Chapter 2467: Dismantle it first and then talk about it
The "Lion" tank has a total combat weight of 55 tons, a frontal armor thickness of 115mm, and a turret frontal armor thickness of 130mm. It is equipped with an 88mm tank gun, a 7.7mm coaxial machine gun, and a 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine gun.
In terms of power, the "Lion King" tank uses the LD1941 12-cylinder water-cooled engine produced by Diesel Company, with a maximum power of 750 horsepower, a maximum road speed of 55 kilometers, and an off-road speed of 25.
The armor of "King Tiger" is thicker than that of "King Lion", but the engine power is only 700, the maximum highway speed is 30 kilometers, the cross-country speed is only a pitiful 10 kilometers, and the maneuverability is seriously insufficient.
Ma Le, commander of the 401st Heavy Armored Regiment, graduated from the Armored Forces Academy in Pretoria and participated in the Brazilian Civil War and the North African Campaign. He has rich experience.
"The new German tanks have extremely strong defenses. The 75mm tank gun equipped by the Sherman is completely unable to penetrate the armor of the new tanks. The only information we have now is that the new German tanks are relatively slow. Even if they cannot be defeated, they will not be able to penetrate the armor of the new tanks."
You can't catch up with us." Colonel Thomas from the U.S. 3rd Armored Group reminded Marle not to make the same mistake as the 3rd Armored Group.
The Sherman's total combat weight is just over 30 tons, equipped with a 75mm tank gun and a standard small horse-drawn cart.
This is also the habit of Americans. Americans always pursue the ultimate in firepower and ignore the overall performance of tanks.
The performance of the "Lion King" is very balanced, with strong firepower and high defense. The external armor brings stronger protection to the Lion King.
The tank guns in Southern Africa are very good. They incorporate part of the German and French technology. They are the best of hundreds of schools. Relatively speaking, the American artillery technology is inferior. Under the same caliber conditions, the accuracy and range are better.
Compared with southern African tank guns, they are slightly inferior.
"Why escape? Expose the rear of the car body with weaker armor to the German tanks and seek death." Ma Le is still confident, as the German tanks have obvious weaknesses.
There is no problem in southern Africa that it cannot be beaten. Even if the "Lion King"'s defense is worse than that of the "Tiger King", it is not to the point of being broken at the touch of a finger. In other aspects, the "Lion King" has the advantage and cannot be defeated in a one-on-one fight.
, it’s definitely no problem to fight two against one.
Don't pay attention to chivalry at this time. Marle assumed that the "Tiger King" was as fast as the "Lion King". After all, Sherman did not force the "Tiger King" to its full strength.
"Don't worry too much. When we attack tomorrow, the Air Force will send a bomber group to cooperate with us. The Germans cannot have too many new tanks. France is not the main battlefield." Chief of Staff Alexander called for Air Force support, "Tiger
As long as the "King" dares to appear, he will be destroyed.
After a night of silence, at six o'clock in the morning on July 18, the 401st Heavy Regiment launched an attack on the German positions on the west side of Saint-Lo as planned.
Also attacking the Germans were the U.S. 47th and 51st Armored Divisions. The Allies dispatched a total of nearly 400 tanks, an unprecedented scale.
The German army's position was very strict, built along the river, and the terrain had an absolute advantage.
The "Lion King" has a wading capacity of 1.8 meters and can directly cross the river. Before the troops launched the attack, the 131st Bomb Group, which came to support, conducted repeated bombings on the German positions for an hour and a half. The battle was not yet over.
At the beginning, most of the fortifications on the German positions were completely destroyed.
"Unfortunately, our bombers did not detect the new German tanks. It seems that the Germans did a good job in camouflage." Alexander was slightly disappointed. With the Allies controlling the air, the German camouflage technology became more and more sophisticated.
"I have long said that it is up to us to solve the problem." Marle was not disappointed. If the bombers were to find the Germans' new tanks, then Marle and the others would have made their trip in vain.
The battle begins soon.
Cooperating with the 401st Regiment in the attack is the 417th Armored Infantry Regiment. Although the 417th Regiment is infantry, it is equipped with 11 "Leopard" tanks and 39 "Alligator" armored vehicles. This regiment's equipment is very advanced, including flamethrowers.
Equipped to the platoon level and the rocket launchers to the squad level, even if they face German armored units alone, they are not without power.
In order to lure the "King Tiger" to attack, Ma Le only sent out one tank company, and the other two tank companies were ready to attack in a roundabout way at any time.
The German army suffered heavy losses in the previous shelling and bombing, and the counterattack was very weak. The only two 88mm high-level and flat dual-purpose cannons were highlighted shortly after they were fired. Male only lost a few pieces of external armor.
Another "Lion King" got stuck in the mud and could not get out of the battle.
"Armored troops, keep moving forward!" Ma Le's mood was not affected. 17 "Lions" were enough to fight against a German regiment of Panzer IV tanks without losing.
The Germans had few tanks that could be dispatched. When Operation Dragoon was launched, the German tanks were unable to arrive on the battlefield in time due to lack of fuel.
Now that the Allies have occupied Lyon, the Germans have lost their largest logistics center in southern France. Over in Caen, the Allies have even captured the Panzer IV tanks that the Germans had voluntarily abandoned due to lack of fuel. The Germans' embarrassment is evident.
"No. 6, there is a German machine gun position directly in front of you, kill it!"
"No. 11, pay attention to controlling the speed and maintaining the formation——"
"No. 2, pay attention to the crater on your right front, there are Germans there!"
Ma Le kept reminding his tank crews through the car radio.
The tank crews are also experienced. They hide in the solid tank body and use periscopes to observe the battlefield. Their main target is the German tanks. The tank crews do not need to worry about the scattered infantry. The infantry accompanying the "Lion" attack will take care of them.
"Discovered a German tank - not a new tank, but the German No. 4 -" the excited voice of the commander of No. 11 came over the radio.
"Leave it to me!"
"I'll deal with it!"
"Medal, here I come!"
The communication channel suddenly became chaotic, and there were not many valuable targets. Killing a hundred infantrymen was not as good as a German tank.
The No. 4 commander on the opposite side was probably in a state of collapse. More than a dozen "Lion" tank guns were aimed at him at the same time. Two commanders with outstanding shooting skills took the initiative to fire before the "Lion" stopped. In less than a moment,
At a distance of one thousand meters, the "Lion"'s 88mm tank gun can easily penetrate the armor of the No. 4.
Commander No. 4 had already tried very hard to avoid it, but he was still hit by several armor-piercing shells at the same time. The violent explosion completely engulfed No. 4, and the turret flew several meters high. The detonating shells were as eye-catching as brilliant fireworks.
All the crew members died when the car body was penetrated.
The tank that was penetrated was just an iron cage. Shell fragments flew everywhere in the narrow body of the vehicle, and the human body was torn into pieces in an instant.
A mere No. 4 could not satisfy the appetite of the commanders. More than a dozen "Lions" rushed into the German position at the same time. Some German soldiers used rocket launchers to attack the "Lions". As soon as they appeared, they were often beaten by the infantry accompanying them.
If the assault rifle knocks down, even if the rocket hits the "Lion King", it will not be able to penetrate the Lion King's armor.
To deal with heavy tanks like the "Lion King", armor-piercing bullets are still needed.
The German "King Tiger" did not appear until tanks rushed into the German battlefields in southern Africa.
In order to avoid Allied bombing, the Germans dug tank bunkers directly underground, and the bunkers were carefully camouflaged with tree branches and camouflage nets. No wonder the bombers could not find the new German tanks.
The turret of the "King Tiger" is in front of the car body. When the "King Tiger" rushed out of the underground bunker, the three-meter-long gun barrel was first discovered by Ma Le.
"Shoot, aim and shoot -" Ma Le did not retreat immediately. Whether he could win or not, he had to fight first.
boom--
Marle's tank opened fire first, hitting the front armor of the "King Tiger" turret and being bounced away.
German tanks now also use sloped armor. The 180mm armor on the front of the "King Tiger" turret is difficult to penetrate directly.
If you can't penetrate the front, you go around to the side. The three "Lions" opened fire almost at the same time.
This time, the "King Tiger" was finally penetrated. The power of the explosion was astonishing. The "King Tiger" used a gasoline engine. If it was directly penetrated, it would most likely cause a fatal explosion.
"Up, up, up, continue to attack -" After destroying a "Tiger King", Ma Le was convinced that it seemed that he could annihilate all the "Tiger King" without using enemy luring tactics.
Then Ma Le discovered four "Tiger King" cars appearing together.
One "Tiger King" can surround and fight, but the difficulty rises sharply with four "Tiger Kings". However, the "Lion Kings" did not flinch and faced the "Tiger King" head-on.
At this time, the distance between the two sides is actually very close, and a single shot can penetrate the opponent's armor.
The external armor equipped by the "Lion King" played a huge role. Marler's tank was hit at close range. Although the armor-piercing bullet only hit the external armor, the tank's tracks were interrupted and it lost its ability to move.
"Move, don't give the enemy a chance to take aim calmly -" Ma Le quickly released smoke bombs and ordered the crew members to abandon the vehicle and escape.
Car No. 4 was also unlucky. The joint between the turret and the car body was hit by the "King Tiger". Although the car body was not penetrated, the turret lost its ability to rotate and had to withdraw from the battle.
The losses ended here. The battle was easier than Marle had planned. The two tank companies responsible for the detour had not yet arrived on the battlefield. Four of the five King Tigers were destroyed and one was severely damaged.
After the battle, Ma Le discovered that the Germans not only lacked fuel, but also had a serious shortage of artillery shells, especially armor-piercing shells. Only the "Tiger King" was qualified to equip them, and each "Tiger King" only had ten.
No wonder the battle goes easier.
It's easy here in southern Africa, but not so easy over there with the US military.
The German infantry's rocket launchers could not penetrate the armor of the "Lion", but they could easily penetrate the armor of the Sherman.
Sherman has not yet installed external reactive armor, so it is difficult to survive being hit, especially the sides and rear with weak armor, which are more vulnerable to German attacks.
Excluding Cherbourg, this should be the first tough battle for the US military in Europe. Of the 125 tanks that the 47th Division participated in the attack, 42 were destroyed in less than an hour after the battle broke out. The infantry accompanying Sherman's attack
The losses were also heavy. On this day, except for the heavily equipped 401st Regiment, which captured the position on the west side of Saint-Lo, there was no progress in other directions.
The "King Tiger" that was damaged by the Germans was towed back to the camp by the Allies after the battle.
If possible, Marle would like to tow this "Tiger King" back to southern Africa for dismantling.
It's a pity that it's unrealistic. The Americans are keeping a close eye on him. If Marle wants to get the "Tiger King" away, Little Button will probably fall out.
Patton Jr. was in a bad mood. Including the previous offensive, the 3rd Armored Army had lost nearly 25,000 people in Saint-Lô, which was more serious than the British army's losses.
Although Patton Jr. had great experience in commanding armored troops, he still couldn't change his habit of rushing and fighting during combat. Even in the face of the tight defense of the German army, Patton Jr. ordered the troops never to retreat. No matter how heavy the sacrifice was, they would still defeat the Germans.
People are pushed to death.
"This thing doesn't have much technical content. It's just for defense. The German's engine is a bit weak. It's a standard small horse-drawn cart. It's estimated that even on the road, this tank will hardly reach a speed of 20 kilometers per hour."
Jim Kohler, the logistics director of the 401st Heavy Regiment, is an engineer and is very familiar with tank technology.
"How many tons does this thing weigh? 80? Or 90?" Captain Andrew of the 51st Armored Division is also a technical officer.
"Seventy tons at most. I don't understand why the Germans don't control the weight to about 50 tons. That way the performance will be more balanced." Jim Kohler couldn't understand.
German engineers actually know the importance of speed for tanks, but what Mustache needs is a heavy tank with super strong defense, so German engineers can only abandon mobility and desperately build defense.
This is the role of a leader.
When speaking on the radio, the mustache is definitely an expert, and his influence is extremely powerful.
He is not good at directing the production of the military industry department, and he is even less good at designing weapons and equipment. He just reaches out everywhere and makes some seriously unreasonable demands, which not only wastes precious strategic resources, but also affects the performance of the German army on the battlefield.
Before the outbreak of the World War, Mustache also advocated the development of airship troops, completely ignoring that during World War I, airships had been eliminated by fighter jets.
When the German army was going smoothly, the consequences were not serious.
Now the evil consequences have finally exploded. The "Tiger King" is the epitome of Germany's dying struggle. With Germany's current capabilities, even if it starts to produce "Tiger King", it will not be able to build a few. The Krupp factory that produces "Tiger King" has always been
The main target of Allied bombing.
From finalization at the end of last year to now, only 280 units of "King Tiger" have been produced.
"Even if the Germans produce faster tanks, Germany doesn't have enough fuel -" Andrew secretly rejoiced that the Germans were not killed, but consumed alive.
If Germany had enough resources, perhaps Russia would not be able to survive the winter of 1941. After the Germans solved Russia, they would definitely go all out to deal with Britain.
By then, I'm afraid the British royal family will really have no choice but to go into exile in Canada.
"Thank God!" Jim Kohler was also glad that the technical content of "Tiger King" was actually very high, and it was not without its merits.
The "Tiger King" was then sent back to the UK for dismantling as quickly as possible. The British were particularly enthusiastic about it. Winston even paid 200,000 pounds for the freight of the heavily damaged "Tiger King".
For the opportunity to participate in the dismantling of "Tiger King".
