Waffentrager

**Key Features** | » Multisized turret mount» 6-wheeled all-terrain chassis» Up to 30mm armour (average 15mm)» 130hp diesel engine» "*Enemy's weaknesses and where to shoot*" book manual

The development of the warfare after the medieval age became a race to outsmart the enemy at first for every year, than every half year, and now every month. Directorate found out that it must have developed newer and newer weapons and technologies if they wanted to defeat all of their enemies and finally rule the whole world. This meant that all of their new weapons, especially the cannons and mortars had to be somehow ferried from battlefront to battlefront. This was easily done with horses pulling the carriage of the guns, but with the discovery of the fossil fuels and motors the war became much faster and animals insufficient. This allowed bigger weapons to be fielded but with it rose another problem. What will carry it?

The nature of the Directorate is that each empire had its own engineering practices and methods, as well as weapon qualifications and categories. In the beginning of the 20th century as the example of this un-unification of caliber guns, British empire utilized 83,8mm guns, some used 85mm, Germany used both 85mm and 88mm, and Austria-Hungary went by with 90mm for a basic field gun. Each required a different shells produced by each nation, but also, not all of them could be carried in the same mount on the same vehicle. Especially when the self-propelled heavy weapons were more and more common, and other kinds of weapons and equipment, such as laser projectors, rocket launch tubes and radio & command arrays. In 1947 a congress of All Imperial General Staffs seen a discussion of many generals pointing out on the fact that maintenance of so many vehicles from so many different countries was getting unberable to continue, especially on the eastern front. The decition for unification of weapon platforms was accepted, but it took another ten years before the answer was given, coming from the German Kaiserreich in the form of their Waffenträger (or just Waffentrager for other launguages) vehicle series.

The German ingenuity and industrial prowess was a thing since the Renaissance era and Industrial Revolution only cemented it. They were able to quickly respond to every change and new weapon with their own. With the coming of fuel engine and motor cars the Prussian generals requested to use this new "technology" to be brought into battle, thus the first armored cars in German Kaiserreich came to be. The creation of the first tanks gave rise to the first weapon carriers too. Either using the same tracked chassis to carry the big guns or put armor plates and machine guns on trucks, Germany, and everyone else, tried to make more weapons mobile. Germany especially devoted not a little resources in their development, making them the prime candidates to come to the solution of the problem present within united Directorate militaries. First German true success was leichte Waffenträger Ausf.B, a four-wheeled armored truck with a mount that can accomodate any weapon or equipment of the German making. The field tests against Fylkirate's forces in Denmark proved that this was the right direction. The Ausf.C development began right away, this time to be able to mount *any weapon* in Directorate's inventory.

In 1957, ten years since the start of the project's development did the Reichsheer designed and produced the first unified weapon carrier on a six-wheel chassis, called leWT 57 leichte Waffenträger Ausf.C. The full production started soon after, this time not solely for the use of German divisions, but shipping them into other allied nations. Thougth reluctant at first with not-a-domestic product the general high commands of other countries soon followed common troops in respecting and appretiating this *wunderwaffe*, a "wonder weapon" as some German soldiers and officers addressed Waffentragers, a weapon that will defintiely help them win the decisive victories and end the wars.

The adaptability and easy construction was phenomenal in Directorate's ranks and the numbers of these mobile weapon platforms quickly grew, being produced by every major German automobile company. The wrapped manuals translated into all primary languages made it easy job for every crew and engineering team to dismount, replace and mount weapon or accessory in record time, sometimes even just half an hour which proved to be critical in not only one battle. Directorate was finally able to quickly adapt to new combat situations and make smaller victories on all fronts. Development of newer versions and other variants was a natural course, and by 1974 there was over a 500,000 produced Waffentragers (including the destroyed ones)

The arrival of the Aliens was something that no one could have expected and put an end to the dream of Directorate leaders of world domination, but it changed nothing for the military producers who continued producing all of the armored vehicles, expanding their production capacities and expanding the assembly of Waffentragers to other countries. The Cannei sweep of Rhinelands and large industrial centers of Essen put a major blow to Directorate war machine, effectively decreasing the production of all German weapons, including Waffentragers, to 36% of its previous volume. By that time however there was nearly 400,000 light Waffentragers in active service, enough to continue the war afford for a time.

Fragmentation of the Directorate have in fact made this vehicle one of the prime symbols of the miltiary forces of Directorate Remnants as every general and warlord surely had plenty of these vehicles at their disposal because of their numbers and reputation, and many new variants of each individual warlord were being created on daily basis, to fit their specific and, sometimes extremely odd, tastes. Nevertheless, Waffentragers changed the way how the modern militaries would handle the logistics of their armies, gave them an option for quick adaptation to fill newly-arosen needs, and defined the new Directroate doctrine in terms of support units, and with the uncoming struggles of the Remnant forces to survive or save whatever can be saved, it is a sure thing Waffenträger will play not a small part in this grand, if probably futile, endeavour.