Chapter 84
Everyone grew tense upon hearing the engine sounds.
But soon someone shouted: "It's our tank!"
Only then did Wang Zhong recall that he seemed to have seen a train enter the train station earlier. According to what Pavlov had mentioned before, this should be the supply train arranged by the Crown Prince, loaded with whatever gadgets he could get his hands on.
Wang Zhong had only heard about the Crown Prince's character up to now, but he was quite certain that the Crown Prince was pretty competent as a logistics minister.
He just didn't know if the thing producing such a powerful engine sound at this moment was the tall and imposing but impractical T35.
If it was, it would still be usable, at least.
With this thought in mind, Wang Zhong looked toward the train station and saw the "dream tank" he had mentioned countless times appearing at the end of the street.
Among the tanks he had commanded since arriving in this world, the T28 was thin-armored and a big target, with only its cannon being decent.
The KV1 had reliable cannons and armor, but it was slow and had an astonishing failure rate.
The BT7 was fast and highly reliable, with a passable cannon, but its armor was truly inadequate for serious use.
So, was there a tank that was fast, highly reliable and durable, with a powerful cannon and decent protection?
Yes, there was-the famous T34 tank.
With the high speed inherited from the BT series, the powerful firepower of a 76mm tank cannon, and the decent defense provided by its 30-ton weight and sloped armor, this was the tank with the best overall performance on the Eastern Front battlefield in the early stages of the war!
The T34 tank that Wang Zhong had always dreamed of!
But after the intense battle just now, Wang Zhong's enthusiasm for this tank wasn't as high as before.
Because he remembered something: the T34, with its design philosophy inherited from the BT series, required the tank commander to also serve as the gunner.
The Soviet designers initially didn't think a tank commander who "did nothing else" was necessary.
The top ace of the Third Reich, Otto Carius, repeatedly complained in his memoirs that Soviet tank commanders disliked sticking their heads out to scout, resulting in poor situational awareness for the T34. Often, an entire platoon would be wiped out by a single Tiger tank without even knowing where the Tiger was.
However, the reason Soviet commanders in the early and mid-war periods were reluctant to scout wasn't because they were cowardly. It was because if they stuck their heads out, no one would be firing the cannon. They had to stay inside the tank and observe through the gunner's sight.
In contrast, the M4 Sherman tanks provided to the Soviets under the Lend-Lease Act had a five-man crew with a dedicated tank commander, resulting in significantly lower loss rates for M4s compared to T34s in the same battles.
The Soviets actually noticed these issues themselves, especially since they had used M4s and seen how the Third Reich's tanks operated and fought.
But the T34's structure was what it was-there was no way to make major changes. They could only keep producing tanks without a dedicated commander to stabilize the front lines.
It wasn't until 1943, with the development of the structurally overhauled T34-85, that the designers added the tank commander role back, admitting that having the commander double as the gunner was a foolish design.
However, by then, the Soviets had already paid a huge price for this foolish design.
Wang Zhong had known about this before, but it was all from books, and he hadn't experienced it personally, so he overlooked it.
Today's experience in the BT7 suddenly brought all of this back to him.
What was even worse was that the design requiring the tank commander to also be the gunner directly prevented Wang Zhong from replicating his achievements at Upper Peniye-he genuinely hadn't received any training as a gunner. Even if he obtained the enemy's distance through an overhead perspective, he wouldn't know how to adjust the cannon sight.
But the T34 that appeared in Wang Zhong's field of view looked a bit strange.
This T34 had a big head, looking more like the later T34-85, but its main gun was rather short and stubby, not at all like the long, elegant 85mm cannon equipped on the T34-85.
This cannon looked just like the 76mm cannon on the KV1.
The oddly shaped tank drove straight toward Wang Zhong, and only then did he notice that standing on the engine cover at the back of the tank was none other than Sergeant Major Grigori.
Under the Sergeant Major's guidance, the tank stopped right in front of Wang Zhong.
Grigori jumped off the tank and saluted Wang Zhong: "General, sir, I've brought reinforcements!"
Wang Zhong nodded: "Well done!"
As they spoke, the tank commander also jumped down. It was a warrant officer. After saluting Wang Zhong, the warrant officer said loudly: "Alexander Yefimovich sends his regards, General, sir!"
Wang Zhong returned a simple salute and asked: "Are you the commander of this tank?"
"Yes, General, sir!"
Wang Zhong: "How many crew members are in your tank?"
"Four: the driver, the mechanic, the loader, and myself!"
Wang Zhong had held a sliver of hope, especially since this T34 looked a bit unusual, but it turned out to still be a four-man crew. If he wanted to join, he could only replace the mechanic.
After all, though called a mechanic, this role mainly handled the hull machine gun, so calling them a machine gunner wouldn't be far off.
Alexander frowned slightly: "Why do you look a bit disappointed?"
Wang Zhong: "It's nothing. How many T34s do you have in total?"
At this point, Wang Zhong's thought was that since he couldn't personally command a tank to dominate the battlefield, he would find a way to make full use of this crushing technical equipment through tactics.
Alexander: "We have 25, but this one is different from the other tanks."
"Oh?" Wang Zhong's interest was piqued. "How is it different?"
"As you can see, this is a noble observation vehicle, made for spoiled-oh, I mean, for the pillars of the empire to experience driving a tank."
Wang Zhong was stunned: "What?"
Alexander shrugged: "New tank designs need approval, so they make these observation vehicles. If the higher-ups enjoy riding in them, the approval process goes faster."
Wang Zhong was utterly shocked: "Is it really that corrupt?"
Alexander: "I didn't say that! You did! Don't worry, if the Tribunal asks, I'll never rat you out!"
Wang Zhong: "So, what's different about this observation vehicle compared to a regular tank?"
"Oh, quite a lot. For instance, it has a speed limiter, so it doesn't go too fast and won't shake too much..."
"Remove it for me." Wang Zhong said firmly. "Right now, immediately."
Just kidding-how could he snipe key positions and play dirty tricks if he couldn't speed?
Alexander: "Removing it is simple. It's just a tweak on the gearbox to limit the gears. Belyakov, the General wants you to remove the speed limiter! Hurry!"
Then a tall, thin sergeant climbed out of the T34's iconic driver's hatch, went around the turret, and started grabbing the toolbox strapped to the back of the turret.
Wang Zhong: "What else is different?"
"What else? As you've seen, our tank's turret is larger because they added a seat for the lords to experience life, with good visibility, allowing them to enjoy the feeling of the wind blowing through their hair."
...So that's how it is!
Wang Zhong barely suppressed his wild joy. He had thought he'd be stuck commanding heavy tanks like the KV with a dedicated commander, but he never expected this timeline to have something like a noble observation vehicle!
Alexander continued: "Also, next to the lord's seat, there's a small box with champagne inside."
Wang Zhong, who had been overjoyed, froze upon hearing this: "Champagne?"
"Yes, champagne. Would you like to swap it for vodka?"
Wang Zhong shook his head: "No, no, no."
He suddenly remembered the embarrassment of facing enemies with just a small pistol today, so he said: "Can it be converted into a personal items box? I'd like to store some everyday tools, like grenades or a submachine gun."
"Sure, anything's possible." Alexander patted his chest. "As long as you don't want to remove the observation seat, everything else can be modified. But if you're going to use the observation seat, we'll need to clear out the clutter piled on it first."
Good grief, these guys had turned the extra space in the turret into a storage area for junk!
Alexander asked cautiously: "You're planning to use this observation seat, right?"
"Yes." Wang Zhong nodded.
Alexander: "You'll personally lead us into the charge, right?"
"Yes. How did you know?"
Alexander exchanged a glance with the driver who was dismantling the gearbox before replying: "The Crown Prince said you might want to do this, so he specifically had us bring this observation tank."
Wang Zhong: "Specifically had you bring it? You weren't originally assigned to this tank?"
"No, we're instructors from the armored training corps. The Crown Prince personally selected us, saying he wanted the best crew for his good brother." Alexander shrugged. "Of course, it might also be because the original crew for this tank spent all day drinking and were a mess. They're all connected anyway, and as long as they look sharp when the lords come for inspections, that's all that matters."
After hearing all this, Wang Zhong asked a serious question: "The Crown Prince... is he male or female?"
Alexander was taken aback: "Male, why do you ask?"
In fact, in the Ant language, gender distinctions are very clear. Not only are names strictly divided by gender, but many names also have different forms depending on whether they're male or female.
The term "Crown Prince" itself could not refer to a female, though the Ante Empire had a very formidable empress in its history, and the capital is still named after her.
However, the Crown Prince's behavior so far had been overly nurturing, and Wang Zhong, steeped in years of anime culture, couldn't shake the feeling that his "good brother" might one day reveal himself to be a woman by tearing off a chest wrap.
Wang Zhong waved his hand, deciding to deal with this later. After all, he'd definitely meet this Crown Prince eventually, and he could confirm it then if needed.
Wang Zhong: "How long will it take to remove the speed limiter? The enemy is attacking right now, and we need to move out immediately."
"Very soon," Alexander replied.
Wang Zhong nodded: "Good. Then give this tank a new tactical number. Paint it as 422, and hang this flag on the communication antenna."
As he spoke, he showed them the blood-stained red flag.
(End of Chapter)