Chapter 513: Chapter 513: Cannons and Machine Guns
M1 semi-automatic was just equipped for two days, and five 107 rocket launchers had been transported from Paris to Antwerp.
It was discovered during production that its cost was only slightly over a thousand francs each, which made Steed unable to believe it was true, he sent several telegraphs to inquire:
"Is this true, General?"
"Do you really need this thing? Can it really work on the battlefield?"
"I’m worried there might be problems; it’s too cheap!"
Shire looked at the telegram and smiled. Its advantage is precisely because it’s cheap; if it wasn’t cheap, I wouldn’t want it.
Tijani never thought highly of rocket artillery, reluctantly coming to the suburbs with Shire during testing.
It was the "Buena" fortress. After Shire took Antwerp, he used it as his command center and lived there for a while. In front of it, apart from a trench, there was just a barren and desolate land with a few craters left by the Germans’ random firing in the dark during Shire’s attack.
Although this place was very suitable for rocket artillery testing, for confidentiality reasons, they had to deploy the Belgian military police to clear the surrounding several miles and ten kilometers ahead the day before.
This alarmed Albert I.
Albert I, upon hearing this, personally rushed to the airport command center and eagerly asked: "General, I heard that new equipment will be tested tomorrow?"
"Yes." Shire, signing documents, casually replied.
"Is it part of the fort defense system?" Albert I asked again.
Shire paused, unconsciously slowing down his actions.
Rocket artillery could indeed be part of the "fort defense system."
The cannons inside the fort often don’t have the range of the enemy’s artillery, as the enemy always produces longer-range artillery to target the fort.
But rocket artillery can ignore the "range" issue.
For example, if the Germans bombarded the fort with "Big Bertha" again, the Belgian Army could suddenly unleash a rocket artillery barrage to destroy it and then quickly retreat.
Thinking about this, Shire said, "Hmm": "Maybe it can, if you are interested..."
"Of course." Albert I gleefully said: "Of course, I am interested, Major General. So, I can participate in tomorrow’s test?"
"Hmm." Shire answered: "But for confidentiality reasons, only you and Brigadier General Eden can participate."
"No problem." Albert I agreed wholeheartedly, then curiously asked: "May I know what it is?"
Shire reservedly replied: "We declare externally that it’s a cannon, you can think of it that way too."
Albert I’s eyes instantly lit up.
A cannon, a new type of cannon!
Wonderful, the fort defense system needs cannons. As long as there are enough cannons, we can keep all enemies outside the defense circle!
Albert I was full of anticipation for this cannon, eagerly imagining its shape in his mind. After returning to his estate, he called Brigadier General Eden to tell him the good news:
"We will soon have a cannon, a new type of cannon invented by Shire!"
"With this cannon, we will be invincible, no one can break through our fort defense line!"
Eden agreed: "Certainly, Your Majesty, Shire’s inventions are always the most advanced—planes, tanks, machine guns, and landmines; many pieces of equipment are even unprecedented."
Naturally, they began to imagine the shape of this cannon and made a series of reasonable speculations:
Since Shire spent so much effort on its confidential testing, this cannon must be very advanced and excellent.
It must be tall and powerful, hitting both far and accurately, even "Big Bertha" would be blown sky-high by it.
Its size shouldn’t be large, since Shire said it could be used in the fort defense system, which means this cannon can fit inside the fort.
The only worry Albert had was its price, because Belgium’s budget was not ample!
He didn’t know that this was the only thing he didn’t need to worry about.
...
The next day when they saw those few coarse and low "row of water pipes" at the "Buena" fortress, the huge discrepancy left them momentarily speechless.
Albert I didn’t even think those were the things Shire was going to show today, so he asked Shire: "Major General, where is the cannon you talked about?"
Shire gestured towards those "water pipes": "What you see is it, Your Majesty."
Albert I’s mouth dropped open in shock.
Although he kept telling himself internally that this was Shire’s equipment and that it must have something amazing, he still couldn’t hide the disappointment on his face.
Brigadier General Eden was somewhat suspicious, thinking whether Shire was keeping another kind of secret?
Randomly showing them some things to mislead these outsiders, and after they leave, test the real cannon!
Hmm, it must be like this!
Tijani was completely out of it, still thinking about the M1 semi-automatic rifle and how to leverage it on the battlefield.
Soon, under the disdainful eyes of everyone, soldiers fitted rocket warheads on the rocket launchers.
Seeing the rocket warheads, Brigadier General Eden affirmed his suspicion.
Rocket warheads were not something advanced; Congreve had been using them long ago, and these things weren’t accurate. Shire had no need to clear the site for this.
However, when Shire ordered to fire, everyone was shocked by what they saw.
The rocket warheads emitted terrifying "whoosh" sounds, one after another spewing smoke and flames, flying towards the target, leaving clear streaks in the air.
"Boom boom boom."
"Boom boom!"
...
After a flash of fire and explosions, a dense barrage of rocket warheads exploded several kilometers away, instantly enveloping several small trees in the target area with smoke.
As the smoke gradually dissipated, the small trees were gone, leaving only a small segment of the trunk proving their previous existence.
Albert I was dumbfounded, not daring to believe these seemingly ordinary "water pipes" had such tremendous power.
Brigadier General Eden suddenly doubted his thoughts—could this be today’s main act?
A shocked Tijani stood still for a long time before excitedly exclaiming: "I understand, this is another type of machine gun, a cannon machine gun!"
Albert I was confused while listening; a cannon is a cannon, a machine gun is a machine gun, how could there be a cannon machine gun?
Brigadier General Eden nodded thoughtfully:
"Correct, General."
"It relies on quantity to compensate for the lack of accuracy."
"Just like a machine gun, only it shoots cannon shells instead of bullets!"
Albert I suddenly realized but then glanced at the distance regretfully: "It’s a pity its range isn’t far."
"About 8 kilometers." Shire calmly said: "That’s enough!"
No one understood the meaning of Shire’s words.
Isn’t the range of a cannon supposed to be as far as possible?
kilometers can’t even reach the Germans’ 105MM howitzers, how can it be "enough"?!