Hey, Battlefield Can Opener

Two flares burst into light simultaneously, like two white suns appearing in the sky, illuminating everything in the field and leaving no place to hide. In the line of sight, the French Somua S35 tanks, with their massive hulls and delicate turrets, looked like extinct dinosaurs—completely out of proportion. French designers loved to create unique weapons, which in modern terms could be called "non-mainstream."

Another type of tank appeared in front of the German positions. Its turret and hull were also disproportionate, and its body was covered with round rivets. This was the Renault FT-17 light tank, a veritable "evergreen in international arms sales" since its mass production began in 1917. In the more than twenty years since the end of World War I, its presence had spread across almost every continent, participating in well-known and obscure conflicts alike, such as the Russian Civil War, the French suppression of Moroccan tribal uprisings, and the Spanish Civil War. When the German armored scythe swept across the Western Front, the "strongest army in Europe" was still equipped with as many as 1,560 of these outdated tanks!

In addition to these small-headed French tanks, thousands of French infantry were illuminated by "holy light," appearing from a distance like a swarm of yellowish ants lured by food, with bayonets glinting at the ends of their rifles—sharp teeth that could only be effective upon close engagement.

"Men, aim for the Somua—those big tanks! Gun One targets the right side; Gun Two targets the left! Prepare..."

On a small hillside about 200 meters from the front line, two 88mm anti-aircraft gun crews were ready for battle. As the artillery commander for Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Peter personally issued each combat order—something that Logan, lacking any artillery expertise, could not compare to.

At this moment, Logan stood shoulder to shoulder with his aide Steffenberg, holding binoculars instead of weapons—clearly, they had become mere spectators of this battle!

"The Renault FT-17 is an old relic from the last war, equipped with either a machine gun or a 3.7 cm cannon and manned by two crew members; the Somua S-35 is a new model developed just a few years ago with powerful firepower, thick armor, and long range!"

"Wow? You seem quite familiar with French tanks! Is it because your uncle has an interest in them?" Logan joked.

Steffenberg lowered his binoculars and scratched his nose. "Oh, Leutnant... this is just my personal interest! In fact, I'm fascinated by all kinds of weaponry—land forces, air forces, and navies! That's why I couldn't wait to enter military school right after high school!"

"Hehe, actually I'm interested in all kinds of women too—tall ones, short ones, fat ones, thin ones! Oh, and fair ones and even fairer ones; tender ones and even more tender ones!" Logan shamelessly joked. Those who knew him understood he was trying to lighten the mood; those who didn't might think he was just a lecherous rogue!

"Oh? I don't have much research on women but my interests... are quite normal!" Steffenberg replied with a hint of bravado.

"Hehe, we should discuss this more when we get the chance... back to business: if we compare our Panzer IV tank with the British Matilda and the French Somua S-35 one-on-one, which one is stronger?" Logan asked.

Stephenberg pondered before responding: "From what I know, our Panzer IV tank is almost on par with the Somua S-35. As for the Matilda Mark I tanks, certainly our Panzer IV and Somua S-35 are superior! But regarding Matilda II... its rear armor is relatively weak; however, in a frontal assault... our Panzer IV tank would struggle to gain an advantage; the Somua S-35 would be similar! The outcome might depend on luck—whoever finds each other's weak points first!"

"So... even though the Panzer IV is currently Germany's best tank, it still doesn't fully meet battlefield demands. It's only a matter of time before stronger tanks emerge!" Logan reflected on some military history. Even for someone like him who hardly qualifies as a military enthusiast today, names like "Tiger" and "Panther" still resonate loudly; unfortunately, these excellent tanks arrived too late and their production numbers were insufficient to change the course of war.

Steffenberg seemed intent on avoiding this speculation that exceeded his role and changed his approach: "Uh... judging by current circumstances, we should be able to defeat the British and French soon and end this war! Moreover, as long as we have Stukas for support, no matter how many Matildas there are—it won't be a problem!"

"Stukas..." Logan thought. While these dive bombers were indeed top-notch against ground targets during daylight operations, they couldn't operate around-the-clock like tanks. On nights like this one—even with illumination flares guiding them—dive bombers would struggle to perform effectively!

Lost in thought again amidst all this chaos, Logan redirected his attention to those French tanks ahead.

"Those Somua S-35s are about... 1500 meters away?"

"Yeah, roughly! Maybe even less than 1500 meters!"

"What's their frontal armor thickness?"

"Uh... both chassis and turret seem to be cast; I've heard that the frontal armor is about 4 cm thick while the cast turret might be even thicker—perhaps up to 6 cm!" In an era where intelligence technology wasn't sufficiently developed yet, Steffenberg spoke in tentative terms.

"That should be enough!"

"Enough?"

"Yeah! Look! Our 88mm guns can easily penetrate their armor!" Logan asserted confidently as a self-proclaimed expert.

Peter stood next to one of the 88mm anti-aircraft guns wearing his somewhat worn steel helmet. Despite those French tanks firing at them during their advance occasionally, their shells posed little threat to the SS troops stationed at their positions.

"Fire!"

At the command from their artillery commander, both towering 88mm guns roared simultaneously—the ground trembled beneath them even several meters away.

Through binoculars, Logan saw illumination flares dimming; darkness seemed ready to reclaim its hold when suddenly two massive fireballs erupted across the field! Two tanks that had just been advancing slowly were instantly engulfed by terrifying explosions—the shells striking them had such immense power that they didn't even move forward an inch due to inertia!

As gunfire faded away, everyone seemed captivated by this astonishing display—forgetting their mission entirely. It took about two seconds before German small-caliber anti-tank crews stationed at their positions snapped back to reality and began firing at those smaller FT-17 tanks which had weaker defenses!

At approximately 1500 meters away, rounds fired from PaK35/36's 37mm anti-tank guns were ineffective against heavily armored tanks like Matilda but proved quite efficient against Renault FT-17s whose frontal armor was only 22 mm thick—a true "can opener." One after another those yellow-green camouflaged little tanks caught fire as infantry bravely advanced under flickering flames—their Adrian helmets glinting dark blue in contrast!

Boom… Boom…

The two 88mm guns fired again; as anti-aircraft guns they had a faster rate of fire than standard howitzers. At such distances once more demonstrated remarkable accuracy: two more Somua S-35s were reduced from compact mechanical states into scrap metal!

Meanwhile at their positions too many remaining operational French tanks dwindled rapidly under precise fire from 37mm crews!

Seeing this scene unfold before him Logan remarked to Steffenberg: "No doubt about it now!"

"Indeed! It's hard to imagine that twenty years ago these victors would fall so low now; it's France's tragedy—and Britain's too!" The lieutenant spoke these words filled with relief and anticipation.