Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 87 Quilt Bulletproof
That's right, the quilt is bulletproof. Although it sounds ridiculous, it has actually been tested in wars. It is not a weird setting that the directors of those anti-Japanese war dramas came up with on the spur of the moment.

You must know that during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the equipment gap between the Eighth Route Army and the Japanese was extremely large.

Especially in the flat Huali Plain, in order to curb the guerrilla warfare of the Eighth Route Army, the Japanese deliberately built a large number of fortifications and bunkers, which caused considerable trouble to the Eighth Route Army.

After all, not all soldiers have the ability like Wang Gensheng to throw the grenade into the firing hole, so naturally this bunker is a tough nut to crack for the Eighth Route Army who lack heavy firepower.

Therefore, generally speaking, when the Eighth Route Army soldiers destroyed the Japanese bunkers, their main method was to reach the bottom of the bunker under the fierce firepower of the Japanese, and then ignite the explosive packs to blow up the bunker.

But it was obvious that the Japanese machine gunners would not allow the Eighth Route Army soldiers to get close to the bunker.

In order to destroy a small Japanese bunker, the Eighth Route Army often had to pay a very tragic price, and many soldiers carried out the blasting mission with a mentality of being ready to die.

However, through long-term actual combat exploration, the Eighth Route Army soldiers brainstormed and finally developed a special equipment called "earth tank".

The so-called "earth tank" was an octagonal table placed on a flatbed cart, with several soaked quilts spread on the table. The soldiers could then bend over and push the flatbed cart forward, successfully delivering the explosive packs to the bottom of the Japanese bunker.

Before putting this "earth tank" into actual combat, the Eighth Route Army had already conducted tests with real guns and live ammunition, and the weapon used was the "Type 38 rifle" which was famous for its penetrating power.

You should know that on the battlefield of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the penetration and range of the Type 38 rifle were relatively strong, but when shooting at the "earth tank", the Eighth Route Army soldiers found that the 76.5mm bullet of the Type 38 rifle could not completely penetrate the wooden board of the eight-immortals table, and the wet quilt effectively absorbed the kinetic energy of the bullet.

So after the Eighth Route Army developed the "earth tank", the relevant experience was quickly spread to various anti-Japanese bases, and the casualties cost of the Eighth Route Army destroying the Japanese bunkers were significantly reduced.

But why did the wet quilt and the round table, which seemed insignificant on ordinary days, become a "home tank" that left the Japanese machine gunners helpless? In fact, the quilts at that time were very different from the quilts we use in our daily lives today.

During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the quilts used by ordinary people were not made of pure cotton, but were mixed with a large amount of cotton seeds and even flax and other debris. A quilt weighed more than ten pounds and was extremely thick.

When several soaked quilts are stacked on top of each other, they can actually be regarded as a relatively primitive composite bulletproof material that can significantly reduce the kinetic energy of bullets.

At the bottom of these quilts is an Eight Immortals Table made of thick materials. At that time, the thickness of the table top was at least four or five centimeters, and the wood used was also solid zelkova, nanmu, elm, etc. Therefore, the thick table top could completely withstand bullets after kinetic energy decay.

Later, in order to improve the bulletproof capability of the "earth tank", some Eighth Route Army soldiers would add wet sand between the quilts to further weaken the penetrating kinetic energy of the bullets.

In fact, even the US military in the European battlefield had used a similar "earth tank" method.

Because the German anti-tank guns were so powerful, some American armored soldiers would mount a large number of sandbags on the Sherman tanks they drove to weaken the kinetic energy of the German anti-tank weapons.

Although doing so will slow down the tank's mobility, its defensive effect is greatly improved compared to those "screw-running" tanks.

The principles of modern bulletproof vests actually have many similarities with those of "earth tanks".

On the surface, modern bulletproof vests are made of thicker fabrics, which may raise concerns about their ability to withstand bullets. However, bulletproof vests are actually made of strong Kevlar fibers, a special fiber that is five times stronger than steel and only one-fifth the weight.

When a bullet-proof vest is hit by a bullet, the Kevlar fiber with strong toughness will immediately deform and absorb the kinetic energy of the bullet. Moreover, a bullet-proof vest has dozens of layers of Kevlar fiber, and each layer can weaken the kinetic energy of the bullet.

In this way, the kinetic energy of the bullet will eventually be completely exhausted in a certain layer of Kevlar fiber, thus achieving the bulletproof effect.

Although natural plant fibers such as cotton fiber and linen fiber are not as strong as Kevlar fiber, if the thickness is sufficient, they can naturally absorb and slow down the kinetic energy of bullets.

Shaking his head, Wang Gensheng was speechless. He was clearly conducting a thrilling night attack, but he could actually associate the Japanese army blankets with the bulletproof nature of quilts.

Although he was condemned for his own distracted thinking on the battlefield, Wang Gensheng still wrote down the information about the bulletproof quilt and the earth tank, so that he could promote it in the Eighth Route Army after the Japanese raid.

After all, the large-scale use of earth tanks was in 1944 or 1945, and it is only 1942!

Using his spiritual sense to perceive the Japanese soldiers who were snoring on the artillery position and the captain of the artillery battalion who was sleeping soundly in the tent, Wang Gensheng made a gesture to pause the action.

Then he quietly sneaked into the Japanese captain's tent and kidnapped the Japanese artillery captain.

That's right, they wanted to kidnap the artillery captain. The reason for kidnapping him was mainly to ask him how many Japanese reinforcements there would be tomorrow.

Although Wang Gensheng did not understand the Japanese language, thanks to the appearance of Liu the translator in Liujia Village, there were still a few studious boys in Liujia Village who learned some Japanese language.

There is a soldier in Wang Gensheng’s special forces team who speaks the Japanese language from Liujia Village quite well.

After Wang Gensheng sneaked into the Japanese captain's tent, he covered the captain's mouth and nose with his hands.

The artillery captain, who had just woken up from his sleep, immediately began to struggle.

But the Japanese captain's struggle was in vain, because Wang Gensheng's physical fitness was more than twice that of an ordinary person.

Therefore, how could this little Japanese captain, who was less than 1.6 meters tall, possibly struggle out of Wang Gensheng's grip!
In less than a minute, Wang Gensheng felt that the Japanese captain's struggle was gradually becoming weaker.

However, Wang Gensheng, fearing that the Japanese captain had not fainted, held his hand for another minute before slowly letting go.

However, what Wang Gensheng did not expect was that after he let go of his hand, he found that the person was no longer breathing.

Wang Gensheng felt speechless when he saw this situation. It was his first time to do this kind of tongue-grabbing behavior and he had no experience, so it was understandable that he accidentally killed it.

(End of this chapter)