Anti-tank warfare

Anti tank refers to any method of combating military armored fighting vehicles, notably tanks. The most common forms of anti-tank systems are cannon with a high muzzle velocity, any number of kinds of missiles (such as wire guided HEAT), various autocannons firing penetrating ammunition, and anti-tank mines.

In the area of anti-tank warfare two terms are often used: "mobility kill" and "catastrophic kill".

A mobility kill (m-kill) occurs when the vehicle's ability to move has been taken away, for example by breaking a tank track. The target is then immobile but may retain full use of its weapons and still be able to fight to some extent. A catastrophic kill (k-kill) removes the tank's ability to fight completely. This may entail complete destruction of the tank or disabling the weapon system(s) or crew.

Early systems

See also: Anti-tank rifle

Small cannon and large-calibre rifles were used against the early World War I tanks being introduced by the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), many of which proved to be almost useless. Some weapons included the Armor piercing 7.92 K Bullets, then a larger anti-tank rifle when those became ineffective. Also grenades were used, and the Geballte Ladung (‘Bunched Grenade’), basically several regular grenades bound together. Tanks were also vulnerable to artillery and mortars, especially if they became stuck, which was no miracle at the time with difficult terrain and barbed wire, and they could be targeted more easily.

By the end of the war a number of light guns, typically 37 mm (a 2 pounder in British measure) were being deployed on short carriages that proved to be considerably better. In addition most forces deployed large high-velocity rifles, typically of .50 cal (12.7 mm) calibre, with enough power to puncture the thin armor of the tanks of the era.

Anti-tank guns

Soviet 45 mm anti-tank gun (version 1942)

See also: Tank gun.

Anti-tank guns are guns designed to destroy armored vehicles. In order to penetrate the armor of tanks and other armored vehicles they fire high-velocity shells.

Prior to World War II anti-tank guns were relatively small, with anti-tank rifles primarily used for destroying tanks. Few had barrel diameters larger than 50 mm. With the rapid improvement in tank armor and guns anti-tank guns increased in barrel size, firing larger shells at greater velocities. One of the most noteworthy of these weapons was the German 88 mm gun, which was originally developed as an anti-aircraft gun but later found widespread use in destroying tanks. Likewise, by the end of the war all sides were using guns with diameters of 90 mm and up.

File:1936 AT gun polish.jpg

Polish 37 mm anti-tank gun

World War II also saw the mounting of antitank guns on vehicle chassis, sometimes armored, as a cheap substitute for a full-fledged tank. Some had open turrets, while others did not have rotating turrets at all, meaning that the whole vehicle had to be rotated to aim the gun. Americans called these vehicles tank destroyers.

German PaK 38 50 mm anti-tank gun

At the start of World War II many of these weapons were still being used operationally, along with a newer generation of light guns that closely resembled their WWI counterparts. In combat both proved entirely useless against the larger and better armored tanks they faced. For instance, the German army had recently introduced a new lightweight 37 mm gun, whose users quickly nicknamed it the "armored door knocker" because all it seemed to do was announce its presence.

All combatants quickly introduced newer and more powerful guns, and the anti-tank rifle had largely disappeared by 1942. The "average" gun by 1943 was 50 mm or larger, the Germans had an excellent 50 mm high velocity design, while the British introduced the "6-pounder" which was also adopted by the US Army as the 57 mm. A year later sizes had grown due to pressure on the Eastern Front, German guns were now 75 mm and the famous 88 mm. The Soviet Red Army used a variety of general purpose 100 mm and 122 mm guns.

German PaK 40 75 mm anti-tank gun

As the guns grew in size they dropped in mobility, making the dedicated anit-tank gun less effective in the attack than in defence. This gave impetus to the development of the tank destroyer, an armoured vehicle sacrificing the broader capabilities of the tank (in the German cases) or some protection for a more effective anti-tank capability.

By the end of the war the concept of the dedicated anti-tank gun was essentially dead, the guns were so large that they were essentially immobile.

Grenades

There were many types and kinds of anti-tank grenades. These ranged from hollow charge designs (eg the UK No. 68 AT Grenade), to ones that simply contained a lot of explosive (UK No. 73 Grenade). To increase the effect some grenades were designed so that they adhered to the tank either through an adhesive (sticky bomb) or with a magnet. The Germans used a magnetic grenade ("Hafthohlladung 3") to ensure that the hollow charge would fire at the required 90 angle to the armour.

There were also a special type of grenade called Nebelhandgranaten or "Blendkörper" ("smoke hand grenades") which was supposed to be smashed over an air vent and fill the tank with smoke, widely used by both sides. Molotov cocktails also saw much use, especially in Winter War, but it was mainly early tanks that were vulnerable to them, and later tanks required a well thrown bottle directly over the engine compartment to have any effect at all.

Mines and other explosives

Main article: anti-tank mine

• Hawkins mine
• The Soviet Union employed anti-tank dogs during World War II, although they weren't very successful.
• The Japanese forces employed suicide attacks with pole-mounted anti-tank mines dubbed Lunge Mines during late World War II [1]

Infantry weapons

The development in light (as in man-portable) anti-tank weapons took off during the Second World War. Most were based on the Munroe effect (or shaped charge) and called High Explosive Anti-tank (HEAT). The effect was the same irrespective of the speed of the round. The effect was also concentrated and could penetrate more armor than some of the larger anti-tank guns, yet weighed only a few pounds. The first HEAT rounds were rifle grenades but better delivery systems were introduced, the British PIAT was propelled like a horizontal mortar, the US Bazooka and Panzerschreck designs used rockets; the German Panzerfaust was a small recoilless gun. The Heat warhead was retroactively used to convert the otherwise lmited German 37 mm PaK guns to fire a large shell(that fitted over the barrel rather than it) to a greater range than the Panzershreck could manage.

Another explosive related development was HESH which went hand in hand with British work on recoilless rifles. HESH was a large weight of plastic explosive in a thin shell casing. It detonated on impact with the armor but only after having spread itself over the armor surface. The effect was to knock a similar size piece of armor off the inside which would wreak havoc to the crew and internal components of the tank.

Post-war developments

In the post-WW II era HEAT became the almost universal choice outside of artillery and tank units. The British had developed the HESH, or high explosive squash head, warhead as an anti-concrete device for attacking fortifications during the war, and found it surprisingly effective against tanks. Like HEAT its effectiveness was the same at long range as it was at short range. In general these systems allowed infantry to take on even the largest tanks, albeit at short ranges. But the short range of the delivery systems remained a problem. Increasing use of combined arms tactics allowed the attacking infantry to suppress the anti-tank crews effectively, meaning that they could typically get off only one or two shots before being countered or forced to move.

The search for a suitable longer-range delivery system took up much of the immediate post-war era. The US invested in the recoilless rifle, delivering a widely used 75 mm design, and less-common 90 mm and 106 mm designs (this last one was usually mounted on a jeep rather than hauled across the battlefield by infantrymen). The 106 mm formed the basis of a dedicated anti-tank vehicle, the Ontos tank, which mounted six. The Russians also built recoilless rifles in various calibers intended to be used as antitank weapons, most commonly 73 mm, 82 mm, and 110 mm (only the 73 mm remains in service with the Russian military today, though the other two can be found all over the world due to Soviet military aid during the Cold War). The British used a massive 120 mm (4.7 inch) design the BAT series which served from the 1950s until replaced by MILAN, but it was generally too heavy for infantry use and had to be towed by or mounted on a vehicle for manuvrability.

The successor to the recoilless rifle lay in the development of the (wire) guided missile - the Anti-tank Guided Weapon (ATGW). Systems came into use in the late 1950s and 1960s that could defeat any known tank at ranges outside that of the guns of the accompanying infantry. The United Kingdom, France, and other NATO countries were among the first to develop such weapons (eg Malkara missile UK/Australia 1958). The United States was one of the last, coming up with the BGM-71 TOW in 1970, which was more powerful and easier to use than all the previous missiles, and eventually came to be the most widespread wire guided anti-tank weapon in the West.

Of the world's major armies, primarily the Russians, and some other countries retained the antitank gun in significant quantities, mostly in calibers 100 mm, 115 mm, and, currently in Russia, 125 mm. The 125 mm antitank guns are extremely bulky and massive, and require large tractors to tow them for any significant-distance cross-country, but they're relatively cheap, potentially deadly (particularly now that they've been upgraded with laser rangefinders and depleted uranium ammunition), though it is not clear what their tactical usefulness is in many types of warfare would actually be. In Desert Storm for example, tanks set up in emplacements were very vulnerable to many weapon systems and could be spotted well in advance. In an environment with more cover they would be harder to spot.

For a time it appeared that the tank was a dead end, a small team of infantry with a few missiles in a well hidden spot could take on a number of the largest and most expensive tanks. In the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Soviet first-generation wire guided missiles being fired by the Egyptian forces inflicted heavy casualties on IDF tank units, a battle that caused a major crisis of confidence for tank designers.

Tactics

Even with anti-tank capability, correct military tactics are vital when defending against tank divisions, whether the defensive force has tanks or not. Tanks generally defeat any force that attempts to defeat them "head on", but can even be vulnerable to large infantry divisions without tank or aircraft support.

El-Alamein

Bernard Montgomery showed the importance of correct tactics combined with a deep understanding of the logistical needs of tanks at The Battle of El-Alamein. At this crucial point of the war, Erwin Rommel's forces had essentially gone unchecked over North Africa and threatened to overrun British forces in Egypt as well. However, Rommel's supply lines were extremely long due to his inability to capture the key port of Tobruk. Montgomery was aware that a breakthrough would allow Rommel to re-supply his tanks from Egyptian ports.

Montgomery chose El-Alamein as it was a choke-point with the Mediterranean Sea to the north and wetlands impenetrable to tanks to the south. This prevented Rommel from using flanking tactics (which had been remarkably successful) to attack either end of the British line. When Rommel was unable to break through, he was forced to retreat back to his supply lines, as Montgomery had ready stores of fuel in Egypt, and would also be able to resupply from Tobruk all the way. As a result, Montgomery was able to reverse Rommel's gains.

The Russian Front

Early German advances on the Russian Front during 1941 were as impressive as their earlier attacks in Poland and France. While the immense logistics of the task obviously worked against the Germans, the Russians soon learned the vulnerabilities of German tanks and exploited them wherever possible. Knowing that in certain areas tanks could not operate off of roads due to mud or wet ground, Russian forces identified key choke points and would often ambush the first and last tank first, trapping any remaining tanks which were unable to advance or retreat.

Tank traps

With sufficient time, ground could be prepared to make it unsuitable for tanks. In Normandy, the Germans spread large metal structures on the beach which could easily become stuck in a tank's tread or understructure. It was also possible to dig steep trenches that would prevent tanks from traversing them without help from military engineers.

Korea

The Korean War highlighted the difficulties that can arise with tank forces when vulnerable logistical support is combined with poor terrain. In the early stages of the war, North Korea's well equipped tank divisions were pushed back to the Yalu River, the border with China, by superior American tank power combined with air and infantry support. However, when the Chinese entered the war, they managed to reverse the American advances with infantry power alone. Because of the terrain and the need to keep the tanks supplied, American tanks were limited to two main roads. The Chinese merely occupied the land between the roads and harried the American supply lines and troop transports along the road. The Chinese infantry stuck to land that was impassible to tanks, such as rocky prominences and rice paddies, neutralizing the advantage of both American armoured divisions and air support. The only thing that saved the Americans from a rout was a well coordinated and disciplined retreat by the U.S. Marines, who managed to inflict much greater casualties than they suffered despite being outnumbered.

Future anti-tank

As bad as it looked for the tank in the 1960s, increases in depth of armor and improvements in armor technology meant that hand-held systems were no longer large enough to deliver enough power by the 1970s, and the introduction of Chobham armour by the UK and reactive armor by the USSR, forced the HEAT rounds to be so large that in many cases they are not man-portable.

Today the anti-tank role is filled with a variety of weapons, from portable "top attack" missiles, to larger HEAT based missiles for use from jeeps and helicopters, a variety of high velocity autocannon, and ever-larger heavy tank guns.

One of the first lessons of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict is the effectiveness of portable antitank missiles (in particular, Russian-made Metis-M and European MILAN).

External links

• Overview of German anti-tank grenades