Were WW2 Tank Destroyers with no turret (with limited traverse) mostly effective in an offensive situation?
The Germans were the primary users of turretless tank destroyers and the reasons for this were primarily expediency. In June 1941 Germany had very few self-propelled anti-tank guns, these being of the Panzerjager I type with Czech 4.7cm PAK K36(t). The majority of Panzerjager Abtielung and Regimental Panzerjager Kompanie were still using the obsolete 3.7cm PAK 36 and Czech 3.7cm guns. The 3.7cm guns were hopeless against the new generation of Soviet tanks resulting in the loss of no less than 3,540 of these guns in the first year of Barbarossa. The alternative, the 5.0cm PAK 38 towed gun was barely adequate and quite rare – only 1 AT gun in 15 was a PAK 38 in June 1941. Besides being immune to 3.7cm gunfire the Soviet tanks had cros-country mobility the likes of which the German’s could not comprehend. Thus they turned up in places the German’s regarded as not being tank country, greatly complicating the anti-tank defense. Mobility in anti-tank guns became a premium commodity to meet t
