"Buzz"
As the operator stepped on the accelerator, the huge body of the Tiger tank galloped forward, rolling up sand, rocks and dust flying around the body. When it passed through the simulated obstacles composed of blocking ropes and barbed wire, it broke through as fast as walking on flat ground and reached the designated location. The location is in preparation state!
Not long after, a Type 97 tank captured in the battle against Sakata Alliance five months ago appeared within the effective range of 1,400 meters from the Tiger.
Of course, this car was definitely not originally manufactured by Mitsubishi, because most of the Type 97s installed by the original factory were blown to pieces by Li Yunfeng with Barrett.
Now everyone saw this car. It was pieced together by Zhang Chu and the engineers from the R&D center from a group of blasted scraps of metal, imitating the 1997 style.
But don’t underestimate this imitation Type 97 tank. As a target training tank, Li Yunfeng specifically asked Zhang Chu to increase the armor thickness from 25 mm to 55 mm on the basis of the original Type 97 tank; and replace the original 57 mm main battle gun. 65 mm caliber combat anti-cannon;
Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that this imitation Type 97 completely crushes the original Type 97.
"Report! A Type 97 tank was found 1,400 meters east by north!"
"Prepare GR armor-piercing bullets, control the standard target, and the observer hand monitors the surrounding enemy situation!"
"The GR armor-piercing bullet has entered the ballistic trajectory and is ready!"
"The Type 97 tank target has been locked!"
"There are no enemies around, and shooting conditions are sufficient!"
"shooting!"
Following the commander's order, the operator pressed the launch button, and an 88mm armor-piercing projectile burst out of the main gun muzzle. The huge car body immediately shuddered backwards.
The gravel and gravel on the surrounding ground were crushed into powder by the strong airflow, and turned into dust when blown by the wind.
"Pass!"
At the same time, a loud roar came from not far away. Everyone looked closely and saw that the imitation Type 97 had penetrated the front armor and landed on the ammunition rack at the rear of the vehicle, causing an explosion and instantly blowing it into two parts.
A short time later, the raging fire was eroding the incomplete car body, leaving only one car body in place.
Immediately afterwards, the Tiger and the imitation 97 exchanged offense and defense, with the latter launching artillery fire on the former to test the armor thickness!
Needless to say, two 65mm caliber armor-piercing projectiles within an effective range of 700 meters hit the Tiger's front armor, but it didn't move at all, leaving no trace of the shelling.
Subsequently, five Tiger tanks successively demonstrated calibration tests under various settings such as a maximum range of 10 kilometers, plain movement conditions, mountain cross-country conditions, etc.
After Li Yunfeng and Guderian left the field for practical operations, it was immediately announced that the offline test of the Tiger tank was successful and that it would be fully put into production from that day on.
"Commander-in-Chief Li, according to your estimate, can our SS equip 100 Tiger tanks before Easter next year?"
Returning to the Defense Force headquarters building, Heydrich looked anxious and stared at Li Yunfeng and asked, regardless of the presence of Guderian, who had a higher rank than him.
"It's hard to say! The key is that we don't have enough mature technicians, and the manufacturing assembly line is also limited. We can build up to fifteen vehicles a month. Easter is in March next year, and the maximum is eighty vehicles in five months! And according to the agreement, I The army still needs to take forty vehicles!"
Hearing this, Heydrich paled.
Although he is not the top person in charge of the German mobile forces, he was born in the SS armored force and made the Wehrmacht proud of the 20-ton, 80-mm armored Panzer IV and Tiger tanks with a 75-mm caliber gun. After comparing them together.
It was discovered that even though the Type 3 was far better than the imitation Type 97, it had no power to fight back against a land giant like the Tiger tank!
If this powerful weapon is brought back to be installed in the SS, no matter whether it is called the strongest national defense force on land or it is overwhelmed by millions of European coalition forces, it will not be their opponent!
Unfortunately……
Perhaps because he saw the enthusiasm in Heydrich's eyes, or perhaps he still had some agenda, Li Yunfeng took out a piece of data from his desk and handed it to Guderian and the two of them:
"Although the installation speed is a bit slow, during the five-month manufacturing process, I plan to further modify the Tiger's main battle gun without affecting its mobility, and increase its effective range and maximum range respectively. To two thousand five hundred meters and twelve kilometers!”
Hearing this, the two looked at each other, and Guderian immediately spoke first:
"But Commander-in-Chief Li, according to the current caliber and range conditions of the Tiger, it is already absolutely ahead of the highest level of main battle tanks in the world! Why continue to work on the caliber and range?"
"It's simple, because caliber is truth and range is justice!"
"Caliber is truth, range is justice?"
The two of them repeated Li Yunfeng's words in unison. After chewing and groping for a while, they found that it was indeed the case.
After all, under the premise that the thickness of the armor is almost the same, whoever has a larger caliber will be more powerful!
As for the slow speed of light and medium tanks, with the Tiger's current 105mm super-heavy armor, those old equipment that are an era behind the former cannot do any harm to it.
On the contrary, as long as the Tiger Type extends the effective range, it can completely destroy the opponent before it enters its effective range!
To sum up, it is indeed necessary for the Tiger to increase its caliber and range in order to maintain its absolute advantage in land warfare and make it impossible for latecomers to catch up!
However, now that the SS is about to expand, senior officials and generals, led by Hillem and Kurt, continue to encourage Mustache to revise the Wehrmacht's westward advance plan originally planned for September next year.
Even Goering from the Air Force and representatives from the Navy took the opportunity to get involved and wanted to share the pie. Mustache was forced to be exhausted and exhausted every day, but deep down he couldn't hold it in and was eager to try.
As the minister of the opponent's humerus, Heydrich naturally saw it and was anxious in his heart.
Hearing that the Tiger tank, which was regarded as a secret treasure by the top brass of the Wehrmacht, was about to roll off the production line, he immediately asked Ying to follow Guderian to witness it.
Now, the power of the Tiger Style has been seen, but at this speed...
Suddenly, Heydrich thought of something and hurriedly stood up from the sofa:
"Commander-in-chief Li, there are still thousands of Jewish workers imprisoned in our Auschwitz and Dachau concentration camps. As long as you can open up any sea transportation line in your country's three provinces of Tianjin, Hebei, and Shandong, the SS can detain them." All given to your army for free!"
Having said this, he paused and glanced at Guderian. He seemed to have a secret topic that he wanted to chat with Li Yunfeng alone. Upon seeing this, the latter got up and left through the toilet.
It was only then that Heydrich, who was the second-in-command of the Gestapo and the director of the German Security Police, took a deep breath and decided to share the latest Japanese plan in the Far East with Li Yunfeng...
