Tank Warfare: A History of Tanks in Battle

294 Pages·1972·47.628 MB·English

by  Kenneth Macksey

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TANK WARFARE
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
Shadow of Vimy Ridge
Armoured Crusader (Biography of Major-General Sir Percy Hobart)
Crucible of Power—The Fight for Tunisia
Tank—A History of the Armoured Fighting Vehicles (with John
Batchelor)
KENNETH MACKSEY
Tank
Warfare
A HISTORY OF TANKS
IN BATTLE
STEIN AND DAY/Publishers; New York
First published in the United States of America by
Stein and Day/Publishers 1972
©
Copyright 1971 by Kenneth Macksey
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 77-185954
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Stein and Day/Publishers!7 East 48 Street, New York, N.Y. 10017
ISBN 0-8128-1449-5
'Blighters' by Siegfried Sassoon is reprinted by
kind permission of G. T. Sassoon
DEFINITION
Strictly speaking, there has been only one tank ever, and that
was the rhomboidal shaped, caterpillar-tracked machine which
first went into action on 15 September 1916. Since then the
shape has changed although the name has not. Caterpillar-
tracked machines, whether with their guns encased in rotating
turrets, buried in fixed mountings within the hull, or on open
platforms above the hull, have all at some time come to be
known as tanks though to be accurate they were, respectively,
main combat vehicles, armoured guns or self-propelled artil-
lery. Thus, even when the rabid proponents or critics of so-
called 'all-tank armies' used that phrase they usually had in
mind 'all-armoured mechanized armies' including in them, for
good measure, the unarmed but armoured infantry carrier.
In this book, for the same reason ofconvenience that has served
in the past, the noun 'tank' will sometimes be used in its looser
sense but the reader is asked to remember the clear distinc-
tions separating the various categories of armoured fighting
vehicles.

CONTENTS
List of Illustrations Page 13
List of Maps 15
Preface 17
1 OVERTURE IN THE MUD 21
Origins of the trench impasse.
PRELUDE TO BATTLE
2 25
General Staffs, technologists and the trench assault—
Winston Churchill and Samson's Guerrilla—early ideas—
Ernest Swinton's initiative—Churchill's response—the
merging of talents—Little and Big Willie—production,
tactics and organization—first combats—reaction by
friends and foes.
3 BATTLES IN INFANTRY STYLE 40
German defensive successes in 1917—Battle of Cambrai.
4 THE SEEDS OF CONVICTION 53
Building new tank forces—Germany's spring offensive—
tank versus tank—Hamel—Retz Forest—Moreuil
5 THE TANKS' OFFENSIVE 59
Amiens — Soissons — Albert — DQ Switch — St Mihiel —
Argonne — Niergnies — post-war evaluation.
6 A CLASH OF IDEAS 70
Fuller's Plan 1919—the French concept of tank employ-
ment in 1921 —infantry dominates the tank in the USA—
German outlook—Treaty of Locarno and the Disarmament
movement—the British medium tank and the Experimental
Mechanized Force—Fuller's eclipse—Liddell Hart as the
new advocate—the debate on the future of war—
American, French, Russian and German reactions—
Christie's tank.
7 FUGUES AND FEUDS IN THE THIRTIES 85
British development of the 1927 idea and the Germans
copy them—a dilemma for the infantry—French resolve to
stay as they are while the British evolve—the Disarmament
Conference—Russo-German cooperation and the growth
of their tank forces—Hitler's arrival and impact in 1933
—German tank doctrine.
CONTENTS
8 MISLEADING REHEARSALS 95
y
The Civil War in Spain-Russian, German and Italian set-
backs—retrograde effect of Russian and German reports—
tank battles in Manchuria in 1938 and 1939 -Zhukov's
use of tanks.
ON THE EVE OF THE GREAT TANK WAR
9 101
Economic factors affecting German preparations—German
and Polish tank strengths in 1939—British weakness—
French quality and indecision—the Russian enigma—
German considerations on the outbreak of war.
10 THE DESTRUCTION OF POLAND 108
German plans and execution—Guderian's tribulations in
the north—Rundstedt's envelopment in the centre—rebuff
at Warsaw—Battle of the Bzura—Polish collapse—assess-
ment of results.
11 THE SHATTERING OF ILLUSIONS 116
Plans to invade the Low Countries and France—tank
fighting at Gembloux and dispersion of French Cavalry
Corps—the blow through the Ardennes—destruction ofthe
French tank force—German methods explained—Battle of
Arras—Battle of Abbeville—collapse of France—German
and British afterthoughts.
12 AMERICA IN THE DOLDRUMS 129
Branch jealousies—the 1930 Mechanized Force—Mac-
Arthur's contribution—tanks and combat cars—Chaffee's
machinations—Herr's reaction—Marshall's initiative to
create an Armored Corps—the Louisiana Exercise—
formation of the Armored Force.
13 TANK VERSUS TANK IN THE DESERT 135
Skirmishes on the Egyptian frontier in 1940—Wavell's
offensive, December 1940—Battle of Beda Fomm.
14 MEDITERRANEAN DIGRESSIONS 143
Organizations of German, Russian, British and American
armoured divisions in 1941 —Hitler plans to invade Russia
—supporting campaigns in Yugoslavia and Greece—
Rommel in the desert—his riposte—Brevity—Battleaxe.
15 BATTLES AGAINST ODDS IN RUSSIA 152
The surprise attack in June 1941 —strategy and tactics of
the opening battles—Manstein's experience—the Russian
KV1 and T34 tanks—Russian failings—German break-
downs—the battle for Moscow—problems of winter war—
the changing balance of tank power.