Romanian Eagle

In Berbringen, outside Stuttgart, there is a large army reserve warehouse. Long before the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, this was built by Prussia as an ammunition storage warehouse.

Due to its close proximity to the capture of Alsace and Lorraine in France, the Berbringen Army Depot was further expanded after the Franco-Prussian War. From the original only stockpiling ammunition, it has become the three main combat readiness warehouses close to the French border. Before the outbreak of the war, at its peak, nearly 200,000 guns, more than 1,000 cannons, and nearly 100,000 tons of ammunition were stored here.

After the war, it was also designated by the Allies as a storage point for weapons after the German surrender. Therefore, the weapons and ammunition here have reached a new peak. Nearly 400,000 German equipment has been placed here in different categories.

The main German rifle Mauser g98 can be seen everywhere in the warehouse, and the 1888 committee rifle can be seen from time to time. The G08 heavy machine guns that caused the Somme massacre were piled up together, telling others about their illustrious military exploits. All kinds of cannons are also removed from key parts such as running bolts and sights here, and they are neatly placed here. To guard the weapons and equipment here, a Canadian division was stationed at Berbringen.

On weekdays, the warehouse management personnel here are relatively leisurely. Except for the need to pay attention to the random inspection of materials by the representatives of the Allied countries stationed here, there is nothing superfluous, which is really a rare good job.

But today's Berbringen seems a little unusual. Today, a large number of high-ranking officials of the Allied countries came to this storage warehouse. The German director of the warehouse, Plock, is currently explaining the current situation of the materials in the warehouse to the group of senior officials.

"What we just passed is the ammunition warehouse, which mainly stores 7.92 caliber pointed bullets."

Then he pointed to a huge warehouse in front of him, and continued to say to everyone: "In front of us is the artillery storage warehouse. This warehouse mainly stores large artillery with a caliber of more than 100 mm."

Prolock's words aroused the interest of everyone present, and one of the generals spoke. "Then let's go in and see."

"I'm going to open the door."

After Plock finished speaking, he waved his subordinates to open the warehouse in front.

Within two minutes, the group came to the door of the warehouse. The door of the warehouse has been opened, and from the door, you can see the cannons covered with cannon coats, and you can feel the chilling atmosphere for a while.

"Then let's go in and see."

The general who asked to see it at the beginning asked everyone to come in.

"it is good."

"Should be.

"

A group of people answered and walked into the warehouse with him.

From their conversations, Prock had already discovered that among the senior officials of the Allied Powers, the general's opinions were the main ones. Through the identification of the military uniform markings on his body, it was found from memory that the general was from Romania. The reason is very simple. The medal on his chest has the logo of Sigmaringen, a sideline of the Hohenzollern family, and there is a medal with a golden eagle with its head turned to the left and its wings spread. A golden Orthodox cross with a silver sword and scepter in each paw. This is the Romanian national emblem.

Plock guessed right, the general was indeed Major General Salda, the former chief of staff of the Romanian Army Group Bulgaria. Of course, it is impossible for Major General Salda to serve as the chief of staff of the long-disbanded Bulgarian Army. His current position is head of the Romanian military delegation to Germany. It is mainly responsible for contacting matters in Germany with the Allies.

And this time Major General Salda came to the Berbringen Army Depot, and he did have a purpose.

A group of people looked at the neatly arranged artillery pieces in the warehouse, and from time to time they had their gowns removed. At this time, Major General Zelda will step forward to carefully check the status of the artillery, and other senior officials of the Allied countries will also come forward to evaluate the status of the artillery at this time.

Prolock, who accompanied him throughout, discovered a problem through the conversations of these Allied generals. It is also an artillery piece. The Romanian generals were able to figure out a lot of problems, such as damage to the gun wheel, serious wear of the rifling, poor sealing and small gaps, etc. As for other Allied officers, this does not affect the use, and this part can be replaced. This is all the words of the small reverie and other circles. It seems that two groups of people are doing business, one is lowering the price and the other is raising the price.

As everyone negotiated and walked towards the second half of the warehouse, many large one-legged cannons covered in smocks appeared in front of them.

Major General Zelda pointed to one of the cannons of the same style and said, "Open the cannon jacket."

As the cannon was uncovered, it turned out to be a k16 Krupp 150mm cannon.

At this time, the French representative, Colonel Phillance, stepped forward and said: "This is a German k16 cannon. Although it is not as good as our Schneider artillery, it is still a good suppressive long-range artillery."

Major General Zelda, who knew the artillery of various countries, knew that what Colonel Phillance said was the truth. The K16's range of up to 22 kilometers is indeed very surprising, but its total weight of up to 10,870 kilograms also greatly affects its transportation. After all, during this period, there were no vehicles with a transport capacity of more than ten tons.

Major General Zelda looked at the k16 artillery for a while, then continued to walk inside. At this time, a much smaller cannon appeared in front of everyone, and the bipod, which was relatively rare in this period, aroused his interest.

After the people uncovered the cannon jacket, a new type of artillery appeared in front of everyone. This is the lefh18 that was only recently equipped in Germany. It is a howitzer. As a well-known German artillery in later generations, it can be said that the lefh18 can be regarded as a famous one, but it is not bad for Major General Salda who belongs to this era. Currently recognized as the best 105 howitzer is the Schneider m1913 105 howitzer from France.

Dissatisfied?

Let's compare.

This German newly designed lefh18 105 howitzer. As the newest 105 howitzer, its barrel caliber is l28 and its range is 105 meters. Its performance can be regarded as one of the best guns of this era, but only one.

The Schneider m1913 105 howitzer has a barrel caliber of l28, and its range reaches an astonishing 12,000 meters. It can be used as a main division-level support weapon in World War II (in fact, many countries were using it during World War II).

Of course, some people will say that the later improved version of lefh18 can also reach 12 kilometers (l31 caliber), but there is also a more perverted Schneider 1930 105 howitzer in the later period, and its range reaches an astonishing 17 kilometers. (Although this product weighs 3,810 kilograms, compared with the weight, no one really can match its range, which is simply abnormal).

During the period from World War I to World War II, French artillery really dominated the world in small and medium (65-155 mm) calibers. In the case of the same weight, he can achieve the longest range, and in the case of the same range, he can achieve the lightest.

Major General Zelda then looked at the situation in other warehouses. Basically, the preserved guns and artillery can continue to be used. That's right, Romania intends to buy a part of what it needs to replenish its troops. All of this is due to Edel, who came from later generations and suffered from the phobia of firepower density.

Although the firepower of Romania's main divisions is quite good at present, it is afraid of comparison in everything. Compared with the divisions of the great powers (mainly the United States, Germany and Britain) that are generally equipped with a caliber of more than 100 mm, most of the division-level artillery in Romania is still 75 mm mountain and field guns, and the gap is too large. Therefore, using the war reparations to purchase the artillery that you need from Germany has also become the righteousness.

Whoever defeated Germany, these weapons were compensated to the countries that participated in the war. The United States, Britain and France do not lack German artillery, and the different calibers completely increase the logistical burden. Moreover, compared with the economic collapse of other countries, Romania still has a lot of financial surplus. Romania, which uses the same weapons as Germany, came to pick up the ocean.

Therefore, after Major General Sarda inspected the weapons and equipment in the German warehouse, Romania's list of these weapons was sent to the United States, Britain and France. As far as Britain and France are concerned, it is hoped that Romania will take away all these weapons from Germany. And the United States, because of the need for large-scale disarmament after the war, could not use German weapons. Therefore, Romania's purchases were all agreed, and a large number of weapons and equipment were loaded and transported to Romania from various warehouses in Germany.

According to statistics after the event, a total of nearly 400,000 G98 rifles, more than 5,000 G08 heavy machine guns, and more than 1,000 lefh18 and K16 cannons were shipped to Romania. Add in nearly 30,000 tons of other military materials such as gas masks, field phones, and sappers, and Romania spends around $140 million on these arms. This still means that the Allied countries are selling at a bargain price. Otherwise, based on the cost alone, these arms and materials can reach 410 million US dollars.

These military materials also greatly enhanced Romania's military strength and made a strong contribution to the subsequent confrontation with the Soviet Union.

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