Wang Zhong heaved a sigh of relief when he saw the enemy surrender, then broke out in a cold sweat—damn it, thinking back on the moment they made that sharp turn in front of the enemy’s gun barrel, if the enemy had fired, only “The Matrix’s” Neo himself could have saved them.
“In ‘The Matrix’, Neo dodges bullets from pistols and rifles, while I dodge 88 mm tank gun shells; even Neo would have to light a cigarette for me!”
By this time, Wang Zhong was less than a hundred meters away from the Tiger tank, and he wasn’t stupid, of course, he wouldn’t try to compare turret turning speed with a Tiger tank at a distance of 1400 meters—that would be an idiot inviting death.
Moreover, Wang Zhong dared to charge like this because he was particularly familiar with the Tiger tank; he knew its turret was too heavy and without the engine running, there simply wasn’t enough electrical power to drive the turret at full speed. He was no amateur who relied solely on in-game stats!
If the enemy increased the engine rpm to boost the power supply, the sound would give it away, and then it would be time to react.
But the enemy didn’t increase the engine rpm throughout, so the turret turned slowly.
Could it be malfunctioning?
After all, it was a trial production model, so a high failure rate was normal.
Wang Zhong nudged the reins, urging Bucephalus closer to the spoils of war.
The white horse, not knowing why, held its head high and chest out with an impressive air, as if it had been the one to defeat the tank.
To tell the truth, without the vortex sights aimed this way from afar, the enemy wouldn’t have surrendered no matter what.
When Wang Zhong arrived at the last Panzer VI, the infantry had already climbed aboard first, taking away the raised MP40 from the surrendered Tank Operator and opening all the tank’s covers, with one thread tailor’s shears per hatch pointed at the Tank Operators inside.
Hit in the face with a “scale-thrower” bullet, Wang Zhong didn’t even want to imagine how dire the outcome would be.
Wang Zhong looked at the first to surrender and asked, “How come it’s the Gunner coming out to surrender? Why didn’t your commander come out?”
The enemy Gunner looked completely perplexed.
Wang Zhong gestured towards the infantry: “Field telephone.”
An infantryman took out a field telephone from his backpack and handed it to Wang Zhong.
The enemy Gunner squinted his eyes, looking at the tiny field telephone with disbelief.
“Amelica!” Wang Zhong flaunted the field telephone in his hand and declared.
The Gunner nodded.
At that moment, the commander also stood up under the “attention” of two “scale-throwers,” his upper body poking out of the turret.
Wang Zhong: “Vasily, come over for translation.”
“On the way!” Vasily’s voice varied in volume, indicating his ride was very bumpy, the field telephone and he were sometimes far, sometimes near.
Just then, the infantry pointed southeast, and Wang Zhong looked over just in time to see a jeep kicking up a trail of dust as it headed their way.
During the few minutes waiting for Vasily, Wang Zhong and the surrendering tank commander and Gunner were left staring at each other, wide-eyed.
Wang Zhong decided to take a look at the tank first.
So he dismounted and began inspecting the Panzer VI’s signature interleaved road wheels; indeed, they looked extremely complex from the outside.
These road wheels were more than just two interlocking rows; each one had a “clever design,” with three thin road wheels pieced together to form a “工”-shaped structure.
The two halves of this “工” shape had different thicknesses; on one side, there were two small road wheels joined together, while on the other, there was a single wheel standing alone.
Not only that, but when put together, the Prussian engineers insisted on mirroring the two rows of road wheels with an almost obsessive compulsion.
Just describing it with words gives one an idea of the complexity involved.
This design was adopted to improve the tank’s mobility.
However, on Earth, the Sturmtiger engineers themselves tested the captured T-34 and Sherman tanks (which had different suspension designs) and also admitted that the complex interleaved road wheels offered limited improvement to mobility.
There’s a diminishing return effect with this kind of mechanism; after reaching a certain point, any further improvement becomes quite limited.
The T-34 and Sherman were both trying to find an optimal balance between mobility, reliability, and maintainability.
The Sturmtiger engineers just took things to the extreme, pursuing the ultimate mobility—are you familiar with the craftsman’s spirit? Or the understanding of wrapped in oil paper?
It seems the Prussians did the same.
Wang Zhong shook his head; Ante was limited by industrial capability, couldn’t produce such large turret rings and didn’t have such powerful engines, so they used the vortex as a stopgap measure. When the Federation brings its might to bear and upgrades Ante’s industry, they’ll build more powerful tanks.
Prussian industry is so advanced, so why succumb to the habit of wasting tonnage?
The Army wasted tonnage on the interleaved road wheels; the Navy wasted tonnage on—who knows what.
Wang Zhong shook his head at the interleaved road wheels: “This walking mechanism is no good. If they really start using this en masse, their logistics will be doomed.”
By then, several Prussian Tank Operators had been taken out of the tank, but since they couldn’t understand what Wang Zhong was saying, they just looked at each other, offering no opinions.
Finally, Vasily arrived and spoke some Prosen to the prisoners before the enemy commander immediately asked Vasily a question in Prosen.
Wang Zhong: “What did he ask?”
“He’s asking what the general thinks about ‘interleaved’ road wheels. I know what interleaved means…”
Wang Zhong pointed at the heavy tank’s road wheels: “This is what it means.”
Vasily’s eyes widened: “Wow, is it that impressive?”
After all, the presence of interleaved road wheels was impressive to the naked eye, inspiring a sense of awe.
(You think the above image is just placed here? No, this is the road wheel arrangement already in place on the tracks.)
With a sense of awe in his heart, Vasily earnestly asked: “So, what is the evaluation of these road wheels?”
Wang Zhong: “This suspension system puts too much strain on logistics, and doesn’t significantly improve cross-country capability. It’s a very poor design.”
After Vasily translated, the Tank Operator, who must have been the driver, got very emotional and said a lot.
Vasily: “Roughly speaking, Prussians didn’t want to use such a complex suspension system, but they suffered badly in the mud last year when their Panzer IVs performed terribly on Ante’s soft ground.”
Wang Zhong laughed heartily: “Rest assured, our T34s performed just as terribly! General Mud remains the nemesis of all armored vehicles, even half a century later.”
As he laughed, the Prussians were startled, not knowing what he meant, but after Vasily translated, the prisoners were left in an awkward position.
They should laugh along, it seems, but hearing Ante’s most famous general mock his own T34s, it seemed right to laugh.
Enjoy new adventures from empire
Wang Zhong left the prisoners standing awkwardly, walking circles around the tank, muttering to himself: “Vertical armor, 88mm tank gun… I thought Prussians could come up with something different.”
Vasily translated verbatim.
Several Prussian prisoners’ expressions turned very sour.
Wang Zhong ignored them, continuing to inspect the hard-won trophy.
The Tiger tank was formidable on Earth because it faced opponents that were subpar at best.
On the Soviet side, the T3485 capable of tackling the Tiger tank didn’t join the fight until 1944, and on the side of the Federation, neither the Sherman Firefly tank destroyer nor the Jackson tank destroyer appeared until after 1944.
But things were different now. Wang Zhong had the Whirlwind, and although its production was doomed to be low, it could nevertheless engage the Tiger tank at a distance of 1500 meters.
1500 meters! On Earth, neither the T3485 nor the Firefly or Jackson could reliably penetrate the Tiger’s high-hardness armor at such a long range.
After all, the Whirlwind used a 100mm naval gun, a caliber larger than Earth’s tank guns used against the Tiger: the Firefly’s 17-pounder was actually 76.2mm in caliber, the T3485’s main gun was 85mm, and the Jackson, the largest, had only a 90mm gun.
Moreover, the Whirlwind’s main gun wasn’t just thicker; the weapon was developed by the navy as a dual-purpose anti-aircraft and anti-tank gun, which necessitated a high muzzle velocity, increasing its potential as an anti-tank gun.
Overall, Wang Zhong enthusiastically circled the Tiger tank twice, but his enthusiasm had already faded completely.
After all, now he had the Whirlwind. Look at how the Whirlwind blasted the Tiger; the latter stood no chance in retaliation. The Whirlwind could be disabled at 1500 meters if its tracks were shot, but the Tiger was utterly destroyed.
Of course, the Tiger had a turret, which was a point in its favor compared to the Whirlwind, but it was far from invincible!
Once the Federation’s machine tools and such were in place, it would be time to consider bringing over the IS3 heavy tank. An IS3 heavy tank with a 100mm gun, isn’t that much more exciting than the Tiger?
Vasily asked from the side: “General? Don’t you have any questions? After all, this is what you were so eager to capture.”
Wang Zhong: “I suddenly realize that its design isn’t as good as I imagined. Our Whirlwind is far superior.”
He was talking to Vasily, but Vasily translated directly to the Prussians.
The expression of the prisoners grew even worse.
Wang Zhong continued: “Look at these interleaved road wheels, trash. The vertical armor design, trash. The 88mm gun was not bad, but we have better ones now. Of course, there are some redeeming features, like the marks where the Whirlwind hit show that Prussian steel quality is really good.
“Another thing is the gun sight, I bet this tank also has an amazing optical sight.”
Wang Zhong took a couple of steps and added: “And the engine, which can move such a heavy body, must be very good; all of these we can imitate, and they will surely become the cornerstone of our future new tanks.”
Vasily translated everything.
The prisoners looked at each other, then the tank commander asked on behalf of everyone.
Vasily translated: “Is your Whirlwind really perfect?”
Wang Zhong: “Of course not, it has many flaws, but look, your new tanks were designed to fight T34s and KVs, and they did the job well, leaving these two types of tanks powerless.
“My Whirlwind is designed to fight your new tanks, and look, it also did the job well, leaving your tanks powerless.”
Wang Zhong spread his hands and waited for Vasily to translate before delivering the final blow: “You Prussians aren’t as excellent as you claim, are they? Our designers, engineers, and scientists are no worse than yours! And you go on boasting about being a superior race, is this what you call superior?”
Wang Zhong deliberately paused to enhance the effect: “Is this it?”