On December 22, 1908, a Firing Range in the suburbs of Berlin. Today, this Firing Range has been completely closed. People from the army and security departments closely monitored this place.
On the one hand, those who came to participate in German Arms Company New Weapon Exhibition were all important figures in the empire, not only important generals of the army, but also Emperor of the Empire. There was no room for any sloppiness in terms of security.
On the other hand, all the weapons developed by German Arms Company are state secrets. Once acquired by a hostile country, it will be a serious threat to the German Empire. Oscar also wants the army of the German Empire to rely on these weapons to crush the armies of other countries and achieve a brilliant victory in the future World War.
"Hurry, arrange everything, it's almost time. Your Majesty and Crown Prince will be here soon." Gustav? Krupp arrived early to Firing Range, responsible for the layout of the venue and a series of preliminary work.
"Yes, Chairman." The personnel sent by Krupp Company, as well as the people from German Arms Company, are busy making sure that this exhibition can end successfully and there will be no problems.
"Gentlemen, are you sure there are no problems with the weapons on display?" Gustav? Krupp asked.
"Your Excellency the Chairman, everything is ready. These weapons have been tested repeatedly by us and there will be no problems." An engineer assured Gustav? Krupp.
Gustav? Krupp nodded and felt relieved.
At nine o'clock in the morning, a long line of cars drove into Firing Range. These cars are all Daimler A-Class car produced by Daimler Company controlled by Oscar. Once this car came out, it immediately became the representative of the most luxurious cars on the market. Although the price of each vehicle is as high as 50,000 Mark, it still cannot stop the enthusiasm of those big businessmen, big capitalists and big nobles to buy, and the sales are very hot. Although the sales volume of A-Class car cannot match that of B-Class car and C-Class car, it still represents the most luxurious car in the entire Germany and even Europe.
Wilhelm II and Oscar arrived at Firing Range in the same A-Class car. In the cars behind, there were other senior officials from the army and navy, also arriving at Firing Range. Although, the Army is the largest purchaser of these weapons. But the navy does not have no needs at all. What's more, Oscar also plans to enable the Navy to establish its own Marine Corps. In this case, the navy will have certain land warfare capabilities. At the same time, this army will also be controlled by him.
When Moltke the Younger served as the Chief of General Staff of the Army, Oscar's influence in the army could not be further expanded. In addition to Minister of War Feng Falkenhayn who stood on Oscar's side, there were also many powerful generals who did not move closer to him. Obviously, they are all from Moltke the Younger. This forces Oscar to use other methods to further enhance its strength. If the Navy can have a Marine Corps or even develop its strength to ten divisions, it will provide Oscar with great help.
Of course, if the Navy establishes Marine Corps, it will inevitably cause a strong backlash from the Army. Therefore, this matter must be done step by step.
"Your Majesty, good morning!" Gustav? Krupp has been waiting here for a long time. After seeing Wilhelm II get off the car, he immediately greeted him.
"Mr. Krupp, good morning!" Wilhelm II nodded. Big businessmen like Gustav? Krupp also have great influence on Germany. Even Wilhelm II would not put on airs in front of him.
"Crown Prince!" Gustav? Krupp then said hello to Oscar.
"Mr. Krupp, is everything ready?" Oscar asked.
"Crown Prince Don't worry, everything is ready!" Gustav? Krupp replied.
Oscar nodded. He believed that with Gustav? Krupp's ability, New Weapon Exhibition would be successful this time.
At 9:30 in the morning, after a brief speech, New Weapon Exhibition officially started.
The first to perform was the General Purpose Machine Gun developed by German Arms Company. The code name of this machine gun is MG09 General Purpose Machine Gun.
On Firing Range, five MG09 General Purpose Machine Guns are ready to fire. After receiving the order to fire, the machine gunner pulled the trigger.
"Ta-ta-ta!" The dense gunshots sounded instantly, and the blazing bullets were like a storm shrouding the targets in the distance. Wood chips flew everywhere. In the blink of an eye, the wooden targets were riddled with holes from the dense bullets, and some targets were even shattered.
In less than half a minute, the ammunition chain containing two hundred and fifty rounds of ammunition had been exhausted. The barrel of the machine gun also turned red because of the high temperature.
The generals of Army and Navy all looked at those MG09 General Purpose Machine Guns with dumbfounded eyes. Obviously, the rate of fire of these General Purpose Machine Gun is faster than the MG08 heavy machine gun currently equipped by the army.
"Crown Prince, is this the Heavy Machine Gun you developed? The rate of fire seems to be very fast." Minister of War Feng? Falkenhayn asked. Originally, he had no hope for the newly established German Arms Company. How can Arms Company, a newly established company, develop good products in a short period of time? However, the facts slapped him hard.
The other generals undoubtedly had the same idea. However, now they were all shocked.
"Yes, this is the machine gun we developed. However, we don't call it Heavy Machine Gun, but General Purpose Machine Gun!" Oscar said.
"General Purpose Machine Gun?" Everyone is guessing what this name means.
"Mr. Krupp, please introduce the performance of our General Purpose Machine Gun to Your Majesty and the generals!" Oscar said.
"Okay, Crown Prince." Gustav? Krupp nodded repeatedly with a smile on his face. Of course he saw it, and these army generals were shocked. This also shows that the performance of MG09 General Purpose Machine Gun far exceeded their expectations.
"Your Majesty, everyone Your Excellency General. The General Purpose Machine Gun we developed has a total weight of 12.5 kilograms. Even with the tripod, the total weight is only 20 kilograms, which is less than one-third of the MG08 heavy machine gun currently equipped by the army. The muzzle velocity is 750 meters per second, the maximum range is two thousand meters, and the ammunition is fed by a belt. The maximum rate of fire is 800 rounds per minute." Gustav? Krupp introduced several key data.
The army generals seem to have been shocked by the performance of MG09 General Purpose Machine Gun. Compared with the MG08 heavy machine gun they are currently equipped with, it is simply garbage.