As spring dawns, the engineering school completes the training of the first 5 regular engineers, who are immediately put to work leading a team dedicated to fixing flaws in previous designs. First off, they manage to hammer out the maintenance issues with the LT-1. While the tank isn't quite as fast or maneuverable to comparable tanks, it has plenty of torque and traction, allowing it to cross soft terrain with ease, and its advanced rangefinder and fast-turning turret make destroying fast-moving tanks at range a breeze. The first 10 tanks are immediately put into production.
Next, the team tackles the troublesome carburetor of the Hawk fighter. The again succeed in fixing the problems with a new carburetor and fuel pump, which together creates the HPE Mod-A(with about 5 more hp). More rigorous testing shows the haw to be a very nimble, if somewhat slow fighter. 20 Hawks as well as the next three Prometheus Zepplins are given to the Army to form the core of an Air Corp.
Finally, they redesign the hollowpoint rounds to function properly, with little issue. These are finally sent to the ammunition plants to be mass-produced.
Next, the ballistics engineer and 5 novice engineers work on a truck-mounted mobile AA. Using the GPT as a base, they slightly widen and lengthen the wheelbase, install a HPE engine, mount a 360 degree swivel, and attach 4 14.5mm naval machine guns. This vechicle, dubbed "Flyswatter" can keep up with the logistics train, and with the more powerful HPE engine can even potentially carry armoring on the cab or an axillary tank and electric generator for a powered traverse.
Finally, our Naval Engineer takes a small team and goes to work developing better torpedoes. After a few weeks, he comes up with 6in. wet heater torpedoes that are longer-ranged and more reliable than our current 6in. torpedoes, and comparable to the 18in. torpedoes we received from Ashland.
At the shipyard, work begins on another Parish cruiser, and the dockside facilities destroyed in the civil war are cleared and rebuilt. As well, a new, larger shipyard is started, with work completed just as fall arrives. As well, more AT guns, the first batch of carbines, and more machine guns are delivered to the army, as well as spare HPE engines.
This is well timed, as when fall wanes, our scouts report a sudden massing of the armies of the West at the Yondol River, which marks the boundary of our countries. Our troops move to respond, and late November the invasion begins with a passive push at Magmoll Bridge. A division of 50 Banlgo-derived tanks(dubbed by our analysts as Razorback) force a crossing, followed by 20,000 infantry. Our defenses are well prepared though, as our AT guns completely rip the tanks to shreds, and LMG nests and pre-positioned artillery all along the approach to the bridge open fire, forcing the infantry brigade back. They are forced further back as our new tanks roll onto the scene, the two machine gun turrets opening fire and drving the enemy deep into their own teritory. Our 50,000 strong division, backed by the mobile logistics train set up by the generals, take the fight to the West, pushing hard and fast and completely taking over the river. A counterattack by another division of tanks is repelled by the lethal, accurate fire of the LT-1s before they can even get within effective range of their short-barrels 37mm cannons; we don't even loose a single tank nor are they even damaged. By the end, we control the border, and are preparing to push to the capital of the West.
On the naval front, our airships spot and track the 15-strong frigate fleet approaching our main harbor. Our fleet of 3 cruisers, 5 destroyers, and 10 various torpedo boats, as well as our sub, head out to intercept. It is a fierce and bloody battle; while we have ships that out-mass the smaller frigates, they have more combined tonnage. We loose all our destroyers, one of our cruisers is crippled, and we loose half our torpedo boats, but in the end we drive them off. What really saved the batle, though was the captain of the Timberwolf. A brilliant and able commander, he used the fact that the enemy frigates had no underwater detection equipment to his advantage, pulling off one bold surprise attack after another with his sub. He sunk two frigates alone, disabed three more to the point that our fleet was able to capture them as prizes of war, and generally wreaked havoc throughout the enemy formation. Overall, the entire enemy fleet is reduced to 4 frigates in battle-ready condition, and three more that were able to limp home for repairs.
A final battle happens on New Years between our Air Corp and a small raid of enemy fighters. The "Zephyr" fighters turn out to be faster than our Hawks and can outclimb them, but our Hawks can turn faster than them, a fact that the pilots put to good use. In fact, they manage to give more than they receive, shooting down 12 Zephyrs for 5 Hawks lost, though next time the enemy will be ready for our Hawks....
Author
Topic: East Kajikstan Design Bureau, 1925 (Read 11484 times)