Reborn as a police officer in South Africa

The U.S. industry is now in an embarrassing situation of being "big but not strong". The scale of production is indeed very large, and the ability in industrial design is obviously insufficient.

The appearance of the "Grant" is very strange. When installing the 75mm howitzer, the 37mm gun was not cancelled. The two guns are not parallel, but one is higher and the other is lower. The shooting range of the 75mm gun is fixed on the right side. It is limited. Although the 37mm cannon on the top can fire in all directions, its power is seriously insufficient.

In addition, the "Grant" requires more members, a total of seven people are needed to operate smoothly. While this tank is equipped with the US military, it is also sold in large quantities to the Russians and the British.

Russians are in unprecedented difficulty and are not picky eaters.

The British also had a supplier in Southern Africa. Compared with the tanks provided by Southern Africa, the "Grant" was simply the weirdest of the weird. It was nicknamed the "Seven Brothers Coffin" by the British.

Compared with the "Tiger" and "Leopard" in southern Africa, the "Grant" is as ugly as a patchwork monster, so much so that the tank crew of the U.S. 2nd Army even stopped the tank when the "Grant" was refueling. I don't even want to get off.

I really can't afford to lose this person.

"Brother, your tanks look very majestic." Mike, who is from California, sat on the top of the "Grant"'s turret and took the initiative to talk to the 17th Division officer next to him.

Different from the short-barreled artillery used by the "Grant", both the "Tiger" and the "Leopard" use long-barreled artillery with a longer range, higher accuracy, and greater power. This makes the "Tiger" Compared with the "Leopard" style, it has a smoother appearance, more industrial aesthetics, and is more in line with people's aesthetics.

"Yours is not bad either -" Han Kaiyan from Zhaoyuan County, Basutoland said sincerely. The three-story turret design of the "Grant" looked like a product of the last world war compared with the "Leopard".

"How does it feel to fight against the Germans?" Mike hopes to increase his understanding of the Germans. Like most other American officers and soldiers, he knows nothing about the Germans.

"That's it, except that they are braver in combat, have more advanced equipment, and have better command, they are no different from the Italians." Han Kai told the truth. In the eyes of southern Africans, the German army is indeed not outstanding.

"That's great. I hope God will bless us and allow us to encounter a weak enemy." McCollum was reassured, as long as he was no different from the Italians.

Neither Han Kai nor Mike noticed here that their reference points were different, and the conclusions they drew were naturally different.

The strength of the German army is indeed not strong compared to the southern African army, but for the US military, the Germans are definitely tough.

The fuel was refilled quickly, and half an hour later, the "Grant" set off again, heading quickly towards Esnam, where the situation was unknown.

It's not that the situation is unknown.

At least Major General Fredendall doesn't think so.

The Allies have air supremacy over North Africa, and compared with armored forces, the U.S. Air Force's strength is pretty good.

Major General Fredendall was not careless. Before the troops set off, he sent the air force to conduct multiple reconnaissances on Eisnam.

The results of the air force reconnaissance showed that the Germans seemed to know nothing about the U.S. military's actions. They made no further moves after arriving at Eisnam and remained where they were.

This is actually not normal. It has been more than 48 hours since the German army took control of Eisnam. Rommel's commanding troops have always been known for their elusiveness. There is no reason for this German army to stay in place and be passively beaten.

This situation did not attract the attention of Major General Fredendall. Reconnaissance showed that the German troops at Eisnam were about 12,000 men. This was a big achievement that could be easily obtained, as easy as picking cherries from the cherry tree.

The only thing that Major General Fredendall did not expect was that the performance of the "Grant" was not reliable. Less than an hour after the Second Army started again, more and more "Grants" broke down due to various malfunctions. When the Second Army When they arrived at the attack position only 15 kilometers away from Eisnam, about 10% of the "Grants" were unable to participate in the battle due to malfunctions.

This made Major General Fredendall very angry. He decided to wait until after this battle, submit a report on the performance of the "Grant" in this battle, and apply to replace it with one with stronger combat effectiveness, stable performance, and more like A normal tank "Sherman".

"Our mission is to attack the German camp from the front. The Germans have no idea about our actions and are still staying in the camp. This is a good opportunity for us to win. If someone captures more than A Luger pistol, please bring it back for me, I will spend a lot of money." Lieutenant Tom, the commander of Mike's company, pretended to be relaxed when assigning the task.

The Luger pistol, which is complex in craftsmanship and expensive, is the favorite trophy of the Allied forces. Even southern Africa also produces Luger pistols, but the Luger captured from the Germans always has special meaning to the Allied officers and soldiers.

Like the southern African army, US officers and soldiers are also free to choose their sidearms.

The situation of armored soldiers is quite special. Because the space inside the tank is limited, even the rifle must be a specially developed carbine type. The pistol has become the favorite self-defense weapon of tank crews.

The United States is also relatively developed in the military industry.

Like southern Africa, the U.S. military has also begun to equip M1 Garand semi-automatic rifles. The U.S. troops arriving in North Africa have been fully reequipped, which is faster than the U.S. military in East Asia.

"Are the Germans pigs? They have probably slept to death in the camp. It seems that the Germans are not as difficult to deal with as described by the southern Africans and the French -" the words of a commander caused a roar of laughter. These words came from the ocean. The young people on the other side have no idea how cruel the war is.

"Everyone, be careful. There is something wrong with those Germans. I always feel that it is not that simple." Mike's friend James, who is also from California, tried to calm down the captains.

This seemed useless, and James was immediately drowned out by the roar of laughter from the commanders.

"James, if you are worried, then follow me later and I will cover you -" Mike fell under Han Kai's spell. What are the Germans to be afraid of? They are not even as good as the Italians.

An hour later, the troops set off again, and this time the tank crews got into battle formation and entered combat mode from the beginning.

The tracks rolled up yellow sand all over the sky, and the endless sand dunes and Gobi desert were spectacular at first sight, but being in them soon caused aesthetic fatigue, and I just wanted to end it all as soon as possible.

Mike's tank broke down, and black smoke erupted from the engine. No matter how hard the driver stepped on the accelerator, the tank remained motionless.

"Sir, there seems to be a problem with our traditional system -" the driver's voice was helpless, and seemed to be a little lucky.

"Everyone get out of the car, let's repair her as soon as possible." Mike pushed open the hatch cover and got out of the tank. Unlike the "Tiger" and "Panther" which only had one hatch cover, the "Grant" had a total of three hatch covers.

"We need a maintenance vehicle. We can't eliminate this kind of fault ourselves." When the driver jumped out of the car, he fell down awkwardly because the sand under his feet was relatively soft.

"Where can I find a maintenance truck now?" Before Mike could finish his words, a dense explosion suddenly came from the distance.

Major General Fredendall had a serious lack of understanding of Rommel. The Germans did not stay in the camp, but had already set up defensive positions, waiting for the American troops to rush in.

Rommel did not have many tanks, but he had enough anti-tank guns.

The defense of the "Grant" is seriously insufficient. The frontal armor is only 51 mm, and the side and rear armor are a pitiful 38 mm. The armor-piercing projectiles used by the German Panzer IV can easily penetrate it.

Oh, when describing the shortcomings of the "Grant" above, I forgot about the "Grant"'s armor-piercing projectiles.

After arriving in North Africa, the U.S. military discovered that the M72 armor-piercing projectile used by the "Grant" was seriously insufficient. Let alone the German No. 4, it was difficult to penetrate even the No. 3 armor.

The 75mm armor-piercing projectiles used by tanks in southern Africa have different specifications from the M72 armor-piercing projectiles.

The Americans were forced to modify 15,000 German 75mm armor-piercing projectiles captured by the Allies to increase the lethality of the M72.

Before the modified armor-piercing bullet had time to take effect, the "Grant" suffered a devastating blow from the German army.

The reason why "Grant" was affectionately called the "Seven Brothers Coffin" by British soldiers is directly related to the catastrophic consequences caused by structural defects after it was shot.

The same goes for the "Grant" equipped by the US military. After being hit by anti-tank artillery, many tank crews were beaten into pieces by rivets flying everywhere, and the tank instantly lost its combat effectiveness.

"We found a German defensive position right in front of us - the German firepower is very fierce, we need support -" Mike's earphones heard the sounds of help and screams from his companions.

"God, my tank was hit by the Germans, I'm hit, I'm hit, I need treatment-"

"Pay attention to the left. I found a German tank on my left and it opened fire——"

The sound stopped suddenly, and it was obvious that the tank was destroyed by the Germans in an instant.

Mike was stunned. Because his tank malfunctioned and he didn't have time to participate in the battle, Mike suddenly felt a little lucky.

Other tanks were very unlucky.

Although the "Grant" has various shortcomings, at least the "Grant" is a medium tank and is not without resistance.

Only one-third of the tanks in U.S. armored divisions are medium tanks, and more are light tanks.

The light tank equipped by the 2nd Army is also M3. This type of tank was named "Stuart" by the British.

The performance of the "Stuart" is hard to describe. The total combat weight of this tank is only 12.5 tons. The armor thickness is 25-44 mm. It is equipped with a 37 mm tank gun and two machine guns. It has a crew of four and its turret is a two-man

Crew, the tank's tracks are very narrow, the ground contact is too high, and it is also very picky about fuel. The Russians evaluated the "Steat"'s firepower and armor as being too weak, so they directly refused U.S. assistance.

The Russians' evaluation of the "Stuart" is very fair. When facing the German anti-tank guns, the "Stuart" had no resistance at all. The armor was easily penetrated by the shells. The power of the 37mm tank gun

It was too weak, and hitting the German No. 4 was like scratching an itch.

Soon, the "Grants" and "Stuarts" suffered heavy losses, and the situation was summarized to Major General Fredendall. While Major General Fredendall ordered the troops to defend on the spot, he had to call for friendly forces to support them.

"Grant" and "Stuart" showed their hips, but the German No. 3 and No. 4 were running rampant.

Unlike the U.S. troops who had just arrived in North Africa, the Germans had been fighting the Allies in North Africa for more than a year. After more than a year of training, Rommel's tank crews had become truly elite soldiers. If it were not for the lack of fuel, Rommel would have

You have already penetrated Egypt.

The German tank crew's attacks were accurate and ruthless. The "Grant" used a gasoline engine. After being attacked, the fuel could easily ignite. Even if the tank crew was not killed by rivets, he would be burned alive.

The 37mm gun of the "Grant" is not powerful enough. The 75mm gun needs to use a periscope sight when aiming. This kind of sight will cause serious ghosting in North Africa where there is too much sunshine, and the shooting angle of the tank gun is also different.

question.

All factors combined, "Grant"'s performance on the battlefield was a disaster.

Even if the "Stuart" cannot be defeated, at a speed of 58 kilometers per hour, it can at least escape from the battlefield as quickly as possible.

But the "Grants" couldn't even escape. As soon as the battle broke out, a large number of "Grants" were destroyed by the Germans. Major General Fredendall tried to organize a counterattack, but it had no effect.

By the time Liang Hao received the distress call, the battle had already broken out for nearly thirty minutes.

For the U.S. Second Army, every second of these thirty minutes was torture.

In just half an hour, about 120 "Grants" and 170 "Stuarts" were destroyed by the Germans. More than 2,000 American soldiers were killed. When Liang Hao sent armored troops for reinforcements, the 2nd Army became irreversible.

In the rout, many American soldiers surrendered after being surrounded by the Germans. Major General Fredendall's car was destroyed by the Germans and had to be evacuated from the battlefield in a truck.

"How is this possible? Even if the Americans cannot defeat the Germans, they should not be defeated so miserably -" Liang Hao in the armored command vehicle was puzzled. During the battle between the Southern African army and the German army, let alone the army,

Level, even division-level troops have never been defeated head-on by the Germans.

In Crete, the southern African army voluntarily withdrew from the battle. Although the Germans did not say it, they knew very well how lucky the victory was.

"Americans are too arrogant, they are always like this-" Franz, Liang Hao's chief of staff, was not surprised. Americans have never changed.

In World War I, the U.S. military used the human wave tactic to launch an attack on the Liege Fortress, which was densely defended by the German army. As a result, the U.S. military suffered heavy losses.

During the Brazilian Civil War, the Americans made no progress at all and were severely punished by mercenaries of the Umbrella Company in the field. This did not sound a wake-up call for the Americans.

After the Battle of the Philippines broke out, the U.S.-Philippine coalition forces could not even defeat the Japanese, which attracted the attention of the Americans.

It's one thing to be aware of the gap, but it's another thing to be able to make up for it in time. The lessons learned over the past few decades cannot be caught up in a day or two.

(End of chapter)