Chapter 900 German-Soviet War (123)

Russia is a continental country, and most of the main threats come from land. Since the imperial Russian era, it has focused on the construction of artillery. In the Soviet era, Stalin called the cannon the "God of War", and attached great importance to the development of artillery and equipment.

During the entire war, the Soviet Union manufactured more than 10,000 100-122 mm medium-sized artillery and 6,600 152 mm howitzers, as well as tens of thousands of mortars and 47, 54, and other small and medium-caliber anti-tank guns and cannons.

The Soviet army brought the power of these artillery to the extreme. For example, in the process of attacking Berlin, facing the desperate resistance of the German army, the Soviet army mobilized more than 40,000 artillery pieces and destroyed three-quarters of the buildings in the central area of ​​Berlin. After the battle, the central area of ​​Berlin was like the surface of the moon. In the Battle of the Somme in World War I, the British and French forces fired a total of 1.6 million shells in the 7 days before launching the attack. In the Battle of Berlin, the Soviet artillery fired more than 500,000 shells in just half an hour, which shows that its firepower was so fierce that it could be called the largest artillery bombardment in human history.

But now, the Soviet Union's traditional advantage of artillery has disappeared in front of the entire European coalition. Whether in terms of quantity or quality, it is not the opponent of the European coalition. What's more terrible is that once the German army completely controls air superiority, these artillery will become the prey of attack aircraft. Therefore, the Soviet army is more desperate to transform these artillery into various self-propelled artillery to deal with the German infantry and armored forces.

Just when Zhukov was sighing depressed, the adjutant brought a document. "Comrade Commander, this is the various weapons displayed by the German army at the military parade just sorted out by the intelligence department."

"Oh? Let me see it quickly." Zhukov hurriedly flipped through it.

The Jackal tank and the Leopard tank are the main tanks of the German army at present, and he is also quite familiar with them. His own IS-1 tank is not a match for the Leopard tank. The Germans actually produced a new type of tank? "Tiger? Another animal? Do Germans like animals so much?" Jackals, leopards, tigers, each more ferocious than the other?

The names of tanks in various countries during and after World War II have their own characteristics. The United States, Britain, the Soviet Union and other countries like to use human names. For example, the American M3 "Lee" medium tank is named after Robert Edward Lee. He was the commander-in-chief of the Confederate States during the American Civil War. He has the reputation of being an undefeated myth and is one of the most outstanding generals in the Southern Army.

M4 "Sherman" is named after William Tecumseh Sherman; this is a famous general of the Northern Union during the American Civil War and one of the three famous generals of the Northern Army. A legendary and controversial general, those who like him regard him as a synonym for victory, and those who hate him regard him as a devil. In the Southern Army, Sherman is almost synonymous with "Satan".

In addition, there are "M3" Stuart and "M5" Stuart, which are taken from James Ewell Brown Stuart; M26 "Pershing" is taken from John Joseph Pershing; M36 Jackson tank destroyer is taken from Thomas Jonathan Jackson; M448 series medium tanks are taken from George Patton, etc.

Britain's Matilda is taken from Matilda I; Cromwell cruiser tank is taken from Oliver Cromwell; A43 Black Prince is taken from Black Prince Edward; Churchill tank is not to mention.

The Soviet KV series is taken from Yefremovich Voroshilov of Crimea; IS Stalin tank is naturally Joseph Stalin.

The Germans prefer to use animals to show their armored vehicles, almost to the point of paranoia. For example, "Tiger", "Panther", "Jaghard", "Cheetah", "Rat", "Wasp", "Bison", "Wild Bee", "Elephant", "Weasel", "Grizzly", "Rhino", "Jaghard", etc.; and this naming method continued until after World War II.

After complaining about the Germans' naming "quirks", he suddenly saw that this "Tiger" tank was equipped with a 105mm L/56 tank gun, which could penetrate 300mm thick homogeneous armor at a distance of 2500 meters!

"Isn't this too exaggerated? !" Zhukov's facial muscles twitched uncontrollably. What kind of perverted firepower is this?! It is several times more powerful than the 1222mm tank gun on the IS-2?!

The adjutant on the side was also shocked. "Are the Germans bragging?"

"It is also possible that the Germans have developed some new armor-piercing shells. "Even if the Germans are really bragging, cutting off 50% of the water, it can still penetrate 150mm thick homogeneous armor at a distance of 2,500 meters, and the power is still amazing! It is completely incomparable to our own 122mm tank gun!

Continue to read, but there is no other data, such as the tank's mobility and protection capabilities. This intelligence seems to be a copy of the German parade speech. But he couldn't complain. After all, Germany not only has strong intelligence capabilities, but also first-class counterintelligence capabilities. The Soviet Union's spies planted in various European countries were almost wiped out. Now there is only this channel left to transmit intelligence, and he should be thankful.

Next is the helicopter. Because the Germans put this kind of aircraft into war early, Zhukov was not unfamiliar with it, and when he was young, he read an article written by Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky on the development of helicopters.

But as early as 1917, when the October Revolution broke out, Sikorsky ran to the United States. At that time, more than one or two people fled Russia. Almost all the elites of the Russian Empire who could leave left. Royal family, nobles, military officers, officials, factory owners, bankers, big bourgeois, landowners, "rich peasants", intellectuals, writers, artists, and scientists all fled to various parts of the world.

I heard that Sikorsky first went to the United States and established the "Sikorsky Aeronautical Engineering Company"; and then went to Germany during the economic crisis in the 1930s. There was no follow-up news after that. I'm afraid he also made considerable contributions to the helicopters developed by the Germans. Thinking about his own experimental helicopters that had no actual combat capabilities, and thinking that the Soviet Union had lost an aviation pioneer like Sikorsky, Zhukov felt extremely distressed. If Sikorsky had still stayed in the Soviet Union, Soviet helicopters might have been flying on the battlefield long ago.

Unfortunately, he couldn't control all this. He sighed and turned to the last page. "Missile? Jet type?" After carefully reading the descriptions of these missiles, Zhukov suddenly realized that the "meteorite" attack that Moscow suffered a few days ago turned out to be a German missile.

As for the jet fighter, Zhukov had no clue at all. He didn't understand the principles of jets at all. He could only marvel at the flying speed of more than 900 kilometers per hour noted on the report.