Almost immediately, the crews realised that their doctrine was incomplete. Their first vehicles were ad hoc affairs: Halftracks and weapons carriers with guns no better than those on tanks and thin armour affording the crews considerably less protection. Tank destroyers were among the very first units to land in North Africa in 1942. It is a story of American flexibility and pragmatism in military affairs. The narrative follows the men who fought in the TDs from the formation of the force in 1941 through the victory over the Third Reich in 1945. American doctrine stipulated that TDs would fight tanks, while American tanks would concentrate on achieving and exploiting breakthroughs of enemy lines.
At the same time, the TD would wield the firepower needed to kill any German tank on the battlefield. The TD was conceived to be light and fast enough to outmanoeuvre panzer forces and go where tanks could not. The tank destroyer (TD) was a bold-if some would say flawed-answer to the challenge posed by the seemingly unstoppable German blitzkrieg. The Tank Killers is the story of the American Tank Destroyer Force in North Africa, Italy, and the European Theatre during World War II.
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