r

No. 12

Seek, Strike, and Destroy:

U.S. Army Tank Destroyer Doctrine
in World War II
by Dr. Christopher R. Gabel

Combat Studies Institute

U.S. Army Command and General Staff College
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas 66027-6900

September 1985
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- - - - - - - - - FOREWORD
In the seventy years that have passed since the tank first appeared, antitank combat has pre-
sented one of the greatest challenges in land warfare. Dramatic improvements in tank technology
and doctrine over the years have precipitated equally innovative developments in the antitank field.
One cycle in this ongoing arms race occurred during the early years of World War II when the
U.S. Army sought desperately to find an antidote to the vaunted German blitzkrieg. Against the
frenzied background of global war, a small group of professional officers devised the tank destroyer
as the Army's answer to the tank.
This Leavenworth Paper analyzes the origins of the tank destroyer concept, evaluates the doc-
trine and equipment with which tank destroyer units fought, and assesses the effectiveness of the
tank destroyer in battle. To the professional soldier of the 1980s, the tank destroyer experience
yields some important lessons concerning the pitfalls of formulating doctrine. The thoughtful reader
will also gain some specific insights into the problem of antitank warfare, a consideration that is
as vital to the U.S. Army today as it was half a century ago .

......,

ROBERT W. RISCASSI
-
Lieutenant General, USA
Commandant

Director
COL LouIs D. F. Frasche

Professor of Comblned Arms Warfare

Dr. Roger J. Spiller

John F, Morrison Professor of Military History

Father Donald W. Smythe

Curriculum Supervisor
LTC Roy R. Stephenson

Research Committee
LTC John A. Hixson, Chief Dr. Robert H. Berlin
LTC Robert D. Ramsey III Dr. Gary J. Bjorge
MAJ(PI Michael W. Dunn Dr. George W. Gawrych
MAJ Scott R. McMichael Dr. Thomas M. Huber Leavenworth Papers are published
MAJ Andrew N. Morris Dr. Samuel J. Lewis
CPT Thomas P. Odom Dr. William G, Robertson
by the Combat Studies Institute,
Teaching Commlrtee
U.S. Army Command and General
LTC George L Tupa. Chief SFC Robert R. Cordell Staff College, Fort Leavenworth,
LTC David R. Durr MSG Paul E. Holt Kansas 66027-6900. The views ex-
LTC Kenneth R. Pierce Dr. Robert F. Bauma'nn
MAJ Gary B. Griffin Dr. Jerold E. Brown pressed in this publication are
MAJ Claude R. Sasso Dr, Christopher R. Gabel those of the author and not neces-
Military History Education Committee sarily those of the Department of
LTC Michael E. Hall. Chief MAJ Don M. Prewitt, ARNG Defense or any element thereof.
MAJ Frederick A. Eiserman Dr. Jack J. Gifford
MAJ George J. Mordica II Dr. Larry Roberts
Leavenworth Papers are available
Historica! Services Committee
from the Superintendent of Docu-
Dr. Lawrence A. Yates, Chief Martlyn A. Edw8'rds, Editor ments, U.S. Government Printing
Elizabeth R. Snoke. Librarian Donald L Gilmore. Editor Office, Washington, DC 20402.
Staff
MSG Danny G. Carlson Martha A Van Sandt
SSG Patricia E. Clowers Carolyn D. Conway
Leavenworth Papers US ISSN
Sharon E, Torres 0195 3451
 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gabel, Christopher R. (Christopher Richard), 1954-
Seek, strike, and destroy.

(Leavenworth papers; no. 12)

"September 1985."
Bibliography: p.
1. World War, 1939-1945-Tank warfare. 2. Tank
destroyers-United States-History. I. Title.
II. Series.
D793.G33 1985 940.54'12'73 85-21296

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.s. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402
__o_n_te_n_t_s________________~[~1
C

III ustrations v
Introduction 1
1. Antitank Evolution 1918-1941 ................. , .......... , ...... . 3
2. The Synthesis of Tank Destroyer Concepts ....................... . 19
3. Tank Destroyers Under Fire ................ ~ ..................... . 33
4. The European Theater: A Pyrrhic Victory ........................ . 49
5. Conclusion ........................................................ . 67
Notes ................................................................. . 73
Bibliography ......................................................... . 85

iii
_11_lu_s_tr_B_t_iD_n_s_ _ _ _ _ _ _---I1 ~ I
Figures
1. Proposed infantry division, 1938 5
2. Antitank Defense proposal, 1936 7
3. Triangular division, 1941 maneuvers......... .. . . .... ....... . ... ... 13
4. GHQ antitank group, 1941 maneuvers ............................. 15
5. Tank Attacker Detachment No.1, Carolinas maneuvers, 1941 ..... 16
6. Tank destroyer battalion, heavy (SP), 1942 ........................ 21
7. Tank destroyer battalion (SP), 1943 ................................ 45
8. Tank destroyer battalion (towed), 1943 ............................. 47

v
 ______________~I~1
_In_t_ro_d_u_c_t_io_n

On 3 December 1941, the War Department inaugurated a military con-

cept unique to the U.S. Army-the tank destroyer. The term "tank destroyer"
(TD) evolved into a broad concept that included personnel, equipment, and
units alike. Born of a desperate need to counter the mechanized might of
the so-called blitzkrieg, tank destroyer doctrine involved the pooling of anti-
tank weapons into . and higher and the
massing of those b groups or
even brigades. s incorporated
great mobility protection. Tank
destroyer intended to
counter the The tank
destroyer destroyers
were not traditional
antitank to the

""""".LU.~ of
likely
battle-
lived up
explained
massed
armor in for a major
antitahk s employed
expedient tank destroyer
doctrine. Finally, tended to
misuse the tank up the TD bat-
talions and utilizing than the aggressive,
antiarmor role.
While each of these explanations for the failure of the tank destroyer
concept has validity, none of them reaches the core of the problem: tank
destroyer doctrine was fundamentally flawed. It is the purpose of this paper
to show that the creators of the tank destroyer concept formulated their
doctrine with an imperfect understanding of combined arms mechanized
1
2

warfare and thus created a doctrinal solution for a problem that did not
exist as perceived. Not surprisingly, field commanders who received tank
destroyer units refused to implement a doctrine that failed to account for
the realities of the World War II battlefield. The inflexibility of tank de-
stroyer doctrine resulted in its abandonment and led to the employment of
tank destroyers in extradoctrinal roles, albeit with a surprising degree of
success. The flaws inherent in tank destroyer doctrine, rather than the mis-
use of tank destroyers by higher commanders or deficiencies in equipment,
prevented the tank destroyers from fulfilling their intended role. That the
tank destroyers performed yeoman service in spite of doctrinal defects is to
the credit of the American soldiers who, in essence, created a new doctrine
in the field.

CHRISTOPHER R. GABEL
Combat Studies Institute
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
Antitank Evolution 1
_19_18_-_1_9_41_ _ _ _-----11 ~ 1

The advent of the armored fighting vehicle on the battlefields of World

War I symbolized the beginning of a new age in ground warfare. The first
tanks were clumsy, unreliable, difficult to operate, and capable of only
limited participation in a combined arms team. Nonetheless, advocates of
the tank believed that it possessed the capability to restore decisive maneu-
ver to the trench-bound battlefield. First introduced by the British in the
Battle of the Somme (1916), tanks eventually found their way into French
and American armies as well.
The appearance of tanks in the Allied order of battle prompted the Ger-
mans to develop special means of countering them. German troops found
that the lumbering British and French tanks were relatively immune to
small-arms fire, but that no tank could survive a direct hit from artillery.
Thus, the Germans employed 77-mm field guns in their forward defensive
zones to serve in both antitank and close support roles. Some divisions
maintained "flying squads" of 77-mm guns as a mobile antitank reserve.
The Germans also developed a special armor-piercing rifle round and even
designed a 13-mm antitank rifle. 1
Inasmuch as the Germans manufactured only about twenty combat-
worthy tanks during World War I and utilized another dozen captured
French and British models, the Allies felt no need to develop a specialized
antitank capability. A British pamphlet on antitank measures that the U.S.
War Department reprinted and distributed makes this clear: "It is not
considered either practicable or necessary, at any rate for the present, to
introduce any special anti-tank gun; our existing artillery resources are
regarded as being fully adequate to deal With tanks."2 Although small-arms
fire, aircraft, friendly tanks, and obstacles should all be considered as anti-
tank resources, "experience shows that artillery fire forms the most effective
defence against tanks, and that all other arms and weapons can only be
regarded as subsidiary means."3 The manual suggested that for antitank
purposes artillery should be positioned in depth and should include mobile
gun sections designated to reinforce threatened sectors at the first sign of
an enemy tank attack,4 much in the manner of the German "flying
batteries."
3
4

Significantly, the pamphlet made clear that the tank's sole purpose was
to support the infantry, which constituted the main threat in any attack:
Tanks unaccompanied by infantry cannot achieve decisive success; they must
be supported by infantry, who alone can clear and hold ground gained .... If
the tanks succeed in penetrating the line, the [friendly] infantry must hold
out and concentrate all their efforts on stopping the ad'~ance of the enemy's
infantry, while the hostile tanks are dealt with by our artillery.
The defeat of the enemy's infantry must therefore be the first consideration
in aU plans for anti-tank defence.;
This 1918 pamphlet expressed two concepts that would become part of U.S.
Army doctrine for the next twenty years. The first concept concerned the
role of the tank. The 1920 amendment to the National Defense Act abolished
the autonomous Tank Corps and assigned all tanks to the Infantry. A 1922
field manual stated unequivocably that the tank existed solely "to facilitate
the uninterrupted advance of the rifleman in the attack."6 The second con-
cept followed from the first: enemy attacks involving tanks could be
countered by basically traditional means alld did not necessitate a signifi-
cantly specialized response.
Events in Europe during the interwar years did little to alert the U.S.
Army to the growing threat posed by the tank. The largest European
conflict of that period, the Spanish Civil War, witnessed the employment of
tanks, but without decisive results. Some early antitank guns, in combina-
tion with traditional measures and expedients such as the Molotov cocktail
(a hand-thrown incendiary device), seemed equal to the task of stopping
the tank. Following that war,tank designers in Europe significantly
upgraded tank capabilities, whereas antitank developers foundered in
complacency. 7
During the interwar period, great strides were also made in the evolu-
tion of tank doctrine. The British Army, prompted by such theorists as J.
F. C. Fuller and B. H. Liddell Hart, was the first to experiment with large-
scale mechanized forces, until budgetary and other constraints .curtailed the
continued development of armor doctrine. In Germany, the rearmament
program instigated by Adolf Hitler in 1935 brought Heinz Guderian the
opportunity to create the first panzer (tank) divisions, which would in time
constitute the major challenge to American antitank capabilities. The panzer
division was much more than just a force of massed tanks; it was a com-
bined arms team centered around the tank. Each division included a panzer
brigade, a motorized infantry brigade, a motorized artillery regiment, plus
motorized reconnaissance, engineer, antitank, and antiaircraft battalions'.;
Thus; the panzer division was capable of close integration among the arms,
but at the tank's level of mobility, not that of the infantryman. Moreover,
the panzer division could be broken down into combined arms battle groups,
each one task-organized to fulfill a particular mission in combat. Guderian
advocated the use of massed panzer divisions to strike at strategic objectives
deep in the enemy rear. 8
Compared to German interwar developments in armor, American pro~~'
ress in the field of antitank warfare lagged badly. Even so, the problem of
 5

8 37-mm guns
Figure 1. Proposed infantry division. 1938

stopping the tank was not completely ignored. The 1937 field tests under-
taken by the 2d Division resulted a year later in recommendations that the
Army adopt a triangular (three-regiment) infantry division as its basic fight-
ing formation (see figure I), The recommendations included placing an eight-
gun antitank company in each regiment. 9 Although two years would pass
before the War Department acted on those proposals, the 1937 tests had a
profound effect upon Brigadier General Lesley J. McNair, 2d Division's chief
of staff and director of the tests. MeN air was destined to become intimately
involved with both the organization of the U.S. Army for war and the devel-
opment of its antitank policies.
In another positive development, the Command and General Staff
School at Fort Leavenworth published, for instructional purposes, a compre-
hensive antitank manual. First appearing in 1936 as Antitank Defense
(Tentative), it was revised in 1939 and retitled Antimechanized Defense
(Tentative). Antitank Defense postulated the existence not only of regimental
antitank companies similar to those proposed as a result of the 1937 divi-
sion tests but also a divisional antitank battalion. The manual advocated
an antitank defense-in-depth with the regimental antitank elements provid-
ing protection to the frontline troops and the antitank battalion guarding
the division's flanks, protecting noninfantry elements, or reinforcing the
regimental antitank forces, according to the situation. A fundamental
premise of the manual was that the divisional antitank battalion must
remain grouped and intact, to be massed where the tank threat was
greatest. Antitank Defense proposed that antitank elements, especially the
6

Lesley J. McNair, director of 1937

Army field tests and later the head
of AGF

divisional battalion, should be motorized and provided with reconnaissance

assets so that a minimum of forces would be tied down to routine tasks,
freeing the maximum possible forces to be held in readiness to meet the
unexpected (see figure 2).10 The antitank doctrine expressed in Antitank
Defense was sound, clearly expressed, and feasible, if implemented with
adequate weapons. Although not an official part of Armywide doctrine,
Antitank Defense served as the basis for antitank instruction at the Army's
highest tactical school. The commandant of the Command and General
Staff School who authorized the 1939 revision entitled Antimechanized
Defense was none other than General McNair.
The Army's official doctrine, as expressed in the 1939 Field Service
Regulations, conformed j,n general to the precepts of Antitank Defense.
Although the regulations perpetuated the World War I concept of utilizing
artillery, aviation, friendly armored vehicles, and mines as antitank assets,
it also specified that "the antitank cannon is of first importance in anti-
mechanized defense ... ,"11 It adopted the premise, found also in Antitank
Defense, that local defense was the task of organic regimental antitank
elements, and that the protection of the command as a whole was the responsi-
bility of yet-to-be-created antitank units controlled by higher headquarters. 12
Thus, by 1939, Army antitank doctrine included some sound funda-
mental principles, even though the Army had yet to establish the antitank
units themselves. Nor did the Army possess a real antitank gun when Anti-
tank Defense and the 1939 Field Service Regulations were written. In plan-
ning for fiscal year 1939, the general staff made a conscious decision to
 7

forego normal research and development procedures in order to procure some

kind of existing antitank weapon immediately. As a consequence, the
Ordnance Department found itself responsible for producing a copy of the
German PAK 36, a 37-mm antitank weapon that was already nearing obso-
lescence. Production of the American version (which was undertaken without
regard to patents or licensing laws) began in early 1940 and yielded some
2,500 weapons by the time the United States went to warP Meanwhile,
.50-caliber machine guns and antiquated field guns of 37-mm and 75-mm
would also be pressed into antitank service.1 4
Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 signaled the begin-
ning of World War II and alerted the world to the potential of mechanized
forces. Six panzer divisions spearheaded the pincers that enveloped and
crushed the Polish Army in its frontier positions and brought the campaign
to a close within a month. Western analysts were impressed by the so-
called blitzkrieg, but most shared the attitude of the French high command
that German successes of such magnitude were unlikely to be repeated
against a fIrst-rate opponent.
In the United States, the outbreak of war in Europe occasioned the
beginnings of rearmament. General George C. Marshall, who became Army
Chief of Staff on the same day that the war began, ordered the Army to
adopt the triangular division that had bee:n tested in 1937. As implemented
in 1939, the triangular division's antitank· assets were limited to twenty-
four antitank guns under the control of division artillery.I5 This action
raised the question of which arm was responsible for antitank combat, inas-

Figure 2. Antitank Defense proposal, 1936

8
much as the Field Service Regulations stated that antitank defense was
primarily the concern of the Infantry.ls The .division of authority between
Infantry and Field Artillery paralyzed the development of American anti-
tank capabilities just when the need for haste was becoming manifest.
If any event could have galvanized the Army into seeing after its anti-
tank capabilities,it should have been the stunning defeat of France in the
spring of 1940. At this time, the German armed forces enjoyed no signifi-
cant superiority in numbers of divisions over the western Allies (about 140
each) and were actually inferior in numbers of tanks (approximately 2,200
to 3,000).17 However, the bulk of the Allied tanks were scattered by battal-
ions along the front for World War I-style infantry support, whereas the
German armor was gathered together into ten panzer divisions.
French antitank doctrine was unequal to the task of stopping massed
panzers. The French clung to the World War I tenet that the tank existed
to support the infantry and failed to consider the significance of a panzer
division predicated upon massed tanks. Accordingly, French antitank doc-
trine called for the frontline infantry to allow the enemy tanks to pass by
and then to rise up and engage the enemy infantry, which supposedly consti-
tuted the true threat. Meanwhile, the enemy tanks, meaningless without
their infantry, would be destroyed by antitank guns organized in three
echelons. 18

The 37-mm antitank gun, the Army's first specialized antitank weapon

French faith in the antitank gun was absolute. To quote a French field
manual, "At the present time, the antitank gun confronts the tank, as dur-
ing the last war, the machine gun confronted the infantry."19 Each French
infantry division possessed fifty-eight antitank guns, yielding a ratio of ten
 9

antitank guns per kilometer of front. The French calculated that this concen-
tration could cope with fifty enemy tanks per kilometer.2o
Unfortunately, the main German panzer thrusts that crossed the frontier
in 1940 struck at selected spots with concentrations of up to one hundred
tanks per kilometer. Seven of the ten panzer divisions sprang through the
Ardennes forest and shattered the weakest sector of the Allied front, along
the Meuse River. Task-organized into battle groups, the massed panzer divi-
sions punched through the linear French defenses and pressed on to reach
the English Channel within two weeks of the start of the campaign. The
pace of the panzer advance prevented the Allies from regaining their equi-
librium or restoring a front line. Due largely to the efforts of the panzer
divisions, the finest elements of the British and French Armies were either
destroyed or pinned against the sea. Final defeat and capitulation of the
French nation followed within a month.
The destruction of the French Army, widely regarded as the finest in
western Europe if not the world, shocked Americans as the defeat of Poland
had failed to do. Congress authorized the induction of the National Guard
and Reserves in August and in September passed the nation's first peace-
time selective service act. The Army implemented its Protective Mobilization
Plan, which involved the activation of four full field armies headed by a
general headquarters (GHQ). The GHQ chief of staff, who was responsible
for organizing and training the ground forces, was Brigadier General
McNair (McNair would become a lieutenant general within a year).
To Americans, it seemed clear that the principal agent of the Allies'
demise had been the German panzers. The underestimation of armored war-
fare that had prevailed in the U.S. Army was displaced by an exaggerated
fear of the tank that overlooked Allied strategic blunders in France and
obscured the combined arms nature of the panzer division. A survivor of
the French collapse reported simply that "the main cause of our failure to
hold the Germans was the lack of efficient and sufficiently numerous anti-
tank weapons .... Could the tanks have been stopped, the whole blitz
would have crumbled."21 Reports had it that 6,000 German tanks had
simply inundated the French and. British. 22 Field Artillery Journal main-
tained that some of these panzers were monsters of seventy tons,23 more
than three times the actual weight of the largest German tank in 1940.
American officers had cause for alarm, if not desperation, for as late
as the summer of 1940, few of the artillerymen charged with antitank
defense had ever seen a tank in action, let alone a mechanized formation,
nor had they ever fired their inadequate weapons at a fast-moving target. 24
The assumption took hold that the infantry division was helpless in the
face of a panzer attack, and some artillery officers discussed antitank
combat in terms of last-ditch fighting by isolated antitank batteries. 25 The
Field Artillery apparently assumed that its antitank guns were intended
for the defense of the artillery and not of the division as a whole.
Although individual officers had become greatly concerned with the
problem of stopping the tank, official reaction to the panzer triumph in
10

France was somewhat less than wholehearted. In the autumn of 1940,

infantry regiments in a division were at last authorized an antitank
company apiece. 26 These three companies, plus the existing antitank
elements under division artillery, raised the triangular division's antitank
complement from twenty-four to sixty-eight guns, orily ten more than the
number of pieces found in the discredited French division. The War Depart-
ment issued a training memo on 23 September that recommended posting a
minimum of antitank assets in the front line and holding the majority of
guns in mobile reserve. 27 The new Field Service Regulations published in
early 1941 reemphasized the importance of maintaining a defense-in-depth:

Employment of antitank guns is based on a minimum of guns in position

initially to cover obstacles and as a first echelon of defense, and a maximum
of guns as a mobile reserve. Based on information of hostile mechanized
forces, reserve guns are moved rapidly to previously reconnoitered locations
and so disposed in depth as to permit timely and powerful reinforcement of
areas threatened by hostile mecnanized attack.28

In fact, Field Service Regulations of 1941 had little more to offer on anti-
tank warfare than had the 1939 edition. The scheme proposed in Antitank
Defense, with its divisional antitank battalion backing up the regimental
antitank companies, remained superior to official doctrine.
In terms of actu~lly creating competent and confident antitank units,
little was accomplished in late 1940 and early 1941. The disorders resulting
from the induction of civilian components hindered training of all sorts, as
did the shortage of adequate equipment. Much antitank training took place
with simulated weapons. The most serious problem was the continued divi-
sion of branch authority over antitank matters. Neither Infantry nor Field
Artillery embraced the antitank task as its own, meaning that there was
no one agency to pursue doctrinal developments or provide training gui-
dance to the field units. So far as the War Department knew, VI Corps
was the only higher headquarters in the entire Army that issued any anti-
tank training instructions. 29
On 12 April 1941, General McNair was moved to remark: "It is beyond
belief that so little could be done on the [antitank] question in view of all
that has happened and is happening abroad. I for one have missed no
opportunity to hammer for something real in the way of antitank defense,
but so far have gotten nowhere. I have no reason now to feel encouraged
but can only hope this apathy will not continue indefinitely."30
The Operations and Training Division (G3) of the War Department
General Staff, headed by Brigadier General Harry L. Twaddle, made an
attempt to break the logjam by hosting an antitank conference on 15 April.
In attendance were representatives from Infantry, Field Artillery, Armored
Force, Cavalry, Coast Artillery, GHQ, and War Plans Division. In general,
the attendees concurred on the need to expedite the development of antitank
capabilities and agreed that divisional antitank battalions would soon be
authorized, but the conference failed to establish a consensus as to which
 11

General of the Army George C.

Marshal!, who was deeply involved in
pre-World War tI force development

arm should be responsible for antitank developments. The Infantry represen-

tative stated that his arm should continue to administer to antitank defense
because it possessed the "essential background and experience"-a curious
argument when one considers the Infantry's unimpressive record of antitank
development. Field Artillery claimed an interest on the grounds that it con-
trolled the weapons most suitable to antitank combat. (In fact, antiaircraft
guns, which came from Coast Artillery, not Field Artillery, would prove to
be the best interim antitank weapons.) Cavalry also entered a bid for anti-
tank responsibility, believing itself a branch that could "readily adapt itself
to assuming what promise[dJ to become a larger and larger task." (In other
words, Cavalry was an arm in search of a mission, due to the refusal of
its current chief to admit that the day of the horse had passed.) The
Armored Force perceived antitank defense to be antithetical to its offensive
philosophy and declined any interest in assuming responsibility. GHQ testi-
fied that the number of antitank guns in existing formations was adequate,
but that their dispersal among several echelons rendered them ineffective.
To remedy this situation, GHQ proposed that all antitank elements be
removed from the line units and concentrated under a separate GHQ Anti-
tank Force. In the end, G3 recommended to the Army Chief of Staff,
General Marshall, that Infantry exercise jurisdiction over antitank matters
until such a time as an official armored arm was established, whereupon
Armor would assume responsibility, presumably whether Armor wa.nted to
or not. S1
12

General Andrew D. Bruce, head of

the Planning Branch, a think tank for
antitank warfare

At this juncture, General Marshall's patience ran out. A year earlier,

he had reached the same impasse with regard to mechanized forces. His
response in 1940 had been to withdraw all tanks from the existing arms
and place them under the authority of a new "quasi-arm," the Armored
Force. Marshall opted for a similar policy with antitank matters. On 14
May 1941, he instructed G3, War Department General Staff, to bypass the
arms and assume the lead in antitank development:
At the risk of placing G-3 in the operating field, I believe that for the solution
of this problem you should take energetic and positive steps to push this
matter as fast as humanly possible. The subject should be attacked with
imagination and untiring effort. I believe that it is a function of the General
Staff and should be carried through in your office. I do not want the question
of another branch or arm brought up at this time:32

General Marshall went on to direct that G3 establish "a small planning

and exploring branch" to study unsolved problems such as antitank war-
fare. G3 activated the Planning Branch on the following day, placing
Lieutenant Colonel Andrew D. Bruce in charge.
Eleven days after its inception, Bruce's Planning Branch held a small
antitank conference of its own. The conferees reaffirmed the need for a,
divisional antitank battalion (to be formed out of division artillery's anti-
tank battery and platoons) to complement the regimental antitank com-
panies. Accordingly, on 24 June 1941, the War Department ordered the
prompt activation of an antitank battalion in each division, in time for
 13

participation in summer maneuvers.33 Thus, the scheme first advanced in

1936 by Antitank Defense was at last realized: antitank companies in the
regiments would be backed up by an antitank battalion under division
control.
The antitank battalions activated by the divisions during the summer
of 1941 varied considerably in composition. This was due, in part, to the
fact that National Guard divisions remained in the four-regiment "square"
configuration and did not adopt the "triangular" format until after Pearl
Ha,:bor (see figure 3). Typically, the battalions consisted of three to five
batteries withdrawn from division artillery and were equipped with various
mixes of 37-mm, 75-mm, and simulated guns. 34
By 1941, however, Antitank Defense was no longer the latest word in
countering armor. Major (later General) Albert C. Wedemeyer, a graduate
of the German Kriegsakademie, proposed another train of development in
an article published simultaneously by Infantry Journal and Field Artillery
Journal. Given the tendency of German panzer divisions to mass rapidly
against a selected point of the defender's line, Wedemeyer considered it vital
that antitank forces also be capable of concentrating in critical areas of
the front. "The bulk of antitank units [should] therefore [be] pooled in
G.H.Q.," held in highly mobile, centrally located three-battalion groups, and
attached to the field armies and corps threatened by tank attack. He
proposed that the primary weapon of these formations should be mobile,
heavily gunned "tank chasers." Wedemeyer suggested that medium tanks
might fill that role. 35

Division antitank component:

60 37-mm AT guns
8 76-mm guns

37·mm 75-mm 37-mm 37-mm

Figure 3. Triangular division, 1941 maneuvers
14

As early as 14 April 1941, General Marshall began thinking along

similar lines. On that date, he issued a memo to G3, War Department
General Staff, directing that "prompt consideration be given to the creation
of highly mobile antitank-antiaircraft units as Corps and Army troops for
use in meeting mechanized units. These units to be in addition to organic
antitank weapons."36 The representatives at the 15 April conference, as well
as Bruce's Planning Branch, anticipated that such formations would indeed
be established. 37
The concept of gathering antitank assets to the upper echelons was
very compatible with the policy of "streamlining and pooling" that underlay
the U.S. Army's organization for World War II. Streamlining and pooling
aimed at making the triangular division as lean as possible by removing
any assets not needed for the division's basic mission and pooling those
assets at higher echelons, from which they could be attached to the division
according to prevailing combat conditions. This policy applied especially to
antitank and antiaircraft formations that were inherently defensive in
character.38
The concept of maintaining powerful upper-echelon antitank units can
be viewed as a logical extrapolation of the Antitank Defense system. Just
as Antitank Defense's divisional battalion supported the regimental antitank
companies, so, too, would the corps, field army, and GHQ antitank units
backstop the divisional antitank forces.
General McNair was a firm believer in streamlining and pooling, as
well as in active antitank defense. On 8 August 1941, he directed Third
Army to organize three provisional GHQ antitank groups (regiment-size
formations) for participation in the autumn army-versus-army maneuvers
(see figure 4). As raw material, Third Army utilized four 37-mm antitank
battalions and five 75-mm battalions drawn from various artillery units.
Each group consisted of three antitank battalions, a scout car platoon for
reconnaissance, three engineer platoons, and three rifle platoons. The
groups, which would be attached at the field army echelon, were trained to
fulfill an "offensive role" that included vigorous reconnaissance, rapid
movement to contact armored units before their tanks could deploy, and
the destruction of enemy armor with massed gunfire. 39
During September, Second Army faced Third Army in the largest field
exercises in the nation's history. Second Army controlled I Armored Corps
(two armored divisions) in the opening maneuver, and Third Army com-
manded the three GHQ antitank groups (in addition to the antitank forces
in each division). At nearly every turn, the armored forces found themselves
frustrated by antitank guns, a development that General McNair noted in
his after-action critique: "An outstanding feature of the maneuver was the
success attained in antitank defense, due primarily to guns. While terrain
hampered armored operations, it seems clear that the mobile antitank gun
defense now being developed gives promise of marked success."40
The results of tank-versus-antitank exercises were not as clear as
General McNair implied. Significantly, only one battalion out of the three
 15

•••
~
Scout cars 37-mm 75-mm 75-mm

••• • ••
C8J [!TI
Figure 4. GHQ antitank group, 1941 maneuvers

antitank groups participated in a major antitank action during the two

weeks of maneuvers. The vast majority of tanks "destroyed" fell to the
antitank units organic to the divisions, not to the mobile groups. In addi-
tion, armored force personnel were quick to point out that the maneuvers'
rule book was slanted in favor of the antitank, granting 37-mm guns and
even .50-caliber machine guns an unwarranted degree of effectiveness
against armor. The rules also stated that the only way a tank could
"destroy" an antitank gun was by "overrunning" it, a dangerous proposi-
tion, indeed, given the exaggerated effectiveness of antitank weapons as
prescribed by the rules. Observers noted that armor's doctrinal deficiencies,
particularly its tendency to operate in all-tank formations, were as much as
anything responsible for armor's frustration. They also reported that faith
in the mobile antitank groups was lacking. 41 In sum, the Louisiana maneu-
vers demonstrated, if anything, the value of divisional antitank assets fight-
ing in a relatively static mode and the need for the Armored Force to
rethink its doctrine and force structure. In spite of General McNair's enthusi-
asm, the mobile antitank groups did not prove themselves in Louisiana.
The Carolinas maneuvers of November 1941 provided another tank-
antitank test. Red Army (IV Corps) commanded I Armored Corps and its
two armored divisions. Blue Army (First Army) received the three GHQ
antitank groups and organized three more of its own: Tank Attacker-! (TA-
l), TA-2, and TA-3. TA-l, the most powerful of the three, included 93d Anti-
16

tank Battalion, a provisional formation armed with experimental self-

propelled guns (obsolete 75-mm field pieces mounted on half-tracks). Other
elements of TA-l included an infantry battalion, a field artillery regiment,
a separate antitank company, a tank company, engineers, antiaircraft guns,
and observation aviation, which made TA-1 a powerful, combined arms force
in its own right (see figure 5). First Army directed that "the action of the
detachment [TA-l] will always be offensive, moving to meet hostile threats
and to destroy hostile forces before they can have decisive effect on the
Army's operations."42
TA-l had its moment of glory on 20 November when it received orders
to destroy the Red 69th Armored Regiment which, in company with Head-
quarters, 1st Armored Division, was stranded miles behind Blue lines near
Albemarle, North Carolina. Supported by one of the GHQ antitank groups,
TA-1 attacked the armored bivouac at 0615, just as the tanks were organiz-
ing a breakout attempt. Blue antitank guns quickly positioned themselves
along every escape route and easily "destroyed" the Red tanks attempting
to overrun them. Lacking infantry, the 69th could do little but charge the
antitank guns with their tanks. The 93d Antitank Battalion drove its self-
propelled weapons directly into the bivouac with guns blazing. The 69th
disintegrated, forcing the division commander to flee in a liaison aircraft. 43
Blue antitank forces as a whole performed better in the Carolinas
maneuvers than they had in Louisiana. In one six-day exercise, the two
Red armored divisions "lost" 844 tanks, 82 more than their combined tables
of organization called for. (Tanks "destroyed" in the maneuvers each day
returned to action at midnight.)

75- and 37-mm 37'mm

SP

Figure 5. Tank Attacker Detachment No.1, Carolinas maneuvers, 1941

 17

Once more, however, a complete explanation of armor's problems in the

Carolinas maneuvers involved far more than the antitank units it faced.
As one observer noted, "It is believed success of AT units due to piecemeal
[armored] attacks ... ra,ther than to AT units' effectiveness."44 Of the experi-
mental 93d Antitank Battalion, an observer report disclosed: "Its success in
operations was the result of improper employment of armored units and
the energy shown by its commander rather than from a proper conception
of its employment on the part of higher unit commanders .... "45 Observers
noted repeatedly that the lack of sufficient infantry in armored units was a
principal factor behind the high tank losses. The head of the Armored
Force, Major General Jacob L. Devers, was even more succinct: "We were
licked by a set of umpire rules."46
The Armored Force took its embarrassment to heart and, following the
maneuvers,. developed a new divisional organization that increased the pro-
portion of infantry to tanks and significantly improved armor's capability
to fight in balanced, combined arms teams. Antitank forces, having won
an apparent victory in the maneuvers, would not undergo a similar critical
reappraisal.
On 3 December 1941, Generals Marshall, McNair, and others met with
the Secretary of'War to discuss the lessons learned in the autumn maneu-
vers. McNair pointed out that the Armored Force, which had admittedly
been mishandled on occasion, failed to achieve decisive results against the
Army's new antitank forces. He recommended that the development of anti-
tank forces be stressed. 47
In fact, the War Department had already charted out an enormous anti-
tank program. On 18 August, Lieutenant Colonel Bruce of the Planning
Branch released an estimate, based on a fifty-five-division army, calling
for 220 antitank battalions: 1 organic to each division, 55 pooled at corps
and field army echelons, and 110 battalions as GHQ troops.48 With four
antitank battalions for each division, this program would have committed
roughly one-fourth of the Army's ground fighting elements to the antitank
role! A meeting in General Marshall's office on 7 October approved four
battalions per division as a planning estimate and suggested the immediate
activation of sixty-three battalions. Perhaps the most far-reaching result of
this meeting was the decision to rename antitank battalions "tank destroy-
ers," for psychological reasons.49
The date 27 November 1941 was a watershed in the history of the
Army's antitank forces. A War Department letter of that date ordered the
activation of fifty-three tank destroyer battalions under the direct control of
GHQ,. not of the line units. A further directive of 3 December removed all
existing antitank battalions from their parent arms, redesignated them tank
destroyer battalions, and placed them under GHQ as welPo Battalions with-
drawn from infantry divisions received numbers in the 600s, those from
armored divisions in the 700s, and those from field artillery units in the
800s. (The 93d Antitank Battalion of Albemarle fame, for example, became
the 893d Tank Destroyer Battalion.)51
18

The letter of 27 November also ordered the activation of a Tank

Destroyer Tactical and Firing Center under War Department supervision.
Lieutenant Colonel Bruce, late of the Planning Branch, took command of
the center when it commenced operations at Fort Meade, Maryland. The
center's role was to serve as a developmental agency for doctrine and equip-
ment and to provide centralized training for tank destroyer personnel and
units. 52
The significance of these developments was profound. By creating what
amounted to a new arm of the service, the War Department surmounted
the lethargy and apathy that had existed in the present arms and had
stunted progress in the antitank field for so long. Also, by centralizing author-
ity for antitank matters, the War Department assured the systematic develop-
ment of tank destroyer doctrine, equipment, and training.
On the other hand, the directives of 27 November and 3 December
eliminated the divisional antitank battalions by converting them into GHQ
tank destroyer battalions. This left the division with the regimental anti-
tank companies as its only organic antitank assets. The 1941 maneuvers
had clearly and repeatedly proven the value of the divisional battalions,
whereas the GHQ antitank forces had yet to conclusively demonstrate their
worth against a doctrinally sound armored force. Moreover, the creation of
a tank destroyer quasi-arm eliminated day-to-day contact between the
Army's antitank forces and the other arms. The tank destroyers would
develop their doctrine and train in relative isolation. Throughout its exis-
tence, the tank destroyer establishment would suffer from the amibiguity of
its relationship to the rest of the Army.
The tank destroyer was born without an established doctrine or ade-
quate equipment. Unknown to its creators, the tank destroyer force had
less than a year to come of age before being thrust into combat.
The Synthesis of 2
T_8_n_k_D_e_s_t_ro_y_e_r_c_o_n_c_e_p_t_s_----t1 ~ I

The year 1942 saw the tank destroyer program come to fruition. The
accomplishments of that year included the finalization of official tank de-
stroyer tables of organization, the formulation of a tank destroyer doctrine,
the development of specialized tank destroyer equipment, and the establish-
ment of training facilities and programs for tank destroyer personnel. By
the end of the calendar year, tank destroyer forces were engaged in battle.
Two agencies were primarily responsible for the rapid development of
the tank destroyer concept. One of these was Army Ground Forces (AGF),
which on 9 March 1942 supplanted GHQ as the primary organization re-
sponsible for organizing and training ground combat elements. Lieutenant
General McNair, by this time acknowledged as the father of the tank de-
stroyers, commanded AGF. Thus, McNair bore the ultimate responsibility
for tank destroyer organization, doctrine, and training. l The second agency
imTolved was the Tank Destroyer Tactical and Firing Center under Colonel
Bruce, which did the actual work of drawing up organizational charts, pre-
paring field manuals, and training the tank destroyer troops.
One of the fundamental assumptions underlying the tank destroyer con-
cept as it emerged in 1942 was the idea that stopping the tank had become
a -special problem that demanded a specialized response above and beyond
general defensive measures. To General McNair, the solution to this problem
was clear:
'lhe tank was introduced to protect against automatic small arms fire, which
was developed so greatly during and since the [First] World War. Its answer
is fire against which the tank does not protect-the antitank gun. That this
answer failed [against the Germans in 1940] was due primarily to the pitifully
inadequate number and power of French and British antitank guns, as well
as their incorrect organization. 2

McNair emphatically believed that the antidote to the tank was not one's
own tanks: "Certainly it is poor economy to use a $35,000 medium tank to
destroy another tank when the job can be done by a gun costing a fraction
as much. Thus the friendly armored force is freed to attack a more proper
target, the opposing force as a whole .... "3
Therefore, the task confronting Bruce and the Tank Destroyer Tactical
and Firing Center was not simply one of finding a way to stop tanks, but
19
20

rather one of developing a mode of antitank combat that freed other friendly
forces for offensive operations. To meet this challenge, the tank destroyer
creators adopted mass, mobility, firepower, and aggressiveness as the quali-
ties that would enable tank destroyer elements to fulfill their mission.
The first concrete accomplishment of the Tank Destroyer Tactical and
Firing Center was the issuance of tables of organization for the tank de-
stroyer battalion, which became the basic tank destroyer unit. Fortunately, a
prototypical tank destroyer battalion had been in existence since the summer
of 1941, in the form of the 93d Antitank Battalion (redesignated the 893d
Tank Destroyer in December). Experience in field trials and in the Carolinas
maneuvers, where the 93d constituted part of TA-1, led to certain refine-
ments, such as the elimination of light tanks from the reconnaissance com-
pany and the addition of infantry for security against hostile infiltrators. 4
With this work in hand, the Tank Destroyer Tactical and Firing Center
was able to issue three tentative tables of organization on 18 December
1941. Two of these formations were light battalions armed with 37-mm guns,
which Bruce considered to be expedient organizations dictated by equipment
availability,5 The third type, designated the tank destroyer battalion, heavy
(self~propelled [SP]), was Bruce's preferred formation and officially became'
the sole type of tank destroyer battalion on 5 June 1942 (see figure 6),6
The heavy, self-propelled tank destroyer battalion was a powerful for-
mation comprising 35 officers and 807 enlisted men in its original configu-
ration. (Incremental additions later raised the battalion establishment to
an aggregate strength of 898.) It was led by a headquarters and headquar-
ters company that consisted of a full staff plus communication, transpor-
tation, and motor maintenance platoons. The headquarters company was
also the center for battalion supply. Serving as the battalion's eyes and
ears was a reconnaissance company consisting of three reconnaissance pla-
toons and a platoon of pioneers (a variety of combat engineers). The bat-
talion's major fighting elements were its three tank destroyer companies,
each of which commanded one platoon of light (37-mm) self-propelled guns
and two of heavy (75-mm) self-propelled guns. Each platoon included two
tank destroyer sections of two guns each, an antiaircraft section of two
guns, and a twelve-man security section. All told, the heavy, self-propelled
tank destroyer battalion fielded twenty-four 75-mm self-propelled antitank
guns, twelve 37-mm self-propelled antitank guns, eighteen self-propelled
antiaircraft guns, and 108 foot security troops.7
Inasmuch as antitank guns of the 37-mm type no longer appeared to
be playing a significant role in the European war, the light platoon of the
tank destroyer company was converted to a heavy platoon in a revised
table of organization issued on 9 November 1942. The tank destroyer bat-
talions that participated in the invasion of North Africa entered combat
under the old organization. 8
The Tank Destroyer'Tactical and Firing Center also had antecedents to
build upon when it turned to the codification of a tank destroyer doctrine
in January 1942, During the 1930s, some officers, at least, had been instructed
 21

35 officers
807 enlisted men
24 75-mm AT SP
12 37-mm AT SP"
18 37-mm AA SP

HQ

••••••••• • ••
[S1[8J~ liT. I
Pioneer

•• •• •• •• •• ••
~~3lEJ ~~)lJ~
•• ••
~Security ~SeCUrity
~ (12 EM) ~ (12 EM)

·Converted to heavy platoon, 9 November 1942

"Replaced by 75-mm weapons, 9 November 1942

Figure 6_ Tank destroyer battalion, heavy (SP), 1942

in the tactics of the "antitank box," which was a static defense-in-depth

consisting of antitank guns posted at the four corners of a rectangular
"killing ground." The antitank box technique was not unlike some of the
British and German antitank tactics practiced in the North African desert,
but as conceived in the 1930s, it was too shallow and its guns (37-mm and
.50-caliber) were inadequate for the 1940s.9 In any event, the formulators of
tank destroyer doctrine deliberately forswore any antitank concept that
22
suggested a cordon defense. They delegated defense of the front lines to the
regimental antitank assets organic to the division.
Instead of a cordon, tank destroyer doctrine embraced the principle of
a massed antitank reserve that was propounded by Antitank Defense, first
published at the Command and General Staff School in 1936. Tank destroyer
battalions and even larger groupings would be held out of the line, ready
to respond to tank threats at the front, flanks, or rear.
Following the defeat of Poland and France, these pre·blitzkrieg antitank
concepts, fundamentally defensive in nature, suddenly appeared to be in-
adequate in the face of the panzer division's offensive might. It may be a
personality trait of the American officer that, when confronted by an enemy
possessing unprecedented offensive power, he will turn to offensive power
as the countermeasure. However that may be, starting in early 1941, the
idea of stopping tanks by means of offensive antitank measures began to
take root in the U.S. Army.

The aggressive spirit inherent in the

early tank destroyer concept is exem-
plified by the famous black panther
emblem

An early manifestation of this trend came at the 15 April antitank

conference hosted by G3, War Department General Staff. Although the
branches could not arrive at a consensus regarding advocacy for antitank
development, the conferees reportedly did concur on the need to develop an
offensive antitank capability.lo In the memo of 14 May with which he
ordered the activation of Bruce's Planning Branch, General Marshall also
called for an "offensive weapon and organization" to counter the tank.l:1
General McNair concurred. In the closing remarks delivered at an antitank
conference held in July 1941, he noted that in warfare, as in wrestling,
"'There ain't no holt what can't be broke.''' But armored warfare was one
 23

such "holt"; breaking it required more than passive measures: "The counter-
attack long has been termed the soul of the defense. Defensive action against
a tank attack calls for a counterattack in the same general manner as
against the older forms of attack. . . . There is no reason why antitank
guns, supported by infantry, cannot attack tanks just as infantry, supported
by artillery, has attacked infantry in the past."12
The 1941 GHQ maneuvers reinforced the trend towards offensive anti-
tank tactics. In ordering the creation of three antitank groups for the ma-
neuvers, McNair directed that "the role of GHQ antit'ank groups is two-
fold: offensive and defensive, of which the former is the more important
and hence the one to receive the greater emphasis in training."13 First
Army's specially developed antitank group, TA-1, was created with the under-
standing that "the action of the detachment will always be offensive ...."14
In retrospect, it would seem probable that the "destruction" of the 69th
Armored Regiment at the hands of TA-1 during the Carolinas maneuvers
became the model tank destroyer operation in the minds of the men who
drew up tank destroyer doctrine. In that action, TA-1 located an all-tank
force behind friendly lines, hunted it down, and "destroyed" it without in-
terfering with friendly offensive operations elsewhere. The 93d Antitank
Battalion, which with its self-propelled weapons was TA-1's most powerful
element, formulated training notes and standing operating procedures based
on its experiences in maneuvers and on lessons gleaned from exercises with
a tank battalion. I5 Upon the activation of the Tank Destroyer Tactical and
Firing Center in December 1941, the 93d, redesignated the 893d Tank De-
stroyer, became the center's first school troops. Its training notes went out
to other battalions as guidance until official tank destroyer doctrine could
be published. Its commander during the maneuvers, Colonel Richard G.
Tindall, became the first commander of the center's unit training activity.16
In this manner, the idea of stopping tanks by means of offensive anti-
tank measures, which originated among the Army's highest echelons, was
apparently validated by some successful antitank actions in the maneuvers,
even though many observers remained unconvinced. These doubters not-
withstanding, the organization and offensive tactical procedures of the 93d
Antitank Battalion became institutionalized throughout the tank destroyer
establishment.
Unfortunately, this development sowed the seeds of future problems for
the tank destroyers. For one, neither the German panzer divisions nor the
U,S. Armored Force after 1942 conducted the sort of blindly aggressive all-
tank operations that had set up the victory of TA-1 over the 69th Armored
Regiment. Moreover, despite the official sanction given to offensive tank
destroyer tactics, a significant body of opinion within the Army maintained,
with justification, that antitank warfare was still intrinsically defensive in
nature. Even General McNair wavered on this point. During the same speech
in which he prescribed the counterattack as the centerpiece of antitank
combat, McNair likened antitank forces to "seacoast defenses,"17 a compari-
son that could scarcely be construed to suggest offensive qualities. Further,
24

at the 7 October meeting in which the term "tank destroyer" was chosen
for the new antitank service, McNair suggested that tank destroyer forces
would "emplace and camouflage themselves" when faced by hostile tanks,18
a practice that would seem to be out of character with the prevailing offen-
sive mindedness.
The disparity between the defensive realities of antitank warfare and
the offensive language was not resolved. The publication of an official tank
destroyer doctrine perpetuated the ambiguity. Only after tank destroyer units
had experienced combat would a serious reappraisal take place.
Tank destroyer doctrine attained official status in the form of the War
Department's FM 18-5, Tank Destroyer Field Manual, Organization and
Tactics of Tank Destroyer Units. Work on FM 18-5 began in January 1942
at the Tank Destroyer Tactical and Firing Center. A prepublication draft
was distributed to tank destroyer units on 19 March. The official publication
date was 16 June, only six months after the writing began.
FM 18-5 opened with a statement that established the specialist nature
of the tank destroyer: "There is but one battle objective of tank destroyer
units, this being plainly inferred by their designation. It is the. destruction
of hostile tanks. Throughout all phases of training and during preparation
for combat, this objective will be kept in mind by all ranks."19 The manual
went on to describe the armored threat that the tank destroyers were created
to meet. In many respects, that armored threat, as depicted in FM 18-5,
was reminiscent of the U.S. Armored Force at the time of the 1941 ma-
neuvers. For instance, the manual implied that light tanks constituted the
major armored threat, just as light tanks predominated in the 1941 armored
division. The manual portrayed tanks as operating in large masses that
entered battle at top speed. It suggested that armored formations consisteci
of distinct tank, infantry, and artillery echelons, rather than the combined
arms battle groups employed by the Germans (and adopted by the Armored
Force in 1942). The tactics attributed to tanks included the overrunning of
antitank guns, a practice thoroughly discredited in the 1941 maneuvers.20
FM 18-5 did not deny that armored forces were combined arms for-
mations. It warned that infantry and artillery operating in conjunction with
tanks would attempt to suppress antitank fire. 21 However, through means
never fully spelled out, this cooperation among hostile arms would appar-
ently be broken down, for FM 18-5 made it clear that tank destroyer units
only engaged tanks.
FM 18-5 firmly embraced the concept of utilizing offensive operations'.
to meet the tank threat: .
Tank destroyer units are employed offensively in large numbers, by rapid
maneuver, and by surprise .... Offensive action allows the entire strength
of a tank destroyer unit to be engaged against the enemy. For individual
tank destroyers, offensive action consists of vigorous reconnaissance to locate
hostile tanks and movement to advantageous positions from which to attack
the enemy by fire. Tank destroyers avoid "slugging matches" with tanks,
but compensate for their light armor and difficulty of concealment by exploi·
tation of their mobility and superior observation. 22
 25
Tank destroyer forces would require special qualities: "The characteristics
of tank destroyer units are mobility and a high degree of armor-piercing
firepower, combined with light armor protection; strong defensive capacity
against attacks of combat aviation; and flexibility of action permitted by
generous endowment with means of communication."23 These qualities had
already been embodied in the battalion tables of organization and would
also be reflected in the specifications developed for tank destroyer weapons.
Tank destroyer tactics as outlined in FM 18-5 built upon these same
characteristics. Action would open with reconnaissance, which would begin
early and be both continuous and extensive. The prescribed zone of respon-
sibility for the tank destroyer battalion's reconnaissance compaity was a
sector ten to twenty miles wide. 24 When enemy tank forces were located,
the battalion's tank destroyer companies would hem in the enemy armor
with surprise gunfire and maneuver against the flanks of the armored
formation. In case of an encounter battle, the first tank destroyers to arrive
on the scene were to engage the head of the enemy column, with subsequent
tank destroyer elements maneuvering against flank and rear.25
FM 18-5 placed more emphasis on the ambush than on the encounter
battle. Ambush positions were to be selected prior to contact with hostile
armor. Tank destroyer elements would be positioned in depth, disposed in a
checkerboard of mutually supporting firing positions. 26 Tank destroyers would
not be tied to those positions but would be free to maneuver, for each tank
destroyer weapon would ideally have a number of firing and cover positions.
After firing three or four rounds from one position, the weapon would dis-
place to another before retaliatory fire could be brought to bear against it.
Maneuvering tank destroyers would be covered by those in firing positions. 27
Obviously, FM 18-5 placed a high premium upon mobility and fire-
power for the successful execution of such operations:
Rapidity of maneuver enables tank destroyer units to strike at vital objectives,
fight on selected terrain, exercise pressure from varied and unexpected direc-
tions, and bring massed fire to bear in decisive areas. Tank destroyer units
obtain results from rapidity and flexibility of action rather than by building
up strongly organized positions. Tank destroyers depend for protection not
on armor, but on speed and the use of cover and terrain. When maneuvering
in the presence of the enemy they habitually move at the greatest speed
permitted by the terrain. 28

What would be the relationship between tank destroyers and other

friendly combat forces? FM 18-5 specified that tank destroyer elements,
like the battalions of Antitank Defense, constituted a mobile reserve, not a
frontline defense. 29 Whether as a battalion attached to a division or a tank
destroyer group pooled at the corps echelon or higher (usually three bat-
talions plus elements of the other arms), the tank destroyers' job was to
react en masse, in fire-department style, to enemy armored threats anywhere
along the line. 30 The execution of such a mission required the existence of
an armywide tank warning net and demanded road priority for tank de-
stroyer units. FM 18-5 indicated that tank destroyers would actually engage
enemy armor in the vicinity of friendly artillery. 31
26

FM 18-5 affirmed that such operations would be "semi-independent"

and asserted that tank destroyer battalions would of necessity be virtually
self-contained units. 32 Such self-sufficiency, however, applied only in the face
of enemy armor, for "tank destroyers are ill suited to close combat against
strong forces of hostile foot troops."33 When confronted by strong forces of
enemy infantry and artillery, tank destroyer companies were actually to be
kept to the rear, with only the reconnaissance company maintaining contact.
In such situations, tank destroyers would become heavily dependent upon
other friendly forces. Therefore, the manual urged that "calls for the assis-
tance of other troops are made without hesitation when tank destroyers are
confronted with situations with which they are not designed to cope."34
Although FM 18-5 recommended that the "employment of tank destroyer
units should be in close coordination with other troops,"35 it did not spell
out how that coordination was to be effected, nor did it clarify how such
close coordination was to be reconciled with the tank destroyers' semi-
independent mission.
In other words, FM 18-5 underestimated the significance of combined
arms, not only as it applied to hostile armored forces, but also to the em-
ployment of the tank destroyers themselves. Interaction with the other arms
took the form of "coordination," not integration of missions and means.
Significantly, the only extensive reference to combined arms to be found in
FM 18-5 was a two-page section found near the end of the manual under
the chapter on training. It is clear that the formulators of tank destroyer
doctrine believed that their special-purpose forces would be able to execute
their semi-independent mission under narrowly defined and highly favorable
circumstances: they would have thorough and timely intelligence; road pri-
ority; advantageous ground behind friendly lines; and an all-tank threat
with friendly elements in close proximity, willing to adapt their actions in
conformity with the tank destroyer battle.

II
The 76-mm M-18 tank
destroyer
 27

The execution of tank destroyer doctrine obviously placed a great deal

of reliance on the ability of men and equipment to outmaneuver and out-
shoot enemy tanks. Early in 1942, when FM 18-5 was being written, most
tank destroyer battalions possessed towed antitank guns drawn by standard
trucks or half-tracks, even though the favored battalion table of organization
called for self-propelled weapons. Bruce (who was promoted to brigadier
general on 16 February) decided to adopt self-propelled weapons, even though
General McNair continued to favor the towed gun. McNair insisted that
the self-propelled gun was too large to be readily concealed, that it would
be an unstable firing platform, and that it was less dependable and more
expensive than the towed antitank gun. ss Despite McNair's objections, Gen-
eral Marshall favored experiments with self-propelled mounts. McNair ac-
ceded, but he was never really reconciled to the self-propelled weapon. S?
The specifications that Bruce laid down for the ideal tank destroyer
weapon were very demanding: simple design, low cost, readily mass-produced,
light weight, high mobility, with a three-inch gun to be manned by a crew
of five. ss The efforts of the Tank Destroyer Center to have such a design
put into production met with resistance from the Ordnance Department,
which pushed its own designs regardless of Bruce's requirements. A Special
Armored Vehicle Board, chaired by Brigadier General W. B. Palmer, attempted
to reconcile such disputes. Palmer noted that the representatives from the
Tank Destroyer Center were inflexible in their demands, and that they were
possibly asking too much in the requirements they put forth. 39
Late in 1942, Bruce obtained approval from the Palmer Board for a
tank destroyer design that met his specifications. The new weapon, designed
from the ground up to be a tank destroyer, was orginally called the T-42.
After a number of modifications, which included upgunning the original
design significantly, the T-42 was eventually redesignated the T-70, and
when accepted for full production, the Gun Motor Carriage M-18. The M-18
could achieve speeds of over fifty miles an hour and weighed less than
twenty tons.40 It had a ground pressure of only 11.9 pounds per square
inch, less than twice that of a man (seven pounds per square inch), which
ensured that the M-18 could traverse most of the ground that a foot soldier
could. 41 Armed with a powerful 76-mm high-velocity gun, the M-18 was in-
deed an impressive weapon by 1942 standards. The one drawback to this,
the "ideal" tank destroyer, was that it did not enter production until mid-
1943.42
In the meantime, the tank destroyer battalions would have to make do
with expedient weapons that could be quickly produced and, although far
from ideal, would still allow training in tank destroyer doctrine. The first
expedient, the M-3 Gun Motor Carriage, was a standard M-3 armored per-
sonnel carrier (the half-track) with a World War I-vintage 75-mm field piece
mounted on the bed. Of eighty-six M-3s built in 1941, fifty went to the
Philippines for use as self-propelled artillery; the remaining thirty-six were
used to equip the 93d Antitank Battalion. The M-3 was standard equipment
for tank destroyer battalions through 1942.43 Another expedient, the M-6,
was a light three-quarter-ton truck with a 37-mm gun mounted in the rear.
28

The M-3 tank destroyer

II

Except for a gun shield, the M-6 had no armor and was intended solely for
training purposes. A third expedient, the M-lO, is often considered to be the
first true tank destroyer (in the sense of the term that denotes a weapons
class). The M-10 utilized the chassis of the versatile M-4 medium tank
(Sherman), was powered by reliable twin-diesel engines, and mounted an
obsolete three-inch antiaircraft gun in a fully rotating open-topped turret. 44
General Bruce disliked the expedient weapons, especially the M-10, which
he believed was too heavy and slow to execute tank destroyer doctrine. He
also feared that a large-scale M-lO production effort would delay the devel-
opment of the M-1S. AGF overruled Bruce's objections in May 1942, ensuring
that in 1943 the M-10 would become the principal tank destroyer weapon. 45
In the midst of writing doctrine and developing equipment specifications,
the Tank Destroyer Tactical and Firing Center moved from its original home
at Fort Meade, Maryland. Its destination was Killeen, Texas, where the
War Department established Camp Hood on 30 January 1942, expressly for
the use of the growing tank destroyer establishment. 46 There the center was
redesignated the Tank Destroyer Command on 14 March 1942, but again

The M-6 tank destroyer

 29

renamed the Tank Destroyer Center on 17 August. Camp Hood became the
nexus of all tank destroyer activity, from the training of individuals to the
activation of units and the development of doctrine and equipment:n
The heart of the Camp Hood establishment was the Unit Training Cen-
ter, which organized and trained new battalions. It was eventually aug-
mented by an Individual Training Center and a Replacement Training Cen-
ter that accommodated personnel not yet assigned to battalions. A Tank
Destroyer School provided specialized technical training to key officers and
men. Eventually Camp Hood also came to include a Tank Destroyer Officer
Candidate School. Camp Hood was also home to the Tank Destroyer Board,
which wrote doctrine and studied technical matters involving equipment
and weapons.

The M-10 tank destroyer

Training at Camp Hood was in large measure driven by the extra-

ordinary emphasis that FM 18-5 placed on the elan and spirit of tank de-
stroyer personnel. The manual called for "the inculcation of courageous but
intelligent aggressiveness, the willingness to assume responsibility in the
absence of orders, and the exercise of initiative and forethought in making
instantaneous decisions to meet any change in any situation."48 Thus, a
"major objective of training must be the development of aggressive individ-
uals and units whose skill with weapons have instilled in them confidence
in their ability to destroy the enemy both at long range and in close
combat."49
The "close combat" referred to was also discussed in FM 18-5 under
the heading, "Dismounted Tank Hunting." Tank hunting, which was to be
conducted by crews from disabled tank destroyers and by the battalion
security elements, involved both ambushing tanks on the move and raiding
tank parks with small arms, grenades, mines, and improvised weapons. 50
An important feature of the Camp Hood training facilities was the Tank
Hunting Course (later renamed Battle Conditioning), an innovative course
designed to acquaint personnel with dismounted combat. Patterned after
30

courses used in the training of British commandos, the Tank Hunting Course
in many ways epitomized the essence of tank destroyer training. It consisted
of a simulated battlefield that the trainees negotiated while, for the first
time in Army history, live fire grazed overhead. The course included a simu-
lated "Nazi village" complete with surprise targets and traps.
As the course evolved in sophistication, trainees eventually spent a full
week on it under battle conditions. 51 Excellent gunnery ranges and vast
areas of open ground facilitated the training of tank destroyer personnel
and units in the more conventional antitank skills.
By World War II standards, the training program at Camp Hood ranked
with the best. The camp grew into an enormous complex that at its peak
had twenty-eight battalions and eight groups in training at one time. Al-
though other branches of the Army were using some of the facilities by the
end of the war, Camp Hood remained the focal point of tank destroyer
development and training.

The M-4 Sherman tank,

which provided the chassis
for the M-10 tank destroyer

However, even as the first tank destroyer units underwent preparations

for their first trial by combat, some serious problems within the tank de-
stroyer establishment were becoming manifest. One of these was the rela-
tively unproven status of tank destroyer doctrine. FM 18-5 had been hur-
riedly produced at Camp Hood in relative isolation from the rest of the
Army. Neither the full doctrine nor the newer self-propelled weapons had
ever undergone large-scale maneuvers in conjunction with the other arms.
Furthermore, General Bruce himself was dissatisfied with at least one
major aspect of tank destroyer doctrine. On 7 January 1942 and again on
2 June, he unsuccessfully recommended to McNair that a tank destroyer
battalion be made an organic element of each division and that all bat-
talions in a reserve status be assigned specifically to some command. 52 Bruce
feared that under the loose attachment and pooling policies favored by
General McNair that tank destroyer units would be preyed upon for replace-
 31
ments for the line units. On the other hand, if tank destroyers were an
integral part of the division or corps, Br.uce felt that it would be in the
better interests of the higher commanders to protect the integrity of tank
destroyer units. 53
Another problem that marred the tank destroyer program in its infancy
was the abbreviated training time that some of the early battalions received.
AGF timetables dictated that several battalions undergo as little as seven
weeks of training before being shipped out for North Africa, rather than
the two to three months normally alloted to unit training. Consequently,
even some of the best trained of the tank destroyer personnel had reserva-
tions about their qualifications for combat. In addition, the deliberate culti-
vation of elan was not equally successful in all individuals, and some trainees
questioned the value of such melodramatic and dangerous aspects of tank
destroyer doctrine as dismounted tank hunting. 54

The M-3 tank destroyer

during training

I, I
il

! I

Much of the weaponry that the tank destroyer units employed in their
combat initiation was expedient equipment that would make the execution
of doctrine even harder. The M-6 was virtually unarmored, badly undergun-
ned, and was never intended for combat, but it saw action in North Africa.
The M-3 was little better, especially considering that the poorly armored
and armed half-track would be engaging some of the world's best tanks. 55
General Bruce disliked the M-lO, even though it was by far the best of the
expedient weapons.
The most serious problem facing the tank destroyers in 1942 was the
unpleasant fact that they were joining an Army that was largely ignorant
of tank destroyer doctrine. A radio warning net, road priority, and coordi-
nation with other arms were vital to the tank destroyer mission, but all of
these factors depended upon higher commanders who were poorly informed,
if not wholly misinformed, about tank destroyers. To correct this situation,
32

General Bruce held the first of a series of indoctrination CO"drses for generals
and general staff officers on 30 November 1942-three weeks after Operation
Torch began and eight days after the first tank destroyer battalion entered
combat in North Africa. 56
 3
_Ta_n_k_D_e_s_t_,o_y_e_'_S_u_n_d_e_'_F_I_"e_~1 ~ I
The war that awaited the u.s. Army in N orih Africa did not lend itself
to the successful implementation of tank destroyer doctrine. The tank de-
stroyer concept arose from a perceived need to counter the blitzkrieg, but in
North Africa, the Allies, not the Axis, held the initiative. Moreover, tank
destroyers discovered that German panzer doctrine bore little relationship
to the headstrong tank tactics described in FM 18-5.
The most outstanding characteristic of German armored doctrine was
the close integration of tanks,. antitank guns, infantry, artillery, and aircraft
into a combined arms team. As the British Eighth Army had already learned
at great cost, German tanks almost invariably operated under the protective
fire of a superb antitank screen. Typically, fearsome 88-mm antiaircraft-
antitank guns, flanked by lighter pieces and protected by infantry, covered
all German tank movements from concealed overwatch positions. Even when
on the offensive, the Germans made every effort to support tank elements
with antitank and artillery pieces. The British veterans knew well what
the Americans were to learn: any attempt by tanks (or tank destroyers) to
attack German mechanized elements, even those that appeared to be isolated
and vulnerable, was likely to bring down a murderous converging fire from
concealed antitank guns. Any Allied attack that did not provide for the
neutralization of this antitank defense risked defeat and disaster. 1
The tank destroyers would even find it difficult to stand on the defensive
and ambush attacking German armor, for German tanks rarely attacked
blindly or recklessly. An American armored officer reported that "when the
German tanks come out, they stay out of range and sit and watch. Then
they move a little, stop, and watch some more. They have excellent glasses
[binoculars] and they use them carefully. They always seem to make sure
of what they are going to do and where they are going before they
move .... "2 Major General Orlando Ward, commander of the 1st Armored
Division in Tunisia, remarked that advancing German tanks sometimes
moved so slowly that it was necessary for the observer to line up the
German vehicles against a terrain feature in order to be sure that they
were moving at all. 3
33
34

I1I1

The German dual-purpose

88-mm antiaircraft-antitank
gun

II'

Typically, German tanks in the attack enjoyed the close cooperation of

the other arms. Not only did the advancing panzers endeavor to bring their
antitank screen and supporting artillery with them, but infantry would also
be .available to reconnoiter minefields and assist the tanks in utilizing every
available terrain feature. The actual tank assault involved the support of
artillery, infantry, and lfircraft that helped neutralize the defender's antitank
guns and create gaps in his defenses. 4
Thus, the tank destroyers would find themselves at an immediate dis-
advantage.Their doctrine, force structuring, and weaponry prepared them
to deal exclusively with tanks. In North Africa, the battle was not tank
destroyer against tank but tank destroyer against an integrated, combined
arms force conducting a skillful defense.
The qualitative superiority of German weaponry made it even harder
for tank destroyers to execute their mission. FM 18-5 implied that tank
destroyers would enjoy a significant superiority in firepower over enemy
armor. By 1943, however, the German arsenal included the Mark IV panzer,
mounting a long-barreled, high-velocity 75-mm gun that fired a tungsten
carbide antitank round, and the massive Mark VI Tiger tank, which carried
a version. of the deadly 88-mm gun. By comparison, the expedient M-3 tank
destroyer mounted a 75-mm gun (originally designed in 1897) that was not
really an antitank gun at all. With a maximum armor thickness of .625
inches, the M-3 was terribly vulnerable to all but small-arms fire. S The M-6
was much worse. In the words of an AGF observer, "The sending of such
a patently inadequate destroyer into combat can at best be termed a tragic
mistake."6 Its only armor was a .25-inch gun shield. The gun itself was the
37-mm antitank piece that FM 18-5 said was effective to a range of five
 35

hundred yards. 7 In practice, the 37-mm was effective only against the. sides
and rears of most tanks, and that at under four hundred yards. 8 One 37-mm
gun of the BOlst Tank Destroyer Battalion scored five hits on a German
Mark IV at one thousand yards with no observed effect. 9 Against the Tiger,
37-mm guns were ineffective at virtually any range.

A captured Mark IV panzer

mounting the high-velocity
75-mm gun

Significantly, the organic antitank gun of the U.S. infantry division

was the same inadequate 37-mm weapon. Tank destroyer doctrine assumed
that the infantry would be capable of basic self-defense against tanks so
that tank destroyers could be kept back in reserve. In 1942 and 1943, organic
antitank defense in the infantry division consisted of an antitank company
in each regiment, plus a platoon in each rifle battalion, all armed with the
37-mm gun. Infantry antitank gunners reported that the towed 37-mm was
truly effective against tanks only if perfectly camouflaged and fired at
point-blank range. lO A hollow-charge, rocket-propelled antitank grenade (the
bazooka) became available in the middle of the Tunisian campaign, but
this, too, was a short-range weapon, and the infantry had no training in
its use. Tanks and tank destroyers would be pressed into frontline defense
to help protect the infantry from tanks, in direct contradiction to the doctrine
of both arms.
American forces attained a semblance of qualitative parity with the
Germans in antitank firepower late in the Tunisian campaign with the
advent of the M-lO tank destroyer. This weapon, with its three-inch, high-
velocity gun, fully rotating turret, and robust tank chassis was indeed an
excellent weapon by 1943 standards.l1 The similarly armed M-18, which first
saw combat in Italy, was also a welcome addition to the arsenal. Events
would prove, however, that even when armed with adequate weapons, the
tank destroyers could do little to alter the tactical and strategic circum-
stances that militated against their employment in accordance with doctrine.
The division commanders at the front could hardly be expected to allow
the thirty-six self-propelled guns of each tank destroyer battalion to lay
idle simply because battlefield realities did not conform with FM 18-5. Thus,
the stage was set for wide-scale misemployment of tank destroyers.
36
A total of seven tank destroyer battalions participated in the North
African campaign, which began on 8 November 1942 with Allied landings
in Morocco and Algeria and ended in May 1943 with the capture of Tunis
and Bizerte in Tunisia. Two battalions, the 601st and 701st, were the only
ones to see action until mid-February. These units were originally drawn
from the 1st Infantry and 1st Armored Divisions, respectively. They were
organized under the 8 June 1942 tables (one of the three platoons in each
company being a light platoon) and were equipped with the M-3 and M-6
weapons.
The honor of being the first tank destroyer battalion to see combat fell
to the 701st. On 22 November 1942, Company B of the 701st, with a recon-
naissance platoon attached, arrived in Feriana, Tunisia, after a six-day road
march. At Feriana, the company commander received orders to assault and
capture the town of Gafsa, a mission completely at variance with tank de-
stroyer doctrine. Company B approached the task without infantry or artil-
lery support and in the "absolute absence of any information on the enemy
forces."12 Upon reaching Gafsa, the company's two M-3 platoons deployed
and shot their way into the town. (The company commander wisely kept
his platoon of M-6s in reserve.) Surprisingly, the attack succeeded without
loss. The M-3s pushed on and managed to ambush a body of enemy tanks
at nearby EI Guettar, destroying four without losing an M-3. On the next
day, Company B drove the enemy out of Sbeitla in a similar operation,
destroying eleven Axis tanks in the process. The company commander attri-
buted this feat to "our boldness [that] was matched only by the enemy's
utter disregard for the remotest pretense of local security."13
In these first three tank destroyer actions, Company B took 400 prisoners
and claimed fifteen enemy tanks destroyed.1 4 Back at Camp Hood, instruc-
tors at the tank destroyer school passed this account on to their students
but accompanied it with a warning: "Do not expect to use your tank de-
stroyers in this manner and succeed in a majority of cases."15
The curious engagements at Gafsa and Sbeitla were an encouraging
initiation to combat, but they did little to test the capabilities of tank de-
stroyers in their primary mission. Such an opportunity arose between 14
and 22 February 1943 in the course of a German counteroffensive known
generally as the battle of Kasserine Pass. Along with other elements in the
U.S. Army, the tank destroyers were found wanting.
Like most U.S. units in Tunisia, the tank destroyer battalions involved
in the Kasserine battle were fragmented and dispersed. The 60lst and 701st
Tank Destoyer Battalions, still scattered about in companies and by now
understrength due to attrition, were thrashed piecemeal by Field Marshal
Erwin Rommel's veterans of the Libyan desert. The initial 14 February as-
sault of the 10th and 21st Panzer Divisions at Sidi-bou-Zid swept away
Company A, 701st Tank Destroyer Battalion, along with Combat Command
A, 1st Armored Division. Is On the following day, Company C of the 70lSt
joined the 1st Armored Division's Combat Command C in an incredibly ill-
conceived counterattack aimed at recapturing the Sidi-bou-Zid position and.
was badly battered in the ensuing German ambush,17 .
 37

A damaged Mark VI Tiger

tank being inspected by
U.S. troops

Elements of the 601st, numbering less than a. company, participated in

the defense of SbeitIa on 16 February. The tank destroyers were placed in
advance of the main defensive position held by Combat Command B, 1st
Armored Division. They managed to fire effectively for a while against prob-
ing German tanks. Soon, however, German fire proved to be too much for
the men of the tank destroyer security sections, who retreated precipitately
in their unarmored vehicles. The sight of fleeing security troops unnerved
and demoralized the crews of the M-3s. When the tank destroyers attempted
to maneuver to new positions under fire, they lost cohesion and were routed. 18
Although the tank destroyers proved to be unequal to the task of stop-
ping German armor in the open, they eventually did make some important
contributions towards staving off Rommel's attack. On 21-22 February, the
combined fire of tanks, artillery, and elements of the 601st and 894th Tank
Destroyer Battalions halted the westward Axis thrust at Djebel el Hamra. 19
One month after Kasserine, enemy tanks challenged an intact tank de-
stroyer battalion for the first time. The action took place at EI Guettar,
where the 601st stood in defense of the 1st Infantry Division's communica-
tions and artillery. Except for friendly artillery, the tank destroyers were
unsupported. On 23 March, about fifty tanks of the 10th Panzer Division
attacked the 601st, which still used the expedient M-3 weapon. A company
of the 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion, equipped with M-lOs, advanced to
reinforce the 601st but was slow in arriving due to traffic and minefields.
The tank destroyers, employing the fire-and-movement tactics prescribed by
38

doctrine, turned back the Axis attack and accounted for a reported thirty
enemy tanks destroyed. But the victory was dearly bought-about twenty
of the twenty-eight M-3s engaged, plus seven of the new M-I0s, were lost. 20
The costly victory at EI Guettar stands alone as the only engagement
of the North African and Italian campaigns in which a united tank destroyer
battalion met and stopped a concerted tank attack, In fact, it was increas-
ingly rare for tank destroyer battalions to be held back in antitank reserve.
Battalion commanders noted that the concept "whereby tank destroyer units
sat in rear areas awaiting sudden commitment to violent tank action [was]
psychologically unsound." Experience showed that if tank destroyers were
not on hand when the enemy tank attack started, they were unlikely to
arrive in time to influence the outcome. 21 Moreover, attempts to bring the
large tank destroyer weapons forward through established positions fre-
quently resulted in the inadvertent destruction of communication wires. 22

I
I
II
An M-6 tank destroyer in
North Africa

Rather than holding the tank destroyers in reserve, higher commanders

in North Africa and Italy tended to distribute tank destroyer battalions to
the divisions, where they served to bolster the infantry's inadequate organic
antitank defenses. Once attached to a division, the tank destroyer battalion
was almost invariably fragmented into companies or even platoons_ Report-
edly, there was at least one instance of tank destroyers in Tunisia being
parceled out singly to rifle platoons. 23 During the Anzio battle in Italy, two
tank destroyer platoons were attached to an independent tank battalion that
was, in turn, attached to the 45th Division. 24
Such dispersal proved to be an administrative nightmare. In theory,
the flow of logistics for tank destroyer units passed from field army or
corps, through the tank destroyer battalion headquarters, to the fighting
companies and platoons. In practice, isolated tank destroyer elements often
found it difficult to procure such basics as hot food and dental care25 because
neither army, corps, nor battalion could keep track of them. One tank de-
stroyer unit is reported to have requested fuel and ammunition from the
division it was attached to and to have received gasoline and 75-mm shells
 39

in return. Unfortunately, the M-IO tank destroyer used diesel fuel and three-
inch ammunition. z6
The personnel and maintenance requirements of "orphaned" tank de-
stroyer units frequently went unfulfilled, and weaknesses in leadership often
went undetected or uncorrected. All of these problems stemmed from the
same cause: tank destroyer elements were not organic to any command,
hence no command felt constrained to look after their well-being. Shifting
tank destroyer elements from one division to another exacerbated such
problems and disrupted the development of tank destroyer teamwork with
the other arms, a relationship that was vital to their success on the
battlefield. 27
Typically, tank destroyer companies and platoons attached to infantry
formations were sent to the front to supplement the inadequate antitank
guns and bazookas of the infantry regiment. With the exception of increas-
ingly rare armored counterthrusts, German tanks, on their part, tended to
operate in small numbers and in conjunction with infantry forces, thus
making it necessary for tank destroyers to cover wide sections of the front. 28
Like all large weapons, tank destroyers tended to draw enemy artillery fire,
making it necessary to dig them into positions located away from the in-
fantry, very often on unfavorable ground. 29 Tank destroyer crews learned
the importance of digging good positions, concealing their weapons carefully,
and holding fire until enemy tanks came into effective range. 30 Such tech-
niques were more akin to the antitank methods of the Germans and the
British than they were to prescribed tank destroyer doctrine. FM 18-5 de-
scribed tank destroyer action as often taking place after enemy tanks broke
through friendly lines,31 but according to Major General E. M. Harmon,
armored division commander in North Africa and Italy, "It is a fixed rule
and a point of honor that neither our tanks or tank destroyers will permit
their infantry to be overrun by hostile tanks, no matter what it costs to
themselves."32
Clearly, the battlefield commanders in Tunisia and Italy contravened
the most basic principles of tank destroyer doctrine. Instead of maintaining
a tank destroyer reserve for defense-in-depth against massed enemy armor,
commanders employed tank destroyers in a frontline cordon defense. Con-
sidering the diffuse nature of the Axis armored threat, such employment
made sense. Adherence to FM 18-5 did not.
Although tank destroyer doctrine held little utility in North Africa and
Italy, this is not to suggest that the tank destroyers themselves were useless.
In addition to contributing significantly to frontline antitank firepower, tank
destroyer battalions, on their own, developed new missions that were not to
be found in FM 18-5. The battalion that pioneered the development of
secondary missions was apparently the 776th, commanded by Lieutenant
Colonel James P. Barney. Barney, like many other tank destroyer officers,
was an artilleryman. (Of the traditional arms, Field Artillery felt the closest
kinship to the fledgling tank destroyers.) As a gunner, his instincts rebelled
at the thought of leaving the battalion's thirty-six tubes idle in the absence
40

of an enemy tank threat. To provide employment for his battalion, Barney

worked out techniques and procedures for using tank destroyers as indirect-
fire artiUeryin support of the howitzers of division artillery. Other battalions
were quick to emulate the 776th.
Barney divided his three companies into two six-gun batteries, rather
than the three four-gun platoons specified in the tables of organization.
This restructuring freed some platoon officers to act as observers and pro-
duced a battery with approximately the same firepower as a standard bat-
tery of four 105-mm howitzers.33 He then placed each company in support
of an artillery battalion. The tank destroyer companies commonly operated
their own fire direction centers but, lacking sophisticated equipment, relied
on division artillery to help with surveys.34
The thirty-six three-inch guns mounted on Barney's M-lOs equaled the
number of tubes found in three field artillery battalions. Moreover, the
three-inch weapons complemented the lO5-mm howitzers nicely. They could
reach out to fourteen thousand yards-four thousand yards farther than
the 105-mm.35 The three-inch weapon was very accurate, and its shell arrived
on target with little warning. The burst radius of the three-inch shell was
about equal to that of the 105-mm, but its instantaneous burst reduced the
amount of cratering sustained by roads in the path of friendly forces. More-
over,. three-inch rounds were cheaper and, being smaller, easier to transport
than 105-mm shells. These qualities made the three-inch tank destroyer gun
ideal for long-range harassment and interdiction, freeing the artillery's howit-
zers for close-range missions requiring heavier meta1. 36
The fully tracked M-IO was itself a good gun mount. The tank destroyers
could displace and occupy new positions with a minimum of site prepara-
tion. Especially when dug in and provided with an improvised turret cover,
the M-IO was relatively immune to counterbattery fire. Moreover, the M-IOs
sought out reverse slopes as artillery positions (to supplement the elevation
of the gun), leaving the level ground for towed artillery.37 In Italy, it was
discovered that the M-IO could tow a 105-mm howitzer during displacements,
freeing the howitzer's prime mover to haul ammunition and supplies. 3s
But the employment of tank destroyers as reinforcing artillery was not
without its drawbacks. Constant firing wore out the high-velocity tubes
relatively quickly.39 Although tank destroyers maintained a basic load of
antitank ammunition even when serving as artillery, the secondary mission,
nonetheless, interfered with their ability to train for the antitank rol~. Some
battalions split their companies between artillery and antitank missions to
mai,ntain a degree of antitank readiness. 4o These drawbacks notwithstanding;
battalion commanders agreed that morale improved when tank destroyers
were employed in meaningful missions all the time, be they antitank or
artillery. 41
Barney's 776th Tank Destroyer Battalion discovered that when placed
well forward in the lines, tank destroyers could fulfill another valuable
secondary mission-that of direct-support artillery. Late in the Tunisian
campaign, the 776th found itself in support of an attacking tank unit. Prior
 41

to the armored assault, the tank destroyers methodically shot up all poten-
tial German· defensive positions with their powerful three-inch guns. The
tanks attacked without loss to antitank guns and discovered that the Ger-
man defenses had been thoroughly demolished by the destroyers' fire. The
776th built upon this experience and developed a leapfrog technique that
allowed the tank destroyers to maintain continuous direct-fire support for
advancing friendly elements. 42
The direct~fire mission was especially important in Italy, where tank
destroyers provided covering fire for tanks that, being better armored, closed
with and destroyed enemy positions impeding the advance of the foot sol-
diers. Thus, tank destroyers supported tanks, and tanks supported infantry.
During the September 1944 assault on the Gothic Line, specially trained
tank destroyer gunners supported the advance by placing rounds through
the small gun embrasures of German pillboxes at a range of fifteen hundred
yards. Even when openings could not be hit, the high-velocity rounds were
quite effective against concrete fortifications. 43 Tank destroyers were so
valuable as armored self-propelled assault guns that one battalion in Italy
functioned exclusively in the direct-support role for four months. 44
Ironically, the Tank Destroyer Center at Camp Hood had suggested the
use of tank destroyers against fortifications in 1942 but had backed off
when accused of overselling the tank destroyer product. 45 The secondary
artillery roles, which were developed entirely by units in the combat theaters,
proved to be so successful that early in 1943, AGF directed the Unit Train-
ing Center at Camp Hood to institute supplemental training in indirect
Iaying. 46

III II
M-10 tank destroyer in Italy

I
42

The successes attained in secondary roles did not, however, counteract

a growing dissatisfaction with the tank destroyer program as a whole.
Commanders at division and lower echelons welcomed the tank destroyers
for their versatility and firepower, but higher commanders, as a rule, never
reconciled themselves with the concept of an aggressive, offensive antitank
arm. Acccording to FM 18-5, "offensive" tank destroyer action took the
form of attacking tanks by fire, not by engaging them in "slugging
matches."47 This distinction was too fine, if nQt downright ambiguous-
especially for a field manual. Higher commanders were not alone in failing
to differentiate between "offensive action'" and "slugging matches," for there
were instances in Tunisia of tank destroyers actually charging enemy tanks. 48
On 21 March 1943, Allied Forces Headquarters (AFHQ-General Eisen-
hower's theater headquarters for North Africa) issued a training memo that
sought to tone down the aggressive orientation of tank destroyer doctrine:
While it is true that tank destroyer battalions constitute a mobile reserve
of antimechanized fire power with which to meet a hostile tank attack,
numerous encounters have shown that their characteristics are such as to
prohibit their use offensively, either to seek out the hostile tanks in advance
of our lines or to meet and shoot it out with them in the open ....
The statement in FM 18-5 that they are designed for offensive action will
not be construed to the contrary.49

Major Allerton Cushman, an observer for AGF and the Tank Destroyer
Center who witnessed the Tunisian operation firsthand from December 1942
to March 1943, filed a report bearing similar conclusions. He stated that
the M-3 and M-lD tank destroyers
can not be used offensively to seek out enemy tanks in advance of our lines
or to engage in "slugging" matches with them in the open. Any attempt to
do so will subject them to destruction by the enemy's AT guns, against which
their flat trajectory fire is ineffective. 5o
Troops in Africa have .found that the best way to meet a German tank attack
is from concealed, dug-in positions with routes reconnoitered to alternate
firing positions. 51 .

Tank hunting, i.e., dismounted men going out after tanks with sticky gre-
nades, Molotov cocktails, etc., is fine in theory but is considered ridiculous
by troops who are in actual war. 52

. Significantly, Cushman found no requirement for a high-speed tank de-

stroyer. He noted that cross-country mobility counted for much more than
road speed because the speed of a particular vehicle was seldom reflected
by the speed of the. unit to which it belonged. Cushman considered the M-10
to be a fine weapon, combining excellent firepower and cross-country mobil-
ity with adequate armor protection. 53
Although both AFHQ and Major Cushman faulted tank destroyer doc-
trine primarily for 'its overemphasis on aggressiveness, other officers who
took at face value FM 18-5'8 call for "offensive action" condemned the
entire tank destroyer concept. Major General John P. Lucas, a friendM
 43

General Jacob L. Devers

McNair's and Marshall's special observer in Tunisia, reported that "the Tank
Destroyer has, in my opinion, failed to prove its usefullness [sic] ... I believe
that the doctrine of an offensive weapon to 'slug it out' with the tank is
unsound." In place of the MelO, he called for a "purely defensive" weapon. 54
All three men who commanded the U.S. II Corps in Tunisia, Major Generals
Lloyd R. Fredendall, George S. Patton, and Omar N. Bradley, expressed
their dissatisfaction with the aggressive, self-propelled tank destroyer. 55
General Harmon, who commanded the 2d Armored Division in North
Africa, stated flatly that "there is no need for tank destroyers. I believe the
whole organization [and] development of the tank destroyer will be a great
mistake of the war. Had more powerful guns been installed in American
tanks, tank destroyers would have been unnecessary."56 Lieutenant General
Jacob L. Devers, chief of the Armored Force, who toured North Africa in
the winter of 1942-43 (and who would one day command AGF), agreed:
"The separate tank destroyer arm is not a practical concept on the battle-
field. Defensive antitank weapons are essentially artillery. Offensively the
weapon to beat the tank is a better tank."57
Even the Chief of Staff, General Marshall, who had played a major
role in instigating the tank destroyer program, was dissatisfied. His come
plaint centered on training, rather than doctrine. While in North Africa for
the Casablanca Conference of January 1943, he came across a tank destroyer
44

battalion in such a low state of readiness that he was moved to fire off a
direct reprimand to General Bruce:
What I want to draw to your personal attention is that this unit displayed
a lack of disciplinary leadership and training that was glaring and meant
that it was not useable for any battle against the Germans until it had
been reconstituted. The men were all right, the training was seriously
wrong ... this is the second time there has come to my attention a deficiency
in the ordinary fundamentals of discipline in Tank Destroyer units .... Such
procedure is unacceptable to me .... From a superficial point of view it
would appear that you have concentrated too much on tactics and technique
in comparison with the attention you are giving the fundamentals of disci-
pline. 58

Bruce satisfied himself that the major fault of the battalion in question
was its commander, not its training. 59 However, Bruce's onetime chief of
staff agreed with Marshall that training at Camp Hood overemphasized
technical training at the expense of discipline. 60 Furthermore, observers re-
ported that tank destroyers, in common with many other elements in the
Army, received insufficient training in combined arms prior to combat. This
was particularly true for the training conducted at Camp Hood, for it was
AGF policy to stress branch training, rather than combined arms training,
in the new elements such as armored, tank destroyer, and antiaircraft
artillery. 61
The adverse reports that bombarded Washington and Camp Hood in
1943 contributed to a sharp decline in the power and influence of the tank
destroyer establishment. The actual status of the tank destroyers within
the Army had never been closely defined, thus the tank destroyer program
was particularly vulnerable to the negative recommendations that emanated
from officers of high rank and combat experience.
In fact, the institutional status of the tank destroyers had begun to
slip even before the North African campaign. The redesignation of the Tank
Destroyer Command as the Tank Destroyer Center in August 1942 reflected
a sharp restriction of authority. As a center, the tank destroyer facility at
Camp Hood was strictly a training establishment, meaning that General
Bruce's authority extended no farther than the boundaries of the post. Once
a tank destroyer battalion was trained and delivered to a' tactical head-
quarters, it ceased to have any formal connection with the Tank Destroyer
Center.62
The center itself began to close down some of its training activities as
early as October 1943 because the demand for tank destroyers in the theaters
of operations was much lower than had been anticipated. In 1941, Bruce
had projected an eventual establishment of 220 battalions,63 but the troop
basis for 1943 called for only 144.64 In the event, only 106 tank destroyer
battalions were active by the end of 1943, but even these exceeded demand.
Sixty-one battalions participated in the European war, ten sailed to the
Pacific theaters, but thirty-five never shipped out at all,s5 having been "ren-
dered surplus by the changing pattern of the war,"66 Eleven of the thirty-
 45
five were redesignated as armored field artillery, amphibious tractor, or tank
battalions. The remainder were eventually inactivated or broken up for their
manpower. 57
The surviving tank destroyer battalions were much smaller than the
original battalions activated in 1942. To alleviate shipping problems, and
later a manpower shortage, AGF enforced a policy of reducing the manpower
and motor transport in all units. 58 A new tank destroyer table of organi-
zation, approved on 27 January 1943, called for 673 men, down from 898.
The reduction was accomplished by eliminating the antiaircraft section in
each platoon (in accordance with combat experience),69 combing out adminis-
trative and support troops, and combining the nine-man platoon headquarters
with the twelve-man security section to form a twelve-man headquarters
and security section. 70 Thus, the tank destroyer battalion underwent a man-
power reduction of about 25 percent without surrendering any antitank tubes
(see figure 7).
As the tank destroyer establishment declined in status and size, it had
to fend off attempts to consolidate its diminished functions with those of
the other arms. In 1942, General Devers of the Armored Force made an
unsuccessful bid to take over tank destroyer training activities. In the fol-

36 officers
1 warrant officer
636 enlisted men
36 3-inch or 76-mm AT SP

HQ

2 guns each
Figure 7. Tank destroyer battalion (SP). 1943
46

lowing year, AGF proposed the assimilation of the tank destroyer arm by
the Field Artillery. It took the combined protests of the Tank Destroyer
Center and the Field Artillery School to thwart the merger. Even so, Field
Artillery became the official branch of all tank destroyer enlisted personneL 71
In 1944, the War Department announced a plan to consolidate the Tank
Destroyer School with the Armored School, and it did in fact merge the
Tank Destroyer Officer Candidate School with that of the Armored Com-
mand at Fort Knox. The training activities remaining at Camp Hood were
detached from Tank Destroyer Center control and placed directly under the
authority of AGF's Replacement and School Command. Even the Tank De-
stroyer Board was lost to the center when it became an appendage of Head-
quarters, AGF.72
The tank destroyer establishment felt its decline most keenly when it
began to lose the freedom to determine and promulgate tank destroyer doc-
trine. The confusion over "offensive action" that marred tank destroyer
operations in Tunisia led AGF to demand that the Tank Destroyer Center
rewrite FM 18-5. 73 The work was promptly undertaken, and by May 1943,
General Bruce possessed a revision of the original manual that he expected
would soon be published. However, over a year would pass before the center,
AGF, and the War Department could agree on a new version of FM 18-5. 74
The leaders of the tank destroyer establishment would not admit that
their much maligned doctrine was, in truth, fundamentally flawed. General
Bruce claimed that the problems with tank destroyer doctrine were "a mis-
interpretation of words more than anything else."75 He explained that the
motto-Seek, Strike, and Destroy-had always meant vigorous reconnaissance
and destruction of tanks by gunfire, not chasing or charging tanks. 76 Al-
though Bruce continued to believe in the basic tank destroyer concepts,
during May 1943 he made a number of important doctrinal concessions. In
a significant departure from the original tank destroyer doctrine, Bruce told
the instructors of the Tank Destroyer School that "our tank destroyer mis-
sion is to protect other troops from tank attacks ... , "77 whereas FM 18-5
(1942) had stated unequivocably that the mission was the destruction of
enemy tanks. Bruce used the same phrase in the cover letter to a Tank
Destroyer Center training circular dated 15 May 1943 that was sent to all
tank destroyer units for guidance until a revised FM 18-5 appeared. The
circular employed the words "aggressive spirit," rather than "offensive ac-
tion," to describe tank destroyer characteristics. It further stated that "stealth
and deception" characterized tank destroyer tactics and warned that tank
destroyers were "particularly vulnerable to antitank fire."78
Thus, Bruce and the Tank Destroyer Center, under pressure from over-
seas criticism and from AGF, wrote "offensive action" out of tank destroyer
doctrine, but they stood fast on the viability of high-mobility, high-firepower
tank destroyers. When AGF ordered the center to begin testing a towed
tank destroyer battalion in January 1943, Bruce resisted. General McNair
agreed with the veteran commanders of the Tunisian campaign that at least
some battalions should be armed with the more easily concealed towed gun,
 47

but in the eyes of the tank destroyer establishment, the self-propelled gun
remained the centerpiece of doctrine. The specially designed M-18, upon
which the hopes of tank destroyer advocates rested, was still a year away
from full production.
Bruce's objections proved futile and on 31 March 1943, AGF ordered
the conversion of fifteen battalions then in training at Camp Hood from
self-propelled to towed. Eventually, AGF ordered that half of all tank de-
stroyer battalions adopt the towed gun. 79 A table of organization for the
towed battalion became official on 7 May 1943. It was similar to that of
the self-propelled battalion except that there was no reconnaissance company;
instead, two reconnaissance platoons were placed in the battalion headquar-
ters company. The need for larger gun crews and more security troops raised
the battalion's complement to 816 officers and men. SO Ordnance quickly pro-
duced a version of the three-inch gun, towed by a half-track troop carrier,
to arm the new battalions (see figure 8).81
The towed tank destroyer battalion demonstrated significant drawbacks
almost immediately. Instructors at Camp Hood found that towed units re-
quired a completely new program of tactical and technical instruction. 82
When towed battalions first entered combat in Italy, they compared unfa-
vorably to self-propelled tank destroyers. Battalion commanders generally

34 officers
2 warrant officers
780 enlisted men
36 3-inch AT (towed)

HO

•••
••• ••• ••• •••
LSJBOO~
2 guns each
Figure 8_ Tank destroyer battalion (towed), 1943
48

agreed that the towed gun was easier to conceal than the M-10 or M-18 but
found that it was harder to man and fire in the forward areas and that it
was not readily adaptable to the secondary missions that made self-propelled
tank destroyers so valuable. 83 The towed gun was simply a less versatile
weapon, and it appeared at a time when the versatility of the self-propelled
tank destroyer was one of the few bright spots of the entire program.
Ironically, the day of the towed antitank gun was passing on all fronts
of the European war. The difficulty of concealing the self-propelled tank
destroyer in the open terrain of North Africa, which had generated many
calls for towed guns, was not common to Italy or western Europe. In the
east, both the German and Soviet Armies were turning to self-propelled anti-
tank guns in increasing numbers, even as the U.S. Army adopted towed
tank destroyers.
In sum, the advent of the towed tank destroyer did nothing to resuscitate
the declining tank destroyer establishment. The credibility of the tank de-
stroyer program had been badly and permanently tarnished by adverse
reaction to a doctrine predicated on inaccurate notions of armored warfare
and flawed by a dangerous and unwarranted advocacy of "offensive" tactics.
An apologist could claim that the tank destroyer concept had yet to be
fairly tested, given the piecemeal employment of German armor, the use of
expedient tank destroyer equipment, and the supposed misuse of tank de-
stroyers by higher commanders. However, it must be noted that enemy tanks
were present in both Tunisia and Italy, and that tank destroyers alone
failed to nullify them, in part because tank destroyer doctrine lacked the
flexibility to provide for unanticipated circumstances. Thus, doctrine was
largely abandoned, and the rationale underlying the existence of a tank
destroyer arm brought into question.
The Tank Destroyer Center and Headquarters, AGF, were islands of
faith surrounded by seas of doubt. With the departure of General Bruce to
assume command of the 77th Division in May 1943 and the tragic death of
General McNair in July 1944, the tank destroyer establishment lost its
strongest advocates. The future of tank destroyers in the U.S. Army would
hinge upon their performance in the invasion of northwest Europe, scheduled
for 1944. The invasion would bring the Allies face-to-face with the masters
of blitzkrieg in the decisive campaign of the war.
The European Theater: 4
_A_._P_Y_"_h_k__v_i_c_to_r_y________~I~1

The tank destroyers that fought in the climactic campaigns of World

War II operated under an official doctrine much changed since 1942 and
the days of Seek, Strike, and Destroy. On 18 July 1944, niore than a year
after AGF directed the Tank Destroyer Center to revise its doctrine, the
War Department published a completely new edition of FM 18-5 entitled
Tactical Employment, Tank Destroyer Unit. The new manual covered the
tank destroyer battalion and company and was accompanied by four
smaller manuals that dealt individually with the self-propelled tank de-
stroyer platoon, the towed platoon, the reconnaissance platoon, and the pio-
neer platoon. 1
The changes in tank destroyer doctrine were much more than organiza-
tional in nature. The new manuals incorporated a number of revisions that
reflected the battlefield lessons of North Africa and Italy. For example, the
1944 version of FM 18-5 made no reference to Seek, Strike, and Destroy
or to "offensive" tank destroyer tactics. Instead, it indicated that the "action
of tank destroyers is characterized by an aggressive spirit .... They employ
stealth and deception in opening fire."z Also, "Tank destroyers ambush hos-
tile tanks but do not charge or chase them."3
Tactical mobility, once the keystone of the tank destroyer concept, was
also de-emphasized in FM 18-5 (1944). Whereas the 1942 manual had in-
dicated that mobility, rather than heavy armor, would protect the tank de-
stroyer from enemy fire, the 1944 edition stressed the use of cover and
concealment to compensate for the acknowledged "vulnerability of tank
destroyers to hostile tank, antitank, and artillery fire."4 Tank de~troyers
were advised to fight from their primary firing positions until those posi-
tions became untenable,5 rather than automatically shifting to alternate
positions after firing three or four rounds, as FM 18-5 (1942) had sug-
gested. 6 This change was in keeping with General McNair's belief that
tanks were best fought "by sticking, not maneuvering."7
To compensate for the new restrictions placed on maneuver, the 1944
manual called for the positioning of tank destroyers in depth, in a manner
reminiscent both of the prewar antitank box and of antitank techniques
employed by the Germans in North Africa. Specifically, FM 18-5 (1944)
49
50

recommended that the tank destroyer company commander position two of

his platoons forward and one to the rear and that only one platoon (some-
times the rear one) open fire first, with the other two remaining silent until
the enemy made himself vulnerable by maneuvering against the active guns. 8
FM 18-5 (1944) made no reference to the "semi-independent" nature of
tank destroyer operations but rather laid increased emphasis on combined
arms: "[Tank destroyers] are not capable of independent action, hen.cethey
cooperate closely with other troops."9 The new manual made clear that
since enemy tanks would often be strongly supported by infantry, tank de-
stroyers should be near, or with, friendly infantry whose plans and disposi-
tions were known to the tank destroyers. 1o "The tank destroyer commander
takes advantage of infantry dispositions to protect (his tank destroyers]
against enemy infantry. In turn, the tank destroyer guns help protect the
infantry."ll Another indication of the shift away from the semi-independent
operations postulated in 1942 was the dramatic increase in the amount of
text devoted to the subject of operations conducted directly under division
or corps control-twenty-two pages in FM 18-5 (1944) as opposed to only
five in the 1942 edition.
FM 18-5 (1944) expanded slightly upon the secondary missions that
tank destroyers were capable of executing when not confronted by enemy
armor. Among the missions discussed were those of direct and indirect artil-
lery, roving artillery, pillbox destruction, and direct support of infantry.12
The new manual also offered some helpful guidance on tying tank destroyer
companies in to field artillery units for employment in the artillery role.l 3
In North Africa and Italy, the extensive employment of tank destroyers
in secondary missions had predisposed higher commanders to fragment
tank destroyer units and to detach elements from their battalions. FM 18-5
(1944) suggested that tank destroyer battalions should be employed intact14
but also conceded that fragmentation would occur during secondary mis-
sions 1s and when the enemy used his armor locally in small-scale opera-
tions, necessitating the distribution of tank destroyers among the forward
lines. 1s
The towed tank destroyer, with characteristics differing radically from
those of the self-propelled weapon, had required different methods of employ-
ment on the battlefields of Italy, Accordingly, the 1944 manuals provided
the towed tank destroyer with what amounted to a separate doctrine. The
towed platoon merited a field manual (FM 18-21) similar to, but distinct
from, the manual for the self-propelled platoon (FM 18-20). FM 18-5 (1944)
treated the towed company and battalion concurrently with their self-
propelled counterparts but suggested methods of employing the towed units
that allowed for their lesser mobility and greater vulnerability: towed guns
were declared to be unsuitable for use in isolated outposts; towed tank de-
stroyers were more likely to be pre-positioned and left in position once sited;
and towed battalions would generally be employed to reinforce the organic
antitank guns of a host division and in such a role would engage enemy
tanks within the area occupied by friendly infantry,17 (The planners for the
 51

The three-inch towed

tank destroyer with its
prime mover

I
II
Normandy invasion would make the towed - self-propelled dichotomy com-
plete by assigning towed battalions to each infantry division and retaining
the self-propelled ba.ttalions under higher echelons for employment in the
vintage tank destroyer role.)18
As the foregoing examples demonstrate, FM 18-5 (1944) incorporated a
number of the ,doctrinal modifications that tank destroyer units had devel-
oped in battle and was thus more realistic in tone and content than the
1942 edition it replaced. Taken as a group, these modifications brought tank
destroyer doctrine into closer conformity with the purely defensive doctrine
developed .by the Infantry for the antitank elements organic to the infantry
battalion and regiment. 19 Both doctrines stressed "sticking" rather than
maneuvering, the use of cover and concealment, and close coordination with
the rifle elements.
In other respects, however, FM 18-5 (1944) adhered doggedly to the
original, unproven, tank destroyer concept. In 1943, General Bruce had indi-
cated that the mission of tank destroyers was the protection of friendly
forces from enemy tanks, but the 1944 manual returned to the original idea
'that the "primary mission of tank destroyer units is the destruction of hos-
tile tanks by direct gunfire."20 Moreover, FM 18-5 (1944) perpetuated the
notion .that· massed tanks constituted the primary threat, and that tank
destroyers should respond by massing into large units that would travel at
high speeds to intercept the armored penetration behind friendly lines. 21
The new field manual retained a section on tank destroyer groups (and
:even brigades) despite the fact that only one group headquarters had seen
combat to date, and that group had served merely to relay orders from the
'division to tank destroyerbattalions. 22
52
It is true that the concern with massed tanks exhibited in FM 18-5
(1944) was not substantiated by combat experience in Tunisia and Italy,
but it was in accordance with the widely held belief that the liberation of
Europe would provoke the Germans into the massed employment of armor
on a large scale. British General Bernard L. Montgomery, commander of
AHied ground forces for the invasion of Normandy, drew up a plan of opera-
tions that postulated significant armored action by both sides early in the
campaign. Allied intelligence accurately estimated that the Gernian forces
in western Europe included ten panzer divisions, all of which could reach
the Allied beachhead within five days of the first landings. Montgomery
correctly assumed that Field Marshal Rommel, the German commander
charged with defending the coast, planned to launch those panzer divisions
in heavy attacks aimed at breaking up the beachheads pefore the Allies
could consolidate their positions. To forestall the Germans and retain the
initiative, Montgomery's plan called for Allied armored thrusts designed to
seize key terrain and keep Rommel's forces off-balance. 23
These cut-and-thrust sallies on the part of major armored formations
promised much work for the tank destroyers. Original planning estimates
allocated a total of seventy-two tank destroyer battalions to the European
theater (a figure later reduced by about twenty), half of which were to be
towed and half to be self-propelled. The actual invasion forces that sailed
for Normandy included eleven towed and nineteen self-propelled battalions,
although only one of the towed battalions landed with the assault elements,
owing to the vulnerability of the towed weapons system during amphibious
operations. As noted earlier, towed battalions were attached directly to infan-
try divisions, while self-propelled battalions were retained in reserve under
group headquarters at the corps and army echelons.24 Ultimately, fifty-six
tank destroyer battalions, thirteen group headquarters, and one brigade
headquarters would see service in the European theater,25 with tank de-
stroyer personnel accounting for roughly 6 percent of the manpower making
up the four field armies in the theater.26
On the basis of tank destroyer numbers, it would seem that the Ameri-
can forces in Europe should have been adequately protected from the Ger-
man panzers, even given the massive armored assaults that the Germans
were expected to launch against the Allies. In terms of weapons capabilities,
the future looked equally bright. Ordnance tests indicated that tank de-
stroyer guns would be able to penetrate the frontal armor of the massive
Mark VI Tiger tank at a comfortable two thousand yards. 27 Prior to the
invasion, the headquarters of the European Theater of Operations, in re-
sponse to a query from AGF about the need for a more powerfully armed
tank destroyer, indicated that the existing weapons would be adequate. z8
Even the armored units preparing for the invasion,· including veterans of
Tunisia, were satisfied with the current version of the M-4 tank, which
carried a short, general-purpose 75-mm gun.29
Unfortunately, the ordnance tests were in error, and the confidence reo
siding in tank and tank destroyer armament was misplaced. American
troops in Normandy would find themselves unexpectedly vulnerable to the
 53
German panzers. Events would prove that no tank destroyer could reliably
stop a Tiger at any more than fifty yards. 3o The Mark V Panther was not
much easier to destroy, Firing tests conducted in Normandy, utilizing actual
Panther hulks, were to demonstrate that only the 90-mm antiaircraft gun
and the 105-mm howitzer, firing shaped charges, could penetrate the Pan-
ther's frontal armor with any regularity.3t To destroy a Panther, a tank
destroyer with a three-inch or 76-mm gun would have to aim for the side

The German Mark V

Panther tank

or rear of the turret, the opening through which the hull-mounted machine
gun projected, or for the underside of the gun shield (which would occa-
sionally deflect the round downwards into the top deck of the tank),32 More·
over, the Tiger's superb 88-mm gun and the Panther's high·velocity 75-mm
piece could destroy any American armored vehicle with ease. The lapse in
technological planning that sent American tanks and tank destroyers into
Europe with inadequate armament occurred despite the fact that American
troops in the Mediterranean theater had been fighting both the Tiger and
the Panther since 1943.
Almost by accident, a remedy was at hand. In 1942, the Ordnance
Department on its own initiative (and against the wishes of the Tank De-
stroyer Center, which disapproved of expedients) experimentally mounted a
90-mm antiaircraft gun in the modified turret of an M·1O tank destroyer.
The design was standardized as the M·36 in June 1944. 33 On 6 July, exactly
one month after the Normandy landings and less than two months after
assuring AGF that the existing tank destroyers were adequate, the Euro-
pean Theater of Operations requested that all battalions equipped with the
M-10 be converted to the M-36. 34
The M·36 would not arrive in Europe until September 1944, but once it
reached the front, it proved to be the only American armored vehicle that
could match the heavier German tanks in firepower. One M-36 destroyed a
Panther with one round at a range of 3,200 yards,35 and another fired five
rounds at a tank 4,600 yards distant, scored two hits, and disabled the
.tank. 36 The M-36 was equally impressive in the secondary missions. In the
~dlrect-fire role, a 90·mm armor-piercing shell could penetrate 4.5 feet of non-
54

The M-3S tank destroyer

with 90-mm gun

I
reinforced concrete,37 while in the indirect-fire mission, the M-36 could throw
a projectile 19,000 yards. 38
Until the M-36 arrived in quantity, however, the M-10 and M-18 consti-
tuted the best available antitank weapons in the American arsenal. Crews
spoke highly of the M-10, despite its firepower disadvantage, calling it "a
great weapon." They especially admired the M-10 for its versatility and for
the reliability of its twin diesel engines, although they felt that it would be
improved by the addition of a power-traverse turret, a machine gun mounted
for employment against ground targets, and a turret cover for protection
against small-arms fire. Some crews created improvised turret covers, re-
moved the antiaircraft machine gun from the rear of the turret, and re-
mounted it facing forward. 39
British troops also used a version of the M-10, called the Achilles, that
mounted a 17-pounder gun and with which they were extremely satisfied.
The British recognized, though, that even with the high-velocity 17-pounder,
"it [was] suicide deliberately to try to engage in a battle of fire and move-
ment with an enemy tank."40
Tank destroyer crews spoke highly of the M-18 as welL The M-1S, with
its 76-mm gun, was equal to the M-lO in firepower, was more mobile, but it
carried less armor. One observer in Europe noted that the First Army
placed more value on frontal armor than on speed and thus preferred M-10
battalions. On the other hand, the freewheeling Third Army valued the M-18
for its extraordinary mobility, which even enabled it to accompany cavalry
units on reconnaissance missions. 41
Notwithstanding the praise of tank destroyer crews, the fact remained
that once landed in Normandy, the tank destroyers found it highly inadvis-
able to react aggressively to enemy armor, even though every German tank
encountered was by no means a Panther or a Tiger. Fortunately, the full-
blooded panzer counterattack against the beachhead never materialized, for
reasons that included divisiveness in the German high command, Allied
deception measures, French Resistance activities, and Allied control of the
air. The Germans opted instead for a strategy of attrition, whereby they
 55
"roped in" the beachhead with a static defense-in-depth. Thus, the major
problem confronting American troops in Normandy was not the staving off
of massed tanks but rather the rooting out of a stubborn, entrenched
enemy.
The terrain in Normandy is dominated by hedgerows-banks of earth
and tangled vegetation bounding every field-that the Germans converted
into a maze of defensive positions. There, American infantry elements were
bled white in fighting reminiscent of World War I at its worst. The foot
troops desperately needed armored support to facilitate their advance.
According to Army doctrine, this support should have come from indepen-
dent tank battalions attached to the divisions at need, but there were not
enough tank battalions to go around. In the European theater there were,
ultimately, only thirty-seven such battalions, whereas there were forty-seven
infantry and armored divisions,42 all of which needed additional support.
As a consequence, very early in the Normandy campaign, tank de-
stroyers were once more sent directly to the front to fill a void in firepower.
Under the prevailing tactical conditions, towed tank destroyers proved to
be of little use. They could not fire over the hedgerows, could not be pushed
up among the forward positions, and could not displace once they disclosed
their positions. Among the tank destroyer battalions assigned to First Army
during the Normandy fighting, towed battalions on the average accounted
for 5.8 enemy tanks and 4.0 pillboxes each, whereas the average self-
propelled battalion in Normandy destroyed 22.5 panzers and 23.2 pillboxes. 43

An M-10 tank destroyer in

Normandy
56

!I
Infantry riding an M-l0
after the breakout from
Normandy

Of necessity, the self-propelled battalions held in corps reserve were

sent to the front and attached to divisions. These battalions theoretically
remained a part of the corps tank destroyer pool, but in practice, their
attachment to the respective divisions became virtually permanent. Long-
term attachment facilitated the development of teamwork and confidence
between the tank destroyers and the other arms, which prompted tank de-
stroyer officers to observe that the self-propelled battalions should have
been made organic to the divisions from the outset, so that training and
familiarization could have been accomplished prior to combat. 44
Once attached to a division, the tank destroyer battalion was typically
assigned by companies to the infantry regiments, whereupon the regiments
generally assigned a tank destroyer platoon to each battalion. Under these
circumstances, tank destroyer doctrine was fundamentally unworkable and
justifiably abandoned.
The primary task of the tank destroyer became infantry support. When
the infantry attacked, tank destroyers would roll with the advance some
five hundred to eight hundred yards behind the assault elements, shooting
up all potential enemy positions in the path of the infantry. The infantry;
in tum, neutralized antitank positions that threatened the tank destroyer. 45
The armor on the M-lO and M-l8 tank destroyers was adequate to protect
their crews from small-arms fire, and the high velocity and flat trajectory
of their guns made them very effective against enemy strongpoints. The
presence of rapid-firing tank destroyers noticeably eroded enemy morale and
bolstered that of the assaulting infantry.46
In the course of heavy fighting around Saint LO, the 654th Tank De-
stroyer Battalion and the 35th Division to which it was attached developed
an especially effective technique for penetrating hedgerow defenses. One
platoon of four M-lOs was assigned to each regimental sector, where en-
gineers blew gaps in the hedgerows to bring the tank destroyers up to the
front line of infantry. Tank destroyer observers, on foot with the infantry,
guided the M-lOs into position and directed their fire onto enemy machine-.
gun nests in the hedgerow to the front. With enemy fire thus suppressedi
 57

the infantry attacked and cleared the enemy hedgerow. Engineers then
opened paths to bring the tank destroyers forward again to repeat the pro-
cess against the next hedgerow. 47
Following the breakout from Normandy and the race to the German
frontier, tank destroyers re.played their success in direct support missions,
but this time American troops confronted the interlocking fortifications of
the Westwall (known to the Allies as the Siegfried Line), rather than hedge-
rows. From a range of one thousand yards, ten rounds from a tank de-
stroyer gun would penetrate a small pillbox or jam the shutters of a larger
work and would often cause the pillbox crew to surrender. The penetrative
effect of tank destroyer fire was enhanced by aiming all four guns of a
platoon at the same point and firing simultaneously_ The 629th Tank De-
stroyer Battalion (M-IO) discovered that the easiest way to reduce a pillbox
was from the rear-where one three-inch round would blow in the entrance
and one high-explosive round sent through the open doorway invariably
induced the survivors to surrender. 48
The 803d Tank Destroyer Battalion supported infantry in the reduction,
of Westwall fortifications by assigning a platoon of four M-IOs to each in-
fantry assault battalion and providing the tank destroyers with infantry
radios so they could be controlled by the infantry company commanders;
The tank destroyer platoon then engaged a pair of pillboxes at a time,
with one M-IO firing at the embrasure of each pillbox, and with two M-IOs
standing by in an overwatch role. The three-inch rounds did not usually
penetrate the fortifications, but they did prevent the enemy from manning

I I11I

An M-10 firing as artillery

58

his weapons, thus enabling the American infantry to reach the blind side
of the fortifications. On a radio signal from the infantry company, the tank
destroyers ceased fire, and the infantry assaulted the pillboxes. 49
Tank destroyers not employed in the front lines often found themselves
providing indirect fire in support of division or corps artillery. Prior to' the
invasion, battalions received the training and equipment that enabled them
to conduct basic surveys and perform fire direction without outside help. In
the course of the fighting in Normandy, 87 percent of the ammunition ex-
pended by self-propelled tank destroyers in VIn Corps was fired .in indirect
missions. VIII Corps' towed tank destroyers, unemployable in direct-support
roles, fired 98 percent of their ammunition as indirect-fire artillery. 50
An outstanding example of tank destroyers employed, as artillery oc~
curred in February 1945, when XIX Corps mounted a set-piece two-division
assault across the Roer River. XIX Corps called upon the 702d (M-36) and
80lst (towed) Tank Destroyer Battalions, under the control of the 2d Tank
Destroyer Group, to reinforce the fire of division and corps artillery. When
the crossing began, the towed tank destroyer battalion placed neutralization
fire on all known German positions in the assault sector, and three of the
M-36 platoons delivered interdiction fire at the rate of one hundred' rounds
per platoon per hour on three highways leading to the crossing area. Mean-
while, the other six M-36 platoons provided direct fire on call from, tank
destroyer observers who crossed the river with the infantry. When the as-'
sault elements passed beyond effective direct-fire range, these platoons also
shifted to indirect fire. After three and on:e-half hours of planned fires, the
tank destroyers became available for on-call fire missions designated by a
tank destroyer fire direction center collocated with the corps fire direction
center. Missions included interdiction, harassment, and neutralization fires.
The tank destroyers were prepared (but not called upon) to execute "time,
on target" fires, rather sophisticated procedures that would result in the,
shells from every gun arriving on the target at the same time. 51
The extensive use of tank destroyers in secondary missions invoked cer-
tain penalties that were all too familiar to the veterans of Tunisia. Tank
destroyers sent to the front lines quickly drew heavy German artillery and
mortar fire upon themselves and upon the adjacent infantry. Tank destroyer
crews in forward positions found it necessary to strap sandbags onto their
vehicles as protection against German "bazooka" rounds,52 Some infantry
commanders preferred to use tanks rather than tank destroyers in the
immediate front lines because snipers and hand grenades took a he~vy toll,
among the crews of the open-topped tank destroyers. 53 Unfortunately, oth~r,
infantry officers were unaware of tank destroyer limitations and attempted.
to employ tank destroyers exactly as they would use the better~armorecl_
tanks. 54 Overall, tank destroyers "misused" in this manner suffered greater'
losses and obtained less-impressive results than units in which the tank
destroyer commanders were encouraged to exercise judgement and initiative.55
Even though tank destroyer doctrine and occasional directives from
higher headquarters urged that tank destroyer battalions be used as units,56
 59

M-10 tank destroyers

carrying sandbags to
augment their armor

the long-term employment of tank destroyers in secondary missions inevi-

tably resulted in the chronic fragmentation of tank destroyer elements. With
tank destroyer companies attached to each infantry regiment or armored
combat command, and with tank destroyer platoons often distributed among
infantry battalions and armored task forces, the tank destroyer battalion
headquarters lost all tactical control over its fighting elements. Frequently,
the battalion even surrendered control over supply and administration to
the host units, which were not always capable of looking after the tank
destroyer elements. 57 Early in the European campaign, battalion head-
quarters were careful to maintain contact with their tank destroyer com-
panies and to develop contingency plans for reconcentrating the battalion
in case of a major panzer attack. As the campaign progressed, the tank
destroyer battalion commanders realized that their companies were not
likely to be returned to them, particularly not in times of crises, when the
frontline troops would need all available support. Gradually, contingency
planning ceased, and the tank destroyer battalion headquarters became, for
tactical purposes, largely superfluous. 58
The tank destroyer group headquarters attached to each corps was also
intended to be a tactical headquarters and, as such, had even less to do
than the battalion. (The role played by the 2d Tank Destroyer Group in
the Roer River crossing was a rare exception.) Of thirteen group head-
quarters sent to the European theater, nine functioned primarily as corps-
level special staff sections for antitank affairs. Other functions that tank
destroyer group headquarters performed at various times included supervi-
sion of antiairborne forces, command of corps rest centers, coordination of
corps headquarters security forces, and protection of communication lines. 59
The one tank destroyer brigade sent to Europe was attached to Third Army,
where it served as a task force headquarters on one occasion and spent the
rest of the war as Third Army's antitank section. 60 In other field army
headquarters, tank destroyers fell under the artillery sections for planning
and administrative purposes.
60

Extensive employment as assault guns and indirect-fire artillery did

not excuse the tank destroyers from their primary mission of destroying
enemy armor. Even though the German panzers in western Europe generally
fought in small numbers and were limited to shallow penetrations in con-
junction with infantry operations, the American infantry remained terribly
vulnerable to tank attack. By 1944, the 57-mm antitank gun had replaced
the 37-mm in the infantry battalion antitank platoon and regimental anti-
tank company, but this weapon was as inadequate in 1944 as the 37-mm
gun had been in 1942. Predictably, tank destroyers were again called upon
to provide frontline antitank defense for the infantry divisions. This mission
bore relatively little relation to the doctrine concerning massed tanks de-
scribed in FM 18-5; rather, it merged imperceptibly with the direct-support
mission. Close cooperation with infantry facilitated mutual support among
the arms, but it also meant that tank destroyers assigned to infantry sup~
port did not enjoy the luxury of choosing ideal terrain upon which to meet
enemy armor when called upon to perform the antitank mission. According
to one battalion commander,
Often the TD cannot remain on the reverse slope of a hill and let the
[enemy] tanks come to them [sic]. It may be necessary for the infantry to
organize their positions on a forward slope. No infantry commander is going
to allow tanks to run over his men if he has any way of driving them off.
The TDs will be ordered out on the forward slope to take the oncoming
tanks under direct fire. This must be done even in the face of what seems
certain destruction for men and vehicles. 61

When given the option, tank destroyers chose to ambush tanks from'
positions that provided flank shots and to fight it out in place, for it was
"far more dangerous to withdraw or to move forward than to fight in
position when attacked by armor."62 Experienced tank destroyers never
fought alone but always in pairs or more; conversely, they refused to be
"suckered in" by a "lone" German tank, for there was usually another
lurking nearby.6s
On several rare but noteworthy occasions, the Germans broke with their
policy of small-scale armored operations and massed· their tanks for large-
scale attacks. These attacks came unexpectedly and invariably caught the
tank destroyers in a dispersed state. In no case were tank destroyers able
to mass into groups or brigades as prescribed by doctrine. Inasmuch as
they possessed the best available antitank guns, tank destroyers, nonethe-
less, played an important part in stopping the panzers each time they came
out in force. .
On 7 August 1944, elements of three under strength panzer divisions and
one panzergrenadier (mechanized infantry) division launched an attack at
Mortain, France, aimed at cutting off the American forces breaking out of
the Normandy beachhead. The brunt of the attack fell upon the 30th Infan-
try Division, with the 823d Tank Destroyer Battalion (towed) attached. The
guns of the 823d had been hastily sited and were not in mutually supporting
positions. Some platoons were without infantry support. First, the defenders
fought off an infantry attack and then an assault mou~ted by panzats
 61

accompanied by infantry. The tank destroyers fought stubbornly but with-

out coordination, for all of the 823d's fighting elements had been parceled
out to the regiments, and tactical control was in the hands of the infantry
commanders. Those tank destroyers supported by other arms did well; those
not supported were quickly overrun. Companies A and B, 823d Tank De-
stroyer Battalion, received the Presidential Unit Citation for the part they
played in stopping the Mortain counterattack, but the cost had come high,
prompting the 823d to train its gun crews to fire the three-inch weapon
with two or three men, freeing the remainder of the crew to fight off enemy
infantry. 64
One month later, Third Army's crossing of the Moselle River and cap-
ture of Nancy provoked another German counterattack that involved signifi-
cant panzer elements. Combat Command A of the 4th Armored Division,
with Company C, 704th Tank Destroyer Battalion (M-18) attached, occupied
an exposed position at Arracourt, when it was attacked by the 113th Panzer
Brigade on 19 September. Heavy fog blanketed the area, which aided the
Germans in gaining surprise, but which also negated the superior range of
German tank armament. On the other hand, the nimble M-18 was at its
best at Arracourt. The tank destroyers were able to maneuver quickly on
the muddy, rough ground, giving them the opportunity to seize commanding
terrain and occupy successive firing positions in the path of the panzers.
One tank destroyer platoon claimed the destruction of fifteen enemy tanks,
although three of its four M-18s were put out of action. 65
The supreme test of the tank destroyer forces in Europe came in De-
cember 1944 when German Army Group B launched a full-scale offensive
through the Ardennes-the scene of the great blitzkrieg of 1940. Ten panzer
divisions were among the twenty-four German divisions that shattered the
overextended lines of U.S. First Army. According to doctrine, First Army's
tank destroyer battalions should have formed up into groups, raced to the
scene of the attack, and ambushed the panzer spearheads. But, of course,
the tank destroyers were dispersed beyond recall, and with hundreds of pan-
zers on the loose, their host divisions were most unlikely to release them.
Moreover, with the roads clogged by retreating American units, it seems
unlikely that massed tank destroyers could have played out the "fire bri-
gade" scenario in any case. The Americans actually stopped the German
onslaught by denying transportation chokepoints to the enemy and sepa-
rating the panzer spearheads from their follow-on elements, and not by
ambushing the panzer spearheads themselves, as tank destroyer doctrine
would suggest. By and large, the two dozen tank destroyer battalions that
participated significantly in the Ardennes campaign fought in small units
arid in relatively static, defensive roles.
Two towed tank destroyer battalions in the center of the American line
were among the first units to feel the weight of the German attack. The
820th, attached to the ill-fated 106th Infantry Division, was unable to put
up much of a fight. The Germans overran one entire company because the
towed guns could not be hitched up and removed from danger. Other ele-
ments fell back to Saint-Vith and participated in the defensive battle fought
62

there. 66 The 28th Infantry Division's attached tank destroyer battalion, the
630th, also had elements deployed in the path of the initial German on-
slaught. By companies and platoons, the 630th added its fire to the desper-
ate delaying actions in which the 28th Division sacrificed itself to buy time
for the reinforcement of Bastogne. Three days of fighting reduced the 630th
to the battalion headquarters and one company without guns. 67
On the northern shoulder of the German breakthrough, the 99th and
2d Infantry Divisions, with the aid of a number of tank destroyer elements,
defended a vital terrain feature known as Elsenborn Ridge against repeated
heavy assaults. The Germans attacked in company-size task forces con-
sisting of both panzers and infantry. The defenders responded by first
breaking up the enemy formations with artillery fire and then striking them
from the flanks with tank and tank destroyer fire. The fighting surged back
and forth through villages and rough terrain, a circumstance that provided
ample opportunities for tank destroyer ambushes and cut ranges down to
as little as twenty-five yards. One company of the 644th Tank Destroyer
Battalion (M-I0) destroyed seventeen tanks with the loss of two tank de-
stroyers. Towed tank destroyers, being unable to maneuver for flank shots
or to evade enemy thrusts, fared less well at Elsenborn. The 801st Tank
Destroyer Battalion (towed) lost seventeen guns and sixteen half-track prime
movers in -two days because the guns bogged down in the mud and fell
easy prey to German artillery and infantry.68
The stubborn American defense of two crossroad towns in the throat of
the German advance, Saint-Vith and Bastogne, disrupted the German offen-
sive with fatal results. Elements of three tank destroyer battalions, in-
cluding some M-36s, participated in the 7th Armored Division's epic battle
at Saint-Vith. The tank destroyers provided a powerful base of fire for the
hard-pressed defenders, with the M-36 proving to be especially valuable as
a "sure kill" against enemy armor. 69 At Bastogne, it was the 705th Tank

A Third Army M-36 in

Metz during the autumn
campaign of 1944
II I'
I
 63

The three-inch towed

tank destroyer was
difficult to manhandle

Destroyer Battalion (M-18) that bolstered the fragile perimeter held by the
soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division. 70
Tank destroyers emerged from the Ardennes campaign with a mixed
reputation. On the positive side of the ledger, statisticians credited the tank
destroyer battalions with the destruction of 306 enemy tanks.71 Many of
these kills came during the decisive engagements of the campaign. On the
negative side, the towed tank destroyer had proved to be a failure. Whereas
self-propelled tank destroyers scored the most kills, towed battalions suffered
the heavier losses: in the first critical week of the campaign, First Army
lost seventy-seven tank destroyers, sixty-five of which were towed. 72 At five
thousand pounds, the towed three-inch gun was five times heavier than the
old 37-mm gun, was extremely difficult to manhandle, proved highly vulner-
able to all enemy fire, and still could not destroy enemy tanks with cer-
tainty. Any lingering support for the towed tank destroyer evaporated in
the chaos of the Ardennes campaign, following which all towed battalions
were scheduled for conversion to self-propelled weapons. 73
It must also be noted that of the self-propelled tank destroyers, only
the M-36 had shown itself to be wholly satisfactory in terms of firepower,
and even the M-36 suffered the disadvantages of thin armor and an open
turret, a fault common to all self-propelled tank destroyers. After the Ar-
dennes campaign, M-IO battalions began exchanging their weapons for the
M-36. 74 Ordnance developed overhead armor for tank destroyer turrets 75
that, when taken together with the common practice of sandbagging tank
destroyers to augment their armor, made the tank destroyer more like a
tank than like the weapon initially envisaged by General Bruce. In the
minds of· higher commanders, tanks and tank destroyers became increas-
ingly interchangeable as the European war drew to a close.
The same was true in the Pacific theater, where tank employment and
tank destroyer employment were essentially identical. Because of the mini-
mal threat posed by Japanese tanks, the three tank destroyer battalions
that saw combat in the Philippines operated almost exclusively as assault
guns and supporting artillery.76 In preparation for the invasion of Japan,
64

the Tank Destroyer Center at Camp Hood turned away from the problems
of killing tanks and devoted its experimental efforts instead to· the use of
tank destroyers in reducing Japanese-style fortifications. 77 The battalions
scheduled to participate in the invasion considered their tank destroyers to
be tanks in every way, save for their open turrets. 78
As the distinction between tank and tank destroyer faded, the only
advantage that the tank destroyer could claim over the tank was the sUlle..,
rior firepower of the M-36. In February 1945, even that advantage disap-
peared when the first M-26 heavy tanks arrived in the European theater.
The M-26 mounted the same 90-mm gun as the M-36 tank destroyer and
was,· of course, better armored. !tis true that tank destroyers, especially
the M-IS, retained an edge over the tank in terms of mobility, but by the
end of the war, American soldiers, for the most part, preferred firepower
and armor plate to mobility.79

The M-26 medium tank

With the cessation of hostilities in Europe, a Theater General Board

composed of senior field artillery officers convened to evaluate the contri-
butions of the tank destroyer to the war effort. They based their study in
part upon the after-action reports of forty-nine tank destroyer battalions
that had fought in Europe. In its report, the board noted that the tank
destroyer was "a most versatile weapon on the battlefield" and admitted
that there existed a need for self-propelled, high-velocity guns within the
infantry division, a function that the tank destroyers had fullfilled admir-
ably.so The battalions sampled had destroyed, on the average, 34 German
tanks and self-propelled guns, 17 artillery and antitank guns, and 16 pill-
boxes apiece, with one battalion claiming 105 tanks destroyed. 81 However,
the board recognized the fact that tank destroyers had never validated the
tank destroyer doctrine and, in fact, had not adhered to it on the battle-
field. 82 The Theater General Board closed its report by recommending that
high-velocity self-propelled guns be made organic to the infantry division,
that Field Artillery assume responsibility for antitank defense-in-depth, that
 65

the Armored Force modify and adopt certain aspects of tank destroyer doc-
trine, and that "the tank destroyers as a separate force be discontinued."83
The report of the Theater General Board corresponded with the senti·
ments of General Jacob L. Devers, who became the commanding general of
AGF in June 1945. Devers had never been a proponent of the tank de-
stroyer concept. As head of the Armored Force in 1941, he had responded
to the antitank victories in the GHQ maneuvers with the remark, "We were
licked by a set of umpire rules."84 The report he filed following his 1943
tour of Tunisia stated that the "tank destroyer arm is not a practical con-
cept on the battlefield."85 It came as no surprise that Devers simply allowed
the tank destroyer program to expire in the great demobilization that fol-
lowed World War II.
On 10 November 1945, the Tank Destroyer Center terminated its few
remaining activities and, without fanfare, ceased to exist. 86 Officers com-
missioned in the tank destroyers found themselves transferred to the infan-
try. The mass inactivation of tank destroyer battalions began in the fall of
1945 and continued into the winter and spring of 1946. The very last tank
destroyer battalion, the 656th, was inactivated at Camp Campbell, Ken-
tucky, on 1 November 1946. 87 Although many of these battalions were later
reactivated as tank 'formations, thus perpetuating the lineage of proud
fighting units,88 the tank destroyers were no more.
 5
c__o_n_c_lu_s_io_n_·____~~------~I~1
The tank destroyer concept, initiated by George C. Marshall, nurtured
by Lesley J. McNair, and implemented by Andrew D. Bruce, was the U.S.
Army's response to the revolution in warfare known as the blitzkrieg. It
prescribed massed antitank elements, high-mobility units and vehicles, and
high-velocity gunfire as the antidotes that would defeat massed tanks. The
historian of the Tank Destroyer Center, writing in 1945, claimed that "tank
destroyer doctrine as conceived and developed by Tank Destroyer Center in
1942 was so basically right in its vision and prescience that it stood all
tests of combat missions."1 However, as the foregoing chapters have demon-
strated, the tank destroyer concept was never fully realized in combat, and,
in fact, the successes attained by tank destroyer units in battle came about
despite tank destroyer doctrine, not because of it.
In truth, tank destroyer doctrine was a fundamentally flawed set of
principles. Today, the U.S. Army utilizes a methodical process for the devel-
opment of new programs known as the Concept Based Requirements System
(CBRS). Although no such process existed in 1942, by using CBRS as a
model, one can identify the inconsistencies that attended the development
of the tank destroyer concept.
In simplified form, CBRS consists of three major developmental stages.
In the first stage, the Army identifies its mission and the opposition that
the enemy can be expected to offer, with full consideration being given to
past experience and to technological advances plotted for the future. Stage
two involves translating that Army mission into specific battlefield and ser-
vice functions to be performed by the various branches. The third stage
consists of the simultaneous and integrated development of the doctrines,
force structures, equipment, and training programs necessary for executing
the battlefield functions that will fulfill the Army's mission. Thus, CBRS
ensures that the Army's doctrines are attuned to the mission, the threat,
and to each other.2 By contrast, the development of the tank destroyer con-
cept resulted in a product that was inapplicable to the battlefield and was
poorly synchronized with the other arms.
In terms of the CBRS model, the tank destroyer's defects originated in
stage one, with the identification of mission, threat, and technological
trends. The U.S. Army's mission in World War II was overwhelmingly offen-
67
68

sive in nature, but the very existence of a major antitank program implied
a war in which the enemy held the initiative. Logically, this suggested that
if the Army successfully pursued its mission, the tank destroyers would
have little to do, and if the tank destroyers were fully engaged, the Army
as a whole would be failing in its mission. In addition, the enemy threat
was viewed primarily in terms of the blitzkrieg, even though the Germans
would be on the strategic defensive by the time American troops encount-
ered them in force. Tactically, the formulators of the tank destroyer concept
acted on the assumption that the enemy fought in all-tank masses. As has
been shown, German panzer doctrine actually encompassed all arms. More-
over, only 10 percent of the German Army was ever mechanized. Another
fundamental lapse occurred in the realm of technological forecasting. Due
in part to the lack of a central research and development agency, the Army
completely failed to anticipate the advances in tank armor and armament
that would occur as the war continued.
Given the misconceptions relating to the identification of mission,
threat, and technological trends that occurred as part of the evolution of
the tank destroyer, it follows logically that the development of battlefield
functions would be flawed. Owing to the branch rivalries and obstruction-
ism within the Army, antitank functions were not integrated into the activi-
ties of the existing arms but were instead assigned to the domain of a new
tank destroyer quasi-arm. This encouraged the older arms to ignore the pos-
sibility that they might playa role in antitank combat. Inasmuch as the
armored threat had been identified solely in terms of massed tanks, the
new tank destroyer arm defined its battlefield function simply as that of
stopping the tank-a rather narrow, technical task. The defeat of combined
arms mechanized forces, which is a different matter altogether, was never
perceived to be a tank destroyer function.
According to the CBRS paradigm, the final stages in developing the
tank destroyer concept should have been the coordinated, simultaneous
manifestation of force structures, equipment, and doctrine. In the case of
tank destroyer development, however, the press of time and the bureaucratic
nature of the Army fragmented these efforts among several agencies, but
once undertaken, the tasks were at least addressed quickly. But due to the
erroneous assumptions already built into the over arching tank destroyer con-
cept, force structuring, doctrine formulation, and weapons development could
not help but go astray.
The first task accomplished was the creation of a force structure. The
tank destroyer battalion was essentially a single-arm antitank organization.
Some tank destroyer advocates have suggested that the tank destroyer bat-
talion was actually a precedent-setting combined arms team, but this was
not the case. The tank destroyer battalion possessed the equivalent of only
one infantry company (distributed among nine security sections) to support
three tank destroyer companies, and it controlled no general purpose artil-
lery. By contrast, the 1943 armored division, which was, indeed, a balanced,
combined arms force, had the resources to pair up an infantry company
and a howitzer battery to each tank company. The tank destroyer battalion
 69
was a single-arm force by intent because the assumption had already been
made that the tank destroyer's function was a narrow one-the destruction
of unsupported tanks.
The same assumption shaped the writing of doctrine. FM 18-5 (1942)
exhorted the single-arm tank destroyer elements to defeat the single-arm
threat through "offensive action" and "semi-independent" operations. The
formula for potential tragedy was thus laid, for the real enemy was a mas-
'ter 'of combined arms warfare, not a single-arm threat. Experience in battle
quickly showed that tank destroyers were, in reality, highly dependent on
other arms for support, and that "offensive action" for them was often sui-
cidal. The Tank Destroyer Center learned of these battlefield findings
through the reports of AGF observers 3 and incorporated the lessons of com-
bat in the 1944 edition of FM 18-5. This edition emphasized cooperation
with other arms and made it clear that tank destroyer action was essen-
tially defensive in nature. However, the gap between experience and doctrine
never completely closed. FM 18-5 (1944) perpetuated the notion of massed,
mobile tank destroyers but at the same time advocated closer coordination
with the other arms, a policy that implied some degree of dispersaL Predict-
ably, commanders in the .field rectified this contradiction by quietly aban-
doning the theory of massing tank destroyer forces.
Finally, the failure to forecast technological advances early in the devel-
opment of the tank destroyer concept resulted ultimately in the equipping
of tank destroyer units with inadequate weapons. Neither the Tank De-
stroyer Center, nor AGF, nor the Ordnance Department ever fully appreci-
ated the necessity of designing weapons for the future, not the present.
Tank destroyer weapons designed in 1942 were largely unchanged in 1944,
despite the fact that the Germans engaged in a furious arms race with the
Soviets during the same period. However, the inadequacy of equipment was
not a fatal blow to the tank destroyer concept. Even the finest weaponry
would not have compensated for the conceptual and doctrinal flaws deeply
embodied in the tank destroyer program. As evidence, witness the fact that
the advent of the well-armed M-36 did little to reverse the abandonment of
tank destroyer doctrine in the field. On the other hand, U.S. tanks were
even less well armed than the tank destroyers, but because the armored
establishment possessed a sound doctrine by 1944, armored formations suc-
ceeded on the battlefield'in spite of their equipment. The historical evidence
does not show that the tank destroyers tried to implement their doctrine
but failed for the lack of proper equipment. Rather, it is clear that tank
destroyer doctrine was never really executed because it rested on false
premises and thus had little application on the battlefield.
For all of the conceptual blunders and doctrinal inadequacies that
plagued the tank destroyer effort, the basic idea of massing antitank ele-
ments to defeat enemy armor was not necessarily disproven in World War
II and did not die out completely with the inactivation of the tank destroyer
force. Although the postwar Army officially adopted the premise advanced
by General Devers that the best antitank weapon was the tank itself,4 tank
destroyer advocates continued to insist that, doctrinally and psychologically,
70

German Jagd Panther

tank hunter

tanks and tank destroyers were not interchangeable. 5 Technological ad-

vances made in recent years hold out renewed promise for the revival of
certain tank destroyer concepts. Antitank guided missiles might offer the
sure-kill capability that a latter-day tank destroyer would require, and they
would, in portable form, provide the infantry with a degree of antitank
self-sufficiency that would permit the massing of tank destroyer elements.
Another modern antitank system, the attack helicopter, combines the fire-
power of the guided missile with a degree of mobility that the World War
II tank destroyer could never approximate. The attack helicopter companies
and battalions found within the divisions and corps of today's Army are
the closest doctrinal heirs to the World War II tank destroyer concept.
Variations on the tank destroyer theme have met with considerable
success in a number of foreign armies. During and after World War II,
both the Germans and the Soviets produced large numbers of turretless
tank hunter-assault guns, based on existing tank designs, that combined
the virtues of high firepower, effective armor, and ease of production.
(These fighting vehicles are sometimes called "tank destroyers," but they
differed greatly from the American tank destroyer both in design and in
doctrine.) The German and Soviet tank hunters were no more mobile than
the tanks they were derived from, but they could stand and fight it out
with enemy tanks, something that American tank destroyers were not
always able to do.
The incentive to revive the tank destroyer weapons system grows pro-
portionally with the rising price of the main battle tank. There might well
be a place on the battlefield for a self-propelled weapon that can perform
many of the direct-fire missions that do not require the full sophistication
of the main battle tank. In recent publications, Richard E. Simpkin has
proposed replacing the expensive and vulnerable main battle tank with two
smaller and less-expensive types, one being a general purpose fire-support
tank and the other a tank destroyer. 6
Under what conditions would a modem doctrine analogous to the World
War II tank destroyer concept prove successful? Combat experience showed
that a single-arm tank destroyer force was ineffective against a combined
arms foe. In 1973, however, massed Egyptian antitank elements scored a
stunning success in combat along the banks of the Suez Canal, primarily
 71

Soviet SU 100 assault gun

because Israeli doctrine had strayed from the principles of combined arms,
with the result that Israeli tanks faced the Egyptian antitank missiles with-
out support.
In cases where the enemy is not so obliging as to send out unsupported
tanks, the same effect must be produced by breaking up the enemy's com-
bined arms team. As noted in an earlier chapter, this tenet was first recog-
nized in World War I: "Tanks unaccompanied by infantry cannot achieve
desired success; they must be supported by infantry, who alone can clear
and hold ground gained."7 Moreover, "If the tanks succeed in penetrating
the line, the (friendly] infantry must hold out and concentrate all their ef-
forts on stopping the advance of the enemy's infantry, while the hostile
tanks are dealt with by our artillery."8 The World War II tank destroyers
focused their efforts solely on stopping tanks, but current doctrine main-
tains that in antimechanized operations, the "first dictum is to destroy the
combined arms integrity of the enemy at all levels while keeping the com-
bined-arms integrity of your force intact. ''9 Thus, the first precondition for
any revival of the tank destroyer concept is that tank destroyers must be
closely integrated with the other arms. The tank destroyer veterans of
World War II would urge that tank destroyer elements must be made or-
ganic to the division. A tank destroyer unit held at the corps or army eche-
lon must be a combined arms force in its own right.
A second precondition would be the provision of the infantry with ade-
quate organic antitank and direct-fire support weapons. Otherwise, it would
once again prove difficult to withdraw tank destroyers from the line for the
purpose of massing them against major tank attacks.
The tank destroyer must mount a weapon superior to that of the tanks
it will face and should be armored about as well as a tank. For any ar-
mored fighting vehicle to be completely effective as an antitank weapon, it
must be able to trade blows with the enemy. The German and Soviet experi-
emce shows that both a revolving turret and superior mobility can be sacri-
ficed to gain firepower and armor protection.
Another precondition would be the ability to develop operational and
tactical intelligence that will allow tank destroyer elements to be emplaced
prior to the enemy's mechanized attack. The World War II tank destroyers
72

learned that elements not on hand when the enemy attack commenced did
not arrive in time to affect the tactical outcome.
Any tank destroyer revival must include doctrinal provisions for the
use of tank destroyers in secondary roles when massed enemy armor is not
a threat. The value of tank destroyers in secondary missions during Wprld
War II was beyond question. As weapons grow in sophistication and <iost,~<
it is increasingly unlikely that any army could afford to field large special-
ized antitank elements that can perform no other functions in battle.
Finally, the successful reintroduction of a tank destroyer arm would
require that higher commanders understand and accept the capabilities and
limitations of tank destroyer forces. The best means of ensuring the develop-
ment of rapport between the tank destroyers and the higher commander
would be to make the tank destroyer unit an organic part of the formation
with which it will go to war. Above all, it must not be forgotten that suc-
cessful armored operations are conducted by combined arms forces, and that
any attempt to counter them must involve the employment of tank de-
stroyers as one part of a combined arms team.
Even if the tank destroyer concept is never revived, the tank destroyers
of World War II should not be forgotten, for they dealt telling blows to the
armies of the Axis nations. On battlefields ranging from Tunisia to Luzon,
tank destroyers were a highly valued asset, whether employed on direct~
fire, indirect-fire, or antitank missions. The tank destroyer program also
made a psychological contribution to the war effort by reducing the unrea-
sonable fear of the tank that permeated all ranks and branches in the
early days of the war. This victory of the mind was accomplished through
a bold and convincing insistence that the tank, too, had its vulnerabilities.
Even on the few occasions when technologically superior panzer forces as-
sailed American arms in strength, the presence of tank destroyers helped
curb the panic that had swept away earlier victims of the blitzkrieg.
When viewed in the context of the overall American war effort, the
U.S. Army's tank destroyer program represented a reflexive response to the
stark threat posed by mechanized warfare. Like the human body's reaction
to sudden danger, the tank destroyer reflex was neither perfectly coordi-
nated nor fully thought out. In many respects, it tended toward excess.
However unmethodical and misguided the tank destroyer response may
have been, in 1942 it was far preferable for the U.S. Army to overreact to
the armored threat than to ignore the tank or to assume that it could not
be defeated. The damage done to the American military effort by diverting
tank destroyers to secondary missions and inactivating surplus battalions
was minimal compared to that which might have been caused by the
absence of any antitank program whatsoever. Seek, Strike, and Destroy ulti-
mately failed as a doctrinal concept, but the tank destroyers themselves·
created success where it counted most-on the decisive battlefields of World
War II.
_N_ot_es_ _ _ _ _ _ _----II ~ 1
Chapter 1
1. John Weeks, Men Against Tanks, A History of Antitank Warfare (New York: Mason/
Charter 1975), 22-25.
2. U.S. War Department, War Plans Division, "Instructions for Anti-tank Defence (Provisional-
February 1918) from an Official British Document," War Department Document no. 783
(April 1918), 7.
3. Ibid., 9.
4. Ibid., 12.
5. Ibid., 9.
6. Quoted in Mary Stubbs and Stanley R. Connor, Armor-Cavalry, pt. 1, Regular Army and
Army Reserve, Army Lineage Series (Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military His-
tory, U.S. Army, 1969), 50.
7.. Weeks, Men Against Tanks, 31.
8. For an analysis of the panzer division, see Richard M. Ogorkiewicz, Armoured Forces
(New York: Area, 1970), 72-75. Kenneth Macksey, Tank Pioneers (New York: Area, 1981)
is a recent reinterpretation of armored development through World War II that sheds some
fresh insight upon early tank developments.
9. Kent Roberts Greenfield, Robert R. Palmer, and Bell L Wiley, The Organization of Ground
Combat Troops, U.S. Army in World War II: The Army Ground Forces (Washington, DC:
Historical Division, United States Army, 1947) 174-75. For details of the 1937 division
tests, see L. Van L . Naisawald, "The U.S. Infantry Division, Changing Concepts in Organi-
zation 1900-1939" (Baltimore: Operations Research Office, Johns Hopkins University,
1952).
10. U.S. Army Command and General Staff School, Antitank Defense (Tentative) (Fort Leaven-
worth KS, 1936), and U.S. Army Command and General Staff School, Antimechanized
Defense (Tentative) (Fort Leavenworth, KS, 1939). See, for example, Antimechanized
. Defense, 14-15 for a summary of the proposed doctrine.
11. U.s. War Department, FM 100-5, Tentative Field Service Regulations: Operations (Washing-
ton, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1939), 77.
12. Ibid., 77-78.
13. Weeks, Men Against Tanks, 30-34; Harry C. Thomson and Lida Mayo, The Ordnance
Department: Procurement and Supply, U.S. Army in World War II: The Technical Services
(Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, 1960),
80-84.

73
74
14. Weeks, Men Against Tanks, 96.
15. Greenfield, Palmer, and Wiley, Organization, 274-75.
16. FM 100-5 (1939), 6.
17. Alistair Home, To Lose a Battle, France 1940 (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1969), 182.
18. Robert A. Doughty, "French Antitank Doctrine 1940: The Antidote that Failed," Military
Review 56 (May 1976):36-48.
19. Quoted in ibid., 36-37.
20. Ibid., 40.
21. Jean Dupont, "Fighting the Panzers," Field Artillery Journal 31 (August 1941):538~43.

22. Basil Henry Liddell Hart, The German Generals Talk (New York: W. Morrow, 1948), 94.
23. "Artillery and the Tank," Field Artillery Journal 30 (July-August 1940):243-48.
24. O. F. Marston, "Fast Moving Targets," Field Artillery Journal 30 (July-August 1940):
264-67.
25. Ralph Van Wyck, "Antitank Battery Training," Field Artillery Journal 30 (January 1941):
6-10.
26. Greenfield, Palmer, and Wiley, Organization, 274-75; "Newly Approved Organization, Divi-
sional Artillery-Triangular Division," Field Artillery Journal 30 (September-October 1940):
336.
27. See Emory A. Dunham, "Tank Destroyer History," Army General Forces Study no. 29
(N.p.: Historical Section, Army Ground Forces, 1946), l.
28. U.S. War Department, FM 100-5, Field Service Regulations; Operations (Washington, DC:'
U.S. Government Printing Office, 1941), 160.
29. Dunham, "Tank Destroyer History," 1.
30. Quoted in U.S. Army Tank Destroyer Center, "Tank Destroyer History" (Camp Hood, TX,
1945?), pt. 1, chap. 1,3. This document is available on microfilm from the Library of
Congress.
31. Memo, Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3, to Chief of Staff, 19 April 1941, Subject: Creation of
Additional Antitank-Antiaircraft Units, Andrew D. Bruce Papers, U.S. Army Military His-
tory Institute, Carlisle Barracks, P A (hereafter cited as MHI).
32. Memo, Chief of Staff to Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3, 14 May 1941, Subject: Defense
Against Armored Forces, George C. Marshall Papers, George C. Marshall Research Library,
Lexington, VA (hereafter cited as Marshall Library).
33. Tank Destroyer Center, "History," pt. 1, chap. 1, 7-8.
34. Untitled document, item 4327, microfilm reel 287, Marshall Library.
35. A. C. Wedemeyer, "Antitank Defense," Field Artillery Journal 31 (May 1941):258~72. Wede-.
meyer's article also appears as "Stopping the Armored Onslaught," Infantry Journal 48
(May 1941):22-31.
36. Quoted in Tank Destroyer Center, "History," pt. 1, chap. 1, 3-4.
37. Tank Destroyer Center, "History," pt. 1, chap. 1, 5, 7-8.
38. For a discussion of streamlining and pooling, see Greenfield, Palmer, and Wiley, Organiza-
tion, 276-80.
39 . Adjutant General, GHQ, to Commanding General, Third Army, 8 August 1941, Subject:
GHQ Antitank Units in GHQ Directed Maneuvers, 353 Training Directives, GHQ, .entry
 75

57, Record Group 337, National Archives, Washington, DC (hereafter cited as NA); U.S.
Army, GHQ Provisional Antitank Groups, Performance of Antitank, entry 57D, Record
Group 337, NA.
40. Comments by Lt. Gen. L. J. McNair, 1st Phase, GHQ-Directed Maneuvers, Ca~p Polk,
Louisiana, 14-19 September 1941, Bruce Papers, MHI. For an operational analysis of the
1941 maneuvers, see Christopher R. Gabel, "The U.S. Army GHQ Maneuvers of 1941"
(Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University; 1981; microfilm, Ann Arbor, MI: University
Microfilms International, 1981).
41. See Gabel, "GHQ Maneuvers," 83-85, 206-13.
42. Maneuvers Memo No. 49, HQ First Army, 31 October 1941, Subject: Special Task Forces,
First Army Maneuvers 1941 Final Report, entry 57D, Record Group 33?, NA.
43. Gabel, "GHQ Maneuvers," 243,-49.
44. Matters to be covered in critique, Maj. B. P. Purdue, Performance o~ Antitank, entry 57D,
Record Group 337, NA.
45. Second Phase 1 and 2 Armored Divisions, entry 57D, Record Group 337, NA.
46. Maj. Gen. Jacob Devers, quoted in "Second Battle of the Carolinas," Time, 8 December
1941:66.
47. Memo for the Secretary [of War], Notes on Conference, 4 December 1941, item 2714, micro,
film reel li6, Marshall Library.
48. Tank Destroyer Center, "History," pt. 1, chap. 1, 15.
49. Conference in the Office of the Chief of Staff, 7 October 1941, item 4327, microfilm reel
287, Marshall Library.
50. Tank Destroyer Center, "History," pt. 1, chap. 1, 16.
51. Ibid., pt. 1, chap. 2, annex A; and pt. 1, chap. 1, 17.
52. Ibid., pt. 1, chap. 1, 16.

Chapter 2
1. See Greenfield, Palmer, and Wiley, Organization, for a thorough treatment of AGF's role
and activities.
2. Quoted in Greenfield, Palmer, and Wiley, Organization, 389.
3. Quoted in Tank Destroyer Center, "History," pt. 1, chap. 1, 13.
4. Dunham, "Tank Destroyer History," 9.
5. Memo, Col. A. D. Bruce for the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3, 21 January 1942, Subject:
Report on the Maneuver Experiences of Provisional Antitank Battalions (First Army), item
4327, microfilm reel 287, Marshall Library.
6. Tank Destroyer Center, "History," pt. 1, chap. 2, 16.
7. "New Tank Destroyer Battalions," Infantry Journal 50 (January 1942):56-59.
8. Tank Destroyer Center, "History," pt. 1, chap. 6, 30.
9. Robert W. Green, to the author, 22 May 1977. Green was a first lieutenant at the Tank
Destroyer Center during World War II.
10. Tank Destroyer Center, "History," pt. 1, chap. 1, 4.
11. Memo, Chief of Staff to Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3, 14 May 1941, Subject: Defense
Against Armored Forces, Marshall Papers, Marshall Library.
76
12. Quoted in Tank Destroyer Center, "History," pt. 1, chap. 1, 13.
13. Adjutant General, GHQ, to Commanding General, Third Army, 8 August 1941, Subject:
GHQ Antitank Units in GHQ Directed Maneuvers, 353 Training Objectives, GHQ, entry
57, Record Group 337, NA.
14. Maneuvers Memo No. 49, 31 October 1941, First Army Maneuvers 1941, First Report, entry
57D, Record Group 337, NA.
15. Provisional Tank Destroyer Battalion GHQ, "Standing Operating Procedure" (Fort George
G. Meade, MD, 1941), item 4327, microfilm reel 287, Marshall Library; Tank Destroyer
Center, "History," pt. 1, chap. 2, 12; Dunham, "Tank Destroyer History," 21.
16. Tank Destroyer Center, "History," pt. 1, chap. 2, 12-14; and pt. 1, chap. 8, 1.
17. Ibid., pt. 1, chap. 1,13.
18. Conference in the Office of the Chief of Staff, 7 October 1941, item 4327, microfilm reel
287, Marshall Library.
19. U.S. War Department, FM 18-5, Tank Destroyer Field Manual, Organization and Tactics
of Tank Destroyer Units (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1942), iv.
20. Ibid., 3-5.
21. Ibid., 2, 5.
22. Ibid., 19.
23. Ibid., 7.
24. Ibid., 22, 69.
25. Ibid., 52.
26. Ibid., 20-23, 53-54.
27. Ibid., 20-21, 29-30, 32.
28. Ibid., 28.
29. Ibid., 7.
30. Ibid., 19-20.
31. Ibid., 188.
32. Ibid., 14.
33. Ibid., 8.
34. Ibid., 23, 94.
35. Ibid., 23.
36. Charles M. Baily, Faint Praise: American Tanks and Tank Destroyers During World War
II (Hamden, CT: Archon, 1983), 21-22.
37. Ibid.
38. Tank Destroyer Center, "History," pt. 1, chap. 6, 15.
39. Baily, Faint Praise, 27, 31; Brig. Gen. W. B. Palmer to Maj. Gen. A. D. Bruce, 9 December
1942, Bruce Papers, MHI.
40. Peter Chamberlain and Chris Ellis, British and American Tanks of World War II (New
York: Arco, 1981), 147-48. A comparable medium tank, the M·4 Sherman, had a top speed
of about twenty·five miles per hour and weighed approximately thirty-three tons.
Chamberlain and Ellis, Tanks, 115.
 77

41. Maj. Gen. Andrew D. Bruce to Commanding Officer, 307th Infantry, 10 May 1945, Bruce
Papers, MHI.
42. See Baily, Faint Praise, 48-50, and 67-68, for the evolution of the M·18.
43. Tank Destroyer Center, "History," pt. 1, chap. 1, 12; pt. 1, chap. 2, 8~9; Baily, Faint
Praise, 39.
44. See Baily, Faint Praise, 39-47, for a thorough discussion of the expedient weapons.
45. Maj. Gen. A. D. Bruce to Brig. Gen. W. B. Palmer, 26 January 1943, Bruce Papers, MHI;
Baily, Faint Praise, 45-47.
46. Dunham, "Tank Destroyer History," II.
47. For a detailed chronology of tank destroyer activities at Camp Hood, see Tank Destroyer
Center, "History," and a derivative study, Dunham, "Tank Destroyer History."
48. FM 18-5 (1942), iv.
49. Ibid., 128.
50. Ibid., 123-26.
51. Tank Destroyer Center, "History," pt. 1, chap. 8, 25-28.
52. Ibid., pt. 1, chap. 2, 20; and pt. 1, chap. 3, 22.
53. Maj. Gen. A. D. Bruce to "Westy" [Col. Wendell Westover?], 6 March 1945, Bruce Papers,
MHI.
54. Green, to author, 22 May 1977.
55. A total of four battalions in the North African campaign used the M-3. Shelby L. Stanton,
Order of Battle: U.S. Army World War II (Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1984), 333-38.
56. Dunham, "Tank Destroyer History," 26.

Chapter 3
1. Maj. Allerton Cushman, [Army Ground Forces] Observer Report, 29 March 1943, 2-3,
Documents Collection, Combined Arms Research Library, U.S. Army Command and Gen-
eral Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, KS (hereafter .cited as CARL).
2. Allied Forces G·3 Training Section, "Training Notes from Recent Fighting in Tunisia: Ex-
periences, Observations, and Opinions Collected from Officers and Men of Front Line
Units, March 18-30, 1943," 62-63, CARL.
3. Ibid., 63.
4. "Provisional Instructions for Leadership and Action of the Tank Regiment and Tank Bat·
talion," 13, 17, captured German document translated by Great Britain, Army, General
Headquarters, Middle East, GSI, Box 56, [19]21-41, Armored Tactics, Patton Collection,
Library of Congress. See also Great Britain, War Office, General Staff, "German Armoured
Tactics in Libya," Periodical Notes on the German Army no. 37, February 1942, CARL.
5. Baily, Faint Praise, 152-55, offers technical data of tank destroyer weapons.
6. Cushman, [Army Ground Forces] Observer Report, 3 May 1943, CARL, 6.
7. FM 18-5 (1942), 14.
8. Allied Forces, "Training Notes," 23-24.
9. Cushman, Observer Report, 29 March 1943, 5.
10. Allied Forces, "Training Notes," 26.
78
11. See Baily, Faint Praise, 154, for technical data.
12. Gilbert A. Ellman, "Panther vs. Panzer," Military Review 24 (August 1944):21-26.
13. Ibid.
14. U.S. Army Tank Destroyer School, "Tank Destroyer Combat," Camp Hood, TX, n.d., Bruce
Papers, MHI, 16.
15. Ibid.
16. For details on the German attack at Sidi-bou-Zid, see George F. Howe, Northwest Africa:
Seizing the Initiative in the West, U.S. Army in World War II: The Mediterranean Theater.
of Operations (Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the
Army, 1957), 410-15; and William R. Betson, "Sidi-Bou-Zid-A Case History of Failure,"
Armor 91 (November-December 1982):38-44.
17. Ibid.
18. Howe, Northwest Africa, 430-35; Cushman, Observer Report, 3 May 1943, 2; Cushman,
Observer Report, 29 March 1943, 4.
19. Howe, Northwest Africa, 460-64.
20. Howe, Northwest Africa, 559-60; Tank Destroyer School, "Tank Destroyer Combat,"
17-30; Cushman, Observer Report, 3 May 1943, 1.
21. U.S. Army Ground Forces Board, North Mrican Theater of Operations, Report A-165, 20
June 1944, CARL; U.S. Army Ground Forces Board, Mediterranean Theater of Operations,
"Tank Destroyer Conference, Florence, Italy," November 1944, CARL, 8.
22. U.S. Army Ground Forces Board, Mediterranean Theater of Operations, "The Tank De-
stroyer Battalion in Action," Report A, Misc-21, 24 May 1944, 4-5, CARL.
23. Ibid., 4.
24. AGF Board Report A-165.
25. AGF Board MTO, "Tank Destroyer Conference," 3.
26. Green, to the author, 22 May 1977.
27. E. N. Harmon, "Notes on Combat Experience During the Tunisian and African Cam-
paigns," 11, typescript, Library, U.S. Army Armor School, Fort Knox, KY.
28. AGF Board MTO, "Tank Destroyer Conference," 6.
29. Ibid.
30. Allied Forces, "Training Notes," 71.
31. FM 18-5 (1942), 109.
32. Harmon, "Notes," 9.
33. AGF Board MTO, "Tank Destroyer Battalion," 7-8; AGF Board MTO, "Tank Destroyer
Conference," 8.
34. Ibid.
35. U.S. Army, 5th Army, Training Memo no. 60, "Employment of Tank Destroyer Units as
Reinforcing Artillery," 24 August 1943, CARL; P. C. Meachem, "A New Fighting Team,"
Field Artillery Journal 34 (November 1944):778-80.
36. AGF Board MTO, "Tank Destroyer Battalion," 7-8.
37. Ibid., 5-9.
38. Training Memo no. 60.
 79
39. AGF Board Report A-IS5.
40. Ibid.
41. AGF Board MTO, "Tank Destroyer Conference," 7.
42. AGF Board MTO, "Tank Destroyer Battalion," 6-7.
43. AGF Board MTO, "Tank Destroyer Conference," 6-7.
44. Ibid.
45. Bruce to "Westy," 6 March 1945.
46. Tank Destroyer Center, "History," pt. 1, chap. 8, 15-16.
47. FM 18-5 (1942), 19.
48. Maj. Gen. A. D. Bruce to Lt. Gen. Lesley J. McNair, 5 June 1943, Bruce Papers, MHI;
AGF Board MTO, "Tank Destroyer Battalion," 6.
49. Allied Forces Training Memorandum no. 23, "Employment of Tank Destroyer Units," 21
March 1943, CARL.
50. Cushman, Observer Report, 3 May 1943, 1.
51. Ibid., 20.
52. Ibid., 2L
53. Ibid., 1, 21.
54. Maj. Gen. J. P. Lucas, Extract from Report on Sicilian Campaign, 8 September 1943, Bruce
Papers, MHL
55. Greenfield, PaIIller, and Wiley, Organization, 425, 427.
56. Harmon, "Notes," 13.
57. Extract of General Devers' Report, 9 February 1943, Bruce Papers, MHI.
58. George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff, to Maj. Gen. A. D. Bruce, 30 January 1943, Bruce
Papers, MHI.
59. Lt. CoL George M. Dean to Maj. Gen. A. D. Bruce, 19 June 1943, Bruce Papers, MHI.
60. Brig. Gen. B. M. Sawbridge to Maj. Gen. A. D. Bruce, 19 March 1943, Bruce Papers, MHI.
61. Greenfield, Palmer, and Wiley, Organization, 414.
62. Tank Destroyer Center, "History," pt. 1, chap. 3, 21.
63. Ibid., pt. 1, chap. 1, 15.
64. Greenfield, Palmer, and Wiley, Organization, 161.
65. Stanton, Order of Battle, 333-38.
66. Memo, G-3 War Department General Staff for the Chief of Staff, 20 January 1944, quoted
in Greenfield, Palmer, and Wiley, Organization, 237.
67. Stanton, Order of Battle, 333-38.
68. Tank Destroyer Center, "History," pt. 1, chap. 4, 21.
69. Cushman, Observer Report, 3 May 1943, 2.
70. 'U.S. Army, Armored School, "The Employment of Four Tank Destroyer Battalions in the
ETO," student research report by Committee 24 (Fort Knox, KY, May 1950), Figure 1;
U.S. Army Command and General Staff School, FM 101-10 (Tentative), Staff Officer's
80

Field Manual: Organization, Technical, and Logistical Data (Fort Leavenworth, KS, 1943),
para. 126.
71. Greenfield, Palmer, and Wiley, Organization, 402, 430; Dunham, "Tank Destroyer History,"
333-35.
72. Tank Destroyer Center, "History," pt. 3, chap. 1, 14-15, and pt. 2, chap. 1, 5~6.

73. Greenfield, Palmer, and Wiley, OrganiZation, 426-27.

74. Ibid; Speech by General A. D. Bruce on Field Manual 18-5, Hood Road Theater, 21 May
1943, Bruce Papers, MHl.
75. Maj. Gen A. D. Bruce to Lt. CoL James P. Barney, Jr., 1 May 1943, Bruce Papers, MHI.
76. Speech by General Bruce on FM 18-5, 21 May 1943.
77. Ibid.
78. FM 18-5 (1942), iv.
79. Dunham, "Tank Destroyer History," 27; Greenfield, Palmer, and Wiley, Organization, 427.
80. FM 101-10 (Tentative), [1943J, para. 127-28.
81. Baily, Faint Praise, 65-66.
82. Tank Destroyer Center, "History," pt. I, chap. 8, 16.
83. AGF Board MTO, "Tank Destroyer Conference," 4.

Chapter 4
1. FM 18-20, FM 18-21, FM 18-22, and FM 18-23, respectively.
2. U.S. War Department, FM 18-5, Tactical Employment Tank Destroyer Unit (Washington,
DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1944), 5.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. U.S. War Department, FM 18-20, Tactical Employment of Tank Destroyer Platoon Self-
Propelled (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1944), 26.
6. FM 18-5 (1942), 32.
7. Lt. Gen. Lesley J. McNair to Maj. Gen. Orlando Ward, 2 August 1943, Orlando Ward
Papers, MHI.
8. FM 18-5 (1944),51-52, 55-56.
9. Ibid., 5.
10. Ibid., 52-53, 76.
11. Ibid., 52.
12. Ibid., 3.
13. Ibid., 65.
14. Ibid., 6.
15. Ibid., 65.
16. Ibid., 4, 81.
17. Ibid., 79, 84-85, 87, 89.
 81

18. U.S. Forces, European Theater, General Board, "Report on Study of Organization, Eq'uip-
ment,and Tactical Employment of Tank Destroyer Units" [1946?], 2 (hereafter cited as
USFET, General Board, "Tank Destroyer Units").
19. See U.s. War Department, FM 7-35, Antitank Company, Infantry Regiment and Antitank
Platoon, Infantry Battalion (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1944).
20. FM 18-5 (1944), 3.
21. Ibid., 3-4, 6-8.
22. Cushman, Observer Report, B May 1943, 15.
23. Matthew Cooper, The German Army, 1933-1945 (New York: Bonanza, 1984),496-97; Carlo
D'Este, Decision in Normandy (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1983), 74-75; Nigel Hamilton,
Master of the Battlefield: Monty's War Years 1942-44 (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1983),
583.
24. USFET, General Board, "Tank Destroyer Units," 2.
25. Stanton, Order of Battle, 326-38.
26. U.S. Army Field Forces, "Type Field Army," 1 July 1949, para. 504, CARL.
27. Baily, Faint Praise, 90.
28. USFET, General Board, "Tank Destroyer Units," 2.
29. Baily, Faint Praise, 2-3.
30. Ibid., 90.
31. Ibid., 106.
32. U.S. Army, 1st Army, "Artillery Information Service," September 1944, 61.
33. Baily, Faint Praise, 70-74.
34. USFET, General Board, "Tank Destroyer Units," 2.
35. U. S. Army, 1st Army, "Artillery Information Service," December 1944, 82.
36. U.S. Army, 814th Tank Destroyer Battalion, After·Action Report, December 1944, CARL.
37. First U.S. Army, "Artillery Information Service," December 1944, 63.
a8. Ibid" 82.
39. U.S. Army Ground Forces, Immediate Report no. 63, HQ, 12th Army Group, 24 September
1944, comments of CoL L. E. Jacoby; 1st Army, "Artillery Information Service," December
1944,64.
40. Great Britain, War Office, Notes From Theatres of War, no. 20: Italy 194311944 (N.p.,
1945), 39; Great Britain, Army, 21st Army Group, "Extracts of 21st Army Group AFV
Technical Report 26," 22 May 1945.
41. Col. C. R. Landon to Commanding General, European Theater of Operations, U.S. Army,
9 November 1944, Bruce Papers, MHI.
42. Stanton, Order of Battle, 47-69, 75-188, 299-302.
43. First U.S. Army, "Artillery Information Service," December 1944, 89-90.
44. Capt. Frederick H. Parkin, "The Employment of the Tank Destroyer Battalion with the
Infantry Division," 12 March 1945, CARL.
45. Ibid.
82

46. John Lemp and Ernest C. Hatfield, "Tank Destroyers as Assault Guns," Field Artillery
Journal 35 (April 1945):244-45.
47. First U.S. Army, "Artillery Information Service," September 1944, 57.
48. U.S. Army Ground Forces, Immediate Report no. 58, 16-17 September 1944. See also 1st
Army, "Artillery Information Service," July 1944, 6l.
49. First U.S. Army, "Artillery Information Service," December 1944, 62.
50. USFET, General Board, "Tank Destroyer Units," 23-24; U.S. Army Ground Forces Report
no. 20309,25 November 1944, CARL.
51. Paul B. Bell, "Tank Destroyers in the Roer River Crossing," Field Artillery Journal 35
(August 1945):497-98.
52. First U.S. Army, "Artillery Information Service," September 1944, 57'-58.
53. U.S. Army Ground Forces, Immediate Report no. 6, European Theater of Operations, 3
February 1945, CARL.
54. U.S. Army Ground Forces, Immediate Report 88, European Theater of Operations, 12th
Army Group, 30 October 1944, CARL.
55. Eugene T. Oborn, "Proper Use and Abuse of Tank Destroyers," Field Artillery Journal 35
(July 1945):398-99.
56. U.S. Army, 1st Army, Operations Memo no. 37, 9 July 1944, Subject: Employment of Tank
Destroyers, found in U.S. Army Ground Forces Board Report no. C-100, European Theater
of Operations, 25 August 1944, CARL.
57. USFET, General Board, "Tank Destroyer Units," 14-15.
58. Ibid., 14-16.
59. Stanton, Order of Battle, 328-31; USFET" General Board, "Tank Destroyer Units," 6.
60. U.S. Army, 3d Army, After-Action Report, pt. 24, Tank Destroyers, April 1945, CARL.
6l. U.S. Army Ground Forces, Immediate Report no. 88, European Theater of Operations, 12th
Army Group, 30 October 1944, comments Lt. Col. H. L. Davisson, Commanding Officer,
634th Tank Destroyer Battalion, CARL.
62. U.S. Army Ground Forces Board, Report no. C·190, European Theater of Operations, 25
August 1944, CARL.
63. Parkin, "Tank Destroyer Battalion."
64. For the Mortain battle see: Martin Blumenson, Breakout and Pursuit, U.S. Army in World
War II: The European Theater of Operations (1961; reprint, Washington, DC: Office of the
Chief of Military History, U.S. Army, 1970), 461; Armored School, "Employment," 81-111;
First Army, "Artillery Information Service," September 1944, 59-60 and December 1944,
72; USFET, General Board, "T'ank Destroyer Units," 15.
65. For the Arracourt battle see: Armored School, "Employment," 64-80; Hugh M. Cole, The
Lorraine Campaign, U.S. Army in World War II: The European Theater of Operations
(1950; reprint, Washington, DC: Historical Division, U.S. Army, 1981), 222-25.
66. Hugh M. Cole, The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge, U.S. Army in World War II; The
European Theater of Operations (1965; reprint, Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of
Military History, U.s. Army, 1983), 147, 281.
67. Ibid., 199, 323-24.
68. Ibid., 126; Armored School, "Employment," 58; 1st U.S. Army, "Artillery Information Ser-
vice," May 1945, 94.
 83

69. Robert W. Hasbrouck, interview with Gregory Fontenot, Washington, DC, 20 August 1984;
Bruce C. Clarke, interview with Gregory Fontenot, McLean, VA, 19 August 1984.
70. Cole, Ardennes, 308-9, 453, 472-74.
71. First U.S. Army, "Artillery Information Service," May 1945, 81; 3d Army, After-Action
Report, pt. 24, 3.
72. First U.S. Army, "Artillery Information Service," May 1945, 81.
73. USFET, General Board, "Tank Destroyer Units," 2.
74. Baily, Faint Praise, 115.
75. D. L. McCaskey, "The Role of Army Ground Forces in the Development of Equipment,"
Army Ground Forces Study no. 29 (N.p.: Historical Section, Army Ground Forces, 1946),
66-67.
76. Stanton, Order of Battle, 333-38; R. L. McNelly, "Tank Destroyers at Work-Without the
Book," Field Artillery Journal 35 (July 1945):396-98.
77. Dunham, "Tank Destroyer History," 45.
78. Allerton Cushman, "Tank Destroyers Against Japan," Field Artillery Journal 36 (February
1946):70-73.
79. Chamblerlain and Ellis, Tanks, 158. See Baily, Faint Praise, for an analysis of the develop-
ment and procurement of th(l M-26.
80. USFET, General Board, "Tank Destroyer Units," 10, 29.
81. Ibid., 25.
82. Ibid., 10.
83. Ibid., 29.
84. "Second Battle of the Carolinas," Time, 8 December 1941:66.
85. Extract of General Devers' Report, 9 February 1943, Bruce Papers, MHI.
86. Stanton, Order of Battle, 26.
87; Ibid., 333-38.
88. See James A. Sawicki, Tank Battalions of the U.S. Army (Dumfries, VA: Wyvem, 1983).

Chapter 5
1. Tank Destroyer Center, "History," pt. 4, chap. 1, 4-5.
2. U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, Regulation no. 11-7, Operational Concepts
and Army Doctrine, (Fort Monroe, V A, 1982).
3. Copies of nearly every wartime observer report cited in this study ate known to have been
sent to the Tank Destroyer Center.
4. Robert A. Doughty, The Evolution of U.S. Army Doctrine, 1946-76, Leavenworth Paper
no. 1 (Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute,. U.S. Army Command and General
Staff College, 1979), 4.
5. G. D. W. Court, Hard Pounding (Washington, DC: The U.S. Field Artillery Association,
1946),6-7.
6.· Richard E. Simpkin, Antitank: An Airmechanized Response to Armored Threats in the 90s
(New York: Brassey's, 1982), 176-77, 186.
84

7. U.S. War Department, "Instructions for Anti-tank Defence," 9.

8. Ibid.
9. U.S. Army Infantry School, TO 7-24, Antiarmor Techniques for Mechanized Infantry
(Fort Benning, GA, 1975), pt. 2, 2.
_B_ib_II_-O_g_ra_p_h_y_ _ _ _ _ _----t1 ~ I
Abbreviations
CARL-Documents Collection, Combined Arms Research Library, U.S. Army
Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, KS.
MHI-U.S. Army Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, PA.
NA-National Archives, Washington, DC.

Documents
Unpublished
Allied Forces. Training Memorandum no. 23. "Employment of Tank De-
stroyer Units." 21 March 1943. CARL.
Allied Forces. G-3 Training Section. "Training Notes from Recent Fighting
in Tunisia: Experiences, Observations, and Opinions Collected from
Officers and Men of Front Line Units, March 18-30, 1943." CARL.
Bruce, Andrew D. Papers. U.S. Army Military History Institute, Carlisle
Barracks, PA.
Conference in the Office of the Chief of Staff, 7 October 1941. Item 4327,
microfilm reel 287, George C. Marshall Research Library, Lexington,
VA.
Cushman, Allerton, Maj. [Army Ground Forces] Observer Report. 29 March
1943. CARL.
Dunham, Emory A. "Tank Destroyer History." Army Ground Forces Study
no. 29. N.p.: Historical Section, Army Ground Forces, 1946. CARL.
Entry 57, General HQ, U.S. Army (GHQ). Record Group 337 (HQ Army
Ground Forces). NA.
Entry 57D, General HQ, U.S. Army (GHQ). General Staff, G-3 Section, Sub-
ject File: 1940-March 9, 1942. Record Group 337 (HQ Army Ground
Forces). NA.
Great Britain, Army. 21st Army Group. "Extracts of 21 Army Group AFV
Technical Report 26." 22 May 1943. CARL.
85
86

Great Britain. War Office. General Staff. "German Armoured Tactics in

Libya." Periodical Notes on the German Army no. 37. February 1942.
CARL.
Harmon, E. N. "Notes on Combat Experience During the Tunisian and Afri-
can Campaigns." Typescript, Library, U.S. Army Armor School, Fort
Knox, KY.
McCaskey, D. L. "The Role of Army Ground Forces in the Development of
Equipment." Army Ground Forces Study no. 34. N.p.: Historical Sec-
tion, Army Ground Forces, 1946. CARL.
Marshall, George C. Papers. George C. Marshall Research Library, Lexing-
ton, VA.
Memo, Col. A. D. Bruce for the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3, 21 January
1942, Subject: Report on the Maneuver Experiences of Provisional Anti-
tank Battalions (First Army). Item 4327, microfilm reel 287, George
C. Marshall Library, Lexington, VA.
Memo for the Secretary [of War], Notes on Conference, 4 December 1941.
Item 2714, microfilm reel 116, George C. Marshall Library, Lexington,
VA.
Naisawald, L. Van L. "The U.S. Infantry Division, Changing Concepts in
Organization, 1900-1939." Baltimore: Operations Research Office,
Johns Hopkins University, 1952. CARL.
Parkin, Frederick H., Capt. "The Employment of the Tank Destroyer Bat-
talion with the Infantry Division." 12 March 1945. CARL.
"Provisional Instructions for Leadership and Action of the Tank Regiment
and Tank Battalion." Captured German document translated by Great
Britain, Army, General Headquarters, Middle East, CSI. Box 56, Ar-
mored Tactics, Patton Collection, Library of Congress.
Provisional Tank Destroyer Battalion GHQ. "Standing Operating Proce-
dure." Fort George G. Meade, MD, 1941? Item 4327, Microfilm reel
287, George C. Marshall Research Library, Lexington, VA.
U.S. Army. Armored School. "The Employment of Four Tank Destroyer
Battalions in the ETO." Student research report by Committee 24.
Fort Knox, KY, May 1950. CARL.
U.S. Army. 1st Army. "Artillery Information Service." CARL.
U.S. Army. 1st Army. Operations Memo no. 37. 9 July 1944. Subject: Em-
ployment of Tank Destroyers. In U.S. Army Ground Forces Board.
Report no. C-100. European Theater of Operations. 25 August 1944.
CARL.
U.S. Army. 3d Army. After-Action Report. Pt. 24. Tank Destroyers. April
1945. CARL.
U.S. Army. 5th Army. Training Memo no. 60. "Employment of Tank De-
stroyer Units as Reinforcing Artillery." 24 August 1943. CARL.
U.S. Army Field Forces. "Type Field Army." 1 July 1949. CARL.
 87

U.S. Army Ground Forces. Immediate Report no. 6. European Theater of

Operations. 3 February 1945. CARL.
U.S. Army Ground Forces. Immediate Report no . 58. 16-17 September 1944.
CARL.
U.S. Army Ground Forces. Immediate Report no. 63. HQ, 12th Army Group.
24 September 1944. Comments of Col. L. E. Jacoby. CARL.
U.S. Army Ground Forces. Immediate Report no. 88. European Theater of
Operations. 12th Army Group. 30 October 1944. CARL.
U.S. Army Ground Forces. Report no. 20 309. 25 November 1944. CARL.
U.S. Army Ground Forces. Board Report no. C-190. European Theater of
Operations. 25 August 1944. CARL.
U.S. Army Ground Forces Board. Mediterranean Theater of Operations.
"Tank Destroyer Conference, Florence, Italy." November 1944. CARL.
U.S. Army Ground Forces Board. Mediterranean Theater of Operations.
"The Tank Destroyer Battalion in Action." Report A-Misc-21. 24 May
1944. CARL.
U.S. Army Ground Forces Board. North African Theater of Operations. Re-
port A-165. 20 June 1944. CARL.
U.S. Army. 814th Tank Destroyer Battalion. After-Action Report. December
1944. CARL.
U.S. Army Tank Destroyer Center. "Tank Destroyer History." Camp Hood,
TX, 1945? Microfilm, Library of Congress.
U.S. Forces, European Theater. General Board. "Report on Study of Organi-
zation, Equipment, and Tactical Employment of Tank Destroyer
Units." [1946]. CARL.
Ward, Orlando. Papers. U.S. Army Military History Institute, Carlisle Bar-
racks, PA.

Published
Great Britain. War Office. Notes from Theatres of War. No. 20. Italy 19431
1944. N.p., 1945.
U.S. Army Command and General Staff School. Antimechanized Defense
(Tentative). Fort Leavenworth, KS, 1939.
U.S. Army Command and General Staff School. Antitank Defense (Tenta-
tive). Fort Leavenworth, KS, 1936.
U.S. Army Command and General Staff School. FM 101-10 (Tentative). Staff
Officer's Field Manual: Organization, Technical, and Logistical Data.
Fort Leavenworth, KS, [1943].
U.S. Army Infantry School. TC 7-24. Antiarmor Techniques for Mechanized
Infantry. Fort Benning, GA, 1975.
U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. Regulation no. 11-7. Opera-
tional Concepts and Army Doctrine. Fort Monroe, VA, 1982.
88

U.S. War Department. FM 7-35. Antitank Company, Infantry Regiment

and Antitank Platoon, Infantry Battalion. Washington, DC: U.S. Govern-
ment Printing Office, 1944.
U.S. War Department. FM 18-5. Tank Destroyer Field Manual, Organization
and Tactics of Tank Destroyer Units. Washington, DC: US. Govern-
ment Printing Office, 1942.
U.S. War Department. FM 18-5. Tactical Employment Tank Destroyer Unit.
Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1944.
U.S. War Department. FM 18-20. Tactical Employment of Tank Destroyer
Platoon Self-Propelled. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing
Office, 1944. .
U.S. War Department. FM 100-5. Tentative Field Service Regulations:
Operations. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1939.
U.S. War Department. FM 100-5. Field Service Regulations: Operations.
Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1941.
U.S. War Department. War Plans Division. "Instructions for Anti-tank De-
fense (Provisional-February 1918) from an Official British Docu-
ment." War Department Document no. 783. April 1918.
Interviews and Letters
Clarke, Bruce C., interview with Gregory Fontenot~ McLean, VA, 19 August
1984.
Green, Robert W. Letter to the author, 22 May 1977.
Hasbrouck, Robert W., interview with Gregory Fontenot. Washington, DC,
20 August 1984.

Books and Articles

"Artillery and the Tank." Field Artillery Journal 30 (July-August 1940):
243-48.
Baily, Charles M. Faint Praise: American Tanks and Tank Destroyers
During World War II. Hamden, CT: Archon, 1983.
Bell, Paul B. "Tank Destroyers in the Roer River Crossing." Field Artillery
Journal 35 (August 1945):497-98.
Betson, William R. "Sidi-Bou-Zid-A Case History of Failure." Armor 91
(November-December 1982):38-44.
Blumenson, Martin. Breakout and Pursuit. U.S. Army in World War II: The
European Theater of Operations. 1961. Reprint. Washington, DC:
Office of the Chief of Military History, U.S. Army, 1970.
Chamberlain, Peter, and Chris Ellis. British and American Tanks of World'
War II. New York: Arco, 1981.
Cole, Hugh M. The Ardennes; Battle of the Bulge. U.S. Army in World
War II: The European Theater of Operations. 1965. Reprint. Washing-'
ton, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, U.S. Army, 1983.
 89

Cole, Hugh M. The Lorraine Campaign. U.S. Army in World War II: The
European Theater of Operations. 1950. Reprint. Washington, DC: His-
torical Division, U.S. Army, 1981.
Cooper, Matthew. The German Army, 1933-1945. New York: Bonanza, 1984.
Court, G. D. W. Hard Pounding. Washington, DC: The-U.S. Field Artillery
Association, 1946.
Cushman, Allerton. "Tank Destroyers Against Japan." Field Artillery Jour-
nal 36 (February 1946):70-73.
D'Este, Carlo. Decision in Normandy. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1983.
Doughty, Robert A. "French Antitank Doctrine 1940: The Antidote that
Failed." Military Review 56 (May 1976):36-48.
Doughty, Robert A. The Evolution of U.S. Army Doctrine, 1946-76. Leaven-
worth Paper no. 1. Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute,
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, 1979.
Dupont, Jean. "Fighting the Panzers." Field Artillery Journal 31 (August
1941):538-43.
Ellman, Gilbert A. "Panther vs. Panzer." Military Review 24 (August 1944):
21-26.
Gabel, Christopher R. "The U.S. Army GHQ Maneuvers of 1941." Ph.D.
dissertation, Ohio State University, 1981. Microfilm. Ann Arbor, MI:
University Microfilms International, 1981.
Greenfield, Kent Roberts, Robert R. Palmer, and Bell I. Wiley. The Organi-
zation of Ground Combat Troops. U.S. Army in World War II: The
Army Ground Forces. Washington, DC: Historical Division, United
States Army, 1947.
Hamilton, Nigel. Master of the Battlefield: Monty's War Years, 1942-44.
New York: McGraw-Hill, 1983.
Horne, Alistair. To Lose a Battle, France 1940. Boston: Little, Brown and
Co., 1969.
Howe, George F. Northwest Africa: Seizing the Initiative in the West. U.S.
Army in World War II: The Mediterranean Theater of Operations.
Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department
of the Army, 1957.
Hunnicutt, R. P. Sherman: A History of the American Medium Tank.
Novato, CA:.Presidio Press, 1978.
Lemp, John, and Ernest C. Hatfield. "Tank Destroyers as Assault Guns."
Field Artillery Journal 35 (April 1945):244-45.
Liddell Hart, Basil Henry. The German Generals Talk. New York: W.
Morrow, 1948.
Macksey, Kenneth. Tank Pioneers. New York: Jane's Publishing, 1981.
McNelly, R. L. "Tank Destroyers at Work-Without the Book." Field Artil-
lery Journal 35 (July 1945):396-98.
90

Marston, O. F. "Fast Moving Targets." Field Artillery Journal 30 (July-

August 1940):264-67.
Meachem, P. C. "A New Fighting Team." Field Artillery Journal 34 (Novem-
ber 1944):778-80.
"New Tank Destroyer Battalions." Infimtry Journal 50 (January 1942):
56-59.
"Newly Approved Organization, Division Artillery-Triangular Division."
Field Artillery Journal 30 (September~October 1940):3E}.;.-37.
Oborn, Eugene T. "Proper Use and Abuse of Tank Destroyers." Field Artil-
lery Journal 35 (July 1945):398-99.
Ogorkiewicz, Richard M. Armored Forces. New York: Arco, 1970.
Sawicki, James A. Tank Battalions of the U.S. Army. Dumfries, VA:
Wyvern, 1983.
"Second Battle of the Carolinas." Time, 8 December 1941:66.
Simpkin, Richard E. Antitank; An Airmechanized Response to Armored
Threats in the 90's. New York: Brassey's, 1982.
Stanton, Shelby L. Order of Battle: U.S. Army, World War II. Novato, CA:
Presidio Press, 1984.
Stubbs, Mary, and Stanley R. Connor. Armor-Cavalry. Pt. 1. Regular Army
and Army Reserve. Army Lineage Series. Washington, DC: Office of
the Chief of Military History, U.S. Army, 1969.
Thomson, Harry C., and Lida Mayo. The Ordnance Department: Procure·
ment and Supply. U.S. Army in World War II: The Technical Services.
Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department
of the Army, 1960.
Van Wyck, Ralph. "Antitank Battery Training." Field Artillery Journal 30
(January 1941):6-10.
Wedemeyer, A. C. "Antitank Defense." Field Artillery Journal 31 (May
1941):258-72. Also, "Stopping the Armored Onslaught." Infantry Jour-
nal 48 (May 1941):22-31.
Weeks, John. Men Against Tanks, A History of Antitank Warfare. New
York: Mason/Chatter, 1975.
 91

LEAVENWORTH PAPERS
1. The Evolution of U.s. Army Tactical Doctrine, 1946-76, by Major Robert
A. Doughty
2. Nomonhan: Japanese-Soviet Tactical Combat, 1939, by Dr. Edward J. Drea
3. "Not War But Like War": The American Intervention in Lebanon, by Dr.
Roger J. Spiller
4. The Dynamics of Doctrine: The Changes in German Tactical Doctrine During
the First World War, by Captain Timothy T. Lupfer
5. Fighting the Russians in Winter: Three Case Studies, by Dr. Allen F. Chew
6. Soviet Night Operations, by Major Claude R. Sasso
7. August Storm: The Soviet 1945 Strategic Offensive in Manchuria, by
Lieutenant Colonel David M. Glantz
8. August Storm: Soviet Tactical and Operational Combat in Manchuria, 1945,
by Lieutenant Colonel David M. Glantz
9. Defending the Driniumor: Covering Force Operations in New Guinea, 1944,
by Dr. Edward J. Drea
10. Chemical Warfare in World War /: The American Experience, 1917-1918,
by Major(P} Charles E. Heller, USAR
11. Rangers: Selected Combat Operations in World War /I, by Dr. Michael J.
King
12. Seek, Strike, and Destroy: U.S. Army Tank Destroyer Doctrine in World
War /I, by Dr. Christopher R. Gabel

RESEARCH SURVEYS
1. Amicicide: The Problem of Friendly Fire in Modern War, by Lieutenant
Colonel Charles R. Shrader
2. Toward Combined Arms Warfare: A Survey of 20th-Century Tactics, Doctrine
and Organization, by Captain Jonathan M. House
3. Rapid Deployment Logistics: Lebanon 1958, by Lieutenant Colonel Gary H.
Wade
4. The Soviet Airborne Experience, by Lieutenant Colonel David M. Glantz
92

STUDIES IN PROGRESS
Counterattack on the Naktong: Light Infantry Operations in Korea, 1950
•
Standing Fast: German Defensive Doctrine
on the Russian Front During World War II
•
Tactics and Doctrine in Imperial Russia
•
U.S. Intervention in the Dominican Republic, 1965
•
Evolution of the Corps
•
World War II Eastern Front Atlas
•
Peacekeeping Operations
•
Mobilization Related Correlates of Success
in American World War \I Infantry Divisions

•
Dragon Rouge: Hostage Rescue in the Congo
•
Light Infantry in Modern Historical Perspective
•
Abu-Ageila and Um Katef: History and Battle Planning
•
Counterguerrilla Operations: Nicaragua, 1927-'33
•
World War II Corps Commander's Profile

ff u.s. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1988·554-001182064

 Dr. Christopher R. Gabel is an associate pro-
fessor at the Combat Studies Institute, U.S. Army
Command and General Staff College, Fort Leaven-
worth, Kansas. He received his bachelor's degree
at The Pennsylvania State University and earned
M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in history at The Ohio
State University. His graduate studies focused on
the doctrine of the U.S. Army in the interwar and
World War II periods.

COMBAT STUDIES INSTITUTE

Missions
The Combat Studies Institute was established on 18 June 1979 as a department-level activity
within the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. CSI has the
following missions:

1. Conduct research on historical topics pertinent to the doctrinal concerns of the Army and publish
the results in a variety of formats for the Active Army and Reserve Components.

2. Prepare and present instruction in military history at USACGSC and assist other USACGSC
departments in integrating military history into their instruction.

3. Serve as the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Comma rid's executive agent for the development
and coordination of an integrated, progressive program of military history instruction in the
TRADOC service school system.

'----------,~
 . SYNOpsk·(JF~EAViNWORTHP'APEk12

.. foliOWi~gtheG~tm~nconqUestof France in
1940; the tJ.S..Arn:lYfoundit~elfwitho,uta doctrine,
(jtgaiii~atiQn, or weapon cap<;lpie ofdefeati09 a whole-
saleii1.echani~ed>~.ttack.Conseqoent!y, at the dir.ect
in~tigatio~ofthe Chief,dfStaff, GeneraiGecirdec~
Marsli~lj,UeUJenantGerier.ai, lesley J., McNair
•,foun~edan aiititankquasicarrnin1941.' This f()rce,
. <the "tanl<destroyer~/'comblried aQaggressive doc-
'" trine" anelite>spjrit;and highly mobfte. heavily
QUl1oe:d Weap~ns.' ". . , . , .

bnt~e ~f W~rr~Waru.h(jwever
battlefi';lIds . ,tank
•.destroyerswere uneql!alto the task of neutraliZing
Gerl1:\anarUlOr. ,Their aggressive doctrine. played •into
the hands of the German Pllnzer divisions, which
. emp!oyedhighlyintegraled comJ:iinedarms tactics.
, . Thetankdestr6yers\fVere . also outgunhed by the
heavy Germ.an tanks thar appeared in the last three
yea¥softhe.vvar.' Therefore,. tfle, .originaltankdj:l~ ,
stroYj:lr doctrilie was la.rgelY abahdoned in the field,
where tile tank destroyers continued to perform a
.. variety of lessambit.iol!s missio:ns.
. ThisLeavenWorthPaperprovides a easEl: study
in toetormulation of doctrine, .with emphasis being
.. ' giveDtdth~ ~oncePtuaJfla,wS tha'~ marr~dthe tank
pestroyer.programand the.corrective me,asures that
,w.ereimplemente.dintnefield tb alleviate ,these .'
flaV'.'s.This study conCluqesWith thea'rgument that
anycompretlensiveanfitankdoctrine; then and now.
,must embrace the prinpiples of combined arms war-
e
. far-ein.order to:b effective.