After a flurry of scrambling and jumping up and down to rescue and extinguish the fire, Buckman's car was finally saved, but this came at a price.
The Maybach hl230 12-cylinder water-cooled gasoline engine was burned to the point of being completely scrapped, leaving only a black and empty frame. Without the heart of the maximum output power of 700 horsepower, the Black Panther simply collapsed on the spot and could not move.
No.
"It's like walking down the street in Kisdorf and suddenly stepping on a piece of dog poop, Buckman! I'm not kidding, I'm serious! This is our new car, new car! Now it's actually covered by a little
The Molotov cocktail was destroyed, it was unbelievable and hilarious!”
The harsh-tongued gunner Kirsten couldn't stop complaining and was furious.
Buckman, with his hands on his hips and a frown on his face, looked at the poor Leopard Girl whose butt was smoked into a pure black color. He thought that what happened to his crew was already unlucky enough. If word spread about it, he would probably be laughed at.
months or even longer.
But what Bachman didn't expect was that what happened next was obviously more dramatic and funny than he expected.
After the entire Battle of Kharkov, among the 24 Panther No. 6 D tanks equipped by the armored regiment of the SS Imperial Division, a total of 21 Panthers were unable to move and needed to be repaired.
Of course, the Soviet army, whose tank quality was suddenly surpassed by a large margin, could not afford to destroy 21 cutting-edge Panthers at once with the Imperial Division armored force that dominated the limelight.
These 21 beautiful leopard girls who are paralyzed in bed and unable to move have their own reasons for being bedridden.
The Buckman car that was set on fire by a Molotov cocktail was one of them. Another 13 Panther D models were destroyed because the drivers stepped on the accelerator and raced to cross-country speeds of more than 46 kilometers per hour.
engine, causing a spontaneous ignition fire.
As for the remaining Panthers, some of them ran away because the outer road wheels with inherent design defects caused the tracks to fall off. Some of them had their transmission gears shattered on the spot during high-speed driving operations and were unable to move. Some of them were due to poor technology.
The driver forced the vehicle to operate on a ground that did not support in-situ steering. In a panic, the drive shaft broke and the tank was paralyzed on the spot.
After the Third Battle of Kharkov, only three Panthers were left in the entire Imperial Division that could still run. Such a bad situation directly made the then Commander of the Imperial Division, General Walter Krueger, angry.
Jumping around and scolding an company, the idiots only know how to cheat money but cannot create practical and good things.
The only good news is that none of the 21 immobile Panthers were completely lost. In addition, the German army, which was advancing rapidly, successfully won the third battle of Kharkov, so these 21 Panthers were all damaged after the battle.
They were recovered one by one and awaiting repairs, including Buckman's blackened Panther.
"These problems have been discovered during the first batch of tank trial production, General. But the production task is imminent, and we simply don't have enough time to improve the design. The pressure is very huge. I don't mean that our company should shirk responsibility. We
Of course, we will continue to upgrade and improve the Panzer VI tank and be responsible for providing maintenance plans, but there are really objective reasons for all this!"
The representative sent by an company was quite sincere.
Buckman, who happened to be on a business trip to the division headquarters, was lucky enough to hear part of the defense of the representative of Company An, but General Kruger's subsequent reply obviously did not give any face to this personable chief representative.
"Look at the iron garbage your company makes! After a battle, twenty of the latest tanks broke their legs and were paralyzed on the battlefield waiting for tow trucks to drag them away! Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the only one
The car didn’t break its leg by itself, but it was destroyed by a small Russian Molotov cocktail! It was such a big Molotov cocktail!”
"Damn it! It's unbelievable to say it! A glass bottle the size of Fanta destroyed a 45-ton German tank. Do you think this is normal? The Imperial Division is not the scum, we are
Elites of the Führer, your junk tanks have brought shame to the honor of our division! Go and repair them! Immediately!"
Buckman, who was staying outside the door to eavesdrop for a moment, saw that the situation was not good and quickly ran away. Only then did Buckman, whose heart was pounding, realize that among the 21 paralyzed Panther tanks, only his own car was considered to be damaged.
The Russians killed him.
The Black Panther, who entered actual combat earlier than in history, was unable to escape the difficult fate that had been lingering around him.
And it seems that due to premature birth, these various problems that were already annoying in the past have become even worse now.
Of the 158 Panther D medium tanks affiliated to Army Group South, 137 were in a state of immobility awaiting repair after the end of the Battle of Kharkov. This astonishing number even reduced the original support for new weapons.
Manstein, who had high hopes, shook his head repeatedly.
"Report it truthfully and explain clearly to Berlin this terrible situation that was never imagined in your dreams."
"The new weapons units of Army Group South have basically lost their combat effectiveness. Most of the Panther 6 medium tanks and Ferdinand heavy tank destroyers need to be repaired. The situation of the Tiger 5 heavy tanks is slightly better but not very optimistic.
I cannot launch an offensive until these main combat forces are restored, and I request that we speed up the repair of equipment and provide more reliable supplementary forces."
Malashenko, who was ready to fight the Germans in advance, could never have imagined that the Germans, who had put new weapons into actual combat one battle ahead of time, would be hindered by the alarmingly high failure rate.
No.
A rare large-scale plague broke out in German zoos, which the head of state had given high hopes for. The German logistics and maintenance troops, who had encountered such a bad situation for the first time in history, quickly contacted for help. The bosses and capitalists of companies in Germany behind the scenes were busy arguing.
Talking shirking responsibility.
You said it was a problem with the raw materials, but I also said it was caused by your lack of process technology! If you are not good enough, don’t rely on our company’s material supply. Everyone uses German steel to make tanks, why should they use Henschel’s Tiger?
Is it more reliable than yours? Isn’t it because your own level is not up to the mark?
Playing football with each other and passing the buck is the innate skill of the capitalists. The German industrial enterprises and frontline logistics and maintenance troops were in a state of constant chaos. In the end, they only got a piece of chicken feathers that had no practical significance.
After the quarrel, the blame was placed on the unlucky guy who had been blamed by everyone. The person responsible for the punishment was also invited by the SS to have a cup of tea with Himmler and have a heart-to-heart talk. The Führer's violent spittle almost destroyed the office.
It has been cleaned seven or eight times.
Now, it's finally time to discuss how to properly repair those broken-down steel behemoths and take action.
It's just that the time wasted in this quarrel is indeed wasted.
But who would care?
At least not the imperial capitalists who have vested interests.