Steel Soviet Union

Malashenko originally thought that he might run into Comrade Kotin, who was "addicted to public-funded travel", again under the city walls of Berlin before the end of the Patriotic War.

Maybe the motherland’s greatest heavy tank designer wants to witness the red flag flying high on the top of the Capitol. This is not surprising. It is normal and reasonable.

But what Malashenko didn't expect was that he would drive in the middle of the night to a suburban town outside Berlin, the former site of the leader's division in the early days of the Berlin Battle.

What I saw in the railway station freight yard in the small town was another talented tank designer and an old acquaintance of Malashenko - Comrade Shashmulin, the "Father of IS7".

"Wait a minute, you and Kogin, what are you doing? Kogin has just left a few days ago, why did you come to Berlin again? Is it possible that the best tank designers of the motherland are now popular on the battlefield? Are you here for inspiration?"

Malashenko's words were relatively tactful and polite in tone, and did not make people feel any discomfort. They sounded more like a joke.

Compared with Malashenko's questions, Shashmulin, who was explaining the situation with Kulbalov who was leading the team to receive the equipment first, turned around and spoke with a smile. .

"What? Don't you, the most powerful tank hero of the Motherland, welcome me?"

The moment they looked at each other, they could clearly see the intentions in each other's eyes. They laughed without saying anything, and then they opened their arms and hugged each other directly.

"Haha, you miss me so much! We haven't seen you for a while, right? Tell me, what kind of wind brought you here this time?"

If Kotin is a genius in designing heavy tanks, then Shashmulin is undoubtedly a genius in designing heavy tanks.

Although he has been responsible for various designs under Ke Jing for a long time, he has participated in various experimental or mass-produced tank plans.

But Shashmulin has always been responsible for the design of subsystems. For example, the design of the firepower systems of IS2 and IS6 was completed by him.

As the "chief engineer", it is Shashmulin's first time to take on a completely independent new tank design project.

But the result was the first "debut work" that directly produced a work that "shocked the world for a whole year". It is truly the most powerful heavy tank that has been built by all mankind so far.

This advanced design and birth process of "premature birth" was of course indispensable without the help of Malashenko, a time traveler whose mind is not indigenous to this timeline.

But there is one thing to say, Malashenko never felt that he took the absolute majority of the main credit for the birth of advanced weapons.

The same is true for Kotin, Shashmulin, and even Kalashnikov.

I just used some "little tricks" to "slightly" advance the masterpieces that these big-name designers will complete in the next few years. The credit should be due to others. Malashenko has never thought about taking the credit for himself in the past, and he will not have such an idea in the future.

But this is just what Malashenko thinks.

As for what those big-shot designers think, what they think, and what they think is their business, let alone Malashenko’s control.

It just so happened that Shashmulin came to the front line to personally lead the delivery team on this trip. A very important purpose was to talk to Malashenko face to face.

After all, someone's status in Shashmulin's mind has reached such a level that "without Comrade Malashenko, there would be no IS7." Now how can this giant war machine based on the IS7 body and chassis... Don’t you want to hear how Malashenko evaluates and gives his opinions? This is as important as a rare treasure to Shashmulin.

"Comrade General, please allow me to introduce to you the most powerful experimental self-propelled artillery of the Red Army so far, a new 203mm self-propelled artillery code-named Project 261."

""

Wait, what is this?

203mm WTF? ? ?

There's a reason Malashenko was shocked.

First of all, this caliber sounds too terrifying. I have seen 122 self-propelled artillery and 152 self-propelled artillery, but who the hell has ever heard of a 203mm howitzer that can be mounted on a vehicle and drive on its own?

Secondly, there is no real thing in front of me, so I can only rely on my imagination, but I really can't figure out what it is.

As for the reason, it is naturally because the "real protagonist" introduced by Shashmulin is still in a state of being covered with a camouflage cloth on a train flat car, and the true face of Lushan is not visible.

It must be said that just by looking at the shape under the cloth, you can be sure that this thing is definitely something unprecedentedly large. At least in the field of self-propelled artillery, it can definitely set a new record.

But the hazy outline covered with cloth is not as shocking as what you see after taking off the cloth.

When this thing that was so huge that it was better than its predecessor, it was modified based on the IS7 body and chassis, but its actual built size was "tall and more powerful" than the IS7, appeared in front of me.

The blinking Malashenko is in such a state that he can't even close his jaw. The ruthless work you Shashmulin did this time can really "shock the old horse for a whole year" without bragging. of.

"Just put the 203 howitzer on the truck???"

Seeing Malashenko's surprised expression, it was impossible to say that Shashmulin, who had witnessed this scene with his own eyes, was unhappy.

It can even be said that it is more than just happy. Now it is almost turning into ecstasy. Isn't a work that can shock and surprise Comrade Malashenko a reward? Shashmulin, who was even more confident, immediately began to take the initiative to introduce.

"As you can see, Comrade General, the new self-propelled artillery is based on the body chassis of the IS7 heavy tank."

"Adhering to our Red Army's tradition of enhancing versatility and giving full play to the lateral potential of a stereotyped design solution, the plan to transform the body and chassis of the IS7 heavy tank into a self-propelled artillery was already launched when the 260 project plan was finalized. here we go."

"Because there is a certain correlation between the two projects, we chose Project 261 as the project code name."

"The chassis of the IS7 is the heavy-duty chassis with the best load-bearing capacity and maneuverability to date. This powerful existing platform gives Project 261 unlimited possibilities. Our design team was able to integrate the most powerful design solutions, and some Now I can try all the designs that I only dared to do on paper and in my imagination.”

"The first thing to bear the brunt is this 203mm main gun with a diameter of 24 times."