Tank desant
Military combined arms tactic / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Tank desant (Russian: танковый десант, tankovyy desant) is a military combined arms tactic where infantry soldiers ride into an attack on tanks, then dismount to fight on foot in the final phase of the assault. Note that this differs from infantry troops merely riding on tanks as a form of ad-hoc transportation. Desant (from the French: descendre, "to disembark") is a pan-Slavic general term for airborne forces and amphibious warfare.
The tactic was used as an expedient by the Red Army during World War II. Tank desant troops (tankodesantniki) were infantry trained in the tactic to offer small-arms support in suppression of enemy anti-tank weapons or enemy infantry using anti-tank grenades. After the war, T-55 and T-62 tanks were built with hand-holds for this purpose. In northern areas during winter, similar tactics were used by Soviet infantry riding the skids of aerosani or towed behind them.
Nowadays, this tactic is rare in well-equipped armed forces, with front-line troops usually riding in armoured personnel carriers or infantry fighting vehicles. However, Soviet troops used it regularly in the Soviet–Afghan War. and tank desant was employed on a massive scale by Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.