Re: Blood and Iron

The Ottoman Empire was an interesting instance of fate taking hold of the destiny it had set forth for the world. Built upon the skeleton of the Byzantine Empire, which it had conquered, the Ottomans had forged a realm that had lasted the better part of 5 centuries.

But its feeble foundations would ultimately be its demise. For centuries, the oppression which the Turks had forced on its subjects had bred a level of hatred and resentment for their people seldom found in history.

Wounds such as these took a very long time to heal, and no doubt they continued to bleed to some extent even in the 21st century, or at least insofar as Bruno had known the world prior to his death. Perhaps because of this, he himself held no love for the Ottoman Empire, nor did he necessarily desire to save it, unlike other monarchies in the world.

It was, after all, an empire that was destined to die, and very soon at that. On top of this, they provided very little in terms of military contributions to the Central Powers during his past life. Not only that, but now that Russia had joined the Germans and Austro-Hungarians once more, the odds of roping the Ottomans to their side were neither practical nor desirable. Instead, Bruno would not interfere in this conflict, other than how he had already done. He intended to sit back and watch as the Young Turks toppled the Sultan's autocracy, and restored the Ottoman Constitution. Not that such a thing would save the rotting and decrepit empire from its ultimate fate.

Hence why his days at the office were relatively peaceful. Instead, Bruno spent this time designing anti-aircraft weapons. Aircraft would not immediately play a major role in the war. And to some extent, the designs were already being worked upon for the sake of his Destroyers.

But Bruno decided that for the sake of the border fortifications, establishing total denial of the enemy into German Airspace was a necessity that was better off tackled before the war began. And thus, now that he was simply waiting for orders from either the Kaiser, or the current Chief of Staff, Bruno had the free time necessary to tackle these endeavors.

As a result, he began working on Flak Guns of various sizes and design for the purpose of utterly preventing Allied air power from entering the German Reich. These designs he was making were based on those used during the Second World War of his past life, and would continue to be useful for the decades to come. Assuming they were properly maintained. While completely capable of obliterating any air power of the current era, the 2 cm Flak 38 was more than capable of not just defeating aircraft, but also light armored vehicles, unarmored vehicles, and infantry as well.

It fired a 2cm or 20mm high explosive shell, at a rate of fire of 450 rounds per minute. Albeit the practical rate of fire was significantly lower at 180 rounds per minute due to the fact that it was fed via a 20-round box magazine.

The 2cm Flak 38's effective firing range was 2,200 meters. And it could be a quad mounted on a firing device known as the Flakvierling that could result in devastating anti-air capabilities. This quad mount could, of course, be deployed either via stationery or mobile means. Usually either in the bed of a large truck, or as a mechanized turret on a flak panzer. Which Bruno would not be making for a very, very long time.

But Bruno was a man who was nothing if not thorough, and even though the Flak 38 was more than capable of defending German Airspace from the myriads of aircraft flown during the Great War. Bruno, of course, desired even greater protection.

Because of this, he also began to create a rough draft of an even larger flak gun. Like it's 2cm little brother, this weapon was fully automatic, however unlike the 2cm Flak 38, it did not feed from a 20-round magazine, but rather an 8-round clip.

I'm talking of course about the 3.7 cm Flak 43, which when twin-mounted on its own firing platform known as the 3.7 cm Flak 43 Zwilling could provide devastating support to its 2cm little brother. Unlike the 2cm Flak 38, which fired the 20×138mmB cartridge, the 3.7cm Flak 43 fired the

37 × 263mmB cartridge.