In this article you will find a series of resources on how to disable a tank.

This article is also available in українська мова

🇺🇦 This article was written in the context of supporting Ukrainian activists resisting the Russian invasion.

When disabling a tank, usually a certain amount of force is needed. It involves a certain amount of violence towards a material object (the tank), but possibly also towards humans (the people inside the tank).

At Activist Handbook, we think violence is almost never the right approach for activists to take, which is why we do not usually write articles about violent tactics. However, in this case, we felt the need to support Ukrainians fighting for peace.

Tanks are bad for fighting in the city. They need infantry support. Without it, they are just big targets with poor visibility. Aim the rifles at the periscope, and most importantly at sight at the top of the tower.

Remove street signs. Do not let the enemy navigate where they are. Move signs to other streets. Tanks are heavy, so try to direct them to the street, which will not be able to withstand them. Tanks cannot move if they fall into the sewer.

Disable the crawler if you have explosives. The crawler is also easily entangled in barbed wire / Bruno spiral. Line the streets with anything that can drag in and get confused.

The engine needs to breathe, so throw Molotov cocktails at anything that looks like an air intake. It has rubber belts, hoses and fuel pipes.

Tanks are a logistical horror. They need a kilometer of supply chain with spare parts and fuel. They can usually travel about 300 kilometers on a good road on one refueled tank. Stop the supply chain - and the tank is just a mountain of junk

Visibility from armored vehicles is not the best. If you draw food plates to look like mines and place them upside down on the street, the tank crew will not be able to distinguish them from the real ones.

The US military likes to fight at night because we have thermal imagers. They detect heat, so it is impossible to hide behind a bush. But anything that accepts ambient temperature just looks like a black square. That way they can't see through the windows.

Cut cardboard boxes and place them everywhere. Cardboard accepts ambient temperature. Hiding behind what is an obstacle to vision works only if they do not have thermal imagers. Sheets of cardboard in each bush and for each tree. There will be just a black square on the thermal imager

Arrange them everywhere. Make the territory full of chaos for the enemy.

You can also throw paint bombs to leave the enemy out of sight. Water bombs with paint can draw periscopes. When you're in a tank, you're in a metal box and you can't see outside. Bedspreads have been used successfully in the past.

A former tank mechanic advises aiming Molotov cocktails at the driver's hatch, he will be under the tower ring. The gunner and the driver will have to be evacuated. Also look for additional fuel tanks / tank trucks.

It is also written that the weak point of the tank is usually where the tower connects to the hull. If you have an RPG, aim there. (Not very useful information for civilians, but suddenly you had an RPG 🤷‍♀️)

External resources #

https://twitter.com/Hogan698/status/1497291283106250761?s=20&t=sL-fY0OhrBti4lbieRMd7g

https://twitter.com/Hogan698/status/1497291905020928005?s=20&t=sL-fY0OhrBti4lbieRMd7g

https://twitter.com/strategy0071/status/1497375379169832960?s=20&t=sL-fY0OhrBti4lbieRMd7g

https://twitter.com/Blodaksen/status/1497318150223712262?s=20&t=sL-fY0OhrBti4lbieRMd7g

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/disable-a-tank

Translation in Ukrainian: https://twitter.com/CrazyDr8/status/1497540073251909636

https://twitter.com/Hogan698/status/1497320304976093185?s=20&t=sL-fY0OhrBti4lbieRMd7g