The Rise of the Third Reich

"Comrade General Secretary, the current situation on the front line is generally favorable to us..."

Although his mind had long been filled with ominous omens of failure, Zhukov still put forward a "generally favorable" conclusion when reporting the frontline battle situation to Stalin.

This is not because Zhukov reported good news but not bad news, but that the Soviet military god discovered some changes in the battlefield situation that were beneficial to the Soviet army on the Moscow Northern Front battlefield where the battle was inextricably linked. This happy change was: using tanks The difficulties encountered by the armored group as the core during the offensive were more serious than at any other period in history!

In other words, in the face of a large number of infantry (mechanized infantry) equipped with anti-tank weapons, tanks have lost their former glory.

This change is undoubtedly beneficial to the Soviet Red Army, which is unable to equip a large number of heavy tanks.

"Comrade General Secretary," Zhukov said, "I have just inspected the front line and know the situation on the front line best. There, our comrades are very brave and tried their best to fight. But the reason why they failed to achieve extraordinary results is (In Zhukov's view, the Northern Front Counterattack was already very satisfactory, but Stalin's requirements were relatively high). In addition to the enemy's strength, the main reason is that the current battlefield exchange rate advantage is shifting from tanks to counterattacks. Tank weapon transfer."

"The advantage is shifting to anti-tank weapons?" Stalin frowned slightly. "Comrade Zhukov, do you mean that the era when tanks dominated the ground battlefield has passed?"

"Yes." Zhukov nodded and said, "In 1942 or even earlier, the anti-tank weapons that infantry could use were very limited and very ineffective. But now, infantry has many ways to attack tanks. . And there is also a tactic of combining infantry and anti-tank armored vehicles... Both we and the Germans have mastered this tactic, and we have almost the same weapons, and they are very effective. "

"Are you talking about the Iron Fist?" Stalin asked.

There is no concept of protecting intellectual property rights on the Soviet-German battlefield, and both sides do not mind copying the other's excellent designs. The Panzerfaust anti-tank grenade launcher is a typical example. It is now copied by the Soviet Union, which is at a disadvantage in terms of the number of tanks.

"There is also the SU-57!" When mentioning this weapon, Zhukov seemed a little excited. "We have the SU-57, the White Army has the 'Oliga' tank destroyer, and the Germans also have similar weapons. They are equipment. A 15-ton tank destroyer equipped with a 75mm gun. Judging from the battlefield use, this weapon is very effective and is especially beneficial for defensive warfare. "

Although the three vehicles SU-57, "Olga's Hammer" and "Stalker" do not copy each other, they are very similar.

They are all products of the same idea - they all appear as a powerful, low-cost self-propelled anti-tank gun that can move under its own power and has a considerable degree of armor.

After two years of fighting with tanks and anti-tank guns, Soviet and German weapons experts realized that the combat effectiveness of "self-propelled" and "armored" anti-tank guns far exceeded that of towed anti-tank guns - this The conclusion is easy to draw, just study the reports and loss exchange ratios of frontline troops.

Therefore, the pursuit of low-cost tank destroyers has become a common choice for the military industry departments of the Soviet Union and Germany.

The emergence of the SU-57, "Olga's Little Hammer" and "Stalker" is obviously more beneficial to the defensive side, especially the Soviet Union, which is losing most of its industrial capabilities.

"Comrade General Secretary, on the current northern battlefield, light tank destroyers operating in conjunction with infantry equipped with anti-tank rocket launchers, grenade launchers and automatic firearms have shown extremely strong combat effectiveness. Even if we invest in JS-2 If you lead the infantry to attack, there is a high probability of being repulsed...The probability of successful defense is 87.5%.”

Compassion does not command troops! To a commander like Zhukov, the officers and soldiers below are just a series of cold numbers. Not only will he not feel sad about the heavy losses, but he can also calmly see the battlefield situation from a series of shocking loss numbers. Variety.

He paused and then told Stalin: "In our defensive operations (the coalition will also launch a counterattack), we also use the same tactics and force combination, and the defensive success rate reaches 75%."

In other words, the German army (allied forces) launched 4 attacks, and only 1 could win!

"Only 75%? Not as high as the enemy..." Stalin frowned and asked, "Is it because there is no air superiority?"

"Yes." Zhukov said, "But the 75% defense success rate is still very high, and after calculating the results of the air strikes, the loss exchange rate between the two sides is still around 1:1... Of course, this is Achievements achieved without the German army investing in Tiger tanks and E-50 tanks.”

Of course, there are some discrepancies between the figures Zhukov reported to Stalin and the actual situation. The losses of the coalition forces were not that large, and the losses of the German army were even smaller. But there is nothing wrong in the general direction. Tanks are indeed not as sharp as they used to be.

"That's not bad," Stalin said thoughtfully, "Our soldiers don't have a solid defensive position to rely on."

"It's very good," Zhukov said. "If we could have such a defensive success rate and loss exchange rate in the past 2 years, the Germans would have been defeated long ago. So I suggest changing tactics as soon as possible and integrating infantry and anti-tank The cooperation of destroyers will be the main combat mode of the Red Army in the future. At the same time, we should also adjust the weapons production plan to mass-produce SU-57 tank destroyers and reduce the production of T-34/85 and JS-2 tanks.”

"The anti-tank effect of the SU-57 tank destroyer exceeds that of the T-34/85 and JS-2?" Stalin was a little surprised by Zhukov's proposal.

Although the SU-57 is very powerful, how can it surpass the T-35/85 and JS-2, which have 85mm guns and 122mm guns?

"No, this is impossible." Zhukov shook his head and said, "But the resources consumed to produce one JS-2 can produce at least three SU-57s. And we now have more than 10,000 BT series and T -Inventory of 26 series tanks (because the Soviet Union completed the replacement of BT and T-26 series tanks with T-34 before the world revolution, it has a large inventory of old tanks). If these stocks of BT tanks and T-26 are used. If the tank is modified to be a SU-57, the cost and man-hours will be more than 90% less than producing a JS-2 tank.”

Zhukov made such a suggestion because he knew that the Soviet Union would soon lose its national power to produce and operate JS-2 and T-34/85 in large quantities. Modifying the BT tanks and T-26 tanks in stock is the only way for the Soviet army to obtain a sufficient number of armored weapons in the future.

"But where do we have so many ZIS-2 anti-tank guns?" Stalin asked with some annoyance.

Due to the fall of Ukraine and Leningrad, the Soviet Union's industrial production capacity has been greatly reduced. Factories near Moscow and Stalingrad have been moving to Siberia since the winter of 1943. Naturally, production was severely affected in the process.

Among the major industrial bases of the Soviet Union, only factories in the Urals and Siberia are still producing normally.

Moreover, the Ural factory has been strategically bombed by German Me264 long-range bombers since last winter, and production has been severely affected. Not only did the production of JS-2 tanks and T-34/85 tanks fall short of expectations, but also the production of ZIS-2/1943 anti-tank guns.

"We don't have it," Zhukov replied, "but the Americans have enough production and they will provide it to us... Their M1 57mm gun is no worse than our ZIS-2, and in recent battles, we have We have seized armor-piercing sabots produced by the British, and I think we and the Americans can imitate this kind of ammunition.”

In fact, many of the 57mm guns currently used by the Soviet army are the M1 type provided by the United States. This artillery is the American version of the British 6-pounder gun. The two are identical except for the gun mount. Therefore, British 6-pound discarding sabots can also be fired. In the past few days, the Soviet technical department has used American M1 artillery to fire captured 6-pound discarding sabots and discovered the powerful lethality of this shell. .

So Zhukov immediately thought of piecing together the stock BT tanks and T-21 artillery to turn it into an SU-57 tank destroyer, and at the same time equip it with armor-piercing discarding sabots imitated by the United States and the Soviet Union.

However, even if the ammunition factories of the United States and the Soviet Union cannot produce armor-piercing sabots for a while, the American M1 anti-tank gun is still a very excellent anti-tank gun. In the case of using high-performance armor-piercing projectiles, the right-angle penetration (homogeneous steel plate) at a distance of 500 meters is still 100-112mm (the penetration depth varies depending on the type of projectile), although it cannot penetrate the Tiger and E-50 Frontally, but it should be able to penetrate the sides of Tiger tanks and E-50 tanks.

If the SU-57 is used in conjunction with the Red Army infantry equipped with red iron fists and bazooka rocket launchers, it will probably be able to cause considerable losses to the German Tigers and E-50s in defensive operations.

Stalin also understood that Zhukov's proposal was feasible. He nodded and said: "The proposal to modify the SU-57 is feasible and can be carried out immediately." He suddenly stared at Zhukov with a stern look, "Then...the Northern Front Can the counterattack continue now?”