The Rise of the Empire

"Your Excellency, Commander, the French tanks are coming up. This position may be breached at any time. You'd better go to the headquarters first." A staff officer said to Kruger anxiously.

"No, I'm right here. I want to watch how the French and British break my position!" Kruger said stubbornly. This is not just a matter of impulse, he really wants to know what the situation is like on the front line, why the attacks that he originally thought would be easy failed and were frustrated again and again, and how did the French's simple infantry pig tactic of rushing and accelerating cannon follow-up become so powerful? ? If this problem is not figured out, the German offensive will not be successful. Moreover, this time Kruger came well prepared and brought a complete armored battalion. Even if the opponent breaks through the defense line, this armored battalion can quickly seal off the enemy. Plug the gap.

The French finally began to attack, and the bursts of whistling across the horizon made Kruger's expression change. As a German army commander, he was at least a qualified artillery officer. From the sound of the shells flying and the explosion after landing, Judging from the damage caused, this is definitely the power of an ultra-long-range heavy artillery. With one shot, there is no living thing within a diameter of 100 meters! A large crater with a depth of about 4 meters and a radius of more than 20 meters was blasted! Is this a train cannon? !

This is really a non-war crime. Using field artillery to fight train artillery, how can you win? The Allied Powers' ultra-long-range artillery fire rate is not very fast, and the number is not too large, but it still puts huge pressure on the German army. Every time the heavy artillery shells flying from time to time hit the ground, it was a catastrophe, and the violent vibrations caused hundreds of meters. Everyone outside the country feels deep fear. Under the long-term suppression of long-range heavy artillery, most of Germany's 150MM and 210MM howitzers simply did not dare to stay in one place for a long time.

Although the German Army is equipped with the K09 150MM long-range cannon, this thing is too lethal for a train gun with complete position protection. Moreover, the number is too small and the range has no advantage, so it is very difficult to fight.

Fortunately, in addition to a relatively limited number of train guns, the French artillery is still dominated by 75MM artillery. The tactics are basically bayonets on the artillery and rapid shooting at close range. This tactic does not seem to be very powerful, at least so far. From morning to now, the French's two rounds of attacks have been easily crushed. Although the heavy howitzer troops must always beware of train gun attacks, as long as certain anti-slope positions or artillery in blind spots can be used, they can block the French. The infantry attack is still enough.

But soon, the real test came. "The French are also equipped with a lot of tanks. The quantity and quality of their tanks are pretty good. This is our biggest threat." Looking at the Renault tanks appearing on the horizon and FT10 armored vehicle, a frontline officer's face turned slightly pale.

An armored echelon composed of more than a dozen FT10 armored vehicles and more than 20 Renaults launched a straight attack front. Behind them were a large number of French infantry, accompanied by some 75MM rapid-fire artillery batteries. Compared with the French army in history, the French's tactics seem to have not changed much except for adding some armored units, but that's it, leaving the Germans with nothing to eat!

The attacker always has an advantage over the defender. The attacker can choose the time and location of the attack, and can concentrate its forces. If the situation is not right, it can slow down, change the configuration, and then attack again. In a place where there is no danger to defend, the defender's advantage is very limited, especially when the long-range artillery is suppressed. The various reinforcement divisions on the front line can only use the equipment on hand to deal with the French.

At a distance of 600 meters,

The German Army's 77MM rapid-fire gun started firing, and shells flew towards the advancing French tanks. One of the Renault infantry tanks was directly hit. The violent explosion directly reduced the tank, which weighed no more than 6 tons, into a Stacking parts, but soon, this exposed reinforcement position was attacked by crossfire from the 37-gun Renault tank and the 75MM rapid-fire gun of the FT10 tank. The French rapid-fire gun's rate of fire advantage was fully exerted at this moment, one minute Inside, dozens of artillery shells landed on the exposed gun positions. After a burst of fire, the entire artillery position was wiped out from the position.

Everything that happened next repeated this process. The concealed-firing 77MM rapid-fire gun had the opportunity to kill several French tanks first, but it would soon be killed by the concentrated firepower of the French armored forces who reacted. After a brief exchange, the Germans Almost the same number of tanks were replaced with the same number of anti-tank guns. The exchange ratio is not ugly, but the problem is that the number of 77MM rapid-fire guns on a defense line is too few. The anti-tank guns on our side are gone, and there are still a lot of tanks on the opposite side!

The rest of the battle was one-sided, with the bullets fired from the machine guns hitting weakly and creating little sparks on the armor plates of the French tanks. Then it was easily shot down by the 75MM gun. Some mortar positions survived longer, but they were only alive and did not have much impact on the battle situation. After the German army's machine guns and artillery, the two magic weapons for defeating the enemy, were finished, the German army was tactically on the same level as the French. Level...

"Let the 7th Armored Battalion attack. Now that I'm here, I can't let this defense line be breached." Kruger thought for a while and said.

Armored vehicles and No. 1 tanks produced by Krupp and Rheinmetall appeared from the rear of the position. This was the first time the French saw such a large-scale appearance of German armored units, French cuirassiers and German Teutonic knights. Finally the first large-scale armor collision took place.

Bang bang bang. The sound of the 37MM rapid-fire cannon sounded. Unlike the Bavarian armored forces, German armored units generally emphasize fast and light. After all, they need to cross the entire Belgium to fight in France, so the so-called artillery equipped on the tank is also a 37MM cannon, which is similar to the French Renault tank. Almost at the same level, this kind of tank has no problem against infantry, but it is a little difficult to fight against FT10 armored vehicles.

There were no armor-piercing projectiles in this era, and armor penetration relied on kinetic energy. However, the muzzle velocity was only about 300 meters. The 37-gun, which can almost be described as a grenade, was enough to deal with Renault tanks, but it also faced a frontal armor thickness of 15MM with a certain inclination. The FT10 tank with additional steel plates is hanging. As for armored vehicles? These things that only have machine guns are probably just useless in armored battles.

This was the first armored confrontation in World War I. The tactics of both sides were extremely rough. The armored personnel of both sides almost pointed their weapons at the nearest opponent and fired vigorously. From time to time, tanks were hit and set on fire. In this battle, the French Renault performed better than the No. 1 tank. At least they used the long-barreled 37 gun, which had a higher muzzle velocity and better penetration! The 37MM gun equipped on the No. 1 tank is almost the original British 1-pound gun, and it has not yet installed a drum magazine. Because space does not allow it.

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