Chapter 168: The New Tank

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One of the differences between an army barracks and a school dormitory is that people will disturb your rest at all hours. At a little after five in the morning, while everyone was still sound asleep in their bunks, a communications soldier was shouting in the corridor, “All tank commanders! Emergency assembly! To the battalion headquarters for a meeting! Immediately! Quick!”

The soldiers who heard the shouting clearly just changed their position and continued their rendezvous with the Duke of Zhou’s daughter. But the commanders of each tank crew all yawned and climbed out of their bunks, deftly pulling the black uniforms hanging at the head of their beds over their bodies.

They were the Waffen-SS, a supplement to the Wehrmacht, the most loyal soldiers of the Führer. Therefore, they had different uniforms, different collar tabs, and a different kind of fanaticism.

Rein climbed out of bed. The Russian book that had been covering his face the previous evening had long since fallen onto the pillow beside him. He quickly put on his clothes, then very casually put on his cap. After a slight adjustment of his uniform, he walked out of the dormitory door looking rather sloppy.

Just outside the door, he saw his classmate who lived next door, Marcus, the commander of tank 112. This was the young commander he had mentioned yesterday who was half a year younger than him.

“Hey! Good morning!” Marcus said, greeting Rein as he walked out of his room with a yawn. “How are you getting along with your new partners?”

“I think they’re a bunch of idiots, and they think the same of me,” Rein said, fastening the buckle on his web belt. He shook his slightly-too-long trousers, adjusted the wrinkles in his uniform, and very casually walked toward the stairs at the end of the corridor.

“That’s not like you,” Marcus said with a laugh, catching up to walk side by side with Rein. “If it were the you of half a year ago, they would probably all have been beaten to the ground by now.”

“Even a fool like you hasn’t hit anyone, so why should I?” Rein glanced sideways at Marcus, felt his pockets, and then very naturally extended his hand toward him. “Where’s the chocolate candy? I forgot mine!”

Due to the shortage of industrial raw materials, some of Germany’s non-essential food items had been severely reduced in quality. For example, margarine had begun to replace real butter on a large scale, and chocolate was mixed with a large amount of other substances, making it increasingly unpalatable. In the end, even the manufacturers themselves felt bad about it and added the word “candy” after “chocolate” to hide the shame.

As an armored unit, they had always been the secret weapon and trump card of the Wehrmacht, so their provisions were still quite good. But they were already eating potatoes and cabbage two days a week. And the officers and men of the 44th Infantry Division stationed not far away had to eat this kind of poor food four days a week. He heard that many second-line units were even worse off.

“Make it last. The army is not the same as the academy. God only knows when you’ll get your next supply of this stuff,” Marcus said with a helpless tone, tossing Rein a crudely wrapped piece of candy.

“I wonder when we can apply for leave,” Rein said, taking the candy and putting it in his pocket as he walked toward a barracks building not far away.

When the two of them arrived at the battalion headquarters, many of the tank commanders had already taken their seats. They randomly chose two empty spots and sat down. Rein took out a small leather-bound notebook with the Führer’s profile on the cover from the left pocket of his uniform. With his right hand, he pulled a fountain pen from the pocket where his medal was pinned and bit off the cap with his mouth.

“Corporals, Sergeants! Good morning, everyone!” Captain Carter nodded to everyone and introduced them very politely. “We, as the 3rd SS Panzer Division, which was upgraded from the infantry, have been personally named the ‘Totenkopf’ (Death’s Head) by the Führer. I hope you will all like it.”

He flipped open the curtain hanging on the blackboard. Underneath was a long black and white photograph of what looked like a very beautiful tank. “Gentlemen, this is the Wehrmacht’s newest Panther tank. It is equipped with a long-barreled 75mm cannon and has very powerful firepower. Our division has been ordered to receive this weapon and to use this super weapon in future combat missions.”

He pointed to the photograph with his pointer and began to explain the various parts of the tank in detail. The commanders below were very quiet, all seriously taking notes on the important information.

“Captain Carter has explained it very clearly! Are there any other questions?” Major Hans, the commander of the 1st Panzer Battalion, looked at his subordinate, Carter, and nodded in satisfaction.

“Sir! When can we see our tanks?” a corporal asked, raising his hand.

“Everyone can go to the motor pool this afternoon to inspect your own tanks. If there are any problems, you can go to the regimental headquarters’ logistics support company to find Captain Hubert. If it’s a serious mechanical failure, then only the division’s repair battalion can solve it,” Hans said. “But the daily maintenance will be up to you all.”

“Excuse me! Why is our leave canceled? I would like to apply for leave to look around the nearby area,” a commander asked the question he wanted to ask. Rein looked up when he heard it and saw that several others were also interested in this question.

Major Hans raised an eyebrow and said, “I’m sorry, a Level One Combat Readiness order was issued a few days ago. All leave has been canceled.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a wave of sighs and groans was heard. “Huh? No way? Level One Combat Readiness?”

Hans chuckled, flipped the photograph and technical specifications on the blackboard over, revealing the blackboard behind it. On the blackboard were two lines of small words: “Starting today, in addition to regular training, a five-kilometer long-distance run will be added every afternoon. Also, all tank commanders are to go to the logistics office after the meeting to receive tents, sleeping bags, and other field equipment.”

“Rein, do you think we’re really planning to go to war with Poland?” Marcus, beside Rein, nudged him with his elbow and asked in a whisper.

Rein shrugged, spread his hands helplessly, and replied in his slightly hoarse voice, “How should I know! They haven’t issued rations yet, so it will probably be a few more days. At least they’ll let us get familiar with the equipment first.”

“Sigh… God help us. I was hoping for a few more comfortable days,” Marcus said with a look of reluctance, complaining with a sigh.

“Save it,” Rein said, looking very natural. “Think about it. They’ve moved all of us to the border. How could those high-ranking officers go to all this trouble for no reason?”

“Let’s go. Let’s go see what kind of new tents they’re issuing us. If we’re late, we might be left with the ones with holes,” Marcus said, standing up as he saw the others around them begin to get up and talk among themselves.

“If I were you, I’d go pick a better tank first,” Rein said, also getting up and patting his backside. “Remember that saying?”

“Survive first, enjoy later…” the two of them recited in unison. Then they looked at each other and smiled, walking out of the door shoulder to shoulder.

As they had expected, in the rows of garages behind their quarters, several soldiers from the division’s repair battalion, under the command of a master sergeant, were spraying numbers on the newly arrived tanks.

“Sir!” the two of them saluted.

“Oh! Good morning!” the master sergeant returned the salute politely. “Aren’t you supposed to come later? What’s the matter? Didn’t go to get your tents?”

“We think this thing is more useful than a tent,” Marcus said with a smile, pointing to the tank behind the master sergeant.

The master sergeant nodded happily. “Mm! You’re right about that! This thing is indeed much more useful than a tent.”

He stroked the front fender of the tank as if it were his pet and then began to introduce it. “This tank can be said to be an industrial masterpiece of this era. It combines many design experiences that have never appeared before and can be described as perfect.”

He knocked on the tank’s front armor plate and said proudly, “It has a single-piece sloped frontal armor plate, with an astonishing thickness of 50 millimeters. The wide hull is supported by six pairs of large-diameter road wheels to cope with the weight change brought by the wider body.”

He then pointed to the tank’s tracks. “This is a brand-new design, completely different from Germany’s previous tanks. It uses wide tracks and a Schachtellaufwerk interleaved road wheel structure, which can adapt to more complex muddy combat environments and poor road conditions.”

He looked up at the two young commanders who were listening intently. “And to accommodate the new suspension system, the large-diameter road wheels, and the sloped front armor plate, this tank uses a rear-mounted transmission for the first time. This makes the turret sit slightly forward, instead of being in the center of the tank’s hull like the Panzer III. Of course, we have welded a basket to the very back of the turret to store some of the tankers’ miscellaneous items. This practical design also slightly corrects the aesthetic problem of the German tank’s turret position. And the high-power gasoline engine in the rear is also more powerful than its predecessor.”

He pointed to the tank turret above his head and emphasized with a very proud tone, “The most important thing is that this tank has a large and angular welded turret, big enough to accommodate a long-barreled 75mm cannon—which is enough to destroy any tank vehicle currently in service. And if necessary, it can be easily refitted with an even more powerful tank gun in the future. This guarantees that you can easily destroy any opponent! How about that? Exciting, isn’t it?”

He spread his hands with some regret and finally concluded, “But what’s a bit frustrating is that the combat weight of this tank has already exceeded 30 tons, reaching an astonishing 33 tons. Its weight can be considered a behemoth among the behemoths of this era’s tank vehicles. In comparison, its predecessor, the Panzer III, only weighs a little over 21 tons. So when facing complex terrain, you two must be careful.”

“Whew…” Rein sighed. “To be honest, sir, this vehicle is indeed very perfect. But if I had to choose, I would rather use a Panzer III.”

“Why? I think it’s great,” Marcus said with a frown, pointing at the new tank. “This is probably the best tank in the world.” Behind him, the master sergeant stared at Rein, who was pouring cold water on his enthusiasm, with great interest.

“It uses too many brand-new technologies, which makes it a very unreliable behemoth. When using this kind of thing, my biggest worry isn’t how strong the enemy is, but when my own vehicle will break down.”

“Kid! The problems you’re thinking about are for our logistics and maintenance troops! You just need to be responsible for taking good care of it and using it to fight bravely!” the master sergeant laughed heartily. “I like you two. I’ll save the two best vehicles for you.”