Great Construction Chapter One
In order to smoothly capture the port of Tobruk in the upcoming brutal battle and break the current stalemate of the Africa Corps, Bai Qi formulated a grand war plan!
After consulting with the new Chief of Staff, Cai Ze, former Chief of Staff of the Fourth Army Group, Bai Qi signed his first order after taking over as Commander-in-Chief, slowing down the offensive pace of various army groups on the Eastern Front and gradually withdrawing to their starting points.
In the north, the Northern Group of Armies besieging Leningrad was reinforced and continued to surround the city. They simply changed their approach, avoiding the fortified areas around Leningrad and building positions outside the range of Soviet fortress artillery, tightly blocking the throat of the passage leading to Leningrad. A sharp striking force was established as a reserve to deal with any possible breakout by the enemy. At the same time, the battle-hardened Finnish army also retreated to the original border between Finland and the Soviet Union (the pre-Winter War border).
The Central, Sixth and Fourth Army Groups retreated to the Don River line. The commander of the Sixth Army Group, Paulus, was relieved of his post and returned to the Army General Staff as Chief of Staff for the Eastern Front. The former Inspector-General of Armored Troops, Guderian, took over his duties. The Eleventh Army's Manstein was also relieved of his post, but his new position was Commander-in-Chief of the German Army! This was a well-deserved appointment! Manstein finally had the largest stage to fully display his military genius! At the same time, the Eleventh Army was ordered to retreat to the Donets Basin line and form the Southern Army Group with troops preparing to attack the Caucasus region. The commander was an unknown young general named Model.
Each group army was ordered to build a field airport and prepare for the replacement of new aircraft.
The aircraft production line at the Taishan base is producing three new types of aircraft around the clock. The tense replacement work is proceeding in an orderly and rapid manner. With the air force having new aircraft, gaining air superiority on both fronts is just a matter of time. The British so-called strategic bombing will be beaten back by the BF109HSX, and there will be no return. The British Air Commander-in-Chief, Lord Dowding, had already known that the Germans had new aircraft, as his planes' losses were increasing in the skies over Africa and Europe. He knew that even Britain's best Spitfire fighter jets would struggle to gain an advantage against the German military's new planes, which had already gained superiority in air combat capabilities. But how could he have imagined that in the distant geosynchronous orbit, three thousand-mile eyes were staring at British mainland airports every night? His planes had been exposed under the Germans' noses from the moment they took off.
The reason why there was no greater loss is that the number of new aircraft in the German Air Force is still small, and the striking force is slightly insufficient. There is also Bai Qi's trick - using a new aircraft manufacturing plant as bait to lure and kill British flies. So many of the German Air Force's real capabilities were not exposed.
Thirty satellites transmitted intelligence on enemy movements and troop deployments to the headquarters, displaying them on a vivid high-tech sand table. In the newly built operations center, a ten-meter-diameter globe displayed the constantly changing situation between the two sides. Every change in the enemy's movement, every deployment of troops that could be detected by satellite was displayed on the globe in real-time, making it extremely intuitive and visual. Commander-in-Chief Manstein could quickly grasp the intelligence and make accurate judgments. In the adjacent offices, the two Chiefs of Staff, Zeitzler and Paulus, each had a more detailed large-scale sand table, receiving synchronized intelligence with Commander-in-Chief Manstein, but with even more detailed information. This intuitive, accurate, and comprehensive intelligence analysis tool saved a lot of manpower, so many staff members were reduced in the General Staff, and the personnel saved were all assigned by Bai Qi to work on logistics support.
Bai Qi and his staff's workload increased day by day, almost unbearable. He had just taken over this huge mess, with too many official duties to handle every day. Faced with so many things, Bai Qi was very annoyed. So he thought of the position of Prime Minister that Xiao Xi comrade had been dismissed from. With the Prime Minister's guidance, domestic affairs could be handed over to him completely. He could extricate himself and focus on war affairs. What about negotiating with Britain and the US? What about saving the German people from the whirlpool of war? All those excuses can go to hell! The specialty of politicians is lying, and it's a blatant lie, without blushing!
At this time, Bai Qi looked at Comrade Xiao Xi's eyes with some sympathy. It turned out that the little mustache had faced such a complicated and messy situation before! The pressure was indeed as heavy as a mountain! Fortunately, I helped you get rid of it, alas! You can sleep well tonight!
The prime minister's candidate is temporarily his deputy Heinz! This guy's ancestors were the Rhinelanders. His administrative ability can handle this trivial position.
The Russians on the Eastern Front are accumulating supplies, deploying troops and generals, transferring seasoned soldiers from the Battle of Nomonhan to the European front, and sending newly recruited soldiers to the Far East for training and defense against Japan. These things all take time to prepare, so for now they don't have the energy to launch an offensive, and they're taking advantage of the German army's retreat to rest and regroup.
The British across the Channel occasionally launched air raids, but they didn't dare send a single soldier to attack the European mainland.
The Americans are busy at home producing and making hay while the sun shines, exchanging munitions for money! One eye is fixed on European war affairs, and they will take advantage of any opportunity to grab a benefit.
The British forces in Africa are increasing their troops, facing Rommel. These guys don't have the confidence to launch an attack!
For a time, both sides on each front were quiet and uneventful. No major battles took place. Each side was busy preparing for the next big battle.
Taking advantage of the current absence of major battles, Germany's industrial system needs to be thoroughly reorganized in order to adapt to the new war that is about to begin. To win the next war, the production capacity of the big camps must be urgently increased. The production of new weapons must keep up with the ever-expanding demands of warfare.
Initial processing of various mechanical parts, in the Out Mountain Camp, only one device can be completed. That is the large electric casting furnace of Dongfang Red Foundry Company. Its high degree of specialization can produce precise industrial mother machines. Under Bai Qi's command and under Speer's supervision, enough raw materials were used to prepare for the self-replication function of the casting furnace. This huge electric furnace quickly cast another furnace, except for a slight deficiency in precision, the new furnace fully met the quality requirements! So these scattered furnace parts were cast out one by one, batch by batch, and transported to all over the country to undertake manufacturing tasks. Unfortunately, only five furnaces can be put into production, after all, the number of helium reactors is scarce, and only a few furnaces can provide electricity for use. Most importantly, there are only eight engineers who can operate this advanced furnace! One person can operate one furnace, with three furnaces in the Out Mountain Camp, one planned to be transported to Africa, and one to a domestic Mercedes-Benz factory, so there were only three war reserve stocks. The confidentiality work is even more important!
Each transportation was carried out in the dark of night, and to maintain secrecy, only the person in charge of the factory knew what it was for. Taking the Mercedes-Benz factory as an example, all the equipment in the mechanical processing workshop was dismantled, and all machine tools such as milling machines were rendered useless. The Gestapo, equipped with advanced anti-infantry radar, monitored the area at night, isolating everything within a 400-meter radius! Only unmanned tractors carrying parts and raw materials ran along the tracks. The reinforced workshop had an ordinary appearance that was not eye-catching. Disguised as plants, automatic non-lethal weapons, cat-eye defense systems, and sky-eye air defense systems provided the last line of defense. A battalion of SS troops dressed up as workers, commuting to and from work every day, actually protecting the casting furnace, confusing the senses, creating illusions, making it look like nothing had changed! The dismantled equipment was also melted down in the belly of the casting furnace, destroyed without a trace! The casting furnace was secretly installed in this highly secure workshop, and batch after batch of qualified parts were quickly produced and flowed to the nearby final assembly workshop.
This smelting furnace is incredibly powerful, but its energy consumption is also astonishingly high. The weak German power grid can't handle it! As a result, a set of diesel generators had to be used for power supply. A small helium reactor power plant produces an enormous amount of electricity, enough to meet the entire city's electricity needs. Even if the electric smelting furnace operates at maximum speed, there is no problem. The helium reactor is the best power generation device that Bai Qi and his team can build. Bai Qi used helium-3 extracted from the moon as fuel to create this safe and unimaginable power plant. This power generation equipment is green and environmentally friendly, producing no radiation energy. It's not large in size, only about the volume of a two-story small building, with no noise, and it can run continuously for ten years after startup. Germany's thermal power plants can be replaced by this. It was installed in a huge workshop together with the electric smelting furnace, forming an unbeatable golden duo!
The electric arc furnace is really convenient, the products it produces can be used directly, and although the precision is slightly lower than that of the mother machine, it has reached eighth-level precision. Moreover, in the processing of large equipment, the casting furnace has an innate advantage. As long as the raw materials are sufficient, the largest model furnace can cast a super-large component 150 meters long and 36 meters wide at one time! In other words, except for aircraft carriers, most ships can be mass-produced! However, such furnaces consume even more electricity! To quote Speer's words, "it's equivalent to the total electricity used by Germany in a year".
At the same time, Xiao A Fu from Africa sent back his analysis of British and American tank data. His close friend, Da A Fu, had also completed an in-depth analysis of Russian tanks. After comparing the two analyses and referencing the strengths of existing German tanks, they designed a future main battle tank for the German army. However, as soon as the prototype drawings were submitted, they were ruthlessly rejected by Bai Qi!
These two tech-obsessed geniuses, what are they even building a tank for? Is this some kind of joke?
The tanks they designed weighed a total of 69 tons! No road bridge in Europe could bear it.
The armor is a multi-layered structure of hard xìng tian chao ice silkworm composite materials and special ceramics, magnetic xìng bombs are useless! Shells below 200mm won't even leave a mark! The 120mm smoothbore cannon has a muzzle energy comparable to the Paris Gun! The shell's direct distance is 5500 meters, the fire control system is so advanced it can lock onto 32 targets at once! With 200 rounds of ammunition! There are four machine guns, the heavy weapon station in front is controlled by the driver, the driver's helmet aiming device controls the direction of the weapon station. Wherever the driver looks, the gun points there! At the same time, the electrically driven weapon station also has a 20mm grenade launcher, which is synchronized with the machine guns.
The other three machine guns are controlled by the gunner, the vehicle commander and the weapons officer. The commander's station is equipped with a 10mm heavy machine gun and a 20mm grenade launcher, which has anti-aircraft capability. The gunner has a coaxial 10mm machine gun, while the weapons officer has a 5mm machine gun for defending the rear of the vehicle. He also operates a 60mm mortar that can fire in all directions, with a range of 5 kilometers. The mortar is breech-loaded and fires quickly, at a rate of up to 12 rounds per minute! There are 120 rounds of ammunition available, enough for the weapons officer to lay down a barrage!
There are 40,000 rounds of 10mm ammunition, 5,000 rounds of 20mm ammunition, and a total of 150,000 rounds of 5mm ammunition! Only the new shell-less bullets can hold so much!
The power system is a triple-mounted 3.6-liter rotary piston engine, producing 2,250 kilowatts of power that can propel this massive machine at speeds of up to 80 kilometers per hour! And there's still nearly half the reserve power left!
The suspension system is a variable air suspension that can control the vehicle's height, pitch, roll and lateral displacement. At the same time, sitting in the car basically feels no vibration, but retains clear road feel!
The design requirements of the tread are where Bai Qi can't stand it, and these two guys actually propose to use hard and expensive titanium alloy for manufacturing. Because titanium alloy that has undergone special heat treatment is tough and has a hardness that meets their design requirements. It runs most comfortably, with low noise, and can also play a certain shock-absorbing role! Wear-resistant, 200,000 kilometers don't need to be replaced!
Other satellite positioning, lightning protection devices, three-proof devices, underwater thrusters, active protection, ten vertical launch small air defense missiles, air conditioning systems, refrigerators, food heaters, and even a six-head hot water shower system!
Length 10.55 meters, width 3.33 meters, and height of only 2.4 meters. The interior space is large enough to accommodate a standard infantry squad! Auxiliary equipment includes a small unmanned reconnaissance aircraft that can fly at a speed of 190 kilometers per hour for 4 hours, providing convenient battlefield information for the tank!
The cost of such a tank is very high, so high that even the Germans can't stand it! Their design really uses all the complex, cumbersome and meticulous characteristics of the Germans! Moreover, they shamelessly named the tank "Tiger King", perhaps in their opinion only such a tank is worthy of this name!
Although both were satisfied with their nearly perfect design, under Bai Qi's request, they rushed to design a simpler new car.
The new tank design work was quickly put into production with Bai Qi's participation under various specific requirements. The tank was named "Leopard 3".
Length 6.7 meters, width 2.7 meters and height 2.3 meters.
A 50-caliber smoothbore cannon, with new-style shell-less ammunition. Within a range of 2000 meters, it can penetrate armor up to 360mm thick! The AP rounds have heads made from high-tech glass! This power is also somewhat wasteful!
Two machine guns, because there are only two crew members! One driver, one vehicle commander, and a reserved position for the gunner. The driver has a 5mm machine gun, the vehicle commander has a 50-caliber cannon and a heavy weapons station. The weapons station is a combination of a 20mm grenade launcher and a 10mm heavy machine gun.
50 rounds of ammunition for 1050 guns, divided into three boxes with three different types of shells. Including 50 special rounds!
5mm machine gun 75,000 rounds, 10mm machine gun 50,000 rounds, 20mm 15,100 rounds, including 100 special rounds.
The new tank is powered by an electric transmission, with two sets of 260 kW electric motors driving the tank on each side. The power comes from a 2.4-liter displacement engine.
This rotary piston engine only works when it's being charged, and is quiet the rest of the time. It's also a very well-behaved little fellow, easy to feed, never picky! Gasoline, diesel, aviation gasoline, kerosene, even crude oil can all be used! Just need to give it a bath regularly.
The battery pack has two groups, with high energy density batteries that can power a 30-ton tank to travel 300 kilometers.
The armor is composed of a special five-layer structure consisting of alloy steel, carbon fiber, ceramic plates, hard and soft Tianchao ice silkworm! Some parts are equipped with "Dà Nǎi Blocks" liquid nitrogen armor designed and manufactured by Da Afu! This new design can be said to be unique. When incoming shells have enough kinetic energy to penetrate the outer layer of the "Dà Nǎi Block", the inner liquid nitrogen will be ejected, and the temperature of the incoming shell will be instantly lowered to minus 200 degrees Celsius by the high-pressure liquid nitrogen! The red-hot metal will suddenly experience this "ice fire double heaven", and its internal structure will become very brittle. After contacting the main armor of the tank, it will lose its penetration capability and shatter upon impact. The protective purpose is achieved!
The tank is based on the previous "Tiger King" design, equipped with mine sweeping function, air conditioning system, water jet propulsion system (underwater), and a simple GPS positioning device.
The production of tanks is very simple and can be completed with only 100 man-hours, that is to say, one worker works for 100 hours to assemble a tank!
Of course, on the production line, there are various specialized tools and advanced auxiliary equipment that greatly facilitate the assembly of workers. One person cannot complete it alone without the cooperation of others. The tank has very few parts, with less than 8,000 parts in total! The vehicle body is directly cast into shape, and the turret is also the same. The engine is ready-made! The remaining small parts, such as a slightly larger 50-caliber gun, can be directly installed inside the turret. Then it can be lifted and installed directly. The installation procedure is also very simple, and a powerful mechanical arm can complete the installation through a skilled worker's operation within two minutes! Electric wrenches, electric cranes, all human labor has been replaced by electrification, so workers work very easily. A 200-meter-long production line can produce 60 tanks in 24 hours with four shifts per day! There are as many as 20 such production lines in the factory! More than 2,000 workers can produce 1,200 tanks when raw materials are sufficient! The quota of an army group can be completed within a day!
All the casting furnaces are driven by Helium 3 power station, producing various parts one by one. The worker ants are busy assembling engines of different displacements. Later, the finished products are transported to the Mercedes-Benz tank factory, Volkswagen car factory, and the aircraft manufacturing workshop in Dashan Camp.
All steel products have undergone a refining and decontamination process in the casting furnace. According to the different material requirements of various parts, re-alloying was performed, and by the time the finished product came out of the furnace, it had already undergone heat treatment, rust prevention treatment, and dense casting to become a perfect product.
So the man-hours saved in this respect are incalculable!
Germany's war machine is running at a speed that can turn the whole world around!
