Chapter Eighty
As the fierce battle raged on the outskirts of Odessa, Farnbacher received an order: his Tiger 223 was to return to the city center to provide cover for the withdrawal of a special unit. This special unit, led by SS Major Hugo Wynnig, would break through the Soviet encirclement in southern Odessa under the cover of a partially withdrawn elite defense force.
Fafnir gazed at the troops with great curiosity - indeed, there were party guards who looked like elite soldiers, but more of them were boxes and bookworms who couldn't fight, led by a major who had hardly shown his face. The few times he appeared, he wore a mask that completely obscured his face. However, there was a familiar face in the team - Fafnir remembered the cold eyes of this person like a reptile, Andrei Andester, who was now a captain. "Is it a military rank earned by killing the old, weak, women and children?" Fafnir thought to himself, but he didn't want to ask this snake about that at all.
The breakout was still relatively smooth, and there were not too many Soviet Red Army blocking the way, after all they were still far away from surrounding the Germans. Occasionally appearing Soviet tanks became Favni's prey. Along the way, that venomous captain seemed to have not recognized the soldier from back then, and the two people had no conversation at all.
Just as the unit was about to break out of the encirclement, it ran into a large Soviet Red Army force. Fortunately, the Soviet Red Army was busy fighting the German troops defending here and could not spare too many troops to intercept this small unit; unfortunately, the Soviet Red Army used heavy artillery to annihilate this unit. One round of shelling, all the trucks carrying boxes and the brothers' eyes were fine, but the SS soldiers suffered heavy casualties.
Fawneil sat unscathed in the 223rd Tiger King car, watching as a heavy artillery shell tore apart and sent flying a bucket truck. "It's a 152mm cannon, those Russian bastards really think highly of us, this is a full salvo from an entire artillery battalion! Hmm? Isn't that Lieutenant Andrei, the venomous snake? A direct hit by the 152mm cannon? His luck is truly terrible! The Russian shells have avenged their people..." The lieutenant with snake-like eyes was torn into countless pieces without making a sound.
Fortunately, the shelling stopped quickly, and Fawfnir's Tiger King was well hidden, apparently the Soviet soldiers observing thought there were no more worthwhile targets to shell, so they called off the artillery bombardment. About a company of Soviet soldiers under the cover of several T-34s prepared to come down and capture prisoners. Fawfnir took advantage of this sudden attack, initially wiping out the unsuspecting T-34s, scaring the Soviet infantry into a panicked retreat, Fawfnir didn't dare pursue, immediately leading the remaining German tanks and armored vehicles with trucks to withdraw.
Major Hugo Wynn completely unscathed, and he didn't seem tense at all - after all, no one could see the expression under his mask. At nightfall, this unit successfully made contact with the armed SS troops who were waiting to receive them, and handed over the entire convoy. Major Wynn got out of the car and entered a very strange enclosed vehicle belonging to the SS, before getting on he seemed to have removed his mask, but due to the darkness, no one saw his movements or appearance - except for Favniel with night vision, Favniel clearly saw that under Major Wynn's mask was a red skull face, completely without skin, muscle atrophy, it was simply a skull. "Seems like something is not right. This world just got more interesting."
The military personnel of the national defense army set off to return home after handing over the trucks and boxes. Favniel dozed off in the car, and the driver drove behind the guide car's taillights in the dark. At dawn, they replenished supplies, and the personnel also rested for a while in a Soviet village by the road. By nightfall, they returned to Odessa, where Tiger King was towed away for maintenance, and Favniel and the crew members immediately went to take a bath and sleep.
In places he didn't know about, factories in Germany had already begun production of new equipment.
In 1942, following the development of the Panther and Tiger I, German military leaders realized that they needed to design a new tank with common components. The Panther and Tiger I were highly successful on the battlefield, and Daimler-Benz and Porsche companies proposed designs for a new tank based on this success, starting the Entwicklung series.
During this period, Daimler submitted a prototype of a new heavy tank: the L?we. Weighing 95 tons, with interleaved road wheels, high and large hull, armed with a 105mm tank gun. During testing, both companies again presented designs for the E50, E75 and E100 - still with interleaved road wheels, still with high and large hulls.
When testing the Lion tank, countless problems arose. The transmission system was as unreliable as ever, with frequent failures, occupying a huge tonnage and space, insufficient engine power, numerous faults throughout the vehicle, slow running speed, only 20 km/h. The only thing that can be praised is that the gun performed well, but it was dragged down by the weak armor - due to the large space and tonnage occupied by the walking mechanism and engine, the armor was still weak even after designing a good jumping bullet slope, and the front-mounted engine made the whole vehicle immediately collapse once hit head-on! And strengthening the armor would make the speed even slower, while replacing it with a more powerful engine would require even more space and tonnage, an almost unsolvable vicious circle.
By 1943, with captured Soviet T-34 tanks being shipped to Germany for evaluation by the Heereswaffenamt, it became clear that the Inspector of Panzer Troops was no longer willing to accept designs from either company - the improved E-series had become as large and heavy as the L?we, and he had lost what little patience he had left after seeing the new E-series drawings.
The Director of Armored Troops drew his pistol, ready to duel with the designers of two companies or shoot all design teams! In the end, he was held back by the Minister of Imperial Military Equipment. The two men called in the design team and scolded them severely. The Director of Armored Troops expressed admiration for Stalin's method of shooting unqualified designers and threatened to implement this law in the Empire. Finally, the Minister of Military Equipment and the Director of Armored Troops jointly decided to shoot down the future of the Lion tank, and the completed prototype was scrapped! Then, a new E-series design had to be proposed within a month, otherwise...
By 1943, the potential of the Panzer IV had been fully exploited and production lines were to produce only the Ausf. G variant, with half of the production going to the Panther tank. Production of the Tiger I ceased, and the Tiger II was halted after just one batch had been produced, in preparation for production of the E-series tanks.
In the second half of '43, a prototype of the E series was finally produced. The rear-mounted engine, transverse engine, abandonment of interleaved road wheels, adoption of a new turret shape and reduction in overall vehicle height were all adopted by German designers.
E50: Actual weight 46 tons, rear-mounted horizontal engine, no interleaved road wheels make the hull lower than Tiger and Panther tanks. The body still has a sloping armor similar to Panther, while the design of Panther II was incorporated into E50. The turret is like an inverted dish, but elliptical, with two wedge-shaped armor plates on the front, covered by a gun mantlet. The main armament is an 88mm L71 gun, mounted in the center of the turret. The engine is a new DB800, producing 900 horsepower, allowing this tank to reach speeds of 50km/h on roads and 35km/h off-road. Armor: Front 150mm, sides 100mm, rear 80mm. Turret front 180mm, sides 100mm, rear 80mm.
E75: An enlarged version of the E50, with over 85% parts commonality. The turret is equipped with a 128L55 gun, and the vehicle weighs 72 tons, powered by an HL234P50 engine producing 1200 horsepower. This allows the vehicle to reach speeds of up to 30 km/h on roads and 20 km/h off-road. The frontal armor thickness reaches 170 mm, side armor is 120 mm, and rear armor is 100 mm, while the turret's front is 220 mm thick, sides are 140 mm, and rear is 100 mm.
E100: With a weight of up to 105 tons, the shape is more like another design route's mouse, but the turret has also become a high-bottomed disc-shaped, using a 128L70 gun, with an HL335 engine, a huge engine with a horsepower of 1900. The speed reaches 30-20 kilometers. The front armor thickness reaches a terrifying 220, the side is 180, and the rear is 150, with a body equipped with a terrifying turret with a front of 300, a side of 200, and a rear of 150, making this guy look indestructible.
Finally, the OKH decided to go with the E50 and E100, while the E75 was scrapped. On the other hand, Dr. Porsche received a warning to stop using electric drive on the Maus, which would have given the 180-tonne Maus more internal space and thicker armor - no way! Dr. Porsche had planned to use a gas turbine instead! The 3000-hp gas turbine was a tragedy...
