Customer Reviews

The Tank Killers: A History of America's World War II Tank Destroyer Force

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Yeide's "Tank Killers" is "intended...[to be] both a broad history of the Tank Destroyer Force and a representative look into the world of men who fought in the TD battalions." The TDF was formed in the early days of the North Africa campaign when Allied Forces faced the vaunted German Panzers. Involved in the war in Europe on all fronts including the Italian campaign, D-Day, and the invasion of Germany, the TDF always had an eclectic, ad hoc character to it. Faced with the seemingly incongruous requirements of greater mobility than the German tanks to find them and then outmaneuver them and at the same time powerful enough weapons to destroy the enemy tanks, the TDF made do with armed Jeeps, artillery, tanks, anti-tank mines and hand-placed explosives. The Force was filled with personnel with varied specialties and combat experience brought in from varied Army units. As important as the TDF was in taking out the deadly German tanks commonly threatening to stop advancing infantry, the Force was never smoothly integrated into the regular combat forces. It was disbanded shortly after World War II ended. Yeide is an author of a previous work on U. S. tank warfare in Europe whose history of this brief, but crucial Army tank force contains enough material on individual soldiers, tactics, and combat for any World War II and military history buff. What is new and most captivating about it, though, is the continuing innovation and scrappiness of the men of the Tank Destroyer Force as they gained more information about their foe, weapons evolved, and terrains and other conditions changed during the course of the War.

The Tank Killers: A History of America's World War II Tank Destroyer Force is an exciting history of the American Tank Destroyer Force (TD) in North Africa, Italy, and the European Theater during World War II, and the men who served in those battalions. Drawing heavily upon internal records and interviews with survivors, author and international affairs analyst Harry Yeide presents the none-too-pretty details of the TD's missions, recounting the saga of the TD from its inception in 1941 until the end of the war in 1945. The invaluable battlefield contribution of the TD gets the in-depth treatment it deserves in this compelling and extensively researched history.

Like Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle, the U.S. Army was rudely awakened from twenty years of deep sleep by Hitler's noisy blitzkrieg victories in Poland and France. With no available ground weapon to counter the feared panzers, Army visionary General Lesley McNair was soon pushing for a unique new deterrent -- the tank destroyer (TD).

In his new book, veteran military writer Harry Yeide, also the author of Steeds of Steel: A History of American Mechanized Cavalry in World War II, gives us an informative broad history of the tank destroyer force, and a "representative look into the world of the men who fought in the TD battalions." This book is not your typical dry academic slog. Written in a clear prose, "The Tank Killers" is a fast paced, entertaining read, told in many voices. Mr. Yeide is wise enough to allow his subjects to tell their own stories. The author's disjointed narrative mirrors his principal sourcing -- unevenly written after-action reports and TD battalion histories.

Unsure how to organize the new tank destroyer force, purists dictated that the destruction of enemy tanks, operating in mass, more or less independently of infantry and artillery would be the sole mission of the new TD.

The army's brain trust believed that tank destroyer battalions would operate as mobile reserves and not as part of the front line defense. Large TD forces would swarm to the point of an attack and maneuver to strike at the enemy's flanks -- preferably from ambush. The enemy would be located by reconnaissance and TD firing positions quickly established. However, Mr. Yeide argues, this doctrine "utterly missed the realities of combined-arms warfare."

Meanwhile, in Washington D.C. -- in part to please the thrifty Congress -- lobbyists announced, "One good tank destroyer can be produced for materially less than the cost of a tank, and in far less time and with less critical materials."

Not everyone in the army was on board with the new TD program. General George Patton argued that the tank destroyer "was destined to become nothing but another tank."

Two types of TD's were sent to North Africa for the U.S. Army's initial action against the Axis. The first was the M3 half track -- rightfully nicknamed: 'Purple Heart Box' -- mounting a 75mm cannon. The M3 performed fairly well in North Africa, especially as highly mobile field artillery. All to often, M3's were sent to lead the attack.

The M6 sported a copied German 37mm anti-tank gun hurriedly mounted in the back of a Dodge weapons carrier. In combat, the M6's gun was quickly found to be totally ineffective against German panzers and its crew completely vulnerable.

Several problems with TD operations were soon realized. Field commanders "tended to order TD's to expose themselves recklessly to enemy fire instead of relying on concealment and surprise. Tank destroyers were often assigned to missions for which they were not suited."

Eager officers often ordered TD's to charge German tanks in the heat of battle instead of relying on concealment and surprise.

Because of high visibility in the desert. General Bradley recommended that half the TD battalions converted to towed guns because they would be easier to conceal -- like the highly camouflaged German 88mm guns he feared. The top heavy, low clearance M3 half track TD was fazed out at end of the North Africa campaign.

For the Italian campaign, two new TD's were introduced. The GMC M10 'Can Opener' was based on a Sherman tank chassis featuring two inches of armor and a hard-hitting 3-inch gun mounted in an open turret for better observation. Later, the famous all-new M18 Hellcat arrived in time to fight at the Anzio beachhead. The M18's weight was less than half the M10's and carried an new powerful 76mm gun in an open turret.

Running up against Italy's Gothic Line, and later Germany's Siegfried Line, the TD's found few panzers to fight, and were diverted to attacking pillboxes, concrete emplacements and strong points.

In the Normandy campaign, tank destroyers faced new challenges. The towed guns, in fact, did almost no tank killing and were mainly used for indirect artillery. As before, M10's and M18's were sent to lead the assaults.

It was realized that only massed TD's could defeat Panther and Tiger tanks. Widely scattered TD's were not an effective way to fight panzers. In Normandy, M10 and M18 TD's were not well suited for offensive action against dug-in German panzers and infantry. Headquarters recommended the TD battalions be upgraded to the new M36 Jackson.

During the Normandy campaign, tank destroyer crews were trained to use bazookas, lay mines and to fight as infantry or cavalry. The unit's jeeps were assigned to carryout reconnaissance, the TD's provided much indirect artillery support.

In September, 1944, the M36 arrived in ETO, incorporating a re-manufactured M10 hull and a 90mm gun in an open power turret. The M36 could under most circumstances knock out any German tank including the Royal Tiger II.

After suffering heavy losses in the Battle of the Budge, all towed units were slated for conversion to self-propelled equipment. Again, tank destroyer units had trouble concentrating enough TD's in mass to fight off powerful German armored divisions. Although scattered about, TD's still knocked out over 500 German panzers in the Ardennes campaign. Every TD unit achieved a respectable kill ratio of at least 3 to 1 after D-Day. Sadly, vital radio communication between TD units, infantry, armor and aircraft was never really solved.

The ETO's General Board concluded by war's end "the trend toward tanks with the same firepower and mobility as the tank destroyer's and the incorporation of adequate anti-tank defenses in the infantry divisions, rendered the tank destroyers superfluous. The Board recommended that the Tank Destroyer Force be dissolved." General Patton's prediction came true.

Mr. Yeide observes, "The U.S. Army's Tank Destroyer Force in World War II must rate as one of the most successful "failures in American military history."

"The Tank Killers: A History of America's World War II Tank Destroyer Force" contains a gallery of 32 great photographs, 7 functional maps and a bonus appendix of 61 tank destroyer battalions. One of only a handful of books on the subject, this work will be a welcome addition to the bookselves of World War II and armored warfare enthusiasts.

One thing I've been interested in for years is the American concept of tank destroyers that was implemented in WWII. The M-10 always held a fascination for me. A beautiful vehicle, interestingly with an open top to decrease the weight of the vehicle to improve it's performance. With this said, I picked up Mr. Yeide's The Tank Killers with the intent to expand my knowledge of the American tank destroyer forces.
Initially The Tank Killers opens by describing the American realization that we would be involved in WWII and the recognition that America's armored forces were totally lacking for `modern' warfare. As a part of this realization, a desirement develops to employ a force who's focus is to intercept an armored thrust and destroy it. The Tank Killers then proceeds to describe America's initial developments in developing tank destroyers, the concepts of how they're to be used, and the training of the troops. The following chapters then go thru the different actions the tank destroyers went thru in Europe and North Africa. Each chapter provides a brief description of the actions from a higher level. Individual engagements are described but their more like summaries from battalion after action reports than the analysis of a historian or an oral history. After describing the action in an operation most chapters conclude with a nice Lessons Learned section.

The Good
This book does a good job shinning some light on forces that are often forgotten. Most histories, oral and analyzed focus on armored forces, airborne, and infantrymen. Rarely do these books provide a good focus on the support arms like the tank destroyers. For this reason alone this makes this a good book! This is shown when Mr. Yeide goes into good detail on how tank destroyer forces were to be deployed and how they were used. I particularly enjoyed reading about the use of the tank destroyer's reconnaissance forces. This is something that is totally unrecognized by most people. I also enjoyed reading about the training tank destroyer forces went thru. Interestingly, Commando style training was part of their background. Finally, there's some very nice pictures showing different tank destroyers in action and the Appendix A with a summary for all of the Tank Destroyer battalions is very nice.

The Bad
Where's the maps? Most of the maps are rather cheese wiz. There's some great actions described in here that should have had some nice maps showing how the tank destroyers fought the different battles. The number of kills is also a little hard to believe. But then what counts as a kill. Just because you hit a tank and get it to stop doesn't mean it's killed. I also found that too much was written with no real analysis done. Mr. Yeidi provided go after action summaries but fails to deliver good descriptions of actions at points, particularly situations where the tank destroyers failed to some degree (in Mr. Yeidi's defense, his description in North Africa was very good). This particularly shows in the post-Normandy timeframe when I feel Mr. Yeidi was more focused on getting thru the book about as fast as he could.

The Rating
My bottom line is that this is a 3.5 star book. There's excellent opportunities in here to make this a 4.5 star book but I think Mr. Yeidi wanted to just describe things from after action reports rather than doing some analysis and cross checking German and American data. I was particularly frustrated with his description on the 28th ID and 893d Tank Destroyer battalion at Schmidt. When I merge this with the lack of maps, the book pans to a 3 star book for Amazon purposes.

I suspect that I am typical of the most appreciative readers of this history of the Tank Destroyer Force, a proud son of a veteran of Company A of the 701st TD.

"The Tank Killers" put the stories I heard in childhood from my father and his comrades in fresh perspective. The battles at the Faid Pass, Kasserine Pass, El Guettar, and Cassino and Anzio, and on to the Po Valley no doubt inspired many other boys to military service. Harry Yeide's outstanding research and his skills as a writer mean more to us than he probably realizes. The author notes a 1943 report to General Omar Bradley that the men of A/701st TD "stuck it out to the bitter end and were utterly fearless" in their first combat action in North Africa, where they lost 7 killed, six captured, and 42 missing in action. My copy has a place of honor next to the treasured folded flag, the telegram which notified Dad's mother of wounds received at Anzio on 17 March 1944, and the Purple Heart I so naively played with as a boy, not realizing that with a slightly different arc of a single piece of shrapnel, I would never have been born.

Sir Winston Churchill wrote after his campaign in the Sudan, "Those who read the story, and still more those who share the dangers, of a campaign feel that every incident is surrounded with a host of possibilities, any one of which, had it become real, would have changed the whole course of events ... We live in a world of ifs. What happened is singular; what might have happened, legion." The Tank Destroyers all learned that lesson well.

Yeide did a "cut and paste" by combining a thesis from Command and General Staff College with WWII after action reports. He freely credits his sources but unfortunately fails to contribute little analysis and conclusions of his own. I'm glad I have the book. It almost stands alone in the coverage of a fascinating part of military doctrine. Those interested in the Tank Destroyer Concept should have this book yet hope for a better work in the future.

Although it is a good book and contains many details (and useful appendices) about the numerous US Tank Destroyer Battalions in World War II the text is rather dry and certainly can not stir the interest of the reader. I think Yeide's book about the last battles in the Western Front (September 1944 - May 1945) was much better.

I am an avid reader of military history. I have several hundred books in my personal library. This book holds pride-of-place as one of my all-time favorites. I've read it several times already, and expect I will re-read it many times in the years to come.

I find it to be a perfect mix of big picture history versus personal anecdotes. We, the readers, get to see how and why the US Army created the Tank Destroyer Command. We get to see how field commanders wound up using Tank Destroyer units in ways that were completly un-related to the doctrine and training of the troops. We also get ample first-hand accounts of action from Tunisia, to Italy, to France and Germany.

If you are familiar with the history of the US Army in World War 2, you must have questions about the Tank Destroyers. What was the thinking behind making a different kind of tank ... with a heavier gun, lighter amor, an open top, and no hull or co-axial machine-guns? What was the point of an armored fighting vehicle that could go 30-50mph at a time when guns were not stabilized to shoot-on-the-move? Why were they held in seperate battalions rather than being integrated into armored or infantry divisions?

In my case the interest is more than casual. My father was in the Tank Destroyers in WW2. As a child I got pieces of the story ... of fast tanks with no armor on top, of big guns, of tank crewmen trained to use bazookas, or mines, or satchel charges, whatever it took to kill an enemy tank. In "The Tank Killers" Harry Yeide offers up the whole story for the pleasure of the avid amature historian as well as the casual reader.

I am so glad that I found this book.

For those who are dismissive of US Tank Destroyers use in WW2, read this book and you will be pleasantly surprised. By delving deep into the personal memoires of the soldiers in the Tank Destroyer Battalions, Yeide is able to show the story was not quite so unbalanced against the US TD's. Indeed, in Italy, they were popular since they could travel where tanks could not and were often used as Self Propelled Guns.

While Yeide is not as good a story teller as Steven Ambrose, the style is similar - telling the stories of the tankers in their own words, welding them together to give the reader an accurate idea of what it was like to crew these TD's. This makes for effective, compelling reading. Appendixes show which Battalions were used in what campaign and a brief profile of each unit, 60 Battalions in all. This book is a balanced blend of the technical capabilities of the TD and the enemy armor, personal stories and unit/campaign history. It is a good read because it sheds new light on the contributions these tanks made. Granted, the doctrine was flawed, TDs were used more like tanks, with the resultant problems, but they provided much needed support to the infantry than the grunts would have otherwise had.

The bibliography is impressive, citing 15 different tank destroyer unit histories, along with many other primary sources. Highly recommended reading for all serious tankers, army historians and those who want to see that while TD's were not the perfect weapon of armored warfare, they contributions were more than has been commonly recognized.

A good book on a neglected subject. It could have been much more comprehensive, but it is a good introduction to the subject.