Wednesday, May 11, 2005

General Gott on German tactics, written after the Crusader battle

Correlli Barnett has a quote from General Gott, who was 7th Armoured Division commander during the Crusader battle in late 1941. General Gott wrote:

"The German will not commit himself to tank versus tank battle as such. In every phase of battle he coordinates the action of his anti-tank guns, Field Artillery and Infantry with his tanks and he will not be drawn from this policy"

The German superiority was based on their use of the 88mm AA gun as an anti-tank weapon. This should not have been a surprise, as they had used them in this role as early as the Spanish Civil War. Correlli Barnett says that just four "88'" were sufficient to block an armoured brigade.

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