69novels Chapter 375
Chapter 375
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As soon as the exercise was over, the two hurried to find Mainz and report the situation to him
“How is it? What do you think?”
Mainz was quite satisfied with the results of this exercise. Among the armies participating in the exercise, Kesselring’s Fourth Army was obviously a minor player, while Guderian’s First Army and Manstein’s Third Army were relatively active. The styles of these two armies were also quite different.
If Mainz were to make an evaluation, he felt that Guderian’s First Army was more mechanized. In addition to the armored forces, they had more mechanized infantry divisions and motorized infantry divisions than Manstein’s Third Army.
This was easy to understand. After all, Guderian was stationed in the Rhine region, which was a Large open areas are very suitable for armored combat, so they naturally have to move towards mechanization and armored warfare.
As for Manstein’s Third Army, they are stationed in the southern region, close to the Alps, so their army is also equipped with some mountain divisions responsible for fighting in mountainous areas!
Hearing Mainz’s words, the two looked at each other, and Manstein motioned to Guderian to let him speak first.
Guderian was careless and didn’t think much about it. He said to Mainz:”General, the tactics you used in defense before look a bit like Model’s flexible defense, is that right?”
Mainz shook his head:”Model’s flexible defense is more flexible, and he is pursuing the initiative in battle. My tactics are a little passive compared to his!”
“What is your tactic?”
Guderian found that his proud armored forces were severely restrained in this battle. The two armored divisions he deployed suffered heavy losses, and almost half of them lost their combat capability!
Fortunately, this was an exercise. If it was an actual battle, his First Army would become a toothless tiger, and its combat effectiveness would be greatly reduced!
“It’s just a variation of trench warfare, adding mobile firepower points and counterattack aircraft groups, enhancing the width of the defense line and the flexibility of defense!”
Mainz explained that armored defense is not an advanced tactic. It has been used on both the Eastern and Western Fronts during World War II.
In 1944, after the Allied landing in Normandy, the German army relied on two Tiger tanks on the Western Front to defend a bridge, blocking the Allied forces for more than half a month. They could not pass through until the Allied forces used aircraft to destroy the two tanks.
Unlike traditional defense, traditional defense relies on trenches and infantry, and trenches cannot move by themselves. The infantry is too slow and extremely fragile. So when these two are added together, the army appears very bulky and passive, with almost only the ability to defend but not the ability to attack.
Passive defense alone is definitely No, if we can’t bring a little pressure to the enemy, then the enemy can organize the attack calmly, continuously put pressure on the defenders, and finally defeat them!
But if the defenders have a strong counterattack capability, then the initiative of the battle will no longer be one-sided.
In armored defense, tanks take on the role of trench protection and bunker firepower, and the reserve mobile forces give them the ability to counterattack quickly, so that the enemy has to divide their energy to strengthen their defense and protect their own weaknesses. In this way, the offensive force on the front will inevitably be weakened, and the pressure on the defenders will be much less!
Hearing Mainz’s explanation, the two nodded. This is probably a simplified version of elastic defense!
“General, I think our army has encountered many problems in this exercise. The main problem is that our firepower is insufficient. If we want to overcome such a solid defense line, we must have a stronger one!”
Guderian expressed his desire for a tank with faster speed, better protection and stronger firepower.
“I think this type of tank is the general trend of future tank development!”
The setback in this attack made Guderian conclude that the tank he proposed should be the most suitable tank for future wars!
Mainz nodded after listening, but did not comment on his words, but looked at Manstein.
“Manstein, what’s your opinion?”
When Manstein saw that Mainz did not answer Guderian’s request, he understood what the other party meant.
He probably wanted to fully understand their feelings about this exercise before making a judgment!
So, he did not hold back and directly expressed his thoughts.
After listening to Manstein’s words, Mainz nodded and said to Guderian:”I have already ordered the tank you requested for you in advance!”
“”Ah? Really? What kind of tank is it?”
Guderian was pleasantly surprised to hear this. Originally, it was just an idea in his mind, but he didn’t expect that General Mainz had already put it into action!
Thinking of this, Guderian was both excited and nervous. It was a pity that he had a high opinion of himself and even tried to compare himself with General Mainz!
Facts have proved that General Mainz’s foresight is simply beyond his reach! The idea of this tank he proposed was because he suffered a loss in this exercise, so he made a summary based on actual needs. However, General Mainz had already placed an order with Rheinmetall before this exercise and began to develop and produce new tanks. This shows that General Mainz had predicted this result several years ago!
His ideas on armored warfare may have led to the���They have been doing this for several years or even more than ten years!
When he thought of this, Guderian’s heart was filled with admiration!
Being able to study with such an armored warfare master is an extremely valuable opportunity for him. He can speak out the doubts in his heart, ask General Mainz for advice, and ask him to help him answer his questions, so as to resolve his doubts and let him understand armored warfare to a higher level!
“Of course it is true. This tank is named Panzer IV, with a tonnage of about 28-32 tons. There are four models, ABCD, including firepower-enhanced type, flexible and mobile type, upgraded protection performance type and comprehensive type. Each model has different focuses, and the tonnage and configuration are slightly different!”
The Panzer IV was the main tank of the Third Reich during World War II. Before 1943, the German army was equipped with this type of tank the most.
However, the early Panzer IVs were relatively light in tonnage, and their firepower and protection performance were not outstanding. They did not have the upper hand in the competition with the T-34. When the later improved models came out, the enemies they faced became more powerful, which made the Panzer IV almost no bright performance in the later period of the war, especially after 1944!
In order to solve the problems of the Panzer IV, Mainz went straight to the point and comprehensively strengthened the Panzer IV.
These improvements include: replacing the tank’s power system, increasing its maximum power to 700 horsepower and its maximum speed to 60 kilometers per hour.
The increase in weight and body contour greatly improved the space inside the Panzer IV, giving it more space to increase the amount of fuel it carries. The improved Panzer IV’s fuel capacity increased from 470 liters to 800 liters, and the maximum mileage increased from 200 kilometers to 350 kilometers!
The thickness of the front and side armor was increased, increasing the front armor from 50 mm to 75mm, this thickness ensures that they can withstand direct fire from 75mm tank guns at a distance of 1200 meters!
Not only that, as the most important part, the thickness of the turret armor has been increased from 60mm to 90mm, and in order to control the weight, these armors are all made of titanium alloy armor, which is expensive but has excellent protective performance!
After configuring this armor, the protective performance of the No. 4 tank turret has been improved to the extreme. Even at a distance of 800 meters, the enemy’s 75mm tank gun hitting the turret of the No. 4 tank will definitely form a jump Bullets cannot penetrate the tank!
As for the sides and tail, which are generally weak points, Mainz also considered them. He increased the side armor from 15 mm to 45 mm and the tail armor to 40 mm.
This thickness is enough to protect the tank and the crew unless it is hit directly at close range!
These changes cost Mainz about 500 points, but the tank he got was enough to dominate the world for at least fifteen years, so the money was worth it!