Armoured warfare
Encyclopedia
Armoured warfare or tank warfare is the use of armoured fighting vehicle
s in modern warfare
. It is a major component of modern methods of war
.
The premise of armoured warfare rests on the ability of troops to penetrate conventional defensive
lines through use of manoeuvre
by armoured units.
Much of the application of armoured warfare depends on the use of tank
s and related vehicles used by other supporting arms such as infantry fighting vehicle
s and self-propelled artillery
, as well as mounted combat engineers and other support units.
The doctrine
of armoured warfare was developed to break the static nature of World War I
trench warfare
on the western front
, and return to the 19th century school of thought that advocated manoeuvre and "decisive battle
" outcomes in military strategy
.
-mounted cavalry
performed what is now the role of tanks; manoeuvring and breaking through enemy infantry
to attack army lines of communication
in the rear. The entry of machine gun
s on the battlefield, and the increased occupation of the flanks of armies, leading to closed front
s, made cavalry too vulnerable for this task.
Modern armoured warfare began with the need to break the tactical, operational and strategic stalemate
s forced on commanders on the Western Front
by the effectiveness of entrenched
defensive infantry armed with machine gun
s—known as trench warfare
. Under these conditions, any sort of advance was impossibly slow and occasioned massive casualties. The development of the tank was motivated by the need to return manoeuvre to warfare, and the only way to do so was to protect soldiers from small arms
(rifle, machine gun) fire as they were moving.
Strategic use of tanks was slow to develop during and immediately after World War I, partly due to technical limitations but also due to the prestige role traditionally accorded to horse-mounted cavalry.
Tanks were first developed in Britain, as a way of navigating the barbed wire
and other obstacles of no-man's land while remaining protected from machine-gun fire. The manoeuvrability of the tank would at least in theory regain armies the ability to flank enemy lines. In practice, tank warfare during most of World War I was hampered by mechanical failure, limited numbers, and general underutilisation.
British Mark I tanks first went to action at the Somme, on September 15, 1916, but did not manage to break the deadlock of trench warfare. In the Battle of Cambrai (1917) British tanks were more successful, and broke a German trenchline system
, the Hindenburg Line
. After the disastrous final German offensive, tanks were used at the Battle of Soissons
and the Battle of Amiens, which ended the stalemate imposed by trench warfare on the Western Front, and thus effectively ended the war. Following the First World War, the technical and doctrinal aspects of armoured warfare became more sophisticated and diverged into multiple schools of doctrinal thought.
The French school proposed the armoured forces to be largely an infantry supporting arm, demanding heavily armoured tanks armed with infantry support guns, as well as 'cavalry' tanks operating en masse to break through the enemy defensive lines. Although seen as retrograding and reminiscent of WW1 tank use, it advocated a doctrine that included a desire to introduce an element of manoeuvre without expecting collapse of the enemy infantry's defence.
The British school leaned more towards more mobile and lighter designs supported by equally mobile units of infantry, artillery and sappers to replace horse-mounted cavalry. These self-contained motorised detachments would depend on the tank only to provide a way to penetrate the main enemy defensive lines, and would seek to bring about defeat of the enemy by severing the lines of communication and supply as had been done during the previous century.
Both doctrines were faced with the reality during the 1920s that the armoured vehicles (as early road transport
in general) were extremely unreliable, and could not be used in sustained operations.
In Britain Liddell Hart wrote extensively on tank warfare and the theories of Colonel Fuller. The British War Office
sanctioned the creation of the Experimental Mechanised Force which was formed on May 1, 1927, under Colonel R. J. Collins. The units were entirely mobile and consisted of reconnaissance tankette
s and armoured cars, a battalion of 48 Vickers medium tanks
, a motorised machine gun battalion, a mechanised artillery regiment, which had one battery of fully tracked self-propelled guns capable of acting as conventional or anti-aircraft artillery (Birch gun
s), and a motorised company of field engineers. The unit carried out operations on Salisbury Plain
and was observed by the other major nations, the United States
, Germany
, and the Soviet Union
. Although its performance was recognised, it was disbanded in 1928.
All European states (with the exception of Germany), the USA, and Japan, would create their own experimental mechanised forces during the late 1920s, many using either French or British vehicle designs or even directly purchased vehicles, but largely borrowing from both to develop their own doctrines. Early in the 1930s after the rise to power of the Nazi Party in Germany, German officers were sent to observe and participate in development of armoured doctrine in the USSR.
In the 1930s the British Army
began the conversion of its cavalry from horse to tanks. Although there were differences on where British military strength should be developed, with the Royal Air Force
and Royal Navy
being favoured by some in power, all but a few regiments were fully converted by 1939.
In the Soviet Union during the early 1930s Red Army and German officers collaborated in developing use of tanks based on 2nd generation vehicles using turreted main weapons, and experimenting with different chassis configurations and drive trains. One important acquisition for the Red Army turned out to be the purchase of a T3 chassis from an inspired US designer J.W. Christie which served as the basis of the Soviet BT series of fast tanks. The Red Army in particular was much influenced by the theoretical works of Marshal Tukhachevsky that led to development of infantry support heavy tanks and fast 'cavalry' tanks for use in the theory of deep operations
similar to the German blitzkrieg
. This development led to the intent by the Red Army to form a massive tank force of thousands of vehicles.
As Europe neared another conflict, doctrinal development of armoured warfare was still in development, opinion split between proponents of infantry as the primary combat arm, and those arguing that infantry was to become the supporting arm of the more mobile armoured forces. Use of armoured warfare was most prominently tested during the Soviet-Japanese Border Wars
conflict in 1938.
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Modern armour warfare doctrine developed during the years immediately preceding World War II
, in most cases with the tank seen as an infantry support weapon in the breakthrough of defence lines role. A fundamental key to conventional warfare is the concentration of force at a particular point on the enemy's defence line seen as either weak or offering other tactical, operational or strategic advantages.
Concentration of force increases the chance of victory in a particular engagement through application of one of the Principles of War
—Mass. This point, if correctly chosen and exploited, assures a greater chance of success in a given tactical engagement or a small number of operational engagements which are often sufficient to win a strategically decisive battle. The German term that later came to define the building of such a concentration at a given point is Schwerpunktbildung, which translates as center of gravity
-creation, meaning a "development of a centre of effort".
This can be visualized when looking at two opposing defensive lines, each composed of two infantry and two armoured divisions
, distributed consistently along the length of a line. A numerically equivalent attacker can win by concentrating his two armoured divisions at one point of the line with his two infantry divisions holding the rest of the line, thus increasing the chance of breaching the enemy defences, then passing through, turning the flank of the severed two halves of the defensive line, and further exploiting the numerical superiority against the smaller number of defenders on the flank to force them to retreat onto the intact part of the line, therefore widening the breach.
The defensive line could attempt to counterattack, but it is not strong at any point and although the combined infantry and armour attack of the defenders is stronger than an infantry only attack, it is not very much stronger (since the divisions are spread out along the entire line) and it is in general much easier to defend than attack due to the factor of field entrenchment and field engineering in preparation for such counterattack
s.
A major aspect of all warfare is the simple formula, known as the Lanchester's Square Law, that the relative combat power of a combat unit in contact with each other to the relative combat power of an enemy of a given size, all other factors being equal, is the square of the number of members of that unit:
From this it is derived that twice as many tanks will quadruple the relative firepower — relative that is, to the amount of firepower the enemy has per member of the friendly unit; one could also express this by saying that their relative punishment from enemy action is reduced four times, which is the same thing — as not only their own absolute number is doubled, but the number of enemy tanks relative to each of their own, is thereby halved also.
Thus, concentrating two divisions into one point and attacking generates a far greater force than is achieved by spreading two divisions into a line and pushing forward on a broad front.
Concentration of force requires mobility to prevent the enemy detecting the point of attack in time to reinforce the section of the defence, and concentration of firepower to be effective in combat once concentrated. The tank
embodies these two properties, and so constitutes the primary weapon in armoured warfare.
Forces of all participating powers during WW2 were composed predominantly of the Infantry and other combat supporting Arms (artillery, reconnaissance troops, engineers and logistics and service troops). With the possible exceptions of the United Kingdom and the United States ( which both had fully mechanized by the war's end), the infantry units were still highly dependent on horse-drawn vehicle
s, as was the artillery on horse-towed guns when operating in the field. Strategic movement was provided by the rail transport
networks.
When the German tanks actually had to fight the UK infantry tanks in 1940, they were severely discomfited—but recovered to drive the British army out of continental Europe. At the start of the German invasion, France possessed more tanks and, in one-to-one terms, better tanks, than the Germans. However, what mattered was how the tanks were used, and French command distributed half of its tanks among independent Bataillons de Chars de Combat (battle tank battalions) for infantry support, rendering them tied to decision-making of the local army commanders. In 1940 the German command concentrated its tanks into Panzer divisions and used them for strategic envelopment, smashing their way through the French defensive line, and driving towards The Channel, threatening to sever communications and supply lines with the national centres of logistic support.
To counter such attacks, a mobile anti-tank force must be held in reserve and moved to meet the attack. The French had no strategic reserve at all; let alone a highly mobile reserve as their three Cavalry armoured divisions (Divisions Legeres Mécaniques or Mechanized Light Divisions), the only armoured units organized on the lines of the German armoured divisions, had already been committed in the Low Countries
, which was crucial in the French failure to counteract the German penetration, as the four French Infantry armoured divisions lacked sufficient strategic mobility. However, later in the campaign a new tactic was applied which proved highly resistant against tank attacks. This was called the hedgehog
. However, due to the losses already sustained, the French could never counterattack, and the hedgehogs were eventually by-passed by the German troops.
, being ill-armed and inadequately led, soon gave way to this approach by the Commonwealth troops of the 8th Army
.
The arrival of the German Afrika Korps
under command of General der Infanterie Erwin Rommel
highlighted the weaknesses of the British approach: the small number of infantry and artillery in each armoured division was sufficient when attacking the immobile and uncoordinated Italian troops, but against the highly mobile, well-coordinated German units, the undermanned Commonwealth formations were proving inadequate.
It was only towards the later years of the war, with the invasion of the European mainland, that the Allied Armies began to become more effective in armoured warfare. In 1942 and 1943 , the Allies consistently lost armoured battles in the North African desert due to improper tactics; in particular, running armoured formations into opposing anti-tank positions.
While the infantry based part of the doctrine demanded "powerful tanks" (heavy tanks armed with infantry guns and machineguns) and "tankettes" (light, often amphibious tanks with machineguns), the shock Army demanded "manoeuvre tanks" (fast tanks with medium guns) used in conjunction with motorized forces and "mechanized cavalry" that would operate in depth as "strategic cavalry" combined with nascent airborne troops.
These ideas culminated in the "PU-36" or the 1936 Field Service Regulations.
and the consequences of the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939
. The Red Army tank fleet was extremely large, consisting of some 24,000 vehicles, but many were obsolete or unfit for service due to difficulties with supplying spare parts and lack of qualified support staff. Almost half of the tank fleet was lost in the first month of the war.
The Red Army's initial strategic withdrawal relegated the armoured forces to a secondary role, however one important development took place shortly before the war which was to influence Soviet armoured doctrine and tank design for a decade: the creation of the T-34
. Developed on the Christie suspension
chassis and using for the first time sloped armour
, the T-34 proved a shocking surprise to the German forces with its high velocity 76.2 mm tank gun. Using wide tracks the T-34 was also able to negotiate terrain in difficult weather conditions, something that persistently dogged the German designs.
Assessing the success of the German Blitzkrieg
strategy, operational methods and tactics, it was concluded that the Red Army should return to the use of operational methods developed before the war, and indeed the Tank Armies were eventually created. To complement the T-34 other designs of heavy tanks and self-propelled artillery and tank destroyers were also designed.
Much of the use of Red Army's armoured forces were used in concentrations during all Red Army WW2 strategic-operational operations, initiated under strict secrecy and using the Principle of Surprise.
nevertheless strategically exploited breaches in the allied defensive lines to great effect.
This development, largely under the influence of Heinz Guderian
's Achtung–Panzer!, was facilitated by the fact that for political reasons a Tank Arm had been formed, the Panzertruppe or Panzerwaffe, distinct from the Infantry and Cavalry. The Panzertruppe however was until 1940 overshadowed by the much more influential Infantry, as exemplified by the low priority given to tank production and the fact tanks were between 1936 and 1939 also divided among the Infantry and Cavalry.
Guderian, with the help of others, established the armoured combined arms team, distinct from a purely infantry
or cavalry
formation. The panzer divisions were not solely composed of tanks, but integrated the other arms in it as well — most notably, mechanized infantry
(riding in halftracks to be protected from small-arms fire while being transported) and self-propelled artillery
(howitzers fitted on a tank chassis). This allowed the panzer division to become a complete and independent combat force, and overcome the problems that tanks had in attaining a breakthrough
against strong opposition by entrenched enemy infantry equipped with large numbers of antitank-guns, which would be very costly without direct infantry support. Infantry had always had problems keeping up with the speedy tanks; now they could simply drive along with them.
However, this development was hampered until 1941 by the lack of half-tracks vehicles to equip the mechanized infantry.
The in-depth research through theoretical approaches, wargaming and exercises developed a confidence within the Panzertruppe itself (and political support by Hitler) in the armoured formation as the key battlefield formation — although this view was before 1940 not shared by the other Arms of Service. A key part of this doctrine was improved communications by having radios in all tanks — and again this ideal suffered from technical limitations as most tanks had receiver sets only. The superior tactical and operational doctrine combined with an appropriate strategic implementation enabled the Germans in 1940 to defeat forces quantitatively superior in armour, infantry and artillery during their campaign in France; but just when Blitzkrieg was made a deliberate doctrine, in 1941, it ultimately failed on the eastern front, though attaining at first spectacular successes.
and heavy Tiger tanks
had impressive firepower and armour in tank to tank battles. It could take four to five Shermans to knock out a single Tiger tank by manoeuvring to its weaker flank or rear armour. But the onslaught of Allied armour was much superior in numbers. Besides using tanks in dug-in positions, the Germans made use of older types by turning them into tank destroyers, basically turretless tanks with heavier guns and sometimes heavy armour plating.
These vehicles, like the Sturmgeschütz III
, outnumbered the German tanks and destroyed numerous Allied tanks on the battlefields of Europe. They were part of very effective general anti-tank tactics that included the use of anti-tank teams armed with Panzerfäuste
(small recoilless rifle
s), anti-tank guns and extensive anti-tank mine
fields. However, they made a successful use of Blitzkrieg tactics very difficult.
in WWI using French
Renault FT (and Six Ton Model 1917 tanks, copies of Renault FTs) and British
MK tanks, and some officers like Dwight D. Eisenhower
and George S. Patton, Jr. emerged from that war initially as avid proponents of continuing and developing an American armoured force, the rapid reduction of the forces and apathy and even antipathy towards funding and maintaining armed forces in the inter-war years led to relative stagnation of armoured doctrine in the United States. Adna R. Chaffee, Jr.
, virtually alone, advocated for the future of armoured warfare and the development of appropriate training, equipment and doctrine during the late 1920s through the 1930s.
The United States Army had always regarded the French Army
as the best army in Europe, and consequently the US Army frequently copied French uniforms (the US Civil War), airplanes, and armour (Renault FT tank). Only when France was conquered in "just six weeks!" in 1940 did the US Army become "shocked" into re-thinking the influences by the perceived actions of German tanks in the 1939 Polish Campaign
, although its Armored Combat Arm was not created until 1940 when The Armored Force was born on July 10, 1940, with the Headquarters, Armor Force and the Headquarters, I Armored Corps established at Fort Knox. On July 15, 1940, the 7th Cavalry Brigade (Mechanised) became the 1st Armored Division
; the 7th Provisional Tank Brigade, an infantry tank unit at Fort Benning, became the 2nd Armored Division"http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/army/usaas.htm. The Tank Battalion was established at Fort Meade, Md., and a small Armored Force School was also established.
The popular conception in the US was that tanks had been used boldly as part of a new system of war called Blitzkrieg
. Under General Jacob L. Devers
, Chief of the Armored Force, doctrine evolved into a combined arms operational force consisting of primarily infantry, artillery, and tanks with tanks being the major manoeuvre component. Under this doctrine, US tank crews of both armoured divisions and GHQ tank battalions were taught to fight tanks in tank on tank engagements. Armored Force personnel during and after the war criticized the infantry for using the GHQ tank battalions assigned to infantry divisions strictly as infantry support.
The US Combined Arms
team included air support, artillery, engineers, and a tank component supplemented by the Tank Destroyer
concept. The latter is most closely identified with the Chief of Army Ground Forces, General Leslie McNair. Having studied the early German successes McNair came under the belief that US forces would be faced with fast moving enemy forces who would seek to bypass, isolate and reduce US forces in a replay of the Fall of France. To counter the enemy blitzkrieg McNair sought to improve the organic anti-tank strength of the US infantry divisions by attaching towed AT guns and equipping the infantry with hand-held Bazookas. To stem the flood of marauding panzers, fast moving powerfully armed Tank destroyer battalions
were created to be held back and used in the counterattack.
It was believed that conventional tanks that could take on the enemy Panthers and Tigers toe to toe would not have the speed and mobility to avoid being flanked and bypassed and therefore would not have the chance to fight. It was also calculated that US interests would be better served by large numbers of reliable (battleworthiness) medium tanks rather than a smaller number of un-reliable heavy tanks. It was decided therefore to slow the production of the US heavy tank designs such as the M26 Pershing
and concentrate resources on mass producing the M4 Sherman
and tank destroyers such as the M18 Hellcat
. Since the Sherman medium tank would be inferior to the enemy heavy tanks they would have to avoid tank-vs-tank combat as much as possible, leaving enemy tanks to the tank destroyers.
To be able get into position to counterattack, the tank destroyers had to be fast. To achieve the desired mobility and agility from the engines available the armour protection was sacrificed, a measure of protection coming from being nimble and hopefully from being able to knock out the enemy before they could get a shot in. Although they had guns of around about 76 mm, the tank destroyer units were issued with the ancestor of the modern Armour-piercing discarding sabot
, rounds which made their guns much more powerful than a simple comparison of calibres would suggest.
In actual combat however the Germans were unable and unwilling to fight in the fast, free flowing manner to which the US forces had been tuned to counter. Against the defensive and ambush tactics that the Germans actually used, McNair's doctrine led to US tanks having weaker guns and less armour protection than their German counterparts, and in the narrow confines of much of the terrain in Normandy, they could not avoid one-on-one encounters with German tanks
.
construction and inter-service feuds (the marine branch of the IJN
favoured all-around protective armour) IJA
tanks were lightly armoured. As with most armour during the 1930s, the main guns were small in caliber: 37 mm for their Type 95
light tanks and 47 mm for the Type 97
medium tank, but this was sometimes compensated by a high muzzle velocity. The IJA's use of tanks in China exemplifies its doctrine: light tanks were used for scouting or acted as mobile infantry support, while medium tank
s supported the infantry and assaulted deeper objectives, but did not fight en masse.
In 1939, the Japanese Army engaged Soviet armour at Nomonhan
. During the three month long war, Japanese armour had shown their weakness against Soviet tanks; and the resulting Japanese defeat prompted a series of complaints by the Imperial Army to incorporate improvements in future Japanese armour. This is the primary reason IJA tanks were not as successful while being used with IJA tactics. The tank forces of the US Army consisted of the M2
A4 and M3 Stuart light tanks up until 1941, although these vehicles were five years newer than the 1935 built Type 95
's, the IJA and US light tanks were comparable to each other, and seemingly performed well for their respective forces during jungle combat operations; during their phase of WWII
As with all armour, maintenance was a continuous challenge; especially in tropical environments. When IJA and SNLF (Imperial marines) tanks did clash with the enemy they were quickly destroyed by concealed anti-tank guns or overwhelming numbers of hostile tanks. Japan was a naval power, and concentrated its production on warships, thus placing a low priority on armoured vehicle development, its tanks becoming quickly obsolete during the later years of the war. A number of designs that were equal to heavier foreign types were on the drawing board at the beginning of the war, but would only be built in small numbers towards the end, being placed in reserve, to be deployed for the defence of Japan itself.
, Israeli armoured units typically had the advantage, mainly due to good tactics and unit cohesion
.
However without tanks and infantry working together, problems can arise.
During the Yom Kippur War
, Israel
i tanks operating alone in large numbers were decimated by Egyptian infantry with anti-tank guided missiles. This is an extreme example but exemplifies what has been fairly thoroughly documented since the Second World War: tanks and infantry work best by taking advantage of each other's strengths and combining to minimize the weaknesses.
In many conflicts, it was usual to see infantry riding on the back of tanks, ready to jump off and provide support when necessary. Unfortunately, the design of many modern tanks makes this a dangerous practice. The M1 Abrams
, for example, has such hot exhaust gas that nearby infantry have to be careful where they stand. Tanks can also be very vulnerable to well aimed artillery
; well-coordinated air support and counter-battery
artillery units can help overcome this.
infantry fighting vehicles.
In 1973, Israel
's Army failed to anticipate the importance of the introduction of anti-tank guided missile
s on the battlefield in large numbers. Hundreds of AT-3 Sagger
man-portable anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) supplied to Egypt
by the Soviet Union
which could be operated by the common infantryman without having to undergo extensive training inflicted heavy losses on Israeli tanks. Since then, ATGMs have played an important role within Israeli forces also, having developed advanced domestic-made versions (see Spike/Gil
missile) which have been widely-exported throughout the world.
In the recent 2006 conflict with Hezbollah, when Israeli infantry units engaged the enemy anti-tank missile armed teams, they were able to easily defeat them while tanks operating on their own suffered several hits from the newest advanced Russian tandem-warhead types such as the Kornet
—strong evidence that tanks operating solely on their own in the era of ATGMs have some severe weaknesses.
Responding to the serious losses against Hezbollah, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems in cooperation with Israel Aircraft Industries
developed a missile defence system for tanks, called Trophy, to intercept and destroy anti tank missiles. The system was successfully deployed in combat on March 1, 2011, when it intercepted an anti tank missile during an engagement on the Gaza
border.
, NATO assumed armoured warfare to be a dominant aspect of conventional ground warfare in Europe. Although the use of light tanks was largely discontinued, and heavy tanks were also mostly abandoned, the medium tank design evolved into heavier models due to increase in armour and larger sized main weapon resulting in the main battle tank
(MBT) which came into existence, combining most of the different types of tanks during World War II
.
For the most part the NATO armoured doctrine remained defensive, and dominated by use of nuclear weapons as deterrence. Although most NATO nations began the Cold War period with a large number of US designed tanks in their fleets, there was a considerable degree of disagreement on the design of future MBTs among the NATO major nations. Both the US and Germany experimented with, but abandoned the missile-armed MBT-70
. The M26 Pershing
basic design of the United States would evolve until the M60
main battle tank was replaced with the gas-turbine powered M1 Abrams
in the 1980s. The British Army also retained a WWII tank design, the Centurion
, which proved to be highly successful and was not fully replaced until the 1970s.
The West German
Bundeswehr
decided to develop their own tank in the 1960s, and in the 1970s produced the Leopard I, which was a somewhat lighter design, conforming to German doctrine that emphasized speed over protection. The French series of AMX tanks also emphasized manoeuvre over protection. By the 21st century, most advanced western main battle tanks were built around powerful engines, large 120 mm guns and composite armour
.
The Warsaw Pact
armoured doctrine was substantially influenced by the developments in the Soviet Army which sought to adopt its existing doctrine evolved during WW2 to the nuclear battlefield. In the early 1960s this led to a number of important developments in the armoured forces and their supporting Arms. One important development was the transition of the Second World War use of Cavalry-Mechanized Group (CMG) into the Cold War Operational Manoeuvre Group (OMG) that was designed to exploit breakthroughs to penetrate NATO's defences in depth. This was a culmination of the Deep Battle theory dating to the 1930s.
In 1964 a significant breakthrough in tank design was achieved in the Soviet Union when the T-64
was produced which for the first time used an automatic loader, reducing the crew of the tank to three crewmen. Subsequently this model, and the later T-72
and T-80
tanks introduced further innovations that influenced armoured warfare by introducing guided missiles into the tank ammunition mix, allowing ATGW fire from standard tank guns. The Soviet Union is also one of the countries that use two Main Battle Tanks: The high-quality T-80s and lower quality T-72s. Modern Soviet tanks, like the ones mentioned, are typically armed with 125mm smooth bore guns. Advancements in Soviet tanks include improved Fire Control Systems, strong armour protected by ERA, and defensive countermeasures (such as Shtora-1 and Arena). The most advanced Soviet tank, up until the end of the Cold War, was the T-80U, which shared similar characteristics with the M1A1(Turbine engine, advanced Fire Control Systems, strong armour, and firepower)
Infantry fighting vehicle
s were first developed in the 1960s with the Soviet Union
's BMP-1
, for the first time allowing supporting infantry to accompany tanks on a battlefield when nuclear weapon use was expected.
The T-64s and BMP-1s were also joined by the self propelled guns and more importantly Mi-24 Rotary-wing aircraft
capable of firing anti-tank missiles entering production in 1970 which were built and theorized as "flying tanks".
The Soviet tank troops, as they were known in the USSR, included armoured units, armoured training regiments and other formations and units.
armoured personnel carrier
s proved effective in the terrain of Vietnam against enemy forces which, until 1968, rarely deployed their armour. Though they were soon countered with mines and RPGs, M-113's continued service during the war, primarily evolving into infantry fighting vehicle
s, known as the ACAV (Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicle); and functioning as a "light tank
."
More heavily armed infantry fighting vehicle
s such as the M2/M3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle would be based on experience with the M113. Gun truck
s were also introduced as M35 trucks fitted with armour and guns to protect convoys. In 1968, Communist forces primarily deployed the Soviet built PT-76
light tank.
By 1971, the larger T-54 medium tanks were fielded, proving themselves susceptible to the M-72 LAW rocket, ARVN M41 Walker Bulldog
light tanks, as well as the larger M48A3 Pattons
. In January 1969, US Armored Cavalry units began exchanging their M48A3 Patton
tanks for the M551 Sheridan
Armored Airborne Reconnaissance Assault Vehicles; by 1970 over 200 Sheridan tanks were operating in Vietnam.
Tanks rarely work alone; the usual minimum unit size is a platoon (platoon is the smallest US Army/Marine unit led by an officer, and a component of a company or troop) of four to five tanks. The tanks of the platoon work together providing mutual support: two might advance while covered by the others then stop and provide cover for the remainder to move ahead.
Normally, multiple platoons coordinate with mechanized infantry
and utilize their mobility and firepower to penetrate weak points in enemy lines. This is where the powerful engines, tracks and turrets come into play. The ability to rotate the turret by a full 360° allows coordinated movement within and between platoons, while defending against attacks from multiple directions and engaging troops and vehicles without stopping or slowing down.
When on the defensive, they wait in prepared positions or use any natural terrain
elements (such as small hills) for cover. A tank sitting just behind a hill crest ("hull-down
") exposes only the top of its turret, with the gun and sensors, to the enemy, leaving the smallest possible target while allowing it to engage the enemy on the other side of the hill. Tanks are usually able to depress the main gun below the horizontal since modern kinetic energy (KE) rounds have nearly flat trajectories. Without this they would be unable to exploit such positions. However, upon cresting a hill, the tank may expose its thinly armoured underside to enemy weapons.
The deposition of armour around a tank is not uniform; the front is typically better armoured than the sides or rear. Accordingly, normal practice is to keep the front towards the enemy at all times, the tank retreats by reversing instead of turning around. Driving backwards away from an enemy is even safer than driving forwards towards them since driving forwards over a bump can throw the front of the tank up in the air, exposing the thin armour of the underside and taking the gun off the target due to its limited angle of depression.
The tracks, wheels and suspension of a tank are outside the armoured hull and are some of the most vulnerable spots. The easiest way to disable a tank (other than a direct hit in a vulnerable area with a full-power anti-tank weapon) is to target the tracks for a "mobility kill
" (m-kill), or target all external visual aids with rubbery cohesive substances such as melted rubber or blackened high viscosity epoxy resins. Once a tank is disabled it is easier to destroy. This is why side-skirts are an important feature; they can deflect heavy machine-gun bullets and trigger the detonation of HEAT
rounds before they strike the running gear. Other vulnerable parts of a typical tank include the engine deck (with air intakes, radiators, etc.) and the turret ring, where the turret joins the hull.
When used defensively, tanks are often sunk into trenches or placed behind earth berm
s for increased protection. The tanks can fire off a few shots from their defensive position, then retreat (reversing) to another prepared position further back and drive behind the berms or into the trenches there. These positions can be constructed by the tank crews, but preparations are better and quicker if carried out by combat engineers with bulldozers. Overhead protection, even if it is fairly thin, can also be very useful since it can help pre-detonate artillery shells and avoid direct hits from above which can be deadly to tanks, by striking them at their thinnest armour. In short, tank crews find as many ways as possible to augment the armour on their vehicles.
Tanks usually go into battle with a round in the gun, ready to fire, to minimize reaction time when encountering an enemy. The US doctrine calls for this round to be a kinetic energy (KE) round, as the reaction time is most important when meeting enemy tanks, to get the first shot (and possibly the first kill). If troops or light vehicles are encountered, the usual response is to fire this round at them, despite it not being ideal—it is difficult and time-consuming to remove a round which is already in the breech
. In this case, after the KE round is fired, a HEAT round would normally be loaded next to continue the engagement.
Tanks can be decisive in city fighting, with the ability to demolish walls and fire medium and heavy machine guns in several directions simultaneously. However, tanks are especially vulnerable in urban combat. It is much easier for enemy infantry to sneak up behind a tank or fire at its sides, where it is most vulnerable. In addition, firing down from multi-story buildings allows shots at the soft upper turret armour and even basic weapons like Molotov cocktails, if aimed at the engine air intakes, can disable a tank. Because of these limitations, tanks are difficult to use in city conflicts where civilians or friendly forces might be nearby, since their firepower can't be used effectively.
Tanks and other armoured vehicles are vulnerable to attack from the air for several reasons. One is that they are easily detectable—the metal they are made of shows up well on radar, and is especially obvious if they are moving in formation. A moving tank also produces a lot of heat, noise and dust. The heat makes seeing them on a forward-looking infra-red system easy and the dust is a good visual clue during the day.
The other major reason is that most armoured vehicles have thinner armour on the roof of the turret and on the engine deck, so an anti-tank guided missile (from an attack helicopter or ground-attack jet) hitting them from the top can be deadly even if it has a small warhead. Even machine guns and small automatic cannon are powerful enough to penetrate the rear and top sections of the engine compartment of a tank.
Certain aircraft have been developed to attack armoured vehicles. Most notable is the purpose-built Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II
, affectionately known as the "Warthog" because of its shape (in contrast to more aesthetically pleasing military aircraft). The 'Hog' may be blunt but is exceptionally effective in its purpose: hunt and kill enemy armour and vehicles and its reputation as an effective "Tankbuster" is not unfounded.
Although able to carry a number of different missiles and bombs (including anti-tank ordnance such as the AGM-65 Maverick
), its main weapon is the 30 mm GAU-8/A Avenger Gatling gun
which is capable of firing 3,900 depleted uranium
armour-piercing rounds per minute (a popular belief is that the plane was actually built around the gun and not vice-versa). Capable of low-speed, low-altitude flight, the A-10 is itself an airborne armoured vehicle with a titanium
enclosure about the pilot, an airframe that can survive direct hits from armour-piercing and high-explosive projectiles up to 23 mm and triple redundancy in its flight systems, with mechanical systems to back up double-redundant hydraulics. The Soviet equivalent is the SU-25.
Similarly, a number of helicopter gunships have been designed mainly to engage enemy armoured vehicles. The AH-1Z Viper
, AH-64 Apache
, Denel AH-2 Rooivalk, Eurocopter Tiger
, Ka-50 Black Shark
, Mi-28 Havoc
, and Westland Lynx
are examples. Helicopters are very effective against armoured vehicles for many reasons. The AH-64D Longbow Apache, for example, is equipped with an improved sensor suite and weapon systems and the AN/APG-78 Longbow Fire Control Radar dome installed over the main rotor. Helicopters however have proved highly vulnerable to small arms ground fire, and so most missions that would have originally fallen under the domain of the attack helicopter are instead being executed by the much more heavily armoured A-10.
Airborne threats can be countered in several ways. One is air supremacy
. This is what the United States relies on most, which is demonstrated by their distinct lack of effective short-range, mobile air defence vehicles to accompany armoured units. Most other countries accompany their armoured forces with highly mobile self-propelled anti-aircraft guns such as the German Gepard
or the Soviet 9K22 Tunguska, short and medium-range surface-to-air missile
systems such as the SA-6, SA-8 and SA-11, or combine both on the same vehicle (the Tunguska for example can also host SA-19 SAM missiles). The usage of anti-aircraft rounds fired from the main gun of a tank has been increasing over the years. An example is the HE-FRAG round from the T-90
which can be detonated at a set distance as determined by the it's laser range finder.
For transporting tracked AFVs over highways, heavy transporters
are used, since AFVs are prone to malfunction and their tracks also ruin the highways.
While tanks are seen as being integral to armoured warfare, in forces with a remit of power projection
deployability has always been a consideration, which conventional main battle tank
s cannot provide.
It takes a few weeks to transfer tanks and their supporting equipment by air or sea. Some tanks and armoured vehicles are transportable by helicopter, dropped by parachute, or carried by air transport. The largest transports can only carry one or two main battle tanks. Smaller transports can only carry or air drop light tanks and APCs such as the M113.
The desire to create air portable armoured vehicles that can still take on conventional MBTs has usually resulted ATGM
armed light vehicles or in protected/armoured/mobile gun system style vehicles in which a lack of armour protection being in part offset by the provision of a first look/first hit/first kill capability through the mating of a powerful gun to superior targeting electronics, a concept similar in operation to that of the US tank destroyer
s of WWII.
Vehicles which have put such considerations into practise include the Stingray light tank
, AMX 10 RC
and B1 Centauro
. Most such US projects to create such vehicles have been abortive, e.g. the M8 Armored Gun System, the most successful, being the flawed M551 Sheridan
light tank. This tried to produce an air-portable vehicle capable of destroying conventional by the inclusion of a revolutionary (for the time) 152 mm CLGP launcher. Being able to afford the sea-basing conventional MBTs in possible trouble spots and being able to fly crews to meet pre-positioned equipment the US had a less pressing need of such vehicles than some other nations.
Though the experience of limited conflicts such as the insurgency in Iraq rarely involves combat between armoured vehicles, the lack of security has resulted in the application of armour to light vehicles, and the continued use of armoured transports, fighting vehicles and tanks to protect against ambushes and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). Its latest experience of expeditionary warfare
has seen the US return to the armoured gun system type vehicle in the form of the Stryker Mobile Gun System
.
Armoured fighting vehicle
An armoured fighting vehicle is a combat vehicle, protected by strong armour and armed with weapons. AFVs can be wheeled or tracked....
s in modern warfare
Modern warfare
Modern warfare, although present in every historical period of military history, is generally used to refer to the concepts, methods and technologies that have come into use during and after the Second World War and the Korean War...
. It is a major component of modern methods of war
Military science
Military science is the process of translating national defence policy to produce military capability by employing military scientists, including theorists, researchers, experimental scientists, applied scientists, designers, engineers, test technicians, and military personnel responsible for...
.
The premise of armoured warfare rests on the ability of troops to penetrate conventional defensive
Defense (military)
Defense has several uses in the sphere of military application.Personal defense implies measures taken by individual soldiers in protecting themselves whether by use of protective materials such as armor, or field construction of trenches or a bunker, or by using weapons that prevent the enemy...
lines through use of manoeuvre
Maneuver warfare
Maneuver warfare, or manoeuvre warfare , is the term used by military theorists for a concept of warfare that advocates attempting to defeat an adversary by incapacitating their decision-making through shock and disruption brought about by movement...
by armoured units.
Much of the application of armoured warfare depends on the use of tank
Tank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
s and related vehicles used by other supporting arms such as infantry fighting vehicle
Infantry fighting vehicle
An infantry fighting vehicle , also known as a mechanized infantry combat vehicle , is a type of armoured fighting vehicle used to carry infantry into battle and provide fire support for them...
s and self-propelled artillery
Self-propelled artillery
Self-propelled artillery vehicles are combat vehicles armed with artillery. Within the term are covered self-propelled guns and rocket artillery...
, as well as mounted combat engineers and other support units.
The doctrine
Doctrine
Doctrine is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the body of teachings in a branch of knowledge or belief system...
of armoured warfare was developed to break the static nature of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
trench warfare
Trench warfare
Trench warfare is a form of occupied fighting lines, consisting largely of trenches, in which troops are largely immune to the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery...
on the western front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
, and return to the 19th century school of thought that advocated manoeuvre and "decisive battle
Battle
Generally, a battle is a conceptual component in the hierarchy of combat in warfare between two or more armed forces, or combatants. In a battle, each combatant will seek to defeat the others, with defeat determined by the conditions of a military campaign...
" outcomes in military strategy
Military strategy
Military strategy is a set of ideas implemented by military organizations to pursue desired strategic goals. Derived from the Greek strategos, strategy when it appeared in use during the 18th century, was seen in its narrow sense as the "art of the general", 'the art of arrangement' of troops...
.
WW I
Prior to World War I, horseHorse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
-mounted cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
performed what is now the role of tanks; manoeuvring and breaking through enemy infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
to attack army lines of communication
Lines of Communication
"Lines of Communication" is an episode from the fourth season of the science-fiction television series Babylon 5.-Synopsis:Franklin and Marcus attempt to persuade the Mars resistance to assist Sheridan in opposing President Clark...
in the rear. The entry of machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
s on the battlefield, and the increased occupation of the flanks of armies, leading to closed front
Front (military)
A military front or battlefront is a contested armed frontier between opposing forces. This can be a local or tactical front, or it can range to a theater...
s, made cavalry too vulnerable for this task.
Modern armoured warfare began with the need to break the tactical, operational and strategic stalemate
Stalemate
Stalemate is a situation in chess where the player whose turn it is to move is not in check but has no legal moves. A stalemate ends the game in a draw. Stalemate is covered in the rules of chess....
s forced on commanders on the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
by the effectiveness of entrenched
Trench warfare
Trench warfare is a form of occupied fighting lines, consisting largely of trenches, in which troops are largely immune to the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery...
defensive infantry armed with machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
s—known as trench warfare
Trench warfare
Trench warfare is a form of occupied fighting lines, consisting largely of trenches, in which troops are largely immune to the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery...
. Under these conditions, any sort of advance was impossibly slow and occasioned massive casualties. The development of the tank was motivated by the need to return manoeuvre to warfare, and the only way to do so was to protect soldiers from small arms
Small arms
Small arms is a term of art used by armed forces to denote infantry weapons an individual soldier may carry. The description is usually limited to revolvers, pistols, submachine guns, carbines, assault rifles, battle rifles, multiple barrel firearms, sniper rifles, squad automatic weapons, light...
(rifle, machine gun) fire as they were moving.
Strategic use of tanks was slow to develop during and immediately after World War I, partly due to technical limitations but also due to the prestige role traditionally accorded to horse-mounted cavalry.
Tanks were first developed in Britain, as a way of navigating the barbed wire
Barbed wire
Barbed wire, also known as barb wire , is a type of fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strand. It is used to construct inexpensive fences and is used atop walls surrounding secured property...
and other obstacles of no-man's land while remaining protected from machine-gun fire. The manoeuvrability of the tank would at least in theory regain armies the ability to flank enemy lines. In practice, tank warfare during most of World War I was hampered by mechanical failure, limited numbers, and general underutilisation.
British Mark I tanks first went to action at the Somme, on September 15, 1916, but did not manage to break the deadlock of trench warfare. In the Battle of Cambrai (1917) British tanks were more successful, and broke a German trenchline system
Trench
A trench is a type of excavation or depression in the ground. Trenches are generally defined by being deeper than they are wide , and by being narrow compared to their length ....
, the Hindenburg Line
Hindenburg Line
The Hindenburg Line was a vast system of defences in northeastern France during World War I. It was constructed by the Germans during the winter of 1916–17. The line stretched from Lens to beyond Verdun...
. After the disastrous final German offensive, tanks were used at the Battle of Soissons
Battle of Soissons (1918)
The Battle of Soissons was a World War I battle, waged during 18 July to 22 July 1918, between the French and the German armies....
and the Battle of Amiens, which ended the stalemate imposed by trench warfare on the Western Front, and thus effectively ended the war. Following the First World War, the technical and doctrinal aspects of armoured warfare became more sophisticated and diverged into multiple schools of doctrinal thought.
Interwar period
During the 1920s, various British and French commanders who had been associated with the development of the tank were involved in developing the new ideas. The significant split in philosophy can be said to be French and British in schools of thought.The French school proposed the armoured forces to be largely an infantry supporting arm, demanding heavily armoured tanks armed with infantry support guns, as well as 'cavalry' tanks operating en masse to break through the enemy defensive lines. Although seen as retrograding and reminiscent of WW1 tank use, it advocated a doctrine that included a desire to introduce an element of manoeuvre without expecting collapse of the enemy infantry's defence.
The British school leaned more towards more mobile and lighter designs supported by equally mobile units of infantry, artillery and sappers to replace horse-mounted cavalry. These self-contained motorised detachments would depend on the tank only to provide a way to penetrate the main enemy defensive lines, and would seek to bring about defeat of the enemy by severing the lines of communication and supply as had been done during the previous century.
Both doctrines were faced with the reality during the 1920s that the armoured vehicles (as early road transport
Road transport
Road transport or road transportation is transport on roads of passengers or goods. A hybrid of road transport and ship transport is the historic horse-drawn boat.-History:...
in general) were extremely unreliable, and could not be used in sustained operations.
In Britain Liddell Hart wrote extensively on tank warfare and the theories of Colonel Fuller. The British War Office
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
sanctioned the creation of the Experimental Mechanised Force which was formed on May 1, 1927, under Colonel R. J. Collins. The units were entirely mobile and consisted of reconnaissance tankette
Tankette
A tankette is a tracked combat vehicle resembling a small tank roughly the size of a car, mainly intended for light infantry support or reconnaissance. Colloquially it may also simply mean a "small tank"....
s and armoured cars, a battalion of 48 Vickers medium tanks
Vickers Medium Mark I
The Vickers Medium Mark I was a British tank of the period between the two World Wars built by Vickers.-Background:After the First World War Britain disbanded most of its tank units: their number was limited to five tank battalions, equipped with the Mark V and the Medium Mark C...
, a motorised machine gun battalion, a mechanised artillery regiment, which had one battery of fully tracked self-propelled guns capable of acting as conventional or anti-aircraft artillery (Birch gun
Birch gun
The Birch Gun was the world's first practical self-propelled artillery gun, built at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich in 1925. The gun was never highly regarded by the British High Command, purely for prejudicial beliefs and political pressure rather than any real lack of ability...
s), and a motorised company of field engineers. The unit carried out operations on Salisbury Plain
Salisbury Plain
Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in central southern England covering . It is part of the Southern England Chalk Formation and largely lies within the county of Wiltshire, with a little in Hampshire. The plain is famous for its rich archaeology, including Stonehenge, one of England's best known...
and was observed by the other major nations, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. Although its performance was recognised, it was disbanded in 1928.
All European states (with the exception of Germany), the USA, and Japan, would create their own experimental mechanised forces during the late 1920s, many using either French or British vehicle designs or even directly purchased vehicles, but largely borrowing from both to develop their own doctrines. Early in the 1930s after the rise to power of the Nazi Party in Germany, German officers were sent to observe and participate in development of armoured doctrine in the USSR.
In the 1930s the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
began the conversion of its cavalry from horse to tanks. Although there were differences on where British military strength should be developed, with the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
and Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
being favoured by some in power, all but a few regiments were fully converted by 1939.
In the Soviet Union during the early 1930s Red Army and German officers collaborated in developing use of tanks based on 2nd generation vehicles using turreted main weapons, and experimenting with different chassis configurations and drive trains. One important acquisition for the Red Army turned out to be the purchase of a T3 chassis from an inspired US designer J.W. Christie which served as the basis of the Soviet BT series of fast tanks. The Red Army in particular was much influenced by the theoretical works of Marshal Tukhachevsky that led to development of infantry support heavy tanks and fast 'cavalry' tanks for use in the theory of deep operations
Deep operations
Deep battle was a military theory developed by the Soviet Union for its armed forces during the 1920s and 1930s. It was developed by a number of influential military writers, such as Vladimir Triandafillov and Mikhail Tukhachevsky who endeavoured to create a military strategy with its own...
similar to the German blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg
For other uses of the word, see: Blitzkrieg Blitzkrieg is an anglicized word describing all-motorised force concentration of tanks, infantry, artillery, combat engineers and air power, concentrating overwhelming force at high speed to break through enemy lines, and, once the lines are broken,...
. This development led to the intent by the Red Army to form a massive tank force of thousands of vehicles.
As Europe neared another conflict, doctrinal development of armoured warfare was still in development, opinion split between proponents of infantry as the primary combat arm, and those arguing that infantry was to become the supporting arm of the more mobile armoured forces. Use of armoured warfare was most prominently tested during the Soviet-Japanese Border Wars
Soviet-Japanese Border Wars
The Soviet–Japanese Border Wars were a series of border conflicts between the Soviet Union and Japan between 1932 and 1939.Before Japanese occupation of Manchukuo, the Soviet Union had conflict with China on the border of Manchuria...
conflict in 1938.
Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, in most cases with the tank seen as an infantry support weapon in the breakthrough of defence lines role. A fundamental key to conventional warfare is the concentration of force at a particular point on the enemy's defence line seen as either weak or offering other tactical, operational or strategic advantages.
Concentration of force increases the chance of victory in a particular engagement through application of one of the Principles of War
Principles of War
The Principles of War were tenets originally proposed by Carl von Clausewitz in his essay Principles of War, and later enlarged in his book, On War. Additionally, Napoléon Bonaparte had pioneered the "Principles of War," and "The armies of today are based on the organization created by Napoleon...
—Mass. This point, if correctly chosen and exploited, assures a greater chance of success in a given tactical engagement or a small number of operational engagements which are often sufficient to win a strategically decisive battle. The German term that later came to define the building of such a concentration at a given point is Schwerpunktbildung, which translates as center of gravity
Center of gravity
In physics, a center of gravity of a material body is a point that may be used for a summary description of gravitational interactions. In a uniform gravitational field, the center of mass serves as the center of gravity...
-creation, meaning a "development of a centre of effort".
This can be visualized when looking at two opposing defensive lines, each composed of two infantry and two armoured divisions
Division (military)
A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...
, distributed consistently along the length of a line. A numerically equivalent attacker can win by concentrating his two armoured divisions at one point of the line with his two infantry divisions holding the rest of the line, thus increasing the chance of breaching the enemy defences, then passing through, turning the flank of the severed two halves of the defensive line, and further exploiting the numerical superiority against the smaller number of defenders on the flank to force them to retreat onto the intact part of the line, therefore widening the breach.
The defensive line could attempt to counterattack, but it is not strong at any point and although the combined infantry and armour attack of the defenders is stronger than an infantry only attack, it is not very much stronger (since the divisions are spread out along the entire line) and it is in general much easier to defend than attack due to the factor of field entrenchment and field engineering in preparation for such counterattack
Counterattack
A counterattack is a tactic used in response against an attack. The term originates in military strategy. The general objective is to negate or thwart the advantage gained by the enemy in attack and the specific objectives are usually to regain lost ground or to destroy attacking enemy units.It is...
s.
A major aspect of all warfare is the simple formula, known as the Lanchester's Square Law, that the relative combat power of a combat unit in contact with each other to the relative combat power of an enemy of a given size, all other factors being equal, is the square of the number of members of that unit:
- One tank obviously has the combat power of one tank. (1² = 1)
- Two tanks have four times the relative combat power of a single tank. (2² = 4)
From this it is derived that twice as many tanks will quadruple the relative firepower — relative that is, to the amount of firepower the enemy has per member of the friendly unit; one could also express this by saying that their relative punishment from enemy action is reduced four times, which is the same thing — as not only their own absolute number is doubled, but the number of enemy tanks relative to each of their own, is thereby halved also.
Thus, concentrating two divisions into one point and attacking generates a far greater force than is achieved by spreading two divisions into a line and pushing forward on a broad front.
Concentration of force requires mobility to prevent the enemy detecting the point of attack in time to reinforce the section of the defence, and concentration of firepower to be effective in combat once concentrated. The tank
Tank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
embodies these two properties, and so constitutes the primary weapon in armoured warfare.
Forces of all participating powers during WW2 were composed predominantly of the Infantry and other combat supporting Arms (artillery, reconnaissance troops, engineers and logistics and service troops). With the possible exceptions of the United Kingdom and the United States ( which both had fully mechanized by the war's end), the infantry units were still highly dependent on horse-drawn vehicle
Horse-drawn vehicle
A horse-drawn vehicle is a mechanized piece of equipment pulled by one horse or by a team of horses. These vehicles typically had two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers and/or a load...
s, as was the artillery on horse-towed guns when operating in the field. Strategic movement was provided by the rail transport
Rail transport
Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...
networks.
Pre-war
In the UK and in France, armour was accepted into the Army, but using a division of labour: some as infantry support weapons, others as cavalry replacements. As such, the UK and French infantry tanks were heavily armoured, and as a consequence slow, whereas British cavalry ("cruiser") tanks were swift, and as a result poorly armoured. Only some of the German tanks were designed for independent mobile operations and as all-around tanks: lighter, considerably more mobile, but more weakly armed and armoured than the infantry tanks. Tanks were not yet seen to be a primary anti-tank weapon.When the German tanks actually had to fight the UK infantry tanks in 1940, they were severely discomfited—but recovered to drive the British army out of continental Europe. At the start of the German invasion, France possessed more tanks and, in one-to-one terms, better tanks, than the Germans. However, what mattered was how the tanks were used, and French command distributed half of its tanks among independent Bataillons de Chars de Combat (battle tank battalions) for infantry support, rendering them tied to decision-making of the local army commanders. In 1940 the German command concentrated its tanks into Panzer divisions and used them for strategic envelopment, smashing their way through the French defensive line, and driving towards The Channel, threatening to sever communications and supply lines with the national centres of logistic support.
To counter such attacks, a mobile anti-tank force must be held in reserve and moved to meet the attack. The French had no strategic reserve at all; let alone a highly mobile reserve as their three Cavalry armoured divisions (Divisions Legeres Mécaniques or Mechanized Light Divisions), the only armoured units organized on the lines of the German armoured divisions, had already been committed in the Low Countries
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
, which was crucial in the French failure to counteract the German penetration, as the four French Infantry armoured divisions lacked sufficient strategic mobility. However, later in the campaign a new tactic was applied which proved highly resistant against tank attacks. This was called the hedgehog
Hedgehog defence
In warfare, the hedgehog defence is a military tactic for defending against a mobile armoured attack, or blitzkrieg. The defenders deploy in depth in heavily fortified positions suitable for all-around defence. The attackers can penetrate between these "hedgehogs", but each position continues to...
. However, due to the losses already sustained, the French could never counterattack, and the hedgehogs were eventually by-passed by the German troops.
North African theatre
In the deserts of North Africa, the British developed the alternative approach of combining the armoured, infantry and artillery together to form a 'balanced, combined arms team'. The 10th Italian Army of Maresciallo (Marshal) Rodolfo GrazianiRodolfo Graziani
Rodolfo Graziani, 1st Marquis of Neghelli , was an officer in the Italian Regio Esercito who led military expeditions in Africa before and during World War II.-Rise to prominence:...
, being ill-armed and inadequately led, soon gave way to this approach by the Commonwealth troops of the 8th Army
Eighth Army (United Kingdom)
The Eighth Army was one of the best-known formations of the British Army during World War II, fighting in the North African and Italian campaigns....
.
The arrival of the German Afrika Korps
Afrika Korps
The German Africa Corps , or the Afrika Korps as it was popularly called, was the German expeditionary force in Libya and Tunisia during the North African Campaign of World War II...
under command of General der Infanterie Erwin Rommel
Erwin Rommel
Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel , popularly known as the Desert Fox , was a German Field Marshal of World War II. He won the respect of both his own troops and the enemies he fought....
highlighted the weaknesses of the British approach: the small number of infantry and artillery in each armoured division was sufficient when attacking the immobile and uncoordinated Italian troops, but against the highly mobile, well-coordinated German units, the undermanned Commonwealth formations were proving inadequate.
It was only towards the later years of the war, with the invasion of the European mainland, that the Allied Armies began to become more effective in armoured warfare. In 1942 and 1943 , the Allies consistently lost armoured battles in the North African desert due to improper tactics; in particular, running armoured formations into opposing anti-tank positions.
Pre-war
Much of the Red Army development in tank use was based on the theoretical work carried out by such officers as Tukhachevsky and Triandafillov in the mid to late 1930s. This was as part of the two-directioned concepts, one being infantry-centred "broad front" and the other being a "shock army".While the infantry based part of the doctrine demanded "powerful tanks" (heavy tanks armed with infantry guns and machineguns) and "tankettes" (light, often amphibious tanks with machineguns), the shock Army demanded "manoeuvre tanks" (fast tanks with medium guns) used in conjunction with motorized forces and "mechanized cavalry" that would operate in depth as "strategic cavalry" combined with nascent airborne troops.
These ideas culminated in the "PU-36" or the 1936 Field Service Regulations.
Red Army wartime
At the start of the Second World War much of the Red Army, including its armoured forces, were in transition and recovering following the 1937 repression of the officer corpsGreat Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
and the consequences of the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939
Winter War
The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...
. The Red Army tank fleet was extremely large, consisting of some 24,000 vehicles, but many were obsolete or unfit for service due to difficulties with supplying spare parts and lack of qualified support staff. Almost half of the tank fleet was lost in the first month of the war.
The Red Army's initial strategic withdrawal relegated the armoured forces to a secondary role, however one important development took place shortly before the war which was to influence Soviet armoured doctrine and tank design for a decade: the creation of the T-34
T-34
The T-34 was a Soviet medium tank produced from 1940 to 1958. Although its armour and armament were surpassed by later tanks of the era, it has been often credited as the most effective, efficient and influential design of World War II...
. Developed on the Christie suspension
Christie suspension
The Christie suspension is a suspension system developed by American engineer Walter Christie for his tank designs. It allowed considerably longer movement than conventional leaf spring systems then in common use, which allowed his tanks to have considerably greater cross-country speed and a lower...
chassis and using for the first time sloped armour
Sloped armour
Sloped armour is armour that is neither in a vertical nor a horizontal position. Such "angled" armour is often mounted on tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles...
, the T-34 proved a shocking surprise to the German forces with its high velocity 76.2 mm tank gun. Using wide tracks the T-34 was also able to negotiate terrain in difficult weather conditions, something that persistently dogged the German designs.
Assessing the success of the German Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg
For other uses of the word, see: Blitzkrieg Blitzkrieg is an anglicized word describing all-motorised force concentration of tanks, infantry, artillery, combat engineers and air power, concentrating overwhelming force at high speed to break through enemy lines, and, once the lines are broken,...
strategy, operational methods and tactics, it was concluded that the Red Army should return to the use of operational methods developed before the war, and indeed the Tank Armies were eventually created. To complement the T-34 other designs of heavy tanks and self-propelled artillery and tank destroyers were also designed.
Much of the use of Red Army's armoured forces were used in concentrations during all Red Army WW2 strategic-operational operations, initiated under strict secrecy and using the Principle of Surprise.
Pre and early war
By the time of World War II, the German armoured forces had developed a much more profound and more flexible doctrine than that of the Allies on the tactical and operational level. No such doctrine existed on the strategic level but their concentrated Panzer divisions in 1940 in the Battle of FranceBattle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
nevertheless strategically exploited breaches in the allied defensive lines to great effect.
This development, largely under the influence of Heinz Guderian
Heinz Guderian
Heinz Wilhelm Guderian was a German general during World War II. He was a pioneer in the development of armored warfare, and was the leading proponent of tanks and mechanization in the Wehrmacht . Germany's panzer forces were raised and organized under his direction as Chief of Mobile Forces...
's Achtung–Panzer!, was facilitated by the fact that for political reasons a Tank Arm had been formed, the Panzertruppe or Panzerwaffe, distinct from the Infantry and Cavalry. The Panzertruppe however was until 1940 overshadowed by the much more influential Infantry, as exemplified by the low priority given to tank production and the fact tanks were between 1936 and 1939 also divided among the Infantry and Cavalry.
Guderian, with the help of others, established the armoured combined arms team, distinct from a purely infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
or cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
formation. The panzer divisions were not solely composed of tanks, but integrated the other arms in it as well — most notably, mechanized infantry
Mechanized infantry
Mechanized infantry are infantry equipped with armored personnel carriers , or infantry fighting vehicles for transport and combat ....
(riding in halftracks to be protected from small-arms fire while being transported) and self-propelled artillery
Self-propelled artillery
Self-propelled artillery vehicles are combat vehicles armed with artillery. Within the term are covered self-propelled guns and rocket artillery...
(howitzers fitted on a tank chassis). This allowed the panzer division to become a complete and independent combat force, and overcome the problems that tanks had in attaining a breakthrough
Breakthrough (military)
A breakthrough occurs when an offensive force has broken the enemy defensive line, and is rapidly exploiting the gap.Usually, large force is employed on a relatively small portion of the front to achieve this...
against strong opposition by entrenched enemy infantry equipped with large numbers of antitank-guns, which would be very costly without direct infantry support. Infantry had always had problems keeping up with the speedy tanks; now they could simply drive along with them.
However, this development was hampered until 1941 by the lack of half-tracks vehicles to equip the mechanized infantry.
The in-depth research through theoretical approaches, wargaming and exercises developed a confidence within the Panzertruppe itself (and political support by Hitler) in the armoured formation as the key battlefield formation — although this view was before 1940 not shared by the other Arms of Service. A key part of this doctrine was improved communications by having radios in all tanks — and again this ideal suffered from technical limitations as most tanks had receiver sets only. The superior tactical and operational doctrine combined with an appropriate strategic implementation enabled the Germans in 1940 to defeat forces quantitatively superior in armour, infantry and artillery during their campaign in France; but just when Blitzkrieg was made a deliberate doctrine, in 1941, it ultimately failed on the eastern front, though attaining at first spectacular successes.
Late war
Later in World War II, the Germans were on the defensive. The PantherPanther tank
Panther is the common name of a medium tank fielded by Nazi Germany in World War II that served from mid-1943 to the end of the European war in 1945. It was intended as a counter to the T-34, and to replace the Panzer III and Panzer IV; while never replacing the latter, it served alongside it as...
and heavy Tiger tanks
Tiger I
Tiger I is the common name of a German heavy tank developed in 1942 and used in World War II. The final official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. E, often shortened to Tiger. It was an answer to the unexpectedly formidable Soviet armour encountered in the initial months of...
had impressive firepower and armour in tank to tank battles. It could take four to five Shermans to knock out a single Tiger tank by manoeuvring to its weaker flank or rear armour. But the onslaught of Allied armour was much superior in numbers. Besides using tanks in dug-in positions, the Germans made use of older types by turning them into tank destroyers, basically turretless tanks with heavier guns and sometimes heavy armour plating.
These vehicles, like the Sturmgeschütz III
Sturmgeschütz III
The Sturmgeschütz III assault gun was Germany's most produced armoured fighting vehicle during World War II. It was built on the chassis of the proven Panzer III tank...
, outnumbered the German tanks and destroyed numerous Allied tanks on the battlefields of Europe. They were part of very effective general anti-tank tactics that included the use of anti-tank teams armed with Panzerfäuste
Panzerfaust
The Panzerfaust was an inexpensive, recoilless German anti-tank weapon of World War II. It consisted of a small, disposable preloaded launch tube firing a high explosive anti-tank warhead, operated by a single soldier...
(small recoilless rifle
Recoilless rifle
A recoilless rifle or recoilless gun is a lightweight weapon that fires a heavier projectile than would be practical to fire from a recoiling weapon of comparable size. Technically, only devices that use a rifled barrel are recoilless rifles. Smoothbore variants are recoilless guns...
s), anti-tank guns and extensive anti-tank mine
Anti-tank mine
An anti-tank mine, , is a type of land mine designed to damage or destroy vehicles including tanks and armored fighting vehicles....
fields. However, they made a successful use of Blitzkrieg tactics very difficult.
United States
Though the U.S. had established the Tank CorpsUnited States Tank Corps
The Tank Corps of the American Expeditionary Force was the mechanized unit that conducted American tank combat in World War I. An initial plan for 2,000 light Renault FT-17 tanks and 200 heavy British Mark VI tanks was changed to 20 battalions of 77 light tanks each and 10 battalions of 45 heavy...
in WWI using French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Renault FT (and Six Ton Model 1917 tanks, copies of Renault FTs) and British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
MK tanks, and some officers like Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
and George S. Patton, Jr. emerged from that war initially as avid proponents of continuing and developing an American armoured force, the rapid reduction of the forces and apathy and even antipathy towards funding and maintaining armed forces in the inter-war years led to relative stagnation of armoured doctrine in the United States. Adna R. Chaffee, Jr.
Adna R. Chaffee, Jr.
Adna Romanza Chaffee, Jr. was a major general in the United States Army, called the "Father of the Armored Force" for his role in developing the U.S. Army's tank forces.-Early years:...
, virtually alone, advocated for the future of armoured warfare and the development of appropriate training, equipment and doctrine during the late 1920s through the 1930s.
The United States Army had always regarded the French Army
French Army
The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...
as the best army in Europe, and consequently the US Army frequently copied French uniforms (the US Civil War), airplanes, and armour (Renault FT tank). Only when France was conquered in "just six weeks!" in 1940 did the US Army become "shocked" into re-thinking the influences by the perceived actions of German tanks in the 1939 Polish Campaign
Invasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
, although its Armored Combat Arm was not created until 1940 when The Armored Force was born on July 10, 1940, with the Headquarters, Armor Force and the Headquarters, I Armored Corps established at Fort Knox. On July 15, 1940, the 7th Cavalry Brigade (Mechanised) became the 1st Armored Division
1st Armored Division (United States)
The 1st Armored Division—nicknamed "Old Ironsides"—is a standing armored division of the United States Army with base of operations in Fort Bliss, Texas. It was the first armored division of the U.S...
; the 7th Provisional Tank Brigade, an infantry tank unit at Fort Benning, became the 2nd Armored Division"http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/army/usaas.htm. The Tank Battalion was established at Fort Meade, Md., and a small Armored Force School was also established.
The popular conception in the US was that tanks had been used boldly as part of a new system of war called Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg
For other uses of the word, see: Blitzkrieg Blitzkrieg is an anglicized word describing all-motorised force concentration of tanks, infantry, artillery, combat engineers and air power, concentrating overwhelming force at high speed to break through enemy lines, and, once the lines are broken,...
. Under General Jacob L. Devers
Jacob L. Devers
General Jacob "Jake" Loucks Devers , commander of the 6th Army Group in Europe during World War II. He was the first United States military officer to reach the Rhine after D-Day.-Biography:...
, Chief of the Armored Force, doctrine evolved into a combined arms operational force consisting of primarily infantry, artillery, and tanks with tanks being the major manoeuvre component. Under this doctrine, US tank crews of both armoured divisions and GHQ tank battalions were taught to fight tanks in tank on tank engagements. Armored Force personnel during and after the war criticized the infantry for using the GHQ tank battalions assigned to infantry divisions strictly as infantry support.
The US Combined Arms
Combined arms
Combined arms is an approach to warfare which seeks to integrate different branches of a military to achieve mutually complementary effects...
team included air support, artillery, engineers, and a tank component supplemented by the Tank Destroyer
Tank destroyer
A tank destroyer is a type of armored fighting vehicle armed with a gun or missile launcher, and is designed specifically to engage enemy armored vehicles...
concept. The latter is most closely identified with the Chief of Army Ground Forces, General Leslie McNair. Having studied the early German successes McNair came under the belief that US forces would be faced with fast moving enemy forces who would seek to bypass, isolate and reduce US forces in a replay of the Fall of France. To counter the enemy blitzkrieg McNair sought to improve the organic anti-tank strength of the US infantry divisions by attaching towed AT guns and equipping the infantry with hand-held Bazookas. To stem the flood of marauding panzers, fast moving powerfully armed Tank destroyer battalions
Tank destroyer battalion (United States)
The tank destroyer battalion was a type of unit used by the United States Army during World War II. The unit was organized in one of two different forms—a towed battalion equipped with anti-tank guns, or a self-propelled battalion equipped with armored tank destroyers. U.S. Army doctrine held that...
were created to be held back and used in the counterattack.
It was believed that conventional tanks that could take on the enemy Panthers and Tigers toe to toe would not have the speed and mobility to avoid being flanked and bypassed and therefore would not have the chance to fight. It was also calculated that US interests would be better served by large numbers of reliable (battleworthiness) medium tanks rather than a smaller number of un-reliable heavy tanks. It was decided therefore to slow the production of the US heavy tank designs such as the M26 Pershing
M26 Pershing
The Heavy Tank M26 Pershing was an American heavy tank briefly used in World War II and in the Korean War. It was named after General John Pershing, who led the American Expeditionary Force in Europe in World War I....
and concentrate resources on mass producing the M4 Sherman
M4 Sherman
The M4 Sherman, formally Medium Tank, M4, was the primary tank used by the United States during World War II. Thousands were also distributed to the Allies, including the British Commonwealth and Soviet armies, via lend-lease...
and tank destroyers such as the M18 Hellcat
M18 Hellcat
The 76 mm Gun Motor Carriage M18 was an American tank destroyer of World War II. The manufacturer, Buick, gave it the nickname "Hellcat" and it was the fastest tracked armored fighting vehicle during the war with a top speed up to 60 mph. Hellcat crews took advantage of the vehicle's...
. Since the Sherman medium tank would be inferior to the enemy heavy tanks they would have to avoid tank-vs-tank combat as much as possible, leaving enemy tanks to the tank destroyers.
To be able get into position to counterattack, the tank destroyers had to be fast. To achieve the desired mobility and agility from the engines available the armour protection was sacrificed, a measure of protection coming from being nimble and hopefully from being able to knock out the enemy before they could get a shot in. Although they had guns of around about 76 mm, the tank destroyer units were issued with the ancestor of the modern Armour-piercing discarding sabot
Armour-piercing discarding sabot
Armour-piercing discarding sabot is a type of kinetic energy projectile fired from a gun to attack armoured targets. APDS rounds are sabot rounds and were commonly used in large calibre tank guns, but have now been superseded by armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot projectiles in such...
, rounds which made their guns much more powerful than a simple comparison of calibres would suggest.
In actual combat however the Germans were unable and unwilling to fight in the fast, free flowing manner to which the US forces had been tuned to counter. Against the defensive and ambush tactics that the Germans actually used, McNair's doctrine led to US tanks having weaker guns and less armour protection than their German counterparts, and in the narrow confines of much of the terrain in Normandy, they could not avoid one-on-one encounters with German tanks
Panzer
A Panzer is a German language word that, when used as a noun, means "tank". When it is used as an adjective, it means either tank or "armoured" .- Etymology :...
.
Japanese
The Japanese doctrine was mainly French in concept but with some purely Japanese elements. Due to Japan's naval priorities in warshipWarship
A warship is a ship that is built and primarily intended for combat. Warships are usually built in a completely different way from merchant ships. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster and more maneuvrable than merchant ships...
construction and inter-service feuds (the marine branch of the IJN
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...
favoured all-around protective armour) IJA
Imperial Japanese Army
-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...
tanks were lightly armoured. As with most armour during the 1930s, the main guns were small in caliber: 37 mm for their Type 95
Type 95 Ha-Go
The was a light tank used by the Imperial Japanese Army in combat operations of the Second Sino-Japanese War, at Nomonhan against the Soviet Union, and in the Second World War. It proved sufficient against infantry, however, like the American M3 Stuart, it was not designed to fight other tanks...
light tanks and 47 mm for the Type 97
Type 97 Chi-Ha
The was a medium tank used by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War, at Nomonhan against the Soviet Union, and in the Second World War. It was the most widely produced Japanese medium tank of World War II, although the armor protection was considered as average in the 1930s...
medium tank, but this was sometimes compensated by a high muzzle velocity. The IJA's use of tanks in China exemplifies its doctrine: light tanks were used for scouting or acted as mobile infantry support, while medium tank
Medium tank
Medium tank was a classification of tanks; the medium being intermediate in size and weight and armament between heavy tanks and light tanks.The medium tank concept has been eclipsed by the main battle tank.-History:...
s supported the infantry and assaulted deeper objectives, but did not fight en masse.
In 1939, the Japanese Army engaged Soviet armour at Nomonhan
Nomonhan
Nomonhan is a small village near the border between Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, China south of the Chinese city of Manzhouli.In the summer of 1939 it was the location of the Nomonhan Incident, as it is termed in Japan, or the Battle of Khalkhin Gol as it is known in Soviet and Mongolian People's...
. During the three month long war, Japanese armour had shown their weakness against Soviet tanks; and the resulting Japanese defeat prompted a series of complaints by the Imperial Army to incorporate improvements in future Japanese armour. This is the primary reason IJA tanks were not as successful while being used with IJA tactics. The tank forces of the US Army consisted of the M2
M2
-In computers and electronics:*Fast Universal Digital Computer M-2, an early Russian digital computer *Memory Stick Micro , a removable flash memory card format*Modula-2 , a computer programming language...
A4 and M3 Stuart light tanks up until 1941, although these vehicles were five years newer than the 1935 built Type 95
Type 95 Ha-Go
The was a light tank used by the Imperial Japanese Army in combat operations of the Second Sino-Japanese War, at Nomonhan against the Soviet Union, and in the Second World War. It proved sufficient against infantry, however, like the American M3 Stuart, it was not designed to fight other tanks...
's, the IJA and US light tanks were comparable to each other, and seemingly performed well for their respective forces during jungle combat operations; during their phase of WWII
As with all armour, maintenance was a continuous challenge; especially in tropical environments. When IJA and SNLF (Imperial marines) tanks did clash with the enemy they were quickly destroyed by concealed anti-tank guns or overwhelming numbers of hostile tanks. Japan was a naval power, and concentrated its production on warships, thus placing a low priority on armoured vehicle development, its tanks becoming quickly obsolete during the later years of the war. A number of designs that were equal to heavier foreign types were on the drawing board at the beginning of the war, but would only be built in small numbers towards the end, being placed in reserve, to be deployed for the defence of Japan itself.
Chinese
The Republic of China's National Revolutionary Army's 200th Division was the country's only mechanized division during the war. The 200th used pre-war tanks acquired from Italy, Germany, and the Soviet Union.Arab-Israeli wars
The conflict between Islamic nations in the East Mediterranean region and Israel in particular would serve to become a testing ground for development in armoured warfare during the decades of the Cold War. Both sides in the Arab-Israeli series of conflicts made heavy use of tanks and other armoured vehicles. Up until the 1973 Yom Kippur WarYom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...
, Israeli armoured units typically had the advantage, mainly due to good tactics and unit cohesion
Unit cohesion
Unit cohesion is a military concept, defined by one former United States Chief of staff in the early 1980s as "the bonding together of soldiers in such a way as to sustain their will and commitment to each other, the unit, and mission accomplishment, despite combat or mission stress"...
.
However without tanks and infantry working together, problems can arise.
During the Yom Kippur War
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i tanks operating alone in large numbers were decimated by Egyptian infantry with anti-tank guided missiles. This is an extreme example but exemplifies what has been fairly thoroughly documented since the Second World War: tanks and infantry work best by taking advantage of each other's strengths and combining to minimize the weaknesses.
In many conflicts, it was usual to see infantry riding on the back of tanks, ready to jump off and provide support when necessary. Unfortunately, the design of many modern tanks makes this a dangerous practice. The M1 Abrams
M1 Abrams
The M1 Abrams is a third-generation main battle tank produced in the United States. It is named after General Creighton Abrams, former Army Chief of Staff and Commander of US military forces in Vietnam from 1968 to 1972. The M1 is a well armed, heavily armored, and highly mobile tank designed for...
, for example, has such hot exhaust gas that nearby infantry have to be careful where they stand. Tanks can also be very vulnerable to well aimed artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
; well-coordinated air support and counter-battery
Counter-battery fire
Counter-battery fire is a type of mission assigned to military artillery forces, which are given the task of locating and firing upon enemy artillery.-Background:...
artillery units can help overcome this.
The guided missile
While attempts to defeat the tank were made before WW2 and during WW2 though use of conventional high velocity artillery, this proved increasingly difficult in the post-WW2 period due to increased armour protection and mobility of the tanks. Another path taken toward defeating the tanks surprisingly came from the country with the largest armoured fleet in the world at the time, the USSR. Soviet designers strove to incorporate some measure of anti-tank capability into almost every infantry weapon, and in the 1960s designed and deployed portable anti-tank wire guided missiles that could be either carried by the infantry, or fired from the newly developed BMP-1BMP-1
The BMP-1 is a Soviet amphibious tracked infantry fighting vehicle. BMP stands for Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty 1 , meaning "infantry fighting vehicle". The BMP-1 was the world's first mass-produced infantry fighting vehicle...
infantry fighting vehicles.
In 1973, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
's Army failed to anticipate the importance of the introduction of anti-tank guided missile
Anti-tank guided missile
An anti-tank missile , anti-tank guided missile , anti-tank guided weapon or anti-armor guided weapon is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily-armored military vehicles....
s on the battlefield in large numbers. Hundreds of AT-3 Sagger
AT-3 Sagger
The 9K11 Malyutka is a Manual Command to Line-of-Sight wire-guided anti-tank guided missile developed in the Soviet Union. It was the first man-portable anti-tank guided missile of the Soviet Union and is probably the most widely produced ATGM of all time—with Soviet production peaking at...
man-portable anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) supplied to Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
by the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
which could be operated by the common infantryman without having to undergo extensive training inflicted heavy losses on Israeli tanks. Since then, ATGMs have played an important role within Israeli forces also, having developed advanced domestic-made versions (see Spike/Gil
Spike (missile)
Spike is a fourth generation man-portable fire-and-forget anti-tank guided missile with tandem-charged HEAT warhead, developed and designed by the Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and in service with a number of nations....
missile) which have been widely-exported throughout the world.
In the recent 2006 conflict with Hezbollah, when Israeli infantry units engaged the enemy anti-tank missile armed teams, they were able to easily defeat them while tanks operating on their own suffered several hits from the newest advanced Russian tandem-warhead types such as the Kornet
9M133 Kornet
The Kornet is a Russian anti-tank missile . It is a second generation ATGM intended to deal with main battle tanks and to engage slow and low flying helicopters, but is not intended to fully replace previous systems, due to the cost...
—strong evidence that tanks operating solely on their own in the era of ATGMs have some severe weaknesses.
Responding to the serious losses against Hezbollah, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems in cooperation with Israel Aircraft Industries
Israel Aircraft Industries
Israel Aerospace Industries or IAI is Israel's prime aerospace and aviation manufacturer, producing aerial systems for both military and civilian usage. It has 16,000 employees as of 2007...
developed a missile defence system for tanks, called Trophy, to intercept and destroy anti tank missiles. The system was successfully deployed in combat on March 1, 2011, when it intercepted an anti tank missile during an engagement on the Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
border.
NATO
During the Cold WarCold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, NATO assumed armoured warfare to be a dominant aspect of conventional ground warfare in Europe. Although the use of light tanks was largely discontinued, and heavy tanks were also mostly abandoned, the medium tank design evolved into heavier models due to increase in armour and larger sized main weapon resulting in the main battle tank
Main battle tank
A main battle tank , also known as a battle tank or universal tank, is a tank that fills the heavy direct fire role of many modern armies. They were originally conceived to replace the light, medium, heavy and super-heavy tanks. Development was spurred onwards in the Cold War with the development...
(MBT) which came into existence, combining most of the different types of tanks during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
For the most part the NATO armoured doctrine remained defensive, and dominated by use of nuclear weapons as deterrence. Although most NATO nations began the Cold War period with a large number of US designed tanks in their fleets, there was a considerable degree of disagreement on the design of future MBTs among the NATO major nations. Both the US and Germany experimented with, but abandoned the missile-armed MBT-70
MBT-70
The MBT-70 was a 1960s German-U.S. joint project to develop a new main battle tank, which was to be equipped with a number of advanced features. It utilized a newly developed hydropneumatic "kneeling" suspension and housed the entire crew in the large turret...
. The M26 Pershing
M26 Pershing
The Heavy Tank M26 Pershing was an American heavy tank briefly used in World War II and in the Korean War. It was named after General John Pershing, who led the American Expeditionary Force in Europe in World War I....
basic design of the United States would evolve until the M60
M60 Patton
The 105 mm Gun Full Tracked Combat Tank, M60, also known unofficially as the M60 Patton, is a first-generation main battle tank introduced in December 1960. It was widely used by the U.S. and its Cold War allies, especially those in NATO, and remains in service throughout the world today...
main battle tank was replaced with the gas-turbine powered M1 Abrams
M1 Abrams
The M1 Abrams is a third-generation main battle tank produced in the United States. It is named after General Creighton Abrams, former Army Chief of Staff and Commander of US military forces in Vietnam from 1968 to 1972. The M1 is a well armed, heavily armored, and highly mobile tank designed for...
in the 1980s. The British Army also retained a WWII tank design, the Centurion
Centurion tank
The Centurion, introduced in 1945, was the primary British main battle tank of the post-World War II period. It was a successful tank design, with upgrades, for many decades...
, which proved to be highly successful and was not fully replaced until the 1970s.
The West German
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
Bundeswehr
Bundeswehr
The Bundeswehr consists of the unified armed forces of Germany and their civil administration and procurement authorities...
decided to develop their own tank in the 1960s, and in the 1970s produced the Leopard I, which was a somewhat lighter design, conforming to German doctrine that emphasized speed over protection. The French series of AMX tanks also emphasized manoeuvre over protection. By the 21st century, most advanced western main battle tanks were built around powerful engines, large 120 mm guns and composite armour
Composite armour
Composite armour is a type of vehicle armour consisting of layers of different material such as metals, plastics, ceramics or air. Most composite armour are lighter than their all-metal equivalent, but instead occupy a larger volume for the same resistance to penetration...
.
Warsaw Pact
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
armoured doctrine was substantially influenced by the developments in the Soviet Army which sought to adopt its existing doctrine evolved during WW2 to the nuclear battlefield. In the early 1960s this led to a number of important developments in the armoured forces and their supporting Arms. One important development was the transition of the Second World War use of Cavalry-Mechanized Group (CMG) into the Cold War Operational Manoeuvre Group (OMG) that was designed to exploit breakthroughs to penetrate NATO's defences in depth. This was a culmination of the Deep Battle theory dating to the 1930s.
In 1964 a significant breakthrough in tank design was achieved in the Soviet Union when the T-64
T-64
The T-64 is a Soviet main battle tank, introduced in the early 1960s. It was used solely by the Soviet Army in its front-line divisions and was a more advanced counterpart to the T-62...
was produced which for the first time used an automatic loader, reducing the crew of the tank to three crewmen. Subsequently this model, and the later T-72
T-72
The T-72 is a Soviet-designed main battle tank that entered production in 1970. It is developed directly from Obyekt-172, and shares parallel features with the T-64A...
and T-80
T-80
The T-80 is a main battle tank designed and manufactured in the former Soviet Union. A development of the T-64, it entered service in 1976 and was the first production tank to be equipped with a gas turbine engine for main propulsion.the Swedish Stridsvagn 103 of 1971 used a gas turbine alongside...
tanks introduced further innovations that influenced armoured warfare by introducing guided missiles into the tank ammunition mix, allowing ATGW fire from standard tank guns. The Soviet Union is also one of the countries that use two Main Battle Tanks: The high-quality T-80s and lower quality T-72s. Modern Soviet tanks, like the ones mentioned, are typically armed with 125mm smooth bore guns. Advancements in Soviet tanks include improved Fire Control Systems, strong armour protected by ERA, and defensive countermeasures (such as Shtora-1 and Arena). The most advanced Soviet tank, up until the end of the Cold War, was the T-80U, which shared similar characteristics with the M1A1(Turbine engine, advanced Fire Control Systems, strong armour, and firepower)
Infantry fighting vehicle
Infantry fighting vehicle
An infantry fighting vehicle , also known as a mechanized infantry combat vehicle , is a type of armoured fighting vehicle used to carry infantry into battle and provide fire support for them...
s were first developed in the 1960s with the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
's BMP-1
BMP-1
The BMP-1 is a Soviet amphibious tracked infantry fighting vehicle. BMP stands for Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty 1 , meaning "infantry fighting vehicle". The BMP-1 was the world's first mass-produced infantry fighting vehicle...
, for the first time allowing supporting infantry to accompany tanks on a battlefield when nuclear weapon use was expected.
The T-64s and BMP-1s were also joined by the self propelled guns and more importantly Mi-24 Rotary-wing aircraft
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
capable of firing anti-tank missiles entering production in 1970 which were built and theorized as "flying tanks".
The Soviet tank troops, as they were known in the USSR, included armoured units, armoured training regiments and other formations and units.
Vietnam War
M113M113 armored personnel carrier
The M113 is a fully tracked armored personnel carrier that has formed the backbone of the United States Army's mechanized infantry units from the time of its first fielding in Vietnam in April 1962. The M113 was the most widely used armored vehicle of the U.S...
armoured personnel carrier
Armoured personnel carrier
An armoured personnel carrier is an armoured fighting vehicle designed to transport infantry to the battlefield.APCs are usually armed with only a machine gun although variants carry recoilless rifles, anti-tank guided missiles , or mortars...
s proved effective in the terrain of Vietnam against enemy forces which, until 1968, rarely deployed their armour. Though they were soon countered with mines and RPGs, M-113's continued service during the war, primarily evolving into infantry fighting vehicle
Infantry fighting vehicle
An infantry fighting vehicle , also known as a mechanized infantry combat vehicle , is a type of armoured fighting vehicle used to carry infantry into battle and provide fire support for them...
s, known as the ACAV (Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicle); and functioning as a "light tank
Light tank
A light tank is a tank variant initially designed for rapid movement, and now primarily employed in low-intensity conflict. Early light tanks were generally armed and armored similar to an armored car, but used tracks in order to provide better cross-country mobility.The light tank was a major...
."
More heavily armed infantry fighting vehicle
Infantry fighting vehicle
An infantry fighting vehicle , also known as a mechanized infantry combat vehicle , is a type of armoured fighting vehicle used to carry infantry into battle and provide fire support for them...
s such as the M2/M3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle would be based on experience with the M113. Gun truck
Gun truck
A military gun truck is an improvised fighting vehicle used by units of regular armies or other official government armed forces, based on a conventional cargo truck, that is able to carry a large weight of weapons and armor...
s were also introduced as M35 trucks fitted with armour and guns to protect convoys. In 1968, Communist forces primarily deployed the Soviet built PT-76
PT-76
The PT-76 is a Soviet amphibious light tank which was introduced in the early 1950s and soon became the standard reconnaissance tank of the Soviet Army and the other Warsaw Pact armed forces. It was widely exported to other friendly states, like India, Iraq, North Korea and North Vietnam. Overall,...
light tank.
By 1971, the larger T-54 medium tanks were fielded, proving themselves susceptible to the M-72 LAW rocket, ARVN M41 Walker Bulldog
M41 Walker Bulldog
The M41 Walker Bulldog was a U.S. light tank developed to replace the M24 Chaffee. It was named for General Walton Walker who died in a jeep accident in Korea...
light tanks, as well as the larger M48A3 Pattons
M48 Patton
The M48 Patton is a medium tank that was designed in the United States. It was the third and final tank to be officially named after General George S. Patton, commander of the U.S. Third Army during World War II and one of the earliest American advocates for the use of tanks in battle It was a...
. In January 1969, US Armored Cavalry units began exchanging their M48A3 Patton
M48 Patton
The M48 Patton is a medium tank that was designed in the United States. It was the third and final tank to be officially named after General George S. Patton, commander of the U.S. Third Army during World War II and one of the earliest American advocates for the use of tanks in battle It was a...
tanks for the M551 Sheridan
M551 Sheridan
The M551 Sheridan was a light tank developed by the United States and named after Civil War General Philip Sheridan. It was designed to be landed by parachute and to swim across rivers. It was armed with the technically advanced but troublesome M81/M81E1 152mm gun/launcher which fired conventional...
Armored Airborne Reconnaissance Assault Vehicles; by 1970 over 200 Sheridan tanks were operating in Vietnam.
Present
Normally, multiple platoons coordinate with mechanized infantry
Mechanized infantry
Mechanized infantry are infantry equipped with armored personnel carriers , or infantry fighting vehicles for transport and combat ....
and utilize their mobility and firepower to penetrate weak points in enemy lines. This is where the powerful engines, tracks and turrets come into play. The ability to rotate the turret by a full 360° allows coordinated movement within and between platoons, while defending against attacks from multiple directions and engaging troops and vehicles without stopping or slowing down.
When on the defensive, they wait in prepared positions or use any natural terrain
Terrain
Terrain, or land relief, is the vertical and horizontal dimension of land surface. When relief is described underwater, the term bathymetry is used...
elements (such as small hills) for cover. A tank sitting just behind a hill crest ("hull-down
Hull-down
The term hull-down describes the situation where the upper part of a vessel or vehicle is visible, but the main, lower body is not; the opposite term hull-up describes the situation where all of the body is visible....
") exposes only the top of its turret, with the gun and sensors, to the enemy, leaving the smallest possible target while allowing it to engage the enemy on the other side of the hill. Tanks are usually able to depress the main gun below the horizontal since modern kinetic energy (KE) rounds have nearly flat trajectories. Without this they would be unable to exploit such positions. However, upon cresting a hill, the tank may expose its thinly armoured underside to enemy weapons.
The deposition of armour around a tank is not uniform; the front is typically better armoured than the sides or rear. Accordingly, normal practice is to keep the front towards the enemy at all times, the tank retreats by reversing instead of turning around. Driving backwards away from an enemy is even safer than driving forwards towards them since driving forwards over a bump can throw the front of the tank up in the air, exposing the thin armour of the underside and taking the gun off the target due to its limited angle of depression.
The tracks, wheels and suspension of a tank are outside the armoured hull and are some of the most vulnerable spots. The easiest way to disable a tank (other than a direct hit in a vulnerable area with a full-power anti-tank weapon) is to target the tracks for a "mobility kill
Mobility kill
A mobility kill in armoured warfare refers to a weapon or vehicle that is immobilized, or the act of immobilizing such a target. Typically this term is used to refer to tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles that have their engines, tracks, or running gear damaged...
" (m-kill), or target all external visual aids with rubbery cohesive substances such as melted rubber or blackened high viscosity epoxy resins. Once a tank is disabled it is easier to destroy. This is why side-skirts are an important feature; they can deflect heavy machine-gun bullets and trigger the detonation of HEAT
Heat
In physics and thermodynamics, heat is energy transferred from one body, region, or thermodynamic system to another due to thermal contact or thermal radiation when the systems are at different temperatures. It is often described as one of the fundamental processes of energy transfer between...
rounds before they strike the running gear. Other vulnerable parts of a typical tank include the engine deck (with air intakes, radiators, etc.) and the turret ring, where the turret joins the hull.
When used defensively, tanks are often sunk into trenches or placed behind earth berm
Berm
A berm is a level space, shelf, or raised barrier separating two areas. Berm originates in the Middle Dutch and German berme and came into usage in English via French.- History :...
s for increased protection. The tanks can fire off a few shots from their defensive position, then retreat (reversing) to another prepared position further back and drive behind the berms or into the trenches there. These positions can be constructed by the tank crews, but preparations are better and quicker if carried out by combat engineers with bulldozers. Overhead protection, even if it is fairly thin, can also be very useful since it can help pre-detonate artillery shells and avoid direct hits from above which can be deadly to tanks, by striking them at their thinnest armour. In short, tank crews find as many ways as possible to augment the armour on their vehicles.
Tanks usually go into battle with a round in the gun, ready to fire, to minimize reaction time when encountering an enemy. The US doctrine calls for this round to be a kinetic energy (KE) round, as the reaction time is most important when meeting enemy tanks, to get the first shot (and possibly the first kill). If troops or light vehicles are encountered, the usual response is to fire this round at them, despite it not being ideal—it is difficult and time-consuming to remove a round which is already in the breech
Breech-loading weapon
A breech-loading weapon is a firearm in which the cartridge or shell is inserted or loaded into a chamber integral to the rear portion of a barrel....
. In this case, after the KE round is fired, a HEAT round would normally be loaded next to continue the engagement.
Tanks can be decisive in city fighting, with the ability to demolish walls and fire medium and heavy machine guns in several directions simultaneously. However, tanks are especially vulnerable in urban combat. It is much easier for enemy infantry to sneak up behind a tank or fire at its sides, where it is most vulnerable. In addition, firing down from multi-story buildings allows shots at the soft upper turret armour and even basic weapons like Molotov cocktails, if aimed at the engine air intakes, can disable a tank. Because of these limitations, tanks are difficult to use in city conflicts where civilians or friendly forces might be nearby, since their firepower can't be used effectively.
Airborne threats
The other major reason is that most armoured vehicles have thinner armour on the roof of the turret and on the engine deck, so an anti-tank guided missile (from an attack helicopter or ground-attack jet) hitting them from the top can be deadly even if it has a small warhead. Even machine guns and small automatic cannon are powerful enough to penetrate the rear and top sections of the engine compartment of a tank.
A-10 Thunderbolt II
The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II is an American single-seat, twin-engine, straight-wing jet aircraft developed by Fairchild-Republic in the early 1970s. The A-10 was designed for a United States Air Force requirement to provide close air support for ground forces by attacking tanks,...
, affectionately known as the "Warthog" because of its shape (in contrast to more aesthetically pleasing military aircraft). The 'Hog' may be blunt but is exceptionally effective in its purpose: hunt and kill enemy armour and vehicles and its reputation as an effective "Tankbuster" is not unfounded.
Although able to carry a number of different missiles and bombs (including anti-tank ordnance such as the AGM-65 Maverick
AGM-65 Maverick
The AGM-65 Maverick is an air-to-ground tactical missile designed for close-air support. It is effective against a wide range of tactical targets, including armor, air defenses, ships, ground transportation and fuel storage facilities....
), its main weapon is the 30 mm GAU-8/A Avenger Gatling gun
Gatling gun
The Gatling gun is one of the best known early rapid-fire weapons and a forerunner of the modern machine gun. It is well known for its use by the Union forces during the American Civil War in the 1860s, which was the first time it was employed in combat...
which is capable of firing 3,900 depleted uranium
Depleted uranium
Depleted uranium is uranium with a lower content of the fissile isotope U-235 than natural uranium . Uses of DU take advantage of its very high density of 19.1 g/cm3...
armour-piercing rounds per minute (a popular belief is that the plane was actually built around the gun and not vice-versa). Capable of low-speed, low-altitude flight, the A-10 is itself an airborne armoured vehicle with a titanium
Titanium
Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver color....
enclosure about the pilot, an airframe that can survive direct hits from armour-piercing and high-explosive projectiles up to 23 mm and triple redundancy in its flight systems, with mechanical systems to back up double-redundant hydraulics. The Soviet equivalent is the SU-25.
AH-1Z Viper
The Bell AH-1Z Viper is a twin-engine attack helicopter based on the AH-1W SuperCobra, that was developed for the United States Marine Corps. The AH-1Z features a four-blade, bearingless, composite main rotor system, uprated transmission, and a new target sighting system. The AH-1Z is part of the...
, AH-64 Apache
AH-64 Apache
The Boeing AH-64 Apache is a four-blade, twin-engine attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear arrangement, and a tandem cockpit for a two-man crew. The Apache was developed as Model 77 by Hughes Helicopters for the United States Army's Advanced Attack Helicopter program to replace the...
, Denel AH-2 Rooivalk, Eurocopter Tiger
Eurocopter Tiger
The Eurocopter Tiger is an attack helicopter manufactured by Eurocopter. In Germany it is known as the Tiger; in France and Spain it is called the Tigre.-Origins:...
, Ka-50 Black Shark
Kamov Ka-50
The Kamov Ka-50 "Black Shark" is a single-seat Russian attack helicopter with the distinctive coaxial rotor system of the Kamov design bureau. It was designed in the 1980s and adopted for service in the Russian army in 1995...
, Mi-28 Havoc
Mil Mi-28
The Mil Mi-28 is a Russian all-weather day-night military tandem two-seat anti-armour attack helicopter. It is a dedicated attack helicopter with no intended secondary transport capability, better optimized than the Mil Mi-24 for the role...
, and Westland Lynx
Westland Lynx
The Westland Lynx is a British multi-purpose military helicopter designed and built by Westland Helicopters at its factory in Yeovil. Originally intended as a utility craft for both civil and naval usage, military interest led to the development of both battlefield and naval variants...
are examples. Helicopters are very effective against armoured vehicles for many reasons. The AH-64D Longbow Apache, for example, is equipped with an improved sensor suite and weapon systems and the AN/APG-78 Longbow Fire Control Radar dome installed over the main rotor. Helicopters however have proved highly vulnerable to small arms ground fire, and so most missions that would have originally fallen under the domain of the attack helicopter are instead being executed by the much more heavily armoured A-10.
Airborne threats can be countered in several ways. One is air supremacy
Air supremacy
Air supremacy is the complete dominance of the air power of one side's air forces over the other side's, during a military campaign. It is the most favorable state of control of the air...
. This is what the United States relies on most, which is demonstrated by their distinct lack of effective short-range, mobile air defence vehicles to accompany armoured units. Most other countries accompany their armoured forces with highly mobile self-propelled anti-aircraft guns such as the German Gepard
Flugabwehrkanonenpanzer Gepard
The Flugabwehrkanonenpanzer Gepard is an autonomous, all-weather-capable German self-propelled anti-aircraft gun . It was developed in the 1960s and fielded in the 1970s, and has been upgraded several times with the latest electronics...
or the Soviet 9K22 Tunguska, short and medium-range surface-to-air missile
Surface-to-air missile
A surface-to-air missile or ground-to-air missile is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles...
systems such as the SA-6, SA-8 and SA-11, or combine both on the same vehicle (the Tunguska for example can also host SA-19 SAM missiles). The usage of anti-aircraft rounds fired from the main gun of a tank has been increasing over the years. An example is the HE-FRAG round from the T-90
T-90
The T-90 is a Russian third-generation main battle tank that is a modernisation of the T-72 . It is currently the most modern tank in service with the Russian Ground Forces and Naval Infantry...
which can be detonated at a set distance as determined by the it's laser range finder.
Support
Armoured warfare is mechanically and logistically intensive and requires extensive support mechanisms. Armoured Fighting Vehicles require armoured vehicles capable of working in the same terrain to support them. These are operated by the appropriate branches of the army, e.g. recovery and maintenance vehicles by the REME and combat engineering vehicles by the RE in the British Army. These include:- Armoured recovery vehiclesArmoured recovery vehicleAn armoured recovery vehicle is a type of armoured fighting vehicle used to repair battle- or mine-damaged as well as broken-down armoured vehicles during combat, or to tow them out of the danger zone for more extensive repairs...
(ARV)—many of these are based on the chassis for the vehicle they support. E.g. the ARV for the UK Challenger tank is a Challenger hull onto which a winch is added. - Armoured supply vehicles
- (armoured) Combat Engineering Vehicles (CEV), e.g. bulldozers
For transporting tracked AFVs over highways, heavy transporters
Tank transporter
A tank transporter is a specialized road vehicle for the transport of tanks, to and from the battlefield or during peacetime. They are necessary to limit the mileage of the tracked vehicles and also to reduce wear on road surfaces which can easily be damaged by such heavy vehicles...
are used, since AFVs are prone to malfunction and their tracks also ruin the highways.
Future
Power projection
Power projection is a term used in military and political science to refer to the capacity of a state to conduct expeditionary warfare, i.e. to intimidate other nations and implement policy by means of force, or the threat thereof, in an area distant from its own territory.This ability is a...
deployability has always been a consideration, which conventional main battle tank
Main battle tank
A main battle tank , also known as a battle tank or universal tank, is a tank that fills the heavy direct fire role of many modern armies. They were originally conceived to replace the light, medium, heavy and super-heavy tanks. Development was spurred onwards in the Cold War with the development...
s cannot provide.
It takes a few weeks to transfer tanks and their supporting equipment by air or sea. Some tanks and armoured vehicles are transportable by helicopter, dropped by parachute, or carried by air transport. The largest transports can only carry one or two main battle tanks. Smaller transports can only carry or air drop light tanks and APCs such as the M113.
The desire to create air portable armoured vehicles that can still take on conventional MBTs has usually resulted ATGM
Anti-tank guided missile
An anti-tank missile , anti-tank guided missile , anti-tank guided weapon or anti-armor guided weapon is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily-armored military vehicles....
armed light vehicles or in protected/armoured/mobile gun system style vehicles in which a lack of armour protection being in part offset by the provision of a first look/first hit/first kill capability through the mating of a powerful gun to superior targeting electronics, a concept similar in operation to that of the US tank destroyer
Tank destroyer
A tank destroyer is a type of armored fighting vehicle armed with a gun or missile launcher, and is designed specifically to engage enemy armored vehicles...
s of WWII.
Vehicles which have put such considerations into practise include the Stingray light tank
Stingray Light Tank
The Stingray Light Tank is a light tank produced by Textron Marine and Land Systems Division . It was originally developed for the U.S. Army's Armored Gun System competition. Thailand is the only user.- Stingray :...
, AMX 10 RC
AMX 10 RC
The AMX-10RC is a wheeled recon vehicle and tank destroyer built by GIAT. Over 300 are in service in the French Army. 120 additional vehicles were sold to Morocco and Qatar ....
and B1 Centauro
B1 Centauro
The Centauro is a wheeled tank destroyer designed for light to medium territorial defense and tactical reconnaissance. It was developed by a consortium of manufacturers, the Società Consortile Iveco Fiat - Oto Melara...
. Most such US projects to create such vehicles have been abortive, e.g. the M8 Armored Gun System, the most successful, being the flawed M551 Sheridan
M551 Sheridan
The M551 Sheridan was a light tank developed by the United States and named after Civil War General Philip Sheridan. It was designed to be landed by parachute and to swim across rivers. It was armed with the technically advanced but troublesome M81/M81E1 152mm gun/launcher which fired conventional...
light tank. This tried to produce an air-portable vehicle capable of destroying conventional by the inclusion of a revolutionary (for the time) 152 mm CLGP launcher. Being able to afford the sea-basing conventional MBTs in possible trouble spots and being able to fly crews to meet pre-positioned equipment the US had a less pressing need of such vehicles than some other nations.
Though the experience of limited conflicts such as the insurgency in Iraq rarely involves combat between armoured vehicles, the lack of security has resulted in the application of armour to light vehicles, and the continued use of armoured transports, fighting vehicles and tanks to protect against ambushes and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). Its latest experience of expeditionary warfare
Expeditionary warfare
Expeditionary warfare is used to describe the organization of a state's military to fight abroad, especially when deployed to fight away from its established bases at home or abroad. Expeditionary forces were in part the antecedent of the modern concept of Rapid Deployment Forces...
has seen the US return to the armoured gun system type vehicle in the form of the Stryker Mobile Gun System
Stryker Mobile Gun System
The Stryker Mobile Gun System is an eight-wheeled armored fighting vehicle mounting a 105 mm tank gun, based on the Canadian LAV III light-armored vehicle. It is in service with the United States and was also being considered for adoption by several other countries, including Canada.- Design...
.
See also
- BlitzkriegBlitzkriegFor other uses of the word, see: Blitzkrieg Blitzkrieg is an anglicized word describing all-motorised force concentration of tanks, infantry, artillery, combat engineers and air power, concentrating overwhelming force at high speed to break through enemy lines, and, once the lines are broken,...
- Combined armsCombined armsCombined arms is an approach to warfare which seeks to integrate different branches of a military to achieve mutually complementary effects...
- Modern warfareModern warfareModern warfare, although present in every historical period of military history, is generally used to refer to the concepts, methods and technologies that have come into use during and after the Second World War and the Korean War...
- History of the tankHistory of the tankThe history of the tank began in World War I, when armoured all-terrain fighting vehicles were first deployed as a response to the problems of trench warfare, ushering in a new era of mechanized warfare. Though initially crude and unreliable, tanks eventually became a mainstay of ground armies...
- Lists of armoured fighting vehicles