Chapter 210 Tank Generation Gap

If the tanks at this time are generational, then there is actually a generational difference between the "Shire A1" tank and the A7V tank.

The "Shire A1" tank turret can rotate, but the A7V tank cannot.

This does not seem to be a big difference. After all, tanks often depend on whether the artillery can penetrate the opponent's armor, but this is not always the case in actual combat.

Because the A7V tank does not have a rotating turret, its gun firing angle is greatly limited. When the target is about to turn to the side, it is no longer able to shoot. At this time, the driver must control the steering of the body.

At this time, an extremely embarrassing point may occur: the driver turns to stop, and the gunner is just about to aim and finds that the target runs out of the shooting angle, and then the driver needs to turn again... Repeatedly, it may never be possible to aim and shoot.

The "Shire A1" tank is different. The turret rotates in all directions without any blind spots. It can be aimed and fired immediately after it stops. The driver does not need to know whether he has hit or not. When he hears the sound of the gun, he steps on the accelerator and continues forward, looking for the next piece of flat land to repeat the action.

As a result, the mobile warfare of "stop and fight, and fight and leave" was perfectly realized.

The driver and gunner don't need too much cooperation. They can almost do their own thing but still be able to fight, and it is smooth and smooth without any stagnation.

The two tanks are also unequal in hit rate:

The target of "Shire A1" is a fixed target.

The A7V turns on the spot, slowly and clumsily, the body is as huge as a giant, and the side armor stands like a wall in front of the gunner, making it easy to hit without having to take multiple aim.

The target of the A7V is a moving target.

Although "Shire A1" also stopped for a while, the time was extremely short. In addition, the target was very small, and before the A7V had time to aim, the "Shire A1" had fired one shell and started again.

This made the A7V exhausted and did not even have a chance to fire. It could only be destroyed one by one by the "Shire A1" tank.

This scene stunned the French soldiers who were fighting. They were originally worried that the "Charle A1" tank would be taken away by a few shots from the A7V tank. Unexpectedly, it was as flexible as a monkey and could easily tease those "big guys".

Even Colonel Browne did not expect this to happen. While commanding the troops to continue suppressing the enemy infantry, he observed this first tank battle in history and sighed in his heart: "The Germans are finished!"

The most devastated was the German commander Colonel Matteo. He originally thought that his A7V tank could crush the enemy tanks with an absolute advantage, but he did not expect that he would be crushed by the enemy in turn.

After the embarrassment of continuously turning but failing to hit the target, Colonel Mateo decided to take a risk. He loudly ordered: "All machine guns, replace with K bullets!"

K bombs are prepared to deal with the "Mark I" tank. Each of the six machine guns is equipped with a belt of 250 rounds of K bombs.

Colonel Matteo waited for a while, and the machine gunners responded "Ready" one by one. Matteo turned to the driver and ordered: "Stop and stay still!"

Matteo thinks this way: The A7V has firepower on all sides. In addition to the artillery on the front, there are two machine guns on each of the other three sides. If they can penetrate the enemy's side armor, then the A7V will still be able to fight.

"Ta da da, da da!"

"Da da da..."

When the K bullet is fired, the sound of the gun is particularly crisp, which is the result of the violent friction between the steel core bullet and the rifling.

Colonel Matteo stared closely at the targeted tank from the observation window, but the reality made him despair. The turret of the target tank was still rotating without being affected at all.

This is the result of Shire's estimation. The K bomb can penetrate 13MM steel plate at a distance of 200 meters. The side armor of the "Shire A1" tank is set at 13MM.

One millimeter more, and the added weight may affect the tank's speed and maneuverability. One millimeter less, and it won't be able to block K-bombs. It needs to be carefully weighed.

"Colonel, what should we do?" the German tank soldier asked Colonel Mateo loudly.

Colonel Mateo could not answer this question because he did not know the answer.

He only knows one thing, A7V has lost, completely, without any suspense!

He looked at the small tank outside the observation window and saw its turret slowly turning toward him. Colonel Matteo helplessly turned back to his subordinates who were looking at him and said, "Pray!"

Before he finished speaking, there was a crisp "clang" sound, the shell penetrated the armor and then hit the engine in the middle of the tank.

Broken armor and shell fragments were flying everywhere in the tank cabin, as well as rivets that were shattered by the shock. They ricocheted repeatedly in the cabin like bullets, and the cabin was instantly filled with screams.

Colonel Mateo only felt a pain in his abdomen. He lowered his head to see his injuries, but found that he could not see anything. The thick smoke from the engine had obscured everything. It even made Colonel Mateo unable to open his eyes. Eye.

In the blur, Colonel Mateo felt someone opening the tank door.

Relying on his memory, Colonel Matteo used his last strength to climb to the cabin door, and tried his best to stick his head out. A cold wind blew, and he felt relieved, finally breathing some fresh air.

Colonel Matteo's consciousness became more and more blurred, and finally he saw the light of fire...

The battle lasted only ten minutes, and the French army achieved a comprehensive victory. Only one of the ten A7Vs retreated under the cover of German infantry. The others were either paralyzed on the position or burned into a ball of fire.

A "Charre A1" in the French army was damaged by shrapnel and its tracks were broken.

It can also be regarded as a loss, because the French army did not have time to repair the tanks. In this race against time, it was impossible for the entire army to stop because of one tank.

For reasons of confidentiality, Brownie had explosives installed inside the tank and then ignited the fuel tank.

The French army did not pursue the retreating German army because the Samok Straight was not the French army's target. Although the straight road could shorten the distance, it was built into a trap by the German army.

Charles would certainly not be stupid enough to let his troops jump into the trap.

As for rescuing the Second Special Artillery Division trapped in it, it only needed to destroy the German howitzer regiment.

The French reconnaissance aircraft had given the specific location of the howitzer regiment, which was about five miles northeast of the town of Samok, with only one or two infantry companies to cover it.

The German army invested almost all its forces in encircling the French army, so that its rear was empty and there were no extra forces to protect them.

The French army had tanks and sidecars, and dealing with an artillery regiment with almost no close combat capabilities was undoubtedly another massacre.

…

In the Samok Straight, Major General Tijani half-believed and half-doubtedly assembled his troops on the north side of the straight road.

The artillery fire in front was still exploding, as if it was a warning from the German army to them.

No one dared to pass through easily, so they could only lie in hiding and wait quietly.

This might be their last hope. If the shells did not stop as Charles said, they would have no choice but to surrender.

Suddenly, the sound of the shells stopped.

Tijani was stunned.

Immediately, someone around him cheered excitedly: "We are saved, Charles did it!"