Panzer Combat Reports

267 Pages·2011·6.28 MB·English

by  Carruthers

Hitler’s War Machine
panzer combat reports

Edited and Introduced by Bob Carruthers

This ebook edition published in Great Britain in 2011
by Coda Books Ltd, Unit 1, Cutlers Farm Business
Centre, Edstone, Wootton Wawen, Henley in Arden,
Warwickshire, B95 6DJ
www.codahistory.com
Copyright © 2011 Coda Books Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording,
or any information storage and retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publisher.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 908538 44 4
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
1. VULNERABLE SPOTS FOR INCENDIARY GRENADES ON
GERMAN TANKS
2. OBSOLETE GERMAN TANKS
3. TANKS IN THE SPOTLIGHT
4. GERMAN MODIFICATION OF FRENCH CHAR B TANKS
5. GERMAN TANKS FOR USE AS AMPHIBIANS
6. OPERATING THE MARK IV TANK (German)
7. GERMAN EMPLOYMENT OF TANKS, AND THEIR COOPERATION
WITH OTHER ARMS
8. GERMAN 75-MM ASSAULT GUN
9. GERMAN 150-MM SELF-PROPELLED GUN
10. GERMAN USE OF TANKS
11. 75-MM ASSAULT ARTILLERY
12. TACTICS USED BY Pz. Kw. 4's (WITH SHORT 75-MM GUN)
13. VULNERABILITY OF GERMAN TANK ARMOR
14. ARTILLERY WITH A GERMAN TANK DIVISION
15. MARK III TANK - THREE BASIC DESIGNS
16. GERMAN TANK MAINTENANCE AND RECOVERY
17. MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR SERVICE IN GERMAN ARMORED
DIVISIONS
18. GERMAN SELF-PROPELLED 150-MM HOWITZER
19. OPERATIONS OF THE GERMAN TANK RECOVERY PLATOON
20. INCREASED PROTECTION ON GERMAN TANKS
21. TANK WARFARE IN STREETS
22. ENGINEER SUPPORT OF TANKS
23. GERMAN METHODS OF ARMORED ATTACK BY SMALL UNITS
24. NEW AXIS SELF-PROPELLED GUNS
25. TACTICAL EMPLOYMENT OF GERMAN 75-MM ASSAULT GUN
26. GERMAN HEAVY TANK
27. FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT GERMAN TANKS
28. TANK RUSE TO DECEIVE ARTILLERY
29. GERMAN HEAVY TANK - PzKw 6
30. INCREASED PROTECTION ON PZKW 3 AND 4
31. ENEMY SELF-PROPELLED GUNS - A SUMMARY OF KNOWN
EQUIPMENT
32. NEW SELF-PROPELLED GUN
33.GERMAN AIR SUPPORT OF TANKS IN AFRICA
34. ARMOR ARRANGEMENT ON GERMAN TANKS
35. ATTACK AGAINST GERMAN HEAVY TANK - PZKW 6
36. COOPERATION OF GERMAN INFANTRY AND TANKS
37. GERMAN PzKw 3 PHOTOGRAPHS
38. GERMAN TANK RUBBER ANALYSIS
39. NOTES OF A BRITISH ARMORED FORCE OFFICER ON GERMAN
TANK EMPLOYMENT
40. DETAILED REPORT ON THE GERMAN "TIGER" PZKW 6
41. GERMAN COMMENT ON ENEMY TANKS
42. THE PZ-KW 5 (PANTHER) TANK
43. GERMAN 128-MM SP GUN
44. POWERED ARTILLERY
45. USE OF TANKS WITH INFANTRY
46. NEW HEAVY TANK: THE Pz. Kw. 5 (PANTHER)
47. VULNERABILITY OF TIGER TANKS
48. ARMOR SKIRTING ON GERMAN TANKS
49. GERMAN 150-MM SP ASSAULT HOWITZER
50. GERMAN 150-MM SP FIELD HOWITZER
51. GERMANS MAKE USE OF NEW GUNS IN ‘INSECT’ SERIES
52. BRITISH COMMENTS ON GERMAN USE OF TANKS
53. GERMAN PRISONERS DISCUSS THE PZ. KW. 6
54. FERDINAND AND THE PANTHER
55. GERMAN TANK PLATOONS OPERATING AS POINTS
56. FLAME-THROWING Pz. Kw. 3
57. SMOKE-SHELL TACTICS USED BY GERMAN TANKS
58. PANTIGER, A REDESIGNED TIGER, NEWEST ENEMY HEAVY
TANK
59. Germans Disguise Panthers
60. GERMAN TANK AND ANTI-TANK TACTICS
61. A TANK-INFANTRY TEAM OBSERVED IN COMBAT
62. "THE HEAVY MOBILE PUNCH"
ABOUT CODA BOOKS
INTRODUCTION
Adolf Hitler was, by nature, a gambler and in the course of a long career
marked by a series of calculated risks which spiralled upwards from the gamble
of the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch through the carefully measured and successful
ventures in the Rhineland, Sudetenland and Austria. The decision to invade
Poland was the first in a long litany of mistakes which led to Göterdämmerung,
the second main error was the flawed logic which culminated in Barbarossa, the
invasion of the Soviet Union, but surely Hitler’s biggest mistake of all was to
drag a reluctant US into World War II.

Even after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour Hitler still had the option to
keep the US out of the war, but in a typical act of self-delusion Hitler, on 11th
December 1941, declared war on the largest industrial nation on earth. From that
moment onwards the fate of Nazi Germany was sealed. It took some months to
awake the sleeping giant, but once the US Juggernaut began to roll the end result
of World War II was never in question.

While the US was busy assembling its new armies, navies and air forces the
US Intelligence Service was already beginning to collate intelligence on its new
enemy. This information was gathered and disseminated to the troops who
needed it, in the form of two main monthly intelligence bulletins. These were
Tactical and Technical Trends which first appeared in June 1942 and the
Intelligence Bulletin which began to appear from September 1942 onwards.
The main focus for the US was initially on the war with Japan and a great
majority of the early reports are concerned with the war in the Pacific. However,
as America began to come up to speed US forces were soon engaged in North
Africa followed by Sicily, Italy and finally Northern Europe. As the war
progressed the requirement for good intelligence on the German Panzerwaffe
became more and more important, and in consequence there are more and more
reports of German fighting vehicles available to us. The vast majority of those
reports concerned the fighting in Russia and it is those reports which form the
bulk of what you are about to read here.

The material for the two US intelligence journals was originally collected from
British combat reports, German newspapers, captured German documents,
German training manuals and Soviet sources. As such the quality of much of
what was printed was highly variable, some reports are very accurate while, in
others, the precision of the information is questionable to say the least, but that’s
what makes these reports so fascinating. Regardless of the overall accuracy this
is a priceless glimpse into how the men in the front lines learned about their
enemy, and as such it presents us with a invaluable insight into the events of the
Eastern Front were perceived at the time when they actually unfolded. The
reports also provide us with a host of information concerning the minor aspects
of the thousands of tactical combats being waged day in and day out which
expand our knowledge of the realities of the fighting in Russia.