Mechanize Infantry vs. Tank

[ev]

Dive bombers like the German Stukas were modified to carry 50mm guns (could have been 30mm, not sure). The Allies and Russians had dive bombers modified along the same lines.

Because tanks have less armor on top, these guns were devastating. Tanks are big targets, and these guns were sort of like machine guns, shooting off a whole stream of cannon bullets. It was easier to shoot at a tank with a 50 mm machine gun, than at a foxhole with a single 500 pound bomb. As a matter of fact, once a tank buster zeroed on a tank, it was dead meat. Only the second generation King Tiggers had enough armor on top to survive such an attack.

We don't hear much from this birds in our history books, because the U.S. had air superiority. But, stuka tank busters in the Russian front counted their kills in the hundreds (per pilot). Not bad for a low tech dive bomber.

[ev]

The gun used by the Stuka Tank busters was a 37 mm.

Check this out:

In the russian front, a new version of the Stuka was developed, the Ju-87 G was no longer a dive bomber. Instead it was equipped with two 37mm anti-tank guns. Although these guns were no longer effective in ground use against the front thick armor of the modern russian tanks, they were still very lethal against the much thinner rear and top armor of those tanks. This was basically the german equivalent of the russian Sturmovik which also used to attack german tanks from the rear. The Stuka excelled in this new dedicated anti-tank role too, although it remained easy prey for fighters.

...the highest level german war hero, the only recipient of nazi germany's highest level of the knights cross medal, was a Stuka pilot, Hans Ulrich Rudel, who personally destroyed 519 russian tanks, a russian battleship, and a huge number of other targets in over 2500 combat missions in the russian front.

This is a quote from:

http://www.2worldwar2.com/stuka.htm

[Edwin P.]

Many thanks for the information.

[Retributar]

'Hans Ulrich Rudel' needed to destroy 519 Tanks...the Russians in 1943 were producing them at the average rate of 2,000 Tanks a month!.

I am surprised that 'Hans' wasn't shot out of the air...as the Russians in 1943 were producing 9,000 Aircraft each month!.

[Red Fleet]

@edwin p.

Aircraft were effective against tanks because they could see them. Infantry on the march or even worse in trenches and dugouts is hard to crack. It´s like the sharks and the fish-swarms. The shark cannot concentrate on one target and misses...

On the Eastern Front both sides used early versions of the a-10 thunderbolts. The Il-2 Sturmovik and the Ju-87 Panzerknacker (a converted dive-bomber) would use 3cm guns to attack tank columms, trucks and half-tracks.

In France especially the P-47 Thunderbolts even used their machine guns against tanks on streets. They shot the asphalt in front or behind the tanks and the bullets richocheted (?) off the road and penetrated the soft bottom..

Infantry could be attacked with bombs and such, but planes cannot carry too many bombs. Why waste it on infantry. Use artillery instead. (IMO)