(iii) All batteries (howitzers included) were ordered to take up positions from which advancing tanks could be engaged by direct fire. The most effective range for this purpose was first considered to be over 1,000 yards; this was gradually reduced to about 500.
Batteries in (i) and (ii) were to be employed for anti-tank work only, in (iii) they were available for other work, but in the event of a tank attack the engagement of tanks was their chief task.
The duty still allotted to the infantry was “to keep their heads” or “to keep calm,” actions which at this period were impossible to the German Higher Command directly tanks were mentioned. Other orders laid down that in the event of a tank attack “infantry should move to a flank.” How this was to be done when tanks were attacking on frontages of twenty to thirty miles was not explained. A.P. ammunition had to a great extent fallen into discredit, and, curious to record, the effect of “splash” as a means of blinding a tank was still hardly realised, and this after two years of tank warfare.
As artificial obstacles had proved of little use from the end of July, when the Germans withdrew behind the rivers Ancre and Avre, until the signing of the armistice every effort was made to use river lines as a defence against tanks. Road obstacles and stockades were still in use, but though they proved a hindrance to the movement of armoured cars they proved none to tanks.
A great deal of energy and explosive material was expended in laying minefields. At first, special mines in the form of a shallow box were used; later on these were replaced by shells. Lack of time, however, prevented the enemy from developing sufficiently large minefields to produce an important result.
The idea of combining the various forms of anti-tank defence under one command in such a way as to form an anti-tank fort had been dealt with on paper, but was only in a very few cases put into practice. The idea was a sound one, and if well combined with natural obstacles it would have formed the best defence against tanks that the enemy could have created with the means at his disposal.
An anti-tank fort was to consist of:
Four field guns, 2 flat-trajectory minenwerfer, 4 anti-tank rifles, and 2 machine guns firing A.P. ammunition. The fort was to be sited several thousand yards behind the outpost guns and close to the main line of defence.
Throughout the last two years of the war occasional successes were gained by the Germans by various means of anti-tank defence, these usually being due to a combination of the following circumstances:
(i) The use of tanks outside their limitation.