In the months after arriving in Khabarovsk, Malashenko wasted no time in completing the initial preparations for the attack.
In addition to some new equipment that has gradually arrived and been delivered, the main demand is focused on non-main battle equipment such as logistics support vehicles. Malashenko has also received some additional new models, such as the ZSU self-propelled vehicle mounted on the T43 medium tank chassis.
Anti-aircraft guns.
"That's the latest high-mobility field accompanying air defense weapon. Comrade General, it's just right for a unit like the Eastern Leader's Army under your command."
"To be honest, she has actually withstood the test of actual combat in the early months of the Patriotic War. At that time, she was not in the army under your command, but in the East Prussian battlefield, the Soviet Air Force
A considerable force was assembled to try to defend the place where they were resurrected, and resisted stubbornly. With the cover and cooperation of the aviation comrades, the actual combat effectiveness of the new self-propelled anti-aircraft gun was fully tested."
Looking at the new equipment in front of him that did not use a fully enclosed turret, did Malashenko know that since there were very few air search radars in those days, he could visually detect the enemy and miss various tactical aircraft targets at low altitude and high speed?
With better search and capture, real-time response capabilities, and the use of an open-air turret with excellent visibility is a helpless move, let alone saying that it is a piece of junk because it is not good.
The German Corian is an example. The fully enclosed armored turret has a very good protection effect, but relying on a few observation slits and a few crappy observation windows to visually detect the enemy directly leads to the Corian thing.
However, the response to low-altitude and high-speed targets that are close enough to a certain extent is extremely poor.
After all, Corian in the real world doesn’t have a third-person perspective for me to use, so I, the German guy, can just use the narrow slits and small windows to slowly find the plane to play with.
Especially after the young pilots of the Red Army mistakenly attacked the aviation force, they got the Corian analysis manual that they studied in the Dongfa Donglai uniform, and found out whether the weakness of that thing was "near blindness". We met there again in the future.
If there is a need for a strong attack and if you don't evacuate, then there is a high probability that it will fly to Corian's head at a very close distance, and then deal crazy damage.
Corian, who was so disoriented by the bombing, often had trouble finding direction during fierce battles.
It's true that the electric turret rotates very fast, but if you can't find the nearby target, it can be left there like a broken electric toy, shaking its head wildly, which looks particularly funny.
In view of this, after repeated weighings, the Red Army's R&D and Design Bureau had previously chosen a convertible open turret design that seemed conservative, but considering the technical conditions and actual combat environment, it was indeed the most practical design.
The open-air turret is equipped with two parallel 37mm automatic anti-aircraft cannons. The good news is that this thing uses a hopper with an improved design to feed ammunition.
A magazine can hold 5 or 5 magazines, a total of 25 rounds. Before those 25 rounds of spare ammunition are used up, the loading leg is required to continuously put new magazines in to ensure continuous and uninterrupted firepower output, unless
The gun barrel is overheated or the gun has a mechanical failure.
Instead of having to fire one round like my German friend's 37-leg cocking machine, the first round is comparable to the 37mm enlarged version of the Mauser 98K, which does not even have a magazine.
Generally speaking, in addition to its own design function of air defense, field-accompanied self-propelled anti-aircraft guns are also responsible for high-rate fire support and even auxiliary attack tasks.
Let’s take the Corian as an example. This kind of thing, which is often used as a monkey by the Red Army aviation when it comes to short-range air defense, has shown great power in the wrong-place battle in Bastogne, which is comparable to the German dreaming back to 1939.
The U.S. 101st Airborne Division, which did not have decent heavy firepower in its legs but only had light weapons, was killed to pieces by that thing. Even the intact corpses could not be found. In quite a few cases, they were directly bombarded to pieces by high-explosive shells.
To the east of Corian's cover, the 105mm King Tiger gun was showing off its power like a god, and the ammunition ready to be fired in the semi-automatic loader could be blasted to death.
The Panzergrenadiers who rushed forward with STG44 in hand had never fought such a fun and comfortable battle on the Eastern Front. Can they feel proud and experienced the pleasure that the Russians enjoy every month?
In this battle, Corian won the first prize with a well-deserved anti-infantry record, which made the German guy who did not expect that anti-infantry thing be so effective was overjoyed.
Overjoyed, De Lao took out the Panthers at the back who had been discontinued for a long time but had a lot of them in stock, especially the damaged cars that needed to be repaired in the repair shop. With a wave of his thigh, Yongtong pulled some of them out and moved them.
For the purpose of modifying the Corian, it is convenient to do the repair and modification at the same time without having to return to the factory again.
Unfortunately, most of the Panther modification plans are stuck in the schedule. A considerable part of them have not even built the turret. They are headless Panthers parked in the factory workshop waiting for the turret to arrive.
As soon as the factory was in a state of installation, the Red Army stormed into the factory and handed over the car and the blueprints together.
After getting Corian's drawings and a large number of completed and unfinished actual cars, they were sent to the design institute and the testing ground for tinkering.
The Red Army, which had thoroughly analyzed Corian's strengths and weaknesses, immediately applied that part of its newly gained experience to the improved design of the ZSU self-propelled anti-aircraft gun. It had already arrived at what Malashenko saw in front of him.
But there is one thing to say. In Ruming's leadership army equipment system, there is really little need for equipment with unsatisfactory protective properties to fight land battles.
Are you talking about a large-caliber high-rate rapid-fire artillery that can be used against infantry, light armor or unarmored targets? It also needs to have strong mobility and be able to accompany heavily armed troops in front-line in-depth operations.
There is no need to look for it, it is readily available and available in large quantities, such as the BMP43 infantry fighting vehicle.
Although the 25mm cannon is not more powerful than the 37-mm cannon, the advantage is that the BMP43 infantry fighting vehicle does not need to occupy a new organization instead of the existing organization, and it is very large in number and can pull infantry on the front line at the same time.
So let’s talk about the competition in the same tactical position. Will ZSU definitely compete for the BMP43 infantry fighting vehicle?
Other Red Army troops may regard it as a treasure and artifact of mobile anti-infantry on the front line, but the leader army really does not need that thing to accompany the tank on the battlefield. Is the width of the battlefield limited to the east of a certain area limited?
There are limits and marginal effects on equipment density. It’s not just a mindless pile-up. It’s like calling a red alert, the more the better.
It can do all the jobs that the BMP43 infantry fighting vehicle can do, and the BMP43 infantry fighting vehicle can also do other big jobs. It can occupy one parking space and only have one vehicle. So what is so great about our ZSU?
Is it necessary to conduct an assault at the wrong place on the front line? It is not necessary.
That doesn't mean that thing has no meaning.
The wrong ground is not enough, but the wrong air is powerful. When the enemy planes are raging overhead, put those good things that do not need to be deployed and have the ability to react quickly into the shooting position in time, and set up a fire net to drive the enemy out of the wrong ground.
Tactical air strikes, protecting your own ground units, are not of value.
So he put the thing in his lap, and Malashenko thought that it could only do some of its own work, and it was unlikely that there would be much work for it.
What kind of crappy aircraft do we have in the Kwantung Army? How dare we compete with the Red Army aviation?
Can obtain air-to-air strangulation? Let’s talk about air-to-ground strangulation. New cars like ZSU with electric turrets are enough to handle it.
The chassis of the T43 is exactly the same as the T43 medium tank and the BMP43 infantry fighting vehicle. It can be regarded as "one vehicle and three meals" in the leadership army. It will not put much pressure on the existing logistics system. It has many benefits.
It is a new type of equipment with high practical value.
Looking at the new leg thing in front of me, I walked forward and fiddled with the four things, including climbing on the car body, getting into the open turret, and tinkering with the two main guns and breech blocks.
After the inspection, nothing too worthy of criticism was found. Knowing that there were no air defense vehicles with air search radars in those days, it was basically the end of the matter. Malashenko nodded, and then went to the front next to him.
The leading designer comrade who came to deliver the equipment quietly spoke.
"Good stuff! It's really good! I didn't think it was timely for the leader. He just took it away. I don't know if I brought anything else? It's impossible to have such a long train with all the self-propelled anti-aircraft guns."
Bar?"
The designer who led the team to deliver the equipment was an old comrade, someone from Morozov's side, or someone who specialized in medium tanks.
Malashenko guessed that the train full of equipment must have something else, right? The laughter of the old comrade next to him was indeed as expected, and Malashenko guessed it literally.
With.
"There are indeed other equipment, and they are new weapons. Unlike the ZSU, this is the latest weapon that has never been used on the battlefield. So far, only part of the initial batch of mass production has been completed."
"oh?"
Malashenko, who was interested, felt that he had probably guessed what it would be. He followed the old designer and continued along the freight yard platform of the train station, towards the back of the train loaded with heavy equipment.
Listening to the introduction of the old designer Jie Donglai with great interest.
"In fact, the improvement and design work of the T43 medium tank has never stopped. They are strengthening its armor, hoping that it can completely resist the direct fire of the Nazi Chang 88 artillery; they are also upgrading its firepower, hoping that it can withstand the
When the Chang 88 is shooting, turning around and destroying the Chang 88 carrying vehicle usually defeats the capability of the King Tiger heavy tank."
"Ha, the medium tank can completely withstand the attack of the heavy tank, and can easily destroy the heavy tank again. Our design goals are really high enough. Is that what the General Administration of Equipment asked for? It doesn't mean that we
Did the design institute set the starting point so high?"
Generally speaking, the equipment design and development of the Red Army serves as Party A's Red Army side to provide requirements and indicators, indicating "what equipment he wants to do in such situations and achieve such performance."
Then the design institute will be Party B, who will establish the project and assemble project personnel, appoint a chief engineer, and implement the design and R&D work. The "XXX Project" code name commonly used in Red Army equipment was also established in this process.
.
The entire project team took the requirements and indicators proposed by the military to brainstorm and figure out how to make the thing. After the first fiddle, the made thing will be handed over to the military for review. If it passes the review
If the equipment passes the acceptance inspection, it will be assigned a formal equipment number and finalized and put into production.
In this way, can the entire process from design, development, finalization and mass production of a new Red Army equipment be considered complete?
What should be done in the future is for the military and manufacturers to discuss how to increase production based on actual needs.
Then there is the matter of updating the design, improving and upgrading the negative model after it is put into production. At that time, it is not only a matter between the military and the factory, but also people from the design institute must be brought back to engage in three-party linkage brainstorming.
The T43 medium tank is currently at that stage. The models that have been finalized and put into production are in mass production, and new improved and upgraded models are being prepared. After the design is completed and approved, the production lines of the existing models will be gradually replaced.
A state of transition to production.
Malashenko asked those who are curious about the design goal of "penetrating and defending" that "can block the King Tiger and can easily penetrate the King Tiger".
Generally speaking, if the military puts forward the demand, the institute will design it, and that's correct.
When the military does not make requests or assign tasks, so many people in our institute cannot just sit idle and eat red rice all day, right? Doing preliminary research and demonstration design in advance is also considered a no-no.
Be proactive and work in a meaningful and normal way.
Does Malashenko suspect that the design indicators that seem a bit outrageous at first glance, making medium tanks completely better than heavy tanks, were given by someone? Is it possible that the design pre-researched by the institute has been transformed into a physical object?
Intuition told Malashenko that it was not quite like the design specifications that the Red Army could give during the war, because the bridge was too huge, making the design difficult to complete.
The Red Army has always been pragmatic in its design specifications for tanks and armored vehicles, and it should not be possible to achieve that goal.
As for the new car in front of us that can be used for combat operations in the wrong month, it must be a product designed and approved during the Great Patriotic War, so the question is quite intriguing.
While accompanying the flat car that arrived at the end of the train, looking at the row of new tanks in front of them, which were undressing their camouflage masks and about to reveal their true appearance, the old designer's answer also followed Malashen's answer.
Ke's question quietly blurted out.
"It is true that one of the pre-research designs carried out by Comrade Morozov led the project team in advance had already started as early as the beginning of 44. Comrade Morozov proposed at that time that since there was no pre-research design, a higher level of design must be required.
To be forward-looking, we can’t just stop at the existing design that can be improved, but should have the stronger capabilities expected of the Middle East’s first-generation tank.”
"So at that time, we directly set the target on the newly emerged and the most powerful tank in Germany, the Chang 88 King Tiger. Although it sounded a bit unbelievable at the time and even now, they did it, and finally
done."
When the mask was finally completely untied by the soldiers who were climbing on the flatbed truck, the true appearance of the new medium tank hidden beneath it was finally revealed along with the words of the old designer who spoke again.
The first update will be posted there first, 4K big chapter. The second update will be very detailed. I will post it at one o'clock. It's not 4K. Brothers who can't wait can wait for something.