Transmigrated as the Crown Prince

When he heard the news that the No. 101 railway bridge had been blown up, Yannick couldn't help but whistle. Even if a section of railway track on flat ground is destroyed, it can be easily repaired and reopened to traffic. However, if a bridge is blown up, it cannot be repaired in a day or two. Moreover, even if the Soviets restored traffic as quickly as possible regardless of the cost, there would still be many places where they would destroy the nearly 10,000 kilometers of railway lines.

Even if there are mountains of supplies shipped by the Americans to the Far East, what's the use if they can't be transported to the front line.

Yannik continued to think about how to deal with the surrounded Soviet troops in Ukraine and Belarus. It is unrealistic to engage in street fighting in so many cities. If they were to fight like Stalingrad in the original time and space, how long would it last and how much would it cost?

After thinking for a long time, Yannick picked up the phone. "Dr. Goebbels, let those Ukrainian and Belarusian soldiers write letters of surrender. Everyone must write it. If you are illiterate, you can find someone else to write it. After you finish writing, make more copies and distribute them to those cities." After all, most of the population of these cities is Letters of persuasion to surrender from Belarusian and Ukrainian compatriots should be somewhat effective. Moreover, it will not be long before the lean autumn. There are suddenly so many troops in these cities, and the food is unlikely to be sufficient. Even if they are sleepy, they can be trapped alive. There is no need to engage in brutal street fighting.

The next day, Yannick was convening a meeting with senior military officials, and Reinhard walked in hurriedly. "Your Highness, the US Army tested a new type of rocket launcher yesterday. It uses an armor-piercing rocket with a tail fin. It has an effective range of 100 meters and can penetrate a steel plate about 130 mm thick!"

"The penetration depth is 130 millimeters?!" Upon hearing this, the faces of everyone present showed a little solemnity. Penetrating 130 mm steel plate means that it can easily destroy the Jackal tank and even threaten the Panther tank. This is not good news.

Yannick saw that the name of this rocket launcher was the famous "Bazooka" anti-tank rocket. The nickname "bazooka" comes from a wind instrument played by American radio comedian Bob Burns. Although this is just a popular nickname and not a formal military term, this name is popular and has been passed down to future generations.

During World War II, the American "Bazooka" anti-tank rocket fundamentally changed infantry anti-tank tactics, giving infantry the means to destroy tanks at a certain distance. I wonder if future American soldiers ever thought that they were the instigators when faced with the RPG anti-tank rocket launchers flying across the battlefield in Iraq.

During World War II and for a long time after World War II, the "Bazooka" series of rocket launchers were among the best anti-tank weapons owned by the U.S. Army. As the originator of equal-caliber rocket launchers, its fame dwarfs other anti-tank weapons of the same period. Some even assert that the invention of the "Bazooka" was the United States' greatest contribution to the development of anti-tank weapons during World War II.

British anti-tank weapons are somewhat helpless. Whether it is weapons, technology or tactics, they all lag behind others. None of the anti-tank weapons invented by Britain during World War II was passed down after the war, which shows its dilemma. Soviet infantry anti-tank weapons are generally associated with the word "heroic". The Soviet infantry was not equipped with many novel weapons, so they often had to rush at German tanks with grenades and Molotov cocktails. Many of them never came back. Therefore, the Soviet infantry truly interpreted the ultimate essence of infantry anti-tank combat - being brave and fearless. As the Allied forces' billowing iron current approached from the east and west directions, Germany's anti-tank technology and tactics were also rapidly heating up. Although the "Iron Fist" could not save the German army from the inevitable fate of defeat, it opened the way for later rocket launchers and became a milestone in the history of infantry weapons.

Seeing the sketch of the US military's new rocket launcher displayed on the wall by a slide projector, the crowd in the audience was filled with indignation. "These shameless Yankees plagiarized our 'Tank Killer'!"

Yannick almost laughed out loud. After witnessing the bazooka's battlefield performance in the original time and space, the Germans, who were good at learning, began to imitate the work. They used samples seized in the North African battlefield to create a German version of the bazooka rocket launcher, named "Tank Killer". The German army, which advocated high power, changed the caliber of the rocket launcher to 88 mm.

However, the practicality of this "tank killer" is not good. Voices from the German frontline troops believe that they also need a simpler and more effective disposable anti-tank weapon that can be used by individual soldiers. Under the urgent request of the military, the military industry The department stepped up research and development and finally produced an anti-tank weapon and equipment called "Iron Fist" in March 1943. After the war, the Soviets made RPG rocket launchers based on the German Panzerfaust.

"Don't worry too much. You have also seen that the American anti-tank rocket launcher needs to be within a hundred meters (and its penetration depth is only 100 mm), which shows that the accuracy of this thing is not high."

Rundstedt couldn't help but feel worried. "Your Highness, if the Soviets use these weapons for street fighting..."

The engagement distance in street fighting can be as short as a dozen meters or even a few meters. A single rocket can destroy one of your own tanks. That is a big loss. But if the armored troops do not enter the urban area and only the infantry engages in street fighting, the losses will be even greater.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty Marshal." Yannick said with great relief. "As early as when we equipped the 'Iron Fist' and the 'Anti-Tank Killer', I expected that one day our enemies would also be equipped with the same type of weapons, so I had already thought of countermeasures. And it is very simple, as long as we give our tanks Just put on the grille.”

Later generations of tanks have a variety of armors, such as ceramic armor, composite armor, reactive armor, and even high-tech advanced equipment such as tank active defense systems. Most people will ignore a civilian-style tank armor that is both simple and cheap—" Grille Armor".

To put it nicely, armor is nothing more than a pile of iron fences without any technical content. It is just a grid-like fence made of welded iron rods or steel bars, and then fixed on the periphery of a tank or armored vehicle. Generally, the distance from the car body ranges from a few centimeters to dozens of centimeters.

This thing was thought up by the Soviets during World War II. During the Soviet-German War, the German "Iron Fist" posed an increasingly serious threat to Soviet tanks. One day, the Soviet Army had a sudden idea and welded a "wire bed" around the tank. Found it to be quite effective against "Iron Fist".

It is said that during the battle to capture Berlin in 1945, a T-34 tank with an external "wire bed" was suddenly attacked by eight German "Iron Fist" anti-tank rockets. However, 5 of them were detonated in advance by the "wire bed", and the remaining 3 were actually hung on it and became dumb bombs. The T-34 continued to fight as if nothing was wrong.

In this way, this civilian armor was later adopted by many countries (the United States adopted it extensively during the Vietnam War), and finally evolved into grille armor.