Wang Zhong watched the artillery push the gun into position and complete the loading.
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The gunner saluted Wang Zhong, “General, we are ready to fire, please issue your command!”
Wang Zhong turned his head to confirm that the researchers had finished replacing the mannequins—these were used to facilitate damage assessment, as the previous test’s short 75 with a high-explosive shell had cracked the interior of the armor, injuring the mannequins with shrapnel.
After confirming that the researchers had signaled “replacement complete,” Wang Zhong said to the gunner, “Aim at the target, fire.”
“Yes!”
Wang Zhong had just picked up his binoculars when the gunner fired, so fast that Wang Zhong didn’t even have time to change his view.
Through the binoculars, he could clearly see the shell hit the steeply angled front of Vehicle No. 2. Although it ricocheted off, it still left a clear scratch.
The researchers immediately rushed to examine the mannequin inside the tank destroyer, and not long after, they sent a signal that there was “no internal damage, testing can continue.”
Wang Zhong, “Continue firing.”
No sooner had he spoken than the gunner fired again, and the second shot was too high, flying over the top of the tank destroyer.
Wang Zhong, “What’s going on?”
General Kirillov said, “Under normal conditions, it’s best to resecure the aiming scope, I mean the 76’s aiming scope.”
Wang Zhong frowned, “Are you suggesting the aiming scope was just damaged by the shock?”
The general hadn’t yet spoken when Anatoly spoke first, “It could have been knocked out of alignment, or possibly the gun mount developed a slight error due to the shock. Our equipment tends to have this issue with precision parts. I know some anti-tank gun crews would rather aim directly through the gun barrel than use unreliable sights.”
Wang Zhong, “Isn’t aiming through the gun barrel a bit too much? Surely the sights are still more reliable than the barrel, no matter what?”
Anatoly spread his hands, “For a close target, the barrel might be more accurate, actually.”
By then, the check on the target was complete; the shell hadn’t penetrated and the mannequin inside was unscathed.
Meanwhile, in accordance with the general’s suggestion, the gunners had inspected the sight and reported to Wang Zhong, “The sight is fine, it must have been a normal deviation.”
Wang Zhong clicked his tongue; in the game World of Tanks, the circle of dashed lines around the reticle (representing the potential area where the shell could land) would have been huge.
“Continue firing!”
“Yes!”
The third shot was fired immediately, and this time it hit Vehicle No. 2’s mantlet. Since he didn’t see any ricochet, Wang Zhong’s heart immediately lifted.
Soon, the test result came: the elevation gear was jammed, but the gun itself was without malfunction—it would take time to repair the elevation gear.
Wang Zhong turned to Ke Jing and said, “We’ll need to strengthen the protection of the mantlet, but it’s not bad since no crew members were injured.”
Ke Jing, “I want to go see the damage to the mantlet.”
Wang Zhong, “Sure, let’s go together. Gunner, cease fire.”
A short while later, Wang Zhong and Ke Jing, along with a group of people, arrived at Vehicle No. 2, 800 meters away.
There was a clear indent on the mantlet left by the shell.
Ke Jing pushed his glasses up, “It looks like the shell directly blew apart a section of the mantlet’s armor.”
He leaned in close to examine the back of the mantlet, then sighed, “The mantlet is deformed, jamming the elevation gear. It’s just as I expected, the mantlet is too thin.”
Wang Zhong, “You knew from the start that the mantlet was very thin?”
“Yes.”
Ke Jing raised his hand, gesturing as he explained, “The position of a tank’s turret on top of the hull means that even with a design where the turret is positioned towards the front like on the T34, it’s quite easy to balance the weight distribution in the middle of the tank. In fact, the forward placement of the T34’s turret is to counterbalance the weight of the engine and fuel tanks.”
“But this vehicle is different, it has no turret, and the entire cannon is mounted at the front of the hull, then the front of the hull is equipped with such thick armor, along with an elevation gear and traverse gear, making weight distribution on this vehicle quite difficult.”
“I was afraid that increasing the weight of the mantlet would damage the first pair of bogie suspension systems.”
Wang Zhong, “I see.”
He suddenly remembered the Sturmtiger’s design on Earth, which also placed the combat room in the middle of the hull; at the time, he didn’t understand why it was designed that way, but now he realized it was for weight distribution, as the 128mm gun and armor together were too heavy.
Wang Zhong, “Wait, are the elevation gear and the traverse gear electric?”
Ke Jing, “Hydraulic. Switching to electric could reduce the weight, but it might present production difficulties. At the moment, we don’t have enough electric motors to meet the demand; most of them are installed in tanks.”
Wang Zhong, “Hydraulics are quite heavy, right?”
“Not too heavy, considering the short travel.”
“What is the firing arc for this thing?” Wang Zhong continued to ask, as he wanted to understand the situation as fully as possible.
Although the last shot was “absorbed” by the mantlet and the elevation gear, causing no casualties, on a real battlefield, this hit would mean the vehicle had lost its combat ability—it’s not like pressing a key and having it repaired in a few seconds.
Even a minor malfunction like a jammed turret could take a long time to repair, essentially rendering the vehicle unfit for “this round” of fighting.
So Wang Zhong wanted to avoid such circumstances as much as possible.
In response to his inquiry, Ke Jing immediately reported the data:
“Fifteen degrees to the left and right, a maximum depression of 7 degrees, and elevation of 50 degrees.”
Wang Zhong exclaimed, “Such a high elevation angle?”
Ke Jing, “The naval engineers said this is a dual-purpose gun for both ground and anti-aircraft use, and that it can fire howitzer shells in indirect fire.”
In fact, the Soviet Army on Earth tended to classify the SU85 and SU152 as self-propelled guns, and they often used them in indirect fire roles as well, even deploying them alongside units equipped with howitzers designed for indirect fire, to shell together.