After Russia and the Soviet Union signed a peace treaty, Romanian troops gradually withdrew from the Soviet Union.
The Armored Division, which had made great achievements in this battle, was the first batch of troops to withdraw from the country, and Lieutenant General Hoffman naturally had to retreat with his troops.
"The current battle with the Soviet Union is a thorough experiment of the rapid combat concept of the armored forces led by me. Although the concept of folding and counterattack was demonstrated in actual combat for the first time, the cooperation was not particularly tacit, and there were even problems of communication and understanding.
.However, the result was indeed as successful as I thought. Next, we need to further deepen the concept of armored combat with the cooperation of land and air."
Hoffman sat in the command vehicle and wrote a summary of the battle eloquently. This combat experience was very valuable to him, because this was the first time that the combat idea with the armored division as the core was reflected, although it was not yet
Perfect, but at least the results of the battle can get his ideas recognized by several big bosses.
The summary of this battle is naturally to let the senior management and His Majesty the King, who is silently supporting behind the scenes, see the results reflected, so Hoffman wrote it very carefully.
"The results of actual combat show that using armored troops as an assault force can indeed quickly break through the enemy's defense line without giving the enemy time to react. This is much better than gathering heavy troops in the past. The first is concealment. The concealment of heavy troops is very poor.
, it is easy for the enemy to figure out the direction of their main attack and respond. In this regard, mechanized troops are much better, and it is also conducive to their concealment.
The second is rapid maneuvering after a breakthrough; in previous battles, even if heavy troops broke through the enemy's defense line, their movement speed was unsatisfactory, because neither infantry nor cavalry could maneuver as fast as the mechanized speed of tanks. Moreover, when encountering enemy interception,
This gap is even more obvious when it comes to troops. Tanks are more capable of continuously breaking through enemy interceptions, even bypassing areas heavily defended by the enemy, pointing directly at the opponent's strategic locations, transportation hubs, and even cutting off the enemy's retreat. As for infantry,
For the cavalry, it is too difficult to achieve the above, and there are too many uncertain factors."
"So based on the concept of future war development, further increasing investment in armored forces can make the Romanian army stronger. And for our country's current main opponent, the Soviet Union, its vast plain terrain is also very conducive to the performance of armored forces.
"
When Hoffman wrote this, he couldn't help but take out a cigarette, took a deep breath and continued writing. "Based on the concept of future armored force operations, I need to put forward a few points here. The first is the need for aviation to shield the battlefield.
, armored forces rely heavily on air support.
First of all, we need to seize air superiority, which is also the prerequisite for armored forces to be able to conduct rapid maneuver operations. Therefore, our country needs to further develop new fighter aircraft to ensure that we have the aviation power to suppress our opponents. Secondly, air power needs to have the means to delay the opponent's marching speed. At present,
Our country's air strike methods are relatively single, with limited ground attack capabilities and a lack of fighter aircraft specifically designed to accurately attack enemy forces. We hope to increase the speed of research and development of this type of aircraft, especially precision bomber aircraft, which are the most relied upon by armored forces.
"Because previous battles have shown that armored forces have limited attack capabilities, this aircraft is needed to increase their attack capabilities."
Hoffman first raised the issue of aircraft because he regretted not being able to capture Kirovograd first in this war.
If there were Romanian ground-attack fighter planes at that time that could delay the opponent's march speed, it would be very likely that the armored division would arrive at Kirovograd first, and the subsequent attack on Kirovograd could be completely avoided. This would be very important for controlling military casualties.
It also played a big role. You must know that most of Romania's casualties in this war occurred during the battle of Kirovograd.
After writing the requirements for aircraft in future wars, Hoffman finally started working on tanks, his main battle weapon.
"Although the Jackal IV tank currently used by our army can still be used for a period of time, in order to be prepared for a rainy day, pre-research on the next-generation tank is also needed. Based on the usage on the battlefield, the cross-country speed of the next-generation tank
The mileage must not be less than 36 kilometers, and the mileage traveled with one full tank of oil must not be less than 350 kilometers.
Because with the military development of various countries, the number of vehicles in their armies will also increase, and it is no longer possible to have supply points and transportation lines only more than ten kilometers away from the battle line like in World War I. This also requires long-distance tanks.
Mobility has been fully improved. In addition, according to our intelligence, various countries are currently developing new anti-tank guns as a means to deal with armored forces. Therefore, the front thickness of new tanks must also reach 60-80 mm to improve the tank's survivability.
And according to the use of tanks by our army on the battlefield, although the current 47mm Jackal IV tank can deal with all current tanks, considering future development, it is also necessary to develop a new 75mm tank gun. Because
At present, tanks are often tasked with helping infantry to remove enemy strongholds. The 47mm tank gun equipped with them is sometimes insufficient."
"Furthermore, taking into account cost issues and the need for road bridges and field bridges in the future, the total weight of the new medium tank should not be higher than 32 tons. And in order to facilitate battlefield concealment, the height of the tank should not be higher than 2.7 meters. And based on the current situation
Regarding tanks’ requirements for battlefield communications, it is best for new tanks to be equipped with radio stations to facilitate combat command.”
Hoffman was deeply impressed by sign language and semaphores in previous battles. Many times on fierce battlefields, in order to facilitate command, someone needs to wave semaphores to command tanks, which makes them a living target on the battlefield. Many excellent tank soldiers
So sacrificed.
And if there is no one to command, the tank's coordination ability is too poor to be conducive to combat. This makes Hoffman very distressed, so he takes this opportunity to propose installing a radio to achieve in-vehicle communication. This not only reduces the risk to his own soldiers, but also improves the tank's coordinated operations.
Ability is simply not very good.
According to Hoffman's requirements, we can sort it out. His requirements for the new medium tank are that it must have a speed of 36 kilometers per hour, its maximum driving distance should be 350 kilometers, and the thickness of the tank's front armor should be 60-80 mm, and the main gun
It is a 75mm caliber tank gun, with a maximum weight of no more than 32 tons, a height of no more than 2.7 meters, and a communication radio station.
After Hoffman finished writing his requirements for new tanks, based on battlefield combat considerations, he also put forward requirements for the development of two new tanks. These two tanks deal with reconnaissance and attack capabilities.
I saw Hoffman continue to write. "There are several shortcomings in the current reconnaissance of wheeled armored vehicles in the army. The first is the battlefield adaptability; the wheeled reconnaissance vehicles currently equipped have very poor adaptability to Soviet roads.
Its poor road conditions made its performance very poor in this war. Therefore, a light tank is needed as a weapon for reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance.
It requires good cross-country ability, fast cross-country speed (55 kilometers per hour), light weight (no more than 16 tons), general firepower (37mm gun is enough), good communication ability (must have a radio
), necessary protection (30 mm frontal armor).
As for the attack tank, Hoffman also put forward requirements. The front thickness should be 100 mm, and the speed should be more than 25 kilometers per hour. The powerful main gun (88 mm or 105 mm main gun) should not weigh more than 48 tons.
