Anti-tank warfare

• 1. Origins In The Great War

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  The first tanks appeared on the Western Front in September 1916, catching German troops by surprise. This new machine was designed to break through trench lines and allow cavalry to exploit breaches. Yet the German General Staff anticipated this threat immediately. They began developing countermeasures within months of seeing these armored vehicles roll across no man's land. Early tactics involved infantrymen using grenades bound together into bundles called Geballte Ladung. These pioneers would throw the explosive charge at a tank's tracks or engine compartment.

  German engineers also created specialized weapons like the 13 mm Mauser 1918 T-Gewehr anti-tank rifle. This bolt-action weapon fired solid shot capable of piercing early armor. Another solution emerged with the 3.7 cm TaK Rheinmetall gun mounted on a light carriage. It could destroy tanks despite limited elevation and traverse capabilities. By early 1917, this weapon reached frontline units and proved effective against Mark IV models near Cambrai.

  Communication between tanks and accompanying infantry remained impossible during combat. Radios were not yet portable enough for installation inside armored hulls. Some Mark IV tanks carried Morse Code transmitters as messaging vehicles, but field telephones attached to the rear became standard only later. Without radios, tanks advancing without infantry support often found themselves isolated and vulnerable to close-assaults by German sappers. A near miss from field artillery or an impact from a mortar could disable even heavily armored vehicles if fuel tanks ruptured.

• 2. Interwar Doctrine And Obstacles

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  Strategic thinking in the interwar period focused on fortified borders rather than mobile countermeasures. France constructed the Maginot Line, replacing infantry-filled trenches with artillery-filled bunkers housing 37 or 47 mm anti-tank guns. Steel turrets armed with machine guns and 25 mm anti-tank guns formed part of these defenses. The line extended up to deep from forward positions to rear lines, intended to delay any surprise attack while French forces mobilized.

  Germany faced restrictions under the Treaty of Versailles that forbade tank production. This limitation influenced their approach to developing anti-tank capabilities until the 1930s. Rheinmetall began designing a 37 mm anti-tank gun in 1924, producing the first units in 1928 as the 3.7 cm Pak L/45. These weapons appeared during the Spanish Civil War alongside Swedish Bofors 37 mm models adopted by many early Second World War combatants.

  The British Army accepted the 40 mm Ordnance QF 2 pounder developed as a tank gun. Soviet Red Army forces upgraded their French Hotchkiss 37 mm L.33 tank gun to a higher velocity L.45 Model 1935 version. They also made licensed copies of the German 3.7 cm PaK 36. However, a tank battalion sent to aid Spanish Republicans was almost entirely destroyed in an engagement, teaching the Soviets harsh lessons about anti-tank warfare effectiveness.

  Shaped charge ammunition emerged as a revolutionary concept discovered accidentally by Professor Charles E. Munroe at the U.S. Torpedo Station in Providence, Rhode Island. He observed blocks of explosives cutting imprints into armor plates when detonated with manufacturing letters recessed rather than raised. This phenomenon became known as the Munroe Effect and focused blast energy onto small surface areas to hydrodynamically penetrate armor.

• 3. Evolution During Global Conflict

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  World War II saw rapid escalation from towed guns to self-propelled tank destroyers across multiple theaters. The German 37 mm gun earned the nickname tank door knocker after failing to penetrate sloped armor on Soviet T-34 medium tanks. By late 1942, Germany introduced more powerful designs including 50 mm high-velocity models and later adopted 75 mm and famous 88 mm guns for Eastern Front operations.

  Towed anti-tank cannons grew increasingly cumbersome as calibers increased. Crews often had to wrestle heavy equipment into position under fire, leading to loss or destruction of both gun and trained personnel. This disadvantage spurred development of self-propelled tank destroyers based on existing tank chassis. Early German examples like Marder I used light French or Czech design hulls with turret-less superstructures housing AT guns.

  The Red Army deployed over 20 anti-tank guns per kilometer of defended tactical zone at Kursk. These towed weapons were cheaper than tanks but left crews vulnerable to artillery and mortar HE fire. Self-propelled variants offered mobility advantages despite limited traverse if immobilized by track damage. American designs included the fast-moving M18 GMC and Sherman-based M36 equipped with 90 mm cannon.

  Casemate-style tank destroyers like the German Jagdpanzer IV and Soviet SU-85 featured heavy guns mounted forward on older chassis. Removal of turrets allowed room for larger breeches while maintaining armor levels similar to base vehicles. The Sturmgeschütz III became the most-produced German armored fighting vehicle of World War II. Late in the war, even powerful tank destroyers sat abandoned after being immobilized by single high-explosive shells.

• 4. The Guided Missile Revolution

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  Anti-Tank Guided Missiles emerged as a game-changing technology during the Cold War era. Wire-guided systems entered service starting in the late 1950s and 1960s. The United Kingdom developed the Malkara missile alongside Australia in 1958. France followed with SS.11 wire-guided missiles mounted on Alouette II helicopters in the same period.

  Soviet forces put extensive development into these weapons, introducing the first man-portable model AT-3 in 1961. The United States lagged behind until fielding the BGM-71 TOW system in 1970. These guided missiles could defeat any known tank at ranges beyond infantry gun capabilities. A small team of soldiers with concealed missiles could take down multiple large expensive tanks.

  The 1973 Yom Kippur War demonstrated the devastating potential of Soviet first-generation wire-guided missiles employed by Egyptian forces. They inflicted heavy casualties on Israeli tank units causing major crisis of confidence among tank designers. Active protection systems like Russian Arena and Israeli Iron Fist began intercepting incoming projectiles mid-air to restore tank competitiveness.

  Helicopter-borne anti-tank warfare evolved rapidly after French experiments in the late 1950s. The Bell AH-1 Cobra became the first specific attack helicopter entering mass production in 1966. It carried TOW missiles from 1973 onward providing ability to strike lightly armored top surfaces of tanks. Helicopters positioned themselves unseen before attacking from any quarter exposing weaker armor sections.

• 5. Aerial Dominance And Precision

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  Fixed-wing aircraft designed specifically for close air support emerged during the Cold War era. Models like the A-10 Thunderbolt II and SU-25 Frogfoot utilized large-caliber autocannons or rotary weapons alongside air-to-surface missiles such as AGM-65 Maverick. Unguided rockets and various bombs including laser-guided options with submunitions like CBU-100 Cluster Bomb added firepower against armored formations.

  Soviet Ilyushin Il-2 planes armed with 23 mm cannons and unguided rockets attacked German tank columns during Battle of Kursk. These aircraft could approach at very low altitude ignoring small arms fire that usually protected tanks from bombers. They also carried large numbers of 2.5 kg shaped-charge PTAB bombs capable of damaging tracks and wheels through proximity detonation.

  The Hawker Hurricane Mk IID mounted two underwing pod-mounted 40 mm Vickers S cannon on North African campaigns in 1942. Later models included the Yakovlev Yak-9T bomber interceptor equipped with 37 mm cannon firing through hollow-center propeller shafts attached to engine gear reduction units. American forces adapted civilian Piper J-3 Cub light monoplane into L-4 Grasshopper liaison aircraft carrying bazooka rocket launchers.

  Major Charles Carpenter flew his rocket-armed L-4 named Rosie the Rocketeer during Battle of Arracourt on the 20th of September 1944. His aircraft knocked out at least four German armored vehicles proving lightweight slow-flying aircraft could engage heavy enemy armor successfully.

• 6. Modern Asymmetry And Urban Combat

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  Improvised explosive devices became new threats after Cold War ended in 1992. Remotely detonated IEDs targeted tanks and other armored vehicles across various conflicts. Drones and loitering munitions attacked and destroyed tanks during Russian invasion of Ukraine. These asymmetric tactics challenged traditional main battle tank dominance in modern warfare environments.

  Infantry close assault remains effective especially within built-up areas or rough terrain exposing floor armor. Tank crews have limited visibility from inside allowing infantry to get close given enough concealment. If hatches remain closed crewmen become vulnerable to small arms fire grenades and Molotov cocktails when unbuttoned for better visibility.

  The RPG-7 stands as one of most widely used anti-tank weapons favored by irregular militaries globally. It fires range different warheads including thermobaric types against explosive reactive armor equipped tanks. Aging models evolved into more potent versions like RPG-29 which damaged Merkava IV Challenger 2 and M1 Abrams main battle tanks in Middle East conflicts.

  Mobile kills occur when vehicle loses ability to move through broken tracks or bogeys while retaining weapon functionality. Firepower kills disable main gun operation leaving tank partially combat-capable. Catastrophic kills remove complete fighting ability either destroying tank entirely or killing crew members. Modern systems use tandem warheads where first charge disables reactive armor before second defeats shell armor via shaped charge mechanism.