artillery arc

Chapter 84 Viewing the Tank
Everyone was a little nervous when they heard the sound of the engine.

But immediately someone shouted: "It's our tank!"

At this time, Wang Zhong remembered that he seemed to have seen a train entering the train station just now. According to Pavlov's previous statement, this should be the supply train brought by the Crown Prince, and it was stuffed with some gadgets he could get.

Wang Zhong has only heard about the Crown Prince's character until now, but Wang Zhong is sure that he is very good as the Minister of Logistics.

I just don’t know if the thing making such a powerful engine sound at this time is the tall and powerful looking T35.

If so, it can only be used.

With this thought in mind, Wang Zhong looked toward the train station and saw the "dream car" he had talked about countless times appearing at the end of the street.

The tank he commanded after traveling to this world was the T28, which was thin-skinned and stuffed, with only a cannon that was good.

The KV1 gun and armor are reliable, but it runs slowly and has an alarming failure rate.

The BT7 is fast and reliable, and has a decent gun, but its armor is really useless.

So is there a tank that is fast, reliable, durable, has a powerful gun and has adequate protection?

Yes, that is the famous T34 tank.

The high speed inherited from the BT series, the powerful firepower brought by the 76mm tank gun, as well as the good defense brought by the 30-ton tonnage and sloped armor, this is the tank with the best overall performance on the Eastern Front battlefield at the beginning of the war!

The T34 tank that Wang Zhong has been thinking about!

But after the fierce battle just now, Wang Zhong's enthusiasm for this tank is not as high as before.

Because he remembered one thing: the design idea was inherited from the BT series T34, and the commander also served as the gunner.

Maozi's designers didn't feel the need for a "do nothing" commander at all at first.

Otto Karius, the top ace of Santoku, always complained in his memoirs that the Soviet tank commander did not like probe reconnaissance, which led to the T34's poor battlefield situational awareness. The entire platoon was often killed by a Tiger. The tiger was nowhere to be found.

However, in the early and middle stages of Maozi, the tank commander's reluctance to probe was not because they were timid, but because no one could fire anymore after they probed, so they could only huddle in the tank and observe with the gunner's sight.

For comparison, the M4 Sherman tank provided to Maozi by the United States under the Lend-Lease Act had a five-man crew and a dedicated commander. As a result, the M4 participating in the same battle had a much lower loss rate than the T34.

Maozi himself actually discovered these problems. After all, they had also used the M4 and had seen what Sandoku's tanks looked like and how they fought.

However, the structure of the T34 is just like this. There is no way to make major changes, so we can only focus on producing tanks without a commander and stabilize the front first.

When the T43-34, which had a major structural change, was developed in 85, the designer added the commander back and admitted that it was a stupid design to have the commander also serve as the gunner.

However, by this time Maozi had already paid a huge price for this stupid design.

Wang Zhong actually knew this before, but he only read it from books and had no actual experience, so he ignored it.

Today's experience on BT7 reminded him of all this at once.

What's even more terrible is that the commander must also serve as the gunner, which directly prevents Wang Zhong from replicating the results of the Haupenier - he really has no training related to the gunner, even if he obtains the enemy's distance from the overlooking perspective , and he doesn’t know how to adjust the scope.

But the T34 that appeared in Wang Zhong's field of vision looked a little strange.

This T34 has a big head and looks closer to the later T3485, but its main gun is relatively thick and short, not as slender and beautiful as the 3485mm gun equipped with the T85.

This gun looks like the 1 gun on KV76.

The strange-looking tank drove straight towards Wang Zhong. Only then did Wang Zhong realize that the person standing on the rear engine cover of the tank was Sergeant Major Gregory.

Under the guidance of the sergeant major, the tank stopped directly in front of Wang Zhong.

Gregory jumped off the tank and saluted Wang Zhong: "Your Majesty General, I have brought reinforcements!"

Wang Zhong nodded: "You did a good job!"

While he was talking, the commander of the tank also jumped out. He was a warrant officer. After saluting Wang Zhong, the warrant officer said loudly: "Alexander Yefimovich salutes you, General!"

Wang Zhong simply returned the salute and asked, "Are you the captain of this car?"

"Yes, General!"

Wang Zhong: "How many members are there in your car?"

"Four, driver, mechatronic, loader and me!"

Wang Zhong originally had a glimmer of hope. After all, the appearance of this T34 was a bit strange. In the end, it was still a four-person crew. He had to replace the electromechanical crew if he wanted to add more vehicles.

After all, although the electromechanical officer is called this name, he is actually mainly responsible for the heading machine gun on the vehicle body, so it is not wrong to call him machine gunner.

Alexander frowned slightly: "Why do you look a little disappointed?"

Wang Zhong: "It's okay. How many T34s do you have in total?" Wang Zhong's idea at this time is that since he can't personally command a tank to drive Wushuang, he should find a way to make full use of this technical equipment to crush the enemy tactically. .

Alexander: "We have 25 tanks, but this one is different from other tanks."

"Oh?" Wang Zhong became interested, "How is it different?"

"As you can see, this is an aristocratic viewing car. It is for dandies—oh no, it is for the pillars of the empire to experience driving tanks."

Wang Zhong was stunned: "What?"

Alexander spread his hands: "If a new tank design is to be approved, it is necessary to build this kind of viewing car. If the adults like it, the finalization process will be faster."

Wang Zhong was greatly shocked: "Is he so corrupt?"

Alexander: "I didn't tell you! You said it! Don't worry, I will never tell you anything when asked by the trial court!"

Wang Zhong: "So, is this viewing vehicle any different from an ordinary tank?"

"Ah, there are many more, such as adding a speed limiter, so that the speed will not be too fast and the shaking will not be too severe..."

"Tear it down for me." Wang Zhong said firmly, "Tear it down now."

Just kidding, if you can't drag racing, how can you grab the black gun spot and become the sixth one?

Alexander: "It's very simple to dismantle this. After all, it's just some work on the gearbox to restrict the gear. Belyakov, the general wants you to dismantle the speed limiter! Hurry!"

Then a tall and thin sergeant climbed out of the T34's iconic driver's observation port, walked around the turret and started to get the tool box strapped to the back of the turret.

Wang Zhong: "What else is different?"

"Also? You have also seen that the turret of our tank is relatively large. That is because we have added a seat for a man who is experiencing life. The view is good and he can enjoy the feeling of the wind blowing his hair."

...that's it!

Wang Zhong finally suppressed his ecstasy. Originally, he thought he could only command heavy tanks with commanders such as KV in the future, but he didn't expect that in this time and space, there are such things as noble viewing cars!
Alexander continued: "In addition, there is a small box next to the master's seat with champagne in it."

Wang Zhongzheng was originally ecstatic, but he was stunned when he heard this: "Champagne?"

"Um yes, champagne. Would you like vodka instead?"

Wang Zhong shook his head: "No, no, no."

He suddenly thought of his embarrassment when facing the enemy with a small pistol today, and said: "Can it be changed into a personal belongings box? I want to put some daily props, such as grenades or submachine guns."

"Okay, everything is fine." Alexander patted his chest, "As long as you don't want to dismantle the viewing position, everything else can be changed. But if you want to use the viewing position, we have to remove the debris piled on it first."

Boy, these guys used the extra space in the turret as storage space for miscellaneous items!
Alexander asked cautiously: "You want to use this viewing seat, right?"

"Yes." Wang Zhong nodded.

Alexander: "You will personally lead us into battle, right?"

"Yes. How did you know?"

Alexander turned back and looked at the driver who was dismantling the gearbox, and then replied: "The Crown Prince said that you might want to do this, so he specially asked us to drive this tank for the ceremony."

Wang Zhong: "That's why I asked you to drive it? You weren't originally driving this car?"

"No, we are the instructors of the armored training team. We were appointed by the Crown Prince, saying that he would provide the best personnel to his good brothers." Alexander shrugged, "Of course, it may also be because the person in charge of this tank was originally People who drink alcohol all day long can't behave properly. After all, they are all related households. They just need to keep their military appearance neat and tidy when the master comes to inspect."

After Wang Zhong heard this, he asked a question seriously: "The Crown Prince...is he a boy or a girl?"

Alexander was stunned: "Man, why do you ask like that?"

In fact, the distinction between men and women is very clear in the Ande language. There are strict distinctions between men and women in names. Many names themselves also have different deformations according to men and women.

The word Crown Prince itself cannot be a female, although the Ant Empire had a very powerful queen in its history, and the capital is still named after this queen.

However, the crown prince has so far acted too good as a wife and mother. Wang Zhong, who has been immersed in the two-dimensional culture for many years, always feels like a good brother who wants to tear off the bra to show his feminine side.

Wang Zhong waved his hand and decided not to take care of this kind of thing in the future. Anyway, he would definitely see the crown prince in the future. At worst, he would confirm it then.

Wang Zhong: "How long will it take for you to remove the speed limiter? The enemy is attacking now, and we need to attack immediately."

"Soon." Alexander replied.

Wang Zhong nodded: "Okay, then give this car a new tactical number. Give it No. 422, and then hang this flag on the communication antenna."

As he spoke, he showed the blood-stained red flag.

(End of this chapter)