Chapter 513 Guerrilla Artifact
As soon as Wells and Versenden left, Steed walked into the meeting room.
In fact, Wells and Steed met in the corridor, but they just nodded slightly and said nothing more.
This is a tacit understanding. They usually act as if they are unfamiliar with each other or even hate each other, but they all support Charles, which makes them more convincing in the parliament.
In addition, they had to keep their distance from Armand, not only because he was right-wing, but also because he was a royalist.
At this time, French citizens generally believed that restoring the monarchy was a backward and regressive idea, and many people were even hostile to it.
(Note: Boulanger was criticized for secretly accepting funds from the royalists. The capitalists seized on this point and made a big fuss, believing that Boulanger was a puppet supported by the royalists and that his ultimate goal was to restore the monarchy. French citizens, who were accustomed to the parliamentary system and believed that it was an advanced system, did not allow this to happen and therefore abandoned Boulanger, even though he did nothing and did not even think so.)
This is also the reason why Charles never met Armand and occasionally scolded him.
All we can say is that the parliament looks good on the surface, but peeling off the surface reveals an unknown exchange of power and interests, and the only people who are kept in the dark are the French citizens.
…
When Steed came in, Charles was standing by the window drinking coffee. Halloween was approaching, and through the large glass of the floor-to-ceiling window in front of him, he could clearly see several teenagers downstairs carving pumpkin lanterns with great interest.
Charles envied them a little.
Only they can put aside the war and troubles and still enjoy the holiday.
Steed knocked on the door gently to remind Charles, then stepped forward and shook hands with Charles, saying, "The production of rocket propellant and rocket shells is going smoothly, Major General. We have basically mastered the production process in just three days."
Charles said "hmm".
With detailed production methods and data, technical staff on-site teaching, and the students being from the "Saint-Etienne" Arsenal, it is normal that the process would be faster.
Steed asked doubtfully, "But I don't quite understand, Major General. It doesn't seem to be much different from 'Congreve'."
"Really?" Charles didn't rush to explain.
Steed nodded:
“Even though it can fly farther, it doesn’t mean the hit rate is higher.”
"Because we have to consider the wind in the air, in actual use, we will probably still have to attack the balloon within a few hundred meters like Congreve."
This is the dilemma of "punching the balloon" at this time.
The Germans knew that the balloons could easily be blown up by French planes, but they still persisted in releasing balloons to guide artillery.
It's like the French army knew that attacking would be a futile effort, but they still kept charging forward.
The battlefield is a place where innovation is the norm. It constantly threatens people's lives and forces them to come up with new ideas, but it also has a "stubborn" side.
However, Charles's purpose was not to "hit the balloon".
"The British rockets seem to be around 70 millimeters." Charles asked. He had glanced at the data when he was in Antwerp before, but couldn't remember it clearly.
"Yes." Steed replied: "76.2MM, with a range of about 2.7 kilometers."
(Note: This is the data of the British "Sea Mattress" rocket launcher.)
Then Steed added: "This is the range of ground launch. The range of air launch from a fighter plane is much less."
The wind is strong in the air, and the wind deflection of the rocket is very exaggerated. It is even possible for the rocket to turn around and explode when blown by the wind.
"Don't worry about that." Charles said, "Change it to 107MM, can you do it?"
Steed said, "Of course, Major General. But like I said, it doesn't make much sense..."
If it was a subordinate, Steed would have yelled at him and kicked him out long ago.
But this is Charles in front of him, Charles who has successfully developed many equipments.
Faced with Charles's insistence, Steed could only reflect on himself: Could it be that I was wrong?
or……
Steed's eyes lit up: "Major General, do you have a solution to the accuracy problem?"
Ciel shook his head slightly. No one could solve its accuracy problem unless it was modern times.
(Note: In modern times, guided rocket launchers have emerged, which can be called missiles)
There was a flash of disappointment in Steed's eyes. If the accuracy problem could not be solved, it would be meaningless to unilaterally increase the range.
Charles walked back to the table, put down his coffee, and leisurely took out a design drawing from his briefcase and handed it to Steed.
When Steed took the drawing and looked at it, he was stunned.
This is clearly iron tubes connected in parallel, divided into three layers, with four iron tubes on each layer. The structure is shockingly simple.
(The above picture shows my country's Type 63 107mm rocket launcher, which is known as the first of the three guerrilla weapons. The other two are AK and RPG)
(The picture above shows the 107 fire after modification and installed on the back seat of a pickup truck. It is very convenient to disassemble and install, and a civilian vehicle can be converted to military use at any time)
Then Steed understood its use. He looked at Charles in astonishment while holding the blueprint: "Isn't this used to launch rockets?"
"You guessed it right," Charles replied. "I call it a rocket launcher."
Steed looked at the blueprint, then raised his head and looked at Charles, as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.
This equipment is too crude. There will definitely be accuracy issues when using it to launch rockets. If it can't hit the target accurately, what role can we expect it to play?
Charles saw through Steed's thoughts and explained leisurely:
"The point is cheap, sir."
“It does not require the manufacture of expensive artillery and can be mass-produced in a short period of time.”
"Same thing with rockets, right?"
Steed nodded, that was true.
The expensive part of an artillery is the gun, especially the barrel. It is difficult to produce, expensive and has a certain lifespan. If the quality is not up to standard, it will easily explode.
But a rocket launcher is just a row of tubes, and its cost is mainly concentrated in cheap rockets that can be mass-produced.
"So," Charles concluded, "why don't we use these cheap things to fire a bunch of rockets? These rockets can blow up something even if they are lucky. What's more, artillery on the battlefield often bombs randomly without any purpose, and this is what rocket launchers are for."
Steed was shocked by this.
Yes, although it has no precision, if the number can reach a certain level, it is the cluster coverage of the target.
Isn’t the same true for artillery bombardment?
Sometimes they bombarded the trenches for days and nights. Even if they were highly accurate, what good was that? It was just random bombing!
At this time, it can be completely replaced by cheaper rockets!
"I understand, General." Steed nodded happily: "This is a cost-saving approach. After all, supplies are in short supply now."
Charles smiled and didn't explain further.
This thing doesn't just save costs. When combined with some tactics and brought to the battlefield, even the German 105MM howitzer can't handle it!
(End of this chapter)
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