Testing of the new gun continues, with various data being refined under Hobert's guidance. But Zhou Wen used professional tools to design and draw a new gun in the gun testing laboratory. This new gun could not be made in the Taiyuan Arsenal. The gun he designed was the famous anti-tank gun in World War II that everyone knew in later generations.
Zhou Wen knew that during the Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese tanks used their strength and show off their power on the land of China to bully the Chinese army's backward equipment and lack of effective individual anti-tank weapons. You can only use people holding explosive bags or cluster grenades to blast at close range in a hail of bullets. That means taking human life to fill it and exchange it. Often hundreds or even thousands of lives were sacrificed but it was not possible to blow up a Japanese tank.
Does that mean Japanese tanks are very powerful? actually not. Although Japan was a powerful country in Asia at the time, compared with Western industrial powers, it could only be regarded as a semi-industrialized country with limited industrial production capacity and scale. In addition, its industrial focus was on naval construction, so the army's equipment was naturally not comparable to that of the United States. , Germany, Britain, France and the Soviet Union.
There were three main tanks equipped by Japan during the entire period before and after World War II, the Type 89 medium tank, the Type 95 light tank and later the Type 97 medium tank. The Type 89 and Type 97 medium tanks should belong to the ranks of light tanks in the eyes of later generations. Because the weight does not exceed 15 tons, the thickest front armor of the Type 97 medium tank is no more than 25 mm. The Type 95 light tank with a front armor thickness of only 12 mm can actually only be regarded as an armored vehicle.
But if these models were put into a head-on battle with the Soviet-German tank cluster in Europe, they would be like the lingering snow in winter meeting the shimmering summer light tanks and armored vehicles that would melt away without a trace even before the bubbles could bubble. , but they are rampant and invincible in the battlefields of China and Southeast Asia.
This can only show that China was really backward and poor at that time. Those who are poor and backward will naturally be beaten.
Zhou Wen wanted to use a simple method to add an individual weapon that could effectively fight Japanese tanks to the anti-Japanese army seven years later. In later generations, there were many ways for individual soldiers to deal with tanks, such as anti-tank missiles, rocket launchers, recoilless rifles, anti-tank mines, etc. But Zhou Wen doesn’t know how to create these. He only knows how to play with guns and rob.
He knew that during World War I, Germany made an enlarged version of the G98 rifle to fight against the water tank (tank) invented by the British. It was the world's first anti-tank gun, which was later called the elephant gun.
The elephant gun is the Mauser 1918 T-Geweh
The long barrel version of the anti-tank rifle has a total length of 1.69 meters. Small infantrymen are not taller than this rifle. Even the short barrel version has a length of 1.58 meters. The gun barrel has a caliber of 13.2 mm and a muzzle velocity of 805 meters per second. It adopts a single-shot loading and firing mode. The effective armor-piercing distance is 150 meters. It can penetrate 25 mm of armor at a distance of 200 meters.
In combat status, the weight of the long barrel type is 15.8 kg, and the weight of the short barrel type is 16.6 kg. Even Germany requires two people to use it. As the world's first large-caliber anti-tank firearm specifically designed to fight tanks, it is an emergency military product during wartime. It does not seem to have any outstanding highlights. It is just an enlarged design of the Mauser G98 rifle.
But Zhou Wen knew that several countries, including the German Mauser Company, were still developing new anti-tank guns. The main problem hindering their technological development is how to reduce the huge recoil without losing the kinetic energy of the muzzle. You must know that the elephant gun was also called a two-shoulder gun at the time, which meant that one shoulder could only withstand the recoil of one shot. After two shots, both shoulders would be strained or even dislocated. It can be seen how amazing its recoil is.
Zhou Wen, who happened to be familiar with various anti-equipment large-caliber sniper rifles of later generations, knew how to improve this problem. One is to install an efficient muzzle suppressor. On the one hand, it reduces the forward flow of gunpowder gas through the central bullet hole, thereby reducing the recoil force on the weapon; on the other hand, it flows out from the side holes to change the direction and size of the air flow, and sprays to the sides and rear. This gives the weapon a forward reaction force. The second is to use barrel gas-guided semi-automatic shooting, using the recoil to complete the action of ejecting the shell and loading the gun, and at the same time offset part of the recoil. The third is to use a spring method to delay the recoil affecting the gun body. The recoil first acts on the spring, and then is delayed for a period of time after the spring is compressed. It takes a little while to release it onto the butt of the gun, so that the bullet has already exited the barrel when the recoil takes effect.
Zhou Wen believes that after citing these three technical improvements, the new anti-tank gun not only greatly reduces the recoil, but also improves the range and accuracy. Although it cannot be compared with the famous guns such as Barrett in later generations, it can still be fired in this era. It's enough to hit the Japanese thin-skinned tanks, but it can also hit turrets and simple bunkers, and even hit people directly, tsk tsk! Zhou Wen thought of the scene where a 13.2 mm explosive bomb hit a person. Was it directly shattered? In short, this kind of gun has a very wide range of functions and is especially suitable for the Chinese battlefield.
Zhou Wen knew that anti-tank guns achieved certain results on the European battlefield in the early days of World War II, but were unable to cope with the various thickened armors from various countries in the later period. But it's different in China. The Japanese didn't have any good tanks throughout World War II. If this gun is finally successfully trial-produced in Germany, the National Government will definitely purchase it in large quantities, and the Chinese army will have an effective way to fight against the Japanese tanks individually. Equipped.
Zhou Wen also had a purpose in using the caliber of the elephant gun. During World War I, the elephant gun was an effective weapon against tanks. No matter how many shortcomings it had, Germany still produced many, especially to effectively penetrate steel armor. , Germany has developed and produced many 13.2 mm caliber armor-piercing projectiles. If the new gun can use those original barrels and armor-piercing bullets, I believe Mauser will be very interested, which will greatly shorten the development process and reduce costs.
Because this kind of gun requires barrels and other parts, as well as armor-piercing bullets, which cannot be produced by Chinese arsenals, it can only be trial-produced and tested by the German Mauser Company.
Time waits for no one. Before the Spring Festival, Hobert will return to Germany with the drawings and data of the semi-automatic rifle and the prototype gun, as well as the drawings and technical data of the anti-tank gun and rifle defuser designed by Zhou Wen. Delman will also return to Germany as Zhou Wen's personal representative. He will negotiate various prices and details of the technology buyout on behalf of Zhou Wen and Mauser Company. By the way, he will also help Zhou Wen purchase the equipment and weapons on the list.
There is no other way. Zhou Wen has no other foreign channels and can only trust these two Germans. Even if he is cheated, he will not lose much. Anyway, semi-automatic rifles are successful. If you can't get German goods, you can use products produced by Taiyuan Arsenal. It's not like you can't kill people. Of course, Zhou Wen still trusts Delman. After all, they understand each other to a certain extent.
