Transmigrated as the Crown Prince

While the Soviets were busy researching their own heavy tanks, the United States on the other side of the Atlantic was certainly not idle either.

At the beginning of the European war, everyone, including the Americans, thought that this war would turn into a long and stalemate tug-of-war like the last war, with the sky and the earth falling apart. But what everyone expected was that this time Germany completely went against common sense, and a blitzkrieg with German armored forces as the vanguard swept across Europe. First, Poland, which claimed to be the "number one military power in Eastern Europe", followed by Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Finally, even France, the number one power in Europe, and Britain, the long-established maritime hegemon, suffered heavy losses. Not only did they lose hundreds of thousands of The coalition forces were sent to prisoner-of-war camps by the Germans, and even the capital Paris became an undefended city.

It can be said that the current European situation is quite favorable to Germany.

Other countries may only marvel at Germany's military strength, but the Americans, who have been eyeing Europe's hegemony, are very unhappy.

The brilliant achievements of the Germans made Americans begin to examine the development of their own military. The German air force, army, and navy all have many experiences worth learning from.

Among them, the U.S. Army was the most active. When they saw the combat reports of the German armored forces galloping across the European continent with blitzkrieg, officers at all levels of the Army seemed to have been beaten to death. They wrote frantically to various departments. , requiring the establishment of corresponding armored regiments to cope with future war patterns.

The United States does not have no tanks, but the main ones in active service are M2 light tanks and M2 medium tanks. However, these two tanks were already obsolete before they were put into service. They can be said to be mediocre compared to European tanks of the same period. The Americans also understand that this kind of tank is useless. In the original time and space, it was not sent to overseas battlefields to cause disgrace. It was only used for tank training at home.

Now the US military is in great need of developing and manufacturing new tanks to enhance its military strength.

The current President of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt, was not a fool nor lacked ambition, and he readily approved the Army's request.

Based on the M2A4 light tank with a riveted armor plate structure, the design department improved the design of the M3 light tank by increasing the armor thickness, installing inducers on the action part, and improving anti-aircraft weapons.

The original tank's main weapon was a 37mm cannon, and its auxiliary weapons were five 62mm machine guns: 1 installed on the right side of the gun, 1 installed on the right side of the front of the vehicle body, and 2 installed on the machine gun mounts on both sides of the vehicle body. Inside, one is mounted on the top of the turret. There is a small command tower on the top of the turret. Soon after, some improvements were made to the turret, which was changed to a welded structure. The small command tower on the top of the turret was cancelled. The machine guns on both sides were also cancelled. The auxiliary weapons were changed to three 62mm machine guns: 1 parallel machine gun and 1 front Machine guns and an anti-aircraft machine gun.

But the Army is not satisfied. In their view, this tank is only equipped with a 37mm-caliber main gun, which is far inferior to the German's 50mm-caliber main gun. The armor is also more than a little behind, and it is obviously outdated.

Perhaps the design department was stimulated, so they actually found a 75mm cannon and put it on the vehicle body to counter the Army's ridicule that their tanks were not as good as Germany, and that they were not as good as Germany. You see, the German tanks only have a caliber of 50mm, and I installed a 75mm for you. This is better than Germany, right?

But this also resulted in the new tank having a total of three floors arranged like a mobile tower. Two fixed machine guns are installed to the left of the driver's seat. Behind the driver's seat, there is a two-man turret. The commander and a gunner are responsible for using an M5 or M6 tank gun derived from the 37mm M3 anti-tank gun and a coaxial machine gun in the turret. The commander has a command dome with a machine gun for observation. Due to the large number of weapons in the vehicle, there are a total of 7 people on board (Grant type has 6 people), which is more than the tanks of other countries at the same time, making it very crowded.

Although this medium-sized tank named M3 has quite powerful firepower and good maneuverability, its protection is relatively poor, which is reflected in its high profile, thin armor, and riveted body. Another outstanding feature is that there are 7 crew members in the car, plus two cannons, which makes it very crowded. The use of two artillery pieces is divided into two levels, which is inconvenient for the commander to command and quickly exert firepower.

Although the Army is still deeply dissatisfied with this "bad thing" whose overall strength is far inferior to that of German tanks, after all, the United States is not facing a strong threat from tanks now, so the Army is holding its nose and preparing to equip a full 3,000 of these "bad things" ".

Since the ground troops have "swapped their guns for cannons", how can the eagle flying in the sky lag behind?

The army aviation department (the United States did not have an independent air force during World War II, but only had army aviation and naval aviation) was also eager to update its equipment. Although I have never challenged it face to face, just comparing the performance data of the two sides shows that my P-36 fighter is far from the opponent of the German BF109.

Fortunately, Lockheed delivered the XP-38 prototype as early as January 1939, and its first flight was successful. (There was supposed to be a P-37 model between the P-36 and the P-38. General Motors' Allison branch designed the V1710-11 liquid-cooled engine. It also used a General Electric turbocharger. Make the engine emit more powerful power. In order to prove the effect of the improvement, they adopted an experimental method and built more than a dozen XP-37s. Although it is unknown why this batch of experimental machines were not adopted, it is said that The data was used in the design of the P-40.) Army Aviation is now just waiting for the new aircraft to enter mass production.

Just as the Americans were struggling to narrow the gap in weapons performance with Germany, an even more shocking news reached the White House.

Hundreds of thousands of British and French troops trapped in the Dunkirk area raised the white flag under the leadership of Viscount Gort, the supreme commander of the British Expeditionary Force.

The war situation in Europe completely exceeded the expectations of the Americans in just a few days. There was even intelligence that the French were about to surrender and the Germans would pursue their victory and land on the British mainland.

"This is not in our American interests. We have to help the British." Once Germany really lands in the UK and establishes a foothold, the United States will lose the springboard to intervene in Europe. The ambitious Roosevelt will not allow the entire Europe to Unite.

"But Congress will not agree easily." It was Army Chief of Staff George Cartwright Marshall who spoke.

After the European war broke out, some people in the United States advocated doing everything possible to avoid war, while others advocated actively preparing for war. However, isolationism is still prevalent in the United States today (simply put, because during World War I, the United States participated in the war and suffered heavy casualties. However, when the Paris Peace Conference distributed war dividends, the United States did not receive much, so when World War II just began, the Americans did not unwilling to participate in the war), even those who advocate active war preparations do not want the United States to get involved in the war rashly.

General Marshall is one of them. He believes that whether he likes it or not, the United States will inevitably be involved in a war in the near future. As the chief of staff of the army, it is his duty to actively prepare for war. What the United States needs now is time, and the only one that can hold back the Germans the most is the United Kingdom. Aiding the United Kingdom is equivalent to buying time for the United States itself.

But how to convince the conservative members of Congress?