Chapter 339 Tactics
As soon as Katukov returned to the headquarters, he excitedly patted Shulka on the shoulder and said: "Well done, Comrade Shulka, you brought us a 'baby', it is unbelievable that it can penetrate 100mm of armor! How do you know they have this?"
"I don't know, Colonel!" Shulka replied: "I just think we need something like this, and it's a coincidence that they have it!"
"Yes, what a coincidence!" Katukov rubbed his hands and said, "It happened just in time. But we can't be too aggressive, understand? I'm afraid the Americans will backfire!"
"Yes, Comrade Colonel!" Shulka replied.
It seems that Shulka is not the only one who has such an idea, but now it seems that even if the Americans repent, it will not help. Skinner has "contributed" all the drawings... This means that the first to equip the "Bazooka" rocket launcher It will be the USSR and not the US.
This does not seem to matter much from the national level, because this is not a high-tech thing, on the contrary, its structure is extremely simple and easy to imitate... The Germans just captured a few "Bazooka" and soon there were developed its own "RPZB" (Rocket Rifle Anti-Tank).
But this is not the case for the 1st Guards Tank Brigade, because without the "Bazooka", the 1st Tank Brigade may be vulnerable to the Germans.
"This is a miracle, Shulka!" Katukov said while beating his hand with his fist: "Although we don't know whether it can be mass-produced, nor whether it will be useful on the battlefield in the future. But , I think this may be a revolution, an unprecedented revolution in tank warfare... Individual weapons can effectively destroy tanks, and this weapon can be mass-produced quickly, which will be a nightmare for enemy armored forces! "
As an expert in armored forces, Katukov certainly knew the importance of the bazooka, but at the same time, there was a trace of worry in Katukov's eyes.
Shuerka knew what Katukov was worried about. If the structure of the bazooka is so simple and the power is so terrifying, it won't take long...they will soon become the equipment used by the enemy to deal with Soviet tanks.
"We should get ready, Comrade Shulka!" Katukov stopped at this moment.
"Prepare?"
"Yes!" Katukov replied: "First of all, we must work out a set of feasible tactics and be ready to accept rocket launchers and put them into the battlefield. Second, we must not let them fall into the hands of the enemy, That is to say, keep it strictly confidential!"
"Yes, Colonel!" Shulka replied.
For the former, Shulka fully agrees, because this is a new equipment, and new equipment means that it needs a more scientific and reasonable firepower configuration to play its role.
As for the latter, to be honest Shulka doesn't have a lot of confidence.
It seems that it is not difficult to keep things like tanks and planes secret, but they can be used as individual weapons and are also equipment that are put into the army in large quantities... It is almost impossible to keep them secret. In offensive or defensive warfare A few will always fall into enemy hands.
But even so, keep it secret for as long as you can.
At this time, what Shulka and Katukov need to consider is the training and organization of the troops.
This seems simple, it seems that it is enough to equip the bazooka to the troops and even distribute it evenly, but in fact there are a series of complicated arguments that even require exercises to solve.
Otherwise, once you train with the wrong organization and tactics and put them on the battlefield, you will regret it at that time.
"Its best range is 70 meters!" Katukov said: "This means we have to fight the enemy in close combat!"
"Yes!" Shulka replied: "So we should put 'Matilda' at the forefront!"
Katukov opened the drawer and searched inside for a while, then took out a document from it, opened it for a while and compared it, then shook his head and said, "No, it's not enough! The 'No. 3' tank gun can shoot at a distance of 250 meters Wearing 88MM vertical armor, while the frontal armor of 'Matilda' is only 78MM, that is to say... the enemy may be able to penetrate 'Matilda' at about 200 meters!"
"We can strengthen its armor thickness!" Shulka said: "The combat distance will be shortened to 100 meters!"
Katukov nodded: "We need at least 15MM additional armor for it!"
"Then we can use the M3 tank to pose a threat to the enemy!" Shulka said: "It has a 75MM artillery that can destroy enemy tanks from a long distance!"
"Yes, although its shooting range is not enough and the accuracy is not enough, it can cause psychological pressure on the Germans, making them want to use their mobility to fight our army in close combat!"
So the tank sequence was basically settled, with "Matilda" as a shield and "General Grant" as a spear, forcing the German armored forces to fight the Soviets in close combat.
The most useless of them is "Valentine"... Its armor is not as thick as that of "Matilda", and its artillery is not as strong as that of "General Grant". It can be said that it is in an awkward position between the two.
Facts have also proved that the "Valentine" tank did not perform well on the battlefield.
The main reason for this is that its tracks cannot adapt to the snow in the Soviet Union. The track gaps are easily filled with ice and snow and then slip on the snow.
On the other hand, there is a quite large vertical seat ring under the turret...General tanks are designed to be inclined, but the "Valentin" tank is designed to be vertical, so this part almost became the target of the German attack. bullseye.
There are many other shortcomings. For example, the rigid British did not equip the "Valentine" with high-explosive grenades.
Originally, the Soviet Union thought that the British army forgot to equip the "Valentine" with high-explosive grenades. Later, after asking, they found out that the British did not have their own "Valentine" tanks either. The reason was that the British believed that tanks only needed machine guns to deal with infantry. Enough is enough, tank guns should take on tanks.
In addition, there are openings on the top and body of the "Valentine" tank, and there is a completely redundant 50MM caliber smoke launcher... It is very strange that this smoke launcher can only fire smoke bombs, although the British army has 50MM mortars Nor did they know of using it to fire mortar shells to fill the gaps in infantry fire.
As for the smoke bomb, it is rarely used on the battlefield, and even if it is used sometimes, it can be done by infantry.
The consequence of such a design is that the "Valentine" tank has no resistance to Molotov cocktails from any direction.
The Soviet army used Molotov cocktails to blow up German tanks and needed to drop them on the engine, while the Germans could use any direction on the "Valentine" tank... because the burning gasoline would seep into the cab from the openings and gaps in the tank.
(end of this chapter)
