Chapter 171: Tanks Fresh Off The Assembly Line
That evening’s victory celebration banquet finally ended smoothly amid the host and guests enjoying themselves to the fullest. General Hipper and Minister Baden received Lelouch’s guidance and pointers, and all were thoroughly satisfied.
The Grand Duke of Baden discovered a new path to help his brother-in-law and win a more advantageous diplomatic situation for the Empire.
General Hipper, on the other hand, obtained an opportunity to prove that the strategic significance of “annihilating Lusha’s Baltic Fleet” far exceeded prior expectations.
The day after the victory banquet ended, Hipper ordered Vice Admiral Burdick to immediately lead his cruiser reconnaissance fleet north to the entrance of the Gulf of Bothnia to carry out mine sweeping operations. Once a navigable channel safe for entering the Gulf of Bothnia was cleared, the cruisers were to continue north to search for possible enemy transport fleets.
Additionally, they rehearsed in advance: how to respond and handle enemy ships flying Lusha’s flag if encountered. If ships flying the Swedish flag or even the Norwegian flag were encountered, how to handle them. How to probe the enemy’s situation while trying not to alert them prematurely.
These details were all roughly simulated by Hipper with Lelouch’s help, solidifying the basic preparations.
After briefing Hipper’s side, Lelouch calculated the days and found that less than 10 days remained until the Southern Front plan’s commencement of hostilities, so he prepared to take the train south again to Odessa to report to Marshal Rupprecht.
But before leaving, the Grand Duke of Baden tried to keep him, asking him to stay a few more days.
He even said that if General Hipper’s side quickly obtained evidence of Swedes violating the Neutrality Law, he hoped Lelouch could make a trip to Stockholm on his behalf to contact Gustav V.
Lelouch couldn’t help but be very curious about this: “Your Excellency Baden, what are you thinking? Things like this aren’t so coincidental. Vice Admiral Burdick will need several days just to clear a channel into the Gulf of Bothnia with mine sweeping—how could they possibly encounter an enemy smuggling fleet right upon entering the Gulf of Bothnia?
Moreover, even if evidence is obtained, couldn’t you just go to Stockholm yourself? You said yourself that His Majesty Gustav is your brother-in-law. For something like this, you could go in a private capacity.”
The Grand Duke of Baden slyly shook his head: “Although I have a family connection with my brother-in-law, I am after all an Empire minister, and one of the ministers with relatively high international prestige and renown. A high-level visit like mine would create too much commotion and easily draw attention.
No need to trouble two parties for one matter—since this stratagem was your idea, you can make the trip for me then. Don’t worry about the formalities; I’ll apply to His Majesty, and he will naturally notify the relevant diplomatic departments, so it definitely won’t be seen as you acting on your own.
At that time, it can also make His Majesty realize more of the strategic significance of the Baltic Sea battle, helping us rally the general officers of the northern and southern fronts together against Hindenburg and Ludendorff.”
Lelouch nearly rolled his eyes upon hearing this: “Wouldn’t I attract attention if I go? Though my status is lower than yours, I hold a military position and have no other cover identity. A brigadier general chief of staff of the Empire’s 6th Army Group going on a mission, especially in this war era—not being interpreted as an exchange between the two armies would already be fortunate.”
Only then did the Grand Duke of Baden reveal his true intentions: “You admit your status is relatively low and you lack my international fame—that’s enough! As for a cover identity, I’ll arrange it for you, so you won’t need to go as a military figure—
How about this: as you know, I have two sisters. The eldest is the Queen of Sweden, and the second is the Duchess of Anhalt. I’ll take a small loss and pull some strings for you—tell my second sister to arrange an engagement with Loretta, or at least pretend to be dating, so you can travel to and from Sweden without attracting notice, with the excuse of a nephew-in-law visiting his aunt and uncle.
You’ve met Loretta several times already and should have a good impression of her. She has a very good impression of you too, especially since you collaborated with IG Farben people to invent sulfonamide, saving so many wounded soldiers and greatly aiding their work. She assists her mother in managing the national female nurses’ association—this identity is respectable and noble, and easily wins the army’s favor. Isn’t that good?”
Holy crap! So this old guy was waiting here to steal from under his nose!
Previously, after so much back-and-forth with the Grand Duke of Baden, the other had occasionally hinted at recruiting him as a nephew-in-law.
But now it was no longer a hint—this was explicit.
However, Lelouch would not sell himself out for his career, and he didn’t particularly like Miss Loretta’s somewhat saintly professional persona—he could certainly observe a bit more.
So he immediately rejected the proposal: “You’d better find someone else for this, Your Excellency. I haven’t received professional training in this area and can’t perform secret diplomacy well—it should be left to professionals.”
Seeing his reasons were so impeccably noble, the Grand Duke of Baden immediately withdrew his probe: “That’s true. We’ll put the engagement matter aside for now; if there’s truly a work need later, pretending is still possible.
Additionally, could you stay a few more days on the Northern Front? In case Hipper’s side has results and then needs your specific guidance again.”
Lelouch calculated the time and finally proposed a compromise: “How about this: on my return trip, I’ll first handle some matters in Prague. I’ll leave you the phone number there—if anything changes, call me instead of sending a telegram to avoid interception. But I can stay there at most until the 15th, then I must return to Odessa.”
When Lelouch came, the train hadn’t passed through Prague but went via Krakow and Poznan, then turned toward Danzig and Königsberg. Going to Prague on the return would add about 200 kilometers of detour.
However, a trip to Prague was worthwhile, because a couple of days ago, Duke Rupprecht on the Southern Front had given him the go-ahead to stop by Prague on the way back to check on the status of Porsche’s planned tank project prototypes.
According to the previous plan, when the offensive in the Kievan Rus’ Great Plain region resumed in late September, armored cars could be committed to battle in formed units, while tanks would wait until November.
However, tank mass production also needed time; to have the first batch in combat by November, the final production prototype basically had to be finalized by mid-September. Lelouch could check en route for issues on his way back, which would count as helping Dr. Porsche plug gaps.
……
Lelouch didn’t even stay his last night in Königsberg; after handling matters that day, he boarded the sleeper train southward in the evening.
After sleeping on the train, he awoke the next day already in Prague.
Lelouch didn’t waste time and directly had the Porsche Company send a car to pick him up, then headed straight to the company’s R&D test track.
The “Porsche” company, registered under Dr. Porsche’s personal name, had only been established in the past few months. Its headquarters was still in Prague for now, but in a few months, after the first-generation tank project was fully completed, it would gradually relocate to Munich.
It couldn’t move earlier: staying in Prague made things easier, as going to Munich ahead of time might invite more oversight from Germania’s domestic military industry departments, with more conservatives likely to meddle, and excessive regulatory assessments increasing leak risks. Better to let the new weapon achieve battlefield results and prove itself before a strong return.
In Prague, before Lelouch poached Dr. Porsche, he had reached a tacit understanding with Austria’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs in the name of the Baria Royal Family. Austria now depended on Germania for everything military and didn’t dare regulate the military industry R&D project “fostered” by Germanian in Bohemia.
On the other hand, when Dr. Porsche started on tanks, there were many prerequisite technologies, drawing on prior reserves from building half-track tractors for the Skoda Company. Dr. Porsche was the overall lead, but many of the technical personnel below were Austrians, especially Bohemians.
Lelouch needed to use this project to break in the technical talent team, allowing the gradually incoming Germania natives—especially engineers hired from Volkswagen Company and BMW Company—to solidly master R&D, design, and tank modification experience and skills before considering relocating the company or setting up a branch in Munich.
At ten in the morning, Dr. Porsche brought Lelouch to the test track, where Lelouch immediately saw two prototypes prominently parked in the center of the field.
The hull height was slightly taller than Lelouch had anticipated, with a lot of underbody clearance in the middle, making it look not quite like a tank.
Upon closer inspection, Lelouch realized it was a suspension design issue—Dr. Porsche evidently hadn’t figured out how to efficiently use torsion bar suspension yet, so he ultimately chose the existing leaf spring suspension adapted from heavy trucks.
Historically, the most famous tanks with torsion bar suspension were things like the T34.
That thing, like leaf spring suspension, could only be used for non-independent suspension, meaning left and right wheels shared the same set. Later lightweight tanks often used the Christie suspension, which had advantages in flexibility and could be made independent for left and right.
But for now, independent left-right demand wasn’t very obvious. Looking at this first-generation leaf spring model, Lelouch’s only concern was that the chassis “crotch” was too high—if enemies covered in grenades tried to crawl under the tank later, it would be all too easy.
Thinking of this, Lelouch immediately gave Dr. Porsche a minor revision suggestion that required little effort:
“Haven’t solved the torsion bar suspension issue yet? Fine, leaf spring is readily available from trucks and can be directly copied. Use leaf spring to make do for a year or two; definitely find a way to change it gradually later.
Also, since the chassis is so high, hang a hinged additional armor plate on the front glacis, dangling down to cover the belly as much as possible—keep it thin. No need to stop bullets, just prevent easy access underneath.
Right, I recall your previous armored cars: compared to tanks, their tires were vulnerable, so add thin hinged suspension armor side skirts on both sides to protect the upper tire halves—enough to stop rifle bullets, easily flipped up from close range without hindering maintenance.”
Looking at these armored fighting vehicles with too many defensive vulnerabilities, Lelouch felt uneasy and reinforced the defense at minimal cost.
Dr. Porsche, being knowledgeable, quickly grasped the ingenuity and said it could be done in a few days. Already produced ones didn’t need changes—just make more attachments to bolt on at the front line.
After resolving the obvious defensive vulnerabilities, Lelouch examined the propulsion system and firepower.
There was little room for propulsion improvements—the vehicles were built, and any adjustments would be major surgery. The Empire currently could only produce such good engines; upgrades depended on engine tech progress.
For firepower, the Krupp Company ultimately cooperated promptly with Dr. Porsche, producing the 57mm short-barrel gun: a low-pressure, low-recoil version with a 0.9-meter barrel, equating to only 16 calibers.
Prior existing 57mm guns were at least 25+ calibers, with barrels over 1.5 meters. With this short barrel from Krupp, recoil dropped by about half— no wonder a mere 10-ton light tank could mount a 57mm gun.
The new gun’s range was extremely short, max ballistic about under 3 kilometers, whereas troops’ current 57mm field guns reached at least 5-6 kilometers.
But mounted on a tank, 3 kilometers was fine anyway—the tank could withstand all machine gun bullets, so firing within 3 kilometers of a machine gun bunker was not too late.
The 10-ton tank was finalized with 1 x 57mm short-barrel gun and 1 heavy machine gun. The 7-ton version had only 2 light machine guns, no turret. Everything matched the original design perfectly.
“Officer Lelouch, do you think the project results can satisfy the Marshal?”
After a quick tour, Dr. Porsche eagerly asked for Lelouch’s opinion.
Beside Dr. Porsche was a group of technical personnel, all looking at him eagerly. Among them were BMW Company technical reps responsible for the project’s engines, Krupp and DWM Company people, and Hugo Scheisser—all providing weapons for the tank.
Hugo Scheisser had been with the Bergmann Company at the start of the year, responsible for optimizing the MP15 submachine gun project. But now with the submachine gun finalized, Scheisser had been seconded by Lelouch to his own company.
Lelouch thought for a moment, then shared his views with the engineers: “I’m already very satisfied with the current project, and I believe the Marshal will be too.
But we must always look ahead. If we’ve produced such a successful tank that will play a huge role on the Eastern Front battlefield, how long do you estimate before Britannians can copy it?”
The engineers from Porsche to Scheisser were all slightly startled upon hearing this.
“It won’t be that easy to copy, right? Unless the Britannians are also working on such things?”
Lelouch nodded, giving the engineers a heads-up: “Correct. I have intelligence sources indicating Britannians are also planning such armored fighting vehicles, having done some preliminary preparations and knowing about tracks and armor protection. They just haven’t figured out many technical details yet.”
The group then looked grave; as person in charge, Dr. Porsche pondered before cautiously replying: “If so, with some technical foundation and seeing our inspiration, they might figure it out in three to five months, mass-producing at latest in half a year.
If they don’t aim for high-fidelity copies of ours but borrow our tech to solve their original designs and just get vehicles out, the R&D cycle could shorten to two or three months. After all, wartime urgency leads to expediency.”
Per Dr. Porsche’s reasoning, this meant after Germania tanks entered combat in late November, Britannians could complete their own “Mark I” tank design by end of February next year. By mid-year, they might produce something similar to this “Germania No.1 Tank.”
This pace was reasonable; historically, Britain’s “Mark I” was completed by mid-1916, with 60 built by the Somme battle in August, early monthly output of 30.
Now stimulated by the enemy producing tanks first, Britain finishing R&D 3-4 months early was normal.
Lelouch nodded, agreeing with the assessment: “So, we can’t be blindly complacent—that’s why I required not rushing three to five prototypes into action. At least stockpile enough to equip one or two armored regiments before combat deployment, to maximize the suddenness advantage of our new equipment.
Now, I require you to reverse-engineer based on the timeline: ‘By Q2 next year, enemies can produce their own crude tanks; by Q3 next year, enemies can produce tanks similar to ours’—how we should improve existing tanks to ensure ‘destroying another version of ourselves.'”
“You mean… tank vs. tank?” The engineers immediately caught on.
Lelouch: “Exactly, tank vs. tank. Of course, first produce a weapon suited for anti-tank, ensure it can mount on tanks. But before solving mounting, first ensure these weapons can be directly used by infantry.”
The engineers fell into thought, then whispered discussions. The most common idea was lightening existing anti-tank guns for tank-killing.
Lelouch didn’t interfere, letting them brainstorm freely, exploring all possibilities—maybe unexpected gains.
After they finished discussing and noted all the brainstorming, Lelouch provided further guidance:
“What you said earlier about improving artillery weapons is all correct. But I’d like to add two personal ideas:
I think the companies providing machine guns for tanks should consider developing a significantly larger caliber machine gun. Current mainstream machine guns are around 8mm caliber, the most efficient after years of refinement for anti-personnel.
Our current tank armor is designed to be immune to existing machine gun bullets. You initially wanted 6-8mm armor, but I insisted on thickening to 10mm, with frontal armor at 20mm—precisely so that if enemies later upgrade their 7.7mm machine guns with steel-core or even tungsten-core armor-piercing bullets, our tank armor still ensures immunity.
If enemies don’t anticipate this, their initial tank armor might still be under 10mm, even 6-8mm.
So we should design a machine gun that penetrates under-10mm armor without special ammo. I think a new machine gun caliber of 12-13mm is reasonable. Dedicated steel-core bullets can be researched gradually.”
——
PS: 30 days in September totaled over 360,000 words, ensuring 10,000 daily updates—finally got a small achievement.
Brain felt too tense; some National Day socializing, taking two days off to drop to single 5,000-word updates （ Others take leave for breaks, I need leave for 5,000 words ）
