TANKEPAIRS IN FIELD

Southland Times, Issue 24649, 22 January 1942, Page 5

TANKEPAIRS IN FIELD

Example Of German Thoroughness

(8.0.W.) RUGBY, January 20. Details of German tactics in Libya, in recovering and repairing tanks temporarily knocked out in action or suffering mechanical breakdown, are given by the War Office. Success depends on the employment of very large numbers of skilled artificers in an actual plant at the front line.

A German tank regiment, comprising nine tank squadrons in three tank battalions (the formation is roughly equivalent to a British armoured brigade), usually has at least 400 skilled artificers attached to the regiment itself. About half form part of the squadron, while the remainder, including a workshop company and a workshop platoon whose duties include recovering damaged vehicles, are attached to battalion and regimental headquarters. Skilled tank fitters and other artificers, who thus form part of a German tank regiment and go into action with it, are quite separate from the staffs of workshops in the ordnance depot and on lines of communication. The numbers represent huge organizations of skilled men whose job it is at all times to keep the armoured fighting vehicles and tank regiments mechanically in fighting trim. But they are fully employed only when the regiment is actively in operation against the enemy.