Chapter 22:
Compared to Tukhachevsky, who was "openly asking for advice," the surrounding Soviet engineers sneered at them. No matter how bad our Soviet tanks are, they are also independently developed and produced. How about your Germany? Even the research and development of tanks was suppressed by the "Treaty of Versailles", are you not embarrassed to slander others' tanks here?
Although he did not have mind-reading skills, Guderian also saw the face of Soviets full of dissatisfaction. However, he still talked freely in accordance with His Royal Highness's previous orders. "I don't know if you have ever heard of the M1928 tank (also known as the T-3 Christie tank) designed and developed by the American engineer Walter Christie. The suspension system of this tank is the Christie suspension system named after that engineer. It's uniqueness is that it can use wheels to drive on the road, or use tracked belts in the field. The maneuverability is quite powerful. Undoubtedly, this is the current most advanced suspension system in the world."
The tanks of World War I generally adopted hard suspension, which caused the tank to travel at low speed and large turbulence. (The early tanks had poor performance and the working environment of the tank soldiers was very bad. The tanks of World War I used rigid suspension without shock absorbers, and the tank soldiers often bumped into each other making their noses swollen when driving. Every time the gun was fired, the soldiers inside were choked by the smell of gunpowder, the crew even had to wear gas masks, the temperature inside sometimes exceeded 60 degrees.)
As the saying goes, war is a catalyst for technological progress. Tank designers from various countries were also constantly pursuing tanks with more superior performance. Later, there was an engineer named Walter Christie. In 1919, he designed his first tank. First of all, the two load wheels of this tank were equipped with a balanced suspension device and springs. This balanced suspension device made his tank much more advanced in balance than the tanks of other countries in the same period.
However, even though the tank designed by Christie was equipped with a suspension device, the military at the time did not recognise this. After reviewing the samples, the U.S. military believed that although Christie designed two turrets for his tank, his turrets could not be rotated 360". Moreover, the engine of the tank named M1919 was low in power and traveled too slow, so there was no order.
After some improvements, Christie successfully designed and manufactured a new tank M1928 in 1928. This time, the turret of the M1928 tank can finally rotate 360 degrees.
Since the M1928 meets the military's requirements, after seeing the test show, the U.S. military immediately ordered five prototypes from Christie. This tank is the famous "Christie" tank.
The "Christie" tank had an unique shape, with a pointed wedge at the front of the tank, which gave it a good bulletproof shape with a sloping deck. The most outstanding feature of the tank was still its suspension device, because of the excellent suspension device, "Christie" was able to stay in history.
For the first time, the "Christie" tank adopted 4 large-diameter load wheels. The driving wheels were rear-mounted. There was no support pulley used for steering in early tanks. The load wheels and the car body were connected by large spiral springs. The last load wheel was The horizontal spiral state improves the travel of the road wheels. When its second road wheel is in a highly compressed state, the remaining three road wheels are still in an extended state. In this way, it can reach a high speed of 44 kilometers per hour while driving. At the same time, even after the track of the "Christie" tank is damaged, the road wheels can still travel at normal speed, and the travel speed is faster, reaching 75 kilometers per hour when the road condition is better.
Hearing Guderian's words, the surrounding Soviet engineers couldn't help but nod their heads in agreement. It seems that there is still some truth in the major's words, not just loathing.
Soviet tank designers not only studied independently developed tanks, but also paid close attention to the progress of their foreign counterparts. They are no stranger to Christie suspension systems, and are even quite interested in it. Voroshilov, the People's Commissar of the Army and the Navy and Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Committee, was trying to get this kind of suspension in his hands.
Seeing the reaction of the Soviets, Wilhelm was secretly delighted. Because the American military quickly discovered the weakness of the "Christie" tank.
Its longitudinal system is not flexible, and because the suspension devices are all crowded in the car, the space inside the car is narrow. In addition, its crawler life is short, and it can only reach high speed during wheeled operation, while wheeled operation cannot overcome obstacles and so on.
Disassembling and assembling the track is enough to give the tank soldiers a headache, so the tank is basically useless!
Because of so many defects, the US military soon lost interest in the "Christie" tank. In addition, Christie had a dispute with the military because of the positioning of the T3 tank. The military finally asked Christie to design another tank that met their requirements, but Christie refused this request and the T3 tank was not put into mass production in the United States.
The Christie suspension, which was not put into mass production in the United States, received the attention of the Soviet Union.
In 1930, a Soviet puppet company in the United States signed a patent buyout contract with Christie. Subsequently, two tanks with turrets and weapons suspended by Christie were smuggled into the Soviet Union under the name of "tractors" (this should be an old trick, and everyone should understand the reason). When the United States discovered that the transport ship had already left the port, the government could only stare at the soviets with hatred. However, because of this "illegal" transaction, Christie had to face a lawsuit.
After the Soviets mastered the technology, the Christie suspension was applied to the BT and early T-34 tanks.
Tukhachevsky praised after listening to Guderian's words. "It seems that Major Guderian has an insight into tanks. Surely you must have conducted in-depth technical research in this area?"
A smile appeared on Wilhelm's mouth. " Major Guderian is the commander of our future armored forces. But if General Tukhachevski wants to compete with him, Of course,you can . As for the research of tank technology, we cannot bypass the treaty. . But we can send some experts to develop together with you, if you welcome it."
Tukhachevsky thought for a while and replied. "This type of co-development between countries needs approval from superiors. As for a fight with Major Guderian, I am very much looking forward to it, tonight."