Delaying Operation

[Georg]

during my military service time as a tank crew member the training of delaying operations was one of the most important task the tank troop had to train.. goal was that the units could continously switch between attack, dealying movments and defence in a rapid way to counter the numeric advantage of the east. The delaying operation was for the commander the most difficult to handel, they had to give up room for time and had to keep the formations closed that the enemy attack was channeld into traps were defending troops in prepared postions could destory the attacking force. One key function of the tanks to be able to do such delaying operations was a high reverse speed ... that way the tank could always face the strong frontal armor to the enemy and still quickly change reverse from one position to the next..
The reverse speed of the Leo2 is 30km/h which is pretty quick...
I always thought that nearly all tanks have similar reverse speed till I run some time ago into a video of a German engenieer who had worked many decades for the german procurment office he gave a lecture of the technical development of tanks east compared to west from end of ww2 till the end of the cold war... he claimed that the russian developt tanks could only attack or defend...they are not able to do delaying operations (like the west) with constant contact and fighting to the enemy and giving up ground for time ...or giving up ground to gide the enemy into a trap... the reason he claimed why they could not do such operation was their slow reverse speed...
I was looking around a little bit... but you only get data for forward topspeed ...no one mentions reverse top speed even if it is as important as forward speed...

Does anyone know some sources or personal experience on different tank models and know the maximum reverse speed?

Leo2 30km/h 2 reverse gears... reverse speed limited because the retarder brake only works forward and the disc brakes only works up to 30km/h...abouve 30km/h only the retarder break works...

After watching some of the russian tank biathlon world championships videos and how slow some tanks drove reverse out of the fire position I wonder if the slow reverse speed is still normal?

 

[Indus Pakistan]

I suspect that the "delay" tactic was part of a larger strategy that would give time for rest of NATO to bring in reinforcements to block Warsaw Pact advance or even allow time for battlefield nuclear delivery systems to be employed. In absence of thios strategy this tactic might not hold much value.

Just a thought !

@Georg

 

[Georg]

I suspect that the "delay" tactic was part of a larger strategy that would give time for rest of NATO to bring in reinforcements to block Warsaw Pact advance or even allow time for battlefield nuclear delivery systems to be employed. In absence of thios strategy this tactic might not hold much value.

Just a thought !

@Georg

delay tactic was mainly the tactic of the Bundeswehr.... as the first row of the NATO our goal was winning time, wear down the enemy attack strenght, channelling the enemy attack into directions the NATO wanted it.. this happend surly in large scalle, but only the commander at the front had the eye and feeling at what point his unit should run a counter attack into a weak point of the enemy front or stop moving and defend a point.
For example as the NATO introduced thermal view, during day time the Bundeswehr would mostly move back give away room to keep units intact... during night time the hell would brake loose on the Warsaw Pact and the NATO units would start massive attack because the thermal view gave massive advantage over the IR equipped Warsaw Pact during night.
Why does they not hold much value? Goal is to damage a numeric superior enemy as much as possible with minimal own looses... winning time for own units to regroup...prepare for defence or prepare for attack
It also makes it difficult for the enemy to forcast the next step... do they move further back or stop and defend or do they counter attack

 

[SBUS-CXK]

during my military service time as a tank crew member the training of delaying operations was one of the most important task the tank troop had to train.. goal was that the units could continously switch between attack, dealying movments and defence in a rapid way to counter the numeric advantage of the east. The delaying operation was for the commander the most difficult to handel, they had to give up room for time and had to keep the formations closed that the enemy attack was channeld into traps were defending troops in prepared postions could destory the attacking force. One key function of the tanks to be able to do such delaying operations was a high reverse speed ... that way the tank could always face the strong frontal armor to the enemy and still quickly change reverse from one position to the next..
The reverse speed of the Leo2 is 30km/h which is pretty quick...
I always thought that nearly all tanks have similar reverse speed till I run some time ago into a video of a German engenieer who had worked many decades for the german procurment office he gave a lecture of the technical development of tanks east compared to west from end of ww2 till the end of the cold war... he claimed that the russian developt tanks could only attack or defend...they are not able to do delaying operations (like the west) with constant contact and fighting to the enemy and giving up ground for time ...or giving up ground to gide the enemy into a trap... the reason he claimed why they could not do such operation was their slow reverse speed...
I was looking around a little bit... but you only get data for forward topspeed ...no one mentions reverse top speed even if it is as important as forward speed...

Does anyone know some sources or personal experience on different tank models and know the maximum reverse speed?

Leo2 30km/h 2 reverse gears... reverse speed limited because the retarder brake only works forward and the disc brakes only works up to 30km/h...abouve 30km/h only the retarder break works...

After watching some of the russian tank biathlon world championships videos and how slow some tanks drove reverse out of the fire position I wonder if the slow reverse speed is still normal?

really, I envy you as a serviceman to serve the country.

 

[Taygibay]

Does anyone know some sources or personal experience on different tank models and know the maximum reverse speed?

Na, Georg! I can't answer but for the AMX-30 B2 that
was the main tank when I served ( even though I was
a different type of cavalry, we were formed on all types ).

The AMX had a full 5 speeds transmission both ways that
allowed the low 65 kph in either direction. It was derived
from the Panther one taking almost 30 years to complete.

Well, to be honest, it wasn't the best of ideas because the
thing was flocking fragile and more than a bit temperamental.
The pilot had a hell of a time shifting manually on rougher
terrains and we might have had to do field repairs in war.

In a nutshell, it would have been great . . . had it worked
which it only did after the B2 conversion saw it replaced.

But the ability to reverse full thrust lead to awesome moves :
if you could put a maxed AMX-30 into full reverse over say
normal ground with topsoil, the tank would bury itself in just
about its lenght. That is incredible to enough to witness but
let me tell you that all your retention straps better be on ...
because the 40 ton affair was up to the turret in the ground!

I sincerely believe that I'd have snapped my neck without
the head band securing my head.


Hope it helps, Tschüssi, Tay.

 

[sparten]

Spoiling attacks were a Wehrmacht speciality, especially from 1943 onwards. Not surpised that the Germans designed their armour to gain optimum advantage.