Lieutenant General Horwald's North African Legion Command was located in the original Libyan Governor's Office, one of the most impressive buildings in Tripoli. Lieutenant Colonel Melzin followed Lieutenant Colonel Schett, the lieutenant, and entered the combat room of the headquarters. General Horwald was standing in front of the map table and chatting with several generals. Hearing the adjutant's report, he stood up and waved a hand to a short and thick general.

The two generals came over, "Report to the general, Melzin, the battalion commander of the 5th Tank Battalion of the 1st Armored Brigade of the 3rd Division of the Imperial Army, is ordered to report to you!" Melzin saluted the two generals.

"This is General State, the commander of the 7th Croatian Division." He signaled to the short and strong major general beside him and introduced, "Okay, sit down here first!" General Hovart pointed to the row of sofas leaning against the wall, and the three of them sat on the sofa, and the orderlymen brought three cups of black tea.

"How is it on the road?" the general asked.

"It went very smoothly, but I was a little uncomfortable with taking a boat." Merzin replied.

"Well, no one is used to it for the first time." General Horwald said, "Have all your people arrived?"

"Not yet. My dozen or so officers and I arrived on the destroyer first after receiving the order. The entire battalion will not arrive tomorrow, but there is no equipment." Merzin said.

"Very good, I think you may have heard that the 7th Croatian Infantry Division will be adapted into an armored division." General Howald said, "I need you to assist General State in training the 7th Armored Division as soon as possible."

"No problem." Merzin stood up and replied.

"How long will it take?" General Stet asked.

"It may take half a year," said Merzin. He saw General Horwald frowning inadvertently, and then explained: "Armored soldiers are technical troops. Maybe soldiers can get familiar with vehicles in just one month, but tactical cooperation and operation will never be able to form combat effectiveness without half a year, general."

"Well, okay, that's all. It seems that we need to delay the offensive plan backwards." General Horwald spread his hands and said to General State helplessly.

Merzin followed General State to the garrison of the 7th Croatian Division located outside the city. At present, some tanks and armored vehicles were transported from the port. The soldiers hiding behind the car in the training ground were hiding behind the car to enjoy the cool air. Seeing General State coming from outside, they quickly stood up one by one, ran to the station car, and stood up straight.

Seeing that Melzin's eyes were stuck on several tanks, State put his hands on his waist and half turned to face the tank soldiers standing at them. He said with a proud tone: "Why, have you never seen it? These are the Isleyan three-type tanks developed by the Empire. According to the order of the crown prince, the African Legion will first equip this new tank."

"Well, it's really good." Lieutenant Colonel Melzin said while carefully observing the structure of these tanks. From the appearance, these tanks were a little larger than the Isleia 1913 tank he had driven before, and the tracks were much wider. The tank guns it was equipped with were still 37mm guns, but the tubes must have been lengthened. According to his estimate, the total weight of such a vehicle should be more than 10 tons.

"Can you show me the instruction manual?" he said to a tank soldier holding a combat manual in his hand.

"Yes, sir." The tank soldier flew over and handed over the combat manual that had been wrinkled in his hand.

Merzin took the manual from the soldier, opened it and found the technical parameters page and looked carefully: the vehicle length is 4.86 meters, the vehicle width is 2.42 meters, the vehicle weight (excluding ammunition) is 11.2 tons, and the crew is 4 people. Engine: Steyr 1915 V12 diesel engine, 146 horsepower, speed is 42 kilometers per hour (highway)/25 kilometers (off-road), and the trip is 140 kilometers. Weapon: Isleia 1914 37mm 42 times the caliber cannon, a synchronous machine gun, and a roof machine gun. Armor thickness: 15 mm on the front, 10 mm on the side, and 8 mm on the rear.

"How many tanks do we have?" Melzin asked General State.

"Oh, let me see." Stet took out a compilation table from his shirt pocket and looked on it: "Our division has a total of 182 tanks, 118 armored vehicles, and 24 self-propelled cannons... What is this?"

"That's the cannons installed on tracks," said Merzin. "What's the caliber of these cannons?"

"Well... it's 75mm," said Stet. "There are also heavy artillery dragged by trucks, with 36 pieces, including 12 150mm heavy artillery."

"It's very powerful firepower, such a firepower configuration is enough to break through the defense line guarded by an army." Merzin said, "I think the infantry regiment is also transported by cars, right?"

"Well, we have a total of 626 trucks, some small cars, two motorized infantry regiments, one armored regiment, and the division artillery regiment. The total staffing is 18,670 people, which seems to be less than the current number?" State frowned slightly.

"But its firepower is almost three times stronger. General, these tanks are equipped with artillery, and each armored vehicle has two machine guns." said Merzin. "Its attack power should be three times that of the current infantry division."

"It's amazing to say that, I'm looking forward to seeing its first performance now." State laughed, "at least we run much faster than the infantry division."

The impact of tanks on infantry positions has been verified. In fact, the open desert areas in North Africa are the best place to play the characteristics of this new weapon. The dense trenches and numerous rivers, swamps and forest areas on the battlefield on the Western Front are not suitable for the use of this armored weapon.

At this time, the tanks made by the British and French had been put into the Western Front battlefield, but did not play much role. The Germans obtained the tank samples provided by Lee Hayden, while improving the tank, they also developed new weapons to restrain this armored weapon: 12.7mm machine gun and 20mm machine gun, and carried out a small amount of equipment on the front line.

The first tank use between Britain and France was not very successful, but it still showed a certain future. At least the infantry could not resist its attack. According to the British, the tanks were put into the battlefield as destroyers of subway wire and machine gun positions. Although they suffered great losses due to insufficient mechanical transmission and engines, they were still competent for some tasks.

In the Austro-Hungarian Empire, tanks were used as the main assault force. Although the armor thickness and weight of Austro-Hungarian tanks were far less than that of British tanks, they were the best in the world in terms of mobility. This is also the purpose of Lee Haydn's attempt to establish an experimental armored division in North Africa.

In fact, it is also a good place to test this weapon on the Eastern Front of Germany, but this opportunity should be given to the Germans. Ukraine's muddy roads will definitely cause a lot of non-combat losses, while the Carpathian mountains are not suitable for large-scale applications of tanks.
Chapter completed!