Wartime Innovation: The Tank Destroyer

A Hetzer on patrol in Hungary 1944.
Photo sourced from WikiCommons.

In war, there's a certain amount of innovation associated with certain situations. Technology is often developed at a much faster rate than in peacetime, and new technology is often produced as a result. One of these new technologies is the tank destroyer.

Developed later in the war, the tank destroyer is basically a tank gun mounted on an obsolete tank chassis. The Germans were one of the first to build one of these, and it was called the Hetzer. It was cheaper to produce than a tank with a comparable gun, and as the name implies it could destroy enemy tanks with losses that were easier to replace.

Unfortunately for the Germans, like many of their technological achievements in the war, it was too little too late. While the concept of the tank destroyer would be adopted by other nations and is still used to this day, in World War II it came too late to change the outcome. Until next time take care, and thanks for reading.

(Facts sourced from "Campaigns of World War II Day by Day" by Chris Bishop and Chris McNab)