Company Officer's Handbook Of The German Army - Command and ...

DEFENSIVE PRINCIPLES 23
purpose guns in batteries of four guns, with two or three batteries
supporting each other. The guns were carefully camouflaged. In the
same campaign they used the 75-mm gun with almost equal effectiveness.
The Germans also effectively employed the 50-mm
antitank gun by using it at a range of 300 to 400 yards, the German
gunners proving themselves well-disciplined in holding their fire
until targets came within this range.
Where indirect fire was impracticable, the Germans sited their
88's and 7,5's on forward slopes in order to take maximum advantage
of their long ranges and telescopic sights. In one instance an
88 was used on a roving antitank mission, its ammunition dumps
having been prepared in advance at suitable points in the terrain.
During the last stage of the Tunisian Campaign, however, many of
the 75's were sited on reverse slopes with fields of fire of only 200 to
300 yards.
A report dealing with a typical layout for an antitank company
stated that the platoons were in line, with guns echeloned, each
platoon having two guns forward 200 yards apart, with the third
gun in the rear, between the two forward guns. The nearest gun of
the neighboring platoon was 300 yards away. One light machine gun
was emplaced on either side of the position, in line with the foremost
guns and about 30 yards from the nearest gun.
In the Tunisian hills the Germans also usually sited their 50-mm
guns on reverse slopes, up to 400 yards behind the crest, in order to
engage tanks coming over the top. Self-propelled guns were used
from hull-down positions, and sometimes tanks concealed themselves
in gullies running at right angles to the direction of the Allied
advance in order to engage tanks.
On the Russian front the Germans engaged tanks with single
antitank guns at ranges of 600 to 1,000 yards in front of the main
line of resistance, but their main antitank defenses opened fire when
the range was reduced to about 150 to 300 yards. These main defenses
were usually sited for enfilade fire from carefully concealed
dug-in positions.
Extensive use is made by the Germans of mine fields within and
around the position. All mine fields are covered by fire; snipers are
included for daylight protection, while artillery and machine guns
on fixed lines of fire cover the mine fields at night.