Chapter 409 Planning (4)
There are two flamethrowers, one large and one small, next to it.
The small one is the Type 46 assault flamethrower, also known as the "fire fist"; it is a very interesting design. It is designed for airborne troops and offensive forces and is a disposable product. Its appearance is similar to a blasting tube, 500 mm long, 70 mm in diameter, and 1 mm thick tubular fuel tank containing 7 liters of fuel. The front of the fuel tank is a 100 mm long nozzle, and the interface with the fuel tank is usually plugged with a rubber plug. There is a spray chamber under the nozzle. The Type 46 assault flamethrower is ignited by a friction igniter. Pressing the breaking lever of the friction igniter, the spray chamber breaks, the fuel is ejected, and the igniter ignites at the same time. The Type 46 assault flamethrower weighs 6 kilograms, has a range of 30 meters, and a spray time of 5 seconds.
The larger one is a copy of the American M2-2 flamethrower.
Napalm is used as the combustion agent and compressed nitrogen is the pressure source. The nitrogen tank is located between the two gasoline tanks, fixed with a bracket and wrapped with canvas, and carried on the back with a canvas strap.
This thing is not easy, because in order to achieve bulletproof effect, the tank wall is very thick. It weighs nearly 20 kilograms when not filled with oil, and weighs 30 kilograms when filled with oil, which can be said to be very heavy. In addition to the flamethrower, the flamethrower can only be equipped with a self-defense pistol, so a German flamethrower team consists of 2 to 3 soldiers. One of them is a flamethrower, and the other one or two are observers equipped with submachine guns to provide cover for the flamethrower.
As a close combat weapon, the use of flamethrowers on the battlefields of World War II is not essentially different from that of World War I. It is mainly used for attacking buildings, bunkers and fortifications and clearing out the remaining enemies. The only difference is that during World War II, the flamethrowers of the German infantry were often used as close-range anti-armor weapons. The flames from the flamethrowers could not burn through the armor of most tanks, especially the later Soviet tanks, but the flowing flame jets from the flamethrowers could flow into the vehicle body from some openings on the surface of the armored target, such as the top cover of the tank engine compartment, and ignite its fuel or ammunition, thereby disabling or completely destroying the armored target. The combat report of the troops showed that the flamethrowers had a significant destructive effect on vehicles using gasoline engines and the US M-4 tanks, but had limited destructive effect on Soviet tanks using diesel engines.
In addition, there were MG3 machine guns, bullpup SVDs, MP40 submachine guns, 40mm grenade launchers, paratrooper knives, grenades, Panzerfaust rockets, anti-tank mines and other weapons. (Heavy equipment such as machine guns, iron fists, anti-tank mines, etc. need to be put into the weapon box for airdrop)
The rest include multi-functional engineer shovels, telescopes, goggles, compasses, gas masks, waterproof matches, smoke bombs, maps, radios, walkie-talkies, kettles, lighters, dry food bags, ammunition bags, medical bags, and other equipment, which are densely packed all over the table. Seeing this, Yannick couldn't help but sigh that there are so many things to bring.
For this reason, when the German paratroopers board the plane today, the weapons, ammunition, dry food, medicines, parachute bags, and auxiliary parachute bags on their bodies are added together. Soldiers can't even stand up alone. They can only lean on their backpacks and stand up. When they jump over the destination, they feel relieved after throwing away all the things.
Then there is the most important parachute. The parachutes of German and American airborne soldiers in the original time and space during World War II were different. The American parachutes were evenly stressed on the back, while the German ones were on the shoulder blades.
This is also one of the reasons why the German army had to use weapon boxes to carry weapons, while the US army could carry leg bags.
Yannick picked up the helmet next to him and put it on his head.
Germany's industrial manufacturing level is recognized by the world. In addition to outstanding protective performance, the M35 helmet can also provide good protection for the occipital bone and the sides of the head of the soldier, which was a very innovative creation at the time. The armies of many countries in later generations basically adopted the design of the German helmets in World War II. For example, the American soldiers who often appear on TV can clearly see the ear protection part of the helmet.
The combat helmets of all countries include the helmet shell and lining system. The Allies in World War II produced helmets of uniform size, using different liners to adapt to the wearer's head size. The Allied "one size fits all" is a linear solution that simplifies the production of wartime helmets. Compared with the Allies, the German helmet production is much more complicated.
German factories produce at least six different sizes of helmets. Depending on the size of the helmet, each helmet can use two different sizes of lining systems. This leads to a complex production process, because the factory must use multiple shell stamping dies to produce helmets, and must produce multiple sizes of lining systems. According to the diameter of the helmet, each helmet can only be equipped with one of the two sizes of lining systems, and once the lining system is installed, it is difficult to remove it in the field, so one lining system must be used for a long time.
Yannick didn't know why the Germans made the production of helmets so complicated and meaningless. It may be that Germany traditionally attaches great importance to the uniformity of every soldier's dress. So many sizes of helmets can be seen as the armed forces' desire to maintain the tradition of German unity by having every German soldier wear a neat uniform.
Obviously, such a complicated helmet production caused great problems for the supply of front-line troops. Yannick simply cancelled this seemingly stupid practice and directly adopted the Allied production method.
As for the combat uniform of the paratroopers, it is a blue-gray camouflage jacket. The effect of this blue camouflage is that it can blur the naked eye's aiming during the process of going from the air to the ground, reducing casualties during the airborne process. Generally, when aiming from the ground to the air, the enemy's naked eyes will be stimulated by the sunlight in the sky. Observation may be possible, but aiming is very difficult. With the help of camouflage blue, the flickering of sunlight on the camouflage blue makes it more difficult for ground machine gunners to aim at the airborne soldiers in the air.
When the paratroopers arrive on the ground, their camouflage blue is not bright blue but gray-blue close to the color of rocks. Just rolling on the ground and getting gray all over the body has a better camouflage effect than ordinary jungle colors. Of course, the specific airborne location must also be considered. But most battlefields are environments where various scenes such as gravel, gravel, and weeds are intertwined (general open areas also need camouflage to help camouflage the most). Even if you arrive in the jungle, it is more important to immediately use raw materials such as leaves and grass leaves on the scene for camouflage, which is more important than the color of the clothes themselves (besides, the jungle is not open and is easy to camouflage).
The last paratrooper boots are also the American M1943 combat boots.
Because when the American paratroopers began to be equipped, the paratrooper boots borrowed the characteristics of the paratrooper boots used by other countries, including the German paratroopers, because the German paratroopers started ahead of the US military and had already been involved in combat in Europe. The American paratrooper boots were finalized in August 1942 and replaced by the new M1943 combat boots in the summer of 1944.