Tank destroyer
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The Panzerjäger troop is a class of armies that is specifically used for anti-tank defense.
The origins of the tank destroyer
With the advent of armored vehicles for mobile combat operations after the experiences of the First World War , anti-tank troops were formed for the first time in the German Reichswehr and later the Wehrmacht , even if this was prohibited by the Treaty of Versailles . Due to internal military competencies in the Wehrmacht, the Panzerjäger troops did not belong to the tank troops, but developed from the " assault artillery ", which was assigned to the artillery troops .
Initially, training was carried out on wooden dummies. After the armament of the Wehrmacht from 1935 on, the anti-tank departments were equipped with anti-tank guns of the types PaK 36 , PaK 38 , PaK 40 , PaK 43 . These were used by the infantry and the tank grenadiers of the tank divisions for anti-tank defense, but were also used secondarily to reinforce fire by tank units after they had delayed the fire-ready line of anti-tank weapons after the start of the battle. Especially since the first major retreats, the losses of the drawn anti-tank units increased by leaps and bounds. Tank destroyers were introduced into large motorized formations as a mobile replacement.
During the Second World War came Jagdpanzer like the Jagdpanzer IV , the tank destroyer "agitators" , the tank destroyer "elephant" and the tank destroyer "Jagdtiger" used. These were cheaper to manufacture than battle tanks , as a rotating turret was dispensed with in order to save resources in the war economy , and both prey chassis and excess or obsolete chassis of decommissioned tanks were used. The lower silhouette and rounded cubature of these armored vehicles brought an advantage on the battlefield - the vehicle was easier to camouflage and harder to hit. The " Jagdpanther " is generally seen as the best tank destroyer of the Second World War . The "Hetzer" was part of the Swiss Army until the 1970s.
Tank destroyer in the Bundeswehr
The tank destroyer force from 1956 to 2006, a branch of service of the army of the Bundeswehr . She was last one of the armored combat troops . The main task was anti-tank and the main weapon system was the Jaguar rocket tank destroyer . The lowest rank in the Panzerjäger troop was the tank destroyer. In 2006 the tank destroyer force was decommissioned.
Swiss Army tank destroyer
The Swiss Army , which due to its defensive orientation does not have combat helicopters, still maintains an anti-tank force.
In Army 95 , both the infantry and the mechanized and light troops (MLT) were equipped with tank destroyer companies. The infantry tank destroyers were tasked with ambushing enemy battle tanks in the space in front of their own lines, destroying them and then withdrawing. The MLT tank destroyers accompanied their own battle tank units to support them in combat against enemy armored vehicles.
In Army XXI , the tank destroyer units were greatly reduced and incorporated into the mechanized scouts. Their tasks now also include room surveillance.
The tank destroyers of the Swiss Army are equipped with the Panzerjäger 90 Piranha 6x6 based on a wheeled infantry fighting vehicle built by Mowag, which in 1990 replaced the outdated recoilless anti-tank guns of the 10.6 cm rsf Pak 58 type . The Piranha is equipped with a combat tower with two TOW 2 guided missile launchers and a smoke-throwing system.
In 1996 300 tank destroyers took part in a joint exercise with the Austrian Armed Forces on the Allentsteig training area in Austria.
Planes
Aircraft that were specifically used to combat tanks are also referred to as tank destroyers. As an example, here is the canon bird Junkers Ju-87 G2 the (German), Hawker Typhoon (British) or Il-2 Sturmovik to name (Soviet) for the period of the Second World War. As a modern aircraft, the A-10 Thunderbolt II is also specially designed for tank hunting.
helicopter
In modern warfare, attack helicopters with anti-tank missiles or anti-tank helicopters are also used to fight tanks.
