The following instructions for infantry facing attacking tanks were published by the U.S. War Department as a poster in Newsmap, Vol. II, No. 6, May 1943. Although the bazooka was available in most infantry units for antitank defense, individual soldiers were still trained to deal with tank attacks without dedicated antitank weapons.
| 1 | BUTTON HIM UP Tank crews have limited vision even with the ports open. Accurate rifle fire will force them to close up. |
| 2 | THEN BLIND HIM Continued fire directed at the periscope and slits prevents the crew from shooting back at you accurately. |
| 3 | DUCK! DON’T RUN Above the ground where you are visible you make an easy target. Hide in your foxhole until the tank passes. |
| 4 | THEN Let him have it with a well-placed Molotov cocktail splashing burning gasoline over his ventilator or any other vulnerable spot. |
Source: NEWSMAP: Volume II, No. 6, Monday, May 31, 1943. Prepared and distributed by Army Orientation Course, Special Service Division, Army Service Forces. War Department, Washington, D.C.
…. cool info, so I’ll keep it in mind when I get attacked by a tank !! 🙂
Cool. I saw this in an army surplus store when I was younger. Now I know what it meant!
It’s as easy as 1,2,3!
I’d like something a little more substantial than a Molotov Cocktail to go after the tank with. Say a five pound chunk of plastic explosive with a grenade embedded in it on the engine deck…better yet, stick it on the bottom of the hull as it passes over your foxhole.
That will _really_ surprise the Panzer III crew when it goes off.
Hey! I appreciate the nice write-up. Keeps it up!
Wonder why they used the the Panzer 3 as an example…