Anti-tank warfare

Anti-tank warfare refers to military strategies, tactics and weapon systems designed to counter and destroy armoured vehicles such as tanks. Originating from the first deployment of tanks in 1916, it has since become a fundamental component of wartime strategy and doctrine. Across the 20th century, anti-tank warfare has rapidly evolved, from anti-tank guns to guided missiles and in more modern times, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), drones and loitering munitions.

Tank threat

Anti-tank warfare evolved as a countermeasure to the threat of the tank's appearance on 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, 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 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 the rear would become a practice only during the next war.