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122-677: The MATADOR (man-portable, anti-tank, anti-door) is a 90-millimetre (3.5 in) man-portable, disposable anti-armour and anti-brickwall weapon system developed by Germany , Israel and Singapore . It is an updated version of the German Armbrust design, and operates on the same principles. The development of this weapon began in 2000 and the MATADOR will eventually replace the German Armbrust Light Anti-tank Weapon, which has been in service since

244-454: A tandem warhead where the first stage of the warhead activates the reactive armor, and the second stage defeats the shell armor by means of a high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) shaped charge . During the Russian invasion of Ukraine , drones and loitering munitions have attacked and destroyed tanks. Anti-tank warfare evolved as a countermeasure to the threat of the tank's appearance on

366-501: A 57 mm QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss light naval gun in the hull barbettes . Hull and track engineering was largely dictated by the terrain —the need to cross wide trenches—although the relationship between ground pressure and soil-vehicle mechanics was not resolved until the Second World War. Turrets were later introduced on medium and light tanks to react to ambushes during the advance. The tank, when it appeared on

488-403: A considerable part of its anti-tank capable cannons. Anti-tank tactics during the war were largely integrated with the offensive or defensive posture of the troops being supported, usually infantry. Most anti-tank tactics depend on the range effectiveness of various weapons and weapon systems available. These are divided as follows: Ground-to-air cooperation was not yet systematic in any army of

610-639: A defensive military doctrine where the Maginot Line played a central role in its deterrence of Germany. Prior to WWI, Germany had an offensive military doctrine exemplified by the Schlieffen Plan . Germany also devoted considerable resources to building a fleet of battleships, which provoked fears among European powers. During World War II, Germany deployed an operational strategy sometimes referred to as Blitzkrieg in its offensives against Poland and France. German military doctrine incorporates

732-424: A doctrine. All the brains have been limbered up and regard all questions from an identical point of view. The fundamental idea of the problem being known, each one will solve the problem in his own fashion, and these thousand fashions, we may very well be sure, will act to direct all their efforts to a common objective. Prior to WWI, France had an offensive military doctrine. In the aftermath of WWI, France adopted

854-499: A great diversity, ranging from light tankettes and cavalry tanks to multi-turreted heavy tanks resembling bunkers, all of which had to be considered in training by the anti-tank artillery troops. The development of these doctrines was the most significant influence on the rapid development in anti-tank technology and tactics in the Second World War. Two aspects of how the Second World War commenced helped to delay development of anti-tank warfare: resignation and surprise. After Poland

976-512: A greater range than the Panzerschreck could manage. The Hungarian 44M "Buzogányvető" was a successful unguided rocket used extensively in the Siege of Budapest . After the war, research on infantry anti-tank weapons continued, with most designers focused on two primary goals: first an anti-tank weapon that could defeat more heavily armored postwar tanks and fighting vehicles, and second

1098-481: A group of nations." The official definition of strategy by the United States Department of Defense is: "Strategy is a prudent idea or set of ideas for employing the instruments of national power in a synchronized and integrated fashion to achieve national or multinational objectives." Military strategy provides the rationale for military operations. Field Marshal Viscount Alan Brooke , Chief of

1220-569: A high- velocity jet of metal flowing like a liquid due to the immense pressure (though x-ray diffraction has shown the metal stays solid ) which hydrodynamically penetrates the armor and kills occupants inside. The depth of the penetration, though proportional to the length of the jet and the square root of its density , is also dependent on the strength of the armor. With the development of this new ammunition begun more advanced research into steel manufacturing , and development of spaced armor that caused "jet waver" by detonating prematurely or at

1342-763: A higher velocity L.45 Model 1935 while also making a licensed copy of the German 3.7 cm PaK 36 . However, the Red Army was almost immediately taught a lesson about anti-tank warfare when a tank battalion sent to aid the Spanish Republicans in the Spanish Civil War was almost entirely destroyed in an engagement . At this time, the predominant ammunition used against tanks was the armor-piercing kinetic energy shell that defeated armor by direct pressure , spiking or punching through it. During

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1464-454: A lesser but important extent civilian leaders , about what is and is not militarily possible and necessary. Factors to consider include: Chinese military doctrine is influenced by a number of sources including an indigenous classical military tradition characterized by strategists such as Sun Tzu and modern strategists such as Mao Zedong , along with Western and Soviet influences. One distinctive characteristic of Chinese military science

1586-467: A near miss from field artillery or an impact from a mortar could easily disable or destroy the tank: if the fuel tank was ruptured, it could incinerate the tank's crew. A large caliber gun was recognized as a tactical necessity to attack machine gun positions and defeat any infantry field pieces found in the trench lines which could easily disable tank track with the HE ammunition. This was achieved by mounting

1708-460: A pioneering example of taking on heavy enemy armor from a lightweight slow-flying aircraft. Field artillery were often the first ground combat arm to engage detected concentration of troops which included tanks through artillery airborne observers, either in assembly areas (for refueling and rearming), during approach marches to the combat zone, or as the tank unit was forming up for the attack. Conventional artillery shells were very effective against

1830-539: A presumed nuclear weapons arsenal . It tries to overcome its quantitative disadvantage by staying qualitatively superior. Its doctrine is based on a strategy of defense but is operationally offensive, by pre-empting enemy threats and securing a quick, decisive victory if deterrence fails. Israel maintains a heightened state of readiness, advanced early warning systems, and a robust military intelligence capability to ensure attackers cannot take advantage of Israel's lack of strategic depth. Early warning and speedy victory

1952-494: A recoil that was unsustainable by the mechanism or the rifleman. Stick grenades were used to destroy the tracks by individual pioneers, however this required accompanying machine-gunners to first separate the supporting Allied infantry line from the tanks, which proved difficult. Another tactic was to lure the tank beyond the German trench-line, re-establishing it just as the Allied infantry approached. The tank would then be engaged by

2074-587: A surprise attack and delay any attack while the French Army was mobilized. With the relative numerical inferiority between the France and Germany, it was a more effective use of manpower. Within the line, passive anti-tank obstacles were supported by anti-infantry and anti-tank bunkers. After Belgium declared neutrality in 1936, France began work on extending the line along the Belgian border. Improved artillery

2196-438: A time, date, and location of its choosing on terms of its choosing and the extensive preparation of the battlespace for operations. Former Soviet/Russian doctrine sacrifices tactical flexibility and adaptability for strategic and operational flexibility and adaptability; tactical personnel are trained as relatively inflexible executors of specific, detailed orders, while the operational-strategic level of Russian military doctrine

2318-485: A weapon lightweight and portable enough for infantry use. Regular fragmentation grenades were ineffective against tanks, so many kinds of anti-tank grenades were developed. These ranged from hollow charge designs (e.g., the British No. 68 AT Grenade ), to ones that simply contained a lot of explosive (the British No. 73 Grenade ). To increase their effectiveness, some grenades were designed so that they adhered to

2440-578: Is also desired because the Israel Defense Forces rely heavily on reservists during major wars; lengthy mobilization of reservists is costly to the Israeli economy. Israeli doctrine is constructed with the assumption that Israel would be largely self-sufficient in its war-fighting, without nearby allies to assist. Israel's emphasis on operational offense was espoused by its first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion , as early as 1948 (during

2562-444: Is claimed to be insensitive to wind due to its propulsion system, which results in a highly accurate weapon system. The warhead can be used in both high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) and high explosive squash head (HESH) modes against armour, walls, or other fortifications respectively. Modes are selected by adjusting a probe (most likely a fuse extender): extending it for HEAT mode and leaving it retracted for HESH mode. Similar to

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2684-850: Is descriptive rather than prescriptive, requiring judgement in application. It does not establish dogma or provide a checklist of procedures, but is rather an authoritative guide, describing how the army thinks about fighting, not how to fight. As such it attempts to be definitive enough to guide military activity, yet versatile enough to accommodate a wide variety of situations. A U.S. Air Force Air University staff study in 1948 defined military doctrine functionally as "those concepts, principles, policies, tactics, techniques, practices, and procedures which are essential to efficiency in organizing, training, equipping, and employing its tactical and service units". A U.S. Army essay written in 2016 similarly defined military doctrine as "consist[ing] of tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs)". In 2005 Gary Sheffield of

2806-450: Is supposed to be capable of defeating the armour of most known armoured personnel carriers and light tanks in the world. The dual-capability warhead, when acting in the delay mode, creates an opening greater than 450 mm (18 in) in diameter in a double brick wall, and acts as an anti-personnel weapon against those behind the wall, offering an unconventional means of entry when fighting in built-up areas . The MATADOR's projectile

2928-486: Is that it places emphasis on the relationship between the military and society and views military force as merely one part of an overarching grand strategy . According to French newspaper Le Monde , the Chinese nuclear doctrine is to maintain a nuclear force allowing it to deter and respond to a nuclear attack. However, new evolutions show that China could allow use of its nuclear arsenal in more situations. Following

3050-519: Is the duty of the commander to do his best to overcome them. Auftragstaktik encourages commanders to exhibit initiative, flexibility and improvisation while in command. The current combat doctrine of the Indian Army is based on the effective combined utilization of holding formations and strike formations. In the case of an attack, the holding formations would contain the enemy and strike formations would counter-attack to neutralize enemy forces. In

3172-911: Is the expression of how military forces contribute to campaigns , major operations , battles , and engagements . A military doctrine outlines what military means should be used, how forces should be structured, where forces should be deployed, and the modes of cooperation between types of forces. "Joint doctrine" refers to the doctrines shared and aligned by multinational forces or joint service operations. There are three broad categories of military doctrines: (1) Offensive doctrines aim to punish an adversary, (2) Defensive doctrines aim to deny an adversary, and (3) Deterrent doctrines aim to disarm an adversary. Different military doctrines have different implications for world politics. For example, offensive doctrines tend to lead to arms races and conflicts. NATO 's definition of doctrine, used unaltered by many member nations, is: Fundamental principles by which

3294-437: Is the preparation of India's forces to be able to quickly mobilize and take offensive actions without crossing the enemy's nuclear-use threshold. A leaked US diplomatic cable disclosed that it was intended to be taken off the shelf and implemented within a 72-hour period during a crisis. Israel's military doctrine is formed by its small size and lack of strategic depth . To compensate, it relies on deterrence , including through

3416-607: Is where most innovation takes place. The Soviet response to problems of nuclear strategy began with classified publications. However, by 1962, with the publication in the Marshal of the Soviet Union Vasily Sokolovsky 's volume, Military Strategy , the Soviets laid out their officially endorsed thoughts on the matter, and their ideas on how to cope with nuclear conflict. In the 2000s and early 2010s,

3538-482: The 1948 Arab–Israeli war ): If [the Arabs] attack us as they did this time, we shall transfer the war to the gates of their country. ... We do not intend to conduct ... a static defensive war at the venue where we were attacked. If they attack us again, in the future, we want the war to be waged not in our country, but in the enemy's country, and we want to be not on the defensive but on the attack. Yitzhak Rabin , who

3660-444: The 1⁄4-ton, 4×4 'jeep' ), French 25 mm and 47 mm guns, British QF 2-pounder (40 mm) , Italian 47 mm and Soviet 45 mm . All of these light weapons could penetrate the thin armor found on most pre-war and early war tanks. 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. After

3782-464: The Armbrust , the counter-mass counteracts the recoil of the weapon upon firing. The counter-mass consists of shredded plastic, which is launched out of the rear of the weapon when it is fired. This plastic is rapidly slowed by air resistance, allowing the weapon to be fired safely within an enclosed space. In addition, the positioning of the counter-mass takes into consideration the centre of gravity of

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3904-583: The Cold War of 1947-1991, the United States, Soviet Union and other countries contemplated the possibility of nuclear warfare. While previous technology had developed to protect the crews of armored vehicles from projectiles and from explosive damage, now the danger of radiation arose. In the NATO countries, little if any development took place on defining a doctrine of how to use armed forces without

4026-481: The Geballte Ladung ("Bundled Charge") of several stick grenades bound together by pioneers ; early attempts at the small-caliber anti-tank rifles like the bolt-action 13 mm Mauser 1918 T-Gewehr ; 3.7 cm TaK Rheinmetall in starrer Räder-lafette 1916 anti-tank gun on a light carriage which could destroy a tank using large-caliber armor-piercing ammunition issued in 1917 to special commands; and

4148-544: The Moderate Party –led governments transformed the Swedish Armed Forces from a Cold War posture of defence to one of participation in international operations. The assumption was that Sweden's homeland would face minimal external threats. Supreme Commander Sverker Göranson estimates that as of 2014, Swedish forces could resist a limited enemy attack for only one week. The annexation of Crimea by

4270-551: The North African Campaign . Its experience therefore failed to influence the US Army's anti-tank doctrine prior to 1944. From 1941, German anti-tank tactics developed rapidly as a result of being surprised by the previously unknown Soviet tank designs, forcing introduction of new technologies and new tactics. The Red Army was also faced with a new challenge in anti-tank warfare after losing most of its tank fleet and

4392-581: The Spanish Civil War , as did the Bofors 37 mm developed in Sweden, and used by many early Second World War combatants. The British Army accepted for service the (40 mm) Ordnance QF 2 pounder , which was developed as a tank gun . The Soviet Red Army after the Russian Civil War also begun a search for an anti-tank gun with a French Hotchkiss 37 mm L.33 tank gun, but soon upgraded this to

4514-668: The War Department in " Field Service Regulations ". In addition, many officers wrote military manuals that were printed by private publishers, such as Hardee's Tactics, used by both Confederate and Union forces. General George B. McClellan wrote a cavalry manual, Regulations and Instructions for the Field Service of the U.S. Cavalry, in 1862. The General Staff became responsible for writing Field Service Regulations. They were published in 1908, were revised in 1913 and again in 1914 based on experiences of European powers in

4636-564: The War Office in 1909, 1917, 1923, 1930, and 1935. Similar publications under various names were subsequently published. Formal British Military Doctrine was first published in 1988 and in 1996 became British Defence Doctrine applicable throughout the armed forces. The development of military doctrine in France came about in the aftermath of the nation's defeat during the Franco-Prussian war . The École supérieure de guerre , under

4758-511: The Wehrmacht officers, and the anti-tank guns were incorporated into a system of obstacles that were constructed with the intent to stop an attack by tanks by slowing it down, separating them from supporting infantry (advancing on foot) with machine-gun and mortar fire, and forcing tanks to conduct deliberate head-on assaults with engineer support, or seek a less-defended area to attack. Minefields laid with purpose-designed mines were used for

4880-533: The Winter War , early tanks (such as the T-26 ) being very vulnerable to them, but later tanks required a well-thrown bottle directly over the engine compartment to have any effect at all. On the whole, thrown anti-tank weapons suffered from a variety of drawbacks. In addition to the inherently short range, they required careful aim to be effective, and those that relied on explosive force were often so powerful that

5002-419: The infantry tactics with which the tanks were intended to cooperate. However, there was no means of communication between the tank's crew and the accompanying infantry, or between the tanks participating in combat. Radios were not yet portable or robust enough to be mounted in a tank, although Morse Code transmitters were installed in some Mark IVs at Cambrai as messaging vehicles. Attaching a field telephone to

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5124-546: The lift struts , against German armored fighting vehicles. During the summer of 1944, U.S. Army Major Charles Carpenter managed to successfully take on an anti-armor role with his rocket-armed Piper L-4. His L-4, named Rosie the Rocketeer , armed with six bazookas, had a notable anti-armor success during an engagement during the Battle of Arracourt on September 20, 1944, knocking out at least four German armored vehicles, as

5246-409: The offensive —to carry the war to the enemy's land. IDF command has been decentralized since the early days of the state, with junior commanders receiving broad authority within the context of mission-type orders . Israeli junior officer training has emphasized the need to make quick decisions in battle to prepare them appropriately for maneuver warfare . The Soviet meaning of military doctrine

5368-651: The 17th June, 1870 . The doctrine was revised in 1887 and published in English in 1893 as The Order of Field Service of the German Army , by Karl Kaltenborn und Stachau, and once again in 1908 as Felddienst Ordnung ("Field Service Regulations"). Soviet doctrine was greatly influenced by M. V. Frunze . In the period between the Napoleonic Wars and the First World War , doctrine was defined by

5490-597: The 1980s. The MATADOR was developed jointly by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA), in collaboration with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Dynamit Nobel Defence (DND) joint team. The MATADOR is among the lightest in its class. The warhead is effective against both vehicle armour and brick walls. The weapon has little back-blast, making it safe for operation in confined spaces. The MATADOR

5612-439: The Allied infantry would follow and secure the breach, and the cavalry would exploit the breach in the trench lines by attacking into the depth of German-held territory, eventually capturing the field artillery positions and interdicting logistics and reserves being brought up from the rear areas. Naval crews initially used to operate the installed naval guns and machine guns were replaced with Army personnel who were more aware of

5734-692: The British Army had abandoned them by 1942 and the Wehrmacht by 1943, while the US Army never adopted the weapon, although the USMC used Boys anti-tank rifles in the Pacific Theater. However, the anti-tank rifle remained in Soviet use during the conflict due to the importance it occupied in its doctrine of anti-tank in-depth defense, first demonstrated during the defense of Moscow and again during

5856-715: The Defence Studies Department of King's College London / JSCSC quoted J F C Fuller 's 1923 definition of doctrine as the "central idea of an army". In 1965 the Soviet Dictionary of Basic Military Terms defined military doctrine as "a state's officially accepted system of scientifically founded views on the nature of modern wars and the use of the armed forces in them. ... Military doctrine has two aspects: social-political and military-technical." The social-political side "encompasses all questions concerning methodology, economic, and social bases,

5978-734: The Finnish Lahti L-39 (which was also used as a sniper rifle during the Continuation War ), the automatic Japanese Type 97 20 mm anti-tank rifle , the German Panzerbüchse 38 , Panzerbüchse 39 , the Polish wz.35 and the Soviet 14.5 mm PTRD and PTRS-41 . By 1943, most armies judged anti-tank rifles to lack combat effectiveness due to the diminished ability to penetrate the thicker armor of new tanks –

6100-589: The First World War was that now an effective anti-tank weapon was available to support the defending infantry. However, the Soviet tanks armed with 45 mm guns easily destroyed the German light tanks. Ironically, in the early 1930s until the Spanish War, German officers were conducting secret testing of a new way of employing tanks, infantry and artillery offensively in the Soviet Union with

6222-662: The General Staff (1985–89) General Sir Nigel Bagnall directed that British Military Doctrine was to be prepared, and tasked Colonel (later General) Timothy Granville-Chapman (an artillery officer who had been his Military Assistant in Headquarters 1st British Corps) to prepare it. The first edition of British Military Doctrine (BMD) was published in 1988. It led to the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force developing their own maritime and air-power doctrines. However, in 1996

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6344-610: The Imperial General Staff and co-chairman of the Anglo-US Combined Chiefs of Staff Committee for most of the Second World War, described the art of military strategy as: "to derive from the [policy] aim a series of military objectives to be achieved: to assess these objectives as to the military requirements they create, and the pre-conditions which the achievement of each is likely to necessitate: to measure available and potential resources against

6466-459: The Kursk battles. This became particularly true later in the war when the Red Army assumed an almost constant offensive, and anti-tank in-depth defensive deployments were used for protecting flanks of the operational breakthroughs against German tactical counterattacks. By firing on the lighter armored infantry and support vehicles (e.g. artillery tractors ) the anti-tank rifle units helped to separate

6588-588: The M36 tank destroyer continued in service, and was used in combat as late as the Korean War . The third, and likely most effective kind of tank destroyer was the unturreted, casemate -style tank destroyer, known by the Jagdpanzer term in German service, or Samokhodnaya Ustanovka in Soviet service for their own designs. These generally featured a heavy gun mounted on an older or then-current tank chassis, with

6710-519: The Officer Corps , claiming many of the senior proponents of the new doctrine. Anti-tank artillery would be included in mobile tank-led Wehrmacht and Red Army units due to the possibility of encountering enemy tanks in a meeting engagement . The new doctrines of using the tank, were divided into infantry and cavalry schools of thought . The former regarded the tank as a mobile artillery system to be used for infantry support. This suggested that

6832-561: The PTRS-41, the weapons proved too inaccurate at sniping distances (800 m or more), and the recoil too much for effective use of the scopes. The development of light, man-portable, anti-tank weapons increased during the Second World War. Most were based on the Munroe effect which led to the development of the high-explosive shaped charge . These weapons were called high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT). The destructive effect relies fully on

6954-871: The RAF mounted two underwing pod-mounted 40 mm Vickers S cannon on the Hawker Hurricane (as the Mk. IID ), which saw service in North Africa in 1942 and the Hawker Typhoon was given HE rockets though these were more effective against other ground vehicles. From March 1943 the Red Army Air Force produced the more agile Yakovlev Yak-9 T (37 mm cannon) and K (45 mm cannon) bomber interceptor also used for ground attack, with one example of either gun in motornaya pushka mounts attached to

7076-543: The Red Army Air Force fielded the Soviet Ilyushin Il-2 armed with a pair of 23 mm cannons and unguided rockets, but armored to enable the pilots to approach German tanks at very low altitude, ignoring small arms, machine-gun and even small anti-aircraft cannon fire that usually provided tanks with protection against the bombers. Il-2s could also carry large numbers of 2.5 kg shaped-charge anti-tank PTAB bombs. To give it more firepower against tanks,

7198-597: The Russian Federation and the subsequent Russian invasion of Ukraine has stirred debate within Sweden that a return to significant defensive forces and a closer alliance with NATO is necessary in the wake of Russia's actions in Ukraine. For some 280 years the British Army did not have a formal 'Military Doctrine', although a huge number of publications dealing with tactics, operations and administration had been produced. However, during his tenure as Chief of

7320-411: The Soviet point of view, Westerners ignored the political side. However, the political side of Soviet military doctrine, Western commentators Harriet F Scott and William Scott said, "best explained Soviet moves in the international arena". Soviet (and contemporary Russian) doctrine emphasizes combined-arms warfare as well as operational warfare. It emphasizes the initiation of military hostilities at

7442-461: The West. The British were preparing the stop lines and the anti-tank islands to slow enemy progress and restrict the route of an attack. The Red Army however was fortunate in having several excellent designs for anti-tank warfare that were either in final stages of development for production, or had been rejected earlier as unnecessary and could now be rushed into production. The relative ease with which

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7564-870: The Western Front in September 1916, was a surprise to German troops, but not the German General Staff . The French Army Staff was highly critical of the British Army's early fielding of the Mark I vehicles in small numbers because the French trials showed the armored vehicles to be highly unreliable. They judged that large numbers had to be employed to sustain an offensive despite losses to mechanical failure or vehicles foundering in intractable no man's land terrain. These losses, coupled with those from enemy artillery fire, later amounted to as high as 70% of

7686-507: The advantage of a reduced silhouette, allowing the crew to more frequently fire from defilade ambush positions. Such designs were easier and faster to manufacture and offered good crew protection, though the lack of a turret limited the gun's traverse to a few degrees. This meant that, if the TD became immobilized due to engine failure or track damage, it could not rotate its gun to counter opposing tanks, making it an easy target. This vulnerability

7808-411: The air. One solution adopted by almost all European air forces was to use bomb loads for conventional bombers that were composed from small bombs allowing a higher density during bombing. This created a greater chance of causing a direct impact on the thinner top armor of the tank while also having the ability to damage track and wheels through proximity detonation. The first aircraft able to engage tanks

7930-773: The anti-tank role. By the time of the Invasion of Normandy , the British had the 3 in (76 mm) calibre QF 17 pounder , which design had begun before the 6 pounder entered service, in general use which proved to be a highly effective anti-tank gun and was also used on the Sherman Firefly tank, the Archer self-propelled gun , and on the 17-pdr SP Achilles As towed anti-tank cannon guns grew in size and weight, they became less mobile and more cumbersome to maneuver, and required ever larger gun crews, who often had to wrestle

8052-412: The battlefields of the Western Front of the First World War. The tank had been developed to negate the German system of trenches , and allow a return to maneuver against enemy's flanks and to attack the rear with cavalry . The use of the tank was mainly based on the assumption that, once they were able to eliminate the German trench lines with their machine gun and infantry support gun positions,

8174-464: The blocks having the manufacturing letters recessed (vs. raised) cut an imprint of the manufacturing letters into the armor plate—the birth of the shaped-charged explosive which focuses the blast energy caused by an indentation on the surface area of an explosive. Although shaped charges are somewhat more difficult to manufacture, the advantage is that the projectile does not require as high velocity as typical kinetic energy shells, yet on impact it creates

8296-658: The case of an Indian attack, the holding formations would pin enemy forces down whilst the strike formations attack at a point of Indian choosing. India's nuclear doctrine follows the policy of credible minimum deterrence , No first strike , No use of nuclear weapons on Non-nuclear states and Massive nuclear retaliation in case deterrence fails. India has recently adopted a new war doctrine known as " Cold Start " and its military has conducted exercises several times since then based on this doctrine. "Cold Start" involves joint operations between India's three services and integrated battle groups for offensive operations. A key component

8418-405: The concept of Auftragstaktik (Mission-type tactics), which can be seen as a doctrine within which formal rules can be selectively suspended in order to overcome "friction". Carl von Clausewitz stated that "Everything in war is very simple but the simplest thing is difficult". Problems will occur with misplaced communications, troops going to the wrong location, delays caused by weather, etc., and it

8540-401: The cooperation of the Red Army. In Germany, these developments eventually culminated in tactics that later came to be known as Blitzkrieg , while in the Soviet Union they formed the core of the deep battle operational doctrine. The successful test of the latter was during the Battles of Khalkhin Gol although the Red Army foundered on the Mannerheim Line in 1940, largely due to the purge in

8662-409: The defeat of the French Army in the Franco-Prussian War , the French military, as part of its movements to increase professionalism, emphasized officer training at the École de Guerre . Ferdinand Foch , as an instructor, argued against the concept of a commander moving units without informing subordinates of his intentions. In doing so, a common doctrine served as a point of training. We have then,

8784-576: The direction of its commandant, Ferdinand Foch , began developing a consistent doctrine for handling armies, corps, and divisions. Foch's 1906 work, Des principes de la guerre (translated by Hilaire Belloc as The Principles of War ) expressed this doctrine. Prussian doctrine was published as Regulations for the Instruction of the Troops in Field Service and the Exercises of the larger Units of

8906-419: The divisional 7.7 cm guns brought forward, that would try to disable the tracks with ordinary HE shells (and later AP ammunition). If the crews of the disabled tanks refused to surrender, they were engaged with flamethrowers, or a mortar would be fired on the stricken vehicle until a direct hit was achieved on the top surface, usually resulting in an internal fire. Finally, anti-tank obstacles were prepared on

9028-577: The engine's gear reduction unit, that had either one of them firing through a hollow-center propeller shaft. Following Operation Overlord in 1944, the military version of the slow-flying Piper J-3 Cub high-wing light civilian monoplane, the L-4 Grasshopper, usually used for liaison and artillery-spotting, began to be used in a light anti-armor role by a few U.S. Army artillery spotter units over France; these aircraft were field-outfitted with either two or four bazooka rocket launchers attached to

9150-499: The existing 77 mm field guns (such as the 7.7 cm FK 16 ) of the infantry division's artillery regiment were also eventually issued with special armor-piercing (AP) ammunition. With the appearance of Allied tanks, the German Army were quick to introduce new anti-tank defense detachments within the pioneer battalions of the infantry divisions. These were initially issued 13 mm caliber long barrel rifles firing solid shot. However, these suffered from fouling after 2–3 rounds and had

9272-508: The first months of the war. As late as 1941 U.S. Army doctrine was published in Field Service Regulations ;– Operations . This designation was dropped and replaced by U.S. Army Field Manuals (FM) . Military doctrine is a key component of grand strategy. NATO's definition of strategy is "presenting the manner in which military power should be developed and applied to achieve national objectives or those of

9394-463: The first time, destroying tank tracks, and forcing combat engineers to clear them on foot. Delay meant that Nationalist field artillery could engage the lightly armored Soviet tanks . This meant a change in Republican operational and eventually strategic planning, and a more protracted combat operations, with more casualties at a greater cost. The only change to the German anti-tank tactics of

9516-622: The form of top-attack shells , and shells that were used to saturate areas with anti-armor bomblets . Helicopters could be used as well to rapidly deliver scattered anti-tank mines. Since the end of the Cold War in 1992, new threats to tanks and other armored vehicles have included remotely detonated improvised explosive devices (IEDs) used in asymmetric warfare and weapon systems like the RPG-29 and FGM-148 Javelin , which can defeat reactive armor or shell armor. Both those weapon systems use

9638-408: The gun into position while under heavy artillery and/or tank fire. As the war progressed, this disadvantage often resulted in the loss or destruction of both the antitank gun and its trained crew. This gave impetus to the development of the self-propelled, lightly armored " tank destroyer " (TD). The tank destroyer was usually based on the hull of existing tank designs, using either a gun integrated into

9760-435: The gun pointing forward with a limited degree of traverse. Casemate tank destroyers often had the same amount of armour as the tanks they were based on. The removal of the turret allowed for greater room to mount a larger gun with a larger breech and leave room for crew. Many casemate tank destroyers either originated as, or were dual-purpose vehicles with the duty of a self-propelled gun, which share many (but usually not all) of

9882-721: The hull or a fully rotating turret much like that of a conventional tank. These self-propelled (SP) AT guns were first employed as infantry support weapons in place of towed antitank guns. Later, due to a shortage of tanks, TDs sometimes replaced the former in offensive armored operations. Early German-designed tank destroyers, such as the Marder I , employed existing light French or Czech design tank chassis, installing an AT gun as part of an armored, turret-less superstructure. This method reduced both weight and conversion costs. The Soviet Union later adopted this style of self-propelled anti-tank gun or tank destroyer. This type of tank destroyer had

10004-421: The infantry needed to be armed with integral anti-tank weapons. The latter advocated use of tanks in the traditional cavalry way of high-tempo attacks intended to outflank the enemy infantry and sever its communication lines. This approach suggested that the tank was the best anti-tank system, and only limited anti-tank troops were required to accompany them. For this reason the late 30s tank configurations came in

10126-487: The kinetic energy of the explosion rather than the ballistic speed of the round on the damage inflicted to the armor. The effect was also concentrated and could penetrate more armor for a given amount of explosives. The first HEAT rounds were rifle grenades, but better delivery systems were soon introduced: the British PIAT was propelled in a manner similar to the spigot mortar with a blackpowder charge contained in

10248-423: The late 1930s shaped charge ammunition was experimented with that used chemical energy for armor penetration. The shaped charge concept is officially known as the "Munroe Effect" and was discovered by accident decades earlier by Professor Charles E. Munroe at the U.S. Torpedo Station, Providence, RI. Professor Munroe was detonating different manufactured blocks of explosives on a sheet of armor plating and observed

10370-464: The likely approaches by deepening and widening existing ground cratering, the precursors of the anti-tank trench . Finally in early 1917 the 3.7 cm TaK from Rheinmetall was rushed to the frontline, and proved effective in destroying the tanks despite limited elevation and traverse. Lack of consensus on the design and use of the tank after the First World War also influenced the development of its anti-tank countermeasures. However, because Germany

10492-838: The longer term. Because tanks were usually accompanied by infantry mounted on trucks or half-tracked vehicles that lacked overhead armor, field artillery that fired a mix of ground and air-burst ammunition was likely to inflict heavy casualties on the infantry as well. Field guns, such as the Ordnance QF 25 pounder , were provided with armor-piercing shot for direct engagement of enemy tanks. Anti-tank guns are guns designed to destroy armored vehicles from defensive positions. In order to penetrate vehicle armor, they fire smaller caliber shells from longer-barreled guns to achieve higher muzzle velocity than field artillery weapons, many of which are howitzers . The higher velocity, flatter trajectory ballistics provide terminal kinetic energy to penetrate

10614-502: The military forces guide their actions in support of objectives. It is authoritative but requires judgement in application. In 1998 the Canadian Army stated: Military doctrine is a formal expression of military knowledge and thought, that the army accepts as being relevant at a given time, which covers the nature of conflict, the preparation of the army for conflict, and the method of engaging in conflict to achieve success ... it

10736-627: The morale of the infantry by providing a weapon that could actually defeat a tank. Anti-tank rifles were developed in several countries during the 1930s. By the beginning of WW2, anti-tank rifle teams could knock out most tanks from a distance of about 500 m, and do so with a weapon that was man-portable and easily concealed. Although the AT rifle performance was negated by the increased armor of medium and heavy tanks by 1942, they remained viable against lighter-armored and unarmored vehicles, and against field fortification embrasures. Notable examples include

10858-554: The moving/static target's armor at a given range and contact's angle. Any field artillery cannon with barrel length 15 to 25 times longer than its caliber was able also to fire anti-tank ammunition, such as the Soviet A-19 . Prior to World War II , few anti-tank guns had (or needed) calibers larger than 50 mm. Examples of guns in this class include the German 37 mm , US 37 mm (the largest gun able to be towed by

10980-617: The older models of Red Army's tank fleet were destroyed by German anti-tank weapons, using tactics already seen in Spain, once and for all focused Stavka attention on anti-tank warfare as Soviet armies were repeatedly encircled by panzer-led strategic pincer maneuvers. Of the major iconic Soviet weapons of the Second World War, two were made exclusively for anti-tank warfare, the T-34 and the Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik . The former

11102-497: The opportunity to even reach combat. Field artillery was particularly effective in firing against tank formations because although they were rarely able to destroy a tank by direct penetration, they would severely crater the area preventing the tanks from moving therefore causing them to become nearly stationary targets for the ground attack aircraft, or disrupting the enemy schedule and allowing own troops more time to prepare their defense. Military doctrine Military doctrine

11224-408: The period, but given sufficient warning ground attack aircraft could support ground troops even during an enemy attack in an attempt to interdict the enemy units before they come into tactical combat zone. Various bomb loads can be used depending on what type of tank unit is engaged in at the time or who its accompanying troops are. This is an indirect form of anti-tank warfare where the tanks are denied

11346-508: The political goals of war. It is the defining and the more stable side." The other side, the military-technical, must accord with the political goals. It includes the "creation of military structure, technical equipping of the armed forces, their training, definition of forms and means of conducting operations and war as a whole". Before the development of separate doctrinal publications, many nations expressed their military philosophy through regulations. Field Service Regulations were issued by

11468-548: The rear would become a practice only during the next war. With greater use of tanks by both sides it was realized that the accompanying infantry could be forced to ground by ambush fire, thus separating them from the tanks, which would continue to advance, eventually finding themselves exposed to close-assaults by German infantry and sappers . The early tanks were mechanically rudimentary. The 6-to-12-millimetre (0.24 to 0.47 in) thick armor generally prevented penetration by small arms fire and shell fragments . However, even

11590-418: The requirements and to chart from this process a coherent pattern of priorities and a rational course of action." Instead, doctrine seeks to provide a common conceptual framework for a military service: In the same way, doctrine is neither operations nor tactics. It serves as a conceptual framework uniting all three levels of warfare. Doctrine reflects the judgments of professional military officers, and to

11712-489: The same features and layout. Some examples are the German Sturmgeschütz III – the most-produced German armored fighting vehicle of WW II — and the Soviets' SU-100 , itself based on the T-34 tank 's hull and drivetrain. Anti-tank rifles were introduced in some armies before the Second World War to provide infantry with a stand-off weapon when confronted with a tank assault. The intention was to preserve

11834-718: The standard M4 Sherman tanks, but with more powerful cannon. A 76 mm long-barrel tank cannon was fitted to the Sherman-based M10 GMC and all-new design M18 designs, with the M18 being the fastest-moving American AFV of any type in World War II. Late in 1944, the Sherman-origin M36 appeared, equipped with a 90 mm cannon. With rotating turrets and good combat maneuverability, American TD designs generally worked well, although their light armor

11956-485: The starters during some operations. Deploying small numbers of tanks would therefore cause the Allies to lose the element of surprise , allowing Germans to develop countermeasures. Because the German Army was the only force in need of anti-tank weapons, they were first to develop a viable technology to combat the armored vehicle. These technologies took three ammunition approaches: use of grenades by infantrymen, including

12078-429: The supporting infantry ( panzergrenadiers ) and artillery of the German tanks and so forced the tanks to halt at short distances from the concealed anti-tank guns leaving them exposed to fire from larger, longer ranged anti-tank guns. PTRS-41 semi-automatic anti-tank rifles were also used for sniping since an additional tracer round enabled rapid fire adjustment by the gunner. Although optical sniper scopes were tried with

12200-605: The tailfin assembly, the US bazooka and the German Panzerschreck used rockets, and the German Panzerfaust was a small recoilless gun . The HEAT warhead was retroactively used to give more power to smaller calibre weapons such as in the conversion of the otherwise limited German 37 mm PaK guns to fire a large shell, called Stielgranate 41 , that fitted over the barrel rather than down in it, to

12322-505: The tank – for instance 30 feet (9.1 meters) or less – it might be impossible for the tank crew to see the attacker. Anti-tank tactics developed rapidly during the war but along different paths in different armies based on the threats they faced and the technologies they were able to produce. Very little development took place in UK because weapons available in 1940 were judged adequate for engaging Italian and German tanks during most of

12444-696: The tank either through an adhesive ( sticky bomb ) or with a magnet. The Germans used a magnetic grenade, the Hafthohlladung to ensure that the shaped charge would fire at the optimal 90° angle to the armor. There was also a special type of grenade called the 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 in World War II . Molotov cocktails also saw much use, especially in

12566-477: The tank's thinner top armor if fired in appropriate density while the tanks were concentrated, enabling direct hits by a sufficiently powerful shell. Even a non-penetrating shell could still disable a tank through dynamic shock, internal armor shattering or simply overturning the tank. More importantly the tanks could be disabled due to damage to tracks and wheels, and their supporting vehicles and personnel could be damaged and killed, reducing unit's ability to fight in

12688-812: The traditionally defensive role used in the Great Patriotic War (1941–1945), becoming more mobile. This led to the development of improved guided anti-tank missiles , though similar design work progressed in Western Europe and the United States. Both sides in the Cold War also recognized the utility of light anti-tank weapons, and this led to further development of man-portable weapons for use by infantry squads, while heavier missiles were mounted on dedicated missile tank-destroyers , including dedicated anti-tank helicopters , and even heavier guided anti-tank missiles launched from aircraft . Designers also developed new varieties of artillery munitions in

12810-628: The use of tactical nuclear weapons . In the Soviet sphere of influence the legacy doctrine of operational maneuver was theoretically examined to understand how a tank-led force could be used even with the threat of limited use of nuclear weapons on prospective European battlefields. The Warsaw Pact arrived at the solution of maneuver warfare while massively increasing the number of anti-tank weapons. To achieve this, Soviet military theorists such as Vasily Sokolovsky (1897–1968) realized that anti-tank weapons had to assume an offensive role rather than

12932-413: The user had to take cover immediately. Additionally, with hand-thrown grenades, the requirement for the attacker to get close to the tank made the attacker exceptionally vulnerable to counter-attack from the tank (typically by machine gun), or from infantry – mounted or dismounted troops – accompanying the tank. However, if the attacker were very low to the ground, and in very close proximity to

13054-712: The war. By late 1942, the Germans had an excellent 50-mm high-velocity design , while they faced the QF 6-pounder introduced in the North African Campaign by the British Army, and later adopted by the US Army . By 1943 Wehrmacht was forced to adopt still larger calibers on the Eastern Front , the 75 mm and the famous 88 mm guns. The Red Army used a variety of 45 mm, 57 mm , and 100 mm guns, and deployed general-purpose 76.2 mm and 122-mm guns in

13176-428: The weapon to ensure good balance for better accuracy. Variants of the original HEAT/HESH (HH) weapon have been developed by Rafael and Dynamit Nobel Defence, designed primarily for anti-structure use by soldiers operating in dense urban environments. In December 2022 one was discharged by Polish police general commandant Jarosław Szymczyk inside his office at National Police Headquarters. In October 2024 this weapon

13298-437: The well-armoured Soviet T-34 medium and KV heavy tanks were encountered, these guns were recognized as ineffective against sloped armor , with the German lightweight 37 mm gun quickly nicknamed the "tank door knocker" ( German : Panzeranklopfgerät ), for revealing its presence without penetrating the armor. Germany introduced more powerful anti-tank guns, some which had been in the early stages of development prior to

13420-460: The wrong angle to the surface of the main armor. The only significant attempt to experiment in the use of tanks in the late 1920s was that of the British Army's Experimental Mechanized Force that influenced future development of tanks, armored troops and entire armies of both its future enemies and allies in the next war. In Spain, the anti-tank defense of the Nationalists was organized by

13542-597: Was Chief of the IDF Staff during the Six-Day War , offered a similar explanation for Israel's pre-emptive beginning to the war: The basic philosophy of Israel was not to initiate war, unless an act of war was carried out against us. We then lived within the lines prior to the Six-Day War, lines that gave no depth to Israel—and therefore, Israel was in a need, whenever there would be a war, to go immediately on

13664-568: Was attacked, its allies in the West were resigned to its defeat by a numerically superior Wehrmacht. The little information that was brought out about the conduct of combat during that campaign did nothing to convince either France, Britain or the USSR of the need for improved anti-tank technology and tactics. The reliance on the Maginot Line, and the subsequent surprise of the German offensive left no time to develop existing abilities and tactics in

13786-509: Was breached with tank support during the battles of Cambrai and St. Quentin Canal , although German Command was more impressed by the surprise achieved by the Canadian troops at the Battle of the Canal du Nord . This came to influence their planning in 1940. The Maginot line defenses – up to 25 km (16 mi) deep from the forward positions to the rear line – were intended to prevent

13908-467: Was considered to be the Maginot Line which replaced infantry-filled trenches with artillery-filled bunkers , including casemates housing 37 or 47 mm anti-tank guns, and steel turrets armed with a pair of machine guns and a 25 mm anti-tank gun, although Germany was forbidden to produce tanks. The construction was partially based on the Allied experience with the Hindenburg Line which

14030-415: Was later exploited by opposing tank forces. Late in the war, it was not unusual to find even the largest and most powerful tank destroyer abandoned on the field after a battle, having been immobilized by one high-explosive shell to the track or front drive sprocket. US Army pre-war infantry support doctrines emphasized the use of tank destroyers with open-top fully rotating turrets, featuring less armor than

14152-493: Was no match for enemy tank cannon fire during one on one confrontations. Another disadvantage proved to be the open, unprotected turret, and casualties from artillery fire soon led to the introduction of folding armor turret covers. Near the war's end, a change in official doctrine caused both the self-propelled tank destroyer and the towed antitank gun to fall from favor in U.S. service, increasingly replaced by conventional tanks or infantry level antitank weapons. Despite this change,

14274-444: Was one of the most manufactured tanks in history, and the latter, itself dubbed the 'flying tank', was one of the most manufactured aircraft. The war also saw the creation and almost immediate abandonment of the self-propelled tank destroyer which would be replaced post war by the anti tank guided missile. As tanks were rarely used in conflicts between the two World Wars, no specific aircraft or tactics were developed to combat them from

14396-602: Was restricted by the Treaty of Versailles in its military capability, and there were no other challenges to France and Britain, very little development took place in anti-tank warfare until the 1930s. The Interwar period was dominated by the strategic thinking with fortified borders at its core. These included obstacles consisting of natural features such as ditches , streams and urban areas , or constructed obstacles such as anti-tank ditches, minefields , dragon's teeth , or log barriers. The pinnacle of this strategic thinking

14518-500: Was seen as the quickest solution to anti-tank defense, and one of the earliest post-war anti-tank gun designs was the 25 mm Hotchkiss model from France. It was intended to replace an Atelier de Puteaux 37 mm weapon designed in 1916 to destroy machine gun positions. Rheinmetall commenced design of a 37 mm anti-tank gun in 1924 and the first guns were produced in 1928 as 3.7 cm Pak L/45, later adopted in Wehrmacht service as 3.7 cm Pak 36 . It made an appearance during

14640-569: Was the Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka" using dive bombing to place the bomb close to the target. Some French and German fighters fitted with 20 mm cannon were also able to engage thinner top armor surfaces of the tanks early in the war. The Stuka was also given cannons for anti-armor role though it was obsolete by 1942, and was joined by the Henschel Hs 129 that mounted a podded 30 mm (1.2 in) MK 101 cannon beneath its fuselage, while

14762-928: Was used to kill Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Tal al-Sultan, an area of Rafah within the Gaza Strip . Anti-armor Anti-tank warfare evolved rapidly during World War II , leading to infantry-portable weapons such as the bazooka , anti-tank combat engineering , specialized anti-tank aircraft and self-propelled anti-tank guns ( tank destroyers ). Both the Soviet Red Army and the German Army developed methods of combating tank-led offensives, including deployment of static anti-tank weapons embedded in in-depth defensive positions, protected by anti-tank obstacles and minefields , and supported by mobile anti-tank reserves and by ground-attack aircraft. Through

14884-435: Was very different from U.S. military usage of the term. Soviet Minister of Defence Marshal Andrei Grechko defined it in 1975 as "a system of views on the nature of war and methods of waging it, and on the preparation of the country and army for war, officially adopted in a given state and its armed forces". In Soviet times, theorists emphasised both the political and "military-technical" sides of military doctrine, while from

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