World War II Infantry Anti-Tank Tactics

US anti-tank doctrine emphasized combat outposts with some battalion AT guns temporally attached. Most battalion guns were placed near the main line of resistance with few if any provided to the reserve, and thus there was little depth of defence. Regimental AT guns were positioned to the rear of the forward battalions, or held in readiness to occupy alternate positions covering the main line or to support counter-attacks. If non-regimental AT guns were attached, usually in the form of tank destroyer companies, they could be positioned to the rear to provide more depth, as well as being attached to the screening force.
The main tasks of an AT defence were the organization of the defence of the main line of resistance and the formation of counter-attack units held in reserve. The latter was the primary function of tank destroyer units. Anti-tank weapons were not equally distributed across the front; reconnaissance was conducted to determine their deployment based on the following criteria of rising priority: (1) routes of advance that man-made and natural obstacles made impractical for tanks; (2) areas that could be interdicted by passive AT defence; and (3) zones that had to be covered by AT weapons and mines to block armour. Efforts were made to channel tanks into the third zone in order to engage them.