re: Ukraine say U.S. tanks are ineffective and armor is useless

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Tanks have always, like everything else on the battlefield, been vulnerable to destruction. The first major use of tanks on a battlefield was at the Battle of Cambrai in Nov. 1917. The British used almost 500 tanks in this battle. Of that 500, 180 were lost even though most German soldiers had never seen a tank. By early 1918, the Germans were knocking out British tanks on a regular basis. Tanks have always been vulnerable to mines, artillery, and anti-tank missiles. Hell, in WWII, the Germans knocked out thousands of Allied tanks with panzerfausts. Tanks being vulnerable isn’t anything unique or new. That’s why they have to be used with infantry and cavalry with artillery backup. Cavalry screens and performs recon for the main force, identifying minefields, strongpoints, and enemy positions for the main force to attack. In the attack, tanks provide maneuver and firepower to the infantry while the infantry protects the tanks from anti-tank teams. And the artillery supports them all with fires on enemy positions and counter-battery fire on the enemy’s artillery. You also have mine tanks and combat engineers to deal with mines. This was true in 1945 and is just as true in 2024. But it takes the training and logistics to pull it off. Neither Russia nor Ukraine have either. Really the only thing that’s new in this war is drones. That will require development of new countermeasures. But that’s the nature of warfare. One side develops some new weapon and the other side develops a countermeasure.

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