There is a large army reserve warehouse in Berblingen on the outskirts of Stuttgart. This was built by Prussia as an ammunition reserve warehouse before the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War.
Due to its close proximity to Alsace and Lorraine, where France was captured, the Boblingen Army Warehouse was further expanded after the Franco-Prussian War. From its original position of only storing ammunition, it became three major combat readiness warehouses close to the French border.
Before the outbreak of the war, nearly 200,000 guns, more than 1,000 cannons, and nearly 100,000 tons of ammunition were stored here at its peak.
After the war, this was also designated by the Allied Powers as a storage point for weapons after the German surrender. Therefore, the weapons and ammunition here have reached a new peak, and nearly 400,000 German equipment have been stored here in categories.
The main German rifle Mauser G98 can be seen everywhere in the warehouse, and the 1888 Committee rifle can also be seen from time to time. The G08 heavy machine guns that caused the Somme tragedy are piled together, telling others about their illustrious military exploits. Various cannons
It was also here that key parts such as running bolts and sights were removed and neatly placed here. In order to guard the weapons and equipment here, a Canadian division was stationed in Boblingen.
On weekdays, the warehouse management staff here are relatively idle. Apart from paying attention to the Allied Powers' representatives stationed here to randomly check the supply situation, there is nothing superfluous to do. It is really a rare and good job.
But there is something a little unusual about Boblingen today. Today, a large number of senior officials from the Allied Powers came to the reserve warehouse. The German supervisor Plock, who currently manages the warehouse, is explaining the current material situation in the warehouse to these senior officials.
"What we just passed is the ammunition warehouse, which mainly stores 7.92-caliber pointed bullets."
As he spoke, he pointed to a huge warehouse in front of him and continued to everyone: "In front of us is the artillery reserve warehouse. This warehouse mainly stores large artillery with a caliber of 100 mm or more."
Pulock's words aroused the interest of everyone present, and one of the generals said, "Then let's go in and take a look."
"I'll open the door right now."
After Pulock finished speaking, he waved his hand to his subordinates to open the warehouse in front.
Within two minutes, the group of people arrived at the door of the warehouse. The door of the warehouse had been opened, and from the door they could see the cannons covered with gun jackets inside, and they could feel the chilling atmosphere for a while.
"Then let's go in and have a look."
The general who initially asked to go take a look told everyone his request to go in.
"good."
"It should."
A group of people answered and walked into the warehouse with him.
From their conversation, Pulock had already discovered that among the senior officials of the Allied Powers, the opinions of this general were vaguely dominated. By identifying the military uniform marks on his body, he discovered from his memory that this general was from Romania. The reason is simple.
, the medal on his chest bears the symbol of Sigmaringen, a branch of the Hohenzollern family, and there is a medal with a pattern of a golden eagle with its head to the left and wings spread, and the eagle holds a golden in its mouth.
The Orthodox cross holds a silver sword and a scepter in each claw. This is the national emblem of Romania.
Pulock guessed right. This general was indeed Major General Sarda, the former chief of staff of the Bulgarian Army in Romania. Of course, it is impossible for Major General Sarda to serve as the chief of staff of the long-disbanded Bulgarian Army. His current position is the Romanian Military Forces in Germany.
Head of the delegation. He is mainly responsible for contacting the Allied Powers on matters in Germany.
And this time Major General Sarda came to the Boblingen Army Depot, and he did have a purpose.
The group of people looked at the neatly arranged artillery in the warehouse, and from time to time people would take off their coats. At this time, Major General Sarda would step forward to carefully check the condition of the artillery, and other senior Allied officials would also step forward at this time.
Evaluating the condition of the artillery.
Prolock, who accompanied the entire process, discovered a problem through the conversations of these Allied generals. It was also a cannon, and the Romanian generals were able to find out many problems. The wheel was damaged, the rifling was severely worn, and the seal was not tight.
Small gaps, etc. But other Allied officers said that this does not affect the use and the part can be replaced. This is what Xiao Rensi and others said. It seems that two groups are doing business, one party lowers the price and the other raises the price.
Everyone was talking along the way towards the back half of the warehouse, when many large one-legged artillery pieces covered with smocks appeared in front of them.
Major General Sarda pointed to one of the artillery pieces of the same style and said: "Open the gun jacket."
As the gun jacket was removed, it was revealed to be a K16 Krupp 150mm cannon.
At this time, the French representative Colonel Philance stepped forward and said: "This is the German K16 cannon. Although it is not as good as our Schneider artillery, it is also a good suppressive long-range artillery."
Major General Sarda, who is familiar with artillery from various countries, certainly knows that what Colonel Philance said is true. The K16's range of up to 22 kilometers is indeed very surprising, but its total weight of up to 10,870 kilograms also greatly affects its transportation.
After all, during this period, there were no vehicles with a transport capacity of more than ten tons.
Major General Sarda looked at the K16 artillery for a while, and then continued to walk inside. At this time, a much smaller artillery than before appeared in front of everyone. The bipod, which was relatively rare in this period, aroused his interest.
After people opened the gun jacket, a new type of artillery appeared in front of everyone. This is the LeFH18 howitzer, which was recently equipped in Germany. As a German artillery that is familiar to military fans in later generations, it can be said that the LeFH18 is a famous one, but for
For Major General Sarda who belongs to this era, it is pretty good. The best 105 howitzer currently recognized is the Schneider M1913 105 howitzer from France.
Not convinced?
Let’s compare.
This is Germany's newly designed LeFH18 type 105 howitzer. As the latest 105 howitzer, its barrel caliber is L28 and its range is 10675 meters. Its performance can be regarded as one of the best artillery of this era, but it is just one of them.
The Schneider M1913 105 howitzer also has a barrel caliber of L28, and its range reaches an astonishing 12,000 meters. It can be used as the main division-level support weapon in World War II (in fact, many countries used it during World War II).
Of course, some people will say that the later improved version of LeFH18 can also reach 12 kilometers (L31 caliber), but there is also a more abnormal Schneider 1930 105 howitzer in the later period, whose range reaches an astonishing 17 kilometers. (Although this product weighs 3810
Kilogram, but compared with the same weight, no one can match its range, which is simply abnormal).
From World War I to World War II, French artillery was indeed unique in the world in terms of small and medium-sized (65-155 mm) calibers. With the same weight, it could achieve the longest range, and with the same range, it could achieve
The lightest.
Major General Sarda then looked at the situation in other warehouses. Basically, the guns and artillery saved can continue to be used. Yes, Romania plans to purchase some to supplement the needs of its own troops. All this is to blame from later generations.
It was caused by Edel who had a phobia of fire density.
Although Romania's current main division-level firepower is pretty good, it is afraid of comparison. Compared with the divisions of the great powers (mainly Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United Kingdom) which are generally equipped with a caliber of 100 mm or more, most of Romania's division-level artillery is still 75 mm mountain field guns.
, the gap is too big. Therefore, it is reasonable to use war reparations to purchase the artillery that one needs from Germany.
Who allowed Germany to defeat the war, and these weapons were compensated to the countries participating in the war. The United States, Britain and France did not lack German artillery, and the different calibers completely increased the logistical burden. And compared with other countries whose economies are on the verge of collapse, Romania's current financial situation
There is still a lot of surplus. Romania, which uses the same weapons as Germany, comes to pick up the foreigners.
So after Major General Sarda inspected the weapons and equipment in the German warehouse, Romania's list of purchasing these weapons was sent to the United States, Britain and France. For Britain and France, they wished Romania would take away all these weapons from Germany. And the United States also because
After the war, major disarmament was needed, and German weapons were no longer needed. Therefore, Romania agreed to its purchase requirements, and a large amount of weapons and equipment were loaded onto trucks from various warehouses in Germany and shipped to Romania.
According to subsequent statistics, a total of nearly 400,000 G98 rifles, more than 5,000 G08 heavy machine guns, and more than 1,000 LeFH18 and K16 cannons were shipped to Romania. In addition, nearly 3,000 G98 rifles, gas masks, field telephones, engineer shovels, etc.
Thousands of tons of other military supplies, Romania spent about 140 million U.S. dollars on these arms. This included a bargain sale by the Allies. Otherwise, based on the cost alone, these arms supplies would have reached 410 million U.S. dollars.
These military materials also greatly enhanced Romania's military strength and made a strong contribution to the subsequent confrontation with the Soviet Union.
