No general engaged in this great war seems so far to have discovered a way to counter a modern tank attack, except by a similar attack like against like. This is by no means easy, for one of the most essential things in a successful tank attack is the element of surprise, and the side which has air superiority can keep enemy reconnaissance planes away from the places where armoured divisions are being con. centrated, and so can prevent the opposing side from similarly concentrating against them. The German armoured division as it has so far been employed in the war has consisted of a squadron of aircraft, a brigade of infantry in lorries, a cyclist unit, an anti-tank battalion, an engineer battalion, ə repair and maintenance unit, and one tank brigade of two regiments, each' with two battalions of one hundred tanks each, making four hundred tanks in all. These tanks may vary from light, two-men vehicles to heavy monsters. In Germany there seems to be a tendency fo scrap the lighter tanks in favour of the heavier, since in the Polish campaign the light tanks suffered heavy casualties and in the French campaign the heavy tank was a conspicuous success. The Germans have not used their armoured divisions until careful reconnaissance of the opposing defences has revealed their weakest spot. When the High Command believes that it has discovered this spot, it con-contrates its armoured positions against it. This is where it is important that at least local domination of the air must be obtained, so that the concentration is kept secret, Before the armoured' division is hurled at the enemy an attempt is made to strafe all anti-tank guns by means of artillery and dive bombers. Or if it is feared that the laying down of a barrage just before a tank attack might give the other side warning of what is impending, the general may be content with attempting to spot the positions of the anti-tank guns through aerial or other reconnaissance, and dealing with them at the same moment as the main tank attack by sending over wave after wave of bombers to wreck their positions. The advantage given by a heavy barrage not only on the opposing anti-tank guns but also on the opposing artillery lies in the fact that tank traps are only effective so long as they are defended against engineers who can remove them, fill them up, or make them useless in other ways. This can only be done if the tank traps are protected by the artillery fire of the side which laid them. If this artillery is kept employed in other ways, the tank traps can be removed without too much difficulty. Observers of tank warfare are doubtless watching the gigantic struggle now going on in Russia to see what methods the Russians are employing against the Panzer division. So far they seem to have been fairly effective. The Russians have shown great ingenuity in the design and construction of new arms, and it is possible that out of this struggle will emerge tactics or weapons which will answer the question of an effective defence agains) an armoured assault.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.