The decisive battle against the Third Reich

This was not the first time the German army defended. In fact, in most of the previous battles, the German army defended first and then counterattacked to gain an advantage.

From this, we can also know that Rommel is not a person who only knows how to attack and not how to defend. In fact, he is also very good at defense. For example, he used two armored divisions for mobile defense before... Using the high-speed mobility of tanks to stay behind the defense line and prepare for the attack, so that a defensive battle can be turned into an offensive battle that is beneficial to oneself. The British armored division was defeated again and again under such a strategy.

But this trick is not working now, because the German army has too few tanks, and most of them are "Matilda" and "Valentine" with poor mobility captured from the British.

In addition, there are 26 "Crusader" tanks. Its speed may meet the requirements of the German army's mobile defense, but this tank also has frequent failures. Even before the battle began, three of them had failures. Of course, the German army cannot pin their hopes on them.

"We need a single-soldier anti-tank weapon!" Qin Chuan said.

Qin Chuan remembered his previous idea about "Iron Fist".

"What do you mean, lieutenant?" Rommel asked.

"Like the 'English crossbow' we saw in Alexandria!" Qin Chuan replied: "It caused us considerable losses in Alexandria!"

"Yes!" Colonel Olbrich said: "If it weren't for the second lieutenant's propaganda offensive, we might not have been able to conquer Alexandria... Our tanks were powerless against it in street fighting!"

"But we are not fighting the British in the streets!" Rommel said: "We all know that the performance of the 'English crossbow' in the trenches is not much better than that of anti-tank grenades, and we don't have so many 'English crossbows'!"

Rommel was right. The range of the "English crossbow" is only one hundred meters, and it is very large. If used in the trenches, it will be easily discovered and suppressed by rifles, machine guns, and mortars. This is why the German army disdained it.

"No, General!" Qin Chuan said: "I'm not talking about using the captured 'English crossbow'!"

"Uh-huh!" Rommel motioned Qin Chuan to continue.

"What I mean is... we should start producing a new equipment!" Qin Chuan said: "This equipment is similar to the 'English crossbow', but we can make up for its shortcomings, such as its warhead is excellent!" "Is it too late to consider producing a piece of equipment now, Lieutenant?" Colonel Olbrich said: "The British are likely to attack in a dozen days or even less, and we can't produce it within this time!" "Yes!" This is also what Qin Chuan felt annoyed about. He should have proposed this idea a long time ago: "But we should prepare early, right? Otherwise, we will regret it forever!" "The equipment you mentioned..." Rommel asked: "What will it look like?" Rommel was interested in Qin Chuan's idea because he considered one point: when supplies are difficult to transport from Italy, this small equipment may be the only way out for the German army, because the weight and space of transporting a tank can transport dozens or even hundreds of such individual anti-tank equipment. This is also what Qin Chuan considered... In the near future, as long as a ship of "Iron Fist" can be transported, it will be enough for the German army to stop the offensive of British tanks. "General!" Qin Chuan asked Rommel: "Can I borrow your pen?"

"Of course!" Rommel handed the pen on the table to Qin Chuan.

Qin Chuan raised the pen cap and pen body to the officers and said: "This is the warhead of the 'English Crossbow', and this is its barrel. We know that the barrel of the 'English Crossbow' is very thick and difficult to launch, so..."

Qin Chuan put the pen body aside and said: "Why don't we give up this barrel with many shortcomings?"

"So how do we launch this warhead?" Colonel Slaine asked curiously.

"It's very simple!" Qin Chuan replied: "We just need to add a tube behind the warhead, fill it with gunpowder, and then 'boom'... the warhead is ejected!"

The officers looked at each other in surprise. They didn't expect that the new equipment Qin Chuan said would be so simple.

But the simpler things are, the more likely they are to become a reality, and the production cycle will not be too long... The "Iron Fist" in history took only four months from design to the military obtaining a large number of samples.

Qin Chuan has even finished the design part.

Then, Qin Chuan simply took a pen and drew a sketch of the "Iron Fist" on paper.

"That's about it!" After drawing, Qin Chuan handed the sketch to Rommel: "Its advantages are obvious, easy to launch, simple to operate, small size and not easy to be discovered, light weight and easy to carry. Of course, it may have the disadvantages of low accuracy and short range, but the point is... it can easily penetrate 75MM or even thicker armor!"

"This is exactly what we need!" Colonel Slaine said with wide eyes: "Infantry is often helpless when dealing with enemy tanks, because they have to throw anti-tank grenades at close range or even rush to the tank with explosives to blow it up... If we have this equipment, we don't need to do this, which will give us more opportunities to blow up tanks and more possibilities of survival!"

Rommel nodded, handed the sketch to the adjutant, and ordered: "Send the sketch back to the German R\u0026D department immediately. I want to know the feasibility and production cycle of this equipment. Immediately!"

"Yes, General!" the adjutant responded, taking the sketch and heading straight to the communications room without stopping for a moment.

It would take some time to use the radio to sketch out the sketch and its functions and requirements. At the same time, the German R\u0026D Department also had to demonstrate its feasibility, so it was not until half an hour later that the adjutant came back in a hurry.

"General!" The adjutant said with surprise on his face: "They said this idea is very feasible, but because they have no experience in this area, they cannot guarantee whether it can be produced or how long it will take!"

"Tell them!" Rommel said: "Produce as much of it as possible as quickly as possible!"

"Yes, General!"

After a pause, Rommel said to Qin Chuan: "It's really impressive, Sergeant, I found that your fantastic ideas are not limited to command, but also equipment research and development... Just like the minesweeper you thought of before Like a tank!"

"This may have something to do with my timidity!" Qin Chuan replied half-truthfully: "Because I am always facing the threat of death, I urgently need a piece of equipment to save my life!"

With a "coax" sound, the officers in the headquarters were all amused by Qin Chuan's words.