Battle of the Third Reich Chapter 267:

One 　　 crew members who participated in the test have been waiting aside for a long time. These are veterans selected from the active military, and each has the qualifications to serve as subject instructors. Because the "Scorpion" is classified as a tank destroyer, the members of the crew wear black armored uniforms with their respective medals on their chests. They look like elites at a glance.

"Can you start?" After circling the car twice, Yordel asked impatiently that there is still a lot of work waiting for him in the combat bureau, so I don’t plan to spend all the morning. On this matter.

"Okay, let's start right away, General." Kreinberg quickly agreed.

Speaking of the list of the most innocent generals in the Wehrmacht today, General Yodel has always been in the top ten. The chief of operations commander does not have a lot of power directly, but he is qualified to meet the head of state alone, and the deterrence created by this is completely different.

Under the guidance of the experimenters, the two generals took their entourage and boarded the observation stand built by the test site. The green flag indicating safety rose to the top of the flagpole, which meant that the surrounding area of ​​the shooting range had been cleared. A non-commissioned officer fired a red flare up to the sky, heralding the official start of the weapon display.

The crew quickly jumped onto the chariot. They were very agile and vigorous, and they were obviously well-trained. As the engine started roaring, the exhaust pipe sprayed a cloud of blue smoke, and the small destroyer tank began to slowly start.

It is reasonable to say that the engine of this car should be front-facing, just like the M50 of the US military, but in this way, the 38T chassis has been changed too much and it loses the meaning of modification. The use of the old weapon chassis was originally fancy it is more economical.

Because the artillery is not installed, even if the height of the car is lowered, the space inside the car body is not narrow at all. The position of the entrance and exit is actually similar to the layout of the stalker, except that the vertical opening flap is changed to It's only horizontal. In order to facilitate the entry and exit of the car group, some pedals and handles are added to the rear car body. The position of the artillery was left to the radio operator, which freed up space behind the commander and made it possible for the exit to be horizontal.

The commander and the gunner do not have independent hatches. Above their heads is the base of the gun mount. The six artillery guns are arranged in groups of three in the shape of a product, one left and one right placed on the gun mount, and the gun mount is connected to a disc-shaped rotating member, connected to the circular opening on the top of the car body. The rotating gun mount can be driven hydraulically or manually to rotate at an angle of one hundred and sixty degrees, and it can also perform a pitch movement of minus ten degrees to plus forty-five degrees. Both the commander and the gunner can control the rotating gun mount in their combat position and turn the gun to the direction of the target.

This car has the same optical observation and aiming mechanism as the No. 3 tank. At the same time, on the top of the barrel on both sides, one MG34 machine gun is installed on each side. The two machine guns and the artillery axis direction Similarly, in theory, as long as the bullet of the machine gun can hit the opponent, then the artillery can also hit the target at this time.

The early M40 recoilless gun of the U.S. Army was equipped with a test firing machine gun with a caliber of 12.7 mm to fire tracer rounds of the same caliber. It was not until a new generation of range-finding instruments were used to equip troops, and this primitive aiming method was eliminated from the military. It cannot be denied that this method is quite practical when there is no laser rangefinder.

The German army can't come up with a laser rangefinder now, but a new type of optical rangefinder is under development, and it is likely to be equipped with a new generation of heavy tanks for trial in the future.

The car is dashing forward on the earthy track at a speed of 55 kilometers per hour. Whenever it encounters the top of a slope, it will even leap as lightly as an antelope. It is impossible to see that this is a pile of thirteen. Tons of steel.

"The mobility does not seem to be a problem, and it can operate with light tanks and motorized troops." Guderian said happily.

In addition to flexible maneuverability, armored soldiers have seen more. This tank destroyer is of moderate size and is very suitable for activities in the mountain jungle. It is also light in weight and easier to navigate in muddy areas, such as the wet swamps common in the southwestern Soviet Union.

At the same time, although the speed of this car is not particularly fast, it can keep up with the marching speed of the motorized troops. This can just make up for the lack of firepower of light armored assault troops in the mobile defense operations that Guderian praised. Under normal circumstances, the mobility of self-propelled artillery or tank units with the same level of firepower as the Scorpion does not meet the accompanying requirements at all, and long-distance and high-speed marching on the equipment is also very serious.

This small tank destroyer with a low profile and weird shape is very suitable for ambushing opponents, especially troops in the state of road marching. Once covered by sudden dense artillery, no matter how powerful the army is, it will instantly collapse. .

This artillery has a large pitch angle, and the crawler chassis is also suitable for deployment at all angles of the slope. Guderian can imagine this kind of picture in his mind, ten "scorpions" painted in jungle camouflage The car quietly lurked in the woodland on both sides of the road, and then a group of enemy tanks swaggered along the road, and then the entire road became a burning crater. At the same time, it was bombarded by sixty 105mm artillery shells. Guderian couldn't think of any force in the world that could be attacked by this kind of force and still retain a complete organizational structure.

As described in the written information, the German LG40 recoilless gun has a powerful firepower that is completely inconsistent with the shape. This type of gun with a wheeled turret weighs only 300 kilograms, but it can fire Germany. The ammunition of the leFH18 howitzer equipped by the Army has a maximum range of about 7,900 meters.

The core technology of the German recoilless gun is a special propellant cartridge, but the Germans’ design ideas are different from those of the British and Americans. They use a split combustible cartridge instead of a one-piece cartridge with a hole. medicine. But now with the "revelation" of the head of state, the situation is quite different. The new type of ammunition specially developed for LG40 has been finalized, which not only increases the muzzle velocity of the warhead, but also increases the power of a lot of ammunition.

The LG40 mounted on the "Scorpion" is the latest and improved version. The serial number has become LG40/41. The barrel has been lengthened by 30 centimeters, and it uses newly developed overall ammunition. And in accordance with the purpose. Ammunition is also divided into high-explosive armor shells, high-explosive grenade shells, and smoke-emitting incendiary bombs.

As the name suggests, the former is an armored vehicle to deal with the enemy, and the latter two are dedicated to the enemy’s position fortifications and active forces. Of course, if it is a lightly armored target, the latter two also have sufficient lethality. After all, the caliber and charge are placed there, and there should be no pressure to overturn a bean chariot.

Completed the highway running laps and cross-country driving performances, the "Scorpion" slowly drove into the shooting bunker, and began the final demonstration of weapon power.

In order to impress the audience even more, the crew came up with a volley of six shots, and the huge fire dragon ejected from the muzzle and the tail of the turret made everyone's eyes red in an instant.

Recoilless guns have a safe firing distance. People are not allowed to stand in a fan-shaped area 50 meters behind the artillery, and it can cause serious damage to the shooter’s hearing when fired in the open. But "Scorpion" certainly won't have such a problem~ IndoMTL.com~ That layer of steel plate gives the crew members quite complete protection, completely isolates the toxic gunpowder gas and noise from the car, except that the line of sight will be temporarily blocked. There will be no other negative effects.

Because of the test gun ranging, the shells accurately hit the armored target 800 meters away. Theoretically, the effective range of the LG40/41 is also about one kilometer. However, in order to avoid accidents, the project team deliberately Shortened the shooting range. It's just that this result has made Guderian very satisfied. This is the most common combat distance for German light tanks. No matter how far away it is, it does not mean that it can't hit the target, but it is difficult to penetrate something.

"It was completely penetrated!" From the high-powered telescope, Guderian stood up excitedly when he saw the target reporter raising the green flag.

"Get my car ready, I'm going to see it on the spot." Guderian shouted to the adjutant.

"Don't worry, Guderian." Yodel hurriedly stopped the impatient colleague.

"The demo is not over yet, at least wait until they finish this round of shells." The Chief of Warfare had a look of helplessness on his face.

PS: Thank you for your support. The author is still working hard.