Seeing that the atmosphere at the scene became a little weird, Marshal Keitel turned his head and asked Sperer, and then he realized that the report the professor mentioned was a special report formed by the two after thoroughly studying the prototype of Porsche and Henschel Tiger tanks. The Weapons Bureau believes that compared with Henschel's design, the power system designed by Porsche is more prone to failure and is completely unsuitable for actual combat. In addition, the turret is too forward because the artillery has been confirmed after the prototype comes out and uses 88MM.

The length of the rear tube of the KwK36L/56 gun (improved from the 88MM36L/56 anti-aircraft gun) is as long as 4.9 meters, causing the barrel to protrude too much from the front of the car, which not only destroys the balance of the vehicle itself, but also easily damages the muzzle retractor and turret rotation mechanism during forest or town combat. What's more, once the tank is besieged in an encounter, this layout structure can directly kill the member group. In terms of suspension design, Porsche intends to use longitudinal torsion rods.

The suspension is not mature enough. The structure of its semi-tapered gear and short hydraulic rod is too complex, and it is easy to break even under the most common conditions of use, affecting the tank's battlefield survivability. Although the tone of the report looks relatively calm overall, it also clearly commented on the shortcomings of Henschel's design. But Hoffman understood that the problems caused by the Porsche design may have a very bad impact on the battlefield. On the surface, the report holds no evidence for both prototypes.

The attitude is ok, but the actual tendency is clear: the Sixth Department of the Weapons Bureau prefers to design conservative Henschel prototypes. Because they are not only more familiar with Henschel's old design style, but also have some personal factors - these technical officers prefer sincere and down-to-earth, experienced Henschel engineers, and do not appreciate those technicians from the Nibelungen plant (local of the Porsche tank factory) who ignores people and looks like "there are people above me".

Of course, Colonel Tomal dared not say anything about the head of state's "saying one thing and doing another". Maybe the head of state would shrink back when he glared at him. However, Professor Aiban, who was an intellectual, did not have so many concerns. He dared to challenge the head of state in such an open occasion and complained about the Weapons Bureau.

Kettle was secretly amused: the head of state commented that this was a "very valuable report" and agreed with the conclusions in the report. On the other hand, he agreed with Dr. Porsche's request and instructed Sperer to order tanks from Porsche, which was a contradictory act no matter how you look at it. Hoffman couldn't say it. Although he was in the identity of the head of state, he was not the one who had a close relationship with Porsche, and he was not the one who made the procurement decision. He was purely taking the blame for Hitler. From the other side's standpoint, he could understand Professor Aiban's emotions. This is the pride and persistence that a scholar should have. To put it bluntly, Hoffman himself was such a part. For a moment, he could not find the appropriate words to express it.

Sperl looked at Hoffman's embarrassing expression, then looked at Dr. Porsche's ugly face, "understand" everything in his heart, and cleverly smoothed out: "Professor, you misunderstood. Porsche does want the Military Department to order vehicles and also order turrets from Krupp. However, that is the matter before the implementation of the general mobilization system. After the tank armament reorganization case, all procurement intentions and orders need to be re-examined. In other words, the Military Department will not purchase from any company without clearly determining the type and production tasks. I did not make this decision, and the Head of State did not give a corresponding instruction."

Professor Abán smiled and nodded, as if he had accepted Spel's explanation. At this time, Colonel Tomal, who was sweating profusely, finally realized, fearing that he would say anything embarrassing, and did not care about the rudeness. He dragged the professor to the main podium and hurriedly announced the start of the meeting without waiting for everyone to sit firmly.

Hoffman found the best position for him to sit down, Sperl sat on his left hand, because Bowman didn't come with him today, Marshal Kettle naturally sat on the right hand of the head of state.

"First of the People, it seems that I'm right today." Sperer said to Hoffman playfully.

The usual serious Marshal Kettle also made Hoffman joke: "My head, this is probably the most harsh professor you have ever met after your study at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, right?"

Hoffman nodded: "No matter what, this professor is quite cute. The Supreme Command lacks such talents. I think I can be transferred to serve as an advisor for armored vehicle development."

It was Kettle's turn to turn his head over with difficulty, pretending not to hear the next half of the sentence, and only focused on the main podium.

Once they entered the professional field, Colonel Tomal and Professor Aiban returned to their serious faces. They talked for nearly an hour in total, explaining the development of new tanks, development results and the main problems currently available in the past six months.

Although these reports are typical bureaucratic products, there is one main intention that Hoffman agrees very much: in order to reduce production pressure and reduce the trouble of product conflicts among military factories, it is necessary to achieve the universality of tank spare parts. The production of armored vehicles in the past No. 4 ignored this issue. Now the Weapons Bureau has been committed to promoting the universalization of parts of No. 5 and No. 6 tanks. Although this effort is in Henschel, Porsche, Oxbug-Nuremberg Machinery

Manufacturer (usually referred to as MAN), these large companies of Mercedes-Benz have not achieved much effect, but in Hoffman's eyes, they represent the correct idea. Of course, he can also understand the arrogance of these four companies. It is precisely because Hitler's too fanatical and paranoid hobby of the performance and combat effectiveness of new tanks that have led to these companies' desperate efforts to build performance in vehicle design and completely neglected in terms of productivity, maintenance, etc. He will not let this mistake repeat itself.

Hoffman is positive about the overall design idea of ​​the Tiger: Because it is responsible for supporting the combat mission of medium tanks (this character has been scheduled to be given to the Leopard), the Tiger's firepower and protection capabilities should be strengthened. Not only should the strongest tank artillery and fire control equipment be used, but also the protective ability should be adopted. As for the low maneuverability due to strong firepower and strong protection, it is acceptable. After all, the tank cannot be topped in the three elements of firepower, protection and mobility, and it needs to be fully balanced. However, the existing design has chosen the worst idea. In order to increase the space inside the car and ensure a large amount of ammunition reserve, the designer simply adopted the method of increasing the length, width and height of the vehicle body.

, and to improve maneuverability, a complex driving system (combat tracks and transportation tracks) and suspension systems (8 pairs of triple staggered overlapping wheels) were also adopted, which greatly increased the weight of the tank and made them seriously overweight. The design indicators issued by the Weapons Bureau first increased from the 30-ton class of VK3001 to 36 tons at VK3601, and later increased to 45 tons in VK4501. Finally, the Tiger prototype produced was weighing more than 56 tons. Overweight not only worsened the maneuverability and battlefield traffic capacity of the Tiger tank, but also increased the burden on the driving system, suspension system, engine and gearbox, resulting in serious mechanical failures and low combat attendance.

The same tank is transported by a kind of track, and when it comes to the battlefield, it is another type of track. Even the outermost layer of load-bearing wheels must be removed to achieve battlefield transportation (the Tiger style has 8 pairs of triple load-bearing wheels, and the total of all wheels is 48). Such a strange thing is that the Third Reich can be tricked out. As a time traveler, Hoffman hated this deeply. Of course, he knew the whole story. Although the designers had the responsibility, most of the responsibility was counted on Hitler, but now he did not intend to continue to take the blame.

Seeing the head of state stand up and ready to speak, all the other discussions stopped suddenly, and everyone pricked up their ears to listen.
Chapter completed!