Bab 177: Chapter 255 The French Doomsday (25)
It seems that in every country during the war, several classic weapons and equipment could be developed. The United States has its nuclear bombs, and even the relatively weak Italy has some commendable weapons and equipment. For example, the Italian 1935 Obice da 210/22 Heavy Howitzer is undoubtedly one of the best artillery pieces of World War II. Even the discerning Germans acknowledged its excellence. After Italy's surrender, the German army directly took over the production of this howitzer at the Ansaldo factory and requested its continued production. Its performance specifications were similar to the German 21 cm Mörser 18 Heavy Howitzer, which was standardized in 1938.
In addition, there are many other weapons worth mentioning, such as the Beretta M1938 submachine gun, the MC.202 fighter plane, the Vittorio Veneto-class battleship, and more.
Apart from the famous T-34, Katyusha, and PPSh-41 submachine gun, the Soviet Union also had a weapon that was the most effective and creative against tank armored vehicles: the PTAB bomb.
In the early stages of the war, the Il-2 ground-attack aircraft, although equipped with machine guns, 23mm autocannons, 50-250kg aviation bombs, and rockets, among other weapons, found these weapons more or less inadequate when dealing with German tanks. The 23mm autocannon was effective against light armored vehicles, but facing the gradually entering heavy tanks of the Germans left much to be desired. Although the later addition of 37mm and 45mm autocannons enhanced armor penetration, it significantly affected the aircraft's performance, posing a drawback. The 82mm and 132mm RS-82/132 rockets could effectively strike German tanks, but due to technical limitations, their accuracy was very limited, making them suitable only for targeting clustered objectives. While a single aviation bomb could turn a tank into parts, the limitations of the Il-2's attack mode, the pilot's training level, and the high-speed relative motion between the aircraft and tanks made accurate hits not so easy.
This was when the PTAB-2.5-1.5 anti-tank bomb made a brilliant debut.
The structure of the PTAB was very simple, consisting of a top spherical cylindrical body and a stabilizer at the tail. The external structure weighed 0.75kg, and it contained 0.7kg of high-performance explosive. The total weight did not exceed 1.5kg.
The body diameter was 66mm, and the stabilizer diameter was 85mm. The steel plates used to manufacture the body and stabilizer were 0.6mm thick. To increase the fragmentation produced during the explosion and enhance the attack power against enemy soft targets, a 1.5mm thick fragmentation sleeve made of steel was added to the cylindrical part of the body. Due to its relatively "compact" size, a single Il-2 attack aircraft's bomb bay could carry over two hundred PTABs.
Its attack principle was very simple: because the bomb was small, its cost was low. The Il-2 aircraft, flying at ultra-low altitudes, could release a large number of bombs all at once, causing a carpet-like bombing under the aircraft's belly. As long as one bomb struck the armor of an enemy tank, the high-temperature explosion would cause the bomb to adhere to the tank's armor. Meanwhile, the armor-piercing projectile inside the bomb would penetrate inward, and its powerful armor-piercing ability allowed it to penetrate through the weak top armor. After penetration, it relied on the high-speed, incandescent metal jet to kill the crew inside the vehicle, ignite the vehicle's fuel tank, or even detonate the ammunition stored inside the vehicle.
During the initial development of the PTAB in the original timeline, the Soviet army conducted armor penetration depth tests using captured 3rd Assault Guns. It was found that when directly impacting vertically, the penetration depth could reach 52mm, sufficient to penetrate weak top armor. Even when the impact angle was 30 degrees, the penetration depth could reach 30mm.
During reliability tests, the test aircraft flew at a speed of 280 km/h, dropping PTABs from a height of 50 to 100 meters. All bombs could detonate normally.
In practical combat, the PTAB demonstrated tremendous efficiency. Theoretically, if one Il-2 aircraft flies at a speed of 340-360 km/h at an altitude of 200 meters, the released PTABs are sufficient to cover a wide area of approximately 15 meters in width and 200 meters in length. The Soviet army discovered that many enemy vehicles attacked by PTABs in battle suffered severe damage, completely losing their combat capabilities. Some even experienced ammunition detonations and vehicle disintegration. This highly cost-effective weapon, weighing only 1.5 kg, required minimal training for use, making it well-suited for wartime mass production and deployment.
In practical combat, one Il-2 ground-attack aircraft could carry four submunition dispensers on each side of the fuselage. Each dispenser near the fuselage contained 72 PTABs, while the outer dispensers carried 68 bombs each. This meant that each Il-2 aircraft had a terrifying payload of 280 bombs. During an attack, the aircraft would rapidly fly over at low altitude, releasing bomb dispensers in the air, causing hundreds of PTABs to rain down like a storm on the enemy forces—a veritable metal storm.
Currently, Charles de Gaulle was experiencing the terrifying metal storm firsthand, and he felt like crying without tears.
"Quick, shoot down those damn planes!!" Regardless of how hysterically he shouted, it still couldn't prevent one tank after another from exploding.
Nearly a hundred Il-2 attack aircraft hovered above Charles de Gaulle's tank division, continuously releasing PTABs.
Charles de Gaulle deeply felt God's malice towards France. This gathering represented the last hope of the French tank division. Originally two severely understrength armored divisions, they were combined by Charles de Gaulle into one, supplemented by one armored brigade supported by the British—totaling over three hundred tanks.
Once this tank division suffered heavy losses, France's demise would not just be sensational; it would become a grim reality.
"Quick, call for air support!" In fact, he had already seen the German fighter group circling in the high sky. Now everyone knew that the British and French fighter planes were simply no match for the German fighters. Even if air support arrived in time, it was likely to be powerless.
But he still desperately tried to salvage France's fate. "All weapons, fire at the sky!!"
Whether it was the sparse anti-aircraft guns, soldiers' machine guns and rifles, or even officers' pistols—all were desperately fired at the Il-2 attack aircraft in the sky.
To drop the bombs, Il-2 attack aircraft lowered their flight altitude to below 200 meters, and their speed did not exceed 300 km/h, making them seemingly easy targets.
However, the ground forces fired continuously for a long time, but not a single aircraft crashed. Charles de Gaulle even saw a nearby heavy machine gun firing at one Il-2 attack aircraft until the entire ammunition clip was emptied, with at least three or four tracer rounds hitting the aircraft. Considering that machine guns usually load one tracer round for every five bullets, it meant that the aircraft was hit by at least a dozen bullets, yet it remained unscathed.
Although it was a 7.5mm caliber, even if a fighter plane was hit by so many bullets, it should have shown some reaction.
What he didn't know was that the Il-2 was the world's first heavily armored ground-attack aircraft, constructed with steel instead of the aluminum commonly used in other aircraft; key parts such as the cockpit, fuel tank, and engine had thick armor protection. It could take a beating better than other planes, earning it the nickname "flying tank".
Finally, one 20mm anti-aircraft shell hit an Il-2 attack aircraft. However, the aircraft did not explode and disintegrate in the air. Instead, it descended with thick smoke for a considerable distance before stabilizing its body just dozens of meters above the ground. It then wobbled and flew in the direction it came from.
Charles de Gaulle stared in astonishment at this unbelievable scene, not knowing what to say. "How sturdy is this aircraft?"
Regardless of how sturdy it was, the Il-2 group, which dropped nearly 20,000 PTAB bombs, did not linger. They departed in the direction they came from.
Charles de Gaulle looked despondently at the tank division enveloped in thick smoke, with only one desperate thought in his mind.
France, it's over!
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