Six Hundred and Three Weapons Gap
The number of German armored forces has been increasing, thanks to the fact that the German army can always find a large number of equipment to arm itself with its opponents: from the French b1 tanks to the Soviet t-26 tanks, they have all become the weapons of the German army equipment.
About 1,000 captured Soviet T-26 tanks were assigned to the second-line German troops for training and daily security tasks. In the J Army, General Hawke had about 300 such disposable weapons and equipment . The Germans did not plan to use these weapons for a long time. In fact, another 100 tanks were issued to the troops as spare parts. If these parts were used up, then these tanks would be scrapped as scheduled. The Germans used the t-26 as an armored reconnaissance vehicle, including against some guerrillas who did not have heavy firepower.
At the same time, about 500 other tanks were sent to Poland for modification. These light t-26 tanks will eventually have to dismantle the turret and the upper armor to form an open environment, so that the German 105 howitzer can be installed, and it will become a self-propelled weapon that the German army urgently needs. Howitzers are issued to troops. The German army found a good home for these 500 self-propelled howitzers, and that is the J Group Army that also applies to the T-26.
The German army's own self-propelled howitzers are divided into two types, one is the 105mm caliber self-propelled howitzer of the No. 3 tank chassis, and the other is the 150mm caliber self-propelled howitzer improved by the most advanced Leopard tank chassis. These two types of artillery are now in short supply in the armored forces, and everyone is queuing up to equip and distribute troops.
Especially the self-propelled howitzer with a caliber of 150 mm, because the Leopard tank has no reason to stop production, so the production capacity simply cannot meet the requirements of the army. Panther chassis production has increased three times, but Panther production is declining. There is no other reason, it is precisely because the various self-propelled artillery of the German army occupies a large number of production resources.
There are already many weapon systems developed on the chassis of the Leopard tank, such as the Leopard bridge-building vehicle, the Leopard emergency repair vehicle, the Leopard command vehicle, the Leopard 4-unit 40mm caliber self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, and the Leopard 75mm caliber assault vehicle. Cannon, Leopard 150mm caliber howitzer, Leopard 130mm caliber rocket launcher - if you add the front and rear 3 Leopard tanks with different armor thickness, no less than 10 deformed vehicles have been derived on one chassis.
It can be said that the chassis of the Panther tank has now become the carrier of Germany's second largest series of weapons. Some of the German armored units did not have Tiger tanks, some did not have Panzer 3 tanks, and those refitted seized materials were even rarer, but only Panther tanks could be seen wherever there were German tank units.
The extensive use of mature technology has made the improvement and use of the Panther tank chassis a great success. The mature technology has kept the failure rate of the German armored forces in a low state, and the maintenance speed is also faster because of the universal equipment. Now any mechanic from the German armored forces can solve more than half of the technical failures of the Leopard tank.
But the production of Leopard tanks is indeed decreasing. At its peak, the German army produced 3,000 Leopard tanks a year.
But now German records show that the production of Leopard tanks by the German army in the next year will drop to about 1,700. The main reason is that the production of the Leopard A-type tank with a thinner front armor plate has been discontinued, and the chassis of the Leopard 150mm caliber howitzer has begun to be fully supplied. And part of the chassis of the Panther B tank with thicker armor was also appropriated for the Panther 75mm caliber assault gun.
On the contrary, the production of German Tiger tanks is steadily increasing. According to the current production line capacity calculation, the German army will add 2,700 Tiger tanks in the next year, and these new Tiger tanks are all thickened front armor. Improved type. The German army is reducing the proportion of its Panther tanks in the army's equipment, and its production capacity is gradually tilting towards the more advanced Tiger tanks.
After being tested, the chassis of the King Tiger tank completely conquered the tank experts and designers of the German army. This kind of low-slung tank with slightly asymmetrical torsion bar suspension and rear engine transmission makes everyone fall in love with it. crazy. Almost all the design concepts of modern tanks are reflected in the King Tiger tank, such as 6 pairs of wide road wheels and a better bulletproof shape. Even after reading it, Akado thinks that this is definitely the T-64 tank chassis. Moreover, the weight between the two is also relatively close. The estimated weight of the German King Tiger tank is about 38 tons, and the total weight of the T-64 tank is also around 40 tons.
However, the tank designers of the German army finally persuaded the head of state Akado, so that the head of the "stubborn favorite medium tank" was forced to compromise, allowing the total weight of the German King Tiger tank to increase to an unprecedented 45 tons. However, several designers, including Colonel Demond, have confidence in Germany's current engine technology. They privately feel that the King Tiger tank can be properly increased. 48 tons is definitely a weight that everyone recognizes.
These German tank designers did not understand the inconsistent performance of the head of state Akado on tank design: in 1925, the German future tank that was secretly developed was originally only a pitiful 5 tons, but the head of state directly Negating this design, he proposed that a heavier and larger tank must be designed.
As a result, when the German tank designers took out the No. 2 tank weighing 8 tons, the head of state was still not satisfied. He even ordered a batch of No. 2 tanks to start production after symbolically ordering a batch of No. 2 tanks for the purpose of training the troops in advance. A heavier Panzer III. So the weight of German tanks began to leap forward-increasing the weight of the tank from 5 tons to more than 20 tons in the shortest time.
The subsequent Leopard tank can be called a classic of world tank design. The German tank is completely superior to the others. With a weight of about 30 tons, it has completed the balance of the three aspects of armor protection, maneuverability and superior firepower. The number one hero. Rennes, the number one tank ace at the time, even achieved an amazing record of destroying 22 tanks with one tank in the Battle of Stone.
Everyone has seen the far-sightedness of the head of state, and everyone has seen the approach of heavy tanks, so when the head of state ordered the production of Tiger tanks, no one felt strange. Krupp even felt that the order was issued a bit late. The factory has already been prepared to help the German army maintain the title of the world's number one tank quality.
However, after the design of the Tiger King tank began, the head of state changed his previous habit of requiring the tank to be bigger and heavier, and instead asked to limit the weight of the tank. He ordered that the armor protection level of the King Tiger tank should be higher than that of the Tiger tank, and there is no need to deliberately pursue a qualitative leap. On the contrary, Akado became keen to develop a 105-caliber tank gun to deal with the new Soviet tanks with thicker and thicker armor.
He ordered the research on the improvement of artillery power in three directions at the same time, one is the improvement of new shells based on the development of new materials; the other is the research on the improvement of the caliber and barrel length of the artillery; To achieve the purpose of enhancing the power of artillery. In the end, based on cost considerations, Akado chose the first shell improvement and the third caliber upgrade to improve the anti-tank capabilities of the German armored forces.
Now the evaluation and improvement of the King Tiger tank has reached the final stage. The entire chassis can be said to be seamless. Akado knows that this shape will not be outdated even if it was used in the 1970s. It can be said that the birth of this chassis made German tanks in the The chassis is already invincible.
Next, there are only two research directions for his designers-more advanced composite armor and a more advanced fire control system. These two things are combined with powerful 105mm smoothbore guns, at least before 1970 , there is no need to think about replacing the tank.
Long-term accumulation does not seem to have any effect. German tanks and planes show signs of being pulled into the gap by their opponents, but Accado understands in his heart that it seems that the distance is constantly being pulled, but in fact German technology is slowing down. Step into a leap stage, and the opponent's barely catching up with outdated technology will show fatigue within the next year.
Some technologies can be replaced by outdated technologies, which may not show any clues in a short period of time, and even strange phenomena may appear that outdated technologies perform better. However, as time goes by, the gap will gradually become apparent, and when the lagging party wants to catch up again, it will fall into the embarrassing situation of complete collapse due to the lack of technology accumulation process.
A simple example is that in the 1970s, the Soviet Union used backward electronic components to develop new fighter jets, and the performance of the MiG 25 made the Western world panic for a long time. However, when the new generation of fighter jets in the United States began to enter service, the technological lag of the Soviet Union was exposed, which directly led to the backwardness of the electronic equipment of Soviet weapons and equipment in the following decades.
Akado's scientific and technological reserves are already very strong. He just needs one to two years to develop these immature technologies into mature technologies with higher reliability. By that time, some epoch-making monsters It will appear on the battlefield, change the appearance of the entire battlefield once again, and let the German army once again lead the world-and this time, no one will be able to pull the distance in a short time, because the technical reserves of other countries have been exhausted .
Once the German King Tiger tank appears on the battlefield, relying on the night vision system of infrared technology, the German army will gain an absolute advantage on the land battlefield at night. During the long night, the German army will be able to annihilate the opponent's vital forces by hundreds and thousands, and then at dawn Quit the battle safely before arriving. Akado would like to know, facing such an invincible German armored force in night battles, what tanks can the Soviets rely on to make a comeback?