Design concept of tilted armor of naval battleships. The empire’s latest top-grade material, Y-shaped armor steel, what kind of wonderful chemical reaction will occur when the two are combined?
Sixty degree inclination angle of the normal line!
Main armor composed of Y-shaped armor steel and carburized hardened steel!
Guderian is looking forward to it, really looking forward to the final results of this car body protection test.
As the largest weapon testing base under the Army Weapons Agency, the Berlin Tank Proving Ground is equipped with complete ballistic testing equipment and instruments. The testing area includes measuring points of 100 meters, 500 meters, 1000 meters, 1500 meters and 2000 meters.
, vehicle body protection data at different distances can be obtained.
Cutting edge, advanced, this is synonymous with the Berlin Tank Proving Ground.
Soon, the protective test artillery was ready, and all members of the artillery team entered their posts. New high-speed cameras using Zeiss lenses were powered on and on standby. There were two cameras in total. One was located at the muzzle of the artillery to accurately measure the muzzle velocity of the artillery shell, and the other was located on the front armor of the car body.
Used to detect the terminal velocity of the projectile and the impact and pouring effect.
The two high-speed cameras can work at 60 times per second, and the detection error accuracy is within ±0.5%. It is no exaggeration to say that this is the most advanced ballistics detection equipment in the world.
The advanced level of these two high-speed cameras alone has overwhelmed the entire world, and their technical content is terrifyingly high.
Time passed, and with the last preparation work in place, Guderian gave an order and announced that the tank body protection test of Henschel's 35-ton design plan had officially begun.
The No. 1 shooting position of the test site is responsible for the protection test task of the latest anti-tank gun in active service in the German army - the pak36 anti-tank gun, manufactured by Lyinmetall, with a caliber of 37 mm, a multiple of 42 mm, a penetration depth of 34 mm per 100 meters, and a
The penetration depth is 29 mm at 100 meters and 20 mm at 1,000 meters. Both are made of vertical homogeneous steel.
At the No. 1 firing position, following the instructions given by the artillery team commander, three artillerymen quickly stepped forward to operate the pak36 anti-tank gun, aimed at the target, and took out the capped tungsten core armor-piercing projectiles for loading.
Standard and fast.
The three test artillerymen are the most elite anti-tank artillerymen, possessing extremely skilled practical experience and excellent tactical qualities.
"Fire!" After preparations for firing were completed, the commander of the artillery team stared at the new tank body a thousand meters away with a pair of blue eyes, and then shouted.
After receiving the order, the gunner pulled the rope hard without hesitation.
"Bang!" In an instant, the cartridge that was hit by the firing pin exploded and released a huge amount of energy. The black and cold barrel shook violently and burst into flames.
The 37 mm tungsten-core armor-piercing projectile shot out like an arrow from a string, spinning at high speed and flying in an extremely straight trajectory at a speed of up to 760 meters per second. After one point and three seconds, the entire projectile spanned a kilometer.
distance, photographed by a high-speed camera at the end of the final trajectory, and hit the upper part of the front armor of the new tank body hard.
The moment the projectile comes into contact with the surface of the vehicle body, all the tens of thousands of joules of kinetic energy contained inside are released and converted into heat energy, forcing the shell to forcefully penetrate the vehicle body armor.
However, all this is in vain.
The composite armor used in the new tank body is like a majestic, majestic and unshakable mountain. No matter how hard you try, it remains firm.
After one thousandth of a second, the 37 mm tungsten core armor-piercing bullet lost all kinetic energy, leaving only a shallow mark on the armor surface on the front of the vehicle body, and then shattered into many small irregular fragments...
Shattered!
Yes, the shell shattered directly.
"Ding!" After the impact, the crisp and sharp sound of metal impact came out, resounding all around.
The entire impact process was completely recorded by a high-speed camera.
Immediately afterwards, the two experimenters responsible for measuring the protection test effect quickly stepped forward to collect the test results of the first artillery shell. However, when they saw the impact marks on the surface of the new tank body, their eyes suddenly widened.
The expression of seeing a ghost.
God, what is going on?
The two experimenters couldn't believe what they saw. The main anti-tank gun currently in service of the National Defense Force not only failed to penetrate the armor of the vehicle, it did not even cause any threatening impact. The picture seemed to be a knock on the door of the new tank.
, giving warm and fiery greetings.
Shock, shock deep into the heart.
After precise measurement, the 37mm tungsten core armor-piercing projectile's penetration depth of 1,000 meters was 2.5mm. Soon, this test data was transmitted back to the test site as quickly as possible and sent to the observation area.
"Colonel, General, according to the data collected by high-speed cameras and on-site experimenters, the penetration depth of 37mm tungsten-core armor-piercing bullets is 2.5mm per kilometer, which cannot cause any threatening killing effect." The young major officer hurried to the observation area and quickly walked to the observation area.
Hermann and Guderian report test data.
"What did you say, 2.5 mm?!" Herman was confused.
"Yes, the tungsten core armor-piercing projectile directly fragmented after impacting the surface armor of the vehicle. This is a photo of the fragmentation taken by a high-speed camera." The major officer nodded affirmatively and took out a photo that had been quickly developed.
Under normal circumstances, it often takes ten minutes to half an hour to develop old-fashioned black and white film, but the development of German photography technology has reached the level of three-minute processing, which is not significant.
Hermann took the black-and-white photo and looked at the artillery shells in the photo that were broken into countless tiny fragments. His eyes suddenly shrank, and he looked at the body of the new tank thousands of meters away with a look of disbelief.
The shell shattered!
"General, look at it...I can't express in words how I feel now. It's really incredible." Hermann handed the photo in his hand to Guderian and said slowly.
"This is normal. After mathematical calculation and analysis by the technical department, when a small-mass artillery shell hits the car body, the shell will fragment due to the small mass." Guderian took the photo and looked at it with the technical department.
Mathematical modeling analysis took it over and responded.
"General, is this the surprise you are talking about? If the National Defense Forces is equipped with this tank, I believe we will win any battle. It has no opponent on the battlefield." Herman's words were full of surprise.
The pak36 anti-tank gun is the best and most advanced anti-tank gun in the world today. It poses a high threat to any active tank in the world. The killing effect is very good. After penetrating the tank armor, it will produce dozens or even more pieces.
Hundreds of metal fragments.
One shot can often render a tank incapable of combat.
But the threat and lethality of the Pak36 anti-tank gun, in front of this new tank body, is as small and ridiculous as an ant with its teeth and claws...
What is invincibility?…
This steel monster in the proving ground is truly invincible!
"No, this is not a surprise. The test team was ordered to continue testing. The test artillery pak36 was replaced with a 50mm anti-tank gun sent by Reinmetall." Guderian's face showed a touch of unpredictable interest, and the look of expectation in his eyes became more and more.
Rich, commanded.
Replace the test gun!
The Pak36 tank gun alone is far from enough. In fact, for today's vehicle body protection test, Guderian specially prepared several artillery guns to test the actual protection of Henschel's 35-ton plan.
data, as well as the comprehensive killing effect data of the anti-tank gun system of the National Defense Forces.
He needs to know clearly if the Wehrmacht encounters an enemy tank similar to the Henschel 35-ton design, whether the Wehrmacht has the means to destroy it.
The order was issued, and in a blink of an eye, the Pak36 anti-tank gun was removed from the firing position, and a 50mm medium anti-tank gun under development entered the firing position. The weapons manufacturer was still Lainmetall.
The German artillery industry is inseparable from two companies, Krupp and Lyinmetall.
Krupp, the steel king, and Lyinmetall, the artillery king, are what many people call the two companies.
The commander of the artillery team ordered the three artillerymen to operate the 50mm medium anti-tank gun delivered yesterday with ease. Soon, preparations for firing were completed.
"Fire!" the artillery commander looked serious, holding binoculars with both hands and staring at the new tank body, and ordered sternly. He already knew the almost desperate test results of the pak36 anti-tank gun, and he could only place his hope on this gun.
Yin 50mm anti-tank gun.
As a soldier of the National Defense Force, he is very happy to see the army equipped with a powerful tank, but as an anti-tank artilleryman, he never wants to see this tank appear on the enemy's side, and his own side does not have the means to destroy it.
What a disgrace to anti-tank artillery!
"Boom!" The gunner pulled the rope to activate. In an instant, a loud and high-pitched gunshot was heard. The black muzzle suddenly retreated, and the 50mm tungsten core armor-piercing projectile was fired out with a muzzle velocity of 800 meters per second. The flight trajectory was extremely straight.
, after one point and twenty-five seconds, the shell accurately hit the upper armor of the new tank body.
When the shell contacted the armor surface, the kinetic energy was converted into heat. The metal in the contact area heated up and melted at a speed visible to the naked eye. The tungsten carbide core seemed to advance like a drill. This time, the entire shell finally stopped fragmenting and penetrated forward for about 18 seconds.
mm, the projectile loses all kinetic energy.
Soon, the test results of the 50mm anti-tank gun came back. According to the data collected by the high-speed camera and on-site experimenters, the actual penetration depth of the 50mm tungsten core armor-piercing projectile at one thousand meters was 18mm, the equivalent depth was 50mm, and the muzzle velocity of the shell was 810 seconds.
The test result is that it cannot be broken down!
Faced with this result, whether it was Hermann, the commander of the test site, the artillery team responsible for the test, or all the technicians at the Berlin test site, their faces felt like they had been slapped several times, and they felt burning pain.
Everyone fell into silence, at a loss.
People at the tank testing site have a basic understanding of Lyinmetall’s 50mm anti-tank gun, which is under development.
According to the plan of the Army Weapons Agency, this anti-tank gun will be one of the main anti-tank guns equipped by the National Defense Forces in the future. Its main goal is to deal with the enemy's potential heavy tanks. The penetration depth is 100 mm for 100 meters and the penetration depth is 500 meters.
Reaching 78 mm, it can easily smash the frontal armor of any tank currently in service in various countries...
However, even with such a powerful anti-tank gun, its actual performance was so poor when faced with this new tank body that I don’t know where it came from...
They have absolutely no idea how to evaluate it.
"Herman, fortunately, we did not invite Lainmetal to send representatives here today, otherwise, this test result may undermine their confidence." Guderian received the 50mm anti-tank gun test results, his face
His smile grew stronger and he joked towards Herman beside him.
"Incredible, especially incredible. I can't imagine how those crazy people like Henschel developed this steel monster..." Hermann, the commander of the test site who thought he had seen a lot of great things, held up his telescope and looked at a
The tank body a thousand meters away murmured to itself, obviously suffering a major blow: "General, how high is the frontal defense capability of this tank's armor?"
"According to the mathematical analysis data of the technical department, the theoretical armor protection of the Henschel 35-ton tank plan is 85 mm in the upper front area, equivalent to 234.6 mm, and 75 mm in the lower area, equivalent to 181 mm."
Guderian smiled.
silence!
Deathly silence!
Herman's mind seemed to have been hit by a heavy bomb, buzzing, completely losing his logical thinking and thinking ability, and almost going blank.
What did he hear?
Equivalent to 234.6 mm above the head?
The first down is equivalent to 181 mm?
Herman really doubted whether he had heard correctly.
The concepts of actual armor and equivalent armor are easy to understand, but Herman never expected that the protective power of this tank body would be so terrifying.
"Of course, this is just theoretical data. We need to verify it through experimental testing. Let's continue testing." Guderian said with a smile, not paying attention to the shocked Hermann beside him.
After hearing this, Herman finally woke up and took a deep breath: "General, there is no more powerful artillery than the 50mm anti-tank gun in the testing site. How should we test it?"
"When I came here today, I pulled an FK36 anti-aircraft gun. Krupp made a batch of tungsten core armor-piercing bullets and used it for testing." Guderian said.
"General, isn't this an anti-aircraft gun?!" Herman was dumbfounded when he heard these words.
Anti-aircraft guns as anti-tank guns?
He has never seen this kind of operation, no, he has never thought about it.
"Yes, but the FK36 anti-aircraft gun has all the characteristics of an anti-tank gun. If nothing else happens, this anti-aircraft gun is very likely to become the main anti-tank gun of the National Defense Forces in the future." Guderian nodded.
Silent, at a loss, and with a hint of expectation, Herman felt complicated. He shook his head helplessly, turned around, and conveyed the order below.
Although the use of anti-aircraft guns as anti-tank guns did surprise him, compared with the terrifying protection of this new Henschel tank, this method seems to follow a certain logic.
Can't wear it?
Then increase the diameter and magnification until it is penetrated.
But the question is, in the active artillery series of the National Defense Forces, is there really any artillery that can achieve 230 mm penetration?
Hermann couldn't answer this question. He didn't even know whether the 88 mm caliber FK36 anti-aircraft gun firing tungsten-core armor-piercing projectiles could penetrate the body of this new tank...
The 234.6 mm front armor is really terrible.
Guderian's orders were continuously conveyed, and the FK36 anti-aircraft gun team immediately entered the deployment state, and this order directly caused a sensation among everyone at the tank testing site.
88 artillery fire?
No one expected that today's vehicle body protection test would reach such an extent. The two anti-tank guns equipped at the tank test site could not pose a threat to it, and the 88mm anti-aircraft gun had to be used as an anti-tank gun.
The situation is exaggerated to the point of making people feel magical.
The 50mm anti-tank gun withdrew from its firing position, and the artillery team attached to the test site stepped aside. This shooting mission was performed by the anti-aircraft gun team.
Fifteen minutes later, the FK36 88mm anti-aircraft gun was deployed. The huge barrel was leveled, aimed at the target ahead, locked on the new tank body, and the 88mm tungsten core armor-piercing projectile was loaded into the chamber, completing all preparatory work for shooting.
The whole place was silent. Whether it was the experimenters at the tank test site or the artillery team that had previously been tasked with the test, they stared at the 88 gun in the firing position, pinning their hopes on the other party.
Whether it can penetrate the frontal armor of this tank depends on this large-caliber anti-aircraft gun.
This is the last hope for everyone at the tank proving ground.
Because, apart from the 88mm anti-aircraft gun, the only type of artillery currently in service in the National Defense Force that exceeds this caliber is the large-caliber howitzer.
You can't just pull a 150mm howitzer over and blast it, right?
Howitzers bombard tanks. This kind of test does not have any practical significance or reference value.
"Fire!" The anti-aircraft gunner looked serious and gave the order to fire without hesitation.
"Boom!" In an instant, a deafening sound of artillery was heard. It was huge and loud, like thunder. The flames from the muzzle stirred up a cloud of dust. The artillery shells shot out like arrows, spanning a distance of one thousand meters.
, accurately hitting the tank body.
Cannonballs weighing several kilograms contain a high amount of kinetic energy, and their own kinetic energy pours out at the moment of contact. The carburized hardened steel on the armor surface on the front of the car body is far from being able to withstand such a degree of blow, and it quickly breaks through and loses its function as the main armor.
The Y-shaped armor steel made of the material comes into play, constantly consuming the kinetic energy of this 88mm tungsten core armor-piercing projectile.
After one hundredth of a second, the entire shell stopped moving forward, and seemed to be embedded in the armor like a shining diamond.
Two experimenters in the armor testing area quickly stepped forward and quickly collected the test results.
"What's the depth of penetration?" Herman couldn't wait any longer this time. He immediately picked up the phone and called the armored area and asked impatiently.
"Report to the colonel, the actual penetration depth of the 88mm anti-aircraft gun is 42mm, and the equivalent penetration depth is 115mm." On the other side of the phone, the bitter and helpless voice of the experimenter came: "The 88mm anti-aircraft gun still cannot penetrate."
Unable to penetrate!
This result means that the Wehrmacht does not have the ability to destroy or threaten this tank.
Hearing this, Hermann was completely desperate. He felt powerless in his heart. He put down the phone and turned to look at Guderian helplessly: "General, there is still no penetration. The actual penetration depth is 42 mm. The equivalent penetration depth is 42 mm."
The depth is 115 mm. I think this is the surprise you are talking about. According to all the current test results, the army does not have any threat to tanks of this level above one thousand meters. What should we do?”…
One thousand meters!
This is the mainstream distance given by Guderian for tank concentrated fire operations. Often when this distance is reached, tanks can open fire and attack enemy tanks.
"Haha, you should be happy, because this is what we have researched. If nothing else, this is the 35-ton tank solution I want. Herman, shorten the test distance to 500 meters, ten times
Shoot, let me see if the 88 gun can pose a threat to this tank at a distance of 500 meters." Guderian let out a hearty laugh, feeling extremely comfortable, and then arranged.
500 meters, ten shots!
In one word, boom, keep booming.
Faced with Guderian's request, Hermann could only comply and make arrangements immediately.
Not long after, a special tractor came rushing over, drove into the armor testing area, and pulled the new tank body forward to the 500-meter target point.
"boom!"
"boom!"
"boom!"
The 88mm anti-aircraft gun that had completed the preparations fired continuously, and the tungsten core armor-piercing projectiles flew at high speed and hit the armored area on the front of the tank body hard.
However, all this is in vain.
Each shelling was deafening, and the metallic sound of the shells hitting the tank armor penetrated into the souls of everyone at the tank testing site. The imaginable penetration scene still failed to materialize.
despair!
If you encounter such a tank on the battlefield, you can only describe it as despair.
A total of ten shots were fired in the 500-meter test, with an average actual penetration depth of 46.5 mm and an average equivalent penetration depth of 128 mm. This was significantly improved compared to the 1,000-meter test, but it was still unable to penetrate the frontal armor of the new tank.
"Put it in to a hundred meters and shoot dozens of times." Guderian looked calm and continued to order.
As the supreme commander of the test site, Hermann's hands were trembling slightly and sweat broke out on his forehead as he silently conveyed Guderian's orders.
What is the concept of a distance of one hundred meters?
This is no longer just attaching a bayonet to a cannon, it's simply putting a cannon in someone's mouth and firing!
But whether it can penetrate the frontal armor of the new tank body is still a question mark.
"boom……"
The tank proving ground resounded with deafening shelling.
One minute later, with the end of ten consecutive rounds of firing in the 100-meter test, a test result that made the Berlin Tank Proving Ground despair was born.
In the 100-meter protection test, the average actual penetration depth was 80 mm, and the average equivalent penetration depth was 140 mm.
Experimental result - unable to penetrate!
After receiving the final test results, Guderian smiled as happily as a child. The reality gave him an unprecedented surprise. The combination of tilted armor design and Y-shaped armor steel will form the cornerstone of the Wehrmacht tank force.
Henschel's thirty-five-ton tank plan is indeed excellent, but with the inclined armor design and Y-shaped armor steel, tanks with more powerful performance can be developed in the future.
"Leinmetall is ordered to develop a new large-caliber anti-tank gun based on an 88mm anti-aircraft gun. The core requirements are as follows: the penetration power at a distance of 1,000 meters must reach an 85mm normal angle of 60 degrees, with high maneuverability and high precision."
"Krupp is ordered to completely suspend the production of Panzer IV tanks. Y-type armor steel and carburized hardened steel must be used as the main armor materials to improve the protective power of Panzer IV tanks."
"Get me a car, I want to see the head of state right away."
…
No one knows about the testing of new tanks in Germany, and the world continues to operate according to its original rules.
At dawn, there was a hazy drizzle in the sky. On the eastern outskirts of Yancheng, a Dodge truck drove on the hard concrete road and headed towards Liushugou.
"Chief, we have arrived in Yancheng." In the carriage, Lu Junyu reminded Yu Hua who was lying in the carriage.
"It's not easy. I'm finally back. After the construction of Shenmu and Yanma Highways is completed, the schedule of Yanyu Highway will also be increased. My back is sore from sitting all the way." After hearing this, Yu Hua cheered up a little and rubbed his hands.