Transmigrated as the Crown Prince

Although the United States produced nearly 50,000 M4 Sherman medium tanks during World War II and swept across the entire European battlefield, the United States also had heavy tanks.

The quantitative advantage of the M4 "Sherman" medium tank was used to counter the qualitative advantage of the German tanks. However, the Americans were not reconciled to the technical disadvantages of the tanks. In 1942, they produced the first heavy tank T1E2, and later based on this tank It was later developed into the M6 ​​heavy tank. However, the U.S. Army believes that the M6 ​​is too heavy and requires much more manpower than the M3 and M4 tanks to enter or exit the battlefield, and the manpower invested is not directly proportional to its combat effectiveness. Therefore, the U.S. armored forces do not plan to equip a large number of them. In this way, the M6 ​​heavy tank was declared dead and the entire project was scrapped. Only 40 tanks of this type were produced. They never left the United States and therefore missed the frontline battles of World War II.

In order to change the disadvantages of the M6 ​​heavy tank, the weapons research and development department developed two tanks, one is the T25 and the other is the T26. Both tanks use the new T7-type 90mm gun. Among them, T26 has been given priority for development, and its experimental models include T26E1, T26E2 and T26E3. Among them, the T26E1 is an experimental type; the T26E2 is equipped with a 105mm howitzer and was later developed into the M45 medium tank; the T26E3 passed the test of actual combat in Europe and was finalized for production in January 1945. It is called the M26 heavy tank, named after the famous American general "Iron" Hammer” named after General John Joseph Pershing.

At the same time, in order to resist the German army's mysterious "King Tiger" heavy tank, they hurriedly trial-produced a new T15E1 90mm gun based on the T26E3 with a long barrel 90mm gun. The barrel diameter reached 73 times the caliber (some also It is said to be a 70-fold caliber T26E4 "Super Pershing" with improved accuracy and muzzle velocity, and was put into actual combat in March 1945. Compared with the tall M4 medium tank series, its low, flat and good bulletproof shape is more modern. Its main gun power and armor thickness are significantly improved compared to all previous American tanks. The muzzle velocity can reach 1140M/S and can penetrate the front armor of the German Panther tank at a distance of 2400 meters. This power is comparable to the 88mm tank gun equipped by Germany on the King Tiger tank at the time.

After its service, the Super Pershing tank first participated in combat in an operation between Weser and Nordheim in 1945. The Super Pershing tank destroyed an unidentified German armor target at a distance of 1,400 meters. There were also a few achievements in subsequent battles, but they were never able to compete with the King Tiger tank. Then with the defeat of Germany in World War II, the Super Pershing tank completely lost the opportunity to compete with the opponent King Tiger tank, and the United States sent it to Europe The only Super Pershing tank was also abandoned on the European battlefield. In the end, the most powerful American tank in World War II ended its career in abandonment.

In addition to the T26E4 "Super Pershing", the Americans have also developed several other heavy tanks to fight against the German King Tiger tanks.

For example, the T29 heavy tank is considered a widened version of the T26E3 tank with thicker armor. It has a high-power Ford GAC engine that can provide approximately 770 horsepower and is equipped with a high-rate 105mm T5 gun. However, the development of this tank began in March 1944 and did not have time to enter the war. However, it provided post-war engineers with an opportunity to test artillery engineering theory and some parts.

Another heavy tank, the T30. The overall structure of this tank is almost the same as the T29. The gun has been replaced with a 40 times caliber T7 155 mm anti-tank gun, and a more powerful engine (Continental's AV- 1790-3 V-12 air-cooled gasoline engine, output power 525 kilowatts, 810 horsepower at 2800 rpm), equipped with a semi-automatic loading machine internally (the T7 artillery uses high-explosive grenade, the warhead weighs about 43 kg, and uses separately loaded ammunition to launch The weight of the gun is 41 kilograms. These two astonishing data basically mean that the loading personnel must carry 41 kilograms of weight for each artillery strike. Obviously, this gun, which is the same level as the light cruiser's gun, cannot be loaded manually), but This kind of loading machine is relatively primitive, not very reliable, and the heavy operation and divided ammunition result in a rate of fire of only 6 rounds per minute.

In addition, there is another improved version of the M26 "Pershing" tank, the T32 tank; and the T34 heavy tank that changed the 120mm anti-aircraft gun to a tank gun (T53 tank gun). This T34 heavy tank has nothing to do with the Soviet T-34 medium tank. Its appearance is similar to the T29 and T30, except that because the barrel is too long, a 100 mm thick steel plate is welded to the rear of the turret for trimming. At that time, the Ordnance Bureau required that the armor-piercing capability of this tank gun must be stronger than the 105mm T5E1 or 155mm T7 tank gun. When firing ordinary artillery shells, the muzzle velocity should reach 966 meters/second, and when firing high-speed armor-piercing projectiles, it should reach 1258 meters/second. .

However, the T34 heavy tank was ultimately not put into mass production and did not have any combat record. It was mostly used as a verification vehicle in service at the Aberdeen and Fort Knox proving grounds.

After hearing MacArthur's words, Marshall continued. "The 90mm tank guns we can use now include 50x caliber and 73x caliber." These two are the transformation products of the US military M1/90mm caliber anti-aircraft gun. This is similar to the development idea of ​​German tank guns. The reason is nothing more than The anti-aircraft gun has the same high muzzle velocity characteristics as the tank gun. When using ordinary armor-piercing projectiles, the armor-piercing thickness of the 50-fold tank gun is 122mm at a distance of 914m, and the armor-piercing thickness at a distance of 1829m is 106mm. The armor-piercing thickness of the tungsten core armor-piercing bullet at a distance of 914m is 156mm. "In addition, we are stepping up the development of 105mm tank guns and 120mm tank guns."

Vice President Truman wondered. "Only tank guns but no tanks?"

Marshall shook his head. "Mr. Vice President, of course there are tanks. Several prototypes of the latest M26 heavy tank have been produced. As long as some minor problems are improved, they can be put into mass production. The performance of this tank crushes the German Jackal. Tank, enough to rival the Panther tank." In fact, he didn't have much confidence when he said this, because the Germans said at the last military parade that the 75mm kwk40L/48 tank gun equipped with their Jackal tank can fire at 1,000 meters. Easily penetrates 170mm frontal armor at a distance. The 88mm KWK 36L/56 tank gun equipped on the Panther tank can penetrate 180mm frontal armor at a distance of 2,000 meters.

The thickest front upper armor plate of the M26 heavy tank is only 120mm. Although this thickness has exceeded the armor thickness of all existing US military tanks, once it encounters a German tank, it may still be stunned.

"That's great!" Vice President Truman didn't think so much. Hearing that his side finally had weapons that could fight against German tank armor, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. "We need to put it into mass production as soon as possible."