"Hey, I heard you were looking for me, so I dropped the cannonball right away. Is there anything I can do for you?"
Malashenko was fiddling with the breech block at hand when a familiar voice came from the turret hatch above his head that had never been closed. There was also a familiar face squatting on the turret and facing Malashenko in the car.
Ke looked over.
"It's pretty fast. I thought it would take you an hour to get here."
Needless to say, there was no one else outside the turret at this moment except Iushkin. Malashenko looked up at the turret hatch and then waved.
"Come in, there is something we need to study together."
"Studying stuff? That's not common. What's in this car? The Kraut's blonde..."
puff--
Iushkin, who was muttering nonsense nonsense in his mouth, squatted on the edge of the hatch cover and jumped into the turret, did not expect to win a surprise prize. Before his feet even had time to hit the ground, there was a soft "Puch" sound.
I really wanted to step into the mud. The soft feeling was like stepping into a pot of minced meat. It was really uncomfortable.
"Sukka, you idiot is disgusting even after you die! It's really unlucky!"
Pulling the boots out of the "meat" was accompanied by a vicious curse. Malashenko, who had no time to chat with Iushkin, quickly picked up the conversation and pointed at the gun breech next to him.
Then he spoke.
"Stop talking nonsense and take a look at this first. I have never seen anything like this before..."
Looking in the direction of Malashenko's finger, Iushkin, who was not taking it seriously at first, soon changed his eyes, from not taking it seriously at the beginning to staring intently at the thing in front of him.
As if possessed, he blinked for a moment and then blurted out unbelievable words.
"What...what is this thing? What is this thing that the Germans gave them to hang under the breech block? What can this thing do?"
It can surprise even an old gunner like Iushkin. This is enough to prove that the Tiger King main gun in front of him has an 88-inch long breech block.
At the rear and lower part, there is a huge metal object rigidly connected to the breech block.
It is said to be an object because Iushkin has no idea what this thing is used for.
Not to mention that there is no such design on the tank guns of the Red Army, nor on any German-made tanks that have been captured in the past. This is the first time I have seen it in this life, and it was so sudden and unprepared.
.
"I don't know. There's no instruction manual for this thing. I just looked through the storage box in the car and couldn't find anything like an instruction manual."
"But according to the description of comrades who have fought with this thing, this Tiger King, the iron coffin we are in now, this thing fired three shots in succession with an explosive rate of fire of one round every five seconds in actual combat, and the fourth shot
It was already loading, and our 122 gun finally fired. Then we fired one shot at the animal. Fortunately, the body of the animal was left behind and was not blown up directly."
"If you ask me, I guess the secret of the Tiger King's explosive rate of fire lies in this thing. This thing looks like...well, like a revolver's cylinder. I don't think it looks very...
Is it similar?"
Just as Malashenko said, the large metal object hanging in front of the rear and lower part of the long 88 gun breech block has sharp edges and corners. From the appearance alone, this thing can at least have the function of storing multiple ammunition.
The long 88 fixed shells stored in this thing are like loading bullets into the cylinder of a revolver. They are installed and fixed in a circular surrounding layout in an orderly manner.
A closer look revealed that there are a total of 8 ammunition storage compartments on this thing. Theoretically speaking, when fully loaded, there are a total of 8 shells.
Malashenko, who paid close attention to the details, stood up again and counted how many squares contained cannonballs and how many squares were empty.
After some counting, it was found that there were still 5 shells left in the magazine, which corresponded to the battle details of "three shots fired in a row, and the fourth shot has been loaded" reported by Victor, the previous battalion commander. In this way
If so, it seems that we can find the answer as to why this dead King Tiger fired at such an outrageous rate.
"It does look like the cylinder of a revolver, but if the Germans use this thing to load cannonballs, how does it work? This thing doesn't look like it can fire one round and receive the next one automatically.
.”
Iushkin basically agreed with Malashenko's analysis. The design function of this thing should be a fast-loading ammunition device, but he was confused and curious about the working principle and operating process of this thing.
"Here, look here, here. There is a hand crank here. Let's try cranking it now. Uh... look, this thing starts to spin."
As Malashenko said, the addition of an external hand crank to the ammunition device is one of the key components that controls the movement of this thing.
It should be said that it is quite fortunate that this thing was not damaged in the explosion impact. As soon as Malashenko took advantage of it, he saw that the ammunition equipment began to rise at a speed visible to the naked eye. The ammunition storage compartment of the equipment itself ejected the caliber.
Aim straight at the rear of the breech block until a line is straightened.
"Then, I guess it should be like this..."
Wow——
Holding a small vertical grip directly above the ammunition storage compartment, Malashenko found the point of force. He immediately exerted force with his right arm and pushed forward with one hand. The movable bottom tray for feeding ammunition was connected below the vertical grip.
Holding the shell primer of the shell, with just one push of force, the kinetic energy and inertia followed the smooth metal storage compartment, sending the entire fixed-piece shell into the open breech.
Well, the German's fourth shell was indeed in the process of loading and failed to be loaded. This can also be confirmed.
If not, the whole vehicle would not have died suddenly with the breech open and ready to be inserted into the chamber. Who wouldn't leave the breech open all the time when they have nothing to do, right?
"Okay, now close the breech block, lower the magazine by hand, and stay away from the recoil stroke. You can fire. Loading is complete."
"This crank controls lifting, and this handwheel should control rotation. Give it a try, um... It seems I guessed it right."
One crank is responsible for the horizontal lifting and lowering of the bullet cylinder, and the other is responsible for the rotation of the bullet cylinder to achieve continuous and rapid feeding of bombs.
It seems to be quite simple, not complicated, and a design that can be understood after just one look. However, after watching Malashenko's demonstration process, Iushkin still has one question that remains unanswered.
"It seems to be fine, but is the speed a bit slow? With this formation, I estimate that no matter how fast the hand speed is, it will take more than ten seconds. Is there something wrong? You just said every five seconds?"