Chapter 1,355 Cannon Group
Chapter 1355 Cannon Group
Although Mackensen is famous for playing mobile warfare, it does not mean that he will not fight tough battles, especially when facing opponents whose defense level is not very high... With the help of staff who were proficient in artillery and fortification operations, Mackensen quickly established an efficient combat plan for the Russian fortress system.
The 18 divisions belonging to Mackensen's 1st Corps were organized into three equal assault groups according to echelon distribution. In addition, in order to break through the Russians' thick defense line. Mackensen, who concentrated heavy artillery and siege artillery, also formed a specialized artillery division and artillery corps! Their task is to use overwhelming firepower to break open the opponent's defense line, and then re-break it into several small teams to cooperate with each division to attack in depth.
In order to clear the minefields and obstacles on the front and open roads in the intricate woods, the engineering force has also been strengthened, not only in terms of number of personnel, but also in terms of equipment, including various bridge erecting vehicles, wreckers and The installation of minesweeper trucks has greatly reduced the sacrifices and time required by the German army.
"Yes, slow down, that's it, one more to the left." Second Lieutenant Henry guided a Wasp self-propelled howitzer into the position. As someone who has served in both infantry and artillery. Henry now loves this new artillery in service! As a current artillery second lieutenant, he really knows how troublesome it is to transport and use artillery of medium caliber and above. Among other things, a 150MM heavy howitzer requires at least one squad of soldiers to operate it, and no less than 20 horses to provide transportation, supplies and other tasks. And those horses are even more delicate than people. According to him, in addition to being able to use artillery, a qualified artilleryman also needs to be a qualified driver and half a veterinarian.
But now, with the Hornets, it's completely different. An artillery piece, its associated ammunition, and the supplies needed by the gun crew can be compressed into three vehicles, one of which is the gun truck, and the latter one contains half of the gun crew and ammunition. The last 3.5-ton half-track vehicle contained enough food, drink, tools, and another half of the gun crew for one squad. It is much easier for the troops to move. Although vehicles sometimes have problems, it is better than waiting for those war horses. There is no way, Henry studied mechanics before joining the army. Natural advantages.
After the artillery was in place, Henry stood at the artillery mirror aside and began the last range measurement and reconnaissance. While observing, he took out the previous records for comparison. The mission he and his company performed was to destroy the Russian firepower points from 700 meters to 1,500 meters in front. Now we are entering the starting position. When night comes, the self-propelled artillery will enter a position less than 500 meters away from the nearest Russian position and wait, and then launch a general attack at dawn!
A moment later, the first batch of artillery shells was also brought up. This time there were two main types of artillery shells. One was a 45KG ordinary capped armor-piercing projectile. However, the howitzer's firing power is average. The other is a special reinforced concrete armor-piercing projectile weighing 98KG. This kind of artillery shells are meant to fire in a curve rather than directly. (The German 150MM infantry gun in World War II had such super-heavy ammunition.)
"We are the heavy hammers that crack open the Russian turtle shells! Much easier to use than those slender tubes next to them!" Henry glanced at the Beetle-type self-propelled artillery modified from a 107MM cannon in the distance and said.
He is a party of words rather than a party of body and mind. I like short and thick ones, not slender ones!
"Compared with them, your guy is thin and short." The old boss who passed by came up and said jokingly to Captain Henry. After speaking, he pointed at the huge moving figure in the distance.
"God, have they pulled up the fortress cannon?" Due to the obstruction of their vision in the distance, they couldn't see clearly what it was, but comparing it with the reference object next to it and the gun barrel that was not fully realized, it was enough. Let Captain Henry guess the approximate size of that guy.
"The barrel length is at least 7 meters. And the caliber is definitely not 150MM." Henry guessed that after "low-end" self-propelled artillery such as the Beetle and Wasp entered the scene, some real bunker destroyers were already in place! After being installed on a huge crawler chassis, these 175MM cannons and 210MM cannons that were dug out of the navy's inventory finally slowly entered the predetermined position. They are different from the insects that need to move forward. They only need to find a suitable position, then level the artillery, and kill the opponent from a distance bit by bit!
And in some hidden, well-constructed artillery nests, some more terrifying artillery pieces have also made final preparations! A 420MM super-heavy siege gun has been deployed in the reinforced concrete gun nest. The artillery weighing more than 100 tons is like a giant. The entire artillery is placed on a rotating circular track. The thick and long 420MML20 gun barrel slowly raised. Behind the artillery is an ammunition carrier, which is responsible for lifting the 1020KG artillery shells from the ammunition depot at the lower part of the fortress, and then sending them to the artillery position through a 50-meter track, and then a crane located on the side of the artillery. It will be hoisted and loaded into the square gun body along an arc-shaped conveying channel!
This artillery is an improved version of the German 420MM heavy siege gun Big Belsha. The original Big Belsha artillery limited the range of the artillery due to transportation problems. Now, because the artillery is dispersed and transported by heavy vehicles, and once deployed, there is no need to consider movement issues, so the shell weight and range of the artillery fire have been greatly improved. The historical Big Belsha artillery shell weight seems to be 820KG, and the range That is around 12.5 kilometers.
In this plane, in order to completely cover the Russian defensive positions, the maximum range of this artillery was increased to 20 kilometers! The bomb weight has also increased by 200KG. The Skoda technician responsible for the debugging patted the barrel of this huge artillery and confidently said that as long as it can hit, there is no target that a 420MM heavy artillery shell cannot destroy! In order to successfully kill the Russians, at least six 420MM artillery were deployed here during the two-month preparation period.
Under this artillery group, there are also some semi-mobile siege guns. These artillery are 12-inch L15 self-propelled siege guns mounted on specially designed chassis. This artillery is also split into two parts for transportation, and the gun base is mounted on a One vehicle carries it, while the barrel of the 15L-long 12-inch artillery is transported in another vehicle. After entering the position, the artillery is fully assembled within 20 minutes. Their range is slightly closer. When using 384KG artillery shells, they can It has a muzzle speed of 480 meters and can fly over 15 kilometers. The total assembled weight of this artillery is about 40 tons. (Counting crawler chassis)
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