The publication on VO of the material about the "Music Box" tank raid by Lieutenant Arnold once again aroused the interest of the site's readership in the use of tanks during the First World War. After all, this was exactly 100 years ago, and we can see with our own eyes (this is not at all what the Egyptian pyramids are to be studied!) Of how and how progress in the development of BTT has stepped forward over this century. Well, then the tanks were "for the first time", and it was also necessary to fight them "for the first time". And today we will tell you about how this happened among the allies in the Entente and their opponents, based on the materials of British researchers.
Introduction
To begin with, in their opinion, the allies on the Western Front did not have such an organized, thoughtful and massive approach to anti-tank defense as the German army did. The reason is clear. They did not face the same threat. The number of tanks at the disposal of the German troops (their A7Vs and British captured vehicles) could not be compared with the tank armada of the Allies. Moreover, at the end of the war, since the Allies attacked more than retreated in the second half of 1918, much less damaged British heavy tanks (if any) fell into enemy hands. Moreover, fussing with the evacuation of damaged vehicles to the German rear in order to overhaul them in the face of an Allied offensive would only worsen the general situation at the front. Nevertheless, German tanks could, to a certain extent, pose a tactical threat to the allied forces. In addition, there was always the possibility that the Germans could start producing tanks on a large scale.
Mk I with a "roof" from hand grenades!
Nevertheless, the Allied forces did not seem to have been trained in the fight against tanks, which is why their soldiers were surprised by the appearance of German tanks. Allied propaganda also played a role here, which only aggravated the fear of tanks, since at first it exaggerated the superiority of tanks over infantry.
At the same time, there are documents on some anti-tank defense measures, which, most likely, were organized at the battalion level or even at individual companies. Of course, until the first appearance of German tanks in St. Quentin (March 21, 1918), there was practically no information about the instructions for German tanks that could be passed on to British tank crews. It got to the point that when Frank Mitchell's English tank approached the A7V a month (!) After the first German tanks appeared at the front, he had no idea what the A7V looked like or how it was armed. The infantry and artillery were equally unaware of this. All this suggests that the allies did not even think that Germany would be able to oppose them in a short time with significant tank forces and, in principle, this is how it happened, although tactically the allied infantry was not ready for battle with them!
English "German" tank "Whippet".
Armor-piercing bullets against armor
In 1915, the British government adopted.303-inch armor-piercing bullets, similar in design to the German "K" bullet, originally introduced in the German army for firing at sniper shields. Several types of such bullets were fired, including: Armor Piercing Mks W Mk 1 and W Mk 1 IP (and they continued to be produced both before and even after World War II!). Such ammunition was also available to Australian, Canadian, Indian and New Zealand troops. And not only are they available - they were likewise produced in Australia, Canada and India during World War II. The bullets had a hardened steel core filled with lead in a tombak jacket. All armor-piercing bullets in the service of the British and Commonwealth forces had a green tip. The Remington firm produced similar bullets for the American troops, but only they had a black tip. In 1918, armor-piercing bullets were fired in France.
German armor-piercing bullet 7, 92 × 57 mm type "K" for firing from the Mauser 98 rifle. The bullet core is made of tool steel, the beginning of combat use in June 1917.
The effectiveness of this type of ammunition was unexpectedly high. Not only did they pierce relatively thin armor at close range, they were even better than ordinary bullets, splitting when hitting the armor next to the viewing slots, into which, as a result, tombak fragments of the bullet's shell and drops of molten lead flew. As a result, 80% of tankers' wounds were in the eyes. This forced them to wear special glasses, which, although they saved from this scourge, but strongly limited the ability to observe from the tank. That is, the already "blind tanks" of those years became "blind" to an even greater extent!
German captured tanks are crossing the anti-tank ditch.
Anti-tank rifles
At this time, the Allies did not produce anti-tank rifles, but it is known that British troops used captured Mauser 13, 2-mm Mauser rifles captured from the Germans against their own tanks, which became German trophies! The Australians were also quite familiar with this weapon, moreover, for some reason they gave this weapon a strange nickname "peashooter", which means "toy gun", so it is possible that some of their units were also available. It is known that American forces also captured a significant number of German anti-tank rifles of this type, but how they used them is unknown. At a distance of 100 m, its bullet at an angle of 90 ° pierced 20 mm armor, and at 300 m at the same angle - 15. However, a strong recoil, as well as a large weight (more than 17 kg!), Prevented its use.
But in this photo, an English tank is moving across the moat.
Rifle grenades
In 1918 the first anti-tank rifle grenade, No. 44, was produced in Britain for firing the standard SMLE rifle. She had a contact fuse and could be fired with a blank cartridge. The charge was 11, 5 ounces (one ounce - 28, 35 g) amatol, that is, slightly more than 300 g of explosives. The grenade had a "linen skirt" that spread out in flight, which ensured that it hit the target with its head part, which contained a contact fuse. Between 15,000 and 20,000 of these grenades were made, and less than 10,000 entered the army before the grenade was withdrawn from service in 1919, which suggests that it did not have high combat characteristics. There is no data on its use against German tanks and the shown effectiveness, but nevertheless, it can be assumed that its charge in order to confidently break through the armor was still insufficient.
The French produced at least three types of anti-tank rifle grenades in 30mm, 40mm and 75mm calibers. The 75 mm (3 in) model resembled the German anti-tank grenade for the 37 mm anti-tank gun during the Second World War.
The Americans also had an M9 AT anti-tank grenade, but whether it was actually in service in the army in 1918 is unknown.
German tank collapsed into a trench.
Trench artillery
The French decided that their 37mm Puteaux trench cannon would be an adequate weapon as an anti-tank gun. In Reims, for example, on June 1, 1918, a hidden battery of such cannons managed to knock out a German tank. In the same battle, a second battery of the same type forced the second German tank to retreat with the fire of its guns. Since the positions of machine guns were the primary targets for German tanks, the French began to use them as bait, and they themselves set up camouflaged positions nearby for 37-mm cannons with the possibility of flanking. However, the low speed of the projectile did not allow this gun to fire at tanks from a long distance.
Field guns
Field guns, using direct fire, were the main killers of German tanks during the First World War. In all allied artillery divisions, the task of firing at the attacking German tanks was considered one of the most important. But some guns were specially ambushed and had to fire alone. Bert Cox, Canadian Mounted Artillery Gunner (60th Battery, Canadian Field Artillery, 14th Artillery Brigade, 5th Canadian Division, 2nd British Army), recalled that during part of 1918 he was in the crew of a 13-pounder gun. that is, the 76mm caliber, which was specifically allocated to fire 12.5-pound (5.7 kg) high-explosive shells at German tanks. It had a maximum range of 5,900 yards (5,4 km), and the projectile could cover this distance in just over 10 seconds. But there is no evidence that Bert Cox's gun actually fired at German tanks.
It is unlikely that they will be able to just dig it out of the hole like that …
The data of the German side indicate that a significant part of its tanks were destroyed by allied horse artillery (British 13 or 18-pounder guns and French 75s). Unfortunately, there is not enough information about the extent to which these were specially designated for this purpose "anti-tank guns", or guns of conventional field artillery, which turned out, so to speak, in the right place and at the right time.
For example, 2nd Lieutenant Frank Mitchell describes how, 2 hours after the fight between his tank and the German A7V (April 23, 1918), an 18-pounder gun was sent to his aid, although by this time his enemy had already capsized and his crew had fled … The following describes a conversation that took place between Mitchell and a young artillery officer who rode up to him on horseback: “I say, old man, that I was sent to knock out a German tank. But, in my opinion, is he already ready? And he pointed in the direction of the wrecked tank.
“You're a little late,” Frank replied succinctly. "This one is out of the game." "O!" - only the rider said to this. "Clear. Well … thank you very much for doing my job for me. " And he galloped back from whence he appeared. Likewise, when German tanks first attacked French positions (June 1, 1918), French horse artillery appeared at the scene of the battle with commendable speed. True, the effectiveness of the field guns was hampered by their then device. They all had a one-deck carriage. To guide the barrel at least a little to the left and right of the centerline, it moved with the gun carriage by a screw mechanism along … the wheel axle! Therefore, the horizontal guidance angles were limited to about 5 ° in both directions. And then it was required by the efforts of the calculation to turn the weapon itself. As a result, getting into a moving tank turned out to be quite difficult. In addition, they usually had to shoot with a shrapnel shell put on strike. High-explosive shells were often in short supply.
German "anti-tank rifle" TGW-18.
Heavy artillery
It is unlikely, as it would seem, that the heavy artillery of the Allies was used against German tanks, because it was supposed to be shooting across the squares, corrected by forward artillery observers. However, it is known that, for example, in Soissons (June 1, 1918), a German tank came under heavy artillery fire, which was corrected by an aircraft circling above it. As a result, the crew left the tank, after which the crew of the aircraft assumed that it was destroyed and gave the order to stop firing. True, the German crew then re-occupied their tank and continued the attack, but in the end they stopped anyway and abandoned the car for reasons that were not entirely clear.
Aircraft versus tanks
The crews of allied patrol aircraft (mainly RAF and US Air Corps) were instructed that when they detected approaching German tanks, they had to immediately notify their troops about their path of movement (by dropped messages and horn signals), and then inform division headquarters by the same means.
The British armored aircraft Sopwith Salamander, armed with two machine guns and four bombs of 10 kg each, had to fight the tanks. They were supposed to be involved at the front as early as late 1918 or early 1919, but before the end of the war, only two aircraft of this type were tested in France.
"Broom for trenches" and "anti-tank aircraft" "Sopwith-Salamander", prototype. Two machine guns on it were aimed down the course!
Grenades and anti-tank mines
It appears that the only Allied special anti-tank grenade used in combat was the French MLE 18. It had a rectangular box-shaped copper alloy body, a wooden handle, and a modified Billiant (remote) fuse with an extended straight safety lever. The charge consisted of 900 grams of melinite, but as you yourself understand, throwing such a grenade was not at all easy. Obviously it was supposed to throw them under the tracks, otherwise why such a form? The Germans bombarded British tanks with their usual "potato drills", sometimes tying several warheads with a wire to one grenade with a handle. This is how the nets appeared on British tanks Mk I - Mk V. The calculation was that the grenade would roll off it before it explodes, or simply bounce off the springy mesh.
There were no special anti-tank mines at that time, but on the way of a possible movement of tanks, mines from artillery shells and boxes with explosives were already buried in the ground. The detonator was the simplest - a charge with tetrile, and on top of it an ampoule of sulfuric acid and … a wooden board covered with grass!
Tank traps and anti-tank ditches
The German tank A7V proved to be particularly sensitive to overturning. And the design of the front of the tank was such that it blocked the driver's view forward and downward. This made the use of hidden tank traps very popular. The French used tank pit traps as two German tanks (probably A7V) drove into such a trap just in front of the French trenches on the front line at Soissons. True, one of them managed to get out of it in reverse, but the other was destroyed by artillery fire.
British tank destroyed by German artillery fire.
The Germans themselves widely used anti-tank ditches, to which the British responded with the appearance of elongated tanks Mk * ("with a star") and Mk ** ("with two stars") and the use of fascines on the tanks, with which their crews filled these ditches. But carrying out this operation under German artillery fire was not easy.
