Chapter two hundred and sixty seventh
The crew members who participated in the test had been waiting aside. These were veterans selected from the active troops, and each of them had the qualifications to serve as subject instructors. Because "Scorpion" is classified as a tank destroyer, the crew members were wearing black armored soldiers uniforms and had their own medals hanging on their chests, which looked like an elite look at them.
"Can you start?" After walking around the car twice, Yodel asked impatiently that there was still a lot of work waiting for him to deal with in the battle situation, and if he didn't prepare for a whole morning, he would spend all his money on this matter.
"Okay, it'll start soon, General." Crionberg hurriedly agreed.
To talk about the list of the most undeniable generals in the National Defense Forces, General Yodel has always been among the top ten. The power directly controlled by the Operations Director is not very large, but he is qualified to meet the head of state alone, so the deterrence caused by this is completely different.
Under the guidance of the experimental personnel, the two generals took their entourage to the observation stand built by the test site. The green flag indicating safety raised to the top of the flagpole, which means that the clearance around the shooting range has been completed. A non-commissioned officer fired a red signal flare into the sky, indicating that the weapon display officially began.
The crew jumped onto the chariot quickly, and was very agile and agile, and obviously he was already skilled. With the roar of the engine starting, a ball of blue smoke spewed out of the exhaust pipe, and the small tank destroyer began to start slowly.
Logically speaking, the engine of this car should be front-mounted, just like the US military's M50, but this will make too much changes to the 38T chassis and lose the meaning of modification. Using the old weapon chassis is originally considered to be more economical.
Because the cannon was not installed, even if the height of the car was lowered, the space inside the car body was not narrow at all. The entrance and exit position was actually similar to the layout of the hunter, except that the longitudinal hood was changed to horizontal. In order to facilitate the entry and exit of the car, some pedals and handles were added to the rear car body. The position of the cannon was left for the radio operator, thus freeing up space behind the captain and making it possible to place the exit horizontally.
The commander and the gunman do not have independent hatches. Above their heads is the base of the gun mount for the gun. The six guns are arranged in three groups in a group, one on the gun mount on the left and one on the right, and the gun mount is connected to a disc-shaped rotating member and connected to the circular opening on the top of the vehicle body. This rotating gun mount can be driven hydraulically or manually, and rotate at an angle of 160 degrees, and can also perform pitching movements from a negative ten degrees to positive forty-five degrees. Both the commander and the gunman can control the rotating gun mount on their own battle positions and turn the gun to the direction of the target.
The car has the same optical observation and aiming mechanism as the No. 3 tank. At the same time, an MG34 machine gun is installed on one side of the gun barrel on both sides. The two machine guns have the same axis direction as the cannon. Theoretically, as long as the machine gun's bullet can hit the opponent, the fire cannon can also hit the target at this time.
The early M40 recoilless guns of the US military were installed with a 12.7mm caliber test-fire machine gun to fire tracer bullets of the same caliber. It was not until the new generation of range-finding instruments were used to equip the troops, and this original aiming method was eliminated from the army. It cannot be denied that in the era without laser range-finding instruments, this method was quite practical.
The German army cannot come up with a laser rangefinder now, but a new optical rangefinder device is under development and may be equipped on a new generation of heavy tanks in the future.
The car rushed forward on the soil runway at a speed of 55 kilometers per hour. Whenever it encountered a slope, it even jumped lightly like an antelope. It was impossible to tell that it was a pile of thirteen tons of steel.
"The mobility seems to be fine, and you can operate with light tanks and motorized forces." Guderian said happily.
In addition to its flexible maneuverability, armored soldiers experts have seen more. This tank destroyer is of moderate size and is very suitable for mountain jungle activities. It is light in weight and is easier to pass through muddy areas, such as the wet swamps commonly found in southwestern Soviet areas.
At the same time, although the speed of this type of car is not particularly fast, it can keep up with the marching speed of motorized troops. This can make up for the insufficient firepower of light armored assault troops in the mobile defense operations advocated by Guderian. Under normal circumstances, self-propelled artillery or tank troops of the same level of firepower as scorpions have no maneuverability at all, and long-distance high-speed marching also has serious wear on equipment.
This small tank destroyer with a low appearance and a strange shape is very suitable for ambushing opponents, especially those in highway marching states. Once it is covered by sudden dense artillery, even the most powerful army will collapse instantly.
This kind of artillery has a considerable pitch angle, and the tracked chassis is also suitable for spreading at all angles on the slope. Guderian could imagine this scene in his mind. Ten "scorpions" destroyers painted in jungle camouflage quietly ambushed in the woodlands on both sides of the road. Then a team of enemy tanks swaggered along the road, and then the entire road turned into a burning crater. At the same time, he was bombarded by sixty one hundred and five millimeter shells. Guderian could not think of any unit in the world that could retain a complete organizational structure after being attacked by such an attack.
As described in the written information, the German LG40 recoilless gun has strong firepower that is completely inconsistent with its appearance. This kind of gun with a wheeled gun rack weighs only 300 kilograms, but it can fire ammunition from the German Army-equipped leFH18 howitzer, with a maximum range of about 7,900 meters.
The core technology of the German recoil-free gun was a special launch cartridge. However, the design ideas of the Germans were different from those of Britain and the United States. They used split combustible medicine bags and did not create an integrated charge with holed bullet shells. However, with the "inspiration" of the head of state, the situation was very different. The new ammunition specially developed for LG40 has been finalized, which not only increased the initial velocity of the warhead, but also increased the power of the ammunition.
The LG40 installed on the "Scorpion" is now the latest and improved version. The number has become LG40/41, with a 30-centimeter gun barrel lengthened, using the newly developed overall ammunition. And according to the purpose, the ammunition is also divided into high-explosive armor shells, high-explosive shrapnel shells and smoke-fired incendiary shells.
As the name suggests, the former is armored vehicles that deal with the enemy, and the latter two are specifically fortifications and vital forces that deal with the enemy. Of course, if it is a light armored target, the latter two also have sufficient lethality. After all, there should be no pressure to overturn the bean chariot.
After completing the road running lap and off-road driving performance, "Scorpion" slowly drove into the shooting bunker and began the last display of the power of the weapon.
In order to leave a deeper impression on the audience, the crew made a round of six-shot volleys, and the huge fire dragon sprayed out of the muzzle and tail instantly reflected everyone's eyes red.
The recoil-free cannon has a safe shooting distance. People are prohibited from standing in a fan-shaped area fifty meters behind the cannon. Moreover, it will cause serious damage to the shooter's hearing when fired in the open air. However, of course, the "scorpion" will not have such a problem. The steel plate gives the crew members a fairly complete protection, completely isolating the toxic gunpowder gas and noise outside the car. Except for the temporary obstruction of the sight, there will be no other negative impact.
Because after the test gun distance measurement, the shell accurately hit the armored target 800 meters away. In theory, the effective range of the LG40/41 is about one thousand meters. However, in order to avoid accidents, the project team deliberately narrowed the shooting distance. However, this result has already made Guderian very satisfied. This is the most common combat distance for German light tanks. No matter how far the distance is, it does not mean that the target is not hit, but it is difficult to penetrate anything.
"It actually broke through!" Seeing the reporter from the high-power telescope raise the green flag, Guderian stood up excitedly.
"Prepare my car, I'm going to see it on the spot." Goodrian shouted to the adjutant.
"Don't worry, Goodrian." Yodel hurriedly stopped the impatient colleague.
"The demonstration is not over yet, at least wait until they finish the round of shells." The battle director had a hint of helplessness on his face.
PS: Thank you for your support, the author continues to work hard.
Chapter completed!