Steel Soviet Union

In the days after arriving in Khabarovsk, Malashenko was seizing the time to complete the final preparations for the attack.

In addition to some new equipment that has gradually arrived and been delivered, mainly focusing on non-main battle equipment such as logistics support vehicles, Malashenko also received some additional new tricks, such as the ZSU-37 mounted on the T43 medium tank chassis. -2 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns.

"This is the latest high-mobility field accompanying air defense weapon. Comrade General, it is suitable for troops like your leader's army."

"To be honest, she has actually withstood the test of actual combat in the last days of the Patriotic War. However, she was not under your command at that time, but on the East Prussian battlefield, where the Nazi Air Force assembled a considerable force. The forces tried to defend their place of revival and resisted stubbornly. With the cover and cooperation of the aviation comrades, the actual combat effectiveness of this new self-propelled anti-aircraft gun was fully tested. "

Looking at the new equipment in front of him, which did not use a fully enclosed turret, Malashenko knew that because there was no air search radar these days and he could only search for enemies visually, in order to target various tactical aircraft targets at low altitudes and high speeds, there were more With good search and capture capabilities and real-time response capabilities, the use of an open-air turret with excellent visibility can be considered a helpless move, and it cannot be said that this thing is bad or just a piece of junk.

The German Corian is an example. The fully enclosed armored turret has a very good protective effect, but it relies on a few observation slits and a few crappy observation windows to spot the enemy, which directly leads to the Corian thing. , The ability to respond to low-altitude and high-speed targets that are close to a certain extent is extremely poor.

After all, Corian in the real world doesn’t have a third-person perspective for you to use, so you German guy can just use the narrow slits and small windows to slowly find an airplane to play with.

Especially after the young pilots of the Red Army's Ground Attack Aviation Corps received the Corian analysis manual issued by their superiors and studied it uniformly, and learned that the weakness of this thing turned out to be "near blindness." If you encounter this thing again in the future and need to attack hard and do not evacuate, then there is a high probability that it will fly to the top of Corian's head at a very close distance, and then deal crazy damage.

Corian, who was so disoriented by the bombing, often "can't find his way" in fierce battles.

It's true that the electric turret rotates very fast, but when it can't find a nearby target, it can only sit there like a broken electric toy and shake its head wildly, which is particularly funny to watch.

In view of this, after repeated weighing, the Red Army's R\u0026D and Design Bureau finally chose the open-top turret design that may seem conservative, but considering the current technical conditions and actual combat environment, it is 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 five 5-round magazines, for a total of 25 rounds. Before these 25 rounds of ammunition are used up, as long as the loader keeps putting new magazines in, continuous and uninterrupted firepower output can be guaranteed, unless the gun The tube overheated or the gun suffered a mechanical failure.

It doesn't have to be like your German guy's 37 handheld machine that fires one round and the other. It's comparable to the 37mm enlarged version of the Mauser 98K, and it has to be the kind that doesn't even have a magazine.

Generally speaking, in addition to the air defense function of its own design function, field-accompanied self-propelled anti-aircraft guns are also responsible for high-rate ground fire support and even auxiliary attack tasks.

Let's take the Corian as an example. This kind of thing, which is often played as a monkey by the Red Army aviation when it comes to short-range air defense, turned out to be very powerful in the ground combat in Bastogne, comparable to the German dream of 1939.

The U.S. 101st Airborne Division, which had no decent heavy firepower and only light weapons, was killed to pieces by this thing. Even the complete corpses could not be found. In quite a few cases, they were directly blown to pieces by high-explosive shells.

Under the cover of Corian, the 105mm King Tiger gun showed 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. They could be regarded as proudly experiencing the pleasure that Russians enjoy every day.

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 this anti-infantry thing could be so effective was overjoyed.

Overjoyed, De Lao took out the Panthers at the rear that had been discontinued long ago but still had a lot of them in stock, especially the more faulty and damaged cars in the repair shop that needed to be repaired. With a wave of his hand, he pulled out some of them and moved them. For the purpose of modifying Corian, it is convenient to do the repair and modification at the same time, saving the need to return to the factory again.

Unfortunately, most of these Black Panther modification plans only stay on the schedule. Quite a few of them didn't even have turrets built. They were headless leopards parked in the factory workshop waiting for the turrets to be installed. Then they were violently bombarded by the Red Army and rushed into the factory, including the vehicles and drawings. Paid.

After getting Corian's drawings and a large number of completed and unfinished actual vehicles, they were sent to the design institute and the testing ground for tinkering.

The Red Army, which thoroughly analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of Corian, then applied this newly acquired experience to the improved design of the ZSU-37-2 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, and finally came up with the solution in front of Malashenko. s things.

But there is one thing to say. In today's leadership army equipment system, there is really no need for this equipment with unsatisfactory protective performance to fight land battles.

Are you talking about a large-caliber high-rate rapid-fire artillery for anti-infantry, light armor or unarmored targets? Moreover, it must have strong mobility and be able to accompany heavy-armed troops in front-line in-depth operations.

There is no need to look for it, it is readily available and available in huge quantities, such as the BMP43 infantry fighting vehicle.

Although the 25 mm cannon is not more powerful than the 37 gun, the advantage is that the BMP43 infantry fighting vehicle does not need to occupy a new establishment, but an existing establishment, and it is large in capacity and can pull infantry to the front line at the same time.

Therefore, when it comes to competition for the same tactical position, the ZSU-37-2 must not be able to compete with the BMP43 infantry fighting vehicle.

Other Red Army units may regard it as a treasure and artifact for frontline mobile anti-infantry, but the leading army really does not need this thing to go on the battlefield with the tank. The width of the battlefield limited to a certain area of ​​land is limited, and the density of equipment on the firing line also has an upper limit and marginal effect. It is not just a mindless pile of equipment, like calling a red alert, the more the better.

The ground-attack work it can do can also be done by the BMP43 infantry fighting vehicle. In addition, the BMP43 infantry fighting vehicle can also do other big tasks. It occupies a parking space and can be used for multiple purposes. Then you have the ZSU-37-2. Why is it necessary to launch a ground assault on the front line? It's really not necessary.

But that doesn't mean it doesn't have meaning.

It is weak against the ground but powerful against the air. When the enemy planes are raging overhead, put this good thing that does not need to be deployed and has the ability to react quickly into the shooting position in time, and set up an anti-air fire net to drive away hostile ground tactical air strikes. , protect your own ground units, this is where its value lies.

So when this thing was handed into his hands, Malashenko thought that it could only do some of its job, and there might not be much work for it.

What kind of crappy plane is your Kwantung Army? Dare to fight with the Red Army aviation?

Let’s talk about the air-to-ground thing after getting air-to-air strangulation. New cars like the ZSU-37-2 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 is considered to be a model with many benefits and useful functions. New equipment with high practical value.

Looking at the newly obtained thing in front of him, he stepped forward and fiddled with it a bit, including climbing up the car body, getting into the open turret, and tinkering with the main gun and breech block twice.

After the inspection, nothing too worthy of criticism was found. Knowing that there were no air defense vehicles with air search radars these days, it was basically the end of things. Malashenko nodded, and then turned to the person in front of him. The designer comrade who came to deliver the equipment quietly spoke.

"Good stuff! It's really good! It's just in time for the leader's army, so I accepted it. I wonder if you brought anything else? It's impossible for such a long train to be filled with self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, right? "

The designer who led the team to deliver the equipment was an old comrade who was from Morozov's side, that is, those who specialized in medium tanks.

Malashenko guessed that this train full of equipment must have something else, right? The next joke of the old comrade next to him was indeed as expected, Malashenko literally guessed it.

"There are indeed other equipment, and they are new weapons. Unlike the ZSU-37-2, this is the latest weapon that has not been 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 walking along the freight yard platform in the train station, towards the back of the train loaded with heavy equipment. Listening to the old designer's next introduction with great interest.

"In fact, the improvement and design work of the T43 medium tank has never stopped. We are strengthening its armor, hoping that it can completely resist the direct fire of the Nazi Chang 88 artillery; we are also upgrading its firepower, hoping that it can withstand the resistance of the Chang 88 artillery. When the 88 is shooting, it can be used to destroy the Chang 88 carrying vehicle. Generally speaking, this is the ability of the King Tiger heavy tank. "

"Ha, the medium tank completely withstood the attack of the heavy tank, and even turned around to destroy the heavy tank. Your design goals are really high enough. Is this required by the General Administration of Equipment, or is it your design institute's own Set the starting point so high?”

Generally speaking, the Red Army's equipment design and development is carried out by the Red Army, as Party A, who puts forward requirements and indicators, pointing out "I hope that such equipment can do such things under such circumstances and meet such performance requirements." Then the following design institute, Party B, establishes the project, assembles project personnel, assigns a chief engineer, and implements the design and research and development work. The "XXX Project" code name commonly used in Red Army equipment was also established during this process.

Next, the entire project team took the requirements and indicators set by the military to brainstorm and think about how to make this thing. After the final tinkering, the finished product will be handed over to the military for review. If the review passes, the equipment will be accepted and given a formal equipment number and finalized and put into production.

In this way, the entire process from design and development to finalization and mass production of a new piece of Red Army equipment has been completed.

What should be done in the future is to discuss between the military and the factory on how to increase production capacity based on actual needs.

Then there is the updated design, improvement and upgrading work after it is finalized and put into production. At this time, it is not only a matter between the military and the factory, but also needs to bring people from the design institute back to engage in three-party linkage brainstorming.

The T43 medium tank is currently at this 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 existing model production lines will be gradually replaced to achieve such a state of production conversion.

What Malashenko is mainly curious about is who set the design goal of "penetrating and defending" that "can block and penetrate the King Tiger".

Generally speaking, the military puts forward the requirements and the institutes then design them, which is correct.

But when the military doesn't ask for anything and doesn't assign tasks to do, so many people in your hospital can't just sit around and eat free meals all day long, right? Doing advance research and demonstration design can be regarded as positive and meaningful normal work.

Malashenko guessed that this might sound a bit outrageous at first glance. Who set the design indicators that make medium tanks completely better than heavy tanks? Could it be that the design pre-researched by the institute was transformed into a physical object?

Intuition tells Malashenko that this is not quite like the design indicators that the Red Army could give during the war, because the span is really too huge, making the design difficult and likely to be impossible to complete.

The Red Army's always pragmatic design specifications for tanks and armored vehicles should not be able to handle this kind of work.

And the new car in front of us that can keep up with the combat operations against Japan must be the product of a design project during the Great Patriotic War, so this question is quite intriguing.

When they arrived at the flat car at the end of the train, they looked at the new tanks lined up in front of them, and the camouflage cloth was being removed, and their true appearance was about to be revealed. The old designer's answer also followed Malashen's answer. Ke's question quietly blurted out.

"This is indeed one of the pre-research designs carried out in advance by the project team led by Comrade Morozov. It started as early as the beginning of 44 years. Comrade Morozov proposed at that time that since it is a pre-research design, it must have a high level of Being forward-looking, we cannot just stop at improving the existing design performance, but should have the stronger performance of the expected next-generation tank.”

"So at that time, we directly set the target on the newly emerged Chang 88 Tiger King, which was also the most powerful tank in the Nazis. Although it may sound unbelievable at the time and even now, we did it and finally did it. arrive."

When the cloth was finally completely untied and taken off by the soldiers who climbed onto the flatbed truck, the true appearance of the new medium tank hidden underneath was finally revealed along with the words of the old designer who spoke again.

The first update will be posted here first, a 4K chapter. The second update is still being processed. It will be posted at one o'clock, still in 4K. Brothers who can wait can wait.