Heavily
armored vehicles used by a
military force. Also refers to a
branch of the
US Army that fights primarily with such vehicles, chiefly
tanks and, to a lesser extent,
armored personnel carriers.
Armor
warfare has been important to
armed forces around the world since
World War I, when it was effective against entrenched
ground troops.
World War II was the scene for massive
tank battles, especially on open
steppes of the
Eastern Front and in the deserts of
North Africa. Armor was also used in support of
infantry operations, even in dense jungles and city fighting in the
Vietnam War.
Armor units can advance quickly and
break through enemy lines to
wreak havoc on supply and
command and control units
in the rear.
Soviet strategy in
Cold War Europe depended heavily on breaking through thin Western lines, attacking with huge masses of armor.
Armor units are fought with
air power and other armor units. Infantry is also usually equipped with
anti-armor weapons, such as small, shoulder-mounted
missiles.
Mines, though no longer used (officially...) in warfare can also destroy or immobilize armored units. Modern tank-hunting helicopters (the US Army's
AH-64 Apache, for instance) and aircraft (
A-10 Warthog) are specially designed to kill tanks.
Facing a tank must be scary as hell if you're an
infantryman. Watch the last battle scene from
Saving Private Ryan to get an idea.