The Third Reich: The Return of the King

"How's it going, what are your thoughts on this exercise?"

After all the military attaches from various countries had returned, Mainz gathered the officers participating in the military exercise and held an internal group meeting.

Guderian, who had already been promoted to major, said excitedly: "General, I think our previous assumption was right!"

Mainz looked at him and smiled and encouraged: "Talk about it!"

"Although the scale of our exercise is not particularly large, it cannot simulate the appearance of a full-scale war between countries, but major battles are composed of one battle after another, and I think our combat experience this time can be used as a standard for future actions!"

Guderian was still immersed in excitement, this military exercise, they fully implemented the battle plan formulated by Major General Mainz, which included using cavalry to simulate future armored forces, so that cavalry could charge the enemy line.

Simulate the heavy artillery of the future with field guns to tear through enemy defenses before the battle and clear the way for the attack of armored troops.

The reason why the military attaches of the Entente found the Germans inexplicable was entirely because they only saw the appearance, but not the inside.

The First World War had already proved what the consequences would be for large-scale cavalry storming enemy positions, and in the face of a strangulation net composed of barbed wire, heavy machine guns, and artillery of various calibers, cavalry with little protection could rush up to death, a method that had proven to be unworkable, and the Germans naturally did not try it.

So the cavalry offensive of the German army during the day was not real cavalry, but a simulated offensive of armored forces.

In terms of speed, the tank armored vehicles of this era may not be as fast as the cavalry horses, but in the next few decades, with the development of engine technology, the power of tank armored vehicles in various countries will become stronger and stronger, and the design will become more and more reasonable, which makes the speed of tank armored vehicles begin to get faster and faster.

Far exceeding the marching speed of the infantry, giving the tank the ability to form a separate army, form an armored corps and fight independently, if the future tank armored vehicle is still the same as the tank of the First World War, bulky like a snail, then it does not have the ability to form an army alone, after all, a thing that moves slower than the infantry, counting on it to use speed to break through the enemy's defense, isn't that a joke?

It's a pity that the inherent impression of tanks among military attaches of various countries is that they are bulky, sturdy, and durable, so when they see the flexible and mobile cavalry, they never thought that the German army was an armored force simulated by cavalry.

And the level of German artillery that was complained about by military attachés of various countries, of course, is also their misunderstanding.

It is true that the German field guns are inferior to the French Miss 75 in terms of performance, but the other advantages of the Krupp 75mm gun are also not possessed by Miss 75!

The range of the Krupp 75 mm field gun reached 12.3 km, a distance that could already be used for tactical support strikes, which could hit the enemy beyond the line of sight, while the French 75 Miss could not do it, the latter had a maximum range of only 8600 meters, which was 3.7 km shorter than the Krupp 75 gun.

In addition, the Krupp 75mm field gun has a wide firing range, from -9 to +4.This wide firing range makes this field gun can be carried out at long distances, and the firing range of the French army's 5 ladies is only -8 to +11, this kind of artillery is more suitable for direct fire, not curved fire!

Artillery capable of curved fire can mimic the function of heavy artillery, provide tactical support, and strike at fixed targets of enemy troops.

In Mainz's vision, the weapons that provide fire support for armored forces in the future are, one is a self-propelled gun that can move on its own, and the other is a heavy gun towed by a car.

There is a very successful example of the former in history, that is, the No. 3 assault gun, nicknamed the Three Bald Man.

As one of the most important accompanying firepower of the German armored forces during World War II, the No. 3 assault gun produced more than 10,000 units during the entire war.

Mainz does not intend to change this result, the No. 3 assault gun is very successful in history, especially the use of the chassis of the active tank, only changing the superstructure, simplifying the design as much as possible, so that the main parts between the assault gun and the tank can be common, reducing the difficulty of maintenance on the battlefield, reducing the failure rate, and improving reliability, which is the focus of his attention.

In the future, once the German army lifts the ban and begins to develop its own tank, then after the tank is finalized, Mainz will definitely use the territory of this type of tank as a benchmark to design corresponding self-propelled guns and combat and non-combat vehicles such as battlefield repair vehicles.

The reason for the defeat of the German army in history was, on the one hand, that the German army made a mistake in its strategy, and when it did not completely solve the empire on which the sun never set and ended the war on the Western Front, it ran to open up the battlefield on the Eastern Front, which led to itself falling into an unfavorable situation of fighting on two fronts.

On the other hand, the equipment system of the German army is too complex and the maintenance is too difficult, so that the logistics burden of the front-line troops is too heavy, which makes the equipment failure rate of the German army remain high!

Take the Tiger tank as an example, this tank has strong firepower, thick armor, good protection, especially the design of the dual gearbox, which gives this tank incredible handling performance.

It stands to reason that such an advanced tank should be well received by armored troops, but after this tank was put into combat, it received mixed reviews among front-line troops for two reasons:

First, it is too heavy, 56 tons of weight, except for those areas with very good infrastructure, other areas may fall into the mud pit as soon as you drive out!

Second, the failure rate of the Tiger tank is too high, whether it is on the Eastern Front or the Western Front, there are at least 30% of the Tiger tanks lying on their stomachs all year round, and the disadvantages brought by advanced technology are also obvious, that is, the maintenance is not only complicated and time-consuming, but also requires workers with strong technical ability to repair, and ordinary workers really can't repair it!

There is an example in later generations, the Soviet army captured a relatively complete Tiger tank, and after personally standing up, they gave a thumbs up, but after the Tiger tank lay down, a group of Soviet soldiers began to scold their mothers again, because the Tiger tank looks violent, but in fact, it looks like a flower girl, and it is accidentally broken, and once it is broken, it will cost you to repair it.

For the Soviet armored troops, who have been accustomed to the solidity and ruggedness of Soviet tanks, the Tiger tank is really not something they can control!

In addition to self-propelled guns, additional support for armored units comes from truck-drawn heavy guns.

This type of artillery must meet the following conditions:

First: the weight can not exceed 2.5 tons, more than this tonnage of ordinary trucks can not be towed, the need to use heavy trucks or special towing trucks, which will make the establishment of armored forces bloated and complex, but will also weaken the combat effectiveness of armored forces.

So the weight of the artillery needs to be strictly controlled!

Second: the caliber of the artillery must not be less than 120 mm, for the armored forces, the enemy's fixed fortifications pose the greatest threat, and the flat-fire guns hiding in the fixed fortifications will pose a huge threat to the tank, so before the battle, it is necessary to destroy it with heavy artillery to clear the obstacles for the armored forces!

And the experience of the First World War showed that heavy artillery could threaten these fortifications only if the caliber exceeded 120 mm.

In Mainz's heart, there is actually no suspense about this artillery, it is the 150-mm towed howitzer of the German army in history.

The weight of 2.2, the caliber of 15 mm, the firing range of 15 km, these parameters quite well met his requirements.

Of course, the firing range of the German SF18 heavy howitzer is a bit problematic, the firing range of 30 times the caliber is only 13.2 km, but the artillery sold to the Celestial Empire uses 32 times the caliber, and the firing range has been increased to 15 km, Mainz is more inclined to the latter, after all, caliber is justice, and the farther the range, the more just!_

Fei Lu reminds you: three things to read-