The Rise of the Third Reich

It is already March 1944, and the "winter break" on the European Eastern Front battlefield is almost over. The ice and snow on Russian land began to melt, the permafrost gradually turned into mud, and of course the temperature began to rise. In more than a month at most, the Russian Great Plains will become the most ideal battlefield for mechanized corps operations.

The Soviet-German war, which lasted for nearly two years, would probably be decided between May and November 1944.

It is no exaggeration to say that 1944 will be the decisive year of World War II! The battlefield that can determine the outcome of the war cannot be in the Pacific, but only in Russia.

Today, March 10, 1944, the military conference held in the General Staff Headquarters in Tsossen was not discussing Japan's so-called great victory in the Hawaiian Islands - it was just a small episode before the main topic began.

For the current General Staff of the German Wehrmacht, the war in the Pacific is not important at all. Whether Japan suffered a disastrous defeat or a great victory, it made no difference to Germany - the Japanese were just a tool used to bleed the American aviation force.

The only things that can really determine the outcome of the war now are the Soviet-German battlefield where tens of millions of troops fought and...the atomic bomb!

The latter has been assembled and is just waiting to be tested in the desert of Algeria, France. In fact, Germany had collected 100 kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium-239 as early as the end of 1943, which was enough to assemble 10 missiles according to the technology of later generations. Atomic bomb. However, the current technical level is limited (creating a chain reaction with as little plutonium-239 and uranium-235 charges as possible is a big science, and calculation alone cannot lead to correct conclusions, and trial and error is necessary), but 2 An atomic bomb can still be assembled.

The reason why no test was conducted was mainly because there was something wrong with the pre-selected test site. Because the French government promoted "Europeanization" and "Christianization" in Algeria, it triggered a "War of the Gods" against France and Germany in August 1943.

As a result, France and Germany had to use large armies to suppress the "Holy Fighters" in Algeria. The bloody war lasted until February 1944 and was basically over. However, the planned nuclear test was still postponed.

The delay in nuclear testing is of course also related to the lack of rush to use atomic bombs. The current Soviet-German war has turned into a Soviet-Russian civil war to some extent. If atomic bombs were used to bomb Moscow during the Soviet-Russian Civil War, Empress Olga would be brought to the point of being "extremely politically incorrect."

As for the use of atomic bombs against the United States, Cuba must be captured first, otherwise the Me264 long-range bombers loaded with atomic bombs will have no choice but to break into the United States without escort... This is definitely a way to die!

In addition, according to reliable intelligence obtained by Germany, the United States' atomic bomb project is progressing very slowly.

Not only did they lack enough scientists, but they also did not have enough uranium metal for research - all the high-quality uranium ore produced in the Belgian Congo in Africa that was historically shipped to the United States fell into German hands. Therefore, the Manhattan Project in the United States had to start with prospecting and mining.

Although the Americans quickly found a uranium mine in the Big Bear Lake area of ​​Ontario, Canada (this mine had existed in the 1930s, and was mainly used to produce radium, but the output was not high), they also obtained several tons of uranium ore. But the quantity is too small to be of any use. We can only wait patiently for the uranium mine to expand production and dig out enough ore before the Manhattan Project can really take off. However, due to the lack of enough top scientists, the progress of the Manhattan Project is still slow, and it now lags far behind Germany.

So in the race to build an atomic bomb, Germany undoubtedly won. Therefore, this matter is not what needs to be discussed at today's General Staff Operations Meeting. The main content of today's meeting is only one, which is to defeat the Soviet Union!

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"According to the reliable intelligence we have," Lieutenant General Geiger, director of the Military Intelligence Bureau of the General Staff, was the first to speak when the meeting officially began to discuss the issue of combating the Soviet Union. "In the past few months, led by Stalin, The Soviet authorities have been actively preparing for the final decisive battle. They have not only recruited a large number of Red Army troops, but also developed and produced the JS-2 heavy tank, which is said to be able to defeat our Tiger tanks.

According to Red Army officials who defected to the Russian Empress's government, this JS-2 heavy tank weighs about 45 tons, is equipped with a 122mm main gun, and the thickest part of the frontal armor reaches 120mm! Moreover, the development of the heavier JS-3 tank is currently accelerating and is expected to be put into use in 1944.

In addition, the Soviet Air Force also received a large amount of assistance from the United States. The Yak-9 and Lager-5/Lager-7 fighter jets were developed. It is expected to pose a certain threat to our Fw-190 series and Fokker Zero series. "

Although the Soviet Union has now lost its most important industrial bases in Eastern Ukraine and Leningrad, Stalin and the Soviet heavy industry sector did not give up their efforts to find more powerful heavy tanks.

In fact, the Soviet Union, which is currently on a strategic defensive, needs heavy tanks with sufficient armor and firepower more than Germany. Because the Red Army on the defensive does not have high requirements for the mobility of tanks. What they need are heavy tanks or assault artillery that can fire to destroy the enemy in a stationary state and at the same time withstand the fire counterattack of enemy tanks.

Therefore, the JS-2 heavy tank with a 122mm main gun and strong armor became Stalin's hope for turning the tide of the war. Its importance is almost similar to the German King Tiger heavy tank at the same time in history.

However, the King Tiger did not appear in Germany during a strategic offensive in this time and space. This nearly 70-ton tank was too heavy for the roads and bridges in the Soviet Union.

Therefore, a weight of about 50 tons has now become the upper limit of the total combat weight of a tank that the German Wehrmacht can accept - in fact, the total combat weight of the JS-2 heavy tank is only 45-46 tons.

The weight-shrunk Tiger tanks and E-50 tanks are in line with the tanks currently needed by the German Wehrmacht.

After several months of research and development and full production, Tiger H tanks and E-50A tanks have now become the main force of the German armored forces.

Among them, the Tiger H tank adopts the same 6-pair road wheel design as the E-50 tank, and its total combat weight is further reduced to 45 tons. It is also more reliable and durable than the previous E-type, F-type and G-type. The speed has also been accelerated a lot, with the maximum speed reaching 48 kilometers per hour, and the maximum off-road speed reaching 24 kilometers per hour. Therefore, there is the possibility of replacing the Type 4 H tank as the main tank of the German armored forces.

At present, all German armored regiments adopt a mixed approach of Tiger H tanks and Panzer 4 H tanks. Each tank regiment has a medium tank battalion equipped with Type 4 H tanks (full strength of 88 vehicles), and a heavy tank battalion equipped with Tiger H tanks (full strength of 66 vehicles). The number of tanks per tank regiment was therefore reduced to 154.

When the Tiger H type began to replace the No. 4 H type, the total combat weight reached 55 tons (5 tons heavier than the prototype E-50-0), and its performance was correspondingly improved. The front armor thickness increased to 130mm/ The E-50A tank (with a 50-degree inclination angle and a theoretical defense capability equivalent to 202mm of vertical armor) replaced the original Tiger tank and became the main tank of the heavy armor battalion.

Currently, all 26 armored divisions are assigned a heavy armor battalion equipped with 44 E-50A tanks and 22 Panzer IV H tanks.

While equipping a large number of Tiger H tanks and E-50A tanks, the German military industry department developed two tank destroyers based on the Tiger H tanks, one of which was named the "Cheetah" tank destroyer. .

The reason why it is called "Cheetah" instead of "Hunter" is because the current Tiger H tank is the product of "tiger-leopard fusion". The "Panther" tank that briefly appeared in 1942 was not eliminated, but was It was integrated into the Tiger, so in order to commemorate the "Panther" tank, the Directorate General of Armor of the German Wehrmacht named this latest tank destroyer "Cheetah".

In fact, the appearance of this "Cheetah" tank destroyer is very similar to the historical "Cheetah", except that the chassis uses 6 pairs of road wheels instead of staggered road wheels. In addition, the main gun selection did not use the same 88mmL/71 gun as the E-50A, but the 105mmL/68 gun newly developed by Krupp.

However, the powerful "Cheetah" does not have a large number of equipment troops. The German Wehrmacht only used them to form a dozen heavy tank destroyer battalions directly under the group army to deal with possible Soviet "super tanks".

The "Assault Tiger" self-propelled gun (weighing 60 tons), also based on the Tiger H tank, was also developed at the end of 1943 and equipped with troops. This self-propelled artillery was developed for the upcoming street battles in Moscow. It has a 380mm mortar that can fire rockets to destroy any building.

In addition, there was also a bizarre "Crash Tiger" obstacle-destroying tank that also appeared at the end of 1943. This "obstacle-destroying tank" belongs to the equipment of combat engineers. A streamlined protruding superstructure was added to the site of the eliminated Tiger E tank, and a plowshare or push shovel was optionally installed in the front. This "tank" can be used to destroy enemy obstacles, bury enemy bunkers and trenches, and clear mines.

This "crash tiger" was of course tailor-made to bury Comrade Stalin's red country!