasoline engine with an output of 77 kilowatts was used! THE MAXIMUM SPEED IS ONLY 6KM PER HOUR, AND THE JOURNEY DOES NOT EXCEED 50KM. Add to that the fact that the anchor rate is as high as nearly half, well, this thing can only be used to break through the battle line. By the later period, the maximum engine that Britain equipped with for its follow-up vehicles was only 92 kilowatts.

Similarly, the tanks of the Germans suffered from a power dilemma, the German A7V tank. THIS ONE WAS ARMED WITH A 57MM GUN AND 6 MACHINE GUNS. The big guy with 18 crew members is also a steel fortress that can only move slowly, and he is equipped with two Daimler 4-cylinder vertical water-cooled gasoline engines, each with a power of 73.5 kilowatts. Originally, the Germans planned to get a 147 kilowatt engine, but time did not allow, so they made do with two low-power engines. IT IS THEORETICALLY POSSIBLE TO REACH SPEEDS OF 8 TO 10 KM PER HOUR. But this speed is obviously still very slow.

"We need iron cavalry that can charge quickly and tear through our opponents, not mobile fortresses! It is not appropriate to deploy too many weapons on a tank, and they may break down halfway before they even enter the battlefield. We also need to send it back with precious battlefields. It's just a waste. "Anything can be described as a hundred flowers blooming at the beginning, and the same is true for tanks, what can be said about the early over-the-top track design, armored fortresses, multi-turret gods and so on, and multi-turret tanks also fought in the early days of World War 2. So in Germany, too, the design of a multi-turret tank appeared. But the German Army knew what it needed, and this bulky guy did not pass the test.

"Since the Franco-Prussian War. We need to face two fronts, and our army needs to face two different situations of war. One was engaged in war with the well-armed British and French legions in narrow Western Europe, while the other was engaged in a war of movement against the Russians on a vast land on the far Eastern Front. This led to the need for different equipment, and on the Western Front we needed weapons that could be as long and powerful as possible, while using them to destroy both defensive lines and armored vehicles. On the Eastern Front, we want speed and passability. The muddy land and bitter cold winds of Russia were even more terrible than their armies. Moltke said.

For this reason, when the German Army designed their steel behemoth, it specifically referred to the situation on two fronts to make a distinction. The weight of the battlefield on the Eastern Front against the Russian army is as light as possible, emphasizing speed, travel and stability, as well as maintainability. Their main battle tank for the Eastern Front has a tonnage of only 15 tons, is expected to have a 100-kilowatt engine, and a maximum road speed of 20 kilometers per hour, depending on the off-road situation. THE MAXIMUM TRAVEL IS EXPECTED TO BE 100KM. IT HAS A 50MM CANNON AND IS ARMED WITH TWO MACHINE GUNS. One was erected on top of the turret and one on the front of the hull. AND ON THE FRONT OF THE HULL THERE WAS A 40MM INCLINED ARMOR. AT THE SAME TIME, THE FRONTAL TURRET IS 50MM THICK. THE HULL SIDE ARMOR IS 30MM. The entire tank is operated by four people. The Germans named the tank the Lynx.

To accompany this tank, the Germans also specially adapted a half-track vehicle for use as an infantry fighting vehicle, which can only defend against shrapnel, but can carry a squad of personnel to fight on the battlefield with the tank attack. NORMALLY, THIS HALF-TRACK INFANTRY FIGHTING VEHICLE, CALLED THE WEASEL, IS EQUIPPED WITH ONLY 2 MACHINE GUNS, OR A 37MM GUN. IF NECESSARY, AN 82MM MORTAR CAN ALSO BE MOUNTED AS A SELF-PROPELLED GUN.

As for self-propelled guns? The Germans also did not bother to build new territory, mortars and infantry guns made do with the territory of half-tracks, and short-barreled howitzers with the territory of Bobcat tanks, the principle of which was to take care of performance in terms of being as productive as possible. The Germans in the war on the Eastern Front emphasized quantity first, mobility and reliability second, and quality at the bottom.

As for the Western Front tank, the Germans paid great attention to playing turtle shrinkage, plus it was a local operation, so it was more convenient to maintain and maintain. THE ENEMY WAS FRENCH HEAVY TROOPS, SO THE GERMANS INCREASED THE WEIGHT OF THE TANK TO 18 TONS, AND ABANDONED THE TURRET IN ORDER TO ACCOMMODATE A 75MM CANNON AS POWERFUL AS POSSIBLE, THIS TANK WAS PLANNED TO USE A 140 KILOWATT ENGINE, THE FRONTAL ARMOR THICKNESS WOULD REACH MORE THAN 50 MM, AND THE BODY WAS RELATIVELY LOW, A LONG 75MM GUN WAS LIKE A MOUNTED GUN. Although there was no turret, it had a thick hemispherical protrusion, which gave the gun the largest possible firing angle. Heavy armor and sharp artillery were the definition of this tank by the Germans. Eventually, the vehicle, named the Rhino, became the most reliable counter-assault weapon of the German Army on the Western Front.

IN ADDITION TO THESE THREE MAIN VEHICLES, THE GERMANS ALSO DEVELOPED A RENAULT-LIKE VEHICLE, WITH FRONTAL ARMOR OF ONLY 10MM AND A CREW OF ONLY TWO PEOPLE. THE ARMAMENT IS ALSO A MACHINE GUN OR A 37MM CANNON, AND THERE IS ALSO A FIRING HOLE IN THE FRONT THAT CAN BE USED BY THE DRIVER TO SHOOT WITH A SUBMACHINE GUN. The total weight of this vehicle is just over 6 tons. Or even throw it on a larger truck. Ah, the engine is only 32 kilowatts. As a professional anti-infantry weapon. Named a weasel-type light tank by the Germans. It was used to compensate for the lack of Bobcat tanks, and at the same time it could also be used against partisans. When Napoleon attacked Russia, the Russian Cossack cavalry took advantage of their mobility to give the French a lot of trouble. And the Germans clearly do not intend to repeat this sad history!

In addition to these mass-produced beasts, the Russians also designed several vehicles that were not very massive, but were used for a variety of purposes. For example, the Charizard is used for street fighting, which is equipped with a flamethrower with a range of about 50 meters. The whole body is equipped with armor, and the speed is not fast, but it is solid and durable. ANOTHER SELF-PROPELLED GUN, CALLED THE WASP, HAD A 150MM HEAVY INFANTRY GUN MOUNTED ON THE BOBCAT HULL. It works to deal with the strong support points in the Russian army's fortification area. Similar to the Vespa's role is a heavy mortar. ALSO BASED ON THE CHASSIS OF THE BOBCAT TANK, AN OPEN FIGHTING COMPARTMENT WAS SET, ON WHICH A 160MM HEAVY MORTAR WAS PLACED. The only difference was that with the Vespa self-propelled guns it could fire directly, and it was more powerful. At the same time, the cost is higher. Production is smaller, while the latter is a mass production product.

Combat vehicles with armor and tracks were called front-line combat vehicles in the German army, which meant that they were used as front-line assault forces. Since there are first-line vehicles, there will also be second-line vehicles responsible for support, which are almost unarmored and have a design concept very close to the truck guns of the Chinese Army. These vehicles will be based on standard trucks with various howitzers or cannons, with howitzer-armed vehicles supporting the front line as mobile artillery, and cannon-armed vehicles generally deployed on the Western Front as a complement to the Rhino tank destroyers for mobile defense.

In order to ensure that these expensive steel behemoths can function as well as possible in the muddy soil of the Eastern Front. The meticulous Germans also specially designed a number of special trailers and repair vehicles. In order to repair the combat vehicles that have been damaged due to various breakdowns or in a timely manner. In addition, the Germans used this as a basis to create some equipment that seemed strange at the time, such as mechanized bridge-building vehicles and minesweepers. Of course, there are not many professional minesweepers, and the vast majority of them are in the front of the tank with a huge minesweeper roll. Minesweepers are carried out by rolling them, while another specialized minesweeper is somewhat similar to the rollers of later generations. Because of the travel problem, this kind of roller-type minesweeper is more used in road minesweeping.

"We need to remember that although the armored forces are strong, we can't put everything on armored vehicles, our industry is not strong enough. And we are facing too many enemies. More importantly, we have scarce resources, especially oil. However, the armored forces are limited by many aspects such as power, so the situation is still unclear at present. I hope that everyone will not give up on the construction of conventional forces. Moltke Jr. repeatedly emphasized.

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 for the tip~~~. It's the end of the month, can you support the book friends who still have monthly passes? ? (To be continued......)