Steel Soviet Union

Just like sniper rifles and rifles have long barrels, long effective ranges, straight trajectories, and strong penetrating power, pistols and submachine guns have short barrels, short effective ranges, curved trajectories, and weak penetrating power.

To pursue a tank gun with high penetration into enemy tank armor, in addition to increasing the caliber of the main gun, expanding the chamber volume and increasing the amount of propellant, obtaining higher shell launch kinetic energy, thereby increasing the penetration value of enemy tank armor. .

The artillery rifling, which is densely distributed in a spiral shape in the entire gun barrel, will also have a spiral acceleration effect when the gun is ejected from the chamber. The longer the acceleration process of the artillery shell driven by gunpowder gas, the harder the armor-piercing projectile will be when it comes out of the chamber. A higher muzzle velocity can be obtained.

As a result, the attenuation effect of air friction encountered by the artillery shell during its ballistic flight will be smaller, and the kinetic energy and flight speed of the artillery shell retained when it finally hits the enemy tank armor will naturally be higher, and increase The caliber of the main gun and the propellant chamber will also achieve higher armor penetration.

At the same time, the ballistic trajectory of a long-barreled main gun will be flatter than that of a short-barreled main gun, and the shell will fly and fall less. It will take less time for the shell to leave the muzzle and hit the target. In short, it is There are many benefits. A main gun with a longer barrel diameter ratio tends to have a higher penetration depth into armor.

This is why in the late World War II, tank guns continued to increase in caliber and became more slender. Even the Soviet army, which has always pursued large caliber supremacy, must admit that the high-magnification ratio main gun has an incomparable advantage in armor penetration. The D-5T tank gun modified from the M1939 85mm anti-aircraft gun was the first step taken by the Soviet army in this field.

Based on the principle of ballistic change under the premise of higher muzzle velocity brought about by the increase in the diameter of the main gun barrel, the ballistics of the D-5T 85mm tank gun installed in the turrets of these new prototype tanks are better than those of the original 76mm gun. there is a big difference.

In short, the trajectory is straighter and the drop is smaller. At the same time, the sighting scope of the new 85mm main gun has also changed. The sighting angle density scale engraved on the sight is used to observe the aiming target with the naked eye as a reference. It is completely different from the original 76mm gun sight, which means that the Soviet gunners who were used to the ballistics of the 76mm main gun must now adapt to the new main gun.

After hearing what Malashenko said, Lavrinenko naturally knew all the causal relationships. After thinking for a moment, Lavrinenko quickly turned his head and asked Malashenko.

"How much time do we have to adapt to these new tanks? We can't let us drive these guys to the front line now, right?"

After hearing the words, Malashenko paused for a moment, and after thinking for a moment, the words he spoke again no longer had any ups and downs.

"There is still one week left before the final preparation deadline given to our regiment by Comrade Zhukov, which means that the time left for us is only the last week! Within a week, regardless of the training results, we will go to the front line to participate in the battle. You should understand me What is the meaning of what is said.”

At this most critical moment when the Germans have reached the doorstep of the capital, too many Red Army tank units were broken up and defeated. After being reorganized, they went directly to the front line to participate in the battle without any coordination and coordination training.

Not to mention the level of eliteness of these temporarily patchwork Red Army tank units, they are all equipped with wireless communication radios for inter-vehicle communication owned by the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment under Malashenko. The most basic and important attributes are not available, let alone how much tacit understanding these improvised stragglers and tank soldiers can have in actual combat without coordinated training.

Although it is an exaggeration to say that these tank troops were sent to kill German armored troops, it is still a general exaggeration based on relative reality.

Zhukov, who has commanded several large battles at the front level since the outbreak of the Patriotic War, naturally understands this.

It was originally planned to use the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment led by Malashenko and his men as a knife-fist force capable of turning the tide of the war at a critical moment.

General Zhukov, who adheres to the concept of using good steel on the blade, will naturally not let Malashenko go into battle immediately with a bunch of scattered sand. After more than half a month of troop reorganization and rest training, It was time for Zhukov to go against all opinions and forcefully issue the order after ignoring the advice of all the staff and subordinates around him, in order to allow Malashenko and his First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment to perform at their peak. Jump into the fight.

After hearing the news from Malashenko, Lavrinenko couldn't help but frown.

Although these new prototypes seem to be based on the KV1 chassis with a new turret and a new main gun, if it is seen by ordinary people who are not knowledgeable, they can be driven into battle immediately, just like old cars. Replacing a new car is generally straightforward and easy.

But Lavrinenko, who graduated from the Ulyanovsk Tank Academy like Malashenko, would not think of everything so simply.

Any new equipment that undergoes major changes has an unavoidable process from being installed in the troops to actually forming combat effectiveness. This process may start at least a month, and may take half a year or even a year to train the human-machine compatibility. The level and coordination of the units, such as the top fighter units and high-tech missile units of later generations, are the units that take the longest time to actually form combat effectiveness.

Although the tanks currently in the Second World War are not like the advanced equipment of later generations that are full of electronic equipment and high-end instruments, it takes a lot of time to complete various trainings.

But even the Soviet tanks, which are famous for being stupid, big, black and thick, also require training and adaptation time between personnel and equipment. No matter how short this time is, it is an objective fact and cannot be avoided. And now Marashin The one week time given by Ko has undoubtedly exceeded the limit of Lavrinenko's previous expectations.

"A week is too short, Malashenko. When I came here just now, I saw that some crews couldn't even do the most basic three-vehicle coordination and alternate firing. The three vehicles fired almost at the same time, hitting all the shells in the same place. There is a serious waste of firepower on the target. If we go to the battlefield with these problems, it will expose our fatal weakness. I don't think those Germans can give us the time to make up for the second shot after wasting firepower in most cases. "