8:50 a.m

After a short period of preparation, the tank battalion, led by 10 tanks, entered the German position along the gap, spewing heavy artillery fire along the way, and it took less than 10 minutes to completely crush the remnants of the German 11th Division, which was struggling to support.

Subsequently, a large number of infantry poured in with the tanks, and the shouts of killing were deafening, and the Germans who fled for their lives were chased all over the mountains, and they were knocked to the ground one by one.

9:0

More armored units swept into the rear of the German line along the open passage, sweeping towards the northwest like a rolling tide of rage, shelling and machine-gun fire along the way, stirring up the rear of the German First Army's defense line into a miasma.

Take this opportunity

The main force of the French 5th Army and the British Expeditionary Force worked together to defeat the German First Army on a frontal front of more than 70 kilometers wide, and the German army retreated more than 0 kilometers in confusion and returned to the line from Loison to Verdun before stopping.

post-war inspection losses,

On this day alone, the German army suffered more than 70,000 casualties again, and the British and French troops suffered 58,700 casualties, and the British and French forces won an outright victory.

The most important thing is that the Anglo-French coalition broke the strategic dream of Germany's "Schlieffen Plan" for a quick victory, dragged this European war into the quagmire of a long war, won a chance for France, and did not let the Germans succeed.

The British and French, who celebrated after the victory, had no idea that a victory at the Battle of the Marne would mean nothing, and that more brutal battles were yet to come, and that victory in the war was far away.

Two weeks later

Speaking of the British Navy's 2nd Marine Division, which was resting in the port of Marseille, welcomed their new equipment, the British Mark II and III cruisers, which were strange-looking diamond-shaped steel monsters, codenamed MK and MK, and were the product of many improvements.

This is the army tank funded by the British Royal Navy, which was researched and manufactured by the British Foster Company, and has extremely distinctive characteristics.

Tank armored vehicles in the "wool war" period in the limelight, which caused Britain, France and Germany and other countries to pay great attention to invest in the research and development of their own tank products, also appeared several years earlier than the original historical period.

William Triton, the president of the Foster Company, worked closely with Walter Gordon, a naval engineer who had worked on automobile design, to assemble the first tracked armored trench crosser, named "Little Willy" by Wilson's nickname, in the first year after the end of the Wool War.

The "Little Willy" tank had a very strange appearance, like two tracks carrying a large coffin.

It weighs 16.5 tons, can accommodate 6 people, and is equipped with a Men Vickers gun. Due to the bulky and unreasonable design of this tank, the walking speed is very slow, and it can only walk for an hour. Kilometer.

Such performance obviously did not meet the operational needs, and later, on the basis of the "Little Willy", it was transformed and developed into the "Big Willy", that is, the MK1 tank.

The "Big Willy" is heavier and larger than the "Little Willy", with a length of 9.94 meters, a width of 4. meters, a weight of 7 tons, and a seat of 8 people. The shape was changed from the original coffin to a diamond shape, the speed was increased to 6 kilometers per hour, and the maximum cruising capacity was 8 kilometers.

After the finished product was manufactured, the British Army ordered 80 of them, and after testing they were still not satisfied with their performance, and all of these early tanks were destroyed in the border battles, most of which were destroyed by the German Cheetah medium tanks, which were simply clumsy targets on the battlefield.

MK and MK are successor modifications, weighing 8.6 tons, can carry 9 combatants, is still the iconic diamond shape of the Mark tank, equipped with two overhead tracks, using two Australian imported 6-cylinder diesel engines respectively, the speed is increased to 1 km/h, the maximum range is 65 km, this is a tank model that the British Army is very satisfied with, so a large order for 450 units was placed.

It was these tanks that were transported to the port of Marseille to reequip the 2nd Marine Division, which had distinguished itself in the Battle of the Marne, and a total of 90 cruiser tanks for a tank regiment.

The British armoured tank unit was relatively small, with three tanks per platoon, four platoons under one company, plus two company command tanks, a tank company with a total of 14 tanks, and a British tank battalion, with a total of 45 tanks.

A tank regiment consists of two tank battalions and a mixed battalion, which consists of a light reconnaissance tank company, a guard company, a repair company, a communications platoon, and an engineer platoon.

And in the formation of the armored forces of the Ocean Empire, a tank company tank.

"Your Excellency, I have to report to you the problem of the bad new equipment, these Mark tanks are nothing short of a disaster, this tank is very noisy, the shock absorption is very poor, and the ventilation is not good, it is very stuffy, and the soldiers sitting in it are simply suffering like hell."

It was Colonel Enzo who was venting his bitterness at Major General Li Jianyang, and the 2nd Sahara Cavalry Regiment to which he belonged was a tank reorganization unit, and was currently transferring gunners from the whole division to train drivers and carry out tank and armored vehicle reorganization training.

Many of them were veterans who had piloted imported Cheetah medium tanks, and compared to the two, the soldiers were simply full of British tanks.

Major General Li Jianyang held a red wine glass in his hand, frowned when he heard this, looked at Brigadier General Bertrand, the commander of the Saharan cavalry brigade who accompanied Colonel Enzo, and asked; "Sounds terrible, do you see it that way?"

"To be honest, I think it's worse than Colonel Enzo said." Brigadier General Bertrand frowned, and said with a bitter and hateful look; "We should have stuffed the designers and builders of this tank into the tank and subjected them to the constant noise and violent jolting of steel, which is simply anti-human design.

I sat in it myself and experienced it, and I threw up after 15 minutes.

Can you imagine?

This damn steel thing didn't even have a damping design, just brick-thick rubber pads underneath both engines, without considering any occupant-friendly design.

I've asked the factory's technical support staff about this, and their answers are even more infuriating. ”

"Oh...... How do they answer? Major General Li Jianyang asked with interest.

Brigadier General Trande took the red wine glass in his hand and drank it down, chewing twice in his mouth, as if ready to chew up the hateful factory technicians, and then said;

"I told them; As the chariot moved, it was like a hammer striking in the ear, and they replied; It's good to get used to it, but it's really not good to stuff cotton in your ears.

I told them; The chariot shook as it moved, from its face to its buttocks, and there was no way to fight in such a situation.

They replied; You always have to stop when you're fighting, and that's when it's fine. If you really can't do it, you can drive it slower.

I told them; When you fire a cannon inside a tank, all the smoke from the propellant pours in, and you can choke people to death with two shots, and the heat is too hot to ventilate, so it can't be dispersed at all.

They replied; This is a problem with the design of the artillery, which should go to Armstrong Arms to solve.

God, I want to kill them. ”

Hearing so many questions, Major General Li Jianyang couldn't help but look serious, and after thinking about it, he asked with some doubts; "Other army units are also equipped with Mark tanks, didn't they see a problem?"

"Perhaps...... It's because they haven't used a better Cheetah tank, right? Brigadier General Bertrand replied in a harsh tone, and then added; I beg your pardon for my blunt remarks, Your Excellency Lord, with such a tank we have no way to defeat the Germans. ”

No comparison hurts, and that should be the only correct answer.

Major General Li Jianyang was dumbfounded; “……”

You make so much sense that I can't even refute it.

The British Mark tank uses two overhead tracks to wrap the entire diamond-shaped tank, which has a fatal flaw in the tire belt, that is, it cannot install enough shock absorption system, and can only let the tank and the ground collide hard.

Unless the original design is completely overturned and a completely new tank is redesigned to produce a completely new tank, this fatal flaw cannot be changed at all.

This is relatively acceptable when the tank is traveling at a speed of ~4 kilometers per hour, and if it is driven at full power to a speed of more than 10 kilometers per hour, the "clanging" is like a hammer slamming the iron plate in the ear, and the members of the tank have suffered an old sin because of the resonance effect.

This design without shock absorption and cushioning makes the components easily damaged and unreliable, and the combat environment is extremely harsh, requiring soldiers to have the same tenacity and endurance as steel. Thirdly, the speed is severely limited, even if the horsepower is enough, it cannot drive to a faster speed, which seriously limits the maneuverability of the tank.

It is not surprising that although Britain's industrial strength is strong, it has only been four or five years to design and produce tanks, and there are many shortcomings.

The Ocean Empire is different, it has been 6 years of designing and producing tanks, and after repeated use and long-term verification, countless scientific and technological improvements and innovations have been carried out, and many details can only be known after experience, and the gap is too big.

Take the Cheetah medium tank, for example;

The maximum driving speed on the road can reach 8 km/h, but thanks to the design of a complete shock absorption system, a certain level of comfort can be maintained. Its maximum off-road speed can reach 6 kilometers, and although it is just as stuffy to sit in, all kinds of mechanical noise are extremely noisy, but you can still hear it talking loudly at the top of your voice.

When sitting in the tank off-road, the crew was also shaken and staggered, but they could endure it by holding on to what they were around, and they gritted their teeth and persevered.

The tank gun is designed with a smoke sheath, and each time the gun is fired, 8 percent of the propellant smoke can be pulled out of the muzzle, and the remaining gunpowder smoke can be endured and passed.

Excellent design is reflected in the details, which accumulate into an excellent product, which is obviously a height that the British cannot reach for the time being, no wonder the tank crews complain.

I thought about it

Li Jianyang explained with a solemn expression; "Mr. Brigadier General Bertrand, I hope that you will be able to organize your men and make it more convincing to list the disadvantages of using this tank one by one.

The Mark tank is related to the combat effectiveness of the troops, and this matter cannot be sloppy.

The Saharan Cavalry Regiment, as the experimental unit of the tank and armoured corps, has unrivalled experience in this area, and it is necessary to produce a complete and detailed report, which I will personally present to the Admiralty and the British Expeditionary Force Command.

It is possible that in order to strengthen the convincing force, I will invite the designers of the Mark tank, senior officials of the Admiralty and the Army to come and experience for themselves the differences between the two tanks, so as to draw a fair conclusion.

You organize people to write the report as soon as possible, and I pass on my opinions to the upper peak through my own channels, and we do it at the same time. ”

"Understood, Your Excellency, your will will be carried out." Brigadier General Bertrand and Colonel Enzo raised their hands at the same time to express their gratitude.

For a commander who is sympathetic to officers and soldiers, it is impossible to overestimate the respect. (To be continued)

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