Seeing that the atmosphere at the scene became a little strange, Marshal Keitel, who was not sure what was going on, turned to ask Speer. Only then did he understand that the report the professor mentioned was after the two thoroughly studied the Porsche and Henschel Tiger tank prototypes. Special report formed. The Weapons Bureau believes that compared with Henschel's design, the power system designed by Porsche is more prone to failure and is completely unsuitable for actual combat. In addition, the turret is too far forward, because the gun has been determined after the prototype came out. The 88MM KwK36L/56 gun (improved from the 88MM36L/56 anti-aircraft gun) has a rear barrel length of 4.9 meters, which causes the gun barrel to protrude too much from the front of the car, which not only destroys It affects the balance of the vehicle body itself, and the muzzle brake and turret rotation mechanism are easily damaged when fighting in woodlands or towns. What's more terrible is that once the tank is besieged in an encounter, this layout structure can directly kill the crew members. The fate of the group. In terms of suspension design, the longitudinal torsion bar suspension that Porsche intends to use is not mature enough. Its structure of semi-bevel gears and short hydraulic rods is too complex, and it is easy to break even under the most common conditions of use, affecting the tank's battlefield survival. Capability - Although the overall tone of the report seems relatively peaceful, the shortcomings of Henschel's design are also clearly commented on. But Hoffman knew that the problems caused by Porsche's design could have very serious consequences on the battlefield. On the surface, the report has a non-committal attitude towards both prototypes, but in fact the preference is clear: Weapons Directorate Six prefers the conservatively designed Henschel prototype. Because they are not only more familiar with Henschel's old design style, but also mixed with some personal factors - these technical officers prefer honest, down-to-earth and experienced Henschel engineers, but do not appreciate those who are incompatible with others. Manager, a technician from the Nibelungen factory (where the Porsche tank factory is located) with a "there's someone above me" attitude.
Of course, Colonel Tomal did not dare to say anything about the head of state's practice of "saying one thing and doing another". He might be frightened and shrink back when the head of state glared at him, but Professor Aiboan, who was an intellectual, did not. With so many concerns, he dared to challenge the head of state in such a public place and complain about the weapons bureau.
Keitel was secretly amused: on the one hand, the head of state commented that this was a "very valuable report" and agreed with the conclusions in the report. On the other hand, he agreed to Dr. Porsche's request and instructed Speer to order tanks from Porsche in advance. No matter how you look at it, it is a contradictory behavior. Hoffmann was in trouble and couldn't tell. Although he was the head of state, he was not the one who had a close relationship with Porsche, and he was not the one who made the purchase decision. He simply took the blame for Hitler. Standing in the other party's position, he could understand Professor Ai Boan's emotions. This was the pride and persistence that a scholar should have. To put it bluntly, Hoffman himself had been one of them. For a moment, he couldn't find the right words to express.
Speer looked at Hoffman's embarrassed expression, and then at Dr. Porsche's ugly face. He "understood" everything in his heart, and cleverly smoothed things over: "Professor, you have misunderstood. Porsche Company really wants the Ministry of Armaments to order Vehicles and turrets were also ordered from Krupp, but that was before the implementation of the general mobilization system. After the tank armament rearmament case, all purchase intentions and orders need to be re-examined. In other words, without a clear finalization The Ministry of Armament will not purchase from any company before the production tasks are determined. I did not make this decision, and the head of state did not give corresponding instructions."
Professor Aiboan smiled and nodded, seeming to accept Speer's explanation. At this time, Colonel Tomale, who was sweating profusely, finally came to his senses and was afraid that he would say something embarrassing again, so he didn't care. Being rude, he dragged the professor to the main podium and hurriedly announced the start of the meeting before everyone could sit down.
Hoffmann found the seat that suited him best and sat down. Speer sat on the left hand side. Since Bowman did not come with him today, Marshal Keitel naturally sat on the right hand side of the Führer.
"Führer, it seems that I came to the right place today." Speer said playfully to Hoffmann.
Marshal Keitel, who is usually serious, also wanted to make fun of Hoffman: "My Führer, this is probably the most severe professor you have ever encountered since studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, right?"
Hoffman nodded: "Anyway, this professor is quite cute. The Supreme Command lacks such talents. I think he can be transferred to serve as an armored vehicle development consultant."
This time it was Keitel's turn to look bitter. He turned his head away with difficulty, pretending not to hear the next half of the sentence, and only focusing on the main podium.
Once they entered the professional field, Colonel Tomale and Professor Aiboan returned to their serious faces. The two spoke for nearly an hour in total, expounding on the development and results of new tanks in the past six months and the main existing problems.
Although these reports are typical products of bureaucracy, there is one main purpose that Hoffman strongly agrees with: in order to reduce production pressure and reduce the trouble of product conflicts in various military factories, tank spare parts must be universal. The production of armored vehicles before the Panzer IV ignored this problem. Now the Weapons Directorate has been working on promoting the commonality of parts for the Panzer V and Panzer VI tanks. Although this effort has been carried out by Henschel Company, Porsche Company, Oxburg-Nuremberg Machinery Large companies such as the manufacturing plant (commonly referred to as MAN Company) and Mercedes-Benz Company had little success in the past, but in Hoffman's eyes they represented the right idea. Of course, he can also understand the arrogance of these four companies. It is precisely because Hitler was too fanatical and paranoid about the performance and combat effectiveness of new tanks that led these companies to desperately pile up performance in vehicle design, and have no regard for productivity, ease of maintenance, etc. On the other hand, he adopted a completely ignored attitude. He would not let this mistake happen again.
Hoffman was positive about the overall design of the Tiger: Since it is tasked with supporting medium tanks (this role has been reserved for the Panther), the Tiger's firepower and protection capabilities should be strengthened. Not only should the strongest tanks be used, Artillery and fire control equipment should also adopt thicker protective armor in terms of protection capabilities. As for low mobility due to strong firepower and strong protection, it is acceptable. UU Reading www.uukanshu.com After all, tanks are more important in firepower, The three elements of protection and mobility cannot all be top-notch and need to be fully balanced. However, the existing design has chosen the worst idea. In order to increase the space inside the vehicle and ensure a large amount of ammunition, the designer simply adopted the method of increasing the length, width and height of the vehicle body. At the same time, in order to improve the maneuverability , also used a complex traveling system (combat tracks and transport tracks) and suspension system (8 pairs of triple staggered overlapping road wheels), which greatly increased the weight of the tanks, making them seriously overweight. The design indicators issued by the Weapons Bureau to various companies first increased from the 30 tons in the VK3001 to the 36 tons in the VK3601, and then to the 45 tons in the VK4501. The total weight of the Tiger prototype finally produced exceeded 56 tons. The overweight not only worsens the Tiger tank's maneuverability and battlefield traffic capabilities, but also increases the burden on the driving system, suspension system, engine and gearbox, leading to serious mechanical failures and low combat attendance.
The same tank has one type of track when being transported, and another type of track when it goes to the battlefield. It even has to remove the outermost layer of road wheels to achieve battlefield transportation (Tiger has a total of 8 pairs of triple road wheels. The total number of wheels (48 in total) is such a weird thing that the Third Reich could do. As a time traveler, Hoffmann hates this. Of course, he knew the whole story. The designers were certainly responsible, but most of the blame fell on Hitler, but now he did not intend to continue to take the blame.
Seeing the head of state standing up to speak, all other discussions suddenly stopped, and everyone pricked up their ears to listen.
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