What Killed 100% of Tank Destroyers at Kasserine Pass

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February 15, 1943: All 12 tank destroyers of C Company, 805th Battalion, charged German panzers at Kasserine Pass. Within minutes, every vehicle was destroyed. This wasn't bad luck—this was America's revolutionary anti-tank doctrine meeting brutal reality. The M3 Gun Motor Carriage: a WWI-era 75mm gun bolted onto a half-track with 6mm of armor. The crew sat completely exposed. General McNair called it the future of armored warfare. The Germans called it target practice. The 805th Tank Destroyer Battalion arrived in North Africa with the latest equipment and cutting-edge doctrine: "Seek, Strike, and Destroy." They were supposed to be mobile reserves, ambushing enemy armor from concealment. Instead, American commanders scattered them across 30 miles of desert as static pillboxes—exactly what the doctrine warned against. When German Tiger tanks and 88mm guns opened fire at 2,000 yards, the M3's WWI gun couldn't even reach them. The "tank destroyers" were destroyed before they could fire a shot. Of the 2,000 men of Iowa's 168th Infantry Regiment at Kasserine, only 300 escaped. 85% casualties. Many had received their first rifles days before the battle. Some learned how to use bazookas 48 hours before facing panzers. Total American losses: 300 killed, 3,000 wounded, 3,000 captured. 183 tanks destroyed. Worst defeat in U.S. Army history. But one month later, the same American army won the Battle of El Guettar—the first major U.S. tactical victory against the Wehrmacht. Eighteen months after Kasserine, that same army landed at Normandy as one of history's most effective fighting forces. The 805th Tank Destroyer Battalion didn't die in vain. They paid America's tuition for winning World War II. #MilitaryHistory #WWII #KasserinePass #TankDestroyers #NorthAfrica #805thBattalion #AmericanHistory #WarHistory #Documentary #TacticalAnalysis SOURCES: The National WWII Museum Archives U.S. Army Center of Military History "Seek, Strike, and Destroy: U.S. Army Tank Destroyer Doctrine in World War II" - DTIC 805th Tank Destroyer Battalion Unit Records 168th Infantry Regiment After Action Reports