Yang Zhen's request to strengthen repair and maintenance capabilities, Chen Hanzhang also nodded and said: "No. 1, I understand this truth. These steel war horses, although they are made of steel, also need to be maintained in the same way as war horses. Without the necessary maintenance, it will lie on its stomach like an ordinary war horse. ”

"It is precisely with these problems in mind that in addition to the formation of a maintenance battalion directly under the two armored divisions, each regiment is also equipped with a maintenance support battalion, and each battalion is also equipped with a repair platoon. They are responsible for overhaul, medium repair, minor repair, and daily maintenance. ”

"However, our technical strength is still quite limited. One, you know that our armored corps only has two brigades, but it is only two maintenance battalions and five maintenance companies. Even when we train maintenance and support personnel, we carry out excess training according to the ratio of five in one belt. ”

"But now the force has suddenly expanded to two divisions, plus two brigades and several independent battalions, and the total strength has reached more than 700 tanks and armored vehicles, which can be said to have multiplied several times at once. Moreover, the engine model is complex, with gasoline engines and diesel engines. Some are modified from aero engines and need to be equipped with high-octane fuel to start. ”

"In this case, the original technical maintenance personnel, faced with the almost double number of armor, are now somewhat insufficient. Our current maintenance and support personnel can only do their best to support the two armored divisions that are the main fists. As for the other two brigades, they could only be reorganized into a maintenance support company that was actually a platoon size. ”

"No. 1, this is already all the maintenance support personnel that we can mobilize at present under the premise of ensuring the operation of the rear tank overhaul plant. More than that, I really can't make it up. At least for a short period of time, there is no way to guarantee full staffing. ”

"The size of the army has expanded too quickly, but because our foundation is too weak, our technical capabilities have not yet increased accordingly. Technicians are not ordinary infantry who can go to the battlefield after a few months of training, and it is difficult to meet the requirements without long-term training. ”

"Our technical personnel are generally relatively low-educated. If you want to train qualified technical personnel, it will take even longer. You can't expect someone who doesn't know a triangle or even knows anything to repair a petrol engine in a short period of time. ”

Thinking of the British-made tanks he was receiving, Chen Hanzhang shook his head and said, "The most important thing now is that with the arrival of new equipment, the technology required for maintenance is becoming more and more complex. The maintenance and repair of Soviet-made and British-made tanks in all aspects are completely two systems. This has further raised our requirements. ”

"In particular, the Matilda II infantry tank, whose engine is actually composed of two 95-horsepower engines in parallel, has a more complex structure and higher requirements for repair and maintenance. As soon as one engine fails, the entire tank must be stopped for overhaul. ”

"It is true that two engines in parallel, one of which is broken and the other is broken, can barely maintain the minimum maneuverability of the tank. But this kind of structure is too fucking a headache for logistics maintenance personnel. The slight advantage of the two parallel engines is also completely offset by the disadvantage that the structure is too complex to repair. ”

"One, I really don't understand what the British think. Obviously, there is a high-horsepower engine, so it is necessary to use two low-horsepower engines in parallel to use it as a power for the main tank. The Crusader cruiser tank had a 340 hp engine, which was enough to top four Matilda infantry tanks. ”

"And the tank with little horsepower has such heavy armor and huge size. Even on flat ground, the maximum speed is only 20 kilometers per hour, which is not as fast as a horse-drawn carriage. The Crusader tank, which is in the nature of a Soviet-style fast tank, is overpowered, and if you take into account the service life of the engine, it can run even faster than a car. ”

"When this tank arrived, I had a test drive. I once drove to the maximum speed of 60 kilometers per hour in one go, but I was still worried that driving too fast would reduce the service life of the engine, and consciously controlled the speed of the tank. If you really let go of running, I think this speed can be further improved. ”

"The most important thing is that this tank has much better man-machine efficiency than Soviet-made tanks. Maneuverability, also the best of all our current tanks. Running down 200 kilometers is not much more tiring than driving a car. Not to mention this T three or four tanks, even BT fast tanks can't compare. ”

"The armor has also been improved and strengthened to a certain extent before it arrives with us. Although the protection is not as good as the T three or four tanks, as a fast breakthrough tank, it is much stronger than the BT seven fast tank we originally used. The speed was fast, and the thickness of the armor was barely enough to deal with the Japanese soldiers. ”

"At the same time, the excessive power and relatively strong structure make this tank still have room for further upgrades. Compared to the Maltida tank, which was almost useless except for thick armor, this is the tank we really need. ”

"One, can you coordinate with the British to replace all the Matilda tanks we have with Crusader cruiser tanks? The Matilda tank is really not suitable for us. The terrain in our country is complex, and the maneuverability of this tank is poor, especially when it comes to snow and complex terrain, it is simply difficult to move an inch. ”

"In winter, the skirts on both sides of the combat tank are often blocked by the snow, so that the tank's walking system is also blocked. In winter operations, the crew had to brave enemy fire from time to time to come down to clear snow between the skirt and the walking system. There is also the suspension system, which is also often frozen in very cold weather. ”

"In the summer, I estimate that according to the harsh road environment in our country, it is basically dirt roads. Problems with this tank in the winter will also occur in the summer. However, the difference is in the snow in the winter, and in the summer, I am afraid that there is a lot of silt. Most of our dirt roads become muddy pools during the rainy season. With the structure of this tank, it would be strange if there was no trouble. ”

"It was not too much trouble for the British to come up with both tanks at the same time. They could use the engines of the Crusader tanks to improve the performance of the Matilda infantry tank. Or use the heavy armor of the Maltida tank to improve the protection of the Crusader tank. Do you combine the two into one? ”

Chen Hanzhang's complaint made Yang Zhen smile and said: "Tanks are a new type of weapons and equipment that only appeared during World War I. After the end of World War I, the Western powers, which had exhausted their people and money, were desperately trying to reduce their military spending and restore their vitality, and their development almost stopped for more than ten years. ”

"Until the outbreak of war in the European theater, countries around the world were still in a period of exploration on how to use tanks, which were still relatively new weapons and equipment. Moreover, according to the experience of World War I, tanks are weapons and equipment that are not used against the same kind, but against infantry positions. How to quickly break through the enemy's fortified positions is the ultimate goal of the research on tank tactics of various countries. ”

"All countries are constantly exploring tank development and manufacturing technologies based on their own experience in using tanks in World War I. Firepower, protection, and mobility, the three major elements of the tank, how to balance them, do not have a clear reference. Moreover, the previous technological development also made it difficult to strike a balance between these three elements. ”

"Either under the anti-tank fire of the time, the protection was guaranteed to produce such armored but slow-moving infantry tanks and heavy tanks. Either ensure mobility and make cruiser tanks and light tanks. As for the firepower, everyone is on par with the anti-tank guns. It's not that there is no ability to develop tank guns of a larger caliber, but everyone feels that they are not necessary. ”

"It's not that there are no tanks that are compatible with the two, but because this kind of tank is subject to the current metallurgical technology and engine manufacturing technology, it basically has a common problem, that is, the reliability is quite poor. The Soviets had a kind of heavy tank, and the armor was thick, and the theoretical shape shì speed was also possible. But reliability, let's just say it. Therefore, most countries, in the case that the two cannot be taken into account, have developed light and heavy tanks respectively, dealing with two different tactics. ”

"In contrast to other countries' cases of light and heavy tanks, the British simply came up with two tanks. A tank with thin armor, but good maneuverability, can use speed to outflank enemy positions in a roundabout way. One is that the speed of cover is equal to the speed of infantry advance, which is specially used to cover the infantry to break through from the front. ”

This is similar to the Soviets' development of the T-28 multi-turret medium tank and the T-26 light tank, as well as the development of the fast BT type tank. The main focus was on breaking through the enemy's positions and not taking into account the battle against the enemy's tanks. Everyone's main energy was focused on fighting the anti-tank guns in the defending positions. ”

"Therefore, everyone uses tanks as auxiliary equipment of traditional arms, or they are equipped with infantry to carry out frontal assault and be incorporated into the infantry sequence. Either it is deployed to the cavalry, and the flank is carried out in conjunction with the mobility of the cavalry. This approach of the British also followed the world trend at that time. In fact, it's just one name, two names. ”

"In fact, the first tanks were independently organized into combat clusters, and the infantry was assigned to tanks by the Soviets. It's just that because of political reasons, they took a big detour to let the Germans go to the front. It was not until this battle in Europe that the German army used tanks to carry out a rapid breakthrough alone, which woke up the world's armies. ”

"It's just that the inherent development system is difficult to change in a short period of time. In fact, the tank clusters of the Germans were not prepared to deal with the tanks of the enemy country. They just pooled the tanks that were originally assigned to the infantry and used them together to enhance their breakthrough capabilities. The Germans' tactics were advanced, but their equipment development philosophy was the same as that of other countries, and they were not better than the Soviets. ”

"This world war is very quick to update and change tactics, and people are caught off guard. Compared with the traditional mode of fighting trench warfare in World War I, large-scale air-ground integration has become the main combat mode. After everyone was beaten by each other, they realized that the best anti-tank weapon was still a tank. ”

"In the future, whether it is a light tank or a heavy tank, a cruiser tank or an infantry tank, these tanks that are too extreme will be doomed. Medium tanks such as the T 34 tank, which have a relatively balanced firepower, mobility, and protection, will become the main trend of tank development. ”

"The first Soviets, the Germans and the British, who are now suffering great losses on the Soviet-German battlefield, including the Americans who will fight in the near future, will use medium tanks as their main armored force. This will be the main trend of tank development in the future, and the tank that will assume the main combat mission on the battlefield and be the main tank equipment can be called the main battle tank. ”