Australian Storm 1876

   Chapter 862 150 Vehicles

  One or three T-2 tanks ran fast on the testing ground, and a cloud of smoke was thrown up wherever they passed. The strong roar of the engine was accompanied by the sound of the steel tracks colliding.

   Laymen watch the fun, and experts watch the doorway.

   The one who is most familiar with tank equipment is Major Bian Chunsong, the commander of the Honorary Great Red First Division. He held the binoculars and stared at the fast-moving tanks in the testing field, his hands trembling slightly.

Under the blessing of the powerful torsion bar suspension, the 27.2-ton T-2 tank soared at a speed of 40 kilometers per hour on the field. Under the strong crawler rotation, it threw the muddy sand and gravel backwards for 10 times. Mi Yuan, Benz all the way forward.

No matter whether it is trenches, bumpy roads, or muddy roads with accumulated cement, they cannot stop this steel giant from running wildly. The 5 pairs of road wheels evenly bear the huge instantaneous impact force during driving, and then transmit the pressure evenly to the wide track. Extremely dazzling.

   During forward driving, the tank turret can also rotate freely left and right.

This shows what;

   shows that the chassis design of the T-2 tank has achieved great success and is highly mature.

   When crossing obstacles, the car body has a wide range of pitch, but there is very little roll state, indicating that the weight distribution of the tank is very scientific, and the center of gravity is low, which is conducive to quickly entering the combat state after parking.

   Overall, this was a very good and successful design, exceeding the design specifications issued by the War Department.

   In the field of armored forces in today's world, Major General Bian Chunsong is an uncompromising authority. The armored army tutorials and tactics he wrote are advanced training materials for senior officers, and only officers above the colonel can get access to them during training sessions, and the level of confidentiality is very high.

  Across the world

  Since the Australian Civil War in 1890, the wolf light tank first appeared and achieved dazzling results. Tank armored vehicles have been shown to the world ahead of the original era.

   However, the development of tanks and armored vehicles has not received the attention of European army powers. The development is quite slow, and the degree of attention is not high. The reason is that the cost of equipment is too high.

this age

  It is not that advanced weapons can be favored by the armies of various countries. The Maxine heavy machine gun has not been the mainstream of European army equipment for decades since it came out. It is because this heavy machine gun fires too fast, wastes bullets, and has a low cost-effectiveness ratio.

This kind of cognition not only stays in the relatively backward powers such as Tsarist Russia, Fuso, Austro-Hungarian Empire and Ottoman Empire, but also in Britain, which stubbornly adheres to tradition, France, which has always been arrogant and arrogant, and the army of Citiland, which is more salty. mainstream perception.

   They would rather be equipped with a single-shot rifle than a repeating rifle, because the same reason is too waste of bullets.

  Can destroy an enemy with one bullet, why do you want to swipe with a "dududu" shot?

Don't    bullets cost money?

The only exception    is the German Army, which began to attach great importance to the use of heavy machine guns, and began to equip the troops extensively, and for this purpose accumulated a high base of ammunition.

  Tank armored vehicles are facing the same situation. Everyone knows that this is a good idea, but on the issue of research and development and equipment, there is no consensus.

In the final analysis, human life is worthless in this era. The cost of equipping one cavalry division can be equipped with 5 infantry divisions, and the cost of equipping one tank division can be equipped with 6 cavalry divisions (especially the cheetah medium tank, the cost of equipping the T-2 tank is even higher. several times), the cost is too great.

   The industrial countries with weaker assets in Europe cannot afford to equip them, not to mention the countries like Tsarist Russia, which are not equipped with rifles. Such expensive things are really unthinkable.

   It’s obvious that every soldier can issue a rifle to solve the problem, why do you have to work with the army?

  In the European military theory circle, there are also some cutting-edge discussions on the new equipment of tanks. The British divide tanks into two types: cruise tanks and infantry tanks.

A cruiser tank is a heavy tank used to destroy cities and villages. It is equipped with medium and large-caliber field guns. It does not require high mobility, but it must have strong damage ability and high armor defense. Strike in the base area.

The    infantry tank is a light tank, which can accompany the infantry to attack and provide a certain amount of fire support. It is one of the means to strengthen the attack power of the infantry unit.

  The French military theory divides tanks into three types: reconnaissance tanks, cavalry tanks and heavy tanks, with different roles.

  In the forefront of French military theory, it is believed that light reconnaissance tanks are responsible for scouting enemies and reconnaissance, suppressing small groups of light infantry, and fighting with the main infantry troops. For example, the wolf light tank of the Ocean Empire is equipped with heavy machine guns to perform the functions of reconnaissance tanks.

  The task of breakthrough and infiltration is done by cavalry tanks, which are higher-level tanks equipped with small-caliber artillery and have strong combat capabilities.

   And the cover for the infantry is done by heavy tanks with heavy armor, breaking through obstacles, and using them as sharp knives for the infantry.

  The above theory can be seen that both the United Kingdom and the United States use tanks as subordinate equipment of infantry units, and their purpose is also to cooperate with infantry in combat, rather than forming a separate army and using it as an independent armored strike force.

   At this point, it is different from the demands of the Ocean Empire to use armored troops.

The Ocean Empire took the lead in using tank armored vehicles in the Australian Civil War. Under Li Fushou's intentional or unintentional guidance, the tank battalion at that time, coupled with the armored vehicles transformed by Li Shuanzhu, the former commander of the Dahong 1st Division, were used intensively to form an indestructible armored vehicle. The strike force, in the Battle of Consby Plateau, defeated the world in one fell swoop and achieved great success.

   Since then, in the Battle of Sydney and the Battle of Melbourne, the tank armored forces were used intensively and exerted great power, thus forming the unique concept of the Ocean Empire Army armored forces.

   That is, the armored troops are used intensively and form an independent army. As a powerful fist force in the army, it is responsible for breaking through key defensive areas. Referring to the combat concept of heavy cavalry, it implements large-scale interspersed division and encirclement, and strikes the enemy's heavy army group.

   The Honorary First Division of the Imperial Army and the Fourth Division (Tank Division) of the Royal Guards came into being, which were a direct product of this theory of tank armour.

   Major General Bian Chunsong, as a theoretical authority and practitioner in this field, perfected the construction of relevant operational regulations and tactical theory, and completed the last piece of the puzzle for the construction of tank and armored forces.

From the original wolf light tank ~ to the cheetah medium tank ~ to the latest T-2 tank, they are all products born to adapt to the army's tank theory. Among the three major elements of firepower, mobility and defense, the emphasis is on Mobility and defense, firepower is placed third.

  Think about it

  The development strategies of the main battle equipment of the navy and the army of the Ocean Empire have surprisingly overlapped. They both put speed and defense in the top two, and firepower in the third place.

   This amazing coincidence has its contingency and inevitability. The internal logic is that you can take the lead in the card position by virtue of the speed advantage. If you can't beat it, at least you have to run and escape.

  It is easy to understand that the defensive power is ranked second, that is, it is a punch.

  The firepower is not required to be high. For the army tank armored troops, too strong targets can be destroyed by field heavy artillery and self-propelled heavy artillery, without having to rush the ducks to the shelves.

This is diametrically opposed to the theory of British tank armor development. In the British frontier military theory, it is believed that cruise tanks should be equipped with at least two 57mm artillery guns, 5~6 machine guns, and be controlled by soldiers of a squad, thus becoming the face of the battlefield. Big killer.

  In all countries in the world today, the research and development of tanks and armored vehicles lags far behind the theory, and many projects are still in the demonstration stage. There is no semicolon for the only one that attaches great importance to the Ocean Empire.

   This is because under certain historical circumstances, the Ocean Empire has advantages that other countries cannot match.

   First of all, the upper echelons of the empire attach great importance to tank research and development projects.

Secondly, due to the geographical advantage of the country, the Army has no real enemy and has not participated in the war for 15 years. ), in addition to maintaining the existing equipment and training, the Royal Army has a sufficient budget to invest in tank research and development projects, which cost more than 2 million Jinyang of high research and development funds every year for many years.

Throughout Europe, there are no such good conditions for purchasing powerhouses. The British Army was beaten to the ground in the second Anglo-Boers War that ended not long ago, and it has drawn a huge deficit in its finances. Moreover, it has to use troops all over the world. half to use.

  Tsarist Russia and Fusang will not talk about it, and the poor in the army must be pants.

   In order to maintain the balance of power in Europe, France has always maintained an army force of up to 800,000 people, and it has to pay for the Tsarist Russia, which is financially stretched.

  Italy, Austro-Hungarian Empire and Ottoman Empire are all semi-industrialized and semi-agricultural countries. They do not have the conditions to install expensive tanks and armored weapons. Their military theory is relatively backward, and they belong to the powerless type.

  Only the German Empire with rapid economic development has the conditions and is willing to develop tanks and armored vehicles, but they do a good job of keeping secrets. Even allies such as Italy and Austria-Hungary do not know whether there are any tank research projects.

The remaining Citizens of Salted Fish have only two divisions with more than 30,000 troops in total, and one of them is a cavalry division. Due to its superior geographical location in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, the surrounding areas are all war scum, which is also unrealistic. Threats, of course, will not spend money to do useless work.

   It is truly unique to have spare money and spare time like the Ocean Empire.

   more than an hour later

   On the proving ground, the tanks were still running at high speed, and none of the three prototypes lost their chains. This reliability has made the army officers present very satisfied.

  Mo Rufeng glanced at Major General Bian Chunsong who was sitting next to him, and said with a smile at the corner of his eyes; "Mr. Bian, are you satisfied with the performance of the T2 tank?"

"Report Junzuo, I can't help but want to drive this powerful tank across the battlefield. As long as you give me a regiment of T-2 tanks and two regiments of cheetah tanks, I can lead them to shred 100,000 heavy soldiers. Group, to bring you a decisive victory."

"Hehehe...it's good to have confidence, but after the T-2 tank is finalized, it can't be mass-produced. This requires the full cooperation of other industrial departments, and also depends on the Ministry of War. The amount of equipment funds that can be allocated each year is estimated. Not much!"

   "Master Junzuo, I believe that this kind of powerful army weapons and equipment should be sooner rather than later. It is said that there is food in hand, so don't panic."

"Hmph, you're eating the ashes of the grass, and you're putting on a light fart." Admiral Mo Rufeng rolled his eyes and blocked Bian Chunsong back in one sentence; "How expensive is this tank? The price of a T2 tank is about More than 80,000 Jinyang, this money can buy more than 7,000 advanced rifles, equip a whole division, can buy 600 Mark Mi heavy machine guns, how many regiments can I equip?"

"Junzuo, the account is not calculated like this. Only by mass-producing equipment can the price of tanks be reduced. If you want to equip 100 units, you can reduce the price by 1/3. If you equip 250 units, you can reduce the price of the tank. The price has been reduced by more than half. If you don’t equip so much R&D funds, you may be lost in the water.”

"Hmph, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has provided half of the R&D funds, not all of which are borne by the Ministry of the Army, but we have to pay for the equipment ourselves. Of course, we need to save a little." Speaking of which, Mo Rufeng went up The general patted Major General Bian Chunsong on the shoulder and continued with a kind expression; "Don't worry, it is estimated that you can equip a dozen units a year. It will take almost two or three years to gather the equipment for a tank regiment for the Honorary First Division. Time. According to His Majesty's words, the main focus is to develop the economy. There should not be any large-scale wars in the past few years. We have time."

  Since the commander made such a promise, Bian Chunsong breathed a sigh of relief, and once again looked at the tanks that were speeding all the way in the experimental field with fiery eyes, he really loved these big guys, this is the steel chariot of his dreams!

  According to the actual damage test;

The frontal armor of the T-2 tank turret can withstand the direct fire of 40mm armor-piercing bullets, and has a 40% probability of being able to withstand 57mm armor-piercing bullets. The premise is that if it hits the **** of the front armor, ricocheting or nesting bullets are generated and can escape by chance. A catastrophe.

  The side armor can carry 20mm shells hard, and the back armor can carry low-grade 12.7mm machine guns, which is quite an amazing defense.

   Driving a chariot with such a strong defense is a real advantage in my heart.

  According to measurement;

  If the number of T-2 tanks can reach 500 units, the price of a single unit will drop to 33,000 Jinyang. If the equipment can reach 1,000 units, the price of a single unit will drop to about 26,000 to 28,000 Jinyang.

   Of course, Bian Chunsong didn't dare to dream that there would be such a large amount of equipment, so naturally he didn't mention it.

   When he thought about it, the two tank divisions were equipped with a regiment of T-2 tanks, and the strategic reserve had to have about 150 tanks. It was already thankful to be able to reduce the cost of a single equipment to below 60,000 Jinyang.

   More, I can't think of it.

  The size of the Imperial Army is there. There are only two armored divisions in total, and the number of orders for 150 tanks is already overwhelming.

  (End of this chapter)