Chapter 676: The Power of the United States and the Soviet Union
In June 1942, the production of U.S. aircraft exceeded the 3,000 mark for the first time, and this was just the beginning. The F4U "Pirate" carrier-based fighter was finalized and started mass production earlier than in history, thus changing the situation in previous battles.
The disadvantage of U.S. carrier-based fighter jets lagging far behind Japan and Germany
situation; six Essex-class heavy aircraft carriers and six Independence-class light aircraft carriers modified from Cleveland-class light cruisers have also been launched successively, and are expected to be completed and commissioned within three months. When they form combat effectiveness,
The strength of the U.S. Navy will far exceed that before Pearl Harbor...
On the Army side, the more advanced M4 "Sherman" medium tanks began to be equipped in large numbers with troops, and monthly production also continued to increase. In June 1942, it exceeded the 1,200 mark for the first time (referring to the production of only the M4 model), exceeding the Axis
The total production of tanks (all models and categories) in the country in that month; even light weapons have also received great attention from the US government. In order to
In order to suppress Japan and Germany in all aspects in terms of firepower, the U.S. government was preparing to use assault rifles to completely replace bolt-action and semi-automatic rifles long before the Pearl Harbor incident. After more than half a year of development, the United States' first automatic rifle, the M14, came out and began
Although it later exposed many problems in the battle, it did greatly strengthen the infantry firepower of the US military...
Compared with the surge in arms production, the terrifying expansion speed of the US military is even more shocking. It was only half a year after the Pearl Harbor incident. With the loss of more than 100,000 soldiers, the total strength of the US military has snowballed to 200.
More than 10,000, and this is just the beginning...
The increase in U.S. gunfire production is due to effective confidentiality measures. Governments of various countries are not very clear about this, but Hu Weidong, a time traveler, can make rough estimates based on historical situations, and the rapid expansion of the U.S. gunfire force is fundamental
Can't hide it.
Compared with the US military, which currently only has potential but insufficient strength, the current Soviet Red Army has a powerful strength that is not inferior to that of Germany, both in the air and on the ground. In June 1942, the number of Soviet combat aircraft exceeded 20,000, and tanks
Total number of self-propelled guns on armored vehicles
There are also more than 20,000 vehicles, and the number of artillery is more than that of all other countries in the world combined. Moreover, most of the weapons and equipment of the Soviet army have been updated. Although it is still not as good as the German army, the gap is no longer as large as that of the Soviet Union and Germany in history.
It was so big when the war broke out (Note 1).
The Soviet Union's mobilization ability is even beyond the reach of Germany. The standing army alone has 5.5 million people. At the same time, because of its unique "invisible force" system, it can mobilize troops in a very short time (theoretically only 24 hours, in practice)
It only takes less than 20 days.) to mobilize a comparable number of reserve forces. Although their combat effectiveness is not as good as that of the standing army.
Because officers are active combat officers, not reservists. They have excellent military qualities, rich management experience, and have worked together for a long time. They also have a tacit understanding of cooperation, and officers are the key to an army's combat effectiveness.
Therefore, the newly mobilized army is not much different from the standing army, and is far from comparable to the reserves of other powers.
Moreover, the Soviet Union's mobilization system does not end here. After the "Invisible Forces" become regular troops, their own "Invisible Forces" officer corps will be quickly established, making the Soviet Union's troops endless. Without losing territory, the Soviet Union
Being able to maintain an army of more than 10 million troops at all times and deploying more than 5 million of them into front-line battles is something that Germany simply cannot match.
Based on these factors, Hu Weidong believed that if Germany was attacked by the Soviet army without sufficient preparation, it would probably be swept away in less than a year. Even if the Soviet Union was defeated by the Germans as it was in history, it would be a preemptive attack.
Unfortunately, as long as the United States provides sufficient economic support to the Soviet Union, there will be no suspense about the outcome of World War II. The only difference is how much the allies have to pay for victory. Of course, these estimates are made after excluding China as a factor.
...
Therefore, Hu Weidong believes that the previously determined strategy of alienating the Axis Powers must make some adjustments. In order to make World War II more brutal and last longer, China must find ways to help the Axis Powers. Of course, it is impossible to directly participate in the war.
Yes, that will only drag China, whose comprehensive national strength is still very limited, into the abyss...
In order to show that China strictly adheres to its neutral attitude and to avoid giving the Soviet Union an excuse to intervene, the Chinese government finally drove out all German armed personnel in China as planned, but at the same time, it secretly conducted one last battle with Germany.
In technology exchange, unlike in the past where China took advantage, this time the Chinese government did not
Hu Weidong handed over the design drawings of the Type 59 medium tank to Germany without paying a penny. With Germany's industrial base, he was fully capable of copying this excellent tank that had the world's advanced level in the 1950s.
And it can continue to maintain the performance advantages of German tanks after the advanced tanks of the United States and the Soviet Union are equipped with troops.
The Type 59 design drawing given by Hu Weidong was only the initial model, and its performance was incomparable with the so-called "59 Magic Modification" of later generations. However, it could definitely go sideways during World War II, and its firepower and defense were comparable to those of heavy tanks.
Combining the mobility and reliability of a tank, it is simply unparalleled
The enemy. Moreover, Hu Weidong considered that all ** units are currently equipped with a large number of anti-tank rocket launchers, anti-tank guns, and even the shells of tank guns mostly use armor-piercing projectiles with super anti-armor capabilities and are not greatly affected by the muzzle velocity of the shells.
And specially added grille armor to the Type 59 prototype (can
(Understood as barbed wire) design, although this design is very simple, it can at least halve the killing efficiency of enemy ammunition based on the principle of concentrated armor-piercing (grid armor can completely invalidate armor-piercing ammunition, but it cannot cover the entire tank.
Therefore, in actual combat, armor-piercing bullets can damage tanks.
The efficiency is halved, of course this is already very good...), and greatly reduces the probability of the tank being completely destroyed (irreparable) and personnel death, and the impact on the performance of the tank is quite limited (the maximum speed is reduced by two or three times per hour)
Only kilometers), it’s really a benefit at no cost...
Note 1: At that time, the performance of many new Soviet equipment was no worse than that of Germany, but the number of equipped troops was still very limited. Therefore, the German army’s weaponry advantage was still obvious in the early days of the war. After the Soviet-German War broke out, the Soviet Union’s new weapons
Although a large number of troops began to be equipped, due to the urgent need on the front line, they had to reduce the quality to speed up production. As a result, the gap between the Soviet weapons and equipment and the German army not only did not decrease, but actually increased further over a period of time. (To be continued.