readx; Some of these T9\12 tanks, which were withdrawn from the first-line field units, in addition to continuing to equip the second-line troops and for foreign military assistance, were largely converted into other vehicles, such as as the chassis of self-propelled guns. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

The same was true of the earlier T6 series tanks, which were basically dismantled from the turret and then mounted on the chassis with a howitzer to become a self-propelled gun.

This also leads to the complexity of China's self-propelled artillery models, although the guns are the same, but the chassis is everything, and there is no way to do it, the old tank is useless if it is not decommissioned, but it can't be put in the warehouse if it is decommissioned, it is better to modify it.

In fact, the army's tank modification is quite smooth, the air force and navy are even worse, with the advent of the jet age, a large number of propeller aircraft have been forced to mothball, except for a small number of aircraft, most of the aircraft have not even had the opportunity to be modified, and many aircraft that have only been in service for two or three years are forced to be mothballed. In this case, China's foreign military aid, the assistance to the aircraft can be described as very generous, basically just give a little money to buy, starting in 1945, and China's military cooperation with the air force of the country are all shotguns for guns, those early models are thrown away, and then replaced with the Chinese Air Force retired F4H, F6B, F7, F5E.

Almost instantly, it was the pinnacle of the propeller era.

Throughout World War II, how to maximize the value of old equipment by dealing with old equipment has always been a problem that has plagued China's navy, land and air force.

In the current Second Armored Division, the chassis of the Leon T9\12 series tanks is also equipped with special vehicles modified in the future, including bulldozers.

When the three commanders decided on a rescue plan, the four T18 tanks began to move forward with fire support from the rear, they lined up, but behind them, there was still a bulldozer.

Soon the German counterattack came, and several 57 mm and 75 mm anti-tank guns hit these T18 tanks, but the T18 tanks still relied on strong frontal defense without any damage.

According to the words of some generals of the Chinese Army: "In actual combat, the T18 tank has not yet been destroyed by the enemy head-on!" "Well, this is another arrogant lie of the Chinese Army, because the T18 tanks have not fought a few wars, and in last year's battle, dozens of T18 tanks went to Kyushu Island and didn't shoot a few shots, saying, 'I surrendered.'" Therefore, there is too much moisture if the actual combat in the mouth of the Chinese army has not been destroyed, because the T18 tank has not been in actual combat before this......

And this time, the Germans were honored to see for the first time what is called the horror of the T18 tank!

The T18 tanks moved forward at a steady speed, and the inclined armor of the front was more than 100 millimeters high, and it was not until they drove near car No. 57 that they stopped, and then lined up, and while the bulldozers in the rear were working, the four T18 tanks also fired high-explosive shells at the German positions in front.

The high-explosive shells fired by the 105-millimeter tank guns were so powerful that they smashed into the German positions in no way inferior to the shelling of heavy artillery.

What really made the Germans desperate was that they found that no matter how they fought back, they found that they could not penetrate the front of these T18 tanks, and these four T18 tanks were stopped and beaten on the one hand, and on the other hand, they were aiming at the German anti-tank gun positions and firing.

Anti-tank guns and tank-versus-guns, they don't have the guts yet!

In a German command camp in the position, a German [***] officer was shouting into the phone: "We need tank support, we need Tiger tank support!" ”

However, the Tiger tank of the Germans was not a big street commodity, and there were not many such tanks in the hands of the Germans, but they could not be obtained by the Germans on the front line when they asked for support.

In the end, the Tiger did not arrive, and the four T18 tanks withstood the German blow, successfully covered the bulldozer to carry out the operation, bulldozed the vertical ramp behind the No. 57 car, and allowed the No. 57 car to reverse and exit.

Subsequently, the five T18 tanks withdrew from the battlefield in reverse.

After withdrawing, the crew of the tanks climbed out of the tank, looking at the many bullet marks in front of the hull, all of them were full of shock, when they were in the car, they could only hear a dingdong sound and a slight shaking, but now they intuitively saw the craters on the car but let them really feel how fierce the German counterattack fire just now.

Although this skirmish brought too many casualties to both sides, the T18 brought a great shock to the Germans!

On the same day, a report on China's new tank was reported to the German mainland, and the report focused on the protection capability of the T18 tank, claiming that the German army's large number of 57-mm and 75-mm anti-tank guns could not threaten the new tank.

As a country with one of the most powerful armies in the world and the first country in the world to develop tanks, the Chinese Army's various new tanks have always been the focus of all countries. For example, after the Chinese Army put the T9 series into large-scale service in the thirties, it directly led to the development of new tanks in various countries, such as Germany's No. 4 tank, Soviet Russia's T34 tank, and the United States' M4 tank, all of which took the T9 tank against the Chinese Army as a key target, and also imitated China's use of inclined armor, and the tank gun was also upgraded to a three-inch level.

However, after the outbreak of World War II, China developed and put into service a new generation of tanks, that is, the T15 tank, the most significant name of the T15 tank at that time was that it was equipped with a 105mm tank gun, and the firepower can be described as powerful, which is not inferior to the heavy tank at the same time.

You must know that during World War II, the main tanks of various countries were medium tanks of more than 20 tons, whether it was No. 4 or T34 or M4 tanks, they all belonged to this level, although there were heavier and more powerful tanks, such as the IS series of Soviet Russia and the Tiger of Germany, but these are heavy tanks, expensive to build, and the number of equipment is not much, which is the same as the Chinese Army's pre-war equipment T11 heavy tank.

However, the Chinese Army's T15 tank is only 35 tons of hull, equipped with a 105 mm 40 times the caliber of the main gun, in addition to extremely strong firepower, the protection ability is also far beyond the contemporaneous medium tanks, the frontal inclined armor is up to 70 mm thick, and the front of the turret with integrated casting reaches 100 mm. In addition to firepower and protection, it was equipped with an engine with 550 horsepower, which made the T15 tank maneuverable and capable of being as mobile as the medium tanks of its time.

Such a monster appeared in the early days of World War II, which is simply unimaginable for other countries, after all, if the T15 tank is a heavy tank like the T11 tank, it is expensive and can only be equipped in small batches, but the problem is that it is not, in the plan of the Chinese Army, it is the successor model of the T9 \12 series of tanks, which is used as the main medium tank, and the number of equipment is not hundreds, but tens of thousands of vehicles, The resulting sea of T15 tanks is enough for the Chinese Army to crush the armored forces of any country.

The original T15 made Western countries drop their jaws, forcing Soviet Russia to start upgrading T34, T34-85 appeared, and later forced the installation of 100mm tank guns on the hull of T34, and T34-100 appeared as a monster. However, the forcibly upgraded and modified T34-100 still could not be compared with the T15, which led the Soviet Army to begin the development of the T44 series of tanks.

However, now the Soviet army has not even put the T44 tank into large-scale service, and the T18 tank of the Chinese Army has arrived.

As the ultimate overhaul of the T15, the T18 tank still uses the basic design of the chassis of the T15 tank, but it is equipped with a more powerful 105L50 tank gun, which has a much greater armor-piercing capacity than the 105L40, and the protection ability is also more powerful, with the frontal inclined armor of the hull reaching a thickness of 100 mm, and the thickest part of the turret armor reaching 180 mm.

And the key point is that for the first time, the T18 tank used a diesel engine with a horsepower of up to 700 horsepower!

In the past few decades, the Chinese army and navy have been unswervingly using gasoline engines, there are many reasons for this, and there is no problem in technology, mainly involving basic industries, because the production of Chinese tanks is actually supported by China's automobile industry, and China's automobile industry is relatively developed, and gasoline engine technology is mature and reliable. Of course, the main thing is that there are a large number of production lines, and unlike any modifications, a large number of high-power gasoline engines can be supplied to the army.

Therefore, in the past ten years, although the army has tried to use diesel engines, it has been limited by various restrictions and has not been able to do so.

However, when developing the T18 tank, due to the delay in the research and development of the gasoline engine in the domestic automobile industry, the progress of the 700 horsepower engine project required by the military was slow, and at this time, Hantong Machinery Company successfully developed a 700 horsepower diesel engine, which was a great advantage during the war even if it was a month ahead, so the army in order to speed up the mass production and service of the T18 tank, is to ignore the general opposition of the domestic automobile industry, The SV700 diesel engine of Hantong Machinery Company was selected as the power of the T18.

Although the T18 tank uses diesel engines, it is a great problem for the army to supply logistics, because it means that the army has to supply not only a large amount of gasoline, but also diesel fuel at the same time, instead of just gasoline as before. However, in order to make the T18 exert its combat effectiveness, the army still overcame many difficulties, and insisted on equipping the T18 tanks on a large scale and establishing a diesel supply system for the T18 tanks alone.

The SV700 diesel engine also brought surging power to the T18 tank, so that the T18 weighing 40 tons has an extremely superior maneuverability, and its maximum speed on the road reaches 55 kilometers per hour, and the maneuverability is even better than the T15!

By April 1945, the northern mechanized units of the Chinese Army had formed a situation dominated by T15 tanks and T18 tanks, while the southern troops were dominated by T16 southern tanks and T19 amphibious tanks, in addition to a large number of T14 light tanks widely equipped in the whole army.

If the number is calculated, by April 1945, there were more than 3,000 T18 tanks, more than 8,000 T15 tanks, more than 3,000 T16 southern tanks, 1,000 T19 tanks, and more than 4,000 T14 light tanks in the Chinese army. In addition to the above active main forces, there are more than 8,000 T9\12 series tanks, more than 1,000 T11 heavy tanks and T17 heavy tanks, and most of the other old T10/T8/T6 and the like have been mothballed or modified, so they are not counted.