Anti-tank solution

**KrooK** · 06-27-2008, 15:03

WW2 was interesting conflict. Tanks were one of the most dangerous weapon there. However people invented some smart and untypical solution for that "problem". Here I'm asking you to post tricks you know....

To start fair - I'm starting.
During battle of Warsaw 1939 german tanks during attack have to drove through railway. Same time boy scout connected railway with ..... high voltage. First tank crew that tried to cross the railway really gone to hell.....

During battle of Mokra 1939 about 30 German tanks prepared to attack on polish position. They were on railway or next to railway. Suddenly they heard something. It was polish armoured train chargin them and firing from all cannons. Tank crew turned into panic and ran into all directions.

During battle of Monte Cassino Anzac commando unit found Tiger hidden into building (some floors). Germans mask this tank very good. However Anzacs were even smaller. To avoid breaking Tiger armour they simply ....... planted dynamite and destroyed building.

And in the end something that is called a way of destroying tanks, however its a myth.
POLISH CAVARLY NEVER CHARGED TANKS. Sometimes cavarly found tanks but it was always by mistake.

**Marshal Murat** · 06-27-2008, 15:19

The Soviets tried to strap anti-tank mines to dogs, and then send them at the Krauts, but that backfired...

The Japanese did kamizkaze tank attacks. They would dig a hole, jump in, pull in an artillery shell, and camouflage the trap. As the Allied tanks passed over, they would take a stone or hammer and strike the firing cap on the bomb, destroying themselves and the tank passing overhead.

**PBI** · 06-27-2008, 16:33

Originally Posted by KrooK

During battle of Warsaw 1939 german tanks during attack have to drove through railway. Same time boy scout connected railway with ..... high voltage. First tank crew that tried to cross the railway really gone to hell.....

That's interesting; I wonder how it worked? I was always taught that the inside of a car (or any other large metal object) is a very safe place to be in a thunderstorm, since the electric current will pass through the outer surface of the car body and not through the passengers. Did it perhaps cause a spark in the tank which ignited the fuel or ammunition?

**Uesugi Kenshin** · 06-27-2008, 16:36

Originally Posted by Poor Bloody Infantry

That's interesting; I wonder how it worked? I was always taught that the inside of a car (or any other large metal object) is a very safe place to be in a thunderstorm, since the electric current will pass through the outer surface of the car body and not through the passengers. Did it perhaps cause a spark in the tank which ignited the fuel or ammunition?

I would guess that the crew inside the tank were in contact with metal that was connected to the tank chassis in some way so the current would have passed through them?

Don't the tires of a car have something to do with people being safe in them, and aren't you toast if you touch any part of the car chassis?

EDIT: Oh and I think you could argue that RPG's and rocket launchers were innovative "untypical" anti-tank solutions at the time as they started essentially as huge anti-tank grenades with small rockets attached to give the "thrower" (as they were originally thrown or placed) a little more range. The PIAT is also interesting. An AT grenade launcher powered by a spring.

**Marshal Murat** · 06-27-2008, 16:54

The modern automobile has rubber tires that conduct the electricity from the metal chassis to the ground. 1939 Panzer tanks were more metal than really rubber.

**PBI** · 06-28-2008, 11:34

Rubber tires work to reduce the damage done by lightning because the increase the overall resistance of the vehicle, and thus decreases the amount of current (which is what kills you in a lightning strike) flowing through the vehicle. The same principle applies to wearing rubber shoes if hit by lightning.

However, even without rubber tires the guys inside the tank should be safe from electrocution because the body of the tank effectively acts as a Faraday cage: When electricity flows through a large conductor, it will naturally flow only through the outer surface of the object. You can even be touching the inner surface and still be unharmed. In fact I believe people who work on high voltage power lines wear protective gear which works off this principle: Basically a suit of silver chain mail, which will conduct current over the surface and leave the wearer unharmed.

Regarding novel anti-tank weapons, surely the classic poor man's homemade anti-tank weapon, the Molotov cocktail has to be worth a mention? And the Soviet anti tank dogs sound great; can't understand why this unit has never made an appearance in any of the Red Alert games.