Chapter 507: Former "Minister of the Navy"

Charles originally planned to completely hand over the rifle design to Dominic and Browning, which could also be regarded as a kind of tempering and test for Dominic.

However, the impending crisis forced him to "speed up".

In the FN Arsenal conference room, Browning and Dominic gathered together and stared at the sketch in front of them.

Browning opened his eyes and watched carefully, not missing every detail. The expression on his face was very complicated, sometimes confused and sometimes surprised. Occasionally he raised his head and looked at Charles, his eyes full of disbelief.

After a while, Browning put down the sketch and sighed: "General, is this your design?"

Charles nodded: "The drawing on the car is not very accurate."

This once again shocked Browning beyond measure. Was it painted on the car?

Antwerp is only 59 kilometers away from Ghent. If the speed is fast enough, it will not take an hour. How can such a complex rifle be designed in one hour?

The point is, everything looks reasonable and perfect, just like a mass-produced product that has been finalized after countless tests and countless modifications.

Browning's guess was correct. What Charles gave was the design drawing of the finalized mass-produced product, the M1 Garand rifle.

This rifle is not difficult on the surface, but the point is that it is used to eliminate bolt-action rifles. Infantrymen almost require one to have one, and millions of them are produced once produced.

With such a large quantity, if there is any problem, even a small problem, it may cause huge irreparable losses.

Therefore, the United States spent more than ten years testing modifications before it finally looked like a finished product.

(The picture above shows the M1 Garand semi-automatic rifle. It was designed in 1919 and successfully developed in 1921. However, it was not officially put into production until the pressure of war in 1937. During this period, it was continuously tested and modified for 16 years.)

What Charles gave is the final version of the Garand rifle, which is basically a one-step process and omits all the intermediate processes.

The reason why it is called "basic" is because Charles can only roughly determine the handguard, ammunition capacity, magazine and other data, but cannot detail every internal part.

However, these are not difficult for Browning, who has designed semi-automatic shotguns.

"I hope this is a rifle based on new legal ammunition." Charles said: "7.5MM rimless rifle ammunition. Due to the emergency military situation, I hope it can enter mass production next month."

"This is impossible." Browning exclaimed: "General, you don't know what mass production means. We must be cautious enough about this..."

"We urgently need this rifle, sir." Charles reminded: "I know you want more time to test, but I think the best testing ground is the battlefield. This is war time, and we cannot place our hopes like in peacetime. Please change it before using it.”

This is different from the situation that the United States has been revising for more than ten years. During that time, the United States was not under the pressure of war and had time and conditions to revise.

What's more, what Ciel gave was a finished product, and there weren't many places that needed modification.

Then Charles added: "We can produce it in small batches, sir. We will only equip my troops. The first batch is set at... ten thousand."

Charles is considering equipping mechanized divisions, and they need to improve their long-range firepower.

Browning nodded: "No problem, General, but I can't guarantee its quality."

"Of course." Charles replied, glancing at Dominic next to Browning.

Dominic was relaxed throughout and knew what to expect.

One day, after Browning produced the gun and tested it, he would exclaim, "My God, it needs almost no modifications, it's just the way it should be!"

Dominic has seen this kind of thing so often that he is used to it.

This may be the difference between genius and hard work. Dominic sighed, no matter how hard he tried, he could not surpass Ciel's ceiling.

…

After doing this, Charles felt more relieved.

The reason why he was so anxious was that the next war was likely to be the "Battle of the Somme" led by the British.

This battle in history was launched to reduce the pressure in the direction of Verdun, and it was also the British's hope to show their strength on the battlefield and overwhelm the French army.

However, under the fire of a large number of German heavy machine guns, the British set a record for the highest casualties in human history: 60,000 casualties in one day.

What would happen if our own armored forces faced such an enemy?

bomber?

The German heavy machine guns were deployed on the move. They first hid in the trenches to avoid the artillery fire, and then brought the machine guns up when the enemy came up. The bombers would obviously be useless.

tank?

The Germans would dig one or more deep anti-tank trenches in front of the trenches. The tanks could not cross, and the infantry had to move forward to clear the obstacles.

Mortar?

At this time, the range of the mortar was only a few hundred meters, but the range of the Maxim machine gun was one thousand meters!

After much deliberation, Charles believed that only semi-automatic rifles could suppress a machine gun on the opposite side.

Coupled with the firepower of our own light and heavy machine guns and tanks, it is possible to win this battle.

Before we knew it, the car had driven into the airport.

Charles was almost asleep. He yawned in a daze and stepped out of the car. He saw several British officers standing on the open airport. They pointed at the aircraft and observed the fighter jets with interest. Take-off and landing conditions.

what the hell? Charles thought, Lieutenant General Ives hasn't left yet?

However, Charles immediately found out that he was wrong. The lieutenant general in the lead was wearing a navy uniform, but the captain beside him was from the army.

Before Charles could react, the naval officer noticed this and waved to Charles from a distance, shouting in the rumble of the aircraft engine: "Hey, major general, we have been waiting for you for a long time!"

Charles then recognized that it was General Winter.

No wonder they were interested in aircraft. The British Navy was not a group of people who refused to accept new equipment, otherwise there would be no dreadnoughts and no aircraft carriers.

(Note: The world's first aircraft carrier is generally believed to be the "Hundred-eyed Giant" developed by Britain in 1916)

Charles lazily greeted General Winter and asked as he walked: "Is there anything, General? Has the finishing work of the Dardanelles been completed?"

This was Charles's advice, and General Winter finally listened to it, and then began to withdraw the troops from the Dardanelles.

"Almost done." General Winter replied, and greeted him with the army captain beside him.

What surprised Charles was that General Winter was very respectful to the army captain.

And the army captain looked familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before.

Walking up to him, General Winter introduced: "This is the former 'Secretary of the Navy', Major General, he wants to meet you."

Charles was stunned for a moment, the former "Secretary of the Navy"?

Army Captain?