CHAPTER 1497: CHAPTER 1414: JUST LIKE GERMANY THREE

Like Germany Three during World War II, the frontline armored corps of Qin Country has already started getting used to chaos and self-sufficiency.

They are trying every possible means to make use of discarded tanks with qualified armor from the past, dismantling parts from the inferior tanks to repair those damaged old tanks.

At least the old tanks have normal armor, although these steel plates can’t withstand the Tang Army’s rockets, they at least have armor...

The Qin Army tries to convert those newly issued inferior tank vehicles, which have been stripped of parts, into various special vehicles.

For example, an inferior tank chassis combined with an anti-aircraft gun to create a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun; or using the body of an inferior tank with a mortar to create a self-propelled mortar...

In short, Qin Country’s soldiers are using their intelligence and creativity to make the most out of waste materials, playing a significant role on the battlefield.

Disguised self-propelled anti-aircraft guns are simply godsends for urban warfare. With twin-mounted 20 or 30mm machine guns installed on tank chassis, they have the potential to contend with the Great Tang Empire’s armed helicopters as long as they remain hidden.

And this type of weapon is also very effective against infantry, sometimes inflicting casualties on the Tang Army unexpectedly, making them hard to defend against.

The modified self-propelled mortars are also quite useful, allowing them to escape the increasingly swift counterattacks from the Tang Country’s artillery, at least partially ensuring the safety of the crew.

Unfortunately, all these modifications are ad-hoc self-initiated by the troops; although they are useful, they are so diverse that they are a logistics nightmare.

For example, some units have installed twin-mounted 20mm machine guns on their self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, while others use 30mm ones.

Some units use single barrels, others use twin mounts, and some even crazily use quadruple mounts. Some use machine guns instead of autocannons, even creating an eight-barrel monster using eight machine guns.

This entirely depends on whether there is an Air Force stationed around these army units because most of the autocannons are dismantled from Qin Country’s aircraft.

A large number of planes were destroyed on the ground or left stranded due to damaged runways or scrapped due to malfunctions... In short, many of the Great Qin Empire’s planes can no longer take to the skies for battle.

Repairing or transporting them is too labor-intensive, so they were simply dismantled to take off the weapons for reuse, highlighting an attitude of... whatever.

After getting hold of these parts, the army refitted them onto vehicles because people can’t move these heavy autocannons and machine guns from aircraft otherwise.

Besides, the Qin Army also used these inferior tanks as tank destroyers, poor-quality artillery platforms, transport tools, or command vehicles.

But doing so brought disaster to logistics: ammunition types didn’t match, the Air Force reserves couldn’t supply the army, spare parts were nowhere to be found... The logistics units dealing with these issues in Qin Country were overwhelmed, and many weapons would soon become obsolete and abandoned on the battlefield.

Sometimes even parts from the same type of tank were not interchangeable—this was entirely due to the production department. Due to a shortage of qualified workers, many assembly procedures were barely completed, and stories of screws that couldn’t be screwed back in were all too common.

Fuel supplies were intermittent because oilfields from Dahua were lost, although Qin Country also had domestic oil production and could still provide some fuel for the frontline troops.

However, transporting this from the home front to the frontline was the largest challenge given the already strained transportation. Qin Country’s road network was not great, despite years of construction, it could only be considered barely adequate.

If you transport people, you can’t transport guns; if you transport guns, you can’t transport ammunition; if you transport ammunition, you can’t transport fuel... This situation turned support to the front lines into a piecemeal strategy, an approach that, in some ways, seemed quite foolish.

To save fuel and reduce the risk of being attacked during troop movements, the Qin Army began using bicycles and other civilian tools in large numbers. However, with the loss of Shu Territory, the rubber and other raw materials Qin Country had stored began to deplete, and these products quickly faded from use.

With no other option, having lost the Southern Region, Qin Country, located in the Northwest, had to start using synthetic rubber as a substitute to barely sustain industrial production.

Unfortunately, synthetic rubber, after all, is still synthetic, and its performance is indeed inferior to natural rubber, directly leading to a ludicrous reduction in the lifespan of many industrial products from Qin Country.

This technology was introduced back when the Great Tang Empire and Qin Country had amicable relations, brought in from Tang Country. When bringing in this technology, Ying Duo and his ministers felt a bit of pride.

In their view, this was a key step towards Qin Country achieving self-sufficiency in raw materials, and Tang Country providing this technology seemed utterly foolish.

At the time, Qin Country was in its heyday, with an optimistic attitude from top to bottom. Most believed back then that after mastering sufficient advanced technology, Qin Country could defeat the extravagant Tang Country troops on the battlefield with its strong soldiers.

Sadly, these were just Qin Country’s one-sided fantasies. Today, the Great Tang Empire has suffered losses approaching 200,000 in the war, yet there is no significant anti-war sentiment within Tang Country.

On the surface, the citizens of the Great Tang Empire do not appear martial, but in reality, Tang People have never feared war from the day Tang Country was established. Even Emperor Tang Mo, along with everyone in Tang Country, seems to harbor some expectation of war.

Meanwhile, in Qin Country, which appears martial on the surface, severe anti-war sentiment began to surface following continuous defeats: the people of Qin Territory have been fighting for far too long, with too many sons, husbands, and fathers who’ve died abroad. The blood of the People of Qin is running dry, and Qin Country’s war potential is already exhausted.

From Shu Territory to Chu Territory, from Shahun to Xiajian, the Qin Army has fought continuously for several years and is thoroughly exhausted. Subsequently, they lost nearly all their gains, with Chu Territory, Shu Territory, and Dahua Region successively retaken by the Tang Army, leaving Qin Country seemingly only with casualty numbers.

From every perspective, Qin Country could collapse at any moment. Although there are still millions of troops on the front lines, the entire Empire is on the brink of disaster.

This situation seems quite similar to Germany Three, which, despite having millions of troops on two fronts, has an irreversibly deteriorating situation.