Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred Forty-Four
31st July 1964
Munster
There were several armored vehicles parked in the field that Kurt was looking at. The first was yet another update of the legendary StuG that was a continuation of a series of vehicles that many felt went all the way back to the original Raupe Panzers of the First World War. The second was an American M-7A3 Buford that had been captured from the Chinese in Korea. Kurt approved of the choice of name that the Americans had made. Major General John Buford was one of the most important Generals that most people had never heard of. At von Wolvogle’s insistence, Kurt had read many accounts of wars fought around the world from Greeks right up to modern times. The American Civil War held a lot of lessons, both good and bad. The Old Wolf had mentioned Buford by name, saying that the Cavalry Officer who had selected the very ground upon which the later Battle of Gettysburg had been fought had been key to the Union victory there. The third vehicle was the one that Kurt was here to see though. The prototype of the new series of Panzers.
Kurt thought that the prototype was incredible, and it represented everything he had been asking for over the previous years. The Panzer VII Lynx I and II series had an extraordinary run over the previous two decades. However, encounters with American made Buford Tanks in Korea and Intelligence reports of Russian Tanks had revealed that they were fast approaching obsolescence. Now, Kurt was looking at one of the first Panzer VIIIs already designated as the Leopard.
The 12.8 cm main gun of the Jagdpanzer VIII Skorpion had proven successful in Korea, just the open turret that left the crew vulnerable was unpopular for obvious reasons. The Skorpion had only ever been intended as an interim solution and the Leopard mounted the same gun. It remained to be seen if the Heer would field another cannon armed tank destroyer now that interest in guided rockets was growing. The composite armor was a new development, it was both spaced wherever possible and the armor itself was of layers of steel and ceramic on top of the improved anti-spall lining that was already in use in most of the Panzer Corp’s vehicles. A version of it had been put into use in the last variants of the Lynx and had proven itself in Korea. The very latest fire control and optics had been installed.
The rest of Panzer seemed familiar enough. A coaxial 8mm machine gun as well as a 13mm heavy machine gun in a ring mount around the commander’s cupola and another 8mm on a flexible mount in front of the loader’s hatch. The Junkers super-charged diesel engine was a time proven design.
“You’re the expert on Panzers” Hans asked, “So, what’s your opinion?”
Hans von Mischner was the General who had perversely been put in charge of determining the equipment needs of the Panzer Corps in the coming years. Fortunately, Hans had enough sense to admit that he didn’t know enough about Panzers themselves and had asked for Kurt’s help.
“I like it” Kurt said, “You might find that you’ll have a hard time fitting one of them into your office though.”
Hans just smirked at that.
Everyone knew that Hans had a collection of the “toys” in his office, or at least the things that would fit into his office. They represented the various ideas that he had championed. The two big ones that he was pushing were an improved version of the light mortars that had been copied from the Japanese and a better way to incorporate the 40mm grenade launcher that he had personally filched from the Americans. Hans said that giving an infantryman a one-shot weapon was kind of stupid, even if it was one Hell of a shot. It seemed that the Americans were working on the same problem and Hans had been pressing most of the small arms manufacturers to find a solution.
“Beyond you saying that you like it, is there anything more that you could tell me that the Reichstag would buy into?” Hans asked, “Hoping that the unit cost is enough to give them a heart attack is not the best strategy.”
It always came down to the same questions. Could they afford the latest thing? If they could, would the politicians approve the spending? Or finally, would what they already had continue to work for a few more years? If they didn’t have ready answers for those questions, then they had better be prepared to get nothing at all. Kurt remembered that he had once chafed under that system as his superiors explained that to him. Now he was the one who had to do the explaining.
“Sir?” Kurt’s latest Aide asked nervously.
Fähnrich Aaron Kolb was just out of the Academy and Kurt had agreed to take him on as a favor for an old friend. Aaron looked out of place here, the ill-fitting grey coveralls and black beret that the rest of the Brigade had pointedly told him he couldn’t wear the Panzer Corps pin on didn’t help.
“Yes” Kurt replied.
“Your wife called” Aaron said.
“And?” Kurt asked.
Aaron gulped before saying, “She wanted me to tell you that Suse got into another fight, outside of school this time at least. Her words and she would like to know when you will be home to handle it.”
Kurt concealed his aggravation at that latest message.
“Very well” Kurt said, “Go back to what you were doing before Fähnrich Kolb.”
Hans chuckled as Aaron ran off. “Is it me or do they seem to be getting younger and dimmer as time goes on” He said, “Suse Rosa though, she’s a real firecracker.”
There were all kinds of things wrong with what Hans just said. Aaron Kolb was Fritz Kolb’s son, a man who had been on the crew of Kurt’s Panzer in Spain and the Second World War. As for Suse, she was constantly underestimated because of her small size. Her short temper and the fact that she fought incredibly mean swiftly made whoever provoked her regret it. Kurt was caught between being proud that his little girl was a fighter and wanting to brick her into her bedroom until she stopped acting like a child.