It is absolutely correct to say that the concept of operations and the purpose of operations determine the research and development of weapons, and weapons are not just based on the number of weapons, but on whether such weapons can meet the needs of the army. When the instructions of the German Army to create units with two different tasks were conveyed to the technical departments of the Army, German engineers had to rack their brains for the future development of the German Army's armored forces.

The armored forces were the most relied upon assault and support force of the German Army. Naturally, its development has attracted much attention. The designers of the German Army also traveled to the Middle East to study the local natural environment and infrastructure. Even some spies traveled to Iran and South Asia to do reconnaissance work for future battles. After a long investigation, the Germans found that the weapons they designed were limited not only by technology, but also by the local geography and infrastructure.

First of all, the first problem is the maneuver of the tank, and the maneuver here is not only about how the tank moves itself, but also how to transport the tank over. In Europe, the German armored forces mainly transported tanks to the front line by guò railway, and then got off and ran over on their own. This is the case in Western Europe, and although the railway specifications of Maozi in Eastern Europe are different from those in Germany, through the efforts of the railway soldiers, Germany finally used them. So what about the Middle East in the future?

Although Germany and Turkey will build a large number of railways in the future, no matter how much you build, the railways can only be built in Turkey, not Persia and India, right? The Persian and Indian railways were completely incomparable in size and coverage to Europe, which meant that German tanks had to have a large range and the ability to act on their own. You can't rely on trains for everything.

The second problem was the problem of maintenance, and the Russian mud was once the greatest nightmare of the German armored forces relative to the plains of Western Europe. And when the Germans came to Persia, they found out. Persia's mountains, deserts, and backward infrastructure are even more terrible nightmares than Russia's. The original engine filters barely guaranteed to keep out the flour-fine sand, and the more difficult terrain made it more difficult for the armoured forces to operate. In these cases, the efficiency of the armored forces will be greatly reduced. The failure rate will also go up. And in order to ensure combat effectiveness, you must be able to maintain these equipment, and the local technical conditions are real. Turkey does not have the ability to overhaul tank engines, and the replaced engines are either thrown away on the spot or shipped home!

As a result, the German technical department came to the conclusion. German tanks deployed in the Middle East had to have a large range of travel to run back and forth on their own if necessary, and at the same time they had to be able to have a high enough uptime rate in the highlands and deserts. At the same time, it should also be within the scope of what the various local bridges can afford. In a word, the tank should not be too heavy, the structure should be as simple as possible, and the stability should be as high as possible. Now that all has been said, it is said. Then don't expect too much from the performance of the tank.

Some people may say that the British also want to deploy tanks in South Asia. Then they will be subject to all kinds of restrictions as well, and then the Germans will let the guys who say this look at the map and the history. First of all, Iran is between Turkey and South Asia, and the British will not occupy Iran to fight Turkey, which means that they will only stay in their own place, so they do not have to go through the test of the terrain and altitude of the Iranian plateau. Secondly, India does not have the ability to maintain and produce a large number of tank engines, but China has! 1. During the war, Huaxia could sell weapons to both sides. So if there is another fight, Huaxia can continue to sell. When the time comes, all you need is the money given by the Entente. Huaxia will be able to provide sufficient engines and related accessories. The possibility that Germany will get weapons from China is already very low, and now the weapons projects jointly developed by the two sides have almost come to a standstill.

Therefore, in this case, the German designers put forward extremely demanding requirements for the performance of the tank, the weight of the tank could not exceed 25 tons, the structure was as simple as possible, and the stroke must be long enough. FIREPOWER IS SECONDARY, IT MUST BE ABLE TO DEAL WITH MOST OF THE TARGETS, AND THE DEFENSE IS THE WORST, BECAUSE ACCORDING TO THE EXPERIENCE OF WAR 1, IT SEEMS THAT NO TANK CAN BLOCK THE ATTACK OF THE 75MM GUN, AND WITH SUCH A LIMITED TONNAGE, THE GERMANS HAVE NO HOPE FOR MORE POWERFUL ARTILLERY THAT MAY APPEAR IN THE FUTURE. The German tank emphasized assault and fire support, the former requiring speed and travel, the latter requiring firepower, as for protection. I can only make do with it. AS A RESULT, AFTER SOME RESEARCH, THE GERMAN DESIGNERS BELIEVED THAT EVEN WITH THE DESIGN OF THE GEARBOX AND THE REAR OF THE ENGINE, THE THICKNESS OF THE FRONTAL ARMOR WOULD DEFINITELY NOT EXCEED 40MM AND TILT 30 DEGREES, AND THE SIDE ARMOR WOULD BE REDUCED TO THE LEVEL OF ANTI-SHRAPNEL, AND IT WAS ESTIMATED THAT EVEN THE 37MM GUN WITH BETTER PERFORMANCE COULD NOT NECESSARILY BE PREVENTED. Because this tank also needs to be equipped with a gun of at least 75MML40 and above!

When the report was sent to the German War Department, the German army top brass could not tolerate such a crispy tank, and after countless calls, the technicians replied that either you allowed me to increase the weight, or I could only design a tank without turrets, such as assault guns and tank destroyers, and none of the turrets could save a lot of weight. Moreover, the height can be reduced a lot, which can fully meet the dual requirements of the military for frontal and firepower. The German Army, which was forced to do nothing, believed after research that if there was no major breakthrough in technology, adding tank destroyers or assault guns would be an important way to make up for the lack of tank performance. Of course, the shape of attacking the weak and defending the strong still cannot be changed.

At the same time, in order to increase the mobility and firepower of the armored forces, the German Army asked the technical department to come up with a self-propelled anti-tank gun scheme with wheeled armored vehicles or half-tracks as the territory after research. Because its positioning is to provide enough firepower for the attacking troops to annihilate those occasional heavy units and strong bunkers, its own position is relatively backward, so the protection requirements are not high, can protect against machine guns and shrapnel, but the firepower must be strong, the German War Department tends to use 88MM anti-aircraft guns or longer 75MM guns. And because the Germans did not lack fuel in this plane, diesel engines instead of gasoline engines would be used in tank engines.

In addition to dealing with future wars in the Middle East, Germany also needs to deal with possible major wars in Europe, and the Germans are not stupid, if the German offensive in the Middle East cannot quickly defeat Britain, or even get into trouble, then France is very likely to take advantage of the fire. And now honest Russia may fall into the ground, and the Germans must also deal seriously with the French hoplites, which are known for their strong firepower and heavy armor.

"In fact, the French armoured forces in the First World War were not so much offensive spears as defensive shields, they were mobile and cross-fertilized, but had heavy armor and powerful artillery. When on the defensive, it poses a great threat to attacking armored forces. Western Europe was already narrow, and the French were extremely dedicated in building defensive lines. Therefore, when our country attacked, it was almost a hard-fought battle. After the war, a German armored commander described tank warfare in Western Europe as follows.

The detours and rapid advances that the Germans relied on were invincible on the Eastern Front, and there was room for them to be used in the vast expanses of South Asia in the future, but there was no better way to do it on the Western Front. In this case, then Germany's heavy armored forces in Europe can only be tough, but fortunately, the technical conditions and road environment in Europe are quite good, so that German designers can free their hands and feet to increase the weight as much as possible and improve the performance of the tank. However, there was a dispute between the ordnance department and the army over the specific number of tons of new tanks.

IN ORDER TO BE ABLE TO HOLD THE FRENCH DOWN, THE GERMAN ARMY BELIEVED THAT THE NEW TANK MUST BE EQUIPPED WITH AN 88MML45 CLASS GUN, AND THE ARMOR MUST REACH 70MM AND TILT 45 DEGREES. AND THE SIDE ARMOR SHOULD HAVE MORE THAN 50MM. And the German designers, after doing the math, decided that in this case the tank would weigh at least 40 tons. This would have led to the crushing of some components, and the German designers did not like the rear of the gearbox and power equipment, as the turret would have to be forward, which would have caused the weight of the tank to be more cumbersome. The turret front, on the other hand, can cause some problems when climbing slopes or climbing over trenches when equipped with a long-barreled gun. Therefore, in the layout of the gearbox in front, the power in the rear, and the turret in the middle, if you want to meet a series of requirements put forward by the army, then the weight of the tank will increase to the point that the existing technology cannot meet it.

"In fact, the current 75MML40 and above guns are enough, and the armor must also be appropriately reduced, because if the inclination angle is too large, it will have a great impact on the front-end gearbox equipment. The weight of the tank should be better limited to around 32 tons. Of course, if we have to emphasize firepower, in the absence of a turret, we can design a tank destroyer that can be armed with an 88MML45 gun and limit its weight to about 35 tons. This tank is enough for any armored unit that will appear in the next fifteen years, and we are in Europe mainly for defense, not offense. "The German Army R&D department came up with a compromise.

Unexpectedly, the German Army finally accepted this plan, which made the German technical department puzzled, according to past experience, the two sides no longer fought for 300 rounds on technical indicators, in order to squeeze the technical limit as much as possible. Later, a German army general who had participated in the bidding for new tanks of the German Army revealed the mystery, on the one hand, the German army top brass required that the armored forces could quickly maneuver in Eastern Europe and launch an attack on Russia if necessary, and although the conditions in Eastern Europe were good, the tanks of more than 40 tons obviously exceeded the bottom line of mobility and maintenance. And the level of technology in Russia is not very high. A tank that is too sophisticated and has a low level of stability is obviously not as good as a tank that is cheap enough and has a high level of stability. And a more important reason is that the German Army's military spending on the construction of armored and ground forces in the future will be relatively limited, because, at this time, the German Ministry of Defense began to plan the Air Force, and this will inevitably take a piece of the pie from the Army!

Thanks to book friends zhouyu1976 and athlon 9527 for their tips~~~, as well as book friends I kill my monthly pass support ~~~~. (To be continued......)