Munitions Empire

"Adjust the artillery firing angle. Don't worry about the details, just bombard the first line of defense positions! Try to trap as many of those metal clunkers as possible! If we allow them to calmly organize the next attack, our defense line might not hold," General Bolton immediately responded after hearing about the situation at the front.

Right now, he didn't have any dazzling array of anti-tank weapons at his disposal, nor did he have tanks to countercharge against the enemy's.

He wasn't even sure if the Great Tang Group had any similar weapons; naturally, he didn't know how to deal with this kind of thing.

But, having rich combat experience, he reacted immediately—at least, his troops had many tactics to deal with enemy armored vehicles.

However, the most reliable tactic of digging pits to trap the enemy and then using mortars to repeatedly bomb and destroy the targets was unlikely to be effective now.

From his subordinates' descriptions, simple ad-hoc tactics such as attacking wheels with light weapons probably wouldn't work either.

All he could rely on now were more traditional and more dangerous methods: sending soldiers with hand grenades or explosives to attack these behemoths at close range.

Unfortunately, this was still just a temporary tactic. What he needed were stronger weapons to withstand the assault of such weaponry from the other side!

The frontline troops were in utter disarray, their faces smeared with dust and ash from the sudden appearance of Shirek Bombing Vehicles, and the first line of defense positions were nearly breached in an instant. The battlefield was sprawling with massive and terrifying monsters like Shirek tanks.

The people of Gobur almost thought they were going to win this war! They fantasized about taking over the lands of the previously conquered Xilun and Taren Kingdoms and the most advanced Dorne Kingdom, expanding their industrial strength.

They seemed to have already seen the dawn of becoming the Gobur Empire, the most powerful nation in the world.

Regrettably, the bombardment from the Dorne Kingdom fell like raindrops, abruptly awakening the Gobur commanders who were still basking in the joy of victory.

Their new weapons were initially effective, but due to their slow movement and lagging technology, they fell just short.

There was no helping it: Due to the scarcity of track steel and the design philosophy of protecting the tracks, the off-road capability of the massive Shirek tanks was actually quite average.

The design of tanks like the German A7V followed completely different principles from the British tanks of World War I.

The British designed their tanks during World War I with the primary goal of using tracks to overcome obstacles and support troops in breaking through enemy defense positions.

Therefore, British tanks used aggressive over-the-top tracks and increased the tilt angle of the tracks to enhance their ability to cross obstacles.

On the other hand, German World War I tank design followed a philosophy more akin to that of a land cruiser, prioritizing the protection of their mobility mechanisms and sacrificing some off-road capability for an overall defensive approach.

Of course, due to technological reasons, the German A7V tank design philosophy was completely flawed and inefficient, but it's understandable.

In the era when tanks were just emerging, no one could accurately define what a tank was. Everyone had their own interpretations and ideas.

In their research on tanks, the Germans inevitably referred to existing weapon design concepts: the closest to their idea of tanks were warships.

Therefore, German designers looked to warship design principles, emphasizing defense, or at least what they believed to be reinforced defenses...

The philosophy behind weapon design is actually consistent and traceable to core design principles. These roots might not always be correct, but they are deeply entrenched in the DNA of the weapons designers and users.

Many criticize the German tank design philosophy of World War II, finding it overly complex and expensive, affecting production, and focusing too much on comprehensive protection.

What they don't realize is that the concept of comprehensive protection was inherited from the World War I High Seas Fleet warships and had offered some advantages during the Battle of Jutland.

The German Army was able to minimize personnel losses by simply increasing the thickness of their steel plates—already the most logical and optimal solution.

Those naive enough to think that the Germans didn't copy the T-34 or adopt its design principles out of arrogance and prejudice failed to see the difficulties Germans faced.

Could World War II Germany afford to manufacture masses of vulnerable T-34 clones and engage in a war of attrition with the Soviet Army? The obvious answer is no; they could not afford it.
Your adventure continues at My Virtual Library Empire

Didn't you see, the German Air Force, forced to start an aerial war of attrition by the American B-17, could barely hold on until 1943 before it essentially collapsed?

As a result, by 1945, the German Air Force had thousands of fighter planes, but no fuel or pilots to fly them into combat.

If the Army also adopted the T-34's attrition model, then by 1944, it was estimated that the National Defense Army would have to face the problem of having 2,000 T-34 tanks, but having lost crew members like Karl Walther Weidmann...

Thus, the Germans had no choice but to upgrade the T-34 tank's defense and firepower, creating a kind of tank that comprehensively surpassed the T-34, ensuring the survival of their precious crew members in the brutal combat.

So, a bit more powerful cannons, tougher armor, better ergonomics... Well, isn't that just like a zoo...

As for late-stage weapons of last resort like the E-series, their emergence was entirely due to emergency designs abandoning their own design philosophy amid shortages of materials, and thus are no longer part of the topic of design philosophy inheritance.

Therefore, during World War I, the United Kingdom's tanks were essentially an innovation, integrating new technical breakthroughs like trench-breaking vehicles! On the other hand, German tanks were not innovative by nature.

Put more bluntly, the German's wartime tanker design philosophy was: 'I want to make an iron shell that can move on land.' As for German tanks in WWII, that is another story.

Coming back to the present Shirek tanks, the designers of Shirek actually followed the shipbuilding design philosophy.

To be honest, the fact that Shirek's designers were able to come up with the prototype of a tank on their own is already a tremendous effort.

Yet they still fell a little short, and this tiny gap made their tanks slightly awkward in the current state of the war.

Deficiencies in speed, slightly inadequate cross-country capabilities, plus the Dorne's artillery counter-fire that was just too swift, Gobur's tank troops suddenly suffered unexpected losses.

When a Shirek Bombing Vehicle was advancing within a position, it was unexpectedly hit by an incoming artillery shell, immediately turning into a heap of scattered metal.

Another tank, also hit by a shell, burst into fierce flames, and its crew had no time to struggle before being charred black.

Even 21st-century tanks could not guarantee the survival of the crew after being hit by large-caliber artillery, let alone such land-based cruisers.

Subsequently, more vehicles were destroyed by shrapnel as shells exploded at close range. The massive shock killed the members inside the tanks, damaged the machinery, and left the tanks paralyzed on the path forward.

Steel armor only a few centimeters, or even one centimeter thick, could not fully withstand the incoming shells, so when Dorne began to counter-fire, seven or eight Gobur tanks were scrapped on the battlefield.

However, more than a dozen tanks still broke through Dorne's defensive line, but lacking infantry cover, they had to face Dorne soldiers' counter-attacks from all directions alone.

The battle became intensely fierce, so much so that both sides found it hard to bear.

On the Gobur side, they had prepared for this attack for a long time and naturally were not willing to give up easily. Moreover, their tanks had already breached the enemy's positions, and they felt that with just a bit more effort, victory could be theirs.

For Dorne, it was a matter of national life and death, with many soldiers preferring death to retreat. They firmly held their second line of defense and attempted to recapture their first line through flanking counter-attacks.

Both sides were continuously reinforcing their troops in the combat zone. Gobur's forces, hindered by Dorne's artillery, could not immediately capitalize on their gains, while Dorne's soldiers were engaged in a fierce battle with Gobur's tanks and momentarily unable to plug their own gaps.

The sides exchanged blows in a lively engagement: The Gobur's follow-up forces were depleting Dorne's precious ammunition stores.

If Dorne either ran low on ammunition or their firepower faltered, Gobur could potentially breach Dorne's defensive lines; meanwhile, Dorne was systematically destroying the Gobur tanks that had penetrated their positions, knowing if they could take out these lethal invaders, the subsequent enemy offense would no longer pose a threat.

Bullets from all sides pelted the slowly moving Gobur tanks, causing countless sparks to fly off their armor.

That's how it is on the battlefield. Soldiers wouldn't stop shooting just because their bullets couldn't penetrate the tanks; instead, they would dump their ammunition frantically, focusing on the targets that were easiest to hit or posed the most immediate threat, recklessly firing away.

No one would coolly analyze: 'My bullets can't penetrate the tank, so I should target something else.' In fact, they wouldn't dare. This is because no one could guarantee that the tank they ignored wouldn't target them and strafe them while they were shooting at other targets.

Another reason was the common hope against hope that their very next bullet might slip through a crack into the tank, possibly disabling it and stopping its advance...

That's why there were scenes on the battlefield where a tank was so riddled with bullet holes that not even the paint on its surface could be seen.

Amidst the hail of bullets, that Gobur tank came to a stop, the machine guns from all directions firing fiercely as if it were a steel pillbox embeddedin the midst of enemy lines.

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Happy Army Day! Bless our great motherland with invincible might and unstoppable conquest!