Clearly, in this timeline, Ante had also inherited this approach, but Wang Zhong wasn’t about to let them continue—at least not with this 100mm carrier vehicle.
Wang Zhong, “No, no, no, reduce its functions, just do what I need it to do, an elevation of 18 degrees is enough, the depression can be increased a bit, to 9 degrees.”
The data Wang Zhong provided was the elevation and depression range of the Tiger tank: -9 to 18 degrees.
“This…” Ke Jing hesitated.
Wang Zhong, “I’ll add it to the technical parameters I proposed. I only mentioned the depression angle before because I hadn’t realized you were actually considering having it fired in a high arc.”
By saying this, he effectively took the responsibility upon himself, and Ke Jing immediately expressed no objections.
Wang Zhong continued, “The elevation and traverse ranges don’t need to be hydraulic anymore, dismantle the hydraulic system and switch to manual cranks.”
This time it was General Zinov who objected, “That will make the response very slow, what happens if we encounter enemy tanks at close range?”
Wang Zhong, “Rely on the accompanying infantry to spot enemy tanks; do not engage in close combat with the enemy.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Anatoly showed a bitter smile, “Where are the accompanying infantry for the tank units?”
Wang Zhong, “My troops will have them, and they’ll also have accompanying AA guns, accompanying artillery regiments, and accompanying maintenance units.”
“Wow,” Anatoly clicked his tongue, “It’s really lucky to be a tank operator in your unit. I can see why so many of your tank operators have knocked out a great number of enemy tanks.”
The Ye Fort newspapers may have gotten tired of reporting on Wang Zhong’s own deeds, and not knowing who started it, they ran off to interview the tank operators under Wang Zhong’s command who had made a large number of kills, and then after their stories were exaggerated in the pubs, all of Wang Zhong’s tank operators became armored heroes.
It was said to have induced a competitive spirit among the tank operators of the brother units.
Wang Zhong couldn’t be bothered with these, he said to Ke Jing, “How to use it is my concern, your task is to build the vehicle according to my specifications. In fact, if these destroyers are mainly fighting at a distance of 1200 meters, manual cranks are sufficient.”
Enemies far away only require a very slight manual adjustment to be aimed at, which anyone who has studied relevant geometry would know.
Ke Jing, “All right, I’ll go back and dismantle the motor, thicken the mantlet, so there will be absolutely no defense gaps at the front.”
Wang Zhong, “Wait a minute, if you need to redesign, does that mean you’re going to build a new vehicle altogether? After all, dismantling the hydraulic system and such is quite complex.”
Ke Jing, “Indeed, the vicinity of the breech and the mantlet need to be redesigned. Actually, we could bring back these two vehicles to the factory for modifications, but that would be very cumbersome, it’s easier to just build a new one.”
Wang Zhong, “Then this No. 2 vehicle, what’s its number?”
“Spotted Deer,” Vasily reminded.
“Right, the Spotted Deer, just leave it on the range for firing tests. We already know that firing the 76mm gun at the mantlet can jam the traverse and elevation gears, next we’ll continue testing whether it can be penetrated at different ranges.
“Perhaps we’ll discover new issues for Chief Engineer Ke Jing to address.”
After Wang Zhong finished speaking, he gave Ke Jing a look seeking his opinion, but this look was clearly misunderstood, as Ke Jing snapped to attention, “Guaranteed to complete the task.”
“It’s good to have determination,” Wang Zhong looked at the sky, “It’s already dark, under these conditions, the gunners probably won’t hit accurately, right? Test it tomorrow, just send the report to my desk.”
————
The next day, January 2nd, 915 A.D., in the afternoon, a report was delivered to Wang Zhong’s desk.
Based on this report, the front main armor of the 100mm gun carrier, at a distance of 500 meters, could withstand the shooting of the ZIS3 anti-tank gun.
However, the mantlet could be penetrated at a distance of 600 meters, and once penetrated, vertical aiming mechanisms and such would inevitably be compromised.
At a distance of 500 meters, firing a 76mm gun at the mantlet could potentially injure or even kill the gunner and loader. In the ten tests conducted, there were three incidents where either just the gunner or the loader was injured or killed, two where only the loader was unlucky, three where both were unlucky, and the remaining two times both members were completely unharmed.
The tank commander, because of having two “human shields,” actually had a higher survival rate and was only slightly injured twice.
If anything, this weakness could hardly be considered one; in a game, it might even be joked about as “black hole armor” because the height adjustment mechanism and breach might swallow the aftereffects of the shell.
But this is reality, where those crew members hit by shrapnel can fatally bleed out if hit in an artery.
These are Wang Zhong’s carefully selected crew members, all veterans, and very precious.
Therefore, improving the mantlet was absolutely necessary, even if it meant sacrificing aiming speed.
About 7 days later, Ke Jing managed to produce the second generation prototype.
The results for protection levels were encouraging this time; a 76mm gun might not even penetrate the front armor of the device at a distance of 300 meters.
Therefore, Wang Zhong ordered on the spot to bring over an 85mm anti-aircraft gun and conduct a test fire on the prototype, which showed that as long as the distance was kept above 800 meters, the second generation prototype need not worry about the Federation’s own 85mm anti-aircraft gun.
However, Prosen’s 88mm gun could penetrate the second-generation prototype’s mantlet at a distance of 800 meters, but the damage to personnel was not significant, with only a few fragments entering the interior of the combat room.
After the test results were out, Ke Jing’s head was spinning like a rattle: “No, no, no, we really can’t add anything more to the mantlet. If you want better protection, you have to move the combat room backward. That would also mean raising the position where the gun is mounted, making the overall vehicle taller.”
Wang Zhong visualized based on Ke Jing’s explanation, and what appeared in his mind were the Ferdinand Tank Destroyer (also known as the Elefant) and the Tiger Tank Destroyer.
Both vehicles have one thing in common: they are tall, easily spotted from a distance.
But what Wang Zhong wanted were vehicles like the Panzer III assault gun and the No. 4 Tank Destroyer that were relatively low and suitable for ambushes.
Moreover, at a distance of 800 meters, the 88mm gun only managed to penetrate the mantlet and create some fragments inside the vehicle; compared to other tanks that were killed by a single shot from a Tiger tank, this was quite impressive!
Once Wang Zhong’s Chemistry and Textile Research Institute came out with the “anti-spalling lining” that Wang Zhong had requested, the crew’s survival rate would be even higher.
Overall, Wang Zhong was quite satisfied with the new creation.
And Major General Zinov, who had been paying close attention to the test of this new weapon, thought that “this thing should be mass-produced immediately.”
Unfortunately, that was impossible, as subsequent production tests showed that this device’s production time was 1.3 times that of the T34W.
The T34W was already unable to fully replace the T34 because it was too time-consuming to produce.
To truly increase the production of T34Ws, the Federation would need to transfer better production techniques and equipment.
Wang Zhong was well aware that wars aren’t won by “special machines” or “ultimate weapons,” and productivity is a very important aspect of large-scale warfare.
So, he was also just trying to see if elite troops using difficult-to-produce special machines could achieve better results.
Eventually, this tank destroyer was standardized as the SU100, where SU is the Ante abbreviation for “self-propelled gun,” and 100 represents the caliber of the gun.
And Wang Zhong personally designated its nickname: Vortex.