"In three days, the Huaxia troops will arrive at the departure position, and everything is going according to plan here. But there seems to have been some change in Austria-Hungary, and the Austrians seem to have added a separate heavy battalion. The troops, embarking at Rijeka, could all arrive at the port of Garibaldi within two days, if nothing else. Another problem is that the other side seems to have realized the weakness of their air force, and they have massively increased the number of air defense units, and if our intelligence is correct, in the coming week, they will add at least 1 88mm gun anti-aircraft battery. The staff officer said.

"A separate heavy armored battalion? A tank platoon is 4 vehicles, a company plus a company directly under the company headquarters is 14 vehicles, a battalion is 4 vehicles and 3 battalion headquarters vehicles are 4 vehicles. An 88mm anti-aircraft artillery battery is 4 guns, so 1 company is 4 guns! "Montgomery carefully calculated and found a serious problem, that is, in the face of such a newly increased force, the tank cluster in his hands seems to be insufficient! You must know that the entire British army in Italy only has more than 3 tanks, and they only have about 8 on hand. Even counting various armored vehicles less than 4.

"Did the Austrians discover our arrangement?" Montgomery chuckled in his heart. But this time Montgomery was thinking too much...... The Austrians did not ask for a heavy battalion from the Germans because they had insight into the actions of the British, and even now the Austrians did not know exactly how much land the British had sent. Rather, it was because neither the mountains of the northern front were wrong nor the landing force of the southern front. In the beginning, there was a lack of heavy weapons. And when the Navy and Air Force are unable to provide sufficient firepower, the ground forces need to bear the burden themselves. So Austria-Hungary urgently needed a strong offensive force to deal with the well-defended fortresses. And those anti-aircraft guns were meant to deal with the British Air Force. Of course, these 88mml4 anti-aircraft guns are also good at fighting tanks.........

"To be honest, I don't think our infantry tanks have an advantage against the opposing side's heavy tanks." Montgomery said. The tanks of the British were divided into two types. One is a cruiser tank and the other is an infantry tank. The former, which can be analogous to the cruiser of the Navy, is a tank that emphasizes mobility. Poor firepower and protection. It is mainly used for reconnaissance and mobile combat, while infantry tanks have heavier armor and are used to cover infantry operations. But no matter what kind of tank, their firepower is not very powerful, and the gun of the A9 cruiser tank is a 4mm cannon. And the gun of the Matilda-type tank is a 7mm cannon.

"It seems that we need to keep some backhands and communicate with Huaxia. Let them pick up some. Montgomery thought for a moment and said. But we don't know the strength of the other side, how is it written on this telegram? The staff officer next to him said with some hesitation. Well, heavy tanks of the right or so. So be it. Montgomery replied. To Montgomery's surprise, however, a separate German battalion of heavy tanks was at this number. But this time the German Army did not stop there!

Germany did not want Austria-Hungary to be overfed, but at the same time, as Germany's most hardcore and powerful ally, Germany did not want Austria-Hungary to fall too badly in this battle. Moreover, in the future, the layout of Germany in the Balkans could not be separated from Austria-Hungary. So how to make Austria-Hungary realize its lack of strength, and at the same time ensure that it does not have a big impact on the situation of the war, the balance is very delicate.........

The Germans carefully analyzed the composition of the Austro-Hungarian Army. Structural cysts and inefficiency cannot be changed in a short period of time, but tactically speaking, the elite infantry and artillery in Austria-Hungary are not weak. Aviation, albeit weaker. But considering that the other party is also at the end of the crossbow, everyone is the same, so forget it. The most critical is the lack of an armored mobile force. This created the problem of insufficient fortification and low mobility of Austria-Hungary. The Germans thought very well, if Austria-Hungary took up the northeastern part of Italy with its own strength, then forget it, if it could not be solved, then there would be this German armored force to support the overall situation. After the deed is done. Austria-Hungary would not continue to insist on its demands, and it would have turned out best. Now that both sides have reached the scale of a battle at the army group level. Then a simple heavy armored battalion obviously did not work, so the Germans decisively sent a heavy armored battalion, a medium armored battalion and two mechanized infantry battalions to form the main force of this support operation. …。

The medium armoured battalion is slightly smaller in two tank companies, but there are also 36 tanks of various types, and the mechanized infantry battalion is also equipped with eight armored vehicles equipped with mm anti-tank guns. Since the Germans were so generous, it was only natural that the Austro-Hungarian Empire, as the main master, would also replenish the long-range artillery and anti-aircraft artillery needed by this army. Austria-Hungary prepared 3 batteries of cannon guns and 3 batteries of 88mm anti-aircraft guns (4 guns per company), as well as a number of MM self-propelled anti-aircraft guns. At that time, because there were too many vehicles transported, the Germans unloaded their cargo at both ports at the same time. Sadly, the British only discovered the operation in one of the ports and missed the other, and the direct result of this was that Montgomery missed nearly half of his troops in his telegram to China! …。

By this time, the commander of this armored unit, Colonel Hube, had already assembled his troops and stationed them near Padua. , ready to go to the battlefield as needed. And Hube is quite satisfied with the armored force under his command...... Tank No. 4 of the separate heavy tank battalion was actually a compromise for the heavy tanks of that year (see Chapter 147 for details). The weight of the whole car is 36 tons, the frontal armor is 6mm and inclined 4 degrees. The turret armor is 8mm. The side armor of the hull is mm to 3mm. The rear armor is 3mm. The main gun was a 7mml4 gun. The engine power is 3 horsepower. The off-road speed is around km. (If you don't know about tanks, you are welcome to correct them.) The number of members is human.

The No. 3 tank of the medium tank battalion was a modified version of the "Indian tank" of that year, and in the end the German War Department abandoned the plan to install a 7mmL4 gun and used a weaker MML tank gun. The tank weighed 4 tons and was similar in performance to the historic Type 4D tank. Originally, this tank was also intended to use inclined armor, but in order to ensure the space of the crew, the amount of ammunition reserves, etc., in the end, almost vertical armor was used. And according to current intelligence. In addition to France, the Entente did not have particularly powerful tanks in Britain and the United States, and such a design was enough.

In addition to this, there were 8 7-ton half-tracks with 4 mm anti-tank guns in the two mechanized infantry battalions of the Germans. and 8 self-propelled mortar vehicles with mortars on board. Both in terms of numbers and firepower, these two mechanized infantry battalions are actually exceeded. Just when Hube was on standby and ready to enter the battlefield at any time, the Huaxia Army also entered the attack position, and the arrival .........of Montgomery's telegram also made Zhou Xuan feel a little surprised.

At this time, Zhou Xuan also held a heavy tank battalion in his hands. Zhou Xuan was still quite entangled in how to use this tank battalion, because he didn't seem to find an opponent of equal strength on the entire battlefield. Zhou Xuan commanded a total of 1 heavy tank battalion, a medium tank battalion and 3 mechanized infantry battalions. (The rest of the artillery and logistics units are counted separately.) At the time of the campaign. The Huaxia Army is only responsible for cutting the opponent's positions, after all, the number of people is limited. The severed encirclement was handed over to the Italian garrison in the north and part of the British Dominion army. Originally, against the mountain infantry, Zhou Xuan thought that medium tanks were enough, and there was no need for heavy tanks, but with the emergence of the German heavy tank battalion, Zhou Xuan finally found an opponent.

The weight of the Huaxia Type 9 heavy tank is similar to that of the German tank, but because of the rear gearbox, some weight is saved, and the height is also reduced, and the weight saved is just used to strengthen the frontal armor, so the frontal armor of this tank reaches a 6mm inclination. The turret armor reached. And the front part of the side armor also reached mm. The rear armor is 3mm. The artillery used is 7mmL4, and the performance of the gun is similar to that of German tanks, but because Huaxia is a famous tungsten producing country in the world, the proportion of tungsten alloy armor-piercing shells equipped with is relatively high. However, the engine power was low, only less than 3 horsepower, the off-road speed did not exceed 1 kilometer per hour, and the members ended up using a 4-person crew. …………。

And the Type 6 medium tank is in the 6-ton class. The frontal armor was 4mm thick, inclined 4 degrees, and was armed with a 7mm gun. The turret frontal is 6mm. The sides of the body are 4mm to 3mm. The rear is mm. Equipped with a 1 horsepower engine, the off-road speed is only about 1 kilometer, from the performance point of view, the speed is not high, and the defense is good...... The firepower is also okay, and it is an obvious transitional product. Huaxia didn't invest much energy, according to Xu Jie's plan, this kind of tank was used to change the assault gun or the pursuer. However, this tank is definitely excellent now, and if it performs better, maybe the British will order a batch?

Unlike the Germans, who had the assistance of Austria-Hungary. The Chinese Army needs its own anti-aircraft artillery. For the specific caliber of anti-aircraft artillery, if from the perspective of historical continuation, 88mm anti-aircraft guns should be used, after all, before World War 1, China and Germany were relatively close, but now the situation has changed, and Huaxia and the Entente are about to form an alliance, so the caliber of anti-aircraft guns finally used American-style 9mm anti-aircraft guns. And this time. In order to prevent the situation of friendly air forces from not being effective, Huaxia specially equipped the troops with a large number of 4mm and 9mm self-propelled anti-aircraft guns.

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 for the tip~~~, and the book friend Zhiqiu Yiye 1117 monthly pass support ~~~. The next few chapters will be the first armored force showdown, I hope you can enjoy it~~~~. (To be continued).