I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France
Chapter 263: Revised - 263 Super Heavy Tank

Chapter 263: Revised: Chapter 263 Super Heavy Tank

In the early morning of Berlin, William Street was covered in snow.

A night’s snowfall made the surface of the street as smooth as a mirror, or like a cream cake, with a few sparse tire tracks and some footprints decorating it like lace.

In the conference room of the General Staff Headquarters of Fajin Han, military representatives and representatives from the 7th Transportation Division were locked in fierce debate, the atmosphere seemingly more heated than the blazing logs in the fireplace.

At the peak of the discussion, they even wished they could settle the matter with a duel.

The focus of the argument was the direction of tank development.

The military representative was Major General Fein, command officer of the A7V tank unit, who had the most battlefield experience in armored warfare.

At this moment, Major General Fein was shouting at the opposing side, his face red and neck bulging:

"We risk our lives fighting the enemy on the battlefield."

"We watched as the ’Shire A1’ tank destroyed the A7V, while the A7V had no power to retaliate."

"At that time we knew, what we need is this kind of tank, and only this kind of tank can win!"

"This is experience gained with blood and life, it’s unimaginable that you still think your design direction is correct!"

...

Sitting opposite him was Major General Luca, the representative of the 7th Transportation Division.

The full name of the 7th Transportation Division is "7th Unification Office Transportation Branch", responsible for managing and designing military vehicles, of course, including tanks.

The A7V tank was sent to the battlefield in less than a month under Major General Luca’s command.

Although the A7V tank was defeated, Major General Luca’s position in tank development and design remained unshakable.

Major General Luca met Fein’s aggressive gaze directly, and firmly responded:

"You are right, General, the A7V indeed lost. But have you considered why the A7V failed?"

"Perhaps it’s not because it’s too big, but precisely because it’s not big enough!"

"If our tank is large enough to have cannons on every side, would the previous situation of being unable to aim while the ’Shire A1’ circled around still occur?"

"Please tell me, what method would the ’Shire A1’ use to defeat us then!"

...

Major General Fein couldn’t refute, since if a tank could be covered in cannons like a hedgehog, the light tank like ’Shire A1’ would certainly face devastating blows upon approaching.

Major General Fein sensed something was wrong, but couldn’t articulate it.

He could only reply:

"The problem is how long will it take us to acquire such a tank?"

"Before we get it, do we have to use crude anti-tank rifles to deal with the ’Shire A1’?"

"The French are already mass-producing the ’Shire A1’, soon they will appear in batches on the battlefield, while our super heavy tanks are still in the factory."

...

Major General Luca was similarly unable to refute Major General Fein, because super heavy tanks would take at least several months or even longer to finalize, and the front-line situation appeared unable to wait that long.

His answer was:

"We don’t necessarily have to produce tanks to counter enemy tanks."

"There are many ways to tackle it, its frontal armor is only about 20MM."

"We can consider using artillery, or increasing the caliber of anti-tank rifles, or even developing new grenades!"

...

Fajin Han sat at the head of the long table, supporting his chin with a furrowed brow, silently listening to the arguments of both sides.

Both sides had their reasoning, making it hard to discern who was actually correct.

From the immediate urgency, developing light tanks seemed necessary, but for long-term considerations, super heavy tanks seemed to be the trend. It was like battleships, with dreadnoughts dominating with their heavy armor and large-caliber naval guns.

This seemingly implied that light tanks were destined to be eliminated, so why not go straight to the final step?

After pondering for a while, Fajin Han spoke: "Gentlemen!"

The originally heated debate between the two sides slowly subsided, but their eyes still brimmed with unwillingness, their minds continuing to brew arguments for the next debate.

Fajin Han glanced below, intending to end this pointless argument:

"I haven’t commanded tanks, nor designed tanks, I’m an outsider in front of you."

"Therefore, I can’t give you suggestions, nor persuade you."

"But I do know one thing..."

Fajin Han straightened up and slowed his speech, his voice deep: "Shire chose the ’Shire A1’ type of tank, and so far he hasn’t made a mistake, not once, not ever!"

The moment these words were spoken, everyone fell silent.

Indeed, Shire’s every choice has been correct, from the original model tank to the ’Mark I’, then to the ’Shire A1’, each tank has caused heavy damage to the German Army.

Major General Fein caught the implication of Han’s words, or was inspired by Han, he excitedly chimed in:

"I agree with the Chief of Staff’s point. We can absolutely refer to the tank development process of France."

"France, besides Shire’s tanks, also has Schneider’s ’Saint Chammon’ and CA-1 tanks. They are similar to our A7V tank, with larger bodies and cannons."

"Yet Shire insists on using machine guns, ultimately only installing a 37MM small cannon on the ’Shire A1’ tank."

"And this small cannon is more for tank combat, while tanks in frontline battles are still more active with machine guns."

"Why is this? Do you think Shire is a fool? Doesn’t he know how to make tanks bigger and stuff everything inside?"

Major General Fein’s words utterly silenced the people from the 7th Transportation Division.

A dozen people, including Major General Luca, were speechless, and quite a few began to doubt their own thinking.

Because Shire is a benchmark, whatever he does, Germany follows, there’s basically no problem.

From this perspective, maybe they were wrong.

Then, the atmosphere in the conference room softened, and the members of the 7th Transportation Division seriously considered whether they should abandon super heavy tanks and turn to designing light tanks.

At this moment, a staff officer hurriedly entered the conference room, handed a document to Fajin Han, and whispered a few words.

Fajin Han’s expression changed slightly, immediately opening the document and browsing through it, his expression becoming complex, alternating between surprise and confusion.

The parties involved were puzzled, and all turned their gaze to the Chief of Staff.

After a while, Fajin Han sighed deeply, leaned back in his chair, and raised the document in his hand, saying:

"Gentlemen, this is Shire’s new tank design blueprint."

"You might not believe it, but this is a super heavy tank."

"It’s heavier and larger than any tank we can think of!"

The crowd changed color upon hearing this.

Especially Major General Fein, he knew the direction of tank development was shifting back to super heavy tanks!

Major General Luca felt somewhat smug, as this meant his direction of consideration was correct, and Shire had given him the strongest support through his actions!