Iron Cross

Although Romania and Hungary are weak, they are also conscientious on the eastern front and played the entire game from beginning to end. In Hoffman's eyes, they are trustworthy partners - better than Turkey's half-hearted and self-righteous pig teammates like Bulgaria and Spain, who are half-hearted. The "old friend" is much better, so please come and watch together.

As for oil tycoons like Iraq and Iran, there is no need to shock them by inviting people to watch. As soon as they heard that there was such a good thing as a rocket, they started clamoring to buy it without asking about the price. They only asked about the delivery time, and even said that it was temporarily out of stock. It doesn't matter, I'll pay the money first, and you can help me train the personnel first. This made Speer very upset: after all, Germany itself doesn't have enough rockets now. One batch is consumed after one batch is produced, and there is no excess inventory at all.

It is not wise to simply refuse the request of the wealthy people. It is equivalent to pushing the money away, not to mention that these two brothers will buy German arms as soon as they have money. If they don't do the rocket business, do they still want to do the tank and aircraft business?

After obtaining Hoffman's consent, Speer decided to help Iran and Iraq train missile troops first. The price was of course a reasonable price - only 4 times the cost (general arms charge 2 times the cost), and one V2 shot was priced at 400,000. Mark, if you buy more than 100 rounds at one time, you will get a 10% discount and come with corresponding personnel training. Other launch bases and launch facilities are charged separately. There is only one thing that must be agreed upon first: the Missile Non-Proliferation Treaty must be signed - without the written consent of the German government, Iran and Iran are not allowed to transfer the technical parameters and physical objects of relevant equipment to a third country. Naturally, the two countries hurriedly nodded in agreement.

Iraq first dropped 50 million marks, signed a contract for the construction of 100 missiles and related facilities, and happily went back to wait to receive it.

After knowing the number of purchases from Iraq, Pahlavi doubled the number directly. The rest of the terms were exactly the same, except for one requirement - delivery must be done at the same time as Iraq.

Sometimes Hoffman is worried that the two countries will fight with each other in V2 in the future, but after thinking about it, he feels that it is no big deal. How can Germany be the leader of a major power if it has no mediation ability?

After nearly 65 minutes of waiting, all the work of the V2 rocket was finally ready. The launch vehicle adjusted the relevant data according to the instructions of the command vehicle (including wind speed, wind direction, etc.). The dignitaries only knew that they were busy, but did not know what they were busy with.

“Last minute preparation!”

"Countdown begins, 9...8...3...2...1...launch!"

I saw one rocket after another starting to ignite, and flames were sprayed out from the tail in an instant. The rocket that was still standing just now dragged out long flames and flew into the sky one after another. The speed was extremely fast, and the scene was spectacular. All of them were launched at once. It was a success. There were no duds or explosions after launch, which gave Hoffman a lot of peace of mind and a glow on his face.

In order to ensure the safety of observers, the construction of air defense towers and observation facilities (originally part of Madagascar's defense system) began long before the launch of the lightning exercise. They were just completed last month. Not to mention that the missile explosion at the launch site will not be affected. Even if the missile loses control and lands on the air defense tower, the safety of the core area can be guaranteed. This is why Hoffman has the confidence to invite so many dignitaries here.

According to the plan of the Supreme Command, due to the small area and dense population of Germany, and the farther and farther range of Peenemünde’s rockets, future new missile tests will mainly be arranged in the German African Republic, which has a large area and a large population. Very few and isolated from the surroundings, with the vast Indian Ocean next to it, it doesn't matter even if it falls and gets blown up in the middle. Hoffman also hopes that in the future, Germany's satellite launch bases and nuclear weapons test bases will be located in Africa. It will be much easier to launch satellites in Somalia, which straddles the equator, than in Germany itself.

Although the U.S. military is eager to put the rocket project on the shelves now, it has barely increased the range to more than 250 kilometers, but the launch success rate is still appalling. Only 4 of the last 17 launches were successful, although this is an improvement compared to the previous round of 19 launches, which failed 16 times. , but this success rate still makes everyone shake their heads.

Krauser reminded: "The rocket with the closest range will need to run in the air for about 240 seconds before landing, and the rocket with the farthest range will need to run for nearly 5 minutes before landing... We will arrange experts and observers in the scheduled splashdown area to jointly observe Detailed data on the accuracy of the projectile and the power of the explosion will be released later.”

This was followed by a tactical introduction from the Supreme Command: “In the new Blitzkrieg 2.0 tactics, our army will take the lead in attacking the enemy’s key defense areas with high-intensity, covert missile saturation attacks, paralyzing its command centers, supply nodes, strategic locations and Focus on the key defense areas, especially focusing on destroying their air defense capabilities, creating opportunities for our army to follow closely with aviation assaults.”

"Considering that ballistic missiles are expensive and technically difficult, our military has developed the V3 rocket. Unlike the V2 that flies beyond the atmosphere, the V3 rocket mainly flies within the atmosphere, with a flight altitude between 2,500-4,000 meters, and a maximum cruising altitude of The speed can reach more than 750 kilometers per hour, making it difficult for other combat aircraft to intercept except jets..."

Ito Zheng, who was in the audience, asked a senior staff officer from the Aviation Headquarters next to him in a low voice: "What is the difference between V3 and the Sakura missiles that Germany gave us before?"

"The performance is better, the speed is faster, the range is longer and the accuracy is higher, but they are similar to jets in essence. The kamikaze attack is manned, and the German V3 rocket is automatically tracked. Although the Germans did not say it clearly, but I think V3 rockets can also be manned.”

“Automatic tracking is more accurate than manned driving?”

"That's impossible. Unless it's at night, fog, heavy rain and other special climates, artificial accuracy will be very poor. However..." Colonel lowered his voice and said, "It's difficult to train special attack pilots. The Empire can now accurately hit enemy ships. There are only more than 300 special attack team members, but automatic tracking weapons can be continuously produced. One automatic rocket may not be able to compete with one Sakura, but 10 automatic rockets cannot compete with one Sakura? "

V3 also has an impressive name - Silkworm Cruise Missile. Originally, Hoffman wanted to use the loud and frightening name "Tomahawk Cruise Missile", but later he felt that the difference between the name and the product was too big, which was a waste. Knowing the reputation of Tomahawk, he told Peenemünde scientists that he hoped that the next generation of more powerful cruise missiles would be called Tomahawk, and this generation would be called Silkworm.

The improved V3 is less than 7.5 meters long, but the missile body has a diameter of 1.36 meters. Compared with the slender and thin Scud, it looks fat and short, so it is completely appropriate to call it silkworm. It is no longer the Earth Warrior who appears in front of the silkworms, but a full-track carrier vehicle.

The scene was filled with the relaxed and humorous tone of the headquarters introducer: "Because our army has captured too many American Sherman tanks, although they cannot be used for fighting, their transportation capabilities are really good, which reflects the industrial manufacturing level of the Americans. We In line with the principle of making the best use of everything, the military transformed it into a missile launcher. In addition, the Sherman body is also widely used in service fields such as bridge erecting trucks, crane trucks, bulldozers, and rocket launchers. It is active in various fields of our military. In this unit, the dismantled turrets are not idle, they are all used on Sibel-class landing craft or fixed ground defenses... In the words of the head of state, the Sherman tank is full of treasures and cannot be wasted. "

Everyone burst into laughter. What was the German record? Sometimes the official propaganda and cold press releases were far less shocking than seeing the real thing: hundreds of Liberty Ships/Victory Wheels, mountains of M1 Garand rifles, Thompson submachine guns, Browning heavy machine guns, American jeeps and ten-wheel trucks that filled football fields one after another fully demonstrated the brilliant performance of the German army. The amount of Shermans captured alone was measured in thousands, and Various models are available in different periods. The most cutting-edge M26/SP tanks of the US military were captured again after the South American campaign.

In contrast, the complete Tiger tank trophies in the hands of the US military are the first ones obtained from Stalin, and there is no new one. This is not to say that the Tiger is indestructible, but that the US military does not have much final control at all. The battlefield has passed, so you can't get the complete loot.

In addition to a series of Shermans captured directly from the United Kingdom and the United States through combat, the United Kingdom also handed over all Sherman tanks (including those owned by the United Kingdom itself and U.S. military equipment handed over by the United Kingdom) after the British declared an armistice. Sherman tanks owned by the German army The total number of Sherman tanks has exceeded 5,000, making it the second largest equipment country of Sherman tanks in the world. Japan ranks third in the world with more than 1,000 tanks. The German army took advantage of its universal transformation and transformed them into service tanks as much as possible. At the same time, they gave a batch to Japan at a suitable price.

The German army also modified the No. 4 tank into a tracked vehicle, but the carrying capacity was not as strong as the Sherman. In addition, the No. 4 chassis was also used to produce various self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, but it did not have as much free time as the Sherman, so in the end The renovation plan was abandoned. Experts from the Ministry of Armament believe that the Tiger chassis will be a better carrier, not only capable of carrying V3, but also V2.

With the rapid advancement of Germany's replacement, tens of thousands of No. 4 troops have gone abroad. France and Italy have basically mastered the manufacturing technology. From the Ural Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean, from the Indian Ocean to the South Atlantic, the No. 4 has become the main force in Europe, America, and the Middle East. The main tanks of our allies also have a lot of equipment in Japan.

Only the British are still shy and refuse to use German products, focusing on developing new tanks - the cheating Churchill and the Black Prince have been shot by Marshal Brooke, the performance of the Comet tank is generally discontinued, and the Firefly tank based on the Sherman has become rootless. Wood and Sourceless Water, but the British still have good things in their hands. They came up with the Centurion (Xunqiulun) prototype car. In terms of technical indicators alone, it is better than the Tiger and basically the same as the Tiger 2. However, The reliability and production capacity are very poor, much worse than the latest Tiger 3 rolled off the production line in Germany.

The Tiger 3 is an improved version using a new engine, and the others have mature foundations. However, the Centurion is a newly developed heavy tank. The technical difficulty is equivalent to that of the Tiger originally developed by Germany, and it is destined to not be smooth sailing.