Chapter 1592 You Will Be Beaten for This

The 122mm tank gun has a huge caliber and is very powerful. Most of the tanks in active service in the German army cannot withstand a direct shot from this extremely righteous thing. Even if it is replaced with a monster with thick skin and flesh like the King Tiger or the Black Panther 2, once the type of ammunition is changed and high-explosive bombs are loaded, it will be "bombed" indiscriminately a few times, and even the toughest thing will be bombed into a cripple on the spot.

So is the 122 gun good enough?

Of course, this thing is an absolute weapon for large-scale cluster tank warfare. The more tanks in cluster warfare, the better the shortcomings of slow loading will be compensated. Malashenko is deeply touched by this.

Especially for a large-scale unit like the First Guards Tank Division of Stalin, when it is ready to fight the German stick on the front battlefield, it rarely encounters the situation of delayed combat due to slow loading.

So, in a sense, the 122 gun basically only has advantages in the eyes of Comrade Lao Ma, and there is no big problem.

However, this is only the case when the 122mm gun is mounted on a heavy tank.

If it is mounted on a medium tank, even if other issues are not mentioned, the ammunition capacity alone will definitely give you a headache.

For a vehicle as huge as the IS4 that Malashenko is currently riding, the total amount of ammunition for the main gun, including the first ammunition rack of the turret, is only 30 rounds.

Is 30 rounds a lot or a little?

Nonsense! Of course it is almost ridiculously little! You have to know that this is a 60-ton giant steel beast, and its size is extremely visually impactful and oppressive just by standing there. Such a large vehicle can only hold 30 rounds of ammunition at most, and just from this point you can imagine how much space the 122mm ammunition takes up.

The Tiger King, which is only slightly larger than the IS4 and weighs less than ten tons, has a standard ammunition capacity of 70 rounds for the entire vehicle, and this number is only under the "standard" situation.

If the German crew didn't mind the tragic death caused by the ammunition explosion and wanted to increase their endurance on the battlefield, they could also choose to squeeze a few or a dozen rounds of artillery shells into the huge space of the Tiger King.

The Tiger, which is only 4 tons lighter than the IS4, is even more exaggerated. The standard ammunition capacity of this thing is as high as 92 rounds. If it is overloaded, it can easily put down more than 100 rounds of artillery shells.

The ammunition capacity of 30 rounds is indeed too little, and Malashenko is also deeply touched by this.

Take the Cherkasy battle that just ended. What Malashenko was most impressed with was that almost as long as his troops fought a slightly fierce battle, the first thing they did after the battle was to replenish artillery shells.

The ammunition trucks that transport artillery shells must be available on call and quickly in place, and their priority is even much higher than the fuel supply trucks.

Sometimes they didn't refuel after three rounds, but the shells were replenished three times in a row.

Why? Of course, it is because the IS6, which is similar in size to the IS4, but with less armor and a slightly lighter combat weight of only a few tons, has only 30 rounds of ammunition for the entire vehicle. It is so real.

Do you think 30 rounds are too little? The previous generation IS2 has even less ammunition, only a pitiful 28 rounds. Where can you go to cry when driving the IS2?

The ammunition of a huge heavy tank is so little. Malashenko dare not imagine how many rounds can be loaded on such a mini T43.

To be honest, it is estimated that the total ammunition of the entire vehicle cannot even support a high-intensity battle. It is possible that there will be embarrassment when there is no ammunition in the middle of the battle and retreating to replenish ammunition.

If this joke really comes out, let alone our side, the Germans on the opposite side will laugh their heads off!

Upgrading firepower is very important, but it is not allowed to take things to this extent just because of upgrading firepower. It is really too much.

Facing the ammunition capacity issue raised by Malashenko, Morozov, who knew in advance that this was a big problem, also seemed a little embarrassed. After being stunned for several seconds, he spoke a little embarrassedly.

"This is indeed a problem. The preliminary calculation shows that the ammunition capacity is only 18 rounds for the time being. But we plan to make some optimizations and upgrades, and we can even try to change the split ammunition into a fixed ammunition to centrally place and accommodate more. At that time, the ammunition capacity will definitely increase a little, and it is expected to increase to more than 22 rounds."

22 rounds? Are you satisfied with 22 rounds?

My good brother Morozov, have you really never been to the battlefield, and you don’t have the concept of ammunition capacity in your mind?

Heavy tanks with a capacity of 30 rounds have reached the point where they need to replenish ammunition once after fighting a battle. You now have a medium tank with only 22 rounds of ammunition. Please think about it carefully. Can such a tank design plan pass the review? Who would allow a tank with only 22 rounds of ammunition to be equipped in the army? It would be strange if you don’t regard this as a traitor to the motherland!

Malashenko was almost speechless and could only shake his head with a helpless smile. After thinking for a while, he continued to explain to Morozov.

"122mm fixed shells? Comrade Morozov, this is crazy! I don't know what the situation is in other divisions, but if it is our division, I can assure you. If the loaders of our division knew that you were going to load 122mm fixed shells, which are much heavier than the sub-loading shells, in a medium tank with a smaller internal space than a heavy tank."

"It's no exaggeration to say that you will be beaten for this, Comrade Morozov, and you will be beaten black and blue. Don't expect those loaders whose arms are thicker than a little girl's thighs to be able to reason with you in a friendly manner after hearing this horrible news. You are pushing them to the edge of a cliff. There may be one or two with bad tempers who will fight you to death. I am serious."

""

Malachenko was indeed not joking with Morozov. Anyone who has worked as a loader in a Stalin heavy tank knows how "terrible" it is to continuously load 122mm split ammunition in high-intensity combat.

Now, Morozov doesn't even plan to use split ammunition. In order to improve the space utilization rate of the ammunition rack and carry more shells, he is going to directly use the 122mm fixed ammunition with an astonishing weight.

Do you want to kill people or what? Install this thing in the cramped internal space of the T43?

Come on, show me how to load it. You really don't have back pain until you go to the battlefield, right?

Morozov was speechless after being stunned by Malashenko's simple and straightforward truth. Morozov came to his senses after a while and realized that he seemed to be too obsessed with improving firepower immediately and ignored some equally important things. He spoke to Malashenko again with some embarrassment.

"I thought too simply, Comrade General. I took the problem too seriously."

He paused at this point, looked up at Malashenko again, and continued to speak.

"You are right, Comrade General. We should really consider 100 guns. This is the most realistic firepower upgrade plan."