Chapter 348 Dancing with Wolves 3
Kirov is very interested in the information of the iron-riding medium-sized main battle tank provided by Zhang Xuewu. He must first confirm the information of the iron-riding medium-sized main battle tank provided by Zhang Xuewu for effective confirmation, so he found the person in charge of Grove Red Machinery Manufacturing Factory, Youth Pioneer First Factory and 203 Factory, and Koshkin, who was attacking the new tank, was also summoned to the Kremlin overnight.
For the review of the tank information provided by Zhang Xuewu, dozens of colonels, major general-level technical engineers and mechanical engineers of the manufacturer began to confirm the real surname of the drawings, and Koshkin, who is organizing the research and development of new tanks, can be called the husband of T-34 in history.
However, after the Soviet Union's deal with the Black Panther tank provided by Germany to the Rehe side and the jackal light tank equipped by the Rehe side, Koshkin was also shocked because of the data of the jackal light tank, especially the flanking of the front main armor and skirt with tilt angle. A is directly immune to all the 37mm anti-tank guns in active service of the Soviet army. If the anti-tank gun cannot destroy the enemy's tank group at an average speed of 50 kilometers per hour on the battlefield, then the division of the defense line is an instantaneous, and the total combat weight of the jackal light tank reaches 20. Three tons, which is only four tons lighter than the No. 50 project it is currently studying, and it seems to be better in terms of protection and mobile surname. In terms of the full weight and mobile surname of the jackal light tank, it is equipped with a modified 76mm anti-tank gun, and the anti-tan of the 50mm L60 equipped by the Rehe side. The cannon inherits the German [***] mechanical and delicate style, which is not only extremely powerful, but also extremely accurate. At this point, the Soviet tank gun cannot compete with the German Seiko, but the production cost of the Germans is much higher than that of the Soviet system, which is insurmountable for the Germans.
It can be said that Koshkin has always been mistakenly introduced into a strange circle, or because of the political-dominated production design. Koshkin's design was introduced into the misunderstanding at the beginning, because among all the tanks in active service of the Soviet army, there is no model that can fight against jackal light tanks, which makes Su The senior management of the Communist Party was furious. In particular, Stalin personally gave instructions that he must fully catch up with German water products in tanks within two years, and surpass the Germans in five years. Koshkin is engaged in technical design. Tanks, a land decisive weapon, represents the limit of a country's industrial level, from mechanical manufacturing. Metallurgy and materials engineering can be said to include almost all the fields of heavy industry. If you want to catch up with the Germans in a very short time, you must develop on the German platform, develop first, understand the design concepts and technologies of the other party, and then build new tanks for them.
In fact, as a technical engineer, Koshkin knows very well that weapons exist for war, and weapons are constantly evolving like the evolutionary history of human beings. Their surnames are very strong. There is no such thing as omnipotent weapons, and omnipotence is nothing in terms of professional and technical aspects. According to the instructions of the Supreme Commander, Koshkin can only give up his original research direction and study the design ideas and concepts of the Germans. You should know that the Slavs and Germans are on two different positioning systems in the overall national thinking. It is undoubtedly a torment for Koshkin to study the Germans.
So Koshkin and his design team began to zoom in and out of the jackal tank and the Panther tank, so they fell into the basic institutional surname error. This mistake plunged the design of the Soviet Union's new tank into chaos and pause, and the design drawings of this iron-riding medium-sized main battle tank seemed to return to Koshkin's previous design route. Originally, it was very dissatisfied with taking the German route - finally found the catharsis point, tilted body, double guide wheel design, one The 100mm smoothbore gun and the huge turret also have three machine gun turrets. This design should belong to the Soviet Union. It is completely a Slavic rough style design, thick armor, large-caliber gun, and full protection of multiple turrets, which is simply perfect to the limit.
Koshkin looked at Kirov and said excitedly, "Dear Comrade Kirov, please take a look at this design! If we hadn't studied the jackal and leopard tanks and developed along our established route, we might have developed a more perfect tank than the iron-mounted medium-sized main battle tank. We have taken too many detours. Shall we study the design ideas of the Germans to deal with the Germans? It will cause us to pay more and greater costs. We will not have the iron armor of our great Soviets in a short time and for a long time in the future! Please make suggestions to the great and respected Supreme Commander Comrade Stalin! This is related to the development of our great Soviet tank industry. This is a matter of vital importance to the lifeline. Let our iron flood respect the fundamental guarantee of the whole Europe!"
Kirov naturally knows the significance of Koshkin to the Soviet tank industry. Koshkin is a famous designer of the Kharkiv Communist International Factory. The A20 and TB series tanks he developed before have been successful. Tasinov of the Red Goryulov Heavy Industry Factory have been designing the body for it, which was originally going to adopt the revolution. The protective ability of the inclined armor will also be greatly improved.
Zhang Xuewu's drawings to Kirov are actually an enlarged version of the T-34 tank, and it is an installed large turret. The chassis is based on the KV series tanks, so it makes Koshkin feel extremely amazing, because its design ideas are exactly the same as itss.
It can be said that the T-34 tank not only inherits the excellent mobility of the БТ tank, but also has a great leap in firepower and protection capabilities. Its excellent performance also overwhelms the KV-1 heavy tank. Historically, before the T-34 tank was completed, the leadership of the Soviet leadership decided to use the T-34 to equip the Soviet Red Army. However, the T-34 tanks did not leave the factory production line in Kharkov until the end of January 1940. Later generations were called the T-34/761940. The latter two T-34s were in long-distance tests from Kharkov to Moscow and from Smolensk to Kiev and Kharkov. Stalin, who observed the test in Moscow's Red Square, was deeply impressed. The rapid installation of the T-34 tank was closely related to Stalin.
In fact, before any kind of tank is tested in actual combat, various types of Soviet tanks, including T-34/76, also have obvious defects. The main reason is that they are not fully equipped with inter-vehicle radio communication equipment. Generally, only one of the T-34s has radio equipment, and the tanks communicate with each other. It also relies on the flag language. All types of tanks in the main battle with Germany, whether they are III, IV, V or VI, are basically equipped with radio stations, and their collaborative combat capabilities are far from each other. Therefore, it is difficult to give full play to the excellent ability of tanks when the formations are in battle, especially when encountering sudden ** conditions. Therefore, it is not uncommon for a No. III tank to destroy many T-34s.
And the T-34 tank is balanced in terms of armor, firepower and power. The thickness of the body armor is 45 mm, which is comparable to that of German Type 3 and Type 4 tanks, but the front armor has a bevel of 32 degrees and 49 degrees on the side. The turret is cast. The hexagonal armor is 60 mm thick, and the side is also 45 mm. The oblique angle of the body extends to the turret. Therefore, the T-34 is almost a right-angle triangle from the front. The inclined armor has two advantages. First of all, the shell is easy to bounce off after being hit, and the armor-piercing bullet is greatly reduced. Secondly, according to the triangle. In principle, after a horizontally fired shell hits the inclined armor, the thickness of the steel plate to be passed is equivalent to the diagonal edge of the triangle. Therefore, the front armor of the T-34 tank is 45 mm thick and 32 degrees diagonal, and the protection capacity is equivalent to 90 mm, and the side armor of 49 degrees diagonal is also equivalent to 55 mm. It is the same as the inclined armor of the T-54, so that the intrusion thickness of the 39-degree inclined armor of the T-54 with composite alloy armor is 220 mm.
In terms of power, Koshkin has been preparing to use Soviet designer Morozov to develop a famous 12-cylinder 39-liter V2 diesel engine for the T-34, with a power of 500 horsepower, making its highway speed reach 55 kilometers per hour, so that it can compete with jackal light tanks, and V2 diesel engine Another advantage of the machine is fuel-saving. The T-34 tank has a capacity of 60 liters, and a reserve fuel tank with a capacity of 39 liters is hung on both sides of the body, with a travel distance of 540 kilometers.
In contrast, the German Type 4 tank is only 160 kilometers, while the Tiger tank has to refuel again when it walks 90 kilometers, but the disadvantage of the diesel engine is that the exhaust gas emits thick smoke, and the tank cannot be hidden.
And on the other hand, the lubricating oil reserve of the T-34 is 140 kilometers and it is also suffering from the anchoring rate, so it is still impossible to drive hundreds of kilometers at a time. Like the previous BT-7, the T-34 uses the American patented Christie chassis, which is equipped with a giant shock absorption on the load-bearing axle. The spring can withstand severe up and down bumps. The track of the T-34 is nearly 50 centimeters wide, while the track of the German tank is usually only 30 centimeters wide. The above advantages make the T-34 have super off-road maneuverability. This is the hardware basis of the large-depth attack tactics of the Soviet armored forces. In the eastern battlefield of ice and snow, The T-34 can gallop freely on the ice field with a depth of one meter in the snow, and is called the king of snow by the German army.
It can be said that Koshkin's dismounting of the T-34 project, which he devoted all his efforts, made Koshkin depressed and entangled for a long time. It can be said that everything before was data. Did the iron riding tank do a perfect actual combat test for him? Let's see who else dares to question now? In addition, the speed of cracking the German jackal and leopard tanks is so slow that the iron horse in the Rehe side is so powerful that now Koshkin can finally raise his eyebrows. Now those who advocated learning from the Germans and surpassing the Germans before may have to shut up.
(to be continued)