Democratic Commonwealth of the Falkland Islands (DCFI) - FD - Page 2

Oberon_706

Post subject: Re: Democratic Commonwealth of the Falkland Islands (DCFI) -

Posted: February 17th, 2015, 1:55 pm

Posts: 207
Joined: April 1st, 2014, 12:17 am
Location: Sydney, Australia

Blackbuck and Trojan,

The AV-M isn't in fact based on Valentine but on the Soviet T-34 (I hadn't realised till today but it seems Blackbuck has similar ideas in his Tol Galen AU!) Please read the following description (foreshortened for the sake of time) to give you some background and service history info.

In this AU, the AV-M 'Thunderer' is a direct, but improved and heavily 'westernised' descendant of the T-34. It is developed by the DCFI with the help of Soviet Defectors and tank designers, Michail Koshkin (chief designer during the T-34 development program) and Konstantin Chelpan (designer of the iconic soviet V-2 Diesel engine). Please read the following extract from my History to get a better picture of the design.

NB: I will detail how these guys defected successfully later in my AU history.

...With the arrival of their key Soviet and Czech defectors, the DCFI’s Office of Ordinance and Materiel (OOM) was able to begin detailed planning of their ideal series of armoured vehicles with commensurate levels of expertise. Design for the cruiser/medium tank specification started in the middle of 1940 with an initial requirement based on the best aspects of the Soviet T-34, including the use of the V2 engine with some notable western refinements. This baseline was gradually bettered over the course of the next 6 months with changes to armour, suspension, drivetrain and the quality of materials, systems and construction methods. The Christie-derived suspension system was retained but modified to use components and parts being produced for the British Cruiser tanks and the Falklands own AV13 series vehicles. The V-2s Russian designer, Konstantin Chelpan, along with the Falklands own mechanical engineers, developed a series of improvements to the V-2 including a Supercharger, which increased its output through several successive iterations to an impressive 1000hp. These changes were accommodated in a hull top that broadly resembled the engine covers off the British Valentine. The original hull design was widened slightly and it’s height profile reduced, allowing a larger, welded turret to be fitted to accommodate the Falklands FQF75mm HV gun, and importantly, a growth margin for up-gunning in future Marks. The new tank, weighed in at some 33 tonnes, and retained the soviet-esque wide tracks and road wheels to keep ground pressure low and maximise all-terrain, all-weather mobility. The culmination of this significant redesign was a thoroughly westernised and significantly improved T-34, achieving in all areas what the Soviet’s would fail to do in their attempted creation of the follow-on T-43.

The original production batch of the new tank (named 'Thunderer' after one of the British Battleships ceded to the Falklands as part of the Washington Naval treaties) made its battlefield debut in Nth Africa during the defense of Tobruk when two mixed squadrons of Mk IIIs (HV FQF50s) and close support MK.IVs (FQF75s) were shipped in to assist the encircled defenders of the Libyan port city. The widely disbursed, defensive operations on the Tobruk perimeter served as an ideal trial by fire for the new Thunderers which proved formidable, if a little maintenance intensive. Action on the 30-mile long defensive perimeter involved aggressive patrols with infantry support, hull-down fighting from prepared positions, and quick dashes too and fro along the perimeter to intervene wherever Rommel struck next. In all these actions the tanks performed excellently. Nothing the Germans had save for the infamous 88mm flak gun could come close to denting them, and the high velocity 50mm gun of the Mk IIIs (with its tungsten-cored, armour piercing ammunition) wreaked havoc on the German Panzers and Assault Guns. Lessons from these initial front line experiences were used almost immediately in a redesign of several key areas of the vehicle including the addition of an electric turret traversing system, gyroscopic gun stabilisation, engine air filtration/compartment pressurisation, and perhaps most importantly, the tracks and suspension. The Christie suspension was further fine-tuned for greater ride performance on soft ground and for improved low ground pressure. In pre-deployment trials on the peat tundra of East Falkland this improved Mk V, on which all subsequent Marks would be based, maxed out at 40mph over open country, and hit 55mph on road trials. The improvements to the turret, optics and up-gunning to the new, long-barreled FQF75mm HV gun, as well as continued refinements to ammunition, meant that it was now reliably possible to score hits on stationary or frontal targets at ranges in excess of 1500 yards, and at up to 1000 yards when on the move, a distinct tactical advantage, which, along with the penetrating power of the new gun, helped the Thunderer stay ahead of the curve when coming up against Rommel’s ever improving Panzers.

The first Brigade level deployment of the new, improved Thunderer came during the pivotal battle of Gazala in June 1942, when a reinforced Battalion of DCFIs 2nd Armoured Division (1st Royal Falkland Hussars), along with Infantry support from the Australian 9th Division was sent into a daring but limited counter attack to facilitate the withdrawal of British and South African units threatened with encirclement. The Hussars 64 Thunderers and 12 AV-S Pathfinders made light work of the opposing German and Italian armour, blunting Rommels pincer attack and successfully holding a narrow corridor for a day and a night, covering the withdrawal of the besieged forces before itself withdrawing. It's estimated that in the intense engagements of that 24 hours some 45 Axis tanks and assault guns as well as a similar number of towed Anti-Tank guns were knocked out for the loss or immobilisation of only 4 Pathfinders and 12 Thunderers which were all recovered under fire for later repair, victims in the main of a screen of Flak 88s, brought in by Rommel under the cover of darkness to try and break the Falklanders lines.

Thunderers saw continued service throughout the remainder of the Nth African Campaigns (including the both the battles of Alam Halfa/El Alamein and the chase through Cyrenaica, Operation Torch and the Tunisian campaign), as well as the invasion of Sicily. Later versions, including the up-armoured and up-gunned Mk VIII (fitted with either the M6 76mm American gun or Falklands derivative of the iconic 17pdr), fought from D-Day, through Operation Dragoon, the battle of the Bulge, the Rhine crossing and in the final encirclement of the Rhur industrial basin before finishing the war on the Banks of the Elbe before Hamburg.

Proving how superlative its design was for the times, the Thunderer continued (in progressively upgraded forms) in active service for another 15 years, both as part of the Cold War BAOR in Germany, as part of the Falklands commitment to the Korean War and in the borderlands wars with Argentina and Chile in the late 1950s. It was complemented, and later replaced in service by later marks of AV-H heavy tank, and from the Korean War onwards by the AV100 Cougar, the DCFI's first main battle tank.

Hope this clarifies things somewhat.

cheers

Edited 19/08/2015 (change to extract from DCFI history)

_________________
"Come to the Dark Side... We have Cookies!"
____________________________________________

[ img ]

____________________________________________
Current Worklist;

DCFI (Falkland Islands) AU Nation

Last edited by Oberon_706 on August 19th, 2015, 1:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Top

Shipbucket

Democratic Commonwealth of the Falkland Islands (DCFI) - FD

Who is online