GERMAN BOGIES

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4522, 12 January 1942, Page 6

GERMAN BOGIES

BLITZKRIEG AND PANZER DIVISION NOT NEW DEVICES Germany has produced two bogies for the average man in this war. i They are the blitzkrieg and the pan- ' zer division, Actually neither is new. Various forms of panzer devices were used in warfare as far back as the siege of Troy, when two States went to war over the blonde and beautiful Helqn. Blitzkrieg methods were used with great effect by Jenghis Khan, and hjs Mongol horde centuries ago, when they swept out of Asia and across half of Europe. The word “panzer” simply means armoured, writes “J.F.” in the December issue of the Australian weekly “Salt.” A German panzer division is made up of eight sections, each depending for its success upon the close co-operation of the other seven. The mission of the armoured division is to act as thq spearhead of attack against weak points in the enemy’s position. In actual practice, a panzer division behaves like a stream of water poured on the ground. The water, seeking its own level runs round obstructions and finds its way over the easiest part of the ground. Now this is how a panzei' division goes into action, First come mechanised scounting units composed of motor-cyclists with tommy guns and light cars. Next follow a motorized heavy machinegun battalion and an anti-tank battalion. Behind these come about 500 light medium and heavy tanks. These tanks form the heavy-punching part of the division. Close in their real’ is a brigade of infantry, carried in motor-lorries, whose job is to mop up. Finally, comes a force of motordrawn artillery. There are also a battalion of engineers to clear away land mines and other obstructions; an ordnance field workshop to repair broken-down tanks on the spot; and medical aid units to deal with casualties. The commander of the division controls operations from an armoured car and has at his disposal an aeroplane for personal reconnaissance. Thus it is possible for a panzer division to operate away from a fixed base. Beside the troops already mentioned, each German armoured division is supported in its attack by dive-bombers, which are controlled by the commander of the division.

Though a panzer division is selfcontained, quick-mqving and hardhitting, it depends for its complete success on a surprise attack and on its appearance creating confusion. This is well illustrated by the following account of an attack by the first German panzer division. The division was appointed to bre,ak through the enemy’s frontier defences and seize an important river crossing. The division attacked at 11. o’clock at night after, para-

chute troops had been dropped nearby in enemy territory. The actual frontier defences were shaken by. dive-bombers, and immediately afterward the scounting detachments of the armoured division crossed the border to test the ground opposition. . The crossing of the river provided an example of German military organization. Motor-cycle scouts dashed to the river bank and inflated the small rubber boats they carried strapped to their machines. The motor-scouts meanwhile provided a covering fire, under which the motor-cyclists paddled their rubber boats across the stream. A smokescreen was then started to hide the crossing of anti-tank guns in large pneumatic boats and rafts. Then, with motor-cycle scouts and anti-tank guns on one side of the river, the panzer engineers were able to put across a pontoon bridge strong enough to bear even heavy tanks. In this action the defenders were hampered by lack of sufficient air support, and also because they had not been trained to deal with panzer methods. The Russian campaign has since proved that panzer units are easily open to attack Ijy divebombing and cannon-firing aircraft. They have also, on a number of occasions, fallen easy victims to a cleverly laid ambush. A study of armoured divisions since the break-through in Fiance an(i Holland in the middle of 1940 shows that the German armoured division must have the two elements of surprise and panic among the defenders if it is to' score a complete success. The answer to the panzer division is defence in depth plus counter-attack by tanks, planes and n)pbile anti-tank guns. No welltrained, resolute, and well-equipped troops need be scared of the bogy-word “Panzer.”