He glanced at someone in the corner with the corner of his eye, and when he saw the wonderful expression on his face, Guderian didn't say anything more, and just continued to talk to Dr. Schlein.
"Please continue, I also want to know other information."
"Okay, General."
The doctor with a serious expression took a step forward and came to the huge steel beast in front of him and continued to introduce it.
"We have equipped this powerful heavy tank with a front armor plate with a physical thickness of 150 mm. Together with the high-angle defense, it can be completely immune to any known anti-armor weapon attacks on the battlefield. This is not only true for the Russians.
, the same is true for our own anti-armor weapons, no anti-armor artillery can penetrate this level of defense."
Following Dr. Schlein's introduction, Guderian felt that his eyesight was not enough, and he personally stepped forward to carefully observe this new heavy tank, which the head of state had high hopes for.
The armor plate on the front of the car body with huge and obvious welding marks was indeed extremely thick. Guderian stretched out his hand and took off his gloves and made a gesture with his hands, touching the exquisite and reliable armor welding seam.
Then he nodded and spoke.
"Very good, our boys will like this kind of defense. What is the total combat weight of this tank?"
Guderian asked this question rather suddenly. Dr. Schlein, who had originally planned to introduce other projects, was stunned for a moment, but soon returned to normal, pushed up the glasses frame on the bridge of his nose and answered.
"If you include on-board ammunition and full fuel, the total combat weight will reach 69 tons. Beyond this number, it will be close to about 70 tons."
"..."
Guderian thought he was mentally prepared, but as soon as such an answer was spoken, Guderian felt his whole body tremble momentarily, and he was still quite surprised.
"Seventy tons? That's an exaggeration, doctor! The Tiger 1 heavy tank has performed very poorly in the bad road conditions in Russia. We even had to abandon those Tigers stuck in the mud and roadside ravines. If there were not six and a half tanks
Don't even think about pulling it out with a crawler tractor, but in most cases we can't get that many vehicles together."
Guderian's meaning was very obvious, but Dr. Schlain's subsequent performance also seemed very helpless.
"We have discussed this issue before, but the head of state ordered us to strengthen armor protection and give priority to ensuring that we can survive the Russian anti-armor firepower. Combined with the Russian anti-armor weapons reports and information that appeared on the battlefield, there are also plans for the future
Assessments of the development of enemy anti-armor weapons over time predict that this level of protection is already the minimum."
"If we continue to reduce armor and reduce tonnage, the comprehensive protection performance will inevitably fail to meet the target requirements, General Guderian."
"..."
The Führer likes to interfere in the development of German weapons and equipment. This has long been an open secret among the top management, especially in the development of heavy equipment. Guderian even felt that everything was in accordance with the Führer's will.
The smell of going your own way.
As long as the head of state wants any weapon, even if it is impractical, the people below who are scrambling to please him will do it.
Whether the weapons are practical or not is none of my business? Anyway, as long as the head of state is happy, the head of state must be right and absolutely cannot be wrong. Only those who dare to question the head of state have real problems.
Thinking of the above real situations, Guderian wanted to rush back to Berlin immediately and persuade the head of state to scrap the design and start over. The use of such a huge and heavy heavy tank on the front line would have too many restrictions and disadvantages. Faced with it,
The Russian tank group like the vast ocean is simply outnumbered and has many constraints.
But when he thought that the armored troops on the front line were being slaughtered by Russian tanks, reports of the appearance of various new Russian heavy tanks came like snowflakes from the front line and piled up on his desk.
Guderian, who suppressed his objections, finally decided to at least solve the crisis first. The Tiger-1 tank, which had been confirmed to be behind the enemy's optimal design level, needed to be replaced and produced as soon as possible. Even if the bulky guy in front of him was not in perfect condition, as long as it was
It is at least more meaningful and practical than the Tiger 1, as long as it can play a positive role in the war on the front line.
After all, it would be a waste of time to tear down all the designs and start over again. Guderian felt that this was something the current German army could no longer afford.
"What's the power of its engine? What kind of engine did you install on it?"
Guderian really hoped that this seventy-ton steel monster would have some changes in power. The German armored forces, which advocated maneuverability and blitzkrieg, had been slowly tending to a slow, heavy, and strategic force since I don’t know when.
The situation of the increasingly poor bottomless pit troops that swallow oil should not continue to deteriorate with newer main battle equipment. This is something that needs to be avoided.
Regrettably, Guderian's wishful thinking was once again shattered by the cruel words that followed.
"The project was completed in a hurry, and there was almost no time to demonstrate the design of the entire power system."
"We chose an existing reliable design and transplanted the engine from the Tiger 1 tank. It has a maximum output of 700 horsepower. Once it is put into mass production, we can quickly increase production and will not be affected by the low output of the new engine. This
It is the only reliable and most feasible design solution at present.”
The same engine? And the Tiger-1 tank?
During the time when Guderian returned to his hometown to eat on his own, the Maybach hl230 gasoline engine of the Tiger heavy tank had been upgraded from the early 650 horsepower to 700 horsepower, and an engine governor was installed.
, which greatly improves the engine life and trouble-free working time.
The reliability of the current Tiger heavy tank has basically reached the acceptable level originally expected, and it is even better.
But this 700-horsepower engine was transplanted to the 70-ton monster in front of him. Guderian, who had already figured out that the power-to-weight ratio of this thing was only a pitiful "10", felt that his eyes were really dark now.
I have everything on my mind, but fortunately it hasn’t reached the point of sudden high blood pressure on the spot, which is pretty good.
As if he noticed something was wrong with Guderian's expression, and knowing that such a power-to-weight ratio approaching single digits was really outrageous, Dr. Schlein hurriedly added something to Guderian.
"We are still working on an upgrade and improvement plan, general. The shortcomings of the power system are obvious, and the safety issues of the gasoline engine and the unreliability after being shot are also taken into consideration. We have a new 16-cylinder X-type
GM diesel engine design is in progress, and the base model is expected to provide a maximum power output of 770 horsepower."
"If it is aimed at the Tiger II heavy tank, it can also be improved by using an enlarged power compartment. Dr. Porsche believes that the maximum output power of 900 horsepower can be achieved, and an air-cooled heat dissipation mechanism and an engine speed limiter can be used to ensure reliability. This
It will greatly improve the mobility of the Tiger II tank, basically reaching the same level as the Tiger I tank, or even surpassing it."