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The Panzerkeil ("Armoured Wedge" or "Tank Wedge") was an offensive armoured tactic developed by German forces on the Eastern Front during World War II. The ''panzerkeil'' was developed in response to the Soviet employment of the ''pakfront'' defence. The ''panzerkeil'' was an offensive formation used by armoured vehicles, most commonly tanks. The tanks would form into a wedge-shaped formation, with the most heavily armed and armoured vehicles forming the tip. At the battle of Kursk, Tiger Is (Panzer VIE) would form the tip, Panthers (Panzer V) the base (where available), with the Panzer IVs and Panzer IIIs forming the wings. The advantage of the ''panzerkeil'' was that the anti-tank gunners of the opposing ''pakfront'' would be forced to constantly adjust their ranges due to the depth of the formation. Also, the heavily armoured Tigers and Panthers would bear the brunt of the anti-tank fire, leaving the more vulnerable tanks safe from enemy fire. The ''panzerkeil'' achieved mixed results. During Operation Citadel, the panzerkeil enabled the spearheads of ''Generaloberst'' Hermann Hoth's 4th Panzer Army to break through the elaborate Soviet defences. Meanwhile, in ''Generalfeldmarschall'' Walter Model's 9th Army sector, tank units using the ''panzerkeil'' tactic failed to achieve a breakthrough, and suffered heavy losses due to anti-tank fire. ==Sources== * Wolfgang Schneider: ''Panzertaktik - Deutsche Einsatzgrundsätze 1935 bis heute''. Armour Research 2008, ISBN 3-935107-12-9 * Rudolf Steiger: ''Panzertaktik im Spiegel deutscher Kriegstagebücher 1939-1941''. Verlag Rombach (1973), ISBN 3-7930-0171-7 * Oskar Munzel: ''Panzer-Taktik''. Vowinckel Verlag (1959) * Dennis Showalter: ''Blood and Iron: the Battle of Kursk, the turning point of World War II''. New York, Random House, 2013 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Panzerkeil」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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