The Rise Of Australasia - Chapter 311

Chapter 311: Chapter 274: Test on the Training Ground

The entire tank weighs about 12.5 tons, and on top of accommodating four crew members, it can also carry two round ammunition pouches with 1,200 machine-gun bullets, 28 shells, and weapons for all four crew members.

Because it’s a tracked tank, this tank can reach an average speed of 25 kilometers per hour on flat roads, with a maximum speed of 32 kilometers per hour.

Of course, if it’s a non-flat road, then the average and maximum cruising speeds would greatly decrease, and may even affect the stability of the tank.

While this big guy is rather slow to move, it has a maximum travel distance of a whole 210 kilometers.

Because the tank body is fully covered with 17 millimeters of steel armor, it makes this big guy look rather bulky, but its protective ability is indeed trustworthy.

If we look historically, late World War One tank armors were only about 5 to 12 millimeters thick, whereas the armor thickness of the first-generation tank of Australasia has far exceeded this number.

Of course, this is still a long way from the armor thickness of tanks from the World War II period. During World War II, tank armor thickness had universally reached 45 to 100 millimeters, and the armor thickness of the Mouse Super Heavy Tank even reached a terrifying 350 millimeters.

What does 350 millimeters mean? It’s almost half a meter high, bullets could probably only scratch off a layer of paint.

Seeing Arthur’s interest in the newly developed tank, the researchers at the Agricultural Machinery Factory quickly organized a performance test for the tank.

Of course, this test couldn’t be carried out at the Agricultural Machinery Factory. After all, if there were constant explosions and machine gun fire at a factory producing agricultural machinery, people would start asking questions.

To maintain secrecy, the tank test was placed at the Guard Division’s station in the Sydney Suburbs. The artillery and machine gun fire could be falsely said to be part of the Guard Division’s training.

The Guard Division’s station, at a certain training ground.

Normally at this time, this place would have already started various cannon and shooting trainings.

But at this moment the training ground was rather quiet, and there were some trenches, iron wire meshes, tunnel trenches, water ditches, fortresses, and simply built small fortresses on the training ground.

Of course, although these facilities were simply constructed, their sturdiness was absolutely trustworthy.

At least in war, it would be a qualified defensive position, and the protective performance would be absolutely better than hastily built defensive positions.

Perhaps because of yesterday’s rain, the training field had become rather muddy. When walking on this kind of road, one couldn’t avoid slipping, which would naturally decrease combat power during a battle.

On a high platform outside the training ground, Arthur, Defense Minister Raul, Secretary of State Kent, Brigadier Thomas, and the person in charge of the Agricultural Machinery Factory, stood on the high platform carefully examining with telescopes.

Inside the training ground, a peculiarly shaped tracked vehicle slowly approached, its tracks helped it avoid slipping on the somewhat muddy training field.

Naturally, this was the star of today, the tank. Everything on the training ground was set up for the tank, with the purpose of testing the performance of the tank built by the Agricultural Machinery Factory.

“Mr. Factory Manager, does this big guy truly have the abilities you mentioned?” Brigadier Thomas asked curiously.

Although the factory manager of the Agricultural Machinery Factory had praised this tank lavishly, no matter how Brigadier Thomas looked at it, he still felt that it was a clumsy thing. Could it really be used in the battlefield and become a weapon of mass destruction?

“Brigadier Thomas, just watch!” The Factory Manager glanced at Arthur’s face, then smiled and told Thomas.

Under everyone’s gaze, the tank slowly approached various defensive works and went through them effortlessly: iron wire mesh, wooden stakes, puddles, these obstacles which infantry would struggle with were easily overcome.

Seeing the tank effortlessly pass through these troublesome obstacles, Brigadier Thomas raised an eyebrow and continued to watch with interest.

Next up was a seemingly effortful steep slope, and a conventional trench at the bottom of the slope.

Because the steep slope and the trench are relatively close, this means that the tank could fail to brake in time and fall into the trench.

But this was no match for the tracked tank. After easily climbing the steep slope, the tracked tank crossed the trench as if it were flat ground, as if the two-meter deep trench didn’t exist.

The end of the trench is a simple fortress constructed of steel and cement. Although not thick, having infantrymen take down this fortress would likely entail significant casualties.

For such fortresses are much like tortoises on a battlefield – there is little that can be done if they retract within their shells.

The tank approached the fortress, and the troops hidden within it chose to retreat promptly after three minutes of rifling and machine-gun fire, once they recognized they could not inflict any harm on it.

After everyone vacated the fortress, the tank bombarded it, quickly blasting a sizable hole under the excessive consumption of shells, and ultimately destroying the feeble fortress at the tank’s impact.

The biggest challenge for infantry trying to overtake such a fortress is the variety of counterattacks from within it, inflicting heavy casualties.

Still, the tank endured three minutes of firing from within the fortress before destroying it – this was to prove that while demolishing the fortress, the tank can withstand the assault from its occupants.

At this sight, not just Brigadier General Thomas, but also Defense Minister Raul and Secretary of State Kent, were all pleasantly surprised, showing considerable interest in this new weapon that the agricultural machinery factory developed.

After watching the tank destroy the fortress and leisurely return to its starting point, the military officials slowly shifted their eyes towards the machinery factory. Their excitement could hardly be concealed.

“All right, you were all invited here to witness the practical combat capabilities of this new weapon. This new weapon will certainly be deployed in our military, beginning with the Guard Division,” Arthur said amusedly, looking at their excited faces.

“Your Majesty, why don’t you equip us with a battalion instead! This big fella will be a deadly weapon on the battlefield, reducing casualties on our side, and ruthlessly destroying the enemy’s troops and fortresses without mercy.” Upon hearing this, Brigadier Thomas could not suppress his eagerness and promptly requested.

“Deployment is inevitable, but the tank is still in the development stage, so its performance is not yet stable. Today’s tank experiment went smoothly, but that doesn’t mean accidents won’t occur in the future. However, it’s undeniable that this tank has enormous combat capabilities and can play a decisive role on the battlefield,” said Arthur, with a smile.

No wonder these military leaders were so excited about the tank – even in original history, it was a powerful weapon capable of changing combat concepts.

Didn’t the Red Russians’ massive steel stream of tanks and armored cars cause the European nations to tremble for a long while in later generations?

“Factory Manager Joel, why don’t you explain to these gentlemen the current development progress of the tank,” Arthur suggested, chuckling.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” responded Joel, the Factory Manager of the agricultural machinery factory. He then explained respectfully to the trio, “Gentlemen, our tank is still in the development phase. It’s estimated to take about six more months before it’s ready for mass production. You wouldn’t want to purchase tanks that break down now and then, would you? Please give our machinery factory half a year’s time. I assure you that we can provide the military with reliable tanks in six months’ time.”

Upon hearing Factory Manager Joel’s six-month deadline, all three nodded in understanding.

Quality and stability are of primary concern to military weapon purchases. After all, soldiers would hate for their weapons to malfunction in the middle of a battlefield, wouldn’t they? That would be like playing with their lives!

Minister Raul nodded and said, laughing, “Factory Manager Joel, you must ramp up all the following tests and improvements at your factory! Rest assured, there’ll never be any shortages in military orders. Even if it means going all out, I will lobby for an order for at least a thousand tanks for the military.”

Whether it’s Secretary of State Kent, Defense Minister Raul, or Brigadier Thomas, they are all high-ranking officials and elites from the military.

They’ve already developed a comprehensive understanding of the combat power of tanks and their decisive impact on the battlefield.

If the Australasian military could be equipped with a thousand tanks, even if the total strength of our military is just one hundred and twenty thousand people, it would still be absolutely comparable to the armies of other nations numbering in the hundreds of thousands.

It’s not even an exaggeration to say that with a thousand tanks, the Australasian army could enter the level of major powers in an instant. Even among these powers, it would definitely not rank last.

“The information regarding our tanks must be kept absolutely secret and mass deployment within the military in a short timeframe is basically impossible,” Kent countered, looking at Defense Minister Raul.

“My apologies for the oversight,” Defense Minister Raul quickly conceded, facing his former superior and Arthur’s absolute confidant, Deputy Prime Minister Kent.

“What Kent said is absolutely right. Currently, the tank is classified top secret for Australasia and cannot be openly deployed in the military. However, we can secretly establish armored divisions and form an army composed solely of tanks, occasionally dispatching other divisions to conduct mixed training with the tank division. Of course, the personnel from these divisions participating in the training must be carefully selected. In short, until other countries vigorously develop tanks, ours are best kept a secret,” Arthur nodded, thereby agreeing with Kent’s opinion.

Seeing that Arthur had spoken, Defense Minister Raul certainly had no objections.

“Of course, if other European nations begin to vigorously develop tanks, then our tanks can also be openly declared. At such a time, as Defense Minister Raul stated, even if it requires the deployment of a thousand tanks, we must ensure our superiority in tanks against other nations.”