Chapter 259
Chapter 3 will be updated later, I’m currently coding it, sorry!
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(The picture below shows the Saint-Chamond M21 light tank, which has both tracks and wheels. When the wheels are retracted, it moves on the tracks)
The discussion took place at the dining table in the Djokovic family's living room. Although it was simple, it was kept absolutely confidential. The only outsider was Camille, but she didn't understand and had no interest in it.
Just like if a woman asks a man if she looks good in a piece of clothing, they will usually reply with ambiguous words like "okay" or "OK".
Their concept of "good looking" is not about the clothes, but about the state when they are without clothes.
Similarly, when women listen to military topics, even if they listen to them all day, they are still likely to exclaim: "What? Tanks don't have wheels? How do they move?"
Therefore, Djokovic did not ask Camille to avoid it, nor did he even ask her to keep it secret.
If a spy tried to extract even a few words from Camille in the hope of analyzing something from them, he would surely collapse.
A sketch was originally placed on the dining table, with a pen and a draft next to it, which seemed to be used to calculate data.
As he sat down, Estiny pushed the sketch in front of Charles and said with some worry, "This was drawn by my old subordinate based on his impression. He was fortunate enough to become a tester for Schneider and told me some information after getting in touch with this tank. I think it is a new type of tank that Schneider is developing."
Charles glanced at the sketch and laughed: "Can this be called a tank? It should be an armored vehicle."
Colonel Estiny and Deyoka looked at each other in bewilderment. They had always thought that Schneider's tank would be a threat to the "Charter A1", but they did not expect that Charles would be so dismissive of it.
Colonel Estiny thought Charles wasn't paying attention, so he explained further, "It has two forms, Colonel. It can use wheels or tracks, which will give it super mobility."
"Yes." Deyoka agreed: "You can use the wheel form on the road, and the track form for muddy or off-road. It's a good idea."
"So what?" Charles asked.
Colonel Estinis replied:
“Mobility means faster penetration.”
"It draws on the success of the 'Shire A1' to some extent."
"For example, they focus on mobility and change their weapons to machine guns. I even believe they will produce their own 37MM caliber artillery!"
Charles nodded. He definitely borrowed some ideas, but because he didn't dare to copy blatantly, he had to abandon the rotating turret.
After thinking for a while, Charles pushed the blueprint back to Colonel Estiny and asked softly, "Without a rotating turret, how do you think it can face the enemy's machine guns and large-caliber artillery?"
Aistiny pointed at the sketch and came forward to analyze it:
"I guess they hope to make up for the lack of rotating gun tanks with quantity."
"They can make the side armor very thin, just to resist ordinary ammunition, and thicken the front armor to resist K bullets."
"When in combat, they always face the target head-on. They approach the target from all directions with high mobility..."
Charles understood what Astinni was thinking, and it seemed to make sense:
If the money used to produce one "Charter A1" can be used to produce two or even more of these cheap light tanks, then the "Charter A1" needs a rotating turret to aim at the target, while these cheap light tanks can rely on multiple tanks to aim from several directions at the same time.
Which one is more efficient?
It seems that this kind of cheap light tank is likely to have as many numbers as ants, forming an advantage of "many ants can kill an elephant".
Ciel smiled and shook his head.
Ideals are full, but reality is very skinny. Schneider could never have imagined that in the near future, various infantry anti-tank equipment would come into being.
Not to mention anti-tank equipment, these thin-skinned small tanks can't even withstand anti-aircraft machine guns, and they will be used as targets by infantry.
Seeing that Charles still didn't care, Colonel Estiny continued to explain:
"As we all know, our tanks have the disadvantage of being slow."
"It would be terrifying if it could reach speeds of dozens of kilometers per hour on the road like a car."
"It can penetrate targets quickly, Colonel. This is likely the development trend of tanks!"
Charles said "hmm" and was a little surprised. This reminded him that Schneider might not just imitate the surface, but also go deeper into tactics.
As expected of a qualified capitalist, it has a very good learning ability, but it is a pity that it still went astray.
"It will not be the development trend of tanks." Charles' tone was firm.
"We can't be sure of that, Colonel." Colonel Estiny's tone could not hide his confusion and anxiety: "If it is not a development trend, what is it? I can't think of any reform plan!"
After hearing this, Charles finally understood Colonel Estiny's mentality at the moment.
He believed that certain equipment must change during development, whether in core, structure or form.
After the "Char A1" tank came out, Colonel Estiny wanted to improve it but found that it could not be improved. This made him fall into despair and thought he was stagnant.
At this time, Schneider suddenly developed a tank with better mobility, and Colonel Estiny took it for granted that it was an improvement and a trend.
This may seem ridiculous to a modern man like Charles, but people of this era had no idea about the future development of tanks, so it seemed natural for them to fall into confusion and bewilderment.
Charles hesitated for a moment and asked calmly, "How heavy is it?"
"I'm not sure." Colonel Estiny replied, "But it is said that Schneider's idea is to make it lightweight. It is likely to be only half the weight of the 'Char A1'."
(Note: The actual weight of Saint-Chamond is only 3.3 tons, less than half of the 8 tons of "Charles A1")
Then Estiny added: "The test results show that it can reach a speed of 28 kilometers per hour on the road. This is just a preliminary test. It may be faster in the future."
There was a hint of fear in Colonel Estiny's eyes when he said this. He seemed to see a large number of these light tanks speeding on the road and dividing and surrounding the enemy.
Isn't this the template for the several battles that Charles has fought on the front lines?
Deyoka also looked cautious. Estiny had described this to him before. This was even in line with the "swarm warfare" theory that Colonel Estiny had always conceived, or in other words, only this kind of fast light tank could realize his combat theory.
Charles smiled and said, "We can think of it this way. If this light tank faced the 'Charr A1' instead of the German heavy tank, which tank do you think would win?"
Estiny and Djoka looked at each other, neither of them had ever thought about it this way.
(The picture above shows the Saint-Chamond M21 light tank with its wheels retracted)
(The picture above shows the wheels being lowered)
(End of this chapter)
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