New vector art in my profile!
Also... Hmm... Did you guys and gals ever thought about what would happen if Toshiro would land in the world of a certain Kye? I suggest catching up with Doran Maya's Worldwide Liberation and Return, and if you are as eccentric not to have read the prequels of Toshiro X, you should do that too because... Hmm... Look up my profile and find "Cross World Battle". ;)
Also, a new community has been created, be sure to look for it!
And now, we resume the scheduled broadcast!
Chapter 17 – Unser Panzer
Toshiro slowly walked to the panzer hangar. And indeed, once he saw it, he didn't have any doubts he was at the right place, because before the hangar, a King Tiger, Jagdtiger and a Panther tank were to be found in various stages of dismantlement. The front door was closed, so Toshiro had to enter through the small normal door.
Inside, Toshiro found a collection of tanks he would probably never find anywhere else in the world, probably surpassing what Patton had in his base, if not by the sheer volume, then by the diversity.
"Kommen sie, Oberst!" Someone suddenly shouted to him.
Toshiro looked around and he saw a plump man in a Heer uniform, with small round glasses on his nose, waving him in. He was standing before a tank similar to a King Tiger, but it had something different in it. Its cannon barrel was covered, and Toshiro notice some differences like a different suspension and a different exhaust. The tank had the commander's hatch opened, as well as all other possible hatches.
Toshiro approached the man, whose rank insignia proved that he's a Major General.
"What is it, Herr General-Leutnant?" Toshiro asked while saluting.
"You are Oberst Edelweiss, right? My name is Heinrich Ernst Kniepkamp, and I'm the head of the Waffenprüfamt 6. Oh, and please, at ease."
Toshiro loosened up immediately.
"So, good that you're here, Oberst. Firstly, I wanted to congratulate you for choosing the name for the VK 45.03 (H). I personally accepted it as the official name."
"Ah, I almost forgot about that…"
"Secondly, I wanted to give you a tour around our… prototype museum here. I believe Patton has given you a similar tour?"
"Yes sir, indeed. But I believe he had more production tanks than prototypes."
"Well, you won't see a single series produces tank here, hahaha! Follow me."
Now, Toshiro noticed that the tanks were all neatly arranged, according to their weight/armor classes. First up were various self-propelled guns.
The first vehicle they approached was something that looked like a Panzer IV with an open topped turret and a stubby gun mounted.
"This is the Panzer Selbstfahrlafette IVb. It's based on the Panzer IV and it has a 10.5 cm schwere Feldhaubitze mounted. It didn't enter production because, well, the Hummel proved to be better…" Kniepkamp explained.
The next one looked like it's based on the Panzer V Panther, but it had a back mounted turret, opened in the back. It also had a weird shielding in the back for the crew.
"This is the Geschützewagen Panther. Sporting a 15 cm schwere Feldhaubitze it could have been something for the Neuroi to fear, provided they know such a state of mind, but… unfortunately, we had serious material shortages at the time after the prototype was constructed, and we had to scrap the idea of mass-producing it."
"A shame, it looks like something from another world…"
"Doesn't it? Haha!"
They moved on to another one the vehicles. Toshiro could see some loose similarities of the hull with the King Tiger, but the enormous casemate on top of it deceived him, as well as the freaking long gun.
"The Geschützewagen Tiger. The 17 cm Kanone 72 is… well, we tested it in direct fire mode with armor-piercing shells… A Giant Turtle class Neuroi was split apart, hahahaha!"
"But why didn't I see this in the papers?"
"Ah, well… We had a bit of a crisis back then, and the tank is very resource heavy… We had to shelve the idea…"
"I wonder if Ursula could get that gun and mount it…"
"Forget about it, Oberst… You would use more magic to prevent the recoil from ripping you into shreds than it would be worth…"
"Ah, I understand…"
Then they started touring the light tanks. The first one looked like a micro-Panther.
"The VK 16.02 Leopard was supposed to be a light reconnaissance vehicle, an upgrade to the Pz II Luchs, but it was scrapped because it was absurd to send soldiers in such a poorly armed tank against Neuroi."
The next vehicle looked like a mini-Panther.
"The VK 28.01 was another attempt to spawn a new type of light tanks but despite the up-arming it with a 7.5 cm gun, it was also scrapped due to resource shortages."
The next vehicle was truly almost like a Panther, but with a squished turret.
"We also tried Aufklärungspanzer Panther, simply put a Leopard turret on a normal Panthers hull and with added new cannon. Why it was not introduced into mass production? It's a mystery even to me…"
The next stop were the medium tanks.
Toshiro saw a tank what looked like a slightly smaller Panther tank.
"What you see here is the Panther prototype designed by MAN AG, the VK 30.02 (M). Not much to say truly, as its direct successor is the mass-produced Panzerkampfwagen V."
The next tank looked like some up-armored version of the Panther, with armored mudguards and a bulky turret with a new, muzzle break-less gun mounted.
"This is the proposed successor to the Panther, the Panther II. Not very inventive naming but… well, it's the Wehrmacht, haha! Slightly thicker armor, a big new turret, a slightly more powerful engine and the same gun you were given just recently for your use, only without a muzzle break."
"I see a pattern here… What about that tank with the open hatches back there?"
"You will see later, Oberst. It's a real bomb as the young'uns would say. What say you if we skip to the heavy tanks?"
Toshiro looked at the rest of the measly medium tanks and looked at the heavy tanks exposition. He nodded fervently.
"Haha, I knew it! Seeing such steel behemoths will fill the heart of every man with both fear and admiration!"
The first tank Toshiro saw had some features common with the Tiger I, but it also had a weird placed driver hatch and the turret was more forward, not mentioning it was shaped different and had a different, smaller gun mounted.
"This, my dear Oberst, is the VK 36.01 (H), the Tiger I's predecessor. The production was halted because the designers couldn't make a conical gun in time."
"A conical gun?"
"The input caliber of 75 millimeters gets gradually reduced to 55 millimeters along the barrel. Thanks to this the, the speed and thus the penetration of the projectile increase."
"Aaaah… Nice."
The next tank was in Toshiro's vicinity. It had a turret similar to the Tiger I, but it had a slightly different commander's cupola and no toolbox in the back. The turret was way to the front. The back was slanted and had an enormous grill for cooling.
"And this Friederike Porshe's biggest failure, the VK 45.01 (P)."
"I think I've heard the story about it while I was in Africa… In fact I've met her, but it was a rather stormy meeting..."
"Yeeees… This tank is overcomplicated and uses too much copper which is scarce."
"Copper?"
"It has a weird electro-diesel powertrain. One such set used as much copper as the wiring for ten Henschel Tigers. Not to mention it broke down before the Kaiser. Mein Gott… She must have cried her eyes out afterwards…"
"I can imagine…"
"But well, she didn't stop, and she designed the Elephant, an assault gun using as many parts from her Tiger as possible. This time it didn't break apart, and a limited run was sent to the front in Europe."
Toshiro's sights were now filled with a tank very similar to the King Tiger, but just looking at it, Toshiro could judge it was much heavier, probably due to the slightly elongated turret and the same gun he tested yesterday.
"This is the Standardpanzer E 75 designed by Adlerwerke, an up-armored and simplified version of the King Tiger, with a new HL 235 engine, outputting 1200 PS. And as you can see, it uses the same gun as you tested yesterday."
"But I doubt it has the same recoil in that massive turret…"
"Indeed, it doesn't."
"But why is it standing here? Scrapped?"
"Not quite scrapped, it's the only unit produced, and we're on the fence if we should use this, or the one standing over there." Kniepkamp pointed out the tank with the covered gun.
"Ah… And now… What's THIS monster?" Toshiro pointed out an enormous tank.
The tank looked a bit like a box, with tracks almost double the width of the E 75, and massive rounded sides. The turret looked like a small, slang, rectangular pillbox, with a massive gun and a smaller one mounted over it.
"That is the Standardpanzer E 100. 200 millimeters of slant frontal hull armor and 250 millimeters of turret armor. It's a ground battleship basically, especially with that 15 cm cannon, coupled with a coaxial 7.5 cm."
"Why bother with an MG, right?"
"Hah, exactly! The engine is the Maybach NP, churning out 1200 PS, but despite its looks, it's a rather fast tank. But its neighbor… Ohohooo, that's slower than a turtle with arthritis."
The abysmally big tank which only roundness was the front turret part stood like a mountain beside the E 100. It had the same gun as the E 75, but without the muzzle break, but it also had a coaxial cannon. The turret was pushed all the way to the back of the tank, and an enormous engine deck was on front of it, partially shielded with a piece of armor plate. And enormous round fuel tank was hanging on the slant rear of the tank.
"And this is Friederike's pipe dream, to which she put in a lot of money, the Panzerkampfwagen VIII, dubbed by her Maus, although I would say Ratte is more like it, but that name was already taken…"
"Yeah, nice mouse..."
"It can only go twenty kilometers per hour, and probably only downhill, but it has a similar armor to the E 100. It has a Daimler-Benz 603 A2 engine, which outputs… say, how much do you think is needed to move this behemoth?"
"At 20 km/h? Pffff… 1500?"
"Close, but no cigar. 1750 PS. And of course, Friederike wouldn't be herself is she didn't use her funky electrical engines."
"And that's why it's standing here, right?"
"Precisely, you're learning fast. But she said that it didn't matter, she just wanted to challenge herself."
"Never hurt a woman's ambitions, especially not a witch…"
Toshiro could hear the door being opened behind him just as they were walking towards the assault guns. Both Kniepkamp and he turned around, and they saw a rowdy bunch of four men in Heer uniforms."
"Ah, well, what a shame." Kniepkamp said. "You'll have to grab somebody else some other time, because now, I have an assignment for you."
"Oh?"
"Come, Oberst, to the tank."
They approached the people standing beside the tank. Toshiro recognized one of them.
"Oberleutnant Carius, nice to see you again." Toshiro said in a friendly tone.
Everyone from the group saluted, and only after they heard at ease from Kniepkamp they loosened up.
"It's nice to see you too, Herr M… ah, Herr Oberst now."
"Yeaah, I got promoted, heheh… I see you brought some friends. Are we going to drink or what?"
The three guys around Carius laughed aloud.
"No, you're not here to drink bear, although maybe after… Anyway, did you all get your instructions?"
"Jawohl!" They all shouted in unison.
"Instructions?" Toshiro asked.
"You don't need any, Oberst, since you will be the commander of this lot."
"Huh, what?"
"Well, we thought about placing you as the radioman, but you're the highest ranking officer, so it would look weird." Kniepkamp explained.
"Ugh… So, what is this tank actually?"
"This is the future of our army. The Standardpanzer E 50 Ausf. D. It has a GT104 has turbine, putting out 1300 PS, which at the weight of 60 tons give a rather impressive power-to-weight ratio. It's still not coated with Magerit, but we can skip that for now. We'll also not test the new FG 1500 night vision system. Oberst, could you please uncover the gun? But for God's sake don't hang on it!"
"Yes, yes…"
Toshiro jumped on the hull of the tank and after tugging one string, the cover of the gun fell down on the floor.
"Whaaaaat the…" Toshiro said slowly with his mouth open.
Toshiro saw two thin rails running parallel to each other and shielded by sheets of steel on the circumference in regular intervals, instead of a gun.
"The 2cm EMKwK45 L/400. It super accelerates fifty centimeter long tungsten rods using samarium-neodymium electromagnets. Last we tested it, the projectile penetrated a half meter thick block of Krupp steel from a kilometer, hitting right in the spot that was aimed at, and still having enough energy to cut down a whole line of trees behind in the forest behind the shooting range."
"Uuuuuuh… What is the cannon called by the way? The whole concept?"
"I believe our eggheads called it a coil gun… or was it a rail gun… Something like that. Anyway, it's powered by liquid ether tanks, one being enough to fire ten rods, which is one cassette."
"Ah… Wait, wait… Liquid ether tanks?"
"You don't have to bother about that, right now. Right now what's important, is that you sit under that cupola."
"Yes sir…"
Toshiro jumped on the roof of the turret and slipped inside of the tank. The interior was almost identical to the one of the Tiger, with the exception of the gun. Toshiro looked at it, and saw that it wasn't loaded yet, and he saw some kind of port to insert to liquid ether tanks. The rest of the crew was slowly sliding inside of the tank and taking their places.
"Men, wait… I don't know three of you, care to make some short introduction?"
"Feldwebel Kurt Knispel." The cheerful fellow with a big beard said. "I'll be the gunner today."
"Hauptman Michael Wittmann." The stern radioman said.
"Hauptman Johannes Bölter" The driver with the swept back hair said.
"Well, now I know everyone." Toshiro said and put on his headphones. "Headphones on, men."
The crew silently followed Toshiro's orders. Toshiro peeked out of the turret and saw that the hangar door was opening.
"Okay, driver, engine on!"
"Verstanden."
Toshiro could hear the starter turning the engine and soon the gas turbine awakened with fury. He hid back in the inside and closed the turret hatch. He now noticed that he was sitting on something. He pulled the something out from under his butt and looked at it. It was a map of the test course, with circled checkpoints and objectives.
"Okay then, Panzer Vor, take it slow."
The engine rumbled and the tank slowly went forward. After a few second, a thought crossed Toshiro's head.
"Hey, men. Maybe we should sing a song to liven up the atmosphere?"
"And what song would that be?" Wittmann asked.
"Of course the one song which every tanker should know, Das Panzerlied."
The guys looked at each other, shrugged and suddenly, Bölter started humming the intro to the song loudly. They were all looking at Toshiro.
"Well… If you want it that way…"
Toshiro waited for the intro to finish, and he started singing.
Ob's stürmt oder schneit, (In blizzard or storm,)
Ob die Sonne uns lacht, (Or in sun warm and bright,)
Der Tag glühend heiß (The day hot as hell)
Oder eiskalt die Nacht. (Or bone-chilling be the night,)
Bestaubt sind die Gesichter, (Our faces may with dust be laid,)
Doch froh ist unser Sinn, (But spirits never fade,)
Ist unser Sinn; (No, never fade;)
Es braust unser Panzer (Relentless, our tank)
Im Sturmwind dahin. (Thunders out on a raid.)
The rest of the tankers looked with admiration at Toshiro, and they all joined in for the second and following stanzas.
Mit donnernden Motoren, (With engines a-howling,)
Geschwind wie der Blitz, (Forward lightning fast,)
Dem Feinde entgegen, (We head for the foe,)
Im Panzer geschützt. (Safe, as we're in armor skinned.)
Voraus den Kameraden, (Our comrades still behind us roam;)
Im Kampf steh'n wir allein, (We fight the foe alone,)
Steh'n wir allein, (Yes, fight alone.)
So stoßen wir tief (We stab through the line)
In die feindlichen Reihn. (To break the foes backbone.)
Wenn vor uns ein feindliches (Whenever the foe)
Horde dann erscheint, (May appear in our sight,)
Wird Vollgas gegeben (We'll ram throttle full,)
Und ran an den Feind! (Then we'll humble all his might!)
Was gilt denn unser Leben (Of what use is our life if we)
Für unsres Reiches Heer? (Our country serve freely?)
Ja Reiches Heer? (Yes, serve freely!)
Für Karlsland zu sterben (To die for our country,)
Ist uns höchste Ehr. (Our honour shall be.)
Mit Miasma und Strahlen (With miasma and beams,)
Hält der Gegner uns auf, (Our foe tries to impede.)
Wir lachen darüber (We laugh at his ruses;)
Und fahren nicht drauf. (We know he'll not suceed.)
Und droh'n vor uns Legionen, (And when, in threat, his numbers stand,)
Versteckt im gelben Sand, (Half hidden in the sand,)
Im gelben Sand, (Yes, in the sand,)
Wir suchen uns Wege, (We can find our way)
Die keiner sonst fand. (Over much safer land.)
Mit Panzern in Land, (With tanks on land)
Und Hexen in die Luft (And Witches in the air)
Wir antworten schnell, (We respond quickly)
Wenn das Vaterland ruft, (to the Fatherlands yell)
Die Neuroi Niederlage, (The defeat of the Neuroi)
Wird eine Offensichtlichkeit sein, (an obviousness will be)
Ja wird es sein! (Yes it will be!)
Da wird das Reich siegen, (The Reich will prevail)
Und wir überqueren das Rhein. (and we willl cross the Rhine)
Und läßt uns im Stich (And should at long last,)
Einst das treulose Glück, (Fickle Lady Luck leave,)
Und kehren wir nicht mehr (And we remain here,)
Zur Heimat zurück, (Leaving family to grieve,)
Trifft uns die Todesstrahl, (A beam for us destined)
Ruft uns das Schicksal ab, (Find us and seal our fate,)
Ja Schicksal ab, (Yes, seal our fate,)
Dann wird uns der Panzer (Our tank our grave will be)
Ein ehernes Grab. (On that final date.)
"Whew, I always wanted to sing that song in a tank…"
"Then why didn't you sing it in Africa when you had the occasion?" Carius asked
"I only had one Karslander in my crew, it wouldn't feel the same…"
"Ah, I see…"
Toshiro peeked out through the visors in the cupola.
"Okay, driver, drive to the beginning of the straight dirt road and stop there."
"Verstanden."
The driver drove to a marked spot. Toshiro peeked out of the cupola and saw people in lab coats along the way, at every checkpoint he had on the map.
"Driver, full speed ahead through the dirt road and then on the paved road."
"Verstanden."
The tank jumped forward so rapidly that Toshiro had to grab hold of the rim of the cupola. The steel beast powered on, and Toshiro heard the unearthly whiz of the gas turbine engine.
"Herr Oberst, we have a jump ahead." The driver asked
"Then jump."
"Jawohl, brace for impact."
Toshiro grabbed the cupola rim harder as the tank approached the jump. And at approximately 50 km/h they jumped from a small hill. The over sixty ton tank soared briefly above the ground, but when it landed, Toshiro felt as if his stomach found itself down on his feet.
Ouch… You can't cheat physics…
"Everyone okay?" Toshiro asked.
After receiving a series of confirmations, Toshiro asked, "Say, driver… Do you think you could slide sideways with this tank?"
"Well… Judging by the mass and power of this tank, I think I could try."
"Then do it when we cross from dirt to pavement."
"Verstanded."
They were quickly approaching the designated spot. Suddenly, the tank swayed from left to right, and it slid for a good few meters, producing sparks from the tracks. Then the tanks straightened out and they continued.
"Okay, now just punch it to the max, we need to see how fast this puppy goes on pavement."
"I'll go as fast as the engine permits me!"
The tank accelerated violently, with even more force than previously. Toshiro could see their next checkpoint already.
"Driver, do you see that shooting range?"
"Yes sir. Is that our destination?"
"Correct."
At the end of the paved part the driver made a turn and drove up to a small bump in the ground.
"So, how fast did we go?"
"Sixty five. I've never driven a tank so big and fast at the same time!"
"Hahaha! Me neither! Okay, loader, prepare the cannon for shooting. Gunner, there are three targets in total, on 500 meters, a kilometer and two, do you see them?"
"Jawohl, clear as day."
Toshiro looked as the cannon was being prepared. First, the loader pulled out an openwork cassette containing half meter tungsten rods of two centimeter diameter, sharpened at the tip. He popped the cassette into its place with an audible click. Then, he pulled out an orange pressurized tank with red warnings scribbled all over it. He attached the valve of the tank to an inlet at the side of the cannon, and a small cloud of blue mist escaped.
"Cannon ready for operation."
"Targets in sight."
Toshiro looked around and saw spare cassettes and tanks in the back of the turret behind him, and a small trunk. He opened it and found binoculars inside, the standard issue Dienstglas of the Wehrmacht.
Toshiro peeked out the cupola and looked at the first of the targets. It was a half meter thick steel block with a target painted on it.
"Prepare to fire." He ordered.
Toshiro looked the gun and he saw that the rails now started sparking and glowing intensely blue.
"Feuer!" He shouted.
The cannon fired with a sound resembling the crack of a whip, but with no recoil or other special effects whatsoever. Looking at the targets direction, Toshiro could only see a cloud of dust where the projectile probably hit, but nothing more. He returned inside the turret.
"You think you hit it?" He asked the gunner.
"Dunno, I shot at the target…"
"Okay, then I'll go and see it myself. Shoot the second and third target when I give you a hand signal."
"Okay, Oberst." The bearded gunner said.
Toshiro took off his headphones and jumped straight to the target in one go. He looked at it, and saw a hole. He looked through at it from an angle and saw could see right through the thick block of steel. Toshiro walked around the target and whistled in admiration as he saw the damage made.
After making a perfectly round entry hole, the tungsten projectile ripped a conical hole in the steel block, leaving an exit hole about twenty centimeters in diameter.
Nice… I sooooo want to see how this happens!
Toshiro ran to the second target. He stood a few meters beside it and he raised his hand. He put up his shield and swung his arm down. At the same time he slowed down time a hundred times. He saw as the tungsten rod flew with incredible speed, despite the rest of the world being essentially frozen. He counted slowly.
Seven… Eight…
Then the rod passed before him. Toshiro could see the air bubble around it, and it hit the target. After no more than a quarter of a second it exited from the other side in a shower of steel spall, only slightly deformed. The time flow resumed.
Holy shit… Over eleven thousand meters per second... And my cannons are at most ten times slower…
Toshiro gave a thumbs up and returned to the tank hastily.
"You've hit both dead in the middle, Knispel."
"Hah, good! Want to take a try at the third one, Oberst?"
"Sure!"
The gunner left his seat and Toshiro sat in his place. He looked through the scope and was amazed.
"Only one dot as a crosshair?" He asked dumbfounded.
"Well, given the ballistic properties of this gun, it's rather perfectly normal…"
"Yeah…"
Toshiro gently pressed the pedal under his right foot and the turret moved. He corrected the gun manually, aligning the dot and the target. Hoping to see the same effect as he read about in the Tigerfibel, he turned the dial on the scope and the magnification level changed. After some fine-tuning, he simply pressed the trigger button. He could barely see it, but he definitely saw that the target was hit.
"Hit confirmed, we can finish this trial." Toshiro said and went to the commander's seat.
After some miscellaneous test, they ended up in the same spot as they started from. Kniepkamp was waiting for them. They disembarked from the tank.
"So, how was it? Herr Oberst, you first?"
"I can't say much… I was just commanding them around."
"Haha, isn't that true! Okay, Bölter?"
"The tank drives like a charm. The eight speed gearbox really helps bring out the most of the absurdly powerful engine."
"Good to hear. I'm not asking you about anything, Wittmann, since you had nothing to report through the radio."
"A shame… But it looks like it's a normal 10 W.S.c radio set…"
"It's a 20 W.S.c in fact. But now, Knispel, I believe you had the most fun?"
"Hah, indeed! God damn it, I never fired such an inconspicuous gun! How can a rod of metal the size of a nightstick penetrate a steel block with such ease?"
"Science, hahaha! And Carius, how was the loading?"
"If I was trained to do it, I could probably manage to reload both the cassette and the tank in fifteen seconds. A witch would probably take half of the time."
"Good, very good! I hope the scientists compile all the data from the tests, and we can start mass producing this tank! The Neuroi are in for something!"
"But I'm still wondering how the ether is being brought in these tanks…" Toshiro mumbled.
"Not today, Oberst. Everyone, you can go wherever you please."
All of them saluted and started walking in different directions.
"Ah, Oberst, could you take the tank to its hangar?" Kniepkamp asked.
"Oh, okay."
Toshiro entered the tank through the drivers hatch. He turned the ignition key and the tank started immediately. After doing a pivot turn he headed straight for the hangar. Being guided by the mechanics, he backed up inside. He turned off the engine and got out.
After getting back to his room, he did some reading again, but then he felt an urge for a number two. He found the toilet, but as soon as he sat on the can, he heard as someone in the stall beside him was agonizing.
"Hey, everything okay?" Toshiro asked.
"Ah… Everything okay just… I have a serious log jam…"
"Well, didn't we all have one…?"
"Yeah… But mine seem to be recurring… And either that or diarrhea."
"Ouch…"
"By the way, I'm Hideo Sasaki."
"A Fusojin here?"
"I'm on an exchange program for guards. There's some Hans right now somewhere in Fuso in my place."
"Ah… I'm Toshiro Edelweiss."
"Woah shit!"
"Hahahaha! Don't worry, we're all equal in the crapper."
"Heh, I guess so…"
After doing his business, Toshiro spotted that it was time for dinner. As usual, Helma took care of him.
"Hey, Ursula, I was riding this new tank today…"
"The E 50? Did you like the gun?"
"Yeah, sure! If I could get that one for my own use…"
"We were thinking about it, but we have to spend some time on adapting it for you… Sorry, we'll probably need until mid-September or so…"
"Ah, snap… But anyway, how does one make ether go into pressurized tanks?"
Ursula made an unsure expression and answered, "I'll show you tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay… It seems a bit of a sensitive matter."
"A bit." Ursula answered silently.
After dinner, Toshiro went on a long walk around the whole complex, which took him until supper. After supper, he did some reading and went to sleep.
The "EM" part in the designation means "elektromagnetisch". Do I need to explain what that means? Fun fact: Germans were working on railguns during WW2.
The GT104 is the imaginary next step in the evolution of the gas turbine intended for the Panther tank.
As you may have seen, there's a new stanza in the Panzerlied. I wrote it myself, so don't even think of ripping it off! :3
If you've caught that Sasaki reference, you're good. ;)
And if you want to praise/rant about my story, please leave a signed review, so we can continue via PM's. Seriously, I don't bite. Unless provoked :]