A Short Guide to Armor

Tanks and Techniques

by Dave Woolcombe-Gosson

I have for some years observed, from a distance you understand, the dark art of armoured warfare. Occasionally I have felt urges, as you may do, to enter the sordid back-alley that is tactics. This is where a lack of experience and understanding made things difficult and I felt unable to talk the talk of the G3 warrior. However, having spent the last couple of years gaining a vast amount of experience, well, some anyway, in matters G3 and tactical, I thought it only fair to share some of it. You know the sort thing: inform the discussion, raise the level of debate. To that end, outlined below is a short guide to armour. The information I wish to share is first hand practical experience and although not exhaustive, much is covered.

Some Basic Questions

Why is Armour Important?

Well, it just is, really. Get people started on armour and they will take one of two tracks (excuse pun), namely historical or doctrinal. The historical armour bluffer will waffle on about Cambrai, Great War, Royal Tank Corps etc. Clearly, although he has a point, he is boring. His sidekick, the doctrinal waffler will start spouting about tempo, momentum, manoeuvre and the like. All good stuff but again, intensely boring. They are also both wrong; the real reason you need to know about armour is in case you are asked by someone who is in a position of influence over you. At the risk of stating the obvious, there is no real problem in being unable to answer LCpl Smith's probing and perceptive question on the utility of armour. There is however, great scope for disaster if DEC(A)asks you a question to which you do not have the answer. The rough guide below should help.

Where does armour come from? This is easy. All British armour comes from Vickers or a marginal constituency, possibly both. In the past, armour used to just pop out of marginal constituencies without so much as a 'by your leave'. It would then turn up at the camp gate and break down. Obviously this had to change and the Procurement Cycle was designed. The purpose of the Procurement Cycle was to create open competition, set against a specific requirement. The end result was often similar to the pre-Procurement Cycle result. However, the arrival of new armour is no longer the surprise it once was, although neither is the fact that it still breaks down. As for foreign armour, that comes from the direction of the large red arrow on your map.

What are the generic types of armour?

A bit more tricky this one. If you are asked this question then the secret is not to get too technical. For simplicity's sake, Armour is best thought of as being Tanks, and Tanks are best broken down (ha!) into three types: Big Tanks, Medium-sized Tanks and Small Tanks. It is that simple and best left at that level.

Who uses tanks? You are now on dangerous ground. - Depending how it is couched this may well be a trick question; you should adopt one of two courses. The simple truth is that REME, the (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers) are the main users of tanks as most armour is found in the LAD (Light Aid Detachment) or Workshop, where it has been recovered after breaking down. However, don't immediately retort with this answer. Nobody likes a clever dick and your examiner may well mean that he wants you to tell him who is supposed to use armoured vehicles. This is no longer simple and covers a multitude of regiments, most of which you would not wish to be seen dead in. In order to satisfy honour and answer the question simply state that the RAC (Royal Armoured Corps) have all the big ones and some small ones while the Infantry have the medium sized ones and some of the small ones that were left over.

We are now making real progress. We have covered where armour comes from, what types there are and who uses it. The latter point does need a bit of expansion however and it may be worth a couple of paragraphs on the leading exponents of the armoured art.

What is the RAC (Royal Armoured Corps)?

Again, not a straight forward question. The RAC is effectively split into two camps – the Cavalry and the RTR (Royal Tank Regiment). The RTR is generally officered by decent sorts with the odd eccentric (code for of lunatic) thrown in for individuality. RTR officers are generally interested in hunting, shooting and fishing. The Cavalry is again officered by decent sorts but has more eccentrics. In fairness, it has more regiments than the RTR and so the proportion is probably similar. Cavalry officers are generally interested in hunting, shooting and fishing. To the uninitiated, the two seem decidedly similar. However, be wary grouping them together indiscriminately. Both factions are consummate professionals but the Cavalry hide it much better than the RTR. The latter are sometimes quite open about their professionalism and this can lead to friction between the two.

For the sake of completeness, I must just mention a role that some Cavalry regiments hold, namely Recce. Recce means looking for things, such as nightclubs and shirtmakers and is well suited to the Cavalry who are the professionals at Formation Recce, ie, looking for things for people outside one's own Regiment. The concept of ops for Formation Recce is to get in an old, small, under-gunned, aluminium tank and drive hundreds of kilometres into enemy territory. Once there the idea is to sneak information on the enemy back to the formation commander. In theory this works well but the reality is rapid deterioration of fuel and ammunition stocks, over-extended lines of communication, no re-supply, and death by main armament overmatch. Consequently there is no need to worry too much about this branch of the armoured tree.


A Short Guide to Armor Tanks and Techniques


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