In the distance, she heard the unique roar of an engine. Lingyin was very familiar with this sound. She fell asleep to it every day and it was so noisy.

“I can’t tell. But when this piece of…” The general bent down and looked out the window for a moment, “Yes, if I remember correctly, this pine forest is just past it.”

As they were talking, suddenly there was a loud bang that drowned out the conversation in the car.

“General, Raphael and Miss Lingyin, we are here.” Hans turned around and said, “This is the armored base of the Democratic Republic of Germany. There is an armored division stationed here. Of course, the main battle equipment has not yet been fully replenished.”

Raphael calculated that according to the previous organization, during the war, East Germany had only two army groups, namely the 5th Army in Neubrandenburg and the 3rd Army in Leipzig.

“Why is the 7th Tank Division here?”

“In order to receive equipment secretly, as a replacement and camouflage, part of the 4th Mechanized Infantry Division was transferred to Dresden.”

“I hope it works,” Raphael said. “Also, once the fight starts, two armies won’t be enough. Don’t forget, there are Poles behind you. Even though they are disabled, they are still capable of backstabbing you.”

She paused. “Don’t put your hopes on the Russians. Their actions in Ukraine have stopped.”

Hoping for support from the Russians? What a joke. That’s how the Poles are. Every day they fantasize about stabbing the Germans in the ass in retaliation for the Third Reich’s speedrun in September and October 39.

In addition, there are still political groups in East Germany that are concerned about the territorial status of January 1937, 1.

Although they soon gave in under the strong political and military pressure from the Soviet Union, the result of the suppression was a strong demand that became prevalent among the people.

As long as the war breaks out, the volume of demands in this regard will become extremely huge.

“There is also the issue of the Oder-Neisse border,” Raphael pointed it out straightforwardly. She wanted to know the attitude of the East German People’s Army so as to judge the possibility of success.

“The preparatory work is progressing. We Germans are very experienced in military expansion.” General Karl-Heinz Kulas told a hellish joke without changing his expression.

Raphael and Lingyin looked at each other and immediately understood the trick played by the Germans. The Germans had played this trick once before 125 years ago.

According to the treaty, as a defeated country, the German army faced a series of strict regulations. Not only was its number limited to less than 10, but it was also prohibited from developing advanced weapons such as tanks and military aircraft, organizing an air force, and the navy was not allowed to own submarines.

The General Staff, the brain of the German army before the war, was also ordered to be disbanded.

On the one hand, the German army was forced to implement the provisions of the treaty and cut off its own arm. On the other hand, it was secretly working hard to retain and accumulate strength as much as possible during disarmament. Seeckt was a representative figure among them.

As the “Commander-in-Chief of the German Army” before Hitler came to power and the de facto head of the German Army, Hans von Seeckt became the soul figure who reshaped the army.

He used the traditional Prussian spirit as the foundation for building the new army, and believed that the future German army would be a small but highly mobile and well-trained professional force.

Another point is that after the war, the Germans suffered a lot. They had already suffered heavy losses in the war and suffered heavy casualties.

Post-war reconstruction was slow due to treaty sanctions. The inflation rate exceeded 400%, and the unemployment rate was also high, and the economy suffered a devastating blow.

Another thing that the Treaty of Versailles brought to the Germans was hatred, coupled with the determination for revenge. And the Germans never felt that World War I was lost.

They just feel that they have been treated unfairly, even cruelly.

At that time, the vast majority of Germans were filled with anger. They believed that they were a superior nation and should not be like this.

At this time, the United States intervened forcefully, and the crisis caused by the reparations issue was temporarily resolved. But the good times did not last long, and the world-class “Great Depression” in 29 brought a heavy blow.

Economic decline is coupled with political chaos and fragmentation.

After the Papen government, the last few governments of the Weimar Republic were presidential cabinets. Political struggles became increasingly fierce, and the taste of political conspiracy became stronger and stronger.

Xier’s opportunity naturally came.

A large number of people spent 15 years in a state of pain, loss and economic collapse after World War I.

It was precisely by taking advantage of this opportunity that the Nazi Party, relying on its almost panacea-like governing program, first gained the support of the middle class, and then gained the support of large bourgeois business owners and the military.

By 33, Hindenburg realized that the only political party that could gain a foothold in Germany was the Nazi Party.

The conservative forces’ wishful thinking was to control Hitler and the Nazi Party under his control.

They thought this was a top priority, and at the same time, they thought they could completely contain Hitler. As a result, everyone was played in Hitler’s hands.

Neither Hitler’s political opponents at home nor abroad denied the fact that:

By January 1933, at least one-third of Germans supported the Nazi Party and its “Führer”, Adolf Hitler. At that time, no other German politician from any political faction had reached or approached such a high level of support.

But during this period, according to the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, the army could only be kept below 10 men.

This was indeed what we did in the past few years and we did not break through this limitation.

Since quantity cannot exceed the limit, we can focus on quality.

Since Hans von Seeckt, the Wehrmacht has devoted a large part of its energy to training non-commissioned officers and officers in the army, so that when there is a suitable opportunity in the future, it can expand the army rapidly.

Many soldiers who performed well in World War I stayed and continued to serve in the German army, just like “sleeping on straw and tasting gall”, waiting for the right opportunity.

When Hill seized the opportunity to come to power, he first tested Britain and France.

从1935的秘密扩军，到36年完成第一波次的24个野战步兵师的增编，同时新编3个装甲师、2个骑兵师、1个骑兵旅和1个山地旅，加上原有的10个师，德军规模达到41个兵团单位约50万人。

So, both Raphael and Suzune thought this was a hell of a joke.

But General Karl-Heinz Kulas’s serious expression when he said this could not deceive anyone.

“Aren’t you worried that we might leak the news?” Lingyin asked frankly, “After all, we are foreigners and our status is within the US Navy sequence.”

He asked back: “Yeah, why should you help us?”

“Isn’t the answer right in front of you?” Raphael answered the question with a question.

Two infantry fighting vehicles loaded with soldiers rumbled by, the Boxer, the same type of wheeled infantry fighting vehicle used by the Wehrmacht. The commander and gunner standing on the turret waved at the stopped sedan and made jokes in German.

“In this case, the problem that bothers you is the production quantity.”

“It’s not just the output, there are all kinds of problems that are troubling.”

Raphael said nothing, and Lingyin remained silent. This was not a topic they should get involved in. Strictly speaking, they were weapons suppliers, and their identities were very sensitive.

Boom, boom…

A tank passing by in the distance suddenly stopped, fired two shots, and then started speeding away again.

It was a beautiful short-stop shooting, but does this mean that there are still problems with the vehicle’s system? At least it is unable to achieve accurate move-to-move combat, so the crew chose a combat method that is more controllable?

However, Raphael only made his judgment based on the tank’s movements.

“You guys…” She felt a little amused, “You’re using them earlier than the intended users.”

It is a new Leopard 2 tank with a modified turret design, replaced onboard electronic equipment and reduced crew.

“After all, we are one of the customers.” Karl Heinz Kuras was equally frank: “By the way, the M1A2 tanks modified by your company have a better reputation among tank soldiers.”

“Excuse me, what’s the reason?”

Lingyin was a little confused. The M1A2 supplied to East Germany only had a modified tail compartment design, replaced some electronic equipment, and used the non-reactive composite armor used by the Leopard 2A7. Its combat effectiveness could not have achieved a qualitative leap.

“It’s a simple maintenance issue for the vehicle. Four people can do it much better than two.”

Chapter 220 Calculating family fortune

It may not be as simple as maintenance.

Tanks are actually cheap weapons that do all the dirty work. The crew’s job is not as simple as driving the vehicle to a certain place, aiming and firing.

It is also necessary to quickly restore combat effectiveness after being hit or damaged.

Fully automated machinery is not omnipotent enough to replace everything, and often requires sufficient manpower. Daily maintenance of a four-person team is very tiring, let alone two people.

In addition, the two-man crew has to solve many problems, so the fire control system must be able to autonomously identify and track targets that may be unclear and discontinuous, to the extent of completely replacing or even surpassing the human gunner, so that the commander only needs to select the target.

The manpower requirements for repair and maintenance must also be considered.

Carrying batteries, connecting tracks, cleaning breech blocks, etc., this is almost exhausting. They can’t even finish daily maintenance, let alone training.

This places higher demands on the logistics and maintenance capabilities of the armored forces, that is, the crew hardly performs maintenance on the tank itself, and it is entirely completed by other service personnel.

The M1A2’s positive reception was not surprising.

Because the environment of land warfare is more complex and under the influence of armor protection, the crew’s battlefield perception will become worse, which is why tank crew members are indispensable.

There are no rocks, trees, mounds, broken walls, non-combatants, or roadside improvised explosive devices in the air. Active detection methods on the ground are greatly limited, and the visual search range is indirectly inconsistent with the amount of armor.

Of course, reducing the number of crew members is indeed the direction of development. The next generation of the world will have two people, the next generation may have one person, and the next generation will have no people.

In the end there should be no tanks, only robots and steel warriors.

If the current tank model is maintained, the tank will become a light, all-electric tank that uses electricity for protection, firepower, mobility, etc.

It’s hard to say about the rest, it depends on the traction of the combat mode and the advancement of technology.

Raphael felt that in order to establish an armored division with two-man crews, the number of full-time logistics and maintenance personnel would inevitably increase significantly.

If this trend continues, the armored division’s operating model will become like that of the air force.

There is still some distance to the day when the system can be completely unmanned, but Raphael estimates that the time will soon come for AI to replace gunners.

She can almost say with certainty that at this point, even the Air Force’s fighter jets and the Navy’s warships can be equipped with specifically trained general-purpose artificial intelligence.

This is completely different from the traditional AI that is fed with large amounts of data and is close to the limit of exhaustiveness. It will maximize the use of data captured by sensors, then use human thinking to judge the situation, analyze the battlefield situation, and ultimately assist the commander in completing the kill.

This alone makes it stronger than other similar auxiliary means, and is beyond the reach of other AIs.

“We need to put a lot of effort into maintenance.” Raphael shrugged and said that the East German People’s Army was facing more difficulties than just the armored division in front of them.

The army is the easiest to build, the air force is a little bit behind, and the navy can drag down the national economy. Even though East Germany still retained its autonomy, its investment in the air force and navy was affected by economic factors and was basically two generations behind.

To be honest, she felt that if East Germany wanted to fight the Wehrmacht with such little assets, it would have little chance of winning.

There is a hint of irony in the word “probably”.

“What is the total strength of the Wehrmacht?” she asked.

“Including the troops stationed in North Africa, there are 76 in total, not counting the reserve forces and those being prepared.”

“How many are there in the mainland?” Raphael asked.

“43,” Hans Schmidt said with a sigh, “The main battle equipment is all A7/A8 and derivative models, which is very difficult to deal with.”

Raphael counted on his fingers and did the math for him. The East German People’s Army plus the three division-level armed forces directly under the MfS, as well as the police, border guards and reserve personnel, had a maximum of 24 people.

空军还是苏制Mig29，以及从国防军手里拿到的F4鬼怪。45架Mig29，90架Mig23，还有57架F4鬼怪。

The situation is very difficult.

The situation of the navy was not so bad, because after the disturbance, resources could not come in from the outside world. Because the entire Baltic Sea was seriously polluted due to the “Northern Lights” incident.

The transport ships cannot come in at all, and people on the shore can’t leave by water.

The only hope was that after the outbreak of the civil war, the People’s Army would replicate the Third Reich’s experience and quickly pass through Poland, open up a channel to the new Soviet Union, and obtain fuel, wartime supplies and military equipment from them, especially advanced air equipment and ground-based air defense and anti-missile systems.

Raphael thought that Germany’s problem was not simply an internal one, but a complex one that affected the entire body.

A full-scale fight with the Wehrmacht would inevitably attract the French Army and Air Force, who would have an obligation to assist their allies in suppressing the rebellion; expanding northwards to attack the Polish army would trigger NATO’s war mechanism.

In addition, if the new Soviet Union seizes the opportunity to intervene personally, the Americans will also intervene militarily.

Taking all factors into consideration, maintaining the status quo is actually the best solution to maintain peace.

“But this means that we have to sacrifice more, even more painful than the price of breaking down the Berlin Wall in the 90s,” Hansban turned and said to Raphael.

“Maybe building a whole new wall to keep the yellow zone out.”

“Ah…” Hans said expressionlessly, and then took a long step, “Just like the wall you Americans built.”

Raphael and Lingyin quickly quickened their pace and were able to barely catch up with the two.

“It was a helpless act under emergency circumstances. The impact on Salt Lake City was too serious.” Raphael argued, which was justified by the salary he had received for more than ten years.

Up ahead, the general was talking to the commander of the 7th Tank Division.

The latter’s mood was visibly bad, but the division commander kept saying yes, expressing his confidence in completing the task assigned by his superiors – the military expansion was about to begin.

“What’s the situation?” Lingyin asked in a low voice.

“What’s the situation?”

Hans turned and raised his eyebrows sarcastically.

“Only God knows what the overall situation is, but I think judging from the armored forces’ point of view: now that the tank supply has stabilized, new armor-piercing shells have been issued. Yesterday, the Cheetah air defense system was replenished with integrated Stinger missiles. This means that we can fight.”

The Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft gun system, the companion anti-aircraft gun with dual 1mm anti-aircraft guns installed on the Leopard 35 chassis… If Rafael’s database records are correct, this should be an old thing from 1976.

Even with the integration of the Stinger missiles, she felt that this thing only solved the problem of whether or not it was there, and the protection it could actually provide was very limited.