Chapter 1056 The End of the Strong Crossbow 1

Chapter 1056 The End of the Crossbow 1

"Well, in fact, when you come here, there are other things you can learn. For example, our deep breakthrough and outflanking of the Russian positions. Mackensen's troops will also participate in this operation. This will be the first step for the Prussian Army in I think you are also very interested in your first performance after changing clothes." After a while, the prince decided to calm down with the Minister of War in front of him, so he said.

"I'm looking forward to it. But it is said that General Mackensen's troops will arrive in a week. Do you plan to wait for their arrival before taking action?" Falkenhayn asked.

"No, we will launch operations in five days at most. By then, the Russians will be exhausted. Before they decide to give up the attack and switch to defense, we will launch an attack!" the prince shook his head and said.

The so-called steel cannot last long is what the Russians are talking about. Taking too many drugs will cause problems, and now, the Russian army has shown its fatigue. The human losses were not very large. What worried the Russians most was the damage to equipment and the loss of horses!

At this time, Major General Arkady, commander of the 4th Assault Cavalry Division, was watching a group of people in the distance surrounding an Elephant tank destroyer and was helpless. This self-propelled artillery equipped with a 107MM cannon is very useful. It is not only used to ambush German tanks and assault guns, but is also a rare weapon for attacking fortresses. The powerful 15KG armor-piercing projectile is enough to deal with most targets. But now, the inventory of this expensive weapon is continuing to decline, and today, the last Elephant self-propelled artillery in his assault division is also forced to prepare to abandon it!

"Is it really not possible? Even if it can be towed away, we still need it." Major General Arkady walked to the front and looked at the steel beast that was leaning to the side with two broken load wheel axles and said.

"This tank was not only destroyed by the road wheels. After hitting the mine, the tank's gearbox was also destroyed. It can't move at all now. We have to find a gearbox for it and then find it again. It took half a day to repair a crane, but how could we have the accompanying crane and spare parts?" said a second lieutenant next to him who was covered in oil.

War is always accompanied by huge consumption. The Russian Elephant self-propelled artillery is indeed powerful and powerful enough. It is first-class in both anti-tank and bunker fighting. However, as a hasty emergency product, this tank always has various problems from design to use. In order to be able to carry a heavy 107MM heavy gun. This tank has reduced other performance to a minimum, and its protection is even more dispensable. A near-missed mortar round may seriously damage this tank.

In addition to the fact that these Elephants used the ambush to gain some advantages at the beginning, in the subsequent battles, when the two sides fought in a relatively fair situation, the battle damage rate of the Elephant-type self-propelled artillery was actually higher, because the German war The continuous hits of the 12.7MM machine gun on the car can destroy it! A hastily erected steel plate cannot stop the attack of an armor-piercing incendiary bomb from a 12.7MM machine gun at a distance of 500 meters.

What's more, most of the time, the Russians lowered the baffles for easier aiming. The result of this kind of death-seeking behavior was often that before the artillery was destroyed, all the people on the vehicle were slaughtered.

Therefore, it turns out that the scientific design may be practical, but it is definitely not a classic. Therefore, after several days of bloody battles, more than 20 self-propelled artillery pieces that were strengthened for the Fourth Assault Division have all been lost today. In addition to battle damage, the reliability of equipment is also a big problem. After all, it is pieced together temporarily. It is a bit hasty to enter the battlefield without a period of running-in after modern industrial products are released, not to mention that Russia does not have much background. In this country, the things they produce are not normal but not problematic!

There have never been problems such as engine overheating, intermittent gearbox failure, broken tracks, and deformation of walking equipment due to fatigue. It is really not easy for the Russians to drive these tanks, which are full of problems, to a place about 40 kilometers behind enemy lines...

In addition to their own technical shortcomings, there are also problems with the system. To put it simply, the Russians only think about how to solve the problems on the battlefield, but they don’t think about how to solve the problems outside the battlefield, such as arranging repairs. Unit or something.

Bavaria has been engaged in armored forces for more than ten years. This is not only to research equipment, formulate tactics and organization, but more importantly, to learn how to ensure that tanks can be used under war conditions. But even so, on the Western Front, such Under the relatively harsh environment of the Western Front, 20% of tanks are still unable to enter combat due to maintenance and wear problems. The technical conditions of World War I determined that maintenance and maintenance difficulties were the second biggest enemy of tanks. What's more, the Russians are chasing ducks for the first time?

Arkady's Fourth Assault Division is pretty good. After the five-day assault battle, the number of self-propelled artillery available in several other assault divisions was less than 30% of the initial number. Up to now, the number of self-propelled artillery that can be used by the six deepest assault divisions is not more than 2 dozen... The Russians were naturally reluctant to part with these precious artillery pieces, so they planned to dismantle these artillery pieces and see if they could be converted into towed ones. However, unfortunately, the mounts of the 122MM howitzers equipped by the Assault Cavalry Division were still too small to fit. .....

In addition to the expensive and sophisticated automatic artillery, the combat effectiveness of the Russian 122MM howitzer is also declining rapidly. In addition to those destroyed in the battle, the biggest problem is that the ammunition reserve has been greatly reduced. One 122MM howitzer shell weighs About 20KG. If you add the propellant pack, it will add a few extra kilograms. If you include packaging, the weight that needs to be transported in order to fire one cannonball is nearly 30KG! And a four-wheeled carriage can only hold about 30 rounds of artillery shells at most! After all, these vehicles only travel about 30% of their distance on hard ground.

With the step-by-step extension of the front line, as well as the Luftwaffe's indiscriminate bombing of logistics and the loss of a large number of horses, the ammunition reserve of the 122MM howitzer unit plummeted, so that now, a certain 4-gun of the 4th Assault Cavalry Division The total ammunition supply of the company does not exceed 30 rounds! This amount of ammunition is not enough to defeat the support point in front of you, it is not even enough for a field battle!

"I regret it now. If I had known this earlier, I would rather walk on my own than use horses to carry two shells!" Major General Arkady said sadly. Of course, this is just his angry words. In fact, there are not enough horses in Arkady's army now! Before setting off, in order to ensure mobility, Arkady's cavalry troops could have an average of two horses per person. (Including horses for baggage vehicles) The Russians assigned 23,000 horses to the Fourth Assault Division alone!

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