In addition, Wang Xuexin also made further improvements to the cab.
The previous cab was enclosed, which may be necessary for furry bears, because the temperature of furry bears is very low in winter, and half-track vehicles are more often used for transporting supplies rather than transporting troops.
...The cab can ensure to a certain extent that the driver can drive for a long time without freezing. If the rear compartment is used to transport cargo, there is no need to consider the issue of insulation. The half-track design can make it not so easy.
Sliding on a snow-covered road.
But Wang Xuexin used this thing not to transport supplies but to fight.
Although the Northeast is also very cold, the first thing to consider is the issue of combat.
With a wave of his hand, Wang Xuexin removed the top cover of the cockpit from the design drawing.
"The top cover is useless in battle!" Wang Xuexin said: "Not only is it useless, it will also affect the combat effectiveness!"
Alexey had no objection.
This point has many reactions in the use of Yuncheng Hundred Battle Group.
The top cover is really useless, because it is just a thin iron sheet a few millimeters thick, and the enemy's top-down attacks are usually aircraft dives and strafing or artillery shells, neither of which can be blocked by this thin iron sheet.
Liveable.
On the contrary, the top cover and compartment also block the line of sight and shooting angle of the rear combat units, and also block the connection between the cab and the rear compartment. More importantly, they waste a large space of the top cover that cannot be used. In order to exceed the
On the top cover, the machine gun had to be mounted very high so that it could hit the enemy in front.
But this will make the center of gravity of the machine gunner too high. Firstly, it will be easily thrown under the armored vehicle when it bumps into the vehicle. Secondly, it will become an excellent target for enemy snipers.
When Wang Xuexin removed the top cover, the cockpit and the rear compartment were connected into one piece, which not only made it easier for the driver to get into the car, but also moved the machine gun position from the rear compartment to the passenger seat.
In this way, all the previous problems are solved. While the machine gunner's center of gravity is lowered, he can also hide behind the shield and shoot with a certain degree of safety. At the same time, the reaction speed and shooting angle are not only not reduced but also increased... The co-pilot
Position-controlled machine guns can better cooperate with the driver to achieve coordination of firepower and armored vehicles.
Although this armored vehicle looks a bit weird, Wang Xuexin believes that it looks more and more like a modern fully enclosed armored transport vehicle.
If there is any difference, apart from being semi-open, modern armored vehicles have machine guns mounted on the top armor.
However, this does not apply to the Eighth Route Army, at least not to the current industrial base of the Eighth Route Army.
After finishing it, Wang Xuexin pushed the design drawing in front of Alexei and asked: "Can it be done?"
"Of course!" Alexey replied affirmatively: "In fact, Comrade Head, these improvements of yours not only do not increase the difficulty of production, but actually reduce it! Even the materials used are not much more, and the body is not
It will be heavier than before!”
There is nothing wrong with that. A roller is added to the front and the cab roof and compartment are removed from the rear. Although the side armor is slightly higher, perforations are dug out, so the weight is indeed about the same.
As for the difficulty of production, the cab roof and compartments are actually very troublesome. Now that they are all eliminated, we only need to add two small side doors in the front to facilitate the driver and co-pilots to get in. The man-hours and materials used are reduced instead of increased.
Alexey couldn't help but praise: "These are very applicable ideas, comrade leader! It's just... no one else but you can think of it first!"
Of course.
Wang Xuexin has seen armored vehicles from World War II and even modern ones. The most important thing is that he knows the needs of the battlefield and even has some experience that others do not have... The history of the development of armored vehicles is actually the needs of the battlefield, because it is an improvement based on battlefield experience.
.
Finally, Wang Xuexin set a goal for Alexei to produce 400 such armored vehicles in two months.
Wang Xuexin allocated it like this: the Independent Regiment will be the main force with 200 vehicles, and the New Regiment and the New Second Regiment will each be allocated 100 vehicles.
Assuming that each vehicle can carry ten people, two hundred vehicles can carry 2,000 people. The remaining more than 1,000 people in the independent group take cars, tricycles and other means of transportation... It is impossible for the entire mechanized force to use half-tracks.
Armored vehicles also need other means of transportation as assistance, or it can be said that they learn from each other's strengths to offset their weaknesses.
For example, although armored vehicles have strong defense, they have a small space and insufficient carrying capacity. This requires cars, which have no defense but have space and carrying capacity. Another example is the side three-wheeler, which can be used as a rapid reconnaissance unit and communication unit... It is not always possible.
Maybe if you want to send a message or an order or something like that, you should drive there in a half-track armored vehicle, right?
After hearing Alexei's assurance, Wang Xuexin's heart was half relieved.
Before arriving, he was worried that the automobile factory's engine production capacity would be insufficient to supply the equipment for the three regiments, but now it seems that this worry is unnecessary.
What Wang Xuexin didn't know was that Alexey would also work very hard to produce 400 armored vehicles in the past two months.
The main problem is insufficient engine production. The engines produced by the newly opened automobile factory originally needed further testing and testing to find out the shortcomings and defects before mass production. However, Wang Xuexin required 400 units in two months.
But Alexei is still very confident to complete this task.
Because the Eighth Route Army fought a victorious battle not long ago, it should be said to be a great victory... They seized the troops of one Japanese division, the artillery units of two regiments, and the "Human Cao High Fire" base.
They were just a division of infantry. They burned all their equipment into a pile of scrap metal before escaping.
However, the artillery bases of two regiments and a "man-operated high-fire" base were captured by the Eighth Route Army in a sneak attack, and the Japanese had no time to blow up the equipment inside.
In this battle, the Eighth Route Army seized a total of 230 cars and 180 sidecar motorcycles.
These two hundred or so cars only need to be modified with Mao Xiong parts to convert them into half-track cars. Another hundred or so cars are selected from a batch of engines produced in the factory that are in good condition.
But there will be a trouble, that is, the half-track vehicles delivered by then will have two systems... one is from the Jaap and the other is from the Bear, and the Jag's car engines and so on are all imported from Eagle Sauce.
Technology and Mao Xiong are not the same thing.
However, Wang Xuexin thinks this does not matter much.
"We already have many Japanese cars on hand!" Wang Xuexin replied: "There are many people who can repair Japanese cars. When the time comes...at worst, we will give all the half-track cars with Japanese engines to the independent group, so that our logistics personnel