Superb guide to ww2 anti-tank infantry doctrine

books:


	• World War II Infantry Anti-Tank Tactics (Elite) Gordon Rottman Osprey Publishing, 2005 - 64 pages average customer review:based on 2 reviews view larger image
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Superb guide to ww2 anti-tank infantry doctrine

With world war one the tank was introduced and began the revolution in ground warfare. In world war two the revolution was essentially achieved with only slightly more achieved with the actions in the Middle east by the Israilies.

This little booklet shows how the infantry in Germany, Britain, the US, Japan and the Soviet Union (which pretty much represents all infantry of the war) developed doctrine and weaponry with which to cope with the new menace much as the infantry of the middle ages developed tactics with the Pike, the Halberd and other weapons to cope and then pull down the armored knight.

Their success level varies with the Japanese at the worst end.

My only regret is that this book doesn't cover the Finnish Infantry who successfully defended their country from Soviet Tank assaults during the winter war.

Otherwise an excellant book.

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Decent Overview of WW2 AT Tactics and Weapons

In Osprey's Elite #124, World War II Infantry Anti-Tank Tactics, military specialist Gordon L. Rottman details the gamut of anti-tank weapons and tactics in the Second World War. This volume is an excellent introduction to anti-tank theory and practice, with a good overview of the basic battalion-level weapons available. In this volume, Rottman focuses only on those AT weapons normally available at the regiment or lower level during 1939-45, and only in the US, British, German, Russian and Japanese armies.

Rottman begins the volume with background information on the tank threat in that period and tank vulnerabilities, followed by a section that outlines the basic AT weapon types available (ranging from hand grenades and mines to light/medium AT guns). The author then discusses the evolution of AT tactics during the Second World War, followed by about 30 pages that detail specific AT weapons and tactics of the US, the UK, Germany, the USSR and Japan. The color plates in the volume are: tank vulnerabilities (a US infantryman attacking a Pz IV with a satchel charge); a generic company AT defense; a German tank-hunting team in 1939-40; a US Army AT ambush in 1944-45; a British AT roadblock in 1943-44; Soviet AT defenses in built-up areas, 1944; a German panzer kampfgruppe in covering positions, 1944-45; and a Japanese `self-sacrifice' attack, 1945.

Rottman's summary of the AT tactics of the Second World War is good, although he makes little effort to evaluate which tactics were more effective than others. Typically, Rottman prefers to present a mass of data and then leave it to the reader to draw his own conclusions. Although the size constraints of this format prevent comprehensive treatment, I wish that Rottman had made at least brief mention of the failed AT efforts of the French, Polish and Italian armies.

As a former tanker, I found that Rottman probably undervalued the role of obstacles and expedient weapons. While Rottman mentions that thick concentrations of barbed wire could inhibit tank movement, my own experience indicates that several coils of concertina can be very effective in blocking tanks (however, white phosphorus rounds will melt concertina wire); any tanker foolish enough to attempt plowing through a thick wire obstacle will quickly find it wrapped around his final drive and the transmission burnt-out. Rottman didn't mention hasty obstacles much, but some - such as the log crib - can be very effective in stopping or canalizing armor, particularly in wooded areas. Destroyed vehicles or very large stones can also prove excellent hasty AT obstacles; I once saw a tank that had hit a large rock at night and shorn off an entire road wheel arm (for that matter, Rottman doesn't really differentiate between night and day AT tactics, but it does make a huge difference for the infantry). Rottman also tends to dismiss expedient AT tactics as ineffective, but the Germans destroyed a lot of T-34s without proper AT weapons. I once saw a tank immobilized by a T-shirt shoved into its engine air intake (which drained the battery in less than 5 minutes), and in dense terrain cunning infantry can get tanks to throw track with something as simple as a 12" thick log. On the flip side of the coin, having served in infantry units against tanks, it is often critical in AT tactics that the infantry have either a height advantage (which allows you to disengage without being seen) or an obstacle between you and the tanks.

Although Rottman spends considerable effort to discuss tank vulnerabilities, it is primarily in terms of the tank itself. However, the relative effectiveness of various AT tactics really comes down to the skill and experience of the tank's crew. "Good tankers" do not get separated from their `wing' tanks or their infantry, they use covered terrain as much as possible for protection, and they have well-versed actions on contact. "Bad tankers" are far easier to pick off because they get separated from their supporting units (or they bunch up), they drive "hey-diddle-diddle, straight-down-the-middle" right into AT ambushes and their first action on contact is to stop in the kill zone. Hunting individual tanks is far different from stopping a tank platoon or company, but Rottman's narrative really only focuses on limited tank threats. The most successful AT tactics are those that recognizes the weakness or vulnerabilities of their opponents, and then ruthlessly take advantage of them.

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The battlefield interaction between infantry and tanks was central to combat on most fronts in World War II. The first ?Blitzkrieg? campaigns saw the tank achieve a new dominance. New infantry tactics and weapons ? some of them desperately dangerous ? had to be adopted, while the armies raced to develop more powerful anti-tank guns and new light weapons. By 1945, a new generation of revolutionary shoulder-fired AT weapons was in widespread use. This book explains in detail the shifting patterns of anti-tank combat, illustrated with photographs, diagrams and colour plates showing how weapons were actually employed on the battlefield.

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