In order to successfully accommodate this semi-automatic loader in the King Tiger's turret, the Germans have also made enough corresponding adaptability improvements.
The first ammunition rack at the end of the turret was naturally the first ammunition rack at the end of the turret that bore the brunt of the criticism due to its high explosion rate and was criticized by almost all frontline armor commanders.
Judging from the battlefield reports of the Germans, heavy tanks such as the King Tiger with strong armor and sharp guns, except for those that were abandoned due to lack of fuel or mechanical failure, were actually completely and irrecoverably lost due to enemy attacks.
In Tiger King, more than half of the Tiger King died from "fire"-related problems. To put it simply, the ammunition exploded after being penetrated or the oil caught fire.
As for the ammunition explosion, the absolute main cause of the "Tiger's death" was the explosion caused by the destruction of the first ammunition rack in the turret, so that the first ammunition rack at the end of the Tiger King turret had such a terrible chance of explosion.
The German armored soldiers on the front line made up a rap to complain about it, which can be regarded as a classic.
"Don't give me a Tiger King, don't give me a Tiger King, hey! I don't want a lame Tiger King, hey! My head is full of shells exploding, don't give me a lame Tiger King, hey!"
A rant about two of the most fatal shortcomings at once. Fortunately, one of the shortcomings can be quickly solved through human intervention.
Since the first ammunition rack of the turret loves to explode so much, shouldn’t I just empty the first ammunition rack of the turret? In fact, most front-line German armored commanders did the same.
Emptying the first ammunition rack of the turret will of course cause some foreseeable problems, and the reloading speed is a very direct one. It is better to just turn around and extract the shells from the ammunition rack of the vehicle body, then carry them back to the turret basket and lift them up for loading.
Pull out a round of ammunition from the rear end of the turret, turn around and stuff it into the breechblock to complete the loading quickly.
But there's actually nothing you can do about it. The prerequisite for you to continue fighting is that you have to live. The Tiger King has become a "tiger dead", so how can you continue to fight?
Under the premise that the explosion rate of ammunition remains high, and the turret is almost bound to explode as soon as it is penetrated by Red Army ammunition, it is obviously quite unrealistic to talk about combat effectiveness and combat efficiency. It is a castle in the air and a mirror in the mirror.
It's pure bullshit.
In a sense, this is a blessing in disguise for the Germans.
The Henschel engineering team embarked on the King Tiger loader modification project, after discovering that the first ammunition rack of the King Tiger's turret was so badly criticized by frontline soldiers that it was already useless, abandoned and empty in most frontline troops.
. Then I realized that if this useless first ammunition rack was completely removed, it would actually free up more valuable space in the turret for the loader modification project, and it could even be said that the space capacity was more than enough.
Although the Germans are very stupid, especially when they are engaged in military design, this is a fact, but being stupid does not mean that they are stupid. They can still do those simple principles that should be understood and can be understood at a glance.
You know it well and can turn it into practical actions.
The German engineer team did what they said and immediately removed the redundant first ammunition rack of the turret on the test prototype vehicle, freeing up a considerable amount of available space in the King Tiger's turret.
As a result, not only the newly designed semi-automatic wheel loader can be inserted smoothly, but even the loaders who participated in the test of the prototype vehicle reported that their activity space in the car was much wider, and they did not feel it at all.
The space is crowded due to the addition of an extra loader.
Not only is the work much easier and more convenient than before, but people are also more comfortable, and the human-machine efficiency and actual combat effectiveness have been improved. This design is so conscientious that the loader who often helps repair the King Tiger road wheel has already
I couldn't bear to greet the Henschel designers and their families anymore. I actually made the Henschel engineers who recorded the test feedback extremely embarrassed.
At the same time, another King Tiger firepower system modification project, which was carried out in parallel with the loader modification project, was also carried out by a team of engineers composed of Henschel and Krupp in the face of indiscriminate bombing by Allied bombers all day long.
It was almost completed under tremendous pressure.
Perhaps it was a coincidence that these two renovation projects were running in parallel without interfering with each other. In the process of exploring the renovation plan, they finally reached a common point.
All have canceled the much-criticized Tiger King's turret first ammunition rack design, which can be said to trade battlefield survivability for reloading speed, and returned to the traditional German tank design similar to the Tiger 1, which only has body ammunition racks.
A problem that was not realized at the time is that these two unrelated renovation projects will eventually be combined one day in the near future. The two renovation projects will be unified and merged in a literal sense, and finally
It was integrated very well and became the "Ultimate Tiger King" that truly made the Allies on the Western Front "change their minds". It was also the most powerful mass-produced heavy tank that the German armored forces actually received before the end of the empire.
Of course, it was indeed premature to talk about this unanticipated "Ultimate Tiger King" transformation plan at that time.
Whether it was Malashenko as his opponent on the Eastern Front, or a certain SS ace commander who was fighting and retreating on the Western Front, but could still kill the weak Allied tanks, no one expected it.
What will the ultimate version of Tiger King be like?
Looking back at the moment, Malashenko, who was playing with all kinds of trivial matters inside the body of the King Tiger, actually did not expect that the King Tiger in front of him with a semi-automatic loader was actually just an "Ultimate King Tiger" plan.
Too half-finished.
It is true that the combat power has been enhanced, but compared to the "Ultimate Tiger King" plan, this combat power bonus is actually less than half.
There is often an almost universal "objective truth" in the transformation and upgrading of large-scale technical equipment: the larger the platform and the heavier the tonnage, the more redundant space it has for upgrading and transformation. It is like upgrading a 10,000-ton ship in the Navy.
, it will definitely have more room for improvement than your 3,000-ton boat. The same is true for the army's large-scale technical equipment transformation and upgrading.
No matter how restrictive it is to change Tiger King, it can never be more difficult than changing No. 4.
After all, the advantage of a larger platform brought by its huge size is here. If you are given a larger drawing paper, you can always draw more things and have more room to play. The principle is the same.
So, with relatively more ample space for transformation, what kind of "German treasures" can ultimately be born?
It's really hard to say, just like "Which Allied Forces on the Western Front hit this precious thing first? Or did the Red Army on the Eastern Front hit this precious thing first?" It's also hard to say. All we can do is wait for the passage of time to finally witness it.