It's better to conquer them than to command the steel torrent

Chapter 188 | The Heart of the Tank

Without a doubt, the Tiger tank was a legendary war machine.

Throughout its century-long history, the Tiger tank has earned worldwide renown, even becoming synonymous with the German armored forces.

Correspondingly, opinions on the Tiger model are mixed.

There's a saying that goes, "Buy early and enjoy early, buy late and enjoy discounts," and this applies to the Tiger model as well.

The Tiger's design was too conservative—it featured straightforward vertical armor and difficult-to-maintain staggered road wheels.

However, what brought it success also brought it failure. Benefiting from its conservative and mature design, the Tiger was developed too early, appearing on the Eastern Front as early as the second half of 1942.

苏军要到整整一年后才拿出IS-1重型坦克，而IS-1并不能做到全方位胜过虎式，于是只生产了67辆，真正强而有力的IS-2重型坦克一直到四四年初才量产；能够在中近距离击穿德军虎式坦克正面垂直装甲的T-34/85也是到了这个时候初才开始量产。

For a year and a half, the Tiger pistol enjoyed a significant advantage, capitalizing on the time difference and creating a legendary reputation.

Shank considered himself a rather pragmatic person, and his decision to come to Henschel to seek benefits after overcoming numerous difficulties was by no means wishful thinking.

Considering that the main battle tank project could yield results within four years at the latest, Shank felt that the Great Unified Federation had no need to develop heavy tanks.

However, heavy tanks are indispensable; something must always play the role of 'battlefield pillar and spearhead'.

In the meantime, it would be better to use an existing character as a temporary substitute.

Therefore, the Tiger model, with its relatively mature design, became a very worthwhile target to consider.

Another inconspicuous detail is the tank engine.

Although various tanks have shone brightly during the great wars throughout history, apart from the Germans, the tank engines of other countries have been less than satisfactory. Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union all lacked high-horsepower dedicated tank engines—either they were underpowered or they had to make do with aircraft engines.

The Americans' most impressive engine was the Ford GAF ​​gasoline engine, with a maximum power of 500 horsepower, which was used in the M26 Pershing heavy tank.

The Russians' most impressive engine is the improved V-2 diesel engine, with a maximum power of 520 horsepower, which is used in the IS-2 heavy tank.

The Germans, on the other hand, have a superior Maybach. The early Maybach HL210 could output 650 horsepower, while the improved HL230 could output 700 horsepower.

The technical challenge of tank engines lies in achieving a balance between small size, high reliability, and high output power.

To be honest, Shank was very worried that the main battle tank project would ultimately fail due to the lack of a powerful 'heart'.

After all, the advanced scientific research level of the Great Unified Federation is not much stronger than that of Britain and the United States, and there is no guarantee that something won't go wrong.

This was a major driving force that made him decide to come and try his luck.

We can do without the Tiger engine, but if we can get the Maybach engine back, it will definitely be a profitable deal.

"Load all the original documents related to the VK3001 and VK4001 projects onto the truck!"

"All technical data on Hs123 attack aircraft and Hs126 reconnaissance aircraft have been destroyed! Both originals and copies!"

The employees were busy running around.

The snowstorm had subsided a bit, but there was still a lot of snow, and people were slipping and falling from time to time.

Just how heavy were the tens of thousands of blueprints and test files? Three trucks were definitely not enough to hold them all. So, Shank and his team 'requisitioned' five more Henschel and Opel trucks.

As everyone worked together, countless documents were brought out.

Henschel handled all documents related to military projects, dismantling the originals into numerous copies and hiding them, while burning the copies.

Anyway, that's what Mr. Shang instructed. He wasn't afraid of making things worse, and to his surprise, both Manager Vogt and Dr. Schmidt agreed.

The blueprints and files were piled up like mountains; security personnel poured gasoline on them and set them on fire.

A column of black smoke rose up, and the intense heat of the flames quickly melted the surrounding snow.

Seeing the two men calmly gazing at the expensive campfire, Shank asked curiously, "Manager Vogt, Dr. Schmidt, so many people's hard work has been burned like this, yet you don't seem to be upset?"

"It's better than falling into enemy hands," Vogt chuckled.

“There’s an Eastern proverb that perfectly describes the current situation—better to be a broken piece of jade than a whole piece of tile,” Dr. Schmidt said quietly.

“We have only failed temporarily, temporarily,” Vogt said earnestly. “Walland has failed many times in its history, but after every failure there has always been a glorious victory, and I firmly believe that.”

“I don’t think the Mariannas can hold out,” Dr. Schmidt said wistfully, gazing into the distance. “If they also lose, we can only hope that the Britons and Ivan Rus’ will turn on each other.”

"Why not think boldly? Maybe the Americans or our country will intervene?" Shank said half-jokingly.

Vogt scoffed, “If the European landscape changes completely, the Americans will only be thinking about how to continue doing business with the new regime, and so will you.”

Shang Ke coughed twice and replied perfunctorily, "Uh... I have reservations."

The sheer volume of technical data was beyond imagination. Fortunately, the Varlanders were known for their meticulousness, having categorized and numbered each sub-project of the main project in detail, which made it easier for everyone to transfer the data under such a rushed circumstances.

into the night.

Everyone is still working hard, taking turns moving documents.

The situation became increasingly dire; civilian communications between Kassel and the outside world were almost completely cut off, and most of the wired telephone and telegraph lines were no longer functioning properly.

Some well-organized Imperial German troops have been assigned combat missions. There is about an infantry division and an independent anti-tank battalion, totaling about eight or nine thousand men, who are heading to the hills northeast of Kassel to set up defensive positions and block the enemy.

It is said that the vanguard of Imperial Russia has appeared near Göttingen, a small town only fifty or sixty kilometers away from Kassel, practically within arm's reach.

As dawn broke, a small number of German Air Force fighter planes swept across the sky and flew north. Through binoculars, it could be seen that they were carrying multiple small aerial bombs under their wings, seemingly on a makeshift bombing mission.

"How much is left?"

"They're still sorting out the documents for the walking organization category. It might take two or three hours, Colonel."

Shang Ke watched with growing anxiety, muttering to himself, "Everyone said there were more blueprints and documents than expected, but I never imagined there would be so many..."

This is just for tanks; the complete blueprints for an aircraft carrier could weigh tens of tons.

Historically, when Factory 617 was producing a copy of the Type 59 medium tank, it took more than a dozen trucks to transport all the blueprints for the T-54A.

(End of this chapter)