A loud explosion went off as a shell struck a Panzer I… The explosive blast was sufficient to damage its front plate, which was where the armor was thickest.
In fact, the shell surprisingly bore through the rolled homogenous and sloped armor of the Panzer I and caused what would have been a confirmed kill of the entire crew inside had the vehicle in question not been derelict for testing purposes.
The shell had been fired by a 5cm Pak 38, or a 5cm Pak 15, as it was known in this timeline. In fact, the shell was not an ordinary high explosive shell fired by artillery, but rather a dedicated Armour-piercing, capped, ballistic capped high explosive tracer shell developed over the course of the last five years deliberately to counter the eventual introduction of Allied Tanks. As Bruno tended to do, he over-prepared for this eventuality by giving a rough estimate of what he had in mind, and sending it to his most talented engineers in the field of artillery munitions. His requirements, to be able to secure a single shot kill when hitting a Panzer I at its most heavily armored point.
After years of trial and error, the Panzergranate 39, or as I should say the Panzergranate 15 had come to life to accompany the guns used on the Panzer I, and the variant of the chassis being referred to as the Panzerjäger I. Which unlike the variant used in Bruno’s past life, made use of the larger 5cm PaK 38 Antitank gun mounted on a E-10 Chassis.
The engineers rejoiced as they saw the success of their newest shell. It was a principle that could easily be scaled up to accompany larger guns in the future. And could very much be used to obliterate tanks even until the later years of the Second World War.
Assuming, of course, this war occurred again in this timeline, and Allied technology had not been advanced 10 fold as a result of the butterfly effect. Either way, this was not a worry to be had at the moment.
For the Panzerjäger I, its main gun, and the ammunition it would use had proven to be a monumental success. If this weapon could obliterate a German Panzer, then whatever poorly assembled knockoff the Allies tried to come up with to counter it would not stand a chance.
The lead engineer was quick to contact the project manager and inform him of his opinions on their most recent success.
“You can inform the Generalfeldmarschall that by 1916 at the latest, the Panzerjäger will be approved for mass production!”
This was good news to be sure, but Bruno was currently off in Bulgaria, marching on its capital to secure a victory before summer’s end. One that would hopefully allow him to end the Balkan Theater by the start of the next year at the latest.
The Germans were not the only ones making progress in their technological advancements. In fact, the British had begun their attempts to employ not only new tanks and anti-tank weapons, but also aircraft.
Sitting on the testing grounds of the British Royal Armoury were three new prototypes which the British hoped would counter the German Armor when it came marching through the western front.
First and foremost was the .55 Boys Anti-Tank Rifle. The Boys Anti-Tank Rifle was designed in the 1930s of Bruno’s past life. It was a relatively simple bolt action design firing from a five round detachable box magazine that was more or less the equivalent of a modern .50 BMG anti-material rifle.
Theoretically, the Boys Rifle could penetrate a Panzer I at its weakest point if fired at 100 yards and 90°. The problem with this being that the critical area to target was more or less covered by armored skirts on Germany’s Panzer Is in this life.
Still, the British didn’t necessarily know this, as when tested against Italian Armored Cars, Britain’s Makeshift Mk I “tanks” and their current prototypes for what they dubbed the Mk II. The weapon performed admirably.
None of these armored vehicles had the thickness of the armor plating, nor the same means of production, or the sloped angle that Bruno’s Panzer Is had. Even so, the German Panzers were still more or less a mystery on their exact details of production and protection.
Hence why, after the British General watched the shot penetrate the armor of its target, he was quite relieved. In addition to the currently issued Blacker Bombards, these Anti-Tank Rifles would enhance Britain’s anti-armor capabilities.
Or so he believed. After witnessing the prototype in question, the man asked the engineer in charge of the project when it would be ready to undergo adoption and mass production.
“So, when pray tell can we expect to see these rifles enter his majesty’s service?”
The Engineer looked perplexed by the General’s question, before scrambling through his notes where he then spoke in a tone that was less than reassuring.
“What, did nobody tell you? These are just prototypes! I mean, if we’re lucky they can be found in a usable state and enter serviced by fall of 1916 at the latest. But it’s entirely possible they won’t be approved until 1917…”
This was not exactly the response the man wanted to hear. But he was also not the type of authority figure to scream and yell at his subordinates for something that was out of their control.
And because of this, the already haggard looking British General who was in command of Army procurement and logistics simply nodded his head before responding with a defeated
answer.
“I understand… Now what is this next prototype you have here?”
The General was quickly shone an aircraft that had become a joint project between Britain and France, as both nations shared their ongoing knowledge of developing aircraft in order to produce a better plane for war.
The fighter in question was more or less the Nieuport 16, which was basically just a Nieuport 11 with a better engine and armament. After a brief discussion regarding the details of the fighter, it was more or less agreed that by the fall of 1915 the plane would be pressed into service.
Finally, there was the prototype for the Mk II Tank, and the best way to describe this monstrosity would be to say that it was more or less a Vickers Medium Mark II from Bruno’s past life with a more flat and slightly sloped chassis.
It was still made of steel plates riveted together, and made use of the QF 3lb Gun, which was modified from a naval gun that existed as early as 1905, but it was overall still roughly the same tank design.
For example, though the Tank took a better shape overall of its hull, the armor was still 8mm at its thickest. Which, when compared to the German Panzer I that Bruno designed, had 12mm more armor thickness in its most lightly armored areas.
Even though the tank could be one shot by even the 20mm guns on the German Armored Cars, it was still a self-propelled 47mm gun. And at the end of the day, that was better than not
having one.