Steel Soviet Union

Malashenko, who had led his crew to adjust all the equipment in the turret, then reached out and opened the hatch above his head, preparing to leave the turret to check the condition of the chassis and road wheels for replacement. Further preparation and debugging.

Just when Malashenko, who was making such a plan in his mind, just jumped off the turret, Lavrinenko, who had already finished selecting his future car, stepped forward and spoke softly. .

"I really didn't expect that the turret gap between these prototype vehicles would be so big. I was just dazzled by it."

Looking at Lavrinenko who was sighing next to him, Malashenko couldn't help but smile and spoke after gently patting the stains and dust on his hands.

"So is there any result? Did you choose which car?"

"Um"

Lavrinenko, who was pondering for a moment, did not let Malashenko beside him wait too long. He raised his right arm slightly and pointed at a prototype tank next to Malashenko's car.

"This one? Vertical armored turret? Are you sure you don't want to think about it anymore?"

Malashenko, who looked in the direction of Lavrinenko's finger, immediately saw the prototype tank next to his car, with vertical turret armor on all sides and a semi-curved mantlet covering one-third of the area. It is the most conspicuous feature that makes it obviously different, and the vehicle finally selected by Lavrinenko was the first prototype tank that he had hesitantly rejected before.

Facing the question from Malashenko, Lavrinenko, who had already made a decision without any hesitation in his heart, immediately spoke.

"I have seen other prototype cars. Although they are much better than the original old cars, and they all have their own characteristics, in general, they all have outstanding characteristics and focus on strengthening one aspect. Certain parts and discarding others.”

"When I was in school, I always heard instructor Vanov say that a well-balanced tank is much more useful on the battlefield most of the time than a tank that only focuses on a certain specialty. At that time, I was still very I felt disdainfully that there was something wrong with Instructor Vanov’s understanding, but now it seems I can only say that I was a little too simplistic at that time.”

After listening to Lavrinenko's sigh, Malashenko, who couldn't help but recall the bits and pieces of memories at the Ulyanovsk Tank Academy, also sighed. The man who taught them how to control the Red Army's first The old tank instructor of the first generation doesn’t know what’s going on now.

"Originally, I planned to wait for you to choose another car before giving you some suggestions to change your car, but judging from the current situation, it seems that I have thought too much."

The corners of his mouth raised and he changed his previous calm expression and smiled at Lavrinenko. Malashenko, who came with the experience of later generations, had actually made the same decision as Lavrinenko from the beginning. The same decision at this moment, before letting Lavrinenko choose his own car and words, was at best just a trick used by Malashenko to test his old classmate.

In fact, the vehicle Lavrinenko finally selected after much hesitation was none other than the improved KV1 heavy tank prototype that should have been called KV220 in history.

Although this somewhat "premature" castrated version of the KV220 heavy tank is much inferior to the original historical KV220, this is especially reflected in the armor protection and is far from ideal.

But no matter what, this prototype turret with an appearance design that is almost exactly the same as the KV220, its armor protection capabilities are still second to none in 1941. The German army wants to use the early Type III and IV tanks in their hands to deal with this premature tank. The KV220 is an almost impossible task.

Malashenko, who wanted to get used to the Stalin series tank turret as soon as possible, chose his current car with his foresight from the future. After that, he naturally gave up the premature KV220, which was almost the most "perfect" among the remaining prototypes. Lavrinenko.

Even with the adoption of a more balanced and comprehensively designed vertical armored turret, it almost looks like an outdated antique compared to other prototypes that use sloped armor defense. However, tank battles on the real battlefield cannot be like in the game. In that way, pure paper data can be used to measure its true combat capability.

Due to the almost vertical armor design on all four sides, a huge amount of internal combat space is saved in the turret. The KV220 turret has advantages in human-machine efficiency compared to other prototype turrets that use sloping armor for defense and greatly sacrifice the internal space. Said, but there is no doubt about it.

It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality. The same is true for tank soldiers.

Lavrinenko, who has become accustomed to the relatively spacious turret space of the KV1 heavy tank, no longer wants to go back to a narrow turret similar to the T34 medium tank.

The inner space of the turret, which was difficult to even turn around, would be barely bearable if he was just hunched over and suffering physical pain. What Lavrinenko couldn't accept the most was the impact of the narrow inner space of the turret on combat.

The body that has been kept in a fixed hunched position for a long time is not only unable to stretch out, but also has to withstand the constant bumps when the tank is moving. After going back and forth, even before entering the battle, the whole body is sore and uncomfortable, and the bones are almost falling apart. The loader who is responsible for serving the main gun is extremely poor and extremely energy-consuming in the standing posture. It is impossible to say that this poor human-machine functional design, which is almost painful, has no impact on the actual combat effectiveness of the crew.

Recalling all the unbearable experiences I had while fighting in the T34 tank turret, and looking at the heavy prototype turret in front of me, which was even larger than the KV1 heavy tank turret by more than a circle, I felt the only remaining feeling in my heart. The last trace of hesitation disappeared almost instantly. Lavrinenko couldn't help but smile lightly in a relaxed mood.

"That's right, that's it! If possible, I never want to go back to the cramped and crappy turret of the T34 in my life. After driving in the turret of that thing for a while, I was already covered in sweat before the battle started. Guys who haven’t experienced the difference between T34 and KV1 turrets will simply talk about KV1’s mobility weaknesses, huh, those idiots!”

After complaining in a low voice, he immediately turned his head and looked at Malashenko's car next to him. This tank uses non-vertical armor but does not have a very tilted prototype turret. If he insists, What he said seemed to Lavrinenko like a landed turtle with a thick carapace.