168 New Tanks

If there is a difference between military barracks and school dormitories, one of them is that someone will disturb your rest regardless of time. It was a little after five o'clock in the morning, when everyone was still sleeping soundly on the bed, a signal soldier shouted loudly in the corridor: "All commanders! Urgently assemble! Go to the battalion headquarters for a meeting! Immediately! Hurry up!"

The soldiers who heard the shouts clearly changed their postures and continued to have a tryst with Zhou Gong's daughter, while the captains of each car team got up from their beds with yawns, and hung their hands on the head of the bed quickly. His black military uniform was put on his body.

They are the Waffen-SS, the complement of the Wehrmacht, the Führer's most loyal fighters. So they have different military uniforms, different collar badges, and different fanaticism.

Ren got up from the bed, and the Russian book that covered his face yesterday evening had already fallen on the side of the pillow. He quickly put on his clothes, and put on his hat very casually, After tidying up his clothes a little, he walked out of the dormitory door very sloppily.

Just outside the door, he saw his classmate living next door, Marcus, the driver of No. 112. That is, the young driver he mentioned yesterday who was half a year younger than him.

"Hey! Good morning!" Marcus yawned and walked out of his dormitory to greet Ren: "How are you getting along with your new partner?"

"I think they are a bunch of idiots, and they think I am the same." Ren buttoned up his armed belt, shook his pants that were too long, adjusted the folds on his clothes, and casually walked towards the end of the corridor up the stairs.

"It's not your character." Marcus caught up with a smile, and walked side by side with Ren: "If it was you half a year ago, I guess they would all have to be beaten to the ground."

"You idiot didn't hit anyone, why should I do it." Ren glanced at Marcus sideways, touched his pocket, and then reached out to him naturally: "Where's the chocolate candy? I forgot to bring it! "

Due to the shortage of industrial raw materials, some non-main foods in Germany have shrunk seriously. For example, margarine has begun to replace real butter on a large scale. For example, chocolate has been mixed with a lot of other substances and it has become more and more unpalatable—— —In the end, even the manufacturer himself felt sorry for it, and added a word of candy to the back of the chocolate to hide his embarrassment.

As an armored force, it has always been the secret weapon and trump card of the National Defense Forces, so the supplies are not bad, but they already eat potatoes and cabbage two days a week. The officers and soldiers of the 44th Infantry Division stationed not far away have to eat this kind of bad food four days a week-I heard that many second-line troops are even worse.

"Save some food! It's different in the army and school. God doesn't know when you will get this kind of supplies next time." Tossing a piece of rough-packed candy to Ren, Marcus said helplessly .

"I don't know when I can apply for leave." Ren took the candy, stuffed it into his pocket, and walked towards a barracks not far away.

When the two arrived at the battalion headquarters, many car commanders had already taken their seats. The two randomly chose an empty seat and sat down. Ren took out a car with the profile portrait of the head of state printed on it from the left pocket of his clothes. A small leather-bound book. With his right hand, he took out the pen from the chest pocket where the medal was pinned, and bit off the cap with his mouth.

"Corporals, sergeants! Good morning, everyone!" Captain Carter nodded to everyone, and introduced politely: "We, as the 3rd Armored Division of the SS, formed from the infantry, were named by the head of state himself. It is 'Skeleton', I hope everyone will like it."

He opened the curtain hanging on the blackboard. On it was a long black-and-white photo of a very beautiful tank: "Everyone, this is the latest Panther tank of the Wehrmacht. It is equipped with a 75mm caliber tank with a long barrel. Cannon, the firepower is very powerful, and our division was ordered to receive this weapon and use this super weapon to participate in future combat missions."

He pointed to the photo with the pointer, and began to introduce the various parts of this tank in detail. The commanders below were very quiet and were carefully recording important information.

"Captain Carter's introduction is very clear! Are there any questions?" Major Hans, the battalion commander of the First Armored Battalion, looked at his subordinate Carter and nodded in satisfaction.

"Sir! When can we take a look at our tanks?" a corporal asked, raising his hand.

"Everyone can go to the garage to check your tanks in the afternoon! If you have any problems, you can go to the logistics support company of the regiment headquarters to find Captain Hubert. If it is a serious mechanical failure, only the repair battalion of the division headquarters can solve it That's it." Hans said: "But the daily maintenance depends on you all."

"Excuse me! Why don't we have any vacation? I want to apply for a vacation, so I'll have a look around." A driver asked the question he wanted to ask, and Ren raised his head when he heard it, but found that several people were interested in this question. interested.

Battalion Commander Hans raised his eyebrows and said, "I'm sorry, the first-level military preparation regulations were promulgated a few days ago, and all holidays have been cancelled."

As soon as his words fell, there was a sound of sighs and wailing: "Oh? Isn't it? Level-1 combat readiness?"

Hans smiled, and turned over the photos and technical indicators on the blackboard, revealing the blackboard behind, and there were two lines of small characters written on the blackboard, "Starting from today, in addition to the regular training, there will be a five-kilometer long-distance running training every afternoon." It is also notified that after the meeting of the vehicle commanders, go to the logistics office to collect marching items such as tents and sleeping bags."

"Ren, you said we don't really intend to go to war with Poland?" Marcus beside Renn elbowed Renn and asked in a low voice.

Ren shrugged, spread his hands helplessly, and replied in a low voice with his slightly hoarse voice: "How do I know! The rations have not been distributed yet, and it may take a few days! Anyway, let us get acquainted first equipment."

"Oh! God bless, I still want to live a few more days of comfort!" Marcus complained with a sigh of reluctance.

"Forget it!" Ren seemed very natural: "You don't even think about it, you have brought us all to the border, how could those officials and gentlemen make such a fuss for no reason?"

"Let's go! Go and see what kind of new tents are issued to us. If you go late, there may be holes left." Marcus saw that the people around him began to talk about getting up, and he also stood up.

"If I were you, I would choose a better tank first." Ren also patted his butt and stood up: "Remember that motto?"

"Live first, and enjoy..." The two of them read out in unison. Then they smiled at each other and walked out the door side by side.

As they expected, in the rows of garages behind the station, soldiers from the repair battalion of several divisions were spraying numbers on the tanks that had just been shipped under the command of a sergeant major.

"Sir!" The two stood at attention and saluted.

"Oh! Good morning!" The sergeant major returned the salute very politely: "Shouldn't you come back later? Why? Didn't go to pick up the tent?"

"We think this guy is more useful than a tent." Marcus said with a smile, pointing to the tank behind the sergeant major.

The sergeant major nodded happily: "Well! You are right! This thing is indeed much more useful than a tent."

He fondled the front fender of the tank like a pet, and then introduced: "This tank can be said to be an industrial masterpiece of this era, combining a lot of design experience that has never appeared before. It can be described as perfect."

He knocked on the front armor plate of the tank and said proudly: "It has a whole piece of sloping armor plate at the front end of the car body, with an astonishing thickness of 50 mm. The wide car body is supported by six pairs of large-diameter road wheels. To cope with the weight change brought about by a wider body.”

After finishing speaking, he pointed to the track of the tank: "This newly designed tank is completely different from the previous German tanks. It uses wide tracks and the interlaced track structure used by large-diameter road wheels can adapt to more complex vehicles. The muddy combat environment and poor road standards."

He raised his head and looked at the two young commanders who were listening to him carefully: "In order to adapt to the brand-new suspension system and large-diameter road wheels, as well as the inclined front armor plate, this tank uses variable speed for the first time. The rear layout of the tank makes the turret of the tank slightly forward, instead of being arranged in the middle of the tank body like the Panzer III. Of course, we welded a basket directly behind the turret of the tank to hold some sundries for tank soldiers. This utilitarian design also slightly corrected the aesthetics of the German tank's turret placement. And the high-power gasoline engine at the rear was also more powerful than its predecessors."

He pointed to the tank turret on the top of his head, and emphasized in a very proud tone: "The most important thing is that this tank has a large and angular welded turret, which is enough to accommodate a 75mm long barrel gun—— This is enough to destroy any tank vehicle that is already in service, and if necessary, it can be replaced with a more powerful tank gun at any time. This ensures that you can easily destroy any opponent! How about it? Excited?"

He spread his hands regretfully, and finally concluded: "However, what is a little depressing is that the total combat weight of this tank has exceeded 30 tons, reaching an astonishing 33 tons. Its weight can be regarded as the first tank of this era It is a monster among monsters in tanks. In comparison, its predecessor, the Panzer III, only weighs more than 21 tons. So when facing complex terrain, please be careful."

"Huh..." Ren sighed: "To be honest, sir, this car is really perfect! But if I had to choose, I would prefer to use a Panzer III."

"Why? I think it's pretty good." Marcus frowned, pointing to the new tank and said, "This may be the best tank in the world." Behind him, the sergeant major stared at it with great interest. Rain who poured cold water on him.

"It uses too many new technologies, so it is a very unreliable big guy. Using this kind of thing, my biggest worry is not how powerful the enemy is, but when my car breaks down."

"Son! What you are thinking about is about our logistics support and maintenance unit! You just need to be responsible for taking care of it and use it to fight bravely!" The sergeant major laughed and said, "I like you two, I put the most Leave the good two cars to you."