Steel Soviet Union

"As for tanks," this is far more important to Malashenko than supplementary personnel.

Lack of experience can be made up for by gaining experience in combat. After all, masters all grow up from rookies, but the gap in equipment quality cannot be made up for by humans.

If the cannon is not powerful enough, it will not be able to penetrate the Germans. If the armor is too bad, it will be beaten into a hornet's nest. You will never be able to carry an extra cannon. Not to mention the maneuverability, running is as good as constipation. It makes people feel like they are dying.

Malashenko prayed that Comrade Zhu would never give up on himself with a pile of rags. Fortunately, Zhukov's next words obviously far exceeded Malashenko's psychological expectations, and brought a huge An unexpected surprise.

"I specifically called Comrade Kejing to discuss the tank issue. He has asked me about your whereabouts several times before. He is very concerned about you. It can be seen that you are a relatively important person to him."

Being cared about by others is usually a good thing. Malashenko, who had already met Kogin once and had a good impression of each other, was not surprised at all. He was just "especially cared about" by a man he didn't know very well. ", this will make people feel a little bit

Uh, I feel uncomfortable, although maybe it's just psychological.

Malashenko thought so in his heart.

"The good news I want to tell you first is that the first batch of IS1 heavy tanks has been rolled off the assembly line. This is why Kejin called me several times to inquire about your whereabouts."

"He wanted to get the feedback report from you on the prototype car that was delivered to you for use. However, because you were on the front line of Stalingrad, such a thing was really impossible to do, and in the end it was left to nothing. Kogin has on hand There is not much ready-made reference feedback. He told me on the phone that it has been optimized according to all the details he could think of. If there are still problems, it can only be modified in the next few batches of production cars. At present, The first batch can also be said to be just an experiment.”

"In addition, he emphasized to me that this time you must hand over the frontline feedback report to him. This is very important for subsequent batches of IS1 mass-produced heavy tanks."

Several months have passed since Malashenko took over the IS1 prototype heavy tank. During this period, Kotin repeatedly revised the design plan in an effort to do the best on the mass-produced IS1 heavy tank, but as Zhukov said In that case, the lack of Malashenko's frontline actual combat feedback report is the most fatal problem.

Kogin knew nothing about the advantages and disadvantages of the IS1 prototype heavy tank that he had personally built by hand. He had no way of knowing what design flaws actually existed or what needed improvement.

It is true that Kotin is the father of Soviet heavy tanks and a genius tank designer, but he has never driven a tank to the front line to fight those Germans. There is a professional gap that cannot be ignored between designers and soldiers. Tanks built according to the optimal design plan may not be easy to use on the front line.

As long as you look at the history of World War II, it is not difficult to find that almost all the outstanding tanks that have made their names in history are the most suitable models that have been repeatedly modified from the original models and continuously upgraded and optimized based on actual feedback from the front line. Staying in the office and production workshop, looking at the design drawings and working on it behind closed doors, you can't come up with a final result that satisfies the frontline soldiers.

It is certainly a good thing to get the first batch of IS1 heavy tanks. Malashenko does not ask how powerful the first batch of IS1s are, as long as they can reach a level similar to his own prototype. Because there is a saying that the IS1, which does not seem to have changed much, is actually not a bit better than the original KV1 in actual use.

It is certainly a good thing to obtain such a powerful new heavy tank, but Malashenko obviously has other pressing concerns.

"Comrade Zhukov, I am very happy to receive the support of new heavy tanks, but I would like to know how many IS1 heavy tanks are in this first batch? This is directly related to the combat effectiveness level of our brigade after it is actually formed, and is very important. "

Indeed, Malashenko not only took his tone of voice to the extreme, but Zhukov, who had been having direct conversations with Malashenko, could also see on the other's face that the word "very important" could be said to be almost used by Malashenko at the moment. Shenke had an impatient and serious expression written on his face, impatiently waiting for the answer.

"There is one thing, Malashenko, you need to understand in advance."

Zhukov changed the subject and did not directly answer Malashenko's question, but directly shifted the focus of the question to the prerequisites.

"Moscow is currently in a state of great disagreement over the mass production of new heavy tanks. Those who supported arranging immediate mass production of the production plan at the military committee meeting believed that this would be able to prepare in advance for the Germans' new heavy tank army. "The new German heavy tank captured in Leningrad has fully supported your previous speculation and judgment."

"An 88mm main gun, a frontal defensive armor with a physical thickness of more than 100mm, a higher unit power-to-weight ratio and better mobility than the KV heavy tank. Comrade Kogin told me on the phone that the Germans' new heavy tank is not only too Precise, prone to failure and inconvenient to maintain, it is an almost impeccable war machine. He also supports the immediate mass production of IS1 heavy tanks to prepare for it. "

"but"

Comrade Zhu, who did not finish his words in one breath, made Malashenko extremely anxious. This habit of saying something in mid-sentence and hesitating to speak can simply make people anxious to death! However, due to the huge difference in status, Malashenko did not have an attack and could only endure it. It can be seen that Zhukov himself seemed to be in a state of hesitation about this matter.

"The new heavy tank is almost a new design, and there are very few parts that can be used in common with the original KV heavy tank. Once we decide to mass-produce this new heavy tank, our existing monthly tank production will inevitably be greatly affected and decline. ”

"Workers and engineers need to be retrained, front-line logistics repair personnel also need to supplement their training, and the equipment and processes on the production line need to be updated and changed for the new heavy tanks. All this will take time to complete. But for us currently, we have There is no right to waste this time, this is an issue that no one can guarantee.”

"This is the main reason held by those who do not support the immediate mass production of new heavy tanks. This group of people believe that the current heavy tanks are enough to form a quality advantage over the enemy, so there is no need in the short term to continue to raise the level of potentially unreliable tanks. We sacrifice the quality advantage at the expense of the quantity advantage, and it will not be too late to mass-produce the new heavy tanks of the German army when they appear on a large scale.”