章 170: Chapter 248 The French Doomsday (18)
If meticulous, perfectionist Germans with what seems like late-stage obsessive-compulsive disorder were to design it, they probably wouldn't be able to come up with a "godlike" vehicle like the Hetzer Tank Destroyer.
The Hetzer has a length of 6.83 meters (chassis length 4.77 meters), and with the bottom machine gun included, its height is only 2.17 meters. The width of the vehicle is 2.123 meters, leading to a relatively narrow interior space. In order to install a large-recoil cannon in such a confined space, designers had to place the cannon slightly to the right of the entire tank's axis. The result is an offset center of gravity for the entire Hetzer tank.
Wilhelm thought the 50mm KwK 39L/60 tank gun would suffice for a while, so the original timeline's 75mm StuK 40L/43 anti-tank gun wasn't mounted. With other improvements, the current pressure on the Hetzer's right side is around 500 kilograms, better than the original timeline's Hetzer (850 kg).
Designs that are asymmetric like this already make German designers uncomfortable.
As is well known, the Tiger tank and Panther tank used a interleaved road wheel structure. This structure was adopted because the rubber on the edges of the road wheels had insufficient load-bearing capacity, forcing Germany to find ways to install more road wheels to support the weight of the entire tank within the limited length of the vehicle.
For the torsion bar structure, engineers would need to install more torsion bars—Tiger and Panther tanks had as many as 16 torsion bars. This immediately negated the simple structural advantages of torsion bars. Another reason for the more complicated walking mechanism of the Tiger and Panther was a decision made by German designers themselves—they couldn't tolerate the asymmetry of their tank's road wheels. Thus, they chose to make the interleaved road wheels symmetrical on both sides.
Due to the position of the cannon, the personnel arrangement is also completely different from other tanks. The driver is at the forefront, behind him is the gunner, and behind the gunner is the loader—three people arranged in a vertical line, one behind the other. Behind the gun is the tank commander, who also assumes the responsibility of the radio operator.
In this way, four people sit in an L-shaped arrangement in the cramped space, and there are only two exits on the roof—one for the tank commander and the others must use the exit behind the loader. The drawbacks of this arrangement are evident; once destroyed in war, at most, two of the four crew members can escape—the tank commander and the loader. Whether the driver and gunner can survive depends entirely on the will of God.
Although all of this is enough to make German designers pursuing perfection collapse, the army expresses considerable satisfaction.
The front of this tank destroyer is equipped with 60mm thick armor with a slope of 60 degrees, and the bottom of the vehicle also has 60mm thick armor at a slope angle of 40 degrees. There is also 20mm sloping armor on the sides and rear. Although 20mm armor cannot withstand the attacks of enemy tank guns or anti-tank guns, it is more than enough to defend against bullets and shrapnel.
Although the 160 horsepower engine isn't very powerful, the Hetzer Tank Destroyer weighs only a dozen tons. It can reach a highway speed of 42 kilometers per hour, demonstrating excellent mobility. This is far superior to towed artillery that requires cars, and when there are no cars, horses must pull them. In contrast, the Hetzer Tank Destroyer, with its self-propelled capability, is much better, and it can even double as a tank when necessary! Where else can you find such a good weapon?!
Moreover, the simplicity and durability of the Hetzer Tank Destroyer's structure are also significant highlights. Weapons equipped for infantry don't need to be very delicate because the more delicate something is, the more challenging it is to control, and the higher the likelihood of malfunctions.
Take, for example, the famous Gatling machine gun, which was initially a dominating force with a terrifying firing rate of 1200 rounds per minute when it first appeared in 1882.
However, this seemingly formidable weapon disappeared from the scene for a while, not even making an appearance in World War I or World War II.
The reason is that its biggest weakness lies in the fact that during enemy charges on the battlefield, the shooter's proximity to the enemy continuously increases, causing heightened emotions. This results in uncontrollable, almost manic rotations of the handle, leading to overheating and barrel ruptures.
Therefore, what infantry needs is a large quantity of cheap, easy-to-use, low-maintenance, simple equipment.
This round of firing destroyed five French B1 heavy tanks, and the counterattack of the French tanks barely grazed these Hetzers.
At a distance of four hundred meters, on the battlefield, this length can be considered neither short nor long. A charging force can run this distance and breach the enemy's positions in just a few minutes.
Of course, this also means that they have entered the effective range of almost all weapons except pistols and grenades for the defending side. In history, situations have occurred where an attacking force, even after shedding much blood, couldn't break through this short distance.
Although the attacking French, accompanied by tanks, have just experienced heavy rain, making the ground muddy and significantly reducing the mobility of these large vehicles. The B1 heavy tanks, weighing over 30 tons, are particularly affected, with two tanks even getting stuck in the mud and unable to move. They can only adjust the turret to fire at the German positions on the high ground, quite embarrassed.
The rest of the Somua S35 medium tanks and Renault R35 light tanks are also advancing sluggishly, occasionally stopping to fire a shot.
Perhaps losing confidence in the performance of their own tanks, French infantry has even surpassed the tanks on both sides and recklessly launched a charge towards the high ground. The accompanying officers did not stop the detachment between soldiers and tanks; they just shouted at the soldiers to maintain the charging formation.
"Tsk, what kind of infantry-tank coordination is this?" David looked at the opponent's formation, which had turned into a strange formation with infantry in front and tanks behind, charging towards the high ground. He couldn't help but shake his head.
French soldiers, treading on the muddy ground, struggled to reach a point over 200 meters away from the German positions. At this point, they had already thrown their tanks over a hundred meters away.
"Fire!"
Suddenly, intense gunfire erupted from the German positions. The high ground was defended by a battalion, and the German organization followed the standard three-three structure (above the division level, it might not be the case). This battalion had 27 squads, meaning there were 27 MG3 squads equipped with machine guns.
Of course, these 27 machine guns couldn't fire simultaneously. After all, machine gun positions were the enemy's primary targets, and it wasn't possible to stay in one place and continuously output firepower.
Machine guns had to frequently shift positions, so these machine guns had to take turns firing to maintain stable firepower output and prevent the enemy from taking advantage.
98K rifles, MP44 assault rifles, MG3 machine guns—all of them opened fire, and the dense firepower forced the French soldiers, who had charged to within 200 meters, to retreat step by step. The first row of French soldiers was instantly torn into pieces by the formidable firepower. The soldiers following them, like cutting wheat, were knocked down in rows, unable to break through to the two hundred meters range.
The vigorous attack by French infantry was abruptly halted in an instant. The new recruits scrambled in the Germans' crazy barrage, and the veterans fell to the ground, holding their heads.
At this moment, German mortar shells continuously fell into the crowd, turning into countless fragments, tearing apart the fragile human bodies, continuously bringing down one French soldier after another.
クリエイターの想い 
Batorian
Batorian The name Hetzer (German for "chaser") was never an official or suggestive name used for this vehicle. It was the designation for a related prototype, the E-10. The Škoda factory for a very short period confused the two names in its documentation and the very first unit equipped with the vehicle thus for a few weeks applied the incorrect name until matters were clarified.
However, there exists a briefing paper from Heinz Guderian to Hitler saying that an unofficial name, Hetzer, had spontaneously been coined by the troops. Post-war historians basing themselves on this statement made the name popular in their works.
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