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

Chapter 53 Chapter | A Late Christmas Gift
Winter in St. Petersburg is as bad as ever.

The frozen Neva River was shrouded in icy mist, like a snowy wonderland; the Kazakh Cathedral was covered in white snow, as if it were covered with a thick layer of icing sugar.

On the avenue leading to the southern suburbs, a heavily guarded convoy was driving slowly.

The Royal Guards, wearing shako hats, shiny riding boots and riding tall horses, led the way in two columns, followed by a black long-wheelbase sedan.

In order to provide sufficient power for this heavy bulletproof car, Mercedes even equipped its engine with a supercharger. This masterpiece of the automotive industry was a birthday gift from Emperor Varland to Emperor Ivan Ross.

Although the two countries regard each other as their biggest imaginary enemy, they still maintain a superficial hypocritical harmony.

Now, the nominal mistress of the vast empire was riding in this car to the Guards’ base in the southern suburbs.

She was going to appreciate her gift, a Christmas gift that was a month late.

Eighteen years ago, after regaining control of the situation with the help of the intervention forces of the United Kingdom and the Marianna Republic, Ivan Ross was faced with a critical decision as to where to go next.

The royalists won, but Nicholas's line had already lost the support of the people, and the powerful were not willing to share power easily.

During this process, the Senate, the State Duma and foreign forces engaged in fierce bargaining, and the final result of mutual compromise was Veronika Alexandrovna, a little girl selected from the descendants of the Romanov family.

The powerful people at that time believed that this would be a figurehead monarch who would be easy to control.

It turns out that their vision is not very good.

It was almost noon, when the sky was bright, and the convoy arrived at the Pulkovo military camp.

The attendant opened the heavy bulletproof door with both hands, and Veronica got out calmly.

The generals who came to greet him stood in a row. One of them, a major general, said in a deep voice, "Your Majesty, I am sorry that I was unable to present you with a Christmas gift. I take full responsibility for this mistake."

The north wind blew Veronica's golden hair into a flutter, and her blue eyes showed no emotion.

"Thank you for the gift, I hope this is the last mistake," she said.

A group of people came to the training ground next to the military camp, and two tanks, one large and one small, were parked quietly by the roadside.

Both were painted in a solid olive green basecoat and had a light layer of snow covering their bodies.

The tall and mighty tank has eight pairs of road wheels and two turrets of different sizes, like a giant steel beast lying on the snowy plain.

The smaller tank is less impressive, with five pairs of road wheels and a body shaped like a trapezoidal cheese.

The major general from the Army Ministry introduced: "Your Majesty, this is a tank manufactured by the Putilov-Kirov Plant. It was designed by a team led by Joseph Kotin. It fully meets the requirements of the Army Ministry. It is a true beast. It will be as unstoppable as a battleship."

This multi-turret tank is the SMK heavy tank, with a total weight of 55 tons. The main turret is equipped with a 76.2mm short-barreled gun, the sub-turret is equipped with a 40mm tank gun, a total of 5 machine guns, and the front armor thickness is 60mm.

It met the indicators issued by the Ministry of War - it had 5 turrets (later modified to 2), was not penetrated by 37mm armor-piercing shells at any distance, and was not damaged by 76.2mm grenades at any distance.

【Picture】

Unlike the original dimension, the Ivan Rus Empire mainly conducts technical exchanges with the United Kingdom. In this regard, its anti-tank weapons are not like the historically introduced German Pak35 anti-tank guns, but are imitations of the British 2-pound (40mm) anti-tank guns.

Because of this, the Ivan Rus people also unknowingly picked up some bad habits.

For example, the British defined tanks with high mobility as cruise tanks. The Ivan Rus people learned from this and expanded on it, coming up with some unique terms.

(1) Battle tanks: The Russian army calls the powerful multi-turret heavy tanks battle tanks, which are strong in armor and powerful in guns but slow in speed. (2) Cruiser tanks: The Russian army calls the medium tanks responsible for mobile operations cruise tanks, which are balanced and core forces.

(3) Tank destroyers. The Russian army calls light tanks that can quickly penetrate and attack as tank destroyers. They are light and fast as the wind.

Although it seems puzzling, if you think about it carefully, this seems to be much more reasonable than the British division of infantry tanks and cruiser tanks?
Veronica gazed at the steel behemoth with great satisfaction. She believed that it was the crystallization of the motherland's strength and meant that Ivan Ross was the best in the world in land warfare weapons.

"It looks powerful, but the key question as to whether it can bring fear to the enemy is whether the enemy's artillery shells can destroy it," she raised her doubts.

"Your Majesty, you can rest assured that the anti-tank guns equipped by the Varland Army cannot penetrate it even at the distance between you and me. You will see a demonstration later." The major general said with certainty.

Veronica didn't say much. She looked at the tank next to her and asked, "So what about this trumpet's work?"

"This is a cruiser tank manufactured by the Vickers-Kharkov plant. It's an excellent tank. No tank in the world can deal with it, not even the big guys next to it."

“Who designed it?”

"Your Majesty, there is some controversy about this. It is generally believed that it was designed by the factory's chief designer, Orlov." The major general lowered his voice.

"Obviously this is not true. You know the truth, tell me." Veronica said lightly.

"I guess it and its predecessor, the test vehicle, are more likely the brainchild of design assistant Koshkin, a rebel who was released from prison." The major general didn't want to offend anyone, so he deliberately made his words vague.

Silence, with only the sound of wind and snow around.

After a long moment, Veronica looked at the tank and said, "It looks like an excellent work."

The insurgents' work wasn't rejected outright? The inference is obvious.

She was skeptical when she learned that the tank had only 45mm of frontal armor but was claimed to be immune to 37mm anti-tank guns.

"That's the subtlety. The designers incorporated many angled configurations into it, much like the armor of a navy battleship." The major general said confidently, "Your Majesty, we've prepared a little experiment for you."

Then a lieutenant colonel brought a plate with an Ivan Ross sausage and a knife on it.

The plate was passed to the Queen.

"Your Majesty, please cut a piece of sausage vertically, and then cut another piece diagonally." The major general pointed at the knife and instructed.

"Kovalyov, you can do it yourself." A Guards colonel expressed dissatisfaction.

Veronica didn't care. She picked up the knife and cut off two slices of sausage.

At the same time, she immediately realized the difference: the sausage cut diagonally was wider.

"Trigonometry? Very clever," she said.

"The actual principle is more complicated. It's a mechanical problem," the major general explained.

"But this means that the space inside the car is reduced. It must be very cramped. What should the person driving it do?" Veronica keenly noticed a key problem.

"Oh, Your Majesty, your worry is not a problem. It is operated by tank soldiers." The major general replied calmly.

(End of this chapter)